Kechari Mudra Stairway to heaven

When you start getting connected to the roots of Hatha and Tantra Yoga, Tibetian
Buddhism, Kashmir Sivaism and Sri Vidya you find the mystics of Matsyendra as a main
soucre
One key way to practise is Kechari Mudra. Even today it can be a key practice underlaying
all your other practices, Asana Pranayama, Meditation to transform your energetic body

into a constant mass of inner light and vastness.

Depending on the tradition the Kechari practice differs from gross to subtle. Ccording to
your consitution the one or other might be best. Or you practise all parallel to
experience penetration or samavesha on different levels.

A buddhist monk, Ngorchen Khonchog Lhundrub (1497-1557) wrote a praise to the

realm of holy Kechara and described the practise of gazing upwards as an ascend to a
celestial palace with a thron in the center, The Staircase Ascending to Khechara.
It is a beautiful gloryfication for good reasons.
What happens when you succeed in kechari is that you connect your heart to the highest
realms of consciousness, the brahman, located in your Sahashara cakra or even above.
All upper cakras stillness comes the upper cakras open and the often described amrita,
energy showers in your head appear.
The opening of the upper cakras is connected with mystical experience. It seems even
right that cosmic beings get attracted.
Kechari should always be connected with a heart cleansing practice dissolving the
negativity like anger, hatred, jealousy etc. Else you get stuck or it just remains a physical
practice.
There is a lot of confusion about how to practice. Because it is a spiritual process we
should not forget that there is not one right way but only a direction and everybody has
to find its own way. So a teacher could be helpful to framework it or a good relationship
to your own kundalini so she could be your guru.
On a gross level Kechari Mudra is a physical Mudra like other Bandhas and Mudras in
Pranayama. Let's say it is a bit more tricky than Mula or Uddhiyana bandha. But all three
Mudras give an energetic upliftment. Kechari influences directly the nervous system at
the level of the brain so impact can be a lot more transforming.

In order to effect khecari mudra, the yogi forces the tip of his tongue back and upwards
into the opening at the back of the palette. Then, by concentrating his gaze inwardly to a
point between the eyebrows, he causes his capititalized nectar to flow, via the sankhini
[nadi], into the throat, where he drinks it. This process was explained to me by a young
yogin of the Juna Akhada...As he described it all depended on forcing the godess
[kundalini] up into the head, from hence the rain of necatar would flood down into the
body David White
Juna Akhada we know are the Naga Babas, the naked one or just scrubbed with ashes on
the Kumbha Mela festival.
Like we know from other Yoga practises and even from sexuality it is not so much a
forcing but a sliding in. Even though we should add some key details to start the
practises on a deeper level before doing anything else you should work on getting your
tongue back upwards into the nasal cavity.

Traditions like Kashmir Saivism developed more subtle practices or even non-dualistic
'no-practises' with the aim to grasp the knowledge the insight, the jnana, of the physical
practices to develop a more direct spiritual paths or a vidya.
Kechari Mudra means 'Flying through space'.
As a more subtle practise Kechari becomes a sonic practise or an uccara, an upliftment.
If you start using mantra in a way to connect your heart with the dvatasanta, the twelf
finger point above your head or the yogini vaktra, the mouth of the yogini, than you
might experience Kechari as a garland of the ladder
The yogi should make repeated use of the flow of sonic consciousness which is the garland of the ladder that
runs to the point between the eyebrows, the end of sound and power which one expanding and free of
restrictions is perpetually unfolding (Tantra Loka, Abhinavagupa)

In the classic text Vijnana Bhairava you can experience Kechari as the hidden Bhairava
mystic as Bhairava rupa, an energetic formation or svarupa like a subtle feeling of a
funnel between heart and head.
Sutra or dharana 25 explains you should concentrate on the two points continuously and
bhairvia bhairavi bhairavasya vapuh viyate .
The energetic formation of Bhairava will perpetually appear inside your pranic body.

But lets turn back to the physical practice of Kechari Mudra

Hatha Yoga Pratipika
Verse 32: Kechari Mudra is done by inserting the tongue into the hole in thesoft palate at the roof of the mouth, by
turning it backward.33. In order to be successful, the tongue must lengthened into a Lambika (suchas the long tongue

of Goddess Kali). Sometimes cutting the frenulum (a mucousmembrane extending from the floor of the mouth to the
midline of the underside of the tongue) is necessary. Else, pull or move your tongue around constantly. When it gets
long enough, to reach the point between the eyebrows, then Kechari becomes possible.
36. The frenulum is cut 1/2 millimeter each day and the wound is sealed. In 6months, the tongue becomes free & quite
long.

I pay homage to the Realm of Khechara.

With the highest of praise from all conquerors and sons, to the dwelling of
innumerable dakinis, the great celestial palace of the supreme Vajra Queen; with
devotion I pay homage to the Realm of Khechara.
Ascending in a direction high above here, in the middle of a ground strewn with
rubies, completely constructed of jewels in every direction; to that special sublime
Realm I pay homage.
In the middle of that, well made from the five gems, is the great celestial palace
of the powerful Khechari, with four sides, four doors, lintels, three floors and a
pinnacle; to that, with a vajra peak, I pay homage.
In the middle of the celestial palace are two dharmakaras - stacked. Above a
lotus, sun, Bhairava and Kalaratri, is my ishtadevata - Vajrayogini, blazing with
the marks and examples; I pay homage.
With one face, two hands and three eyes gazing upward, beautiful with a curved
knife in the right, skullcup in the left, and a katvanga on the left shoulder, beautiful
with the five mudras; I pay homage.
'Praise in Accord with the Arrangement of the Realm of Holy Naro Khechari