Kriya Yoga for Self-Discovery: Practices for Deep States of Meditation

by Keith G. Lowenstein

A detailed guide to the breath-focused meditation practice of Kriya yoga for spiritual growth, inner stillness, and self-realization

• Explains the basic techniques of the practice, detailing proper posture, breathwork exercises (pranayama), bandhas, third-eye gazing, and the use of mantra

• Presents advanced, yet simple, techniques that accelerate a contemplative practice by micro-modulations related to posture, respiration, visualization, and sound

• Includes wisdom from the author’s teacher Ganesh Baba on the importance of the spine in Kriya yoga and the Cycle of Synthesis, a model of the human experience

Kriya yoga is an ancient meditation technique that focuses on breathing and the spine to unlock deep states of awareness, self-realization, and spiritual growth. Kriya can provide a fast path to awakening, yet its practice has been shrouded in secrecy, passed only from master to initiate for millennia.

Introduced into Kriya 40 years ago, Keith Lowenstein, M.D., offers an accessible yet detailed guide to Kriya yoga. He explains the basic techniques of the practice step by step, detailing proper posture, breathwork exercises (pranayama), visualization practices, and mantra. He reveals how Kriya is a scientific art--if practiced consistently, it will allow you to quickly enter deep states of meditation and ultimately experience inner stillness. He also explores how the practice of Kriya leads to healing and the development of compassion and the freeing joy of the union of Nature and Spirit.

Sharing the wisdom of his Kriya yoga teacher Ganesh Baba, the author adds a detailed understanding of anatomy, especially the importance of the spine in Kriya yoga and energy flow. The author explores Ganesh Baba’s teachings on spirit-infused science and the integration of Vedic philosophy, quantum mechanics, prana, and spiritualization illustrated in the Cycle of Synthesis. He also discusses the relationship between the exercises of Kriya yoga and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras as well as teachings from his other teachers, including Paramahansa Hariharananda.

With this guide, you will gain an understanding not only of the practice of Kriya yoga but also of the spiritual wealth it brings, including the ultimate self-realization of non-dual reality.

320 pages, Paperback

Published May 11, 2021

About the author

Keith Lowenstein, MD is a board-certified physician and founding member of the American Board of Holistic and Integrative Medicine. He has thirty-five years of clinical experience in integrative medicine, psychiatry, nutrition and obesity medicine, and has additional training in in medical acupuncture, somatic psychotherapy, cranial osteopathy and child psychiatry, He has a lifelong commitment to a comprehensive approach to human health and development.

Dr Lowenstein has been quietly practicing and teaching Kriya Yoga for more than forty years. His teacher was Ganesh Baba (Sri Mahant Swami Ganesh Anand Saraswati Giri), one of the great masters of Kriya Yoga who not only developed an accelerated version of these yogic meditation techniques and taught it openly with great enthusiasm and a love of life. Dr Lowenstein was his last main student, leaving behind the art world just as he was offered a career-making opportunity. For five years he studied, traveled, and lived with the Kriya master. Upon Ganesh Baba's urging, Dr Lowenstein went to medical school. Now he continues Ganesh Baba's legacy, passing on Kriya Yoga to new generations of practitioners. His website is KriyaBreath.com Dr. Lowenstein's Inner Traditions publication, Kriya Yoga for Self-Discovery: Practices for Deep States of Meditation, is the fulfillment of his promise to Ganesh Baba to spread the light of Kriya knowledge.

Reviews

[Srikanth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book starts with the basic foundations of Patanjali's Ashtanga (8 limbed) yoga and gets to the details of 4 of those limbs - Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara and Dharana and goes into exhaustive detail of each of these stages with exercises to practice and master the same. These have been called the 4 Vs (Verticalization, Ventilation, Visualization and Vibrationalization) for better understanding..

Kriya Yoga is the school of yoga wherein the 4 Vs are practiced to attain spiritual growth, inner stillness and the realization of the Self and the Absolute.

There are detailed explanations of the various concepts like the mudras, bandhas, pranayama techniques, posture, chakras, kundalini, etc. Even though there is a lot of repetition of the concepts, it is probably the author's intent to emphasize the importance of the same. This book in itself may not be as useful to a complete beginner as it would be to a reader who is a practitioner of yoga in one of its forms.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book; full of detailed explanations about Kryia yoga. Guidance on keeping good posture, how this helps your whole life and what impact it can have on wellbeing. Details on chakras, meditation, breathing and mindset. A total self help book based on scientific research with historical reliability.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very good. From someone who knows very little about Kriya Yoga, it seem comprehensive and accessible. There's a lot of time spent on the physical aspects, but it also covers psychological and spiritual aspects. A nice list of resources too. Recommended for beginners.

I really appreciate the ARC for review!!

[Ana Isabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is packed with useful information. Focusing on Kriya Yoga it brings in wonderful Scientific explanations about how breath helps us to calm the nervous system. I found this book to be an education on physiology as much as a book about how to deepen our spiritual practice.

[Jim Huinink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't really finished it but it does what I need. I'll be slowly digesting this for a while

[Ganesh Shankar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very knowledgeable book