Yoga teacher – job or vocation?
For those who are think-
ing of becoming yoga
teachers, there are many
ways and offers avail-
able today. What should
one look for in the yoga
“marketplace”? The
offers range from one
weekend, four weeks,
education in accordance
with the minimum Euro-
pean standard of the
yoga unions of about
650 teaching units (of
45 minutes), to the more
comprehensive and pro-
found studies of yoga
schools, yoga colleges “1968, Paramahansa Satyananda taught us personally in all
and yoga universities. disciplines. Ability and wisdom is passed on through direct human understanding and expertise -
contact, through living together and guidance, this is a genuine takes commitment and
Obviously, we cannot really
teach yoga when we have only
learned it from books. We may get a
first introduction that way, but then
must come a deeper exploration into this
universal and many faceted teaching.
At that point we must look for a quali-
fied yoga teacher, who can contribute
to our physical and mental health,
and make our life more spiritual.
As yoga has become more
mechanical and fashionable, we often
meet yoga as something merely
technical, reduced to a number

By Dr. Daya Mullins, European College of Yoga and Therapy, Germany
it is just the first step … to
be carried on from there.
People usually see them-
selves in the image given
to them by the surroundings,
and they strive to adapt
to this image. But living
on such a concept probably
feels rather empty. In our
society there is a risk, a
tendency, to emphasize
living the outer life, getting
hooked on power, thereby
neglecting or totally ignoring
the ability to live from the
inside.
To draw on the teachings of
yoga, in order to eventually
become a yoga teacher -
moving to higher levels of
tradition.” (Swami Janakananda) perseverance. If you are lucky
enough to find a teacher that
of exercises thrown in with no you correspond with it becomes
understanding of their use, or how easier, but learning to emphasize the
each step is built on the previous one inner work is not without effort.
and forms a holistic teaching.
  Therefore, it is important to realize As yoga teachers or yoga teacher
what you are looking for, and what aspirants there is an important choice
you are willing to give to acheive it: to be made, the choice between
Set your goal and pursue it when you imagination and reality - this should
have a clear purpose. Yoga teaching is be based on the insight that if we
too often limited to “let’s work-out do not really live our own lives, but
together and have a nice cup of tea rather after other people’s opinions
afterwards” ...this is nice, but for those, and concepts, we live in an illusion.
who wish and long for a deeper insight,   Should we live on adoring others,
or should we find our individual inner
path, exploring who we really are
and enriching our lives? Making this
choice in favour of being, and acting
upon it can be a self-
initiation to the path
of yoga.
We can find a teacher
that we are delighted
with, but the task we
receive in yoga is to
live fully and adapt to
the reality of our own
life. A serious teacher
will challenge us, that
is in the very nature
of things, how else
can the student learn
to bridge the often
limited ways of
thinking and reacting?
However, the student
will have a feeling
of being understood “Transformation is better than indoctrination. 1968, Swamiji
and supported by the instructs us in intestinal cleansing.” (Swami Janakananda)
teacher. Should that not be the case,
it may be time to look for a better
suited teacher.
So clearly, as yoga practitioners
wishing to become yoga teachers we
have the task of finding out where
we stand, where we want to go…and
how. If there is a serious interest,
there has to be the corresponding
commitment and a decision to make
a prolonged effort in a long-term
training plus a daily individual
practice. Four years of study to
become a yoga teacher can here
be seen as a necessary minimum,
although the task is a lifelong one.
You can find authentic teachers, but
you must look carefully. Take time to
get a sense of the teacher that you
are drawn to, how he/she works, and
how you feel in his/her presence. The
surroundings have a big influence on
the individual. They can bring out the
best in us or strong negative sides in
our character, so we should think of
the seriousness and commitment of
the fellow students.
  There are many superficial offers
of yoga today, and some teach a
yoga that has not reached the inner
yoga, but has remained in the outer
glamour. That is inconsistent with the
spirit of yoga, which offers a teaching
so profound that it can only really
be revealed and understood through
skilful and attentive application over
a long time.
Contents
Most of the stress we 4
generate ourselves...
Yoga helps against diseases created by
blockages in the coronary arteries of the
heart. An interview with professor Larry
Scherwitz, leader of the Institute for pre-
ventive medicine in Sausalito, California.
Kriya Yoga 8
On initiating and being initiated into
advanced Kriya Yoga
by Swami Janakananda
Maybe one might learn a simple version
of Kriya Yoga over a weekend, but the
great Tantric Kriya Yoga demands more
- both of the teacher and of the student.
Swami Janakananda 25
in Europe and Australia
Lectures, Satsangs, Seminars and
Retreats with Swami Janakananda.
Yoga shop 26
with books, CD’s, etc.
Intensive retreats 27
Håå Course Centre in the south of
Sweden offers the ideal conditions to
unwind, go deeper and discover your
own potential with the help of the out-
standing methods taught there. Course
programme for the coming year.
The pictures on page 13, 15 and 19 are
from “Mithila”, an area in Bihar in India,
where particularly the women decorate
the walls of the houses. The pictures are
not superficial ornaments, their origin is
the strong primitive source of folk art,
where also, in ancient times, the tantric
yantras have their origin. This art is called
Madhubani after a village in the area. See
list of illustrations on page 26.

Most of the stress we generate ourselves...
There is a worldwide interest
in the treatment results from
“the San Francisco Lifestyle
Heart Trial” – especially regard-
ing the long term results in the
treaty “Lifestyle Changes and
coronary heart diseases”. Pro-
fessor Thomas Schmidt from
the medical college in Hanover
and Professor Larry Scherwitz,
director of the Institute of pre-
ventive medicine in Sausalito,
California, discuss this at a
seminar at the AHG-clinic at
Schweriner See in Germany. Professor Larry Scherwitz relates that the use of yoga, relaxation
and meditation is effective in the rehabilitation of heart patients.
Schmidt: What reactions have you Why such an international interest? movement to find new methods that
had on the results you’ve achieved? Well, the interest is there because the fit in with conventional treatment.
Scherwitz: More than 350 hospitals programme works. When patients What is new in this context, is
have contacted our institute and shown follow this they lose weight, their that it empowers the patients to do
an interest. The press has been enthu- blood pressure can come down, their something for themselves.
siastic with articles in the newspapers chest pain diminishes in a short time,
and editorials in journals. Patients usually within two weeks, their This is a pretty comprehensive
have come from all over the USA to exercise capacity increases, their change in life style, how have you
participate in our programmes, so we hostility is reduced, their depression managed to get the patients to
have been full up with more than 400 seems to abate, and, as our results in continue even after five years?
patients a year. We have also trained the San Fransisco trial indicate: the We developed some routines that
the staff at 12 hospitals in the use of arteries tend to open up with intense turned out to be an appropriate way
this programme - so now heart patients practice of this programme. to treat heart disease.
are being treated all across the USA.   Additionally, in the States, and   Our staff was also following
perhaps in Europe as well, there is a the programme with the diet, yoga
Has there been an interest from
other countries than the USA? Among many publications written by Larry Scherwitz and his colleagues, e.g. Dean Ornish, we have
Yes, we have conducted eight research chosen to refer to one which this discussion is based on: “Can Intensive Lifestyle Changes Reverse
Coronary Heart Disease Without Lipid-Lowering Drugs? Five Year Followup of the Lifestyle Heart Trial”,
studies, four in the USA, two in Ger- Journal of the American Medical Association 280, No. 23, 1998. Authors: Ornish D, Scherwitz L,
many, one in Holland, and one in India. Billing J, Gould L, Merritt T, Sparler S, Armstrong W, Ports T, Kirkeeide R, Hogeboom C, Brand R.


