Kriya yoga

Domain XIII · Contemplative & religious disciplines · Paramahansa Yogananda, Lahiri Mahasaya · 1861 · India

What it is

Kriya Yoga is a modern teaching organisation's path, not a psychotherapy. SRF presents it as a home-study course (the SRF Lessons) that leads, after preparation, to initiation into the Kriya technique, described by SRF as "a highly advanced Raja Yoga technique of pranayama". The core technique is…

Format

• This section has two parts: the organisation's own course structure, which the client follows with SRF/YSS, and the therapist's parallel structure, which is.
• SRF states the Energization Exercises take about fifteen minutes. SRF's public pages do not give daily practice schedules.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Treatment proper: the client's usual evidence-based treatment, with client-led integration of practice-derived values and resources, and monitoring of practice-related effects.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• sleep loss, euphoria, confusion or fear after retreats.
• reassurance from the therapist or the teacher becoming a compulsion.
• guilt framed as betrayal of the guru, fear of spiritual consequences, isolation.
• a client stopping prescribed treatment in favour of practice; refer and document.
• the client seeking the therapist's spiritual approval; the therapist enjoying the guide role.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.