“My first experience of Sat Kriya was a 40-day challenge a few years ago. It was very difficult physically at first, but after a couple of weeks, the actual 11 minutes of Sat Kriya wasn’t a problem. I felt very energised, but I found the practice also made me quite short tempered. I felt this rising anger, and towards the end of the 40 days, it erupted like a volcano. I had a blow out where I shouted and screamed and threw stuff around.

This recent 120 days of 11 minutes of Sat Kriya wasn’t at all physically challenging, but my capacity for focus and concentration varied from day to day. Sometimes I was completely absorbed, but other mornings I’d get lost in my mind. For the first three weeks, I was generating a lot of heat during the kriya that made me sweat, and I had so much energy. My work as a massage therapist usually drains me, but while I was doing 11 minutes of Sat Kriya, my energy reserves felt boundless.

I found myself being a little bit short-tempered at times, but nothing like those 40 days a few years ago. In the first six weeks on this practice, there was an urgency to get things done and I found myself being very productive. That motivation has waxed and waned over the 120 days but overall, it has made me get more done. I did a lot of things around the house; painting, new flooring… things that I’d wanted to do for a while. 

In the last few weeks of they 120 days, I started getting bored of sat kriya. I stopped noticing such a difference in my energy levels… it didn’t seem to be as profound a difference as at the beginning, where it was seriously impressive.”

Nishad Kala teaches hatha yoga in South London.

Sat nam x