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shivakm
USA
41 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 15 2007 : 11:09:49 PM
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I do Sudarshan Kriya once a day (taught by Art of Living). This has a Pranayama technique of its own. I do the Deep Meditation taught by AYP after my Pranayