January 6, 2016 By Admin

Brief Kirtan Kriya Meditation and Research

A Practice To Help Prevent Alzheimer Disease

Kirtan Kriya meditation is part of the ancient Kundalini yoga tradition. Current clinical research dealing with prevention of Alzheimer disease supports its use in medical meditation. As G. Harrison (The Beatles fame) noted: As you move attention beyond yourself, you may find peace of mind is there. Sanskrit root words for kundalini include meanings such as spiraled or coiled, earth (or single cell), bestows perpetual consciousness expressing beginning and end. Sanskrit translations for Kirtan Kriya include such things as sound with movement to balance mind-body emotions/energies to a higher self and true essence. The sounds used come from Sat Nam, which are interpreted as my true essence. Kundalini practices like Kirtan Kriya open up our experience to the inner and outer life forces. Some refer to this experience as spiritual uplift. Since the Kirtan Kriya meditation requires ONLY 12 minutes to do, there is NO EXCUSE about not having time to practice. Today neuroscientists suggest that the hands, fingers, and finger tips have much larger representation (the homunculus) within the power and functions of the human brain. Apparently, like so many other ancient meditation and yogic traditions, early practitioners were quite advanced regarding their understanding of mind-body-brain interactions.

Current Research Finding regarding Kirtan Kriya Meditation

According to research (multiple studies) completed by the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation, the 12 minute Kirtan Kriya meditation improves memory loss, sleep quality, inflammation (down regulates inflammatory genes), psychological well-being, spiritual well-being, telomerase level (enzyme that slows cell aging), energy level, and stress response. Furthermore, there were no negative side effects using kirtan kriya meditation; in some people emotional emergence or Kundalini crisis can be experienced as highly uncomfortable. Instructions appear below.

Kirtan Kriya Meditation in Kundalini Yoga

Preliminary Instructions

You will sit in meditation position (pillow or chair) with your back straight and eyes closed.
You will breathe naturally and remain calm.
You will place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth (84 acupuncture points influencing blood flow, motor-sensory, and occipital parts of the brain).
You will be saying the sounds of: Saa, Taa, Naa, Maa. This will be like gentle singing.
You will be saying these sounds in various ways (silent, out loud, etc.).
As you say the sounds, you will be touching specific finger tips to the tip of your thumb (mudra).
As you say the sounds, you will imagine/visulaize the energy coming into the top of your head, descending into the midbrain, and leaving your head via the mid-forehead (third eye area). This is the important L-Form.
At the end of the 12 minutes meditation, you will inhale very deeply, move arms/hands up over your head, then exhale fully and move arms in a sweeping motion back down.

You may want to review these steps before actually doing the meditation as noted below.

Operational Instructions for Kirtan Kriya Meditation

1) Sit with your back straight and your eyes closed.

2) Breathe naturally without manipulation of the breath.

3) Gently place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth, and keep it there.

4) Bring your visual imagery to “see” the L-Form.

5) For two minutes say out loud Saa, Taa, Naa, Maa with these formats. Touch tip of thumb with the tip of the index finger for Saa; touch thumb tip with middle finger tip for Taa; touch thumb tip with ring finger tip for Naa; and, touch thumb tip with small finger tip for Maa. Remember to visualize energy flow via the L-Form.

6) Repeat the same process for two minutes (sounds and touching thumb tip with finger tips), for but this time whisper the four sounds. Visualize the L-Form.

7) Repeat the same process for four minutes as you touch thumb tip with finger tips, but this time say the four sounds silently to yourself. Remember the L-Form.

8) Repeat for two minutes whispering the four sounds while touching finger tips with thumb tip. Use the L-Form.

9) Repeat for two minutes out loud, including the same hand mudra steps while visualizing the L-Form.

10) Inhale very deeply and raise your hands/arms over your head.

11) Exhale fully and with a sweeping motion move hands/arms back down.

12) Simply sit quietly for about one minute. Reflect on your experience.

For more information refer to Dharma Singh Khalsa (2014). A White Paper: Yoga and Medical Meditation as Alzheimer’s Prevention Medicine. Tucson, AZ: Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE or any image below to Order

Mindfulness Based Contemplations Best to practice both of these contemplations using the lectio divina method, that is each time you contemplate the content of the two messages concentrate a bit more, go a bit deeper into your mind. Concentrate! Concentrate! Concentrate! Go deeper into your mind to discover your answers. Contemplation 1 – Who Am I? If I […]

Effective Clinical Supervision Perhaps other than the mental health status of the therapist and her/his ethical clinical skills, there is no more important variable in successful clinical work than effective CLINICAL supervision. I emphasize “clinical’ because in today’s bureaucratic systems, so much supervision tends to be about required procedures like utilization level, reporting requirements, and documentation for services […]

Tonglen Meditation or Giving and Taking I have added various posts about many compassion practice. Earlier posts have covered a range of practices – from super-easy to more demanding. Here, I will add a more advanced practice. This Tibetan compassion meditation practice has been taught often in the Vajrayana school of Buddhism. In my opinion […]

