Note: For the complete lessons, with additions, see the AYP Easy Lessons for Ecstatic Living Books.

Lesson 197 - Q&A – Kechari sensations

From: Yogani
Date: Mon May 24, 2004 10:42am

New Members: It is recommended you read from the beginning of the web archive, as previous lessons are prerequisite to this one. The first lesson is, "Why This Discussion?"

Q: Thanks again for your lessons. A point of interest is that several times I have been on the verge of asking a question only to be answered by one of your Q&As before I had a chance to ask the question.

I have a question about kechari mudra. Whenever I have tried it in the past after a little while I get such a burning sensation in my tongue and palate. Like I have stuck my tongue in a power point. After this happens I have to stop the mudra it's just too much.

Any thoughts?

A: It is interesting how answers come to us when we are ready for them. They can come from these lessons, or from anywhere else. It is our desire that attracts spiritual knowledge. Our spiritual desire is enhanced by yoga practices, so there is an incentive to keep going higher in practices.

A burning sensation like that in kechari is transitional purification of the nerves and biochemistry involved, and it will not last. I assume you are speaking of stage one kechari, which is the tongue lifted and pulled back comfortably on the roof of the mouth.

In stage two kechari, with the tongue behind and above the soft palate, there can also be stinging or burning sensations in the early stages. Even much later on it can be stingy sometimes. This is a cyclical thing having to do with the ongoing process of purification. Most of the time the nasal pharynx is conducive for stage two kechari. Sometimes it is not. So we go with what is working at the time. That goes for stage one or stage two kechari, and any other yoga practice for that matter. We don't force things.

So, as you pull away from the intensity of the experience you are doing the right thing. You will be invited back soon enough.

All these symptoms and perturbations pass as the course of purification in the nervous system advances. We keep applying that gentle persuasion in our yoga practices, moving forward when we can, and holding back when there is some limiting symptom occurring. Like that we keep pressing forward comfortably on the road to ecstatic bliss and enlightenment.

Going into kechari is an important part of the evolution in this process. It is a move toward whole body ecstatic conductivity, and happens automatically when the nervous system is ready. Our bhakti takes us up.

The guru is in you.

Note: For instructions on kechari mudra, see the Asanas, Mudras and Bandas book.

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