Kriya Yoga for Beginners: How to Start, Practise at Home and Stay Safe

First, a little orientation

Kriya Yoga is a path of pranayama, mantra and meditation. The tradition we teach from was revived by Mahavatar Babaji, passed to Lahiri Mahasaya in 1861, and carried to the West by Paramahansa Yogananda, who arrived in the USA in 1920 and published Autobiography of a Yogi in 1946. Yogananda described it this way: "Kriya Yoga is an instrument through which human evolution can be quickened."

That sentence can sound grand. In practice, the beginning of Kriya is modest. You learn to sit well, to notice the breath, to calm the mind with a sound, and to turn attention inward along the spine. Nothing about this is secret, and nothing about it requires initiation. Our overview of what Kriya Yoga is gives the background; this article is about practising.

One honest note before we go further. We teach foundational Kriya pranayama, mantra and meditation within Vipassana.ca retreats. We are not an initiating body; formal Kriya initiation (diksha) is given by lineage organisations such as Self-Realization Fellowship / Yogoda Satsanga Society and Kriya Yoga International. We say more about that below.

What beginners practise first

If you have read about the higher Kriya techniques and feel you should be doing them already, let that go. Every teacher in the tradition asks new students to build a foundation first, and that foundation is modest: a steady seat, watching the natural breath, letting it become slow and diaphragmatic, the Hong-Sau technique Yogananda taught publicly, the sound of Om, and a few minutes of gentle spinal-breathing visualisation without any retention. There is no breath holding, no energetic lock and no advanced technique in it, and that is deliberate. This is the whole of it for the first months, and it is enough. The routine below puts those elements in order.

A 15–20 minute home routine

Setting up

You do not need a dedicated room, only a spot that is the same every day, so that sitting there becomes a signal to the mind. Use a firm chair with your feet flat on the floor, or a cushion that raises your hips above your knees; comfort over tradition. Face a wall or a plain corner rather than a window or screen. Keep a shawl over the shoulders, because the body cools as it settles, especially in a Canadian winter. Put the phone in another room; if you use it as a timer, set it and place it behind you.

The times below are suggestions; the whole routine can be done in twelve minutes. Lengthen only when it feels easy.

1. Settle into posture (1–2 minutes)

Sit with the spine upright but not rigid, as if a thread lifted gently from the crown of the head. Chin level. Shoulders back and down. Hands resting palms-up on the thighs, or one in the other in the lap. Close the eyes and let the gaze rest softly upward, toward the point between the eyebrows, without straining. Take a moment to feel the weight of the body on the seat.

2. Om, aloud (1–2 minutes)

Take an easy breath and chant Om on the out-breath, letting the sound be long and low. Repeat three to six times. Then chant it more softly, and finally only inwardly, hearing the sound in the mind. Om marks the beginning of practice and quietens the body quickly.

3. Breath awareness (3 minutes)

Let the breath be natural. Do not change it. Simply notice it: the cool air at the nostrils, the rise and fall of the belly, the small pause at the end of each breath. When the mind wanders, and it will, notice that it has wandered and return without comment. This is the whole practice in miniature.

4. Slow, even breathing (2–3 minutes)

Now invite the breath to deepen and slow, led by the diaphragm. The belly expands on the inhale, softens on the exhale. The inhale and exhale become roughly the same length, unhurried, silent. There is no holding and no counting. If you notice any strain or light-headedness, you are slowing the breath too much; let it return to normal and continue watching.

5. Hong-Sau (5–8 minutes)

Let the breath return to its natural rhythm; you are no longer controlling it. As the breath flows in, mentally hear the syllable "hong". As it flows out, mentally hear "sau". Follow the breath with the two sounds, as if the breath itself were saying them. Do not regulate the breath. If it becomes shallow, let it. If there is a long pause between breaths, rest in the pause. Each time the mind slips away, return to the next breath and its syllable. This is the heart of the routine and the practice most worth lengthening over time.