exercises and the meditation. They
were enthusiastic about it.
  We co-operated with physicians
who referred patients to us.
  When we asked the patients:
“How can you follow this?”, they’d
answer: “We help each other. We
make a close bond together”. Sharing
experiences and opening up to one
another on an emotional level it
seemed to help them to feel like
a team following a programme.
By practicing the programme they
helped their fellow patients to do
the same. We think this opening of
the emotional heart helped open the
vessels. It seems that the patients
who were most affectionate to one
another had the greatest opening of
the vessels.
Do you think that the method of
rehabilitation used in San Francisco
can be successfully adapted to the
conditions in Germany?
Theoretically, Germany has a better
potential for doing this programme
than any country in the world. You
have the infrastructure for the
rehabilitation programme, you have
an insurance network that can pay for
it, you have an abundance of heart
patients, so theoretically it can work
better here than anywhere. The
challenges are the resistance to it.
The idea that patients can’t do this, or
the ignorance about what this is. The
fact that many of the doctors and
nurses don’t have any training
themselves in this means that they
don't really understand it. So there is
some resistance that we need to
overcome.
  I think that if we had a good
demonstration study here, and good
publicity for the results, then more
people would be open to this
approach.
At the cardiac rehabilitation clinic
AHG in Wölitzsee in Berlin, preven-
tive methods as you describe, such
as stress management, antidotal
treatment for smokers, physical
exercise and a diet programme are
given as components in a three-week
rehabilitation programme. Which
intensity should these preventive
measures have to achieve a lasting
effect on the patients?
Stress management is very
important.
  We find that the stress-
management with the use
of yoga is one of the most
powerful components to
achieve a reversal of the
blockages in the coronary
arteries.
  If patients just exercise a little,
follow a low fat diet and take
their medication, they still get a
progression of the disease over a five
year period.
  But if they do all of these things,
and also do an hour of yoga daily,
they can stop the disease from
progressing. And if they do more, if
they do an hour and a half of yoga,
and follow the diet and exercise and
come to the groups, they can actually
reverse the blockages so that the
arteries open up. But the programme
must be intensive for them to get a
reversal of the heart disease.
In your study stress management
means traditional yoga programmes.
Is that right?
There are five components: There is
stretching ...
That is yoga asanas?
Yes, yoga asanas. There’s breathing
techniques, there’s deep relaxation,
there’s meditation and visualization.
And all five together make a hand
that can grab the stress and reduce
it. We have shown in study after
study that the more they practise
the yoga exercises, the lower the
cholesterol goes, independent of diet.
The hostility diminishes too, and
the exercise tolerance increases, even
when the exercise level is kept
the same, but with more yoga.
So there's both psychological and
physical benefits from the yoga - plus
the opening of the arteries.
The capacity of the heart to pump blood
increased by more than 6% in the trial
group after one months intensive work
with the Lifestyle Heart Trial programme
(dark grey column).
During the same period of time the control
group became 2% worse (light grey column).


How much yoga do your patients do
every day?
Out of the eight studies we’ve done,
the German patients have done the
most yoga. They did 110 minutes of
yoga a day. Even three months after
they were ready at the clinic they were
still doing this much yoga every day.
So they liked yoga?
They liked it very much, and they
followed it very well. And these
people were working. They were
driving to work and so forth. They
had managed to work this in to their
life style, they made a change.
So yoga training should be the
main component in a rehabilitation
programme for cardiac patients?
We've never seen a patient get a
reversal of disease who didn’t do

yoga. So our results suggest that it’s a
critical component to getting reversal.
It is not easy to reverse this disease.
It’s like a freight train that just keeps
going, and when a truck comes across
the intersection it has to stop and it's
very hard to stop it. And then to back
the train up is even harder. So the
yoga is a very important thing for
stopping the train, and for getting it
to back up.
Which of the various components
is the most important one, if you
cannot do everything?
I’ve very seldom done a presentation
when I wasn’t asked this question,
and I usually answer with another
question: “How many legs does a
dog have?” Normally four: There
are four components: Diet, exercise,
stress management [yoga, breathing
exercises, relaxation and meditation]
and group support. Which of these
legs is most important for a dog to
be able to run? They’re all necessary,
they all work together.
  The stress management helps the
group support become deeper. When
things are a little tense in the group
we sit back and do a little breathing.
So the stress management helps the
group, the diet helps the exercise. All
the legs need to run together to stop
this train.
Yoga has an age old tradition, but
today it is often used in a superficial
way, and sometimes people call them-
selves yoga teachers who have not
had a proper and thorough training.
Do you think that it is important that
people that teach these yoga and
meditation techniques really know
what they are doing?
The training for the yoga teacher is
very important. We have found in
teaching the 12 hospital groups that it
doesn't work so well to take a nurse
and teach her yoga for six weeks, and
then have her to be the yoga teacher.
It's better to take a yoga teacher who
has been practising for 20 years and
teach him or her some medicine -
about the heart and how to take care
of patients.
  So it’s not simply a little training
that’s important. The transformation
of who one is, that one knows
oneself, is something one achieves
through many years of work with
oneself - that one has peace and
confidence and inner enthusiasm
motivates the patients to use yoga
too. So it's very critical.
  I wouldn't want a yoga teacher to
have less training than a physician, or
a surgeon. Our experience is that we
need dedicated yoga teachers who've
been doing this for a long time.
Is the programme cheaper than the
traditional way of treating heart
patients?
I think this has to be answered in
the long term. We've done a short-
term study of three years with 477
patients in eight treatment centres in
the United States. We found that if
a patient is facing a bypass surgery
or an angioplasty and chooses to
do our programme instead, 90% of
the patients appear to be able to
avoid having the operation, in that
short period. We don't know yet
what would happen after another five
years. So it saves money for those
patients who are about to incur a
major expense. We don't know yet if
patients are stable, or whether it will
save money in the long run.
  So the answer is a partial answer.
We have had patients who were on
Here is a group of
patients doing yoga,
shown on a slide during
one of Professor Larry
Scherwitzes lectures. As
one can see it is yoga
based on the classical
yoga asanas. The pose
on this picture is
shoulderstand.
  The somewhat poor quality
of the pictures in this article is
due to the fact that the seminar
was documented on videotape.
the transplant list to get a new heart,
which is an extremely expensive pro-
cedure. They have gotten off that list
and have become so much better that
they do not need a new heart, and
that's very cost effective.
How could the best possible treatment
for these patients be developed in the
future?
I think that science needs to go hand
in hand with the health policy as
well as with publicity. In terms of
the science, we have shown that the
vessel appears to open, but we do
not know what has happened to the
actual structure of the blockage, and
the consistency of the scar tissue. For
example, the intercellular cholesterol,
is it leached out? What happens to the
calcium deposit? What happens to the
fibrous cap? We need to know what’s
happening when people get reversal.
  We need to do further research
where we get patients to do the
programme intensively, and to have
examinations before and after on the
vessel structure. This is also a part of
the scientific work.
  In terms of public policy, it is
important that patients can choose what
approach they want to take. There
should be a well-trained staff available
that can recommend the programme
through their own practice as well as
through other patients’.
  The cause of heart disease should
be considered. It’s not simply a list of
risk factors. It appears to have some-
thing to do with fulfillment and with
love and connectedness, and there-
fore the spirit must be taken more
into consideration. I would like to
hear the word spirituality used more
in this context. We don't use that
word anymore, but that sense of
being connected, and that we're all
part of the living process is I think
important to engender in the healing
of heart disease.
One has to consider very carefully
where the source of stress comes from.
I think that the perception that stress
is on the outside, that it comes from
work, and that if you stop work the
stress will go away. But there's
another way to look at it. Most of the
stress we generate ourselves. I mean,
in this country and in the United
States and in other Western European
countries we have enough to eat, we
have shelter, but we generate our own
stress from the inside.
  So advice about this needs to come
from a deep understanding of the
person you are dealing with, and how
that person interacts in the world
- and from where this person gets
a sense of being needed and of
fulfillment.

The Greenhouse, the Process and the Ritual
On initiating and being initiated into advanced Kriya Yoga, by Swami Janakananda
In a way Kriya yoga is like music; it is not enough to have an instrument “As breath turns from down to up,
in your hand, you must also wish to play – and when you have learnt to and again as breath curves from
play, the art is to play so well that it satisfies yourself and others - you up to down - through both these
may later become a master. turns, realise.”
  The two first conditions are made possible during the initiation, the   “Or, when breath is all up and
last with use. stopped of itself, or all down and
  Kriya means process, a process that primarily cleanses and stopped - in such universal pause,
strengthens – creating lightness of body and clarity of mind. This is the one’s small self vanishes.”
base, from here you go on. (Vigyana Bhairava Tantra)


Introduction So the aim is not to create a Kriya Yoga is experienced in an exact
In order for the student to be able superficial euphoric excitement or to and at the same time artistic way,
to use Kriya Yoga independently after get a hasty technical knowledge of a side by side with other methods that
the initiation, first the teacher must few exercises, it is to have time to help to keep the mind open and the
be able to lead him or her through reach the essence of life itself. process going.
another form of experience than that
of “just” instructing a few methods. “…yoga means, not this realization, …not to be cast before swine
  During the initiation the student is but the means by which it is attained. “If you want success, use Kriya
not left alone, neither with soaring Yoga is thus a term for those Yoga”, I once heard Paramahansa
expectations nor with ideas of what physical and psychical processes, Satyananda say.
is, or is not, possible. which are used to discover man’s   I almost started to laugh; it
  The initiation must ensure that you inner essence, which is the Supreme. sounded just like a commercial for
experience the methods in the most   It is thus not a result, hair pomade from the fifties.
profound manner – and that you can but the process,
utilize those kriyas that give strength method, or
and openness, to tackle what you practice,
meet on the way. by which this
  To become one with yourself, and result is
to be able to communicate with attained.”
others from your self, this is an   (Sir John
important result of an initiation. Woodroffe,
  The course must be arranged The Serpent
and must proceed in such a way Power, about
that guide and aspirant can travel Laya-Krama
together through states and dimensi- Yoga, which also
ons, meet and come to terms with includes Kriya
inhibitions, fear and frustration and Yoga.)
achieve insight and knowledge.
  Then you can progress with what To receive
we call spiritual “development”. a pearl…
Actually, this is not really develop- Kriya Yoga
ment, rather an insight about or a is not taught
discovery of dormant possibilities, from a book.
which already exist and which are   Kriya Yoga
awakened and made conscious during is not learnt
the process – a transformation of from a book.
the state you already know into
something deeper and greater.
Dedicated to Paramhansa Satyananda – see the ill.
(1968) – and to those who wish to live up to the teaching
he gave us personally in his tantric meditation period in
the sixties and the early seventies.


