Sādhana Lab Ep. 1 - the Fire Element
Analysis of practices and techniques
Hi all,
Today I feel inspired to share with you a video that I made recently to add to our collection of educational content over at the Bhūta Yoga Academy library.
UPDATE: read the essay on the EARTH Element here.
This video is part of a series of videos that I’ll be making as a response to the free PDF that we have on the Five Elements of Tantrik Hatha Yoga. You can download that free PDF here if you’re interested in learning more about how Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space influence every layer of our being and how to bring ourselves into balance with these fundamental forces. Five Elements PDF.
The video that I’ve posted below and the content of this essay will be about FIRE and in specific, Kriyā Yoga, so read on if the study of inner purification interests you.
The intention of this particular video along with the others that will be like it, is to provide inspiring content to both inform and empower the home practice (sādhana) of the virtual sangha. Since I started teaching yoga ten+ years ago, I have met hundreds of practitioners all around the world and since the inception of my first Yoga School (Keepers of the Earth) I have trained 36 teachers. Check out the testimonials below:
Foreword and Introduction
Having something authoritative to say on these matters — the matters of sādhana and spiritual practice — is something that I’ve long speculated about. Who qualifies as a guide or a ‘teacher’ inside of a continuous tradition which has been living for not less than 1500 years? What I have discovered in my own self-inquiry is that what I feel most comfortable to share and what feels most authentic are my own results of the practices that I teach.
Hence, the birth of the Bhūta Yoga Academy — a place for inspired learning and study of the ancient traditions from which all these methods emerge. A platform to organize & inspire my own thoughts on the subjects of purification, energetic mastery and inner alchemy, and to share that inspiration with the world around. This is deep, profound subject matter, and the content and material which I intend to share is meant only as a doorway for those who are interested in learning more.
However, that learning is an experiential process dependent on each person’s tenacity and determination related to the inner process of spiritual growth. “BYA” is a place that is built for people who desire to harvest the fruits of legitimate sādhana.
To do that, we must practice.
Thus, my first Substack essay under the title of “Sādhana Lab” — a breakdown of actual practices that I do daily and an investigation of what’s going on “under the hood”, so to speak.
May this article educate, inform, empower and inspire your home practice!
What is a “Teacher”?
Since the inception of my very first Yoga Teacher Training program back in 2023, I realized the need to deliver a practical methodology for aspiring teachers that could be a framework for long-term spiritual development. The importance of understanding gradual progression and steady cultivation regarding these ancient arts is something that I do not think many YTTs speak about (at least, not many of the ones I’ve seen). More often than not, a typical “YTT” delivers a enormous stack of information and considers it the students’ responsibility to dive in deeper. While this is unavoidable to some extent — it remains to be each person’s responsibility if they desire to truly walk this path — the arrangement of the “information” and what sort of framework is established in those early stages of development, I think, is very important for sustainable, long-term growth.
As a “teacher”, I’ve been in a deep contemplation over this process of gradual development for my students ever since I realized this in my own process of sādhana. When I created KotE and launched my first YTT, I did so with the inspiration that I could effectively organize the material and deliver it in such a way that would give aspirants a pragmatic view of the Path of Yoga and allow them to decide if the results were worth the work and effort required. Clarity over the path in terms of where it might lead and what is necessary to proceed is, I think, a really good place to start. This prevents disillusionment or a delusional attitude when starting out, which can be crippling to spiritual success. Of course, some of this delusion may be impossible to side-step — even with “correct” teachings and knowledge from the get-go — as we are, after all, purifying our own misperceptions and the obstructions of the mind to the pathway forward towards clarity, balance and ultimately Truth.
So we just start where we’re at and with that, from wherever we are, rely upon our own instinct to take us where we need to go. A “good” guide or teacher, then, is someone who is “good enough” to provide the next step on the path and offer a little advice around what to look out for as the going gets rough. And what qualifies this so-called “guide” or “teacher”? I believe lineage has something to do with it, although again I do not feel that this arbitrarily qualifies anyone. Perhaps more-so it has to do with one’s own personal attainment. What are the discoveries and revelations that have come through one’s own spiritual investigation, research, and above all — sādhana?