6. Spinal-breathing visualisation (2–3 minutes)

Keep the breath natural and easy. As you breathe in, imagine the breath travelling up from the base of the spine to the point between the eyebrows. As you breathe out, imagine it travelling back down. There is no retention, no sound and no effort to feel anything in particular. It is a gentle direction for the attention, nothing more. A few minutes is enough; this is preparation, not the formal technique.

7. Sit in stillness, then close (1–2 minutes)

Let go of every technique and simply sit in whatever quiet has gathered. When you are ready, chant Om once more, softly. Take a moment to notice how you feel before opening the eyes. Then stand slowly.

Twenty minutes, start to finish. Done most mornings, this is Kriya Yoga at the foundational level, practised correctly.

Keeping it going

Starting is easy. Continuing is the whole art.

• Same time, same place. Morning before the household wakes is best for most people; early evening before dinner is the next choice. Avoid sitting straight after a large meal.
• Attach it to something you already do. After the kettle goes on; before the first coffee; after the dog's morning walk. Habits that follow existing habits survive.
• Shorten rather than skip. On a hard morning, do five minutes of Hong-Sau and leave it there. The chain stays unbroken, and the chain is what matters.
• Expect the dip. Somewhere around week three, the novelty wears off and the benefit is not yet obvious. Most people who stop, stop here. Knowing that in advance helps you sit through it.
• Find company. A friend who sits at the same time, an online course, or a retreat once in a while. Practice done alone for ever tends to fade.

What to expect in the first weeks

The early weeks are rarely dramatic, and that is a good sign. Most beginners report the following.

• Restlessness. The mind complains. Ten minutes feels long. This is normal and improves with repetition, not effort.
• Sleepiness. Sitting still with closed eyes after a full day can bring on drowsiness. Practising earlier, or splashing the face with cool water first, usually helps.
• Small moments of quiet. Somewhere in the second or third week, many people notice a few breaths where the mind is simply still. These moments are brief and cannot be forced. They are the first taste of what the practice offers.
• Better sleep and a longer fuse. Practitioners often describe feeling less reactive and settling more easily at night. Not a guarantee, only a common experience.

What you should not expect is a rush of energy, visions or anything resembling the kundalini accounts that circulate online. Foundational Kriya practice is calming. If something feels intense or alarming, stop and rest; if it recurs, speak with a teacher.

Common beginner mistakes

We see the same handful of mistakes at nearly every retreat. None are serious, and all are easy to correct.

1. Trying to do too much. Attempting advanced Kriya techniques from a book or a video. The techniques are not the problem; practising them without correction is.
2. Forcing the breath. Holding the breath to "get more out of it", or breathing so slowly that the body tenses. Foundational practice never involves retention, and slow breathing should feel easy.
3. Practising irregularly. One long session on Sunday does less than ten minutes every morning. Consistency is the whole game early on.
4. Judging the session. A restless sitting in which you kept returning to the breath is a successful sitting. There are no bad sittings, only missed ones.
5. Skipping posture. Slumping on the sofa, then wondering why the mind will not settle.
6. Hunting for experiences. Seeking energy, lights or visions is the fastest way to misuse the practice. Kriya is about stillness. The rest, if it comes, comes on its own.

Is Kriya Yoga dangerous? Safety and contraindications

It is a fair question. The honest answer is: the foundations are not dangerous, and the advanced practices can be if misused.

The worry usually comes from three places. The first is the body of kundalini stories online: surges of energy, insomnia, emotional upheaval after intensive practice. Most involve techniques that are not Kriya at all, or advanced Kriya practised far beyond what the person was prepared for; our page on Kriya Yoga vs Kundalini Yoga explains why the two are so often confused. The second is breath retention, which done wrongly can cause dizziness, anxiety and, in people with certain conditions, real harm. The third is the culture of intensity: people practising for hours, alone, from a video, with no one to tell them to slow down. That is not a Kriya problem. It is a guidance problem.

The routine above is among the calmest practice in all of yoga. It lowers arousal rather than raising it, and the tradition has taught it publicly for a century. The formal Kriya technique is a different matter. It is more concentrated, works directly with the breath and the attention along the spine, and is traditionally given through initiation precisely because it deserves supervision. Anyone who claims to teach it from a webpage, including us, should be treated with caution.

