What Is The Kechari Mudra?
A skull is a skull — but the karma flowing through the face of the human, defines the experience of the human.
The dark image above symbolises the karmic state of the mediocre human condition — swamped with goetic karma — unable to see clearly — and pulled like a puppet from strings of subconscious Darwinian habits. Suffering abides! The holy, decorated skull represents a liberated state — where all of existence is beautiful — mere existing blossoms pleasure — the soul sees its true nature clearly — and Death is an illusion no more.
The hardest part in talking about the kechari mudra — is that there are so many dimensions to it — important dimensions! — so where do we start? At the most basic level, or the most exciting level?
Stage 0 is a null stage — a tongue resting as normal
Stage 1 is doable by anyone — but it is subtle. As you will learn with time, the septum is a very sensitive part of the body. Sensual, blissful and sweet sensations can be stimulated at the septum. If you take the tip of your tongue to the roof of the mouth — you will notice a hard ceiling towards the front, which is called the hard palette — towards the rear of the mouth, the ceiling is soft — it is called the soft palette. Directly above where the soft and hard palette meet — directly above is the septum. That means, you can actually stimulate the septum, softly and subtly, through the soft palette. The soft palette is actually very thin — it is much thinner than the stylized, indicative image above shows.
Stage 1.5 is an interim stage. We want our tongue to go above the soft palette, but first, our tongue needs to go backwards. If you take the tip of your tongue to the ceiling of your mouth, you will feel the hard palette — pull the tongue back and you will feel the soft palette — keep pulling the tongue back more, and you will feel the uvula. Now you are close! Touching the uvula with the tip of your tongue is stage 1.5.
Stage 2 is officially the "Giant Leap" into the proper kechari mudra. Something truly different. As your tongue goes backwards past the uvula, you can now push the tongue upwards. Your tongue will be soundly above the soft palette. Once there, it may feel unusual — but I encourage you to celebrate here — a huge milestone has been attained!
Stage 3 is an ecstatic phase. Remember I mentioned that the septum is a very sensitive organ? To be precise, the nasal tissue on the septum is sensitive, as the septum itself is a bone. Here, we can now directly touch the septum! Stage 3 is first attained when the tongue touches the nasal septum, and the stage is ascended once the tongue reaches the top of the first cavern, above the eustachian tubes. On the septum, there is a particular "secret spot" — through which a lot of good sensation can be stimulated.
Stage 4 is of a different style. In stage 4, the tongue enters the nasal caverns on either side of the septum. Up here is extremely sensitive tissue, and a lot more length for the tongue to climb. There are secrets here, but first, there are secrets to uncover in the previous stages.
There is also a very esoteric stage 5 — very little is known about this stage — and its validity hasn't been thoroughly explored.
This is the basic anatomy of the kechari, but what is the deeper meaning?
Your face is a huge storehouse of karma. All of the body stores karma to some degree, but the face especially stores a huge range of emotions — from tormented suffering to Enlightened bliss. The negative karmas of the human mind are like barbed strings, sticky wires, that weave their way through our muscles, neurons and bodily tissues. The kechari mudra is used to dislodge this negative karma. Once the gross karma is vaporised away, we discover the hugely blissful potential of our human body. Our body is a highly sophisticated machine, and we are able to tune the body towards divinity and bliss.
In particular, the tissue of the nasal septum becomes like a silky curtain, a benevolent lotus, emitting a sweet nectar of Buddhahood. It inspires bliss in the body. The picture below was AI generated, and it is not some masterpiece of spiritual information. It is simply meant to stylise the experience of kundalini reaching the brain, and being free of gross karma — our natural warmth and vibrancy of Enlightenment is alive.
Most of our 'negative' karma lies dormant. You do not feel anger right now, probably. But what if someone spat at your face? Then that karma uproars! There is a lot of downwards-spiralling karma in us. Sadness, doubt, shame, jealousy, selfishness, pride, greediness... there is a long list if we consider all the possibilities... and generally, we see all the same traps of human faltering all around the world. It requires something truly special to rise above the mediocre human condition. There are many wats in which humans have discovered — we can live a happier life — spiritual beliefs, fitness, family life, discipline, and so on. But what about true, genuine total Nirvana? Enlightenment? This requires a special tool — the kechari mudra can take us there.
The kechari mudra cleans all of our karmic gunk-load out. Once clean, your nervous system naturally opens like the blossoming of a tulip. The kundalini roars alive, and activates the third eye. Your sahasrara blossoms, your brain drips amrita, and you live in an unshakable nirvana. A bliss that pervades throughout every pore of your being. Let's be clear, this is an ambitious goal. It is the goal of rising to the spiritual attainment of the Buddha.
Before we attain complete liberation — there are other interesting milestones — which are fascinating to encounter. In many spiritual traditions, you can see images of a third eye, a serpent climbing a staff, wings of a bird, or a pine cone — these are all attained by the kechari mudra — it is interesting how experiencing these 'awakenings' unites the symbolism of the world's mystical traditions. Those are bit a few examples — the mythical imagery of the world's spiritual traditions are largely symbols of the inner awakening — unfortunately, with many people getting lost in the dogmas of the zeitgeist throughout every generation.
To finish — I shall downplay the kechari mudra too. It is a culmination practice. A method of attaining the last leap towards Heaven. First, one must also make healthy changes in life, deeply introspect, give your life to Goodness, find meaning in love, be willing to give up our attachments to darker dimensions, and more. The kechari mudra won't take you from Hades to God. But it will take you from the top of mount Olympia to the Heaven.
This is only a quick introduction to the kechari mudra — would you like to know more? This website has a lot of additional information, and you are welcome to ask any questions that you may have on the forum — there is also this book I wrote and will keep updated with the most valuable information I am aware of.
Over the next few months after you have read this, I hope that some of you are able to place your tongue above the soft palette — and make the giant leap. It is a gift that your soul will eternally benefit from.