  Today, more than 30 years later, I
have to agree with Swami Satyananda,
the statement is not an empty one. But:
“You cannot force another person to
be happy.” (Swami Yogananda)
To get the full benefit from Kriya
Yoga you must have purpose in life
and a sense of what you want to do
with yourself.
It is true that an important part of
Kriya Yoga is the depth you achieve,
but if you do not take initiatives and
lead an active life, you will have no
idea of what to do with the increased
energy and inspiration, which you
also get from this practice.
Why an initiation, couldn’t
you just…?
The first impulse to write about the
demands that must be made on the
teaching of Kriya Yoga I got in 1990,
on my first trip to Australia and New
Zealand. There I met people who
had learnt Kriya Yoga in a way not
consistent with what I had learnt,
used, and experienced as a teacher.
  These people had had effects which
were not the ones intended and some
had lost the desire to use what they
had learnt; therefore they came on my
course with questions which made
me examine what had happened.
  There had been no mention of a real
initiation. It had been a question of
technical instructions within a super-
ficial teaching with no check made to
see if even the most fundamental
kriyas had been properly carried out.
Further, the learning of the kriyas had
been split up into several courses, so
10
that the students came home after the
first course with an incomplete picture
of the process. Several people had
not finished the course.
  The students had been given no
knowledge of the individual kriyas
and their function relative to the larger
context. Nor had they experienced using
the programme of kriyas on their own.
  It must have been like reading
notes to a composition in several
sessions, without knowing how to
play the music and without being able
to experience the whole.
In different places in Europe, also,
people have asked me what to do with
various experiences, or told me that,
considering what they had learnt,
they hadn’t got what they expected.
  This could of course be due to
high expectations. However, I allow
myself to doubt this, the effect of
Kriya Yoga cannot be mistaken, if
learnt properly. It could therefore
depend on the teacher not having the
necessary knowledge about this dyna-
mic meditation, and not having taught
it on the basis of personal use and
experience. Or the person concerned
hasn’t had the time or the courage to
give the students the possibility to go
through a thorough and deep-going
process – the teaching has not taken
place under the right circumstances.
  Here, of course, I am referring to
the advanced Tantric Kriya Yoga,
which contains more than twenty
effective kriyas.
Before the initiation itself the student
should be prepared body and mind,
with a warm-up that lasts at least a
week (on a one-month course) and this
is on the condition that the student
has participated on courses before
and learnt to use the preparatory
exercises at home. On a three-month
course the warm-up lasts five weeks.
  When the initiation is finally under
way, it is vital that you have time
to deal with everything that happens
along the way. Together with the
student the teacher must be able
to live through a process, where
experiences and energy are used in
such a way that you really experience
the essence of Kriya Yoga.
  By going all the way, with
a carefully planned process, no
“subconscious eruptions” (in the
words of Swami Satyananda) will
occur later on, when the student uses
the meditation at home.
  Having said this, I must add that to
a great extent it naturally depends on
you – both when you prepare yourself
before the initiation, during the expe-
rience of the actual process and later
when using Kriya Yoga on your own.
“During this course you have taught
me to appreciate Kriya Yoga more
and more as a ritual. That is, I have
started to understand the benefit of
constantly interrupting my present
state, with a bend of the head or by
shifting position between two kriyas,
or whatever else we do during the
process. I trust, or rather I feel strongly
that the geniuses who invented Kriya
Yoga, have known how to trigger my
mind in the right way. The best I can
do is to take it easy and follow the
method, and experience the kriya I
am doing, before I go on to the next.
  This is, for me, a new attitude, the meditations and practises, which
which has changed my relation to the the Tantric Kriya Yoga consists of.
individual kriyas …instead of strai-
ning, I allow myself to let go. The
effect of this is still more harmonious 3 steps of Tantric Kriya Yoga:
than that which I have experienced Beginners Kriya Yoga consists of
before.” (Gunnar, a Swedish student five small kriyas. In our school we
who has used Kriya Yoga for some call this variation Source of Energy.
time and is now back at Håå to expe- Originally it was called the little
rience yet another Kriya Yoga course.) Ajapa Japa or Vishuddhi Shuddhi -
now it is called weekend Kriya Yoga
“Oh Swamiji, I saw all these wonder- by some, though not by us.
ful colours”, said June Jackson   Vishuddhi Shuddhi means “that
(psychologist from Australia) on a which cleanses Vishuddhi Chakra”,
course in India in 1973. the throat chakra or the purification
  Swami Satyananda answered: chakra, but it doesn’t only include
“Was that what you were supposed to Vishuddhi. The psychic cleansing
be doing?” And he continued: referred to here is part of the
“Remember, two thirds of your mind preparations necessary to learn the
on the technique, one third on the actual Kriya Yoga.
experiences.”   We teach this beginner method
both at our city schools and on
All that glitters is not gold ”People attend university for years to get weekend courses. On our retreats at
In the last few years the concept an education, which they can use for Håå International Course Centre in
of Kriya Yoga has been devalued, if only a few decades of their lives – how Sweden it is taught as a preparation
the words are meant to signify the many spend just a few weeks or months for the Ajapa Japa, see below.
meditation practise that Swami Yoga- on their spiritual growth, a growth that   About the effects see Bindu no 2.
nanda first introduced in the west, is important for their whole life and   A complete instruction of this
and which Swami Satyananda then more?”      (Swami Satyananda) method is found in my book, “Yoga,
showed us in its full potency. Tantra and Meditation in Daily Life”,
  I wrote my first article about Kriya The advanced Tantric Kriya Yoga chapter 11 page 114-115.
Yoga in Bindu 1994. At the time little should not be mistaken for the “kriya
mention was made of it and not much yoga” that you can learn over a week- Intermediate Kriya Yoga consists
teaching was going on elsewhere. end or in a week, nor with the physical of nine kriyas and is called Ajapa
I had then been teaching advanced cleansing processes Hatha Yoga Kriya Japa in our tradition. This is taught
Kriya Yoga for twenty-three years. or Shat Karma, which are a part of on our 10- and 14-day courses.
  Shortly thereafter the word became the preparations for the initiation.   The name Ajapa Japa was originally
fashionable, and you heard Kriya Yoga   In “Yoga Sutra” you can also used for the fifth step in Japa- or Mantra
talked about everywhere. People who read about Kriya Yoga, but there Yoga. It described a spontaneous
didn’t know about the original Kriya it is about something completely repetition or experience of the mantra.
Yoga got the idea to call other sorts of different, namely the attitudes and   Later the name Ajapa Japa came
yoga Kriya Yoga. All of a sudden you disciplines in Raja Yoga, which to describe a simple meditation where
could learn Kriya Yoga over a weekend. Patanjali represents, not at all about you synchronise breath and mantra.

