Kriyas

Kriyā (in Sanskrit "action, deed, effort") most commonly refers to a "completed action", technique or practice within a yoga discipline meant to achieve a specific result. Another meaning of Kriya is an outward physical manifestation of awakened kundalini, such as a spontaneous body movement related to Kundalini energy flow.

Kriyā is a Sanskrit term, derived from the Sanskrit root, kri, meaning "to do". Kriyā means "action, deed, effort". The word karma is also derived from the Sanskrit root √kṛ (kri) कृ, meaning "to do, make, perform, accomplish, cause, effect, prepare, undertake". Karma is related to verbal proto-Indo-European root *kwer- "to make, form".

The root kṛ (kri) is very common in ancient Sanskrit literature, and it is relied upon to explain ideas in Rigveda, other Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, the Epics of Hinduism. The root "kri" also appears in the word Sanskrit, to imply a language that is "well made".

Kriya has been preserved in the Bhagavad Gita. According to Paramahansa Yogananda in his book God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita, Krishna refers to and describes Kriya Yoga:

Offering inhaling breath into the outgoing breath, and offering the outgoing breath into the inhaling breath, the yogi neutralizes both these breaths; he thus releases the life force from the heart and brings it under his control.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are a composite of various texts. According to Feuerstein, the Yoga Sutras are a condensation of two different traditions, namely "eight limb yoga" (ashtanga yoga) and action yoga (Kriyā yoga), the description of the eight limbs being an interpolation into the text on kriya.

According to Hartranft and Govindan, Patanjali gives a description of Kriya Yoga in the second chapter. According to George Feuerstein, kriya yoga is contained in chapter 1, chapter 2 verse 1-27, chapter 3 except verse 54, and chapter 4. The "eight limb yoga" is described in chapter 2 verse 28-55, and chapter 3 verse 3 and 54.

...
Wikipedia