In this Kriya Yoga video I demonstrate the advanced Kriya pranayama techniques, sometimes referred to as Kriya Pranayama II and III. However, these advanced Kriya pranayama techniques are only effective once you have gained a certain level of mastery using the basic Kriya pranayama technique (a/k/a Kriya Pranayama I).

As a foundation for advanced Kriya pranayama, we should be able to feel the energy as we pull it up our spine and be able to interiorize our awareness in the exterior of the spinal column. If you are not there yet, continue your basic Kriya pranayama practices and preliminary techniques until you are.

In basic Kriya pranayama we breathe in through the nose and pull energy up through the central channel of the spinal column (sushumna nadi) and direct it at the third eye, before letting it fall back down. In advanced Kriya pranayama we follow the same procedure, with added variations.

In Kriya Pranayama II and III we chant the “seed mantra” for each chakra as we pull energy up through the spinal column and let it fall back down. This has the added effect of enlivening and purifying the chakras as we do our Kriya pranayama.

Each of the chakras are located within the spinal column, so when we concentrate on a chakra we are concentrating on the spinal column. Below is a chart with the name, location, and seed mantra for each of the chakras.

Chakra	Location	Seed Mantra
Root Chakra (Muladhara)	Base of spine.	LUM
Sacral Chakra (Svadishthana)	About two inches below navel.	VUM
Solar Plexus (Manipura)	About two inches above navel.	RUM
Heart Chakra (Anahata)	Between shoulder blades.	YUM
Throat Chakra (Visuddha)	Throat	HUM
Third Eye (Ajna)	Between eyes just above the brow.	OM
Crown Chakra (Sahasrara)	Slightly above the head.	OM

We chant the seed mantra for each of the chakras as we pull the energy up through the spinal column, and as we let it fall back down to the root chakras in both Kriya Pranayama II and III. However, with Kriya Pranayama II the end point for the energy in the head is the back of the top of the head (Bindu Visarga). This is the seat of our psychic and astral energy centers.

With Kriya Pranayama III we follow the same procedure as Kriya Pranayama II, except the end point for the energy in the head is the top of the front of the head (Bregma Bindu). This causes the energy to flow up into the crown chakra, which leads to samadhi and the breathless state.

We direct energy to the various points in the head (third eye, back of crown, and top front of the head) with the tongue. The tongue can be used to direct energy to the various energy centers in the head, depending on where you touch the tip of the tongue to the soft pallet of the mouth. If you are sufficiently sensitivse to the flow of energy, you should be able to know when you have achieved the correct position.

When incorporating advanced techniques into your Kriya yoga practice, you may begin with your preliminary Kriya yoga practices followed by 12 repetitions of Kriya Pranayama I, 12 repetitions of Kriya Pranayama II, and 12 repetitions of Kriya Pranayama III. As always, it is best to conclude with Jyoti Mudra and meditation on the crown chakra using the OM technique.

The key to profound psychological and spiritual transformation is to spend time in samadhi in the breathless state. When the crown chakra is sufficiently energized it becomes a magnet attracting everything within us that isn’t fully divine, and burns it all away.