11
Ajapa Japa, in relation to the Tantric
Kriya Yoga, is a meditation consisting
of nine different kriyas or processes,
among them a special breath, a
mantra and the use of the flows of
vital energy in relation to the chakras
or psychic centres of the body.
“Place your whole attention in the
nerve, delicate as the lotus thread, in
the center of your spinal column. In
such be transformed.”
  (Vigyana Bhairava Tantra)
Ajapa Japa is a necessary part of the
preparations for Kriya Yoga.
Swami Yogananda often just gave
parts of this meditation to his
students in America.
The psychic breath
One of the basic components of these
meditations is the psychic breath. It
has many names: Ujjayi Pranayama,
Kriya Kundalini Pranayama or the
breath of the psychic heat.
The importance of correct instruction
Straining, faulty sound or none at
all, no pauses after the in- or
out breath, can give incorrect and
unintentional results, similar to for
instance hyperventilation.
  It is therefore important that the
teacher knows this breath from his or
her own practise and can instruct and
correct the student with confidence.
  I unfortunately have heard of one
incident in India where an Australian
woman was assigned to instruct this
breath to a group of people. It was
done in such a gross and superficial
12
way that one doubts whether the
instructor had personal knowledge of
this wonderful instrument. We received
a student from the above-mentioned
course in India at Håå Course Centre.
When we checked his psychic breath
we didn’t recognise it - he didn’t really
know, either, what it was supposed to
be good for.
  When the psychic breath is
performed in the correct manner it
can strengthen the energy field of the
body, normalise the blood pressure,
remove depression and give rise to a
stable meditative state.
Advanced Kriya Yoga and
those who teach
Until a few generations ago Kriya Yoga
was a practice only for Swamis, “it
was our practice”, Swamiji said to me
one day. It was not revealed to others.
  In our time, Swami Yogananda and
Swami Satyananda, among others,
have decided to pass it on and train
a few swamis to teach it. So, apart
from this background, what can you
expect of a teacher?
  Well, apart from purely artistic
abilities and the thoroughness of a
craftsman, my view is that you cannot
teach this unless you have personally
sought the deep and the profound
through this Tantric meditation.
  The person who has not sought this
yoga, and really used it - no matter how
great an authority he or she may have
in the eyes of the world, or in the eyes
of the students - knows nothing about it.
  Ignorance gives rise to preconcep-
tions, and that in turn gives rise to
fear - fear of the unknown. Fear limits
the way yoga is taught and stops
people discovering this spiritual gold.
  As a teacher one must have learnt
this directly from ones teacher, then
have independently delved into it,
have a full-time training of many
years and a long experience as a yoga
and meditation teacher. These must
be the real conditions, not which
club you belong to or whom you are
currently worshipping.
No matter how well an ever so secret
process is described by one who has
learnt the description by heart, but who
doesn’t know the effect of the deeper
processes on him- or herself, it can
never be fully revealed. Even if written
down in the smallest detail, or taught
on the basis of something learned by
heart - without the initiation, being
directly guided, as an unbroken sequence
where all conditions, preparations
and the attitude of the participants are
correct - you cannot speak of an
initiation into Kriya Yoga.
The significance of the guidance
for two of the finer Kriyas is
described by Swami Yogananda in
Autobiography of a Yogi:
  “Sri Yukteswar chose the following
morning to grant me Kriya Yoga
initiation. The technique I had
already received from two disciples
of Lahiri Mahasaya – Father and
my tutor, Swami Kebalananda. But
Master possessed a transforming
power; at his touch a great light
broke upon my being, like the glory
of countless suns blazing together. A
flood of ineffable bliss overwhelmed
my heart to an innermost core.”
Training and celebration - confrontation and insight - harmony and strength
Before the actual initiation even begins,
with all that it entails, those who wish
to participate have to be prepared
where the initiation is to take place.
This means going through an intestinal
cleansing, unwinding, getting used to
participate in the training and
deepening one’s meditation.
  When the initiation is underway
various other meditation methods, yoga
exercises, dance and music etc. support
the sequence, keeping the body supple
and the mind open. It must all continue
undisturbed by outer influences and dis-
tractions - “under ashram conditions”
according to Swami Satyananda.
  The aspirants are living where this
is taking place, and do not leave
during the whole process. Also, the
people working behind the course
with cooking, administration or as
assistant teachers, must have personal
knowledge about and experience of
Kriya Yoga - so that they know what
is going on in the meditation room
and during the process as a whole.
This is not just a question of a giver
and a receiver, but one of interplay
between everyone participating in the
process as a whole.
  For the participant it is important
not to let the desire to “understand” -
like a good little schoolboy or school-
girl - block the ability to experience.
He or she must, in other words,
be prepared to participate whole-
heartedly and with commitment.
  If there is only one person in the
audience who openly experiences the
play, the evening will be a success,”
says the Danish actor Ove Sprogø
about an evening at the theatre.
This seems to be a law of nature,
which applies to all forms of human
expression and interaction. Openness
is inspiring and contagious.
  Also, the teacher must be prepared
to give himself. He must experience
himself as a medium who, on his own
body and in his own mind, meets and
overcomes hindrances and to a certain
extent shares experiences with the
students.
  Therefore the teacher is vulnerable.
Like a snail retracting its feelers at the
slightest touch, or a mimosa quickly
closing its blossom – it doesn’t take
much to kill the creativity needed to
make apparent the secrets of meditation.
13
Just a little distrust, insensitivity or
indifference, expressed through mis-
understanding or lack of awareness,
can be enough. To be sure, many a
genuine teacher has stopped teaching
the real yoga methods prematurely –
others haven’t dared step out of the
sheltering role of guru and enter into
the fellowship of the process, which is
needed for an initiation to happen.
  Yet the Tantric rituals are full of
power and strength, which both guide
and aspirant benefit from.
  With an effective method of meditation
and good guidance measurements have
shown that the brain frequency of those
already in a relaxed state influences
the rest of the group so that they can
reach the same state more easily.
“In the body there are the Supreme
Siva-Shakti who pervade all things. In
the body is Prakriti-Shakti [Nature’s
power] and all Her products. In fact
the body is a vast magazine of Power
(Shakti). The object of the Tantrik
rituals is to raise these various forms
of power to their full expression. This
is the work of Sadhana.” (Sir John
Woodroffe “The Serpent Power”)
What is the purpose of a ritual?
Is it to revive or reinstate a system of
belief with outer signs and gestures?
Is it done to hold on to a power
structure or ensure a hereditary
authority? Is it to work people up to
euphoric states or personality worship,
so the participants can surrender their
­independence and responsibility?
  No! It is a process where you
remain in contact with or rediscover
your innermost nature, your creativity
14
and source of energy and fulfilment.
  Maybe you wish to overcome what
stops you from living in accordance
with your innermost sense of purpose.
  The ritual is there in order to light
the light of consciousness over and
over again, so that it can burn high
above the theorising and know-all
attitude of the limited mind, and offer
you the possibility to experience.
  To make the light flow and let the
purifying flame of Sushumna burn
clearly - what else could be the purpose?
A process, a ritual or a cycle, created
by a composition of certain yoga- and
meditation methods, must follow
definite laws in just the same way as
composed music. The methods work
together and strengthen and deepen
each other’s effect.
  It doesn’t matter whether music is
based on notes written down or on
improvisation, you have to get in
touch with its essence. That is the
basis - but it is the musicians’ ability
to communicate and the openness of
the participants, which makes the
music come alive and turns it into an
enriching experience.
  If you leave the concert you hear
no music, and if one or more of the
spectators were to demand, on grounds
of principle or for any other reason,
that something else should be played
or that it should be played differently,
or with another beginning, because they
already know some of the opening
stanzas, or because they want what
they’re used to, or that they would
like to relate to the piece of music in
a theoretical way instead of listening
- then it would be impossible to get
the creating and experiencing process
going. Then the whole thing would
die in a repetitive and mechanical
performance. Everything would be left
to chance, instead of taken along a path
towards a result – to a heightened
experience, or spoken in terms of yoga:
a stable altered state of consciousness.
  Like much music, the sequence of
the various kriyas has a certain regu-
larity and a certain order: beginning,
intermediate parts, climax and release.
The initiation into the advanced
Kriya Yoga should not be broken up
into fragments, any more than a piece
of music. Then the basic experience
of the whole would be lost – and the
beneficial and reciprocal effect the
kriyas have on each other when
­performed together would be lost.
“Consider your essence as light rays
rising from center to center up the
vertebrae, and so rises livingness in
you.”      (Vigyana Bhairava Tantra)
Why a guide
“Don’t leave them alone”, Swami
Satyananda said to me one day, when
we were talking about teaching. What
he was expressing wasn’t just that
I should give my students thorough
instructions in the method.
  During the learning process a
training takes place, where the
teacher “disturbs” the students, when
they forget themselves. This brings
them back to the meditation.
  When the training is over it is the
method itself that holds your attention
or makes you return when you’re
about to lose yourself in other things.
  What I am speaking of here is a
principle in Tantra. The mind must be
engaged all the time by that which has
an effect. The method should be so
comprehensive that it cannot possibly
be done automatically – in this way the
stream of thoughts are broken without
effort. This occurs in all Tantric rituals,
both the sexual and the more advanced
ones like Kriya Yoga.
  In certain Zen monasteries one of
the monks goes behind the others while
they are meditating. When one of the
participants changes position and leans
slightly forward, it is a sign that he is
lost in thoughts. The person is politely
contacted, and then receives a good
smack over the shoulders with a flat
stick. It then takes a while before he
forgets himself in thoughts again.

An essential condition
A basic part of the training is the
meditation Inner Silence (Antar
Mauna), which is practised in a
sequence of seven steps. It is essential
when learning Kriya Yoga.
  Inner Silence is also part of the
warm-up just before and during the
initiation. A daily guidance or practise
of Inner Silence gives you, among
other things, an ability not to be carried
away by all that flows through the mind
in the form of thoughts, moods,
emotions and states. The use of this
meditation helps you not to forget
yourself. It strengthens the ability to
live a tolerant and independent life in
relation to the conceptions, fantasies
and ideas that might cross your path.

