Chi Kri Yoga

Chi Kri Yoga

History and Beginnings
Chi Kri Yoga was founded by course director Neil Patel in 1995. Prior to that Neil was leading from his family lineage of yoga teaching, which began in the UK in 1975 with Tara Patel, his mother. So currently, this teaching has a 33-year history. Beyond that, the history of Chi Kri’s philosophy dates back through the Kotecha ancestry in India to a line of Neil’s forefathers who were also practicing spiritualists in the traditional Indian Vedic system of bhakti and raja yoga.

The lineage of Chi Kri is also through the Gurus of Chi Kri, who are Paramahansa Yogananda, Sri Yukteswar, Lahiri Mahasaya, and Mahavatar Babaji. These four legendary yoga masters were the sole spiritual influence on both Tara and Neil Patel during the formation of yoga teaching in the family and are still instrumental in the guiding of Chi Kri from a spiritual perspective today. The Masters of Chi Kri always emphasize meditation and all spiritual practices as the true purpose of yoga; hence the massive emphasis placed on regular spiritual practice in Chi Kri.

Chi Kri Yoga is a non-judgmental, non-elitist, non-religious organization. It welcomes all religious teachings and students into its fray and is able to draw from all spiritual texts which concur with the work of the Chi Kri masters and head teachers. Chi Kri is still developing as it is such a large framework of ideas and concepts. And it probably always will.

The Meaning of Chi Kri
Chi Kri Yoga means using your highest energy (Chi) in all your actions (Kri) to unite the mind, heart, and body with the Soul and Spirit (Yoga). Therefore, Chi Kri Yoga is a very broad teaching. That is why Chi Kri incorporates subjects like diet, Mind Yoga, and creativity. We are teaching you that everything you do must strive to fall under some sort of higher order, or have a higher motive.

=== What does "Chi" mean? ===
The words “Chi” or “Qi” (to the Orientals) and “Prana” (to the people of India) mean the same thing. They describe one of the subtlest energy that exists in creation. Chi exists in the five elements of creation and in the body of all human beings. Chi is the potency that we live off in air, food, sunlight, water, and even thought. Chi is the sub-atomic vibrative energy that gives power to the oxygen in air, the vitamins, minerals and nutrients to the food, and the chlorophyll in sunlight etc. Without this living energy in the elements they would nothing but masses of lifeless molecular structures. Chi also exists closer to home, in fact, within us. Every human being is enlivened because we possess souls. And the energy that the soul imparts to the mind, heart, and body is Chi. The Chi within us is that which enables us to do simple operations like lift a book, speak, or walk, but it also does the work of healing a wound when you are cut. Chi works with intelligent guidance from our minds, or it works from its “own” intelligence - which is guided by the wisdom and dictates of the subtler mind - the soul.

Considering that Chi comes directly from the soul, in its rawest form it is pure and devoid of ego, malice, or selfishness. Yet, Chi is a neutral current, and can be used for positive or negative ends. This choice will ultimately affect ones’ karma of course. Chi is the gift of energy we have and respecting it, means respecting yourself.

=== What does "Kri" mean? ===
The word kri simply means “to do” i.e. in fact, kri is not really a word; it is a Sanskrit root verb. Thus it is the base to other words in Sanskrit like, “Kriya” - meaning action, and “Karma” - which is the principle of cause and effect in a human’s life i.e. that which you put out, will be returned unto you.

In the context of Chi Kri, kri means acting - with the highest energy, which is chi. Thus, the meaning of Chi Kri is complete.

What is Chi Kri?
Chi Kri has been divided into eight areas or limbs of work.

1) Hatha Yoga
In this limb of chi kri, traditional yoga postures are used combined with a few postures, exercises, and variations of postures created by Neil Patel. Yoga is a lot to do with mental and spiritual development, but without a strong, healthy body, your development is certainly harder (not that being imperfect physically will stop you growing, it just gives you distractions and discomforts on your path). The actual practice of hatha yoga develops strength, suppleness, and stamina. This limb works on all the major systems of the body - muscular, skeletal, nervous, digestive etc. all yoga poses are designed to work internally as well as externally. Though other systems of exercise are beneficial, hatha yoga is one where externalities such as weight loss, muscle size etc are of secondary importance to the inner workings of the mind and body. You can expect to feel relaxed, rejuvenated, and refreshed after practicing hatha yoga. Problems like bad backs, tiredness, and poor circulation should eventually clear up with this practice.

2) Diet
This limb gives advice from ancient systems like Ayurveda, through more modern western thinking and principles of diet. Eating properly can ensure that your energy levels remain constant during the day, that your body does not have to store toxins for you, and that what you do eat does get converted into fuel, and not just passed through the system without assimilation.

3) Relaxation
This limb teaches you to mentally withdraw energy from the senses and the mind, and to place it back within the soul temporarily. In that time, the body gets unprecedented rest (the same as dreamless sleep) - but self-induced, with complete mental conscious awareness of where you are and what you are doing.

4) Creativity
Creativity is the manifestation of an idea or image within a person, in a unique way, which the world around them can cognize. Creativity can unearth mental and emotional problems.

5) Spiritual Science
Opening up a scientific mind (as well as the creative mind) to make thinking more balanced. Understanding of this limb will include are what “God” is, where the earth came from, where atoms come from, what is the future pattern for the earth etc.

6) Mind Yoga
In this limb, the mind is divided into four levels (body, mind, soul, and Spirit), and from these levels various mental states are addressed i.e. calmness, strength, health, love etc. For each of these states, short philosophies, parables, poems, and positive thoughts are given.

7) Life Force Control
There is an energy which comes straight from your soul and channels itself into your being (see above question “What does "Chi" mean?”) the control of which leads to retraction of consciousness towards the ever-peaceful soul.

Much of that energy is linked to the breath. This is one purpose of breath control, to slow down the mind, and help reserve energy. The other aspect of breath control is cleansing, controlling, and affecting the body in a positive manner.

Its is stated by yogic masters that the practice of pranayama(life force control) breathing techniques are so beneficial, that even without doing much physical exercise the breath work alone can keep one extremely healthy. These techniques can change the body’s temperature, increase the body’s digestive ability, obviously improve circulatory and respiratory systems and do other far- ranging functions like remove asthma, lower blood pressure, and cure other minor ailments.

8) Meditation
In meditation, one experiences their true nature - bliss, peace, strength, wisdom, and love. Meditation relaxes every system in the body and recharges it directly.

Meditation must be practiced in stillness and silence for it requires the deepest concentration possible. In this limb of chi kri, basic to fairly advanced techniques are given to students who wish to practice this spiritual art. It must be remembered however that mediation is a most practical tool as well.

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