Radhika Shah Grouven - Mastering Pranayama: From Breathing Techniques to Kundalini Awakening

Part 1: The Foundation

1. Pranayama, the Shortcut to Immortality

   Pranayama, the ancient Science of Life challenges our preconceived notions of death and life and takes us on an incredible journey, where the impossible becomes possible.

2. Are you breathing right?

   No one ever asked you this question before and you never thought about it. Unfortunately it is true: most of us do not know how to breathe right. Lesson one is unlearning wrong breathing habits.

3. Finding the Best Posture or the Science of Sitting

   With seven postures to choose from, sitting is not just sitting. Lesson two is finding the right posture and preparing a comfortable seat. It may not look like it, but this is one of the most challenging stages of the journey. Dont give up before you have really started.

4. Basic Breathing Techniques

   Having overcome the initial obstacles, finally you start practicing real breathing techniques only to discover: they are not so basic after all. These practices will take you from fifteen breaths per minute to one breath per minute. If you achieve this in less than a year, you have every reason to congratulate yourself.

5. Svarodaya, the Mystical Science of Breath

   Learning to churn up the subtle energy and integrating it requires one-pointedness. The feminine and masculine energies are harmonized; the divided mind and body are brought into balance. Practice regularly and you are well on your way to become a master of the fine breath and even finer mind.

   Part 2: Advanced

6. An Ancient Secret is revealed

   You always wanted to be in on a secret? That moment has arrived. A word of caution though: the difficulty lies not in the ability to practice the secret, but in the ability to accept it. Accept that it is possible and you will be soon saying, Look, no hands! Then you can tell one and all that you are an advanced practitioner.

7. The Wedding of the Sun and the Moon

   Twilight moments have kept mystics and poets busy since a long time, and not without reason. Twilight is that mystical moment when the mind is naturally contemplative. As you stand at the threshold of the inner world, the question you need to ask yourself is: Do I really want to be an adept?

8. Holding on to the Thread of Awareness

   Life is a wondrous rainbow. As you transition from one color to another, you discover, there are no compartments, no divisions; just beautiful shades that flow into each other. Awareness is the thread that takes you through the transitions of life as well as death.

9. The Importance of Lifestyle or How to enjoy Life

   Life has so much to offer, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Do not be afraid of discipline. Discipline is your friend. Enjoy life with complete awareness and you will soon notice that even the coffee tastes much better.

10. Kumbhaka, the Elusive Breathless State

    Breathlessness should lead to eternal life? Paradoxes like this will challenge your world view, and hopefully even destroy it. Plunge into this deep and vibrant silence, one you have never known before and you will long to return to it. The longing will lead you.

11. The Mysterious Fourth Pranayama

    After uninterrupted practice over a long period of time something odd happens. It seems, all the practices start merging and lead to one and the same place, a place of reasonless joy and profound beauty. The fourth pranayama is the direct experience of prana itself.

12. Reversal of Subtle Energy or Kundalini Awakening

    Are you upside down? Or is the world topsy turvy? The death of ignorance is the birth of wisdom. An adept, a mystic, a seer is born. All the same, awakening the kundalini is not the same as leading it consciously.

13. Leading Kundalini

    In any other book, this would be the end, but in this book, it is a new beginning. The harnessed kundalini brings with it the unlimited power of the deep unconscious and the knowledge of life, the world and everything.

Lead me from ignorance to Truth.
Lead me from darkness to Light.
Lead me from death to Immortality.
Om shanti, shanti, shanti.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad I.iii.28

In the last few decades, there has been a tremendous interest in yogic practices. However, the interest has been limited to asanas or physical postures, and there are few authoritative works on the subject of pranayama.

The teachings and practices elaborated in this book draw upon the Oral Tradition, based on empirical observations over thousands of years, handed down and validated by every following generation. This came to be known as the Oral Tradition since most of these teachings and practices were not recorded for many generations. Even though much was subsequently documented, the core teachings and the complementary practices were, and are to this day, only handed down step by step and accompanied by personal instructions. A great deal of effort has been made to maintain the authenticity and purity of these traditional teachings and practices, which cannot be compared with those taught by modern schools of physical culture.

Since the Oral Tradition predates the modern way of life by many millennia, an effort has been made to draw parallels between the traditional science of pranayama and modern science. While this may help the modern reader to relate to the traditional science, this book is not based on modern science or medicine; its focus remains the teachings and practices of the Oral Tradition.

As you systematically go through these practices, you may make many interesting observations and come across some difficulties. I have used illustrations and tables extensively to avoid misunderstandings. All the same, a book has its limitations and cannot be a substitute for personal guidance. Over the last two decades of teaching in the traditional way, I have grown to appreciate the wisdom of the Oral Tradition with its emphasis on direct dialogue with the student. There seems to be no other way to impart the higher secrets.

Radhika Shah Grouven