In the early days of my Yoga training and practice we used to perform a variety of advanced breathing and meditation techniques that allowed us to stay under water for over 5 minutes and endure icy cold water for 10 to 15 minutes. My teacher, myself and a small crew of dedicated Yogis found places in the city where we could practice these feats. We used the Russian Turkish Bath on Division Street in Chicago because they had a pool with continuously running ice cold water. We would go into the sauna first, get as hot as we could, then plunge into the icy water and stay up to 20 minutes. We would also go to a deep swimming pool and practice a breath retention technique I sort of developed that we called "underwater breathing". In this technique we would swim back and forth across the pool four times, then perform one thousand "Fire Breaths" (Rapid Inhalations and Exhalations through the nose). We would perform four rounds of the laps and breathing technique, then sink to the bottom of pool and stand with our feet flat on the pool floor and our backs against the wall. There is a way you can keep your lungs full of air but "scrunch" your breath tight in your lungs so that you removed the buoyancy from your body so you could stay stable and not float back up. Finally cross the arms on the chest like the Mummy, relax and stay for 5 to 6 minutes.
The effects of these practices are profound. Never got sick, never got tired, had tremendous clarity and creative energy. It was very easy to fast almost all the time. My diet mostly consisted of fruit, herbs, distilled water, smoothies and occasional large green leafy salads.
Most of the techniques we practiced were our own creations. We drew them from our own consciousness rather than going to some guru. From my perspective Yoga (breathing practices and meditation are part of Yoga) is largely an outgrowth of consciousness. All of these traditions out here attempt to get devotees to be aligned with language, chants, devotional behavior, etc, when in reality the point is for you to become empowered from your own consciousness.
Some of these dudes who criticize Kemetic Yoga and claim that there are no texts to it miss the point because they don't practice anything except for reading words from paper. The ancestor left us a profound cornucopia of knowledge in stone and carved into walls that require one who has expanded their pineal gland and corresponding energy centers to be able to view and see what is behind the veil. These silly little critics have not disciplined their minds or bodies an iota, so all they do is criticize because they are as materialistic in their approach as any European naysayer and consumed with their self righteous egoism. Translating and reading texts, which something I have also done, is not even half the process that needs to be done in order to understand the language of the ancients. The highest echelons of our ancestral greats never ate animals. They fasted and engaged in practices that they never wrote down on papyrus or craved into into stone except symbolically. They demanded that new initiates in the future open their inner eyes to see what is plainly in front of them. Those who cannot see or refuse to see, are not those who will be selected for initiation into this knowledge. PERIOD.
People like my Brothers Kwesi Karamoko, Issa Milton Allen and a few others can attest to the accuracy of my words because they were there with me and endured the same level of development. Most people who come from the "wine and cheese" schools of American Yoga, only scratch the surface of what their potential is.
By Yirser Ra Hotep