The various other daily routines, karma

yoga, yes even jokes and teasing, can
to a very high degree help to liberate

15
a person from years of neuroses and
frustrations.
  In the daily life of the small ashram
that Swami Satyananda was running
in the sixties you got left in peace
when you were present and aware.
- But the moment you had landed in a
self-centred, euphoric or overenthusiastic
state or in role playing, thinking that
you were something other than your-
self - for instance that you were above
it all, even though it was obvious to
everyone that you weren’t - then it
was almost as if the whole situation
was staged, just so that you could see
your state. You weren’t criticised, but
the experience made you realise...
During the meditation it may happen
that you forget yourself in daydreams
or worries – maybe you react or sit
and think enthusiastically about what
you are doing - instead of doing
it. Then an innocent question from
the teacher during the guidance helps
you return to the practise, to the
experience of what’s happening.
Many have a “guru” at a distance, who
they meet on festive occasions, or
who they don’t meet at all, just dream
about, but this has nothing to do with
a direct guidance in daily training.
  Of course, one can imagine any-
thing; often people sit at home with
their “yoga” and become “learned”
and oversensitive on the basis of their
books and dreams. Or they go the
other way and become very physical,
thinking that exaggerated gymnastics
and suppleness is the only solution,
even though it makes no difference.
  An introvert, self-obsessed or
16
conceited stance probably constitutes
one of the most difficult hindrances
to achieve an open state, an expanded
awareness and a sensitive and respect-
ful attitude to yourself and life. This
is why we use the Tantric techniques.
Knowing or guessing?
When you express an opinion or a
judgement over others. When you
interpret what other people say, your
teacher for instance. Do you know it,
or are you guessing?
  In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras various
hindrances for self-realisation are
mentioned. One of them is
misunderstanding. That the students
quickly interprets the instructions of
the teacher after their own thinking,
so as to avoid giving up ingrained
ideas. This gives no insight, but stops
you from taking in something useful.
The circulation of the light
“After the circulation in conformity
with the law, there is a turn upward
towards heaven when the breath is
drawn in.
  When the breath flows out energy is
directed towards the earth.
One time-period consists of six
intervals (hou).
  In two intervals one gathers Moni.
The great Tao comes forth from the
centre. Do not seek the primordial
seed outside!”
  (Hiu Ming Ching - Secret of the
golden flower)
In the Chinese book Secret of the
Golden Flower we find traces of what
Tantra is based on:
Keep to that which works and do not
deviate into conceptions.
  You are warned from entering the
cave of fantasy. Instead you should
stay in the space of energy and let
energy and breath unite in the area
of the elixir Amrit, nectar, ambrosia...
this is the right space. In the cave of
fantasy, on the other hand, you open
up to the world of “demons”...
  During the meditation, the
meditator should possess a kind of
conscious intuition, so he or she can
feel energy and breath uniting in the
sphere of nectar – a warm release
belonging to the true light, light as a
mist, is beginning to stir.
“In contrast to our way of thinking,
there is no category or word in
Aboriginal languages for an
intermediate position between the
super-reality of the archetypal
Dreamtime epoch and the actual
physical world. There is no word
or concept for fiction, fantasy, or
personal imagination – something
that does not occur or is not
perceived is a lie, pure and simple.”
  (Voices of the first day. Awakening
in the Aboriginal Dreamtime by
Robert Lawlor)
“What is here is there. What is not
here is nowhere.” (Visyasara Tantra)
So what do you prefer: To dream of
all the possibilities of existence, or to
live in accordance with your energy
and your breath? If your actions
result from this, you don’t need any
fantasies. You will be able to see what
life really has to offer!
Yoga, breathing exercises
and relaxation are part of the
process
The inner experience is intensified
during the learning of Kriya Yoga -
this can give vivid memories, insights
and “aha-experiences”, but it can also
make you aware of moods and states,
which before have been more or less
subconscious.
  Beside the actual Kriya Yoga,
many other ingredients play a part
in the process. A particular method
or meditation is applied just when
it is needed, to catch and release a
state, to inspire through experience -
and to lead the process in the desired
direction. It’s the whole context that
helps keep the concentration on track
and maintain awareness.
  Therefore we proceed, alongside
learning the Kriya Yoga, with
physical exercises (asana) and
breathing exercises. This further
ensures that the flows of energy
are kept pure, thus counteracting
blockages, both physical and mental.
  Meditative song and dance one or
two evenings a week are not just a
break in the routines, they also help
keep the process going and the mind
open and receptive. During the dance
you become part of a group in a
positive sense, not left alone with
fantasies and worries, and you train
the ability to let go.  rest of course, means that you don’t
  In a canoe, if you are inattentive
and wrapped up in yourself you may
capsize, so you can’t forget yourself
there either.
  Even going for a horse ride can
play a part. It’s pretty difficult to
be introvert when you are sitting on
another being or taking care of it. The
horse wishes, or rather demands your
attention, that you are present and
give contact while riding and being
together with it. If you are not, you
will certainly be made aware of it. If
you treat a living being mechanically
or as something insensitive, you
depreciate it, and what joy does that
give either of you?
  Besides, this applies also to the
people around you. It is good both
for them and for you if you dare give
proper contact – and don’t just talk
yourself out of it.
“Working within a fixed framework
turned out to be much stronger than
when I just let everything drift. The
setting was: the same place, and the
daily practice of the techniques. The
setting gave stability, security, limits;
so my doubt, confusion, hesitation or
fear could no longer stop me from
acting.”                   (Synne)
Ashram conditions in “the
greenhouse” during the retreat
The diet
In the sheltered milieu of the ashram,
unnecessary stimulus of the nervous
system doesn’t excite the mind.
During the initiation the diet, after
the intestinal cleansing and on the
take any stimulants – neither black
tea, coffee, chocolate, alcohol nor
stronger substances, such as for
instance narcotics or anti-depressants.
All these are prohibited to keep the
state during the initiation sensitive,
clear and stable, and to make
the nervous system strong and
independent of stimulants.
  Strong spices are not part of
the diet either. When the sensitivity
increases there is a risk that they bind
energy in the intestines and stomach
area, thereby influencing the mood
and the psychic state. So the food
neither irritates the nervous system
nor the stomach.
Mass media and environment
Living on other people’s fantasies
by habitually consuming news and
entertainment in the media, can limit
your drive and independence, and this
creates fear. When looking at the
TV-screen you do not experience that
you are in charge of your own life,
and you lose the ability to remain
yourself.
  Instead of identifying with the
worries of the media, during the
retreat you can take a break from all
this to be together with yourself and
other “real” people.
  I can compare a stay at Håå
with the “pyramids” we have at the
course centre and at the school in
Copenhagen. They rest the senses.
A tank, 2,40 x 2,40 m, is built into
such a pyramid. It is filled with about
one foot of salt water that makes your
body float. The pyramid is isolated
from sound, and when the door is
closed it is dark. The salt water has
the body’s surface temperature, and
the air is silently renewed. So you are
not being exposed to any influences
or variations of temperature or air,
and the salt water to a certain degree
makes you feel weightless.
17
  When you float in the pyramid for
about an hour, completely still with no
outer influences, the mind calms down.
When the senses are permitted to rest
no new thoughts are created – and the
ones already in the mind are thought
through. This corresponds with the
yoga method called pratyahara,
which is used in the relaxation Yoga
Nidra and in part of Inner Silence.
Afterwards you find yourself in a
state of peace and clarity.
  The effect of a sadhana course or
retreat in an ashram therefore has an
effect similar to the one you get in
the pyramid. Without any influence
from the restless entertainment of
the media, telephones and the
environment at home, you not only
give the mind, but the whole
organism such a holiday that you
achieve the peace needed to go
through the initiation and training
you have come for. The mind can now
digest and free itself of old patterns,
and this deepens the learning.
  That’s why the learning of
advanced Kriya Yoga must take place
under conditions such as we have
created at Håå.
If you were to teach Kriya Yoga
in a town, you would, for example,
have no guarantee that people would
really use the complementing yoga
programmes and the Inner Silence
meditation. Together, these keep the
body and mind free from blockages,
till the Kriya Yoga starts to work.
The state during the initiation must
be balanced, pure and subtle, both
mentally and physically. This is
achieved through the diet and the
18
conditions, where you are not
tempted to consume anything else
than the diet. In a town you are
exposed to all sorts of different
stimuli and influences.
  There are examples from such
teaching in cities in Europe. I have
had second-hand information that this
has given bad and unwanted results.
The ritual is not an escape from
something, but a search for the
original, re-establishing the contact
with the inner source, the
spontaneous and the ability to be.
Like a tender plant about to grow
strong, while the process is taking
place it needs a sheltering green-
house. Not just any institution, but
an ashram prepared for this particular
purpose, and in accordance with this:
At first there is Tao, the natural, the
spontaneous, the unfeigned…
  “...when Tao is lost, there is power.
  When power is lost there is charity
  When charity is lost, there is justice.
  When justice is lost, there is formalism.
  When formalism is lost there is
chaos...”
  So:
“Give up holiness, renounce
thoughtfulness, and the people will
live in peace and happiness; give
up charity, renounce justice, and
the people will return to filial love
and fatherly tenderness; give up
cleverness, let go of profit, and
thieves and robbers will not exist.”
  (Two quotations from Tao Te
Ching by Lao Tse; based on a
translation by Åge Delbanco.)
Tantra
Tantra starts from the healthy and
original.
  Too much thinking here on this
earth originates in the unhealthy
human being, and in suffering and
miserable humanity. This applies to
medical care, where patients are often
held in a subordinate and dependent
role, which demands care. They
have no say against the doctors’
omnipotence about their state, and
they are not taught to participate
actively in the healing process.
Within psychoanalysis, different
forms of “healing”, art, philosophy,
religion, yes, even within some
schools of yoga, the human being is
seen as fundamentally suffering.
  In this way a false identity is
created and held on to by us humans,
a warped picture of our true nature.
When we are to be healed, the work
is therefore the same as in politics
when you have a faulty body of laws,
which you keep patching up – a law
system, which claims, that all people
are criminals until proven otherwise.
  Man’s innermost essence is
healthy, strong, sound and radiant.
Such a perception of ourselves must
be the basis of all help we give
each other or each individual gives
him/herself. Now and then, when we
forget ourselves and hold on to a false
identity, then we only need to realise
our true nature to be able to move
on – even though sometimes this is
easier said than done.
  True initiation (and the healing that
often follows as a side effect), gives
you an experience, where you see
yourself as you really are - you return
to yourself.
  This is where the teacher must be
able to take you through the crisis
that follows from letting go of false
and self-effacing concepts - and
through experience and insight show
you that states are not everlasting and
all-important. You learn how to avoid
losing yourself, in what you are not.
  The methods of Tantra and the
knowledge you receive can be used to
bring forth the person in you that goes
to meet life and that is strong enough
to be true to his own nature.

