Sadhguru: Energy Is All There Is, Which Means You Are Energy

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Inner Engineering" by Sadhguru. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here.

What does the expression “everything is energy” mean? How can Kriya yoga help you access the state of pure energy?

At the most basic level, everything consists of energy, even yourself. According to yogi Sadhguru, we can access this blissful state of being part of universal energy through Kriya yoga techniques, but it takes discipline and practice.

Here’s how Kriya yoga can help you break free from the constraints of your worldly identity and experience yourself as pure energy, Sadhguru says.

Energy and Transcendence

Science tells us that all things are made of energy. This means at the most fundamental level, everything is energy which is manifesting in different forms. So, according to Sadhguru, energy is all there is, which means you are all that is. When religions say God is everywhere, or in everything, they’re really saying this using religious language. Sadhguru says what we really long for is to be able to feel this—to have the sensual experience of being that universal energy. He describes it as a blissful, expansive, liberating experience. This is also known as a transcendental experience or a mystical state.

Psychedelics Can Initiate Mystical Experiences

Although Sadhguru doesn’t promote the use of any substances in yogic practice, many people report having similar mystical and transcendent experiences under the influence of psychedelics, such as psilocybin and DMT.

One of the more common experiences reported in recent research by participants who have had psychedelic experiences is that of a perceived encounter with “God” or an “ultimate reality.” A Johns Hopkins study reported that more than two-thirds of self-identified atheists shed that identification after a single psychedelic experience. Another study concluded that “psilocybin can occasion complete mystical experiences in the majority of people studied,” with mystical experience defined as “a sense of unity, or the experience of becoming one with all that exists.”

Kriya yoga is the method for achieving energetic transcendence. It’s specifically energy-focused, rather than body or mind focused. Sadhguru says you should get your body and mind prepared first, and only move forward with kriya practices if you want to experience mystical states of consciousness. He warns that it’s not easy—it takes devotion and practice. Yogis have developed these methods over thousands of years, so when you practice kriya yoga you must adhere to the regimen with discipline.

Sadhguru does, however, point out that a strict path of kriya yoga is only for those who are committed to experiencing real mystical experiences. If you’re not, you can still employ basic kriya techniques to enhance your life experience—you can increase joy and creativity and attract positivity to your life through raising your energy.

When you work to transform yourself in body and mind, Sadhguru says you must keep up those practices or the effects will wear off. Think, for example, of how you get out of shape if you don’t keep exercising. But he says any work you do toward transforming your energy is permanent. You will change yourself on a fundamental level.

(Shortform note: Kriya yoga overlaps with kundalini yoga, in that they both involve transforming one’s energy. Kundalini yoga focuses on the awakening of the kundalini energy which is characterized as a sleeping snake coiled at the base of the spine. The practice focuses on raising this energy from the root chakra up through the other chakras—or, energy centers—to the crown of the head, allowing access to a higher state of consciousness.)

Sadhguru: Energy Is All There Is, Which Means You Are Energy