Kriyas & Complete Experiences

There is a phenomenon that comes up in meditation that I frequently get asked about.

Which we call technically kriyas?

Korea is a word in the Sanskrit language that could perhaps literally be translated as a cleansing.

Action it comes from the Sanskrit root curve, which means to do it's actually the same root as the word Karma.

Creole literally means an action, but it has a connotation of action that would cleanse one or release something release toxins. For example, in yoga. There are certain cleansing procedures that might be referred to as Korea. But as a phenomenon that comes up in meditation.

It refers to spontaneous movements.

Movements that just sort of happened to you, that come out of nowhere. Sometimes they're sort of small movements little shaking of the body. This kind of thing, but it can get dramatic turn into this kind of thing or in the most dramatic cases, it can involve weird grimacing and sounds. I've even had people in the most extreme cases, sort of howling like animals and.

Having like animal faces and things you can sort of imagine where ideas of werewolfism lycanthropy and so forth might come about if People saw this kind of thing going on now don't worry. That's the most extreme cases usually it's just sort of rocking shaking that kind of thing, so we called these spontaneous movements kriyas typically.

The fact by we I mean, the meditation teachers of the world that have some background in index systems. Now the fact that there is a technical term in from India that refers to this phenomenon tells you it's not an uncommon phenomenon and also hints that there may be underlying theory and notions about what the best way to work with it is and so forth.

So when People come to me with Korea's they usually have a few basic questions 1st is going to lose my marbles and am I going to become weird? am I going to go insane is this safe what's happening.

So I typically say nothing to worry about not an uncommon phenomenon. You're not going crazy. But we've got a word for it. And so you know you're not the first person to experience this.

So I sort of reassure them that it's part of the path sometimes see the problem with the Kriyas is.

Or the problem let's say with talking about the creators like I am now is that it's a little bit of lose lose situation. If I don't talk about it. People don't know know about it and what to do about it. But if I do talk about it. People either are afraid Oh my God. What would I do. If that happened to me or they develop Cravings. It's like that hasn't happened to me yet. What's wrong with my meditation, so the most important thing is not to develop Cravings or versions, some People experience this.

Some People don't, it's not a barrier to progress. Neither is it a sinequan known for progress. It just happens to some People next thing they usually want to know is well should I try to suppress those movements or should I go with that.

My advice is typically try both you can learn from both of those situations. You can learn from trying to not allow it to happen and you can learn by just OK give it permission to happen.

Then the next logical question is well. Why is it happening? What does it mean here? I like to use a model that's derived from the oupa kin linneage of Burmese Vipasana in their way of thinking about this phenomenon. The there is the deep mind. The Subconscious mind, which is called the aggregate of sunk scar does or that's incense grid or in the Pali language, they're called some Cara.

And these are the forces that are the habit forces within a human being can be positive or negative. Although there's a certain connotation. That being at the mercy of any unconscious force is in some ways a negative even if it's a good habit because it's a groove that drives ones perceptions and behaviors well. The model that they use is that the meditation purify's consciousness by.

Breaking up these song cars by.

Smoothing out the channels that constrain our behavior. These grooves, so when a groove starts to break up.

It may initially percolate up to the surface as a sensation in the body. Perhaps a very subtle sensation in the body. The idea is that when you have body sensations.

And you have a complete experience of the body sensation, meaning that you experience a body sensation in a concentrated sensorially clear and Equanimous State or put Alternatively when you have a mindful experience of a body sensation physical or emotional, it won't impart any grooves into the unconscious. But if you don't have a mindful experience of pleasant and unpleasant sensations.

Then they will impart grooves into the unconscious and since we have thousands and thousands of sensations, everyday big and small and since most People don't have very high level of baseline mindful awareness. Those sensations are constantly. Imparting grooves song scar as well as we meditate those grooves start to break up and when they break up.

They sort of reverse the process, they were imparted by sensations in the past. Now they start to come up as sensations. In the present. But before they come all the way up to surface where they can be observed and completed in the present and therefore.

Their influence from the past wiped out before that happens, they may hit a kind of vulnerable area in the semi conscious part of the body and cause the body to move.

Spontaneously.

So that's a model for why it's a purification process what to do to optimize the purification.

Well.

If you can detect the sensations that underlie the urge of the body to move if you could detect them. You can have a complete experience of them and you'll discover that the body won't be driven to move. One of the reasons to explore not moving is that that may make it easier to detect the underlying sensations as they're coming up.

However, it is by no means the case that you can always detect those subtle sensations that are driving the Creare movement in that case.

It's OK just have have a complete experience of the Korea itself the more surface sensation of the body moving and so forth and that's the best you can do at that time and that's fine.

So that's the basic model.

For why these things happen and what to do about them.