Mindfulness On Loss, Grief and Mourning Mindfulness about personal loss, grief, and mourning may encompass many things. Here I will focus on the process and what people can do to better handle their suffering and pain. One way to look at it is through the lens of radical acceptance; another is via the reality of […]

Mindfulness Can Activate More Grace in Our Lives Today we all need to be cultivating more and deeper grace. Grace needs to be activated. Given so many of our cultural problems (murders and mass murders by gunfire, rampant personal and corporate greed, ego-entitlement, chronic stress, feelings of insecurity, technological advances that do not ADVANCE us, […]

A Primary Source of Unhappiness Self-medication to reduce or avoid pain and suffering is a major unhelpful habit in the United States. It is a desperate human effort to reduce pain and suffering in physical and psychological experiences. Therefore, we humans may be hard-wired for it. When we suffer and do not utilize effective wise […]

Basic Self-Compassion Process Practice: To practice self-compassion as needed, follow these specific self-compassion steps. Sensitize your mindfulness skills to become aware of your immediate experience of suffering. Hold a strong intention to respond with self-kindness. Use self-talk to be kind to yourself. Begin by softening your body. Relax your muscles, tendons, joints. Hold a natural […]

Vipassana Meditation: Impermanence Although standard vipassana meditation practice leading to insight about the true nature of reality does not recommend what I am about to do, I plan to do it anyway. This meditation center is all about innovation in practice and generalization regarding the benefits of meditation for both regular meditators and novices. Below […]

Vipassana Meditation -No-Self Journey 3 In this third vipassana meditation I will guide you on a meditation dealing with the experience of no-self. No-self is a highly advanced experience in Buddhist meditation and wisdom practices, and it is, perhaps, one of the most misunderstood concept and experience. Along with impermanence, dependent origination, typical reality […]

More on Yoga Nidra Yoga nidra is sometimes called yoga sleep or yoga relaxation. It is a very powerful mindfulness technique that allows one to relax the body and limbic brain area, while holding mental control for deeper relaxation and projective practices without falling asleep. For some it may be like lucid dreaming, but a […]

Meditation Guide to Getting Started Since just sitting in basic (mindfulness or vipassana) meditation is such an important practice on your way to emotional regulation – and possibly and eventually to Enlightenment – I decided to offer a quick review of this skilled practice. Practice every day! 1) Sit comfortably with your back softly errect […]

Mindfulness Practices for Expanding Acceptance Mindfulness and contemplation can be great allies in our struggle to better understand each other. This is especially true when it comes to matters of interpersonal relationships and highly significant relationships. It is also important in diversity, or as some now refer to it – variation in human beings. Variation may […]

Setting Emotional Boundaries from Work to Life Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC Sometimes setting emotional boundaries from the psychotherapy room to your life outside of work can be a difficult thing to do. Shifting from “experience near empathy” (Kohut), “unconditional positive regard” (Rogers), “hovering attention” (Freud), “the holding environment” in “intersubjective space” (Winnicott), and compassionate […]

A Buddhist Sutta on Your Desires and Suffering This post is about the Buddhist Sutta called The Gilana Sutta (SN 35:74). It is a touching story about a young monk, who became very ill. Another monk informed The Buddha of the young monk’s health conditions. Buddha visited and hoped he had improved and held on to […]

Stress in America – On the Rise – The American Psychological Association recently completed its national survey on stress in America. Stress in America for adults is on the rise! I will review below a selection of reported percentages from the 2015 survey (published in 2016). 1) Younger people are more stressed; Xers and Millennials […]

Yoga Nidra and Your Inner Peace Yoga Nidra will allow you to relax like you may never have relaxed before. Follow these modified instructions for your best relaxed state. If at any time during Yoga Nidra you feel uncomfortable, simply stop and breathe in a manner that restores equilibrium. Although this uncomfortable outcome is highly […]

Happiness Path – The 14th Dalai Lama His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama has suggested, among many other important things, that humans may experience true inner happiness by regular practice on the path to enlightenment. In his 2012 book, From Here to Enlightenment, he noted that personal happiness may be attained via specific behaviors and ways of […]

Cognitive Defusion in Mindfulness Psychotherapy A well-meaning therapist might ask: What is cognitive defusion. Well this practice, as used in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, is beyond cognitive restructuring of cognitive distortions and automatic negative thoughts ( I call “Red Ants”). The practice concretely de-literalizes the personal truth and meaning of unhelpful, repetitive thoughts and words. […]

Trauma Informed Care – Avoidance Process Although more and more clinicians are learning about and using principles/practices of Trauma Informed Care, too few understand the behavioral dynamics of negative reinforcement in the avoidance of trauma-related cues (people, places, things, internal sensations, emotions and images). This post will give a very brief description of negative reinforcement […]

Making Boundless Space for Your Emotional Dragons In the past I have offered posts about radical acceptance and ways of dealing with your personal dragons or demons. Here I will offer a more advanced perspective on how directly engaging your emotional dragons is a very important part of your spiritual path – your spiritual journey […]