What is genuinely risky

• Forced breath retention. Holding the breath beyond comfort, or chasing counts and ratios found online, is the most common cause of the dizziness, tingling and panic people report.
• Advanced techniques without preparation. Attempting the formal technique or energetic practices from written instructions. Most of the alarming stories trace back here.
• Excessive practice. Several hours a day, alone, in the first months. A short daily sitting is safer and more effective than a marathon.
• Ignoring the body's signals. Pushing through dizziness, chest tightness, nausea or rising anxiety. These are instructions to stop, not obstacles to overcome.
• Using practice to avoid care. Treating meditation as a replacement for medical or psychological help when that help is needed.

None of these are inherent to Kriya. All of them are avoidable with a little humility and a teacher.

Contraindications: who should be cautious

The breath affects the heart, the blood pressure and the nervous system. Please speak with a doctor before beginning any breath practice beyond simple awareness, and avoid retention and vigorous techniques unless cleared, if any of the following apply:

• Pregnancy
• Uncontrolled high blood pressure
• Heart conditions
• Epilepsy
• Recent surgery
• Panic disorder or a history of panic attacks

This is not an exhaustive list, and we are not doctors. If you have any condition that affects your breathing, heart or nervous system, ask your physician, and tell your teacher before the first session. For most people on this list the gentle foundations remain appropriate; what changes is the pace, and the firm exclusion of retention and intensity.

How to practise safely

1. Stay with the foundations for a while. No retention. If this sounds too simple, that is the point.
2. Never force the breath. Slow breathing should feel easy. If you are counting, straining or feeling light-headed, let the breath return to normal and sit quietly.
3. Stop if you feel dizzy. Open the eyes, breathe normally, and wait until it passes. If it recurs, speak to a teacher and, if you have any of the conditions above, a doctor.
4. Keep sessions short. Ten to twenty minutes daily is plenty for the first year.
5. Keep the rest of life sane. Sleep, eat, move, see people. A practice that isolates you is drifting off course.

What not to attempt alone

The routine above is safe because of what it leaves out. Please leave it out until you have a teacher: breath retention (kumbhaka) in any form; energetic techniques such as bandhas, rapid or forceful breathing, and anything described as raising energy; the formal Kriya technique itself; and sessions of an hour or more a day in the first months. This one rule, learning retention and energetic techniques from a teacher only, would prevent most of the problems people write about.

When to seek a teacher, and what initiation is

You can begin the practices above on your own, today. There are two points at which outside help becomes important.

The first is early. Home practice has one weakness: no one is watching. Small errors in posture or breathing go uncorrected for months, and questions go unanswered. A teacher can correct both in a single session and spot the habits that will cause problems later. This is the kind of guidance we offer at our retreats, in a small group, with time for individual attention. Many people find that one guided day does more for their home practice than a year of sitting alone.

The second point is further along, when you want to learn the formal Kriya technique itself. That technique is traditionally transmitted through initiation (diksha) by a lineage organisation, after a period of preparation. Self-Realization Fellowship / Yogoda Satsanga Society, which Yogananda founded, offers it through a structured lessons programme; Kriya Yoga International and others also give initiation, with preparation and ongoing guidance. We encourage students who feel drawn to go deeper to seek initiation through one of them. We do not offer it and do not claim to. Our lineage page explains how these organisations relate to the tradition.

Think of the path in two stages: a foundation you can build now, with or without us, and a formal transmission you receive later, from a lineage. The foundation makes the transmission more fruitful, and the people who come to harm are rarely the ones who went this route. They are the ones who tried to skip it.

A one-day retreat as a first step

For most beginners the best first step is not a course or a book but a single day of guided practice. The one-day Vipassana retreats in Calgary and Edmonton teach the whole foundation described above in one sitting, in a silent group, with a teacher correcting posture and breath; the programme contains no retention or advanced technique, and a gentler version of every practice is available if you have a health condition, so tell us when you register. You go home the same evening with a routine you can repeat the next morning. Where to join us across the country, in person and online, is set out city by city on our home page.