I can only “teach” what I myself have learned and it may be possible that I actually teach best what I am in the process of learning/ uncovering for myself. Embodiment plays a role here and inner realization is not something that can transmitted through books; it must be lived. The process must be alive in the individual who is teaching it. I think this is what was meant by “oral tradition” when we are looking at the living spiritual lineages spanning across time. A teacher passes what he or she has learned onto the disciple, and the disciple works that into themselves until it becomes alive, and once it is alive it would seem that the awakened intelligence of that very “thing” finds its way to another fit receptacle for the spiritual line to continue; it’s a very organic process and the same pattern is seen throughout Nature. In this way, the process of transmission seems to follow “Spiritual Laws” or principles, which are nothing more than Natural Laws. This is how these traditions are preserved, maintained and have continued throughout time — through the legitimate attainment of devoted practitioners determined to reap the fruits of “the work.”
And so, here I am, humbly and gratefully passing on what I have received through my Teacher(s) and the results of my own experimentation. I am merely a determined and devoted student and I believe (and have seen) the power of sādhana that is applied effectively, with consistency and with intelligent progression, over a long enough period of time for legitimate results to come. I teach today what is working for me today and I will teach tomorrow what is working for me tomorrow, but I keep good notes regarding that which has shown me the “doorway” to the next “level” and I do my best to adapt my teaching and methodology to whomever is in front of me.
That being said, I’d like to share with you a snapshot into the methodology that I’ve developed over my time as a student and in this spiritual laboratory of mine. If you stick around here I will expand on this methodology — the Method of Bhūta Yoga — in future publications. May this inspire and inform other seekers like myself.
What is “Kriya Yoga”?
And what does Kriya Yoga have to do with trans-formation?
In a moment I’ll post a video for you to follow along or use as study material for your home practice, but I’d like to re-iterate an earlier point — the point about gradual, steady progression. Many people nowadays approach spiritual techniques with the same conditioned mindset that they are making a feeble attempt to escape from; this “conditioned mindset” is one in which a person believes that there is some magic pill or magic secret to the spiritual process of Yoga. Does Yoga solve all your problems? Ha. Maybe a more accurate statement would be to say that Yoga — its study and practice — brings all of the “problems” to the surface for them to be thoroughly examined and subsequently (we hope) discarded. This is, of course, a process known as purification, which leads to real, lasting trans-formation. Patañjali is very clear about this in the Yoga Sūtras. He says:
tapah svādhyāya īśvara-praṇidhānāni kriyā-yogaḥ || Yoga Sūtra 2.1 ||
“[The aspects of] discipline, self-study and surrender to the Supreme constitute [what is known as] Kriyā Yoga”
To understand this, we must look at what is meant by the word “kriyā”. This word shares a common root with another Sanskrit word which you may be familiar with: karma. The root of both kriyā and karma is:
kṛ (कृ) — meaning:
"to do," "to act," "to make," or "to perform."
Kriyā, depending on where we look and how this word is contextualized, may be translated to mean “completed activity” or “skillful action”. This is in alignment with Krishna’s teaching in the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna (an archetype of the Higher Self or Supreme Being) instructs Arjuna (an archetype of the individual Soul):
buddhi-yukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛta-duṣkṛte
tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam || Bhagavad Gita 2.50 ||“A person established in intelligence gives up both good and evil karma in this life. Therefore, strive for yoga; yoga is skill in action.”
The essence of his teaching here? Yoga is skillful action — not just doing, but doing with awareness, alignment, and non-attachment.
In terms of “Yoga”, we’re talking about actions that, when performed with intentionality, lead to results that are in alignment with the Order of the Universe. The point here is that there is a harmonious “Order” to things and that we can either live in alignment with this “Order” or we can live in mis-alignment to this “Order”. The idea of the path of Yoga is that it can teach us about this alignment, as when we are experiencing alignment in life, all of the ideals of Yoga are made manifest and personally realized. We are describing a spiritual experience — a direct knowing of the interconnectivity of life and one’s place in the Cosmos.