I discovered what it is to be alive by

being it, not by living on dreams and
ideals. The methods helped me, and
I removed all manner of excuses and
fear that I had built up around me,
hindrances standing in the way of me
being the one I really am - and thus
being something for others.

“Kriya Yoga is a rite, a ceremony, a

method, a sadhana. It is a method
of refining one’s forces so that the
individual awareness can penetrate
the depth of one’s nature.”
              (Swami Satyananda)

Tantra is more than sexual rituals

There are Tantric rituals that, taken in
all, can last a whole day and night, yes,
even longer. The sexual rituals are most
widely known. Kriya Yoga has a struc-
ture, which can be compared with the
sequence and arrangement of the sexual
rituals, but it is deeper reaching with a
long-lasting effect. The Kriya Yoga
ritual demands it’s preparation, it’s
warming-up, and during the actual

19
process it’s various kriyas - some
ensure a harmonious process, others
fine tune the mind or purify the
energy and strengthen the awareness.
It all finally culminates in the deep
kriyas, the finest of meditations.
  During the end of the sixties when
Paramhansa Satyananda was teaching
the great Tantric Kriya Yoga himself,
the whole thing was accomplished as
one long initiation. The result was
that we learnt a Tantric ritual con-
sisting of more than 20 kriyas. The
secret of learning and practising the
kriyas in this way is more than just
the learning of a few exercises, it is
transforming and energy-giving.
  We moved through all our
dimensions, from the physical, via
the mental, emotional, the energy
dimension (with flows of prana or life
energy), the psychic (including the
chakras), the astral and the causal, to
pure consciousness.
  The actual initiation in Kriya Yoga,
apart from the preparation that takes
place immediately before, should be
at least 21 days. Therefore the whole
thing: warm-up, initiation, and a few
days to come out of the silence at
the end, should last at least a month.
Read about Cycles and Sadhana in
Bindu no.10.
  It can’t be done in shorter time!
Longer, certainly. The longer time
there is to learn the Kriya Yoga, the
deeper you can go, the more you can
discover about yourself and the pos-
sibilities to be found in Kriya Yoga;
and the greater the inner purification.
On the annual Three-Month Course the
actual Kriya Yoga initiation lasts at least
33 days. It takes place after a five-week
20
warm-up and preparation, and is fol-
lowed by three weeks to digest every-
thing - and additionally to deepen and
explore other methods, which you at
this point are open to benefit from.
  The other Kriya course I teach lasts
a month. It therefore requires that at
least one course has been completed
before that – in which the aspirant is
prepared with yoga and meditation,
the seven steps of Inner Silence and
the nine steps of Ajapa Japa, methods
that he or she then use at home during
the period before the initiation in
Kriya Yoga.
  Any teacher who doesn’t have the
time to pace the course in such a
way that things are allowed to fall
into place and be experienced in an
unbroken sequence of events, and
not in several short periods, should,
for this reason alone, refrain from
teaching Kriya Yoga.
  A student in New Zealand showed
me clearly what happens when some-
body teaches Kriya Yoga without
having a proper relation to it. That
teacher must have had some sort of
sequence to start off from, and must
have then decided to teach my student
the first 10 kriyas on the list. This
happened to result in Tadan Kriya
finishing the sequence, being last on
this arbitrary list. So the student came
to me and said that he felt restless
or uneasy in the body after finishing
this programme. It is obvious to one
who knows that you cannot end with
Tadan Kriya. Tadan must be followed
by kriyas that refine the relatively
gross, but desired, effect, and thereaf-
ter by meditative kriyas, that integrate
and harmonise the increased energy.
  It is vitally important that the initia-
tion consists of all the kriyas, both the
gross, the intermediate and the fine,
so that the student is not sent home
with an incomplete experience of a
sequence, and so that he or she can
finish in a harmonious way every time.
A process of initiation must
reach further than inhibi-
tions, limitations and habits
A process in the Tantric meaning of
the word is a cycle with a beginning,
a sequence that develops and
changes, and a conclusion - it is
something you live through.
  During the initiation, the process
should bring the aspirant further than
he or she was when it started.
If you don’t reach beyond former
limitations, it is not an initiation. This
we can understand from the name
Kriya, which in this context doesn’t
just mean action, that is, a decision
carried out in life, but inner dynamics
- a process where something happens
- a transformation of concepts and
states.
  The Kriya Yoga sequence is such
a Tantric process: every meditation
method, every kriya which it contains
plays a part, and the different kriyas
supplement each other - just like
everything else happening on the
course. Every part of the process
prepares for the next and opens the
door to go further. In this way a
sensitivity and an ability to go deep
is gradually built up, so that you can
pick up and use the finer “keys” to
the dimensions of your being at the
end of the sequence.
  The process doesn’t only function
because of the exercises you do, but
also because you are doing something
different than usual – free from habits,
routines and thought patterns about
what is possible and not possible.
  The very fact that you let go of
that which weighs you down and
hides the view, is perhaps the most
important thing about the initiation.
  But nobody can force you. Yes,
the process helps you, with all the
methods it contains, particularly the
kriyas, the experience of the teacher
and the attitude of the participants. It
is up to you, however, to be open to
the possibilities, and use them, which
most people succeed in doing.
Grotowski
Let me give an example from a
completely different context:
  When I was in my twenties, I
worked with various types of theatre.
  Through pantomime I learnt to have an
unceremonious, robust and practical
relation to the classical yoga poses
(headstand, shoulderstand, plough
etc), as artists in the Chinese and
Indian traditions have used them.
  Then I continued to explore both what
yoga, and the theatre could give me.
  My meeting with two Eastern
European theatre people taught me
that a sequence might carry you
further than what you expect from
yourself. I met Jerzy Grotowski from
Poland and his assistant and leading
actor Ryszard Cieslak from Czechos-
lovakia. (See the book “Towards a
Poor Theatre” by Grotowski, publis-
hed in English by The Odin Theatre.)
  Grotowski and his company were
invited to Denmark by Studenterscenen,
which I was a part of, and by The Odin
Theatre, which is world famous today
for its unique performances and its way
of training actors. The Italian Iugenio
Barba, a former student of Grotowski,
founded The Odin Theatre. It is housed
in the town of Holstebro in Denmark.
  The training which we underwent
with Grotowski and Cieslak often
started with a gentle warm-up, where we
followed Cieslak and did all exercises
and improvisations in a sequence. He
started with both static exercises and
dynamic sequences, which we could
easily imitate. The whole thing soon
developed to increasingly demanding
movements and physical expressions.
  The tempo also escalated, so there
was no time to think of your own
limitations. Either you joined in,
performing more and more fantastic
exercises, or stepped aside. None of
the participants had any possibility
of impeding the sequence for the
others, neither by holding back nor
by starting to theorise!
  Those who succeeded - and by this
I don’t just mean that we could follow
Cieslak in the physical exercises, of
which some were yoga exercises, but
also stand facing him in strong confron-
tations with emotions laid bare - had
reached genuine, deep and uninhibited
expressions, and on the physical plane
for instance the tiger jump – and they
were not trained gymnasts or
acrobats, they were ordinary actors,
directors and other theatre people.
  That we disregarded our limitations
– regardless of how far the individual
could follow Cieslak on the course –
gave us all an experience of release
that I, at least, have benefited from
later. The meeting with Grotowski
and Cieslak became an initiation,
which showed me that you can exceed
limits whether they are created by
your own or other peoples concepts.
We have done it since the
beginning of time
In the dancing that is part of the
rituals and initiations of indigenous
people, we find the same pattern as
with Grotowski.
  Also here you warm up, first with
slow rhythms and movements – then
the dance reaches a climax, where you
attain a tirelessness and everything
goes faster and faster. The body is
liberated and takes control so that the
mind forgets all wishes of
achievement and grace. It is here that
the participants experience a state of
consciousness, which is necessary to
receive the initiation, and expand the
perception of reality the persons
concerned have had so far.
“Be prepared, be prepared to change
paths. We are our actions. Life lets you
choose and explain what is what. Go
away from us Esu, go away, you rogue,”
so the song goes during the dance.
  (Birgit Åkesson “The mask of the
spring water”, about dance in Africa).
  Esu confuses, he is our mistakes,
but also makes us aware, so that we
can let them go.
The initiations of the indigenous
people take place several times
during a lifetime; first the transition
from child to youth, then between
21
youth and maturity, and then, in the
middle of life, and at the end, towards
an ever greater knowledge. Every
phase of life needs its introduction
and its release from old limitations.
The process in the Tantric ritual
Well, yoga and the various Tantric
rituals might not deal with tiger
jumps, but the purpose is the same –
to get you to be yourself – behind all
concepts and self-deception, behind
all the complexes which bind us to
disease and suffering.
“We take away from the actor that
which shuts him off, but we do
not teach him how to create – for
example how to play Hamlet, in what
consists the tragic gesture, how to
act a farce – for it is precisely in
this “how” that the seeds of banality
and of the clichés that defy creation
are planted.” (Jerzy Grotowski
“Towards a Poor Theatre”).
  In Tantra you don’t “learn” to
behave, like so many “holy” yogi’s
(excuse the irony) demand from
their followers. You must take
responsibility for that yourself. But
you find your own ability to form
your life in an independent and
mature way.
  Kriya Yoga is probably the most
thorough of all Tantric processes, but
like several of the other advanced
rituals, they are obviously not suited
to everybody. In the same way, not
everyone should teach them - only
those who are able and want to live
up to the conditions of Kriya Yoga
diksha – the initiation of Kriya Yoga.
22
Letting go of that which “You have now lived through most
stands in the way of a course. You have gone all the
way. You have taken part in the
Giving up an involved state is like dying
cleansing processes, practised the
– and being born anew, freer than before.
physical exercises, experienced and
  When an Aboriginal boy was to be
learnt the whole cycle of kriyas in the
initiated in Australia it was with the
Kriya Yoga, together with the various
sure conviction that he was really going
other meditations and processes, and
to die and be reborn during the ritual.
everything has constituted a whole -
The whole ritual was built up in such
an interplay.
a way that those not yet initiated
  This totality has given you a stable
expected nothing else. The whole
effect and purification, which is not
tribe (the already initiated) played
only physical. When you come home
along in this act, to maintain the illu-
with the result of this purification
sion or the anticipation and therefore
and hopefully also with some insight,
the intensity of the experience, which
and relate it to daily life, you will
turns out to be an incredibly effective
experience a difference compared to
way of imparting knowledge.
the state you were in before you came
  Initiations into different phases of
on the course.
life can also happen in our culture, in
  You sense that what you have now,
secrecy. It is as if life itself helps us, sud-
both effects and tools, are tangible,
denly we face the possibility to meet the
and you also know that you haven’t
challenges and have the experiences we
been here to get lost in unreal states
need, or we get the chance to meet the
or dreams about distant ideals, nor
person or persons who can help us on.
have you been here to learn to idolize
someone. No, there has not been the
“Do not stop, when you feel pain. Stay
possibility for such excuses or mistakes.
with it until you have lived it through
The conditions, the guidance and the
or overcome it.” (Ramamurti Mishra)
structure of activities, exercises and
meditations have made sure of this.
Releasing a tension or an involved
Mind you, you were prepared for it
state is like walking up a steep hill,
and participated actively .
you don’t want to, and you think of any
  You now have an understanding of
other place that you would rather be –
an initiation - and can see what it
but once you get over the top, and start
would have meant had you not had
going down-hill, you think: was that all?
the possibility of living through a
complete process, but stopped
A preliminary conclusion halfway. This would be like the
A cycle must be completed, the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, not having
sequence lived through and the gone the whole way himself, and not
wholeness experienced. The being capable of imparting the
fundamental inhibitions that isolate complete experience to anyone else.
and obstruct the view are dropped. Without going through the whole
process, we might not be able to
uproot the illusions that fascinate and
involve us. In that case there would
still be room for mistakes.
  You now have the confidence to use
this - that’s what you are discovering
during these last weeks of the course.
And without this insight, what would
happen to overview and motivation -
it would be easy to become involved
again and lose the clarity that you
are beginning to stabilise...
might encounter in the future. This
goes for rituals of initiation everywhere
on earth, at least those dealing with
altered states of consciousness, and
this happens especially in indigenous
societies and in the original Tantric
tradition. You become initiated to be
able to live with a greater
understanding and awareness in the
life-phase that ensues.”
(From a talk at the end of a Three-
month course at Håå Course Centre)
           Om Tat Sat
To be continued in a following edition.

All the techniques and facilities that

you have had at your disposal here
on the course, and the conditions that
you have followed, for instance those
connected with the silence, have made
you unable to hypnotise yourselves
into something else. Each of you has
remained what you are - yourself - at
the same time independent and part
of the reality we have in common.
  When we lose our roots and our
connection to tradition, both in our
own culture and in relation to the
methods we use, we fumble in the
dark. We become consumers and
inventors. We think that we can buy
everything, satisfying ourselves by
“studying it” out of curiosity and
with no commitment. We expect to
have things changed or redone, if we
don’t understand it or like it. Everything
becomes distorted this way. Both the
psyche and nature will be destroyed.
You can’t do this with life – and
definitely not with its deeper sides. Swami
  The process in the complete cycle Satyananda
of initiation has protected you. It has under the big
shown how you can remain in contact mango tree
with yourself and in balance, no in the ashram
matter what outer conditions you garden, 1969

23
 Experience Yoga Nidra
Deep relaxation on CD or tape
guided by Swami Janakananda
Also available in German, Swedish and Danish. With the CD/tape there is a 20-page booklet.
CD ISBN 9163094886, tape ISBN 9163094924 .

“Yoga Nidra is much more than a deep relaxation;

it is a total experience that touches and awakens
all parts of your being.” (Swami Janakananda)
  Two relaxation methods from Nyasa Tantra, 20 minutes and 45 minutes.
Swami Janakananda guides you through a complete relaxation of body and
mind. He also makes use of the tantric mantras and visual symbols to awaken
and harmonise the chakras. As a background he has choosen sounds from
nature and invited the Indian musician Roop Verma to contribute with the music.
  Roop Verma, on citar and Swara Mandala harp, has here as the first
musician in our time recorded the ancient music symbols of the chakras.