Therefore we conclude that Kriya Yoga speaks to skillful activity which leads to an awakening of one’s true nature. Or, said in a different way, Kriya Yoga refers to actions performed skillfully that bring one into alignment with the Cosmos. Choose which option resonates and proceed accordingly.
“Karma as an action which binds; kriyā is an action which liberates” — GI
What is “Elemental” Sādhana?
Now that we’ve established a workable definition of Kriyā Yoga, I can introduce the practice video I alluded to above and from this video, can speak to some of the ways we approach the Bhūta Yoga Method. As I had mentioned before, it is very important we have an understanding of the map, its territory and the gradual process of development that one might go through as the traverse the mysterious terrain of the Soul. We are navigating the maze of the mind and semi-delusional to outright delusional thinking; psychological and emotional “stuff” — not to mention physical — which is obstructing our pure seeing of Reality. And, if we are not “seeing” Reality clearly, then our actions are likely to be ineffective, or at best simply less effective than if we had clearer Sight. Thus, the path of gradually purifying ourselves to become cleaner conduits for the Light of Consciousness to shine through; i.e. Yoga.
In the video you’ll see below, I am performing a set of specific kriyās designed for this deep inner purification. I’d like to preface this by saying again what you’ve heard me say several times now — what you see here is the result of a gradual, intelligent progression of yoga sādhana. What I will demonstrate is not how I started and would not be what I’d recommend for a beginner. I speak to this progression clearly in the Elemental Model of the Bhūta Yoga Method. The PDF that perhaps you’ve downloaded by now offers an outline and overview of these steps.
Here, I am demonstrating how I see us working with the Element of Fire, which can & should be approached once one has first progressed through the stages of Earth (steady & stable cultivation of the physical body) and then Water (ease & flow in the energy body). Unless and until these two primary stages are well-cultivated (Earth & Water), a systematic practice of kriyā such as the one seen in this video is best left alone. However, if someone has developed their physical and energetic body through the structured application of āsana, vinyāsa and more basic kriyā and prānāyāma practice then a sādhana like this will certainly take one’s practice up to another level in terms how it generates internal heat and deals more directly with Kuṇḍalinī Śakti. Thus, proceed with caution & discernment:
These techniques are directly influenced by traditional Tantrik Hatha Yoga methods of inner alchemy and energetic cultivation. Study the Gorakṣa Śataka and/or the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā to learn more.
While it is not my intention to do a thorough analysis of the video or provided a guided audio to the practice — these features will be provided only for “Inner Sanctum” Members over at BYA — what this video does provide is simply a demonstration of the methodology. Watching this will offer one a snapshot into what is possible in terms of energy cultivation. You may use this video for study purposes or to inspire your own progression.
What I can say is this: these practices & techniques, when applied with skill, intention, devotion and right effort, have opened the doors to the higher stages of Yoga — for me. Learning about kuṇḍalinī, the chakras, the nādī system, and all the “inner plumbing” and energetic circuitry of my own body has been invaluable in terms of my own personal progression. The steady application of bandhas and mudrās like you see here are an example of this. Hopefully this inspires the right person at the right moment in their path to carefully dig a little deeper, as I believe the results of personal freedom and inherent life satisfaction are available to all of us, provided we have the “right” tools for the job, and we know where want to go. Well, I think these “tools” are a good start.
This is enough for today.
As always, I hope you enjoyed this publication. Be sure to subscribe and stay connected as I’ll be continuing to offer expositions like this in the future. Stay tuned for Earth, Water, Air, and Space — coming soon!
And should you feel called to share this with your yogi friends:
Giving thanks to this path and all those who have walked it before us, along with all those walking it with us now. We are standing on the shoulders of giants as recipients of this Great Tradition; may you remain inspired.
Om Namah Shivaya
-GI