Written and said about Yoga Nidra: by Amazon.com

“Yoga Nidra is different from

anything I have heard before...
I feel refreshed and revitalised
after the practice, and I know I
will continue with it.”
(Nils-Olof Jacobsen in the
magazine Sökaren, Sweden)
“After a number of years of having a
stressed life with a job that almost
ruined my ability to live in the present,
I’m now happy to face each new day
again, not worrying unnecessarily about
tomorrow. I have learnt to laugh again. I
think it’s fantastic.”
(E. Berg, Ludvika, Sweden)
24
“This tape is a hit, if you can talk
about hits within relaxation.”
(A. Thomson, therapist and New
Age bookseller in UK)
“The tape is one of the most inspiring
I have heard for a long time. It is a
multidimensional work of art of a nature
that is rarely seen.” (Michael Lammgård,
musician and therapist, Sweden)
“I remain very impressed with the CD. I get a lot of solicitations and often do
not respond to them because the quality is not always that good. This CD is
more than the exception to the rule, hence my enthusiasm. I enjoy it not only
because it was produced with quality, but because I can tell from the instruc-
tions and the voice guiding it that wisdom and experience, combined with a
gentle strength and power, are leading the deep relaxation methods, through
Swami Janakananda.”
(Lisa McColley Anderson, Spirit Links, USA)
Swami Janakananda in Europe...
• Satsang (Nov. 7) in Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Satsang (Nov. 11) in Hanover, Germany.
• 3 week meditation course
(Nov. 14 - 29) in Stockholm, Sweden.
• Satsang (Nov. 27) in Stockholm, Sweden.
• 2 week residential yoga teacher seminar
in December at Håå Course Centre.
• 14-days Christmas retreat
(Dec. 19 - Jan. 1) at Håå Course Centre.
...and in South America
• Lecture (Oct. 16.)
in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• Lecture (Oct. 17) in Montevideo,
Uruguay, arranged by the “Satyananda
Niketan, Instituto Uruguayo de Yoga”.
• 10-day retreat outside Montevideo
beginning on Oct. 19.
The teaching on the 10 day retreat will
be similar to the 10-14 days retreats at
Håå Course Centre in Sweden, see p. 27.
For more information please contact:
Janardhana: satya@adinet.com.uy.
Read Bindu
- Back issues are still available
No. 13: Why hold your breath?
Plenty of oxygen during Nadi Shodana.
Breathe through your nose! An EEG study of
the brain during Nadi Shodana.
On the path to a greater Awareness.
No. 12: Yoga for “mouse arms”. Mapping the
brains activity after Kriya Yoga. On Sadhana,
cycles in healing and learning and what it
means to be silent during the initiation into
Kriya Yoga.
No. 11: The relaxed state and science.
Pictures of the brains’s activity during Yoga
Nidra. Tantra and Yoga Nidra.
Read more about Bindu on the internet: www.scand-yoga.org/english/bindu
• 3 week meditation course
(Jan. 7 - 22) in Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Satsang (Feb. 26) in Copenhagen, Denmark.
• The annual 3-Months Sadhana Retreat
(Jan. 23 - April 20) at Håå Course Centre.
• Seminar (June 14 - 16) at the Yoga
Therapy Centre in London, England.
More info: yogabio.med@virgin.net
No. 10: Nada Yoga, meditation on the inner
sounds. Vibrations create forms. Song and
dance. The Bumble bee.
No. 9: Instructor or Guide? Yoga for the Back.
About the yoga teacher education at the
Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School.
No. 8: On the Tantric meditation Antar
Mauna (Inner Silence). The Lotus Pose.
Intestinal cleansing. (Out of print).
No. 7: Silver Jubilee issue! Kriya Yoga III.
Yoga for pregnant women. Savasana.
Swami Janakananda 
was born in Denmark. He founded the
Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation
School in 1970, one of the most
advanced and well-established
schools in the West. His book Yoga,
Tantra and Meditation in Daily Life
(available from Samuel Weiser, USA)
has been translated into nine
languages.
  Swami Janakananda is a master of
Kriya Yoga and other tantric
meditations - and a great source of
inspiration, giving modern man the
opportunity to practise deep reaching
yoga in his every day life. He is a
popular lecturer at international yoga
conventions.
  In his teaching Swami Janakananda
makes use of the situation here and
now - of you, just the way you are,
not demanding that something first
must be different. From here the
meditation grows, the room you are
sitting in, your body and senses...
No. 6: The twilight hour - did we have a living
meditation tradition in the North? About
R.Y.E. (Research on Yoga in Education).
Shoulderstand.
No. 5: Kriya Yoga II. Psychic energy. Six
years of scientific research on the 3-Months
Courses. The Pyramid.
No. 4: Kriya Yoga I. The effect of yoga on the
finer energy. The Source of Energy - a Tantric
meditation.
No. 3: On the ability to experience.
Headstand. Neti - Nose Cleansing.
25
 Yoga shop Subscription
You are welcome to support us, so
The CD: Experience Yoga Nidra we can continue to publish Bindu.
200 SEK (postage included). See p. 24. Pay 45 SEK for one issue or 80 SEK
for 2 issues + 40 SEK postage
The tape: Experience Yoga Nidra (payment, see below). Further
155 SEK (postage included). See p. 24. contributions are also welcome.
The periodical: Bindu
Backissues: no. 3-7, 9-13, The brochure (free): about the retreats
45 SEK each (postage included). Five at Håå International Course Center. See
issues or more: 30 SEK each (postage next page.
“In my opinion this is one of the best included). See p. 25.
Hopi Ear Candles: made of 100% bees
yoga books available at the moment.” Nose cleansing pot wax and cotton; cleanses the ears.
(Spectrum, British Wheel of Yoga) with instruction brochure: 80 SEK (postage included)
The book: Yoga, Tantra and Meditation • Joghus, (short spout) blue, yellow,
in Daily Life by Swami Janakananda red. 250 SEK (postage included)
(Weiser, USA ISBN: 0877287686) (Editions
Satyanandashram, France ISBN: 2.905892-06-04) • Krutis, (long spout)
235 SEK (postage included) blue, green, white,
Also available in French, German, sand. 370 SEK
Swedish and Danish. See p. 25. (postage included)

You can order the items on internet: www.scand-yoga.org/english/shop, or just send your order and money to:
Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School, Håå Course Center, 340 13 Hamneda, Sweden. We accept payment in Swedish
Crowns (SEK) by international money order or to our postal giro account 73 86 03 - 0 in Sweden. Or an international bank
cheque (free of charge at our end). NB Euro-cheques are not accepted any more in Swedish Banks!

Håå Course Center, 340 13 Hamneda, Sweden • Tel. +46 372 55063
Fax. +46 372 55036 • Email: haa@scand-yoga.org
Sweden  Västmannagatan 62, 113 25 Stockholm, tel. +46-8321218, fax. +46-8314406, email: stockholm@scand-yoga.org  Idrottsvägen 13,
445 55 Surte, Gothenburg, tel. +46-31241294, email: goteborg@scand-yoga.org  Hyby grindväg 85, 230 41 Klågerup, Malmö/Lund,
tel. +46 40481008 / +46 736260849, email: lund@scand-yoga.org Denmark  Købmagergade 65, 1150 Copenhagen, tel. +45 33 14 11 40, fax.
+45 33 14 14 34, email: kbh@scand-yoga.org  Vestergade 45, 8000 Århus C, tel. +45 86 19 40 33, email: aarhus@scand-yoga.org
 Kongensgade 12 B, 3000 Elsinore, tel. +45 49 21 20 68, email: helsingor@scand-yoga.org Norway  Postboks 3, Holten, 5326 Ask, Bergen,
tel. +47-56143310, fax. +47-56149738, email: bergen@scand-yoga.org Finland  Pohjoiskaari 21 A 4, 00200 Helsinki, tel. +358-98703071 /
+358-405811382, email: helsinki@scand-yoga.org  Sukula, 30100 Forssa, tel. +358-34350599, email: forssa@scand-yoga.org
Germany  Sextrostr. 3, 30169 Hanover, tel. +49-5118039941 fax. +49-5118039942, email: hannover@scand-yoga.org
France  46, rue de Metz, 31000 Toulouse, tel. +33 561251769, email: toulouse@scand-yoga.org
Contact in Australia  Robyn Taylor, Concept Training, PO Box 89, Mackay Q4740, tel. +61 749 531 594, e-mail: concept@mackay.net.au
Publisher: Bindu, Håå Course Center, 340 13 Hamneda, Sweden. Circulation: 8.000 in English (also printed in German, Swedish and Danish). Print: Ljungby Grafiska.
Layout: Robert Nilsson & Swami Janakananda. Translation: Jnana Shakti. Pictures: frontpage: photo by Coneyl Jay and Omkarananda, manipulation by Bjarke; back, p.
8, 9, 11, 23 (manipulated by): Swami Janakananda; p. 2, 3 Knud Hvidberg, Denmark; p. 4, 6, 7 from videorecording of the interview; p. 13, 15, 19 Madhubani art, India;
p. 20, 21 drawings by Sohan Qadri, India; p. 27 Stefan Nilsson, Sweden. Copyright © 2001 Bindu and Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publishers.

26 www.scand-yoga.org
Håå Course Center in South Sweden
Do you want to go deeper, do you want to learn more about yoga, tantra and meditation?
The retreats at Håå Course Center in
southern Sweden, are more than just
holiday courses with a little yoga
and meditation.
  Here you go through a process,
which, with the aid of methods of
genius from the tradition of yoga and
tantra raises you to a level where
you experience greater presence and
increased energy - which you can afterwards maintain with a regular practice at home.
  The aim of the courses at Håå is for you to go deep and
become one with yourself - they give you the strength to
go in the direction you want.
  Håå Course Center is about a 3 hours drive north from
Copenhagen, Denmark. If you come with Ryan Air from
Great Britain or Ireland, the airport of Malmö in Sweden is
2 hours away. Get the brochure about Håå Course Center.
It describes our unique courses - where you for a period
of time can with­draw to gain perspective in surroundings The 3-Months Course 2002
of natural beauty. Jan. 23 - April 20 21600/18000 SEK*
www.scand-yoga.org/english/haa • tel. 0046 372 55063   Swami Janakananda & Síta et.al.

Kriya Yoga Course 2002

July 20 - Aug. 18 9450/7500 SEK*
  Swami Janakananda et.al.

10- and 14-days retreats

Oct. 10 - 20 2001 5100/3800 SEK*
Dec. 19 - Jan. 1 5800 SEK*
  Swami Janakananda et.al.
Jan. 2 - 12 2002 5100/3800 SEK*
May 16 - 26 5250/3900 SEK*
May 26 - June 8 5550/4200 SEK*
June 9 - 22 5550/4200 SEK*
June 23 - July 6 5950/4800 SEK*
July 7 - 20 5950 SEK*
Sept. 1 - 14 5550/4200 SEK*
Read more about the retreats at
Håå Course Center, and check out
the price in your own currency on
internet, see above.
*1000 SEK = ca.105 € = ca. 65 £ =
ca. 95 $ = ca. 149 CAD = ca. 183 AUD
(exchange rate from Sep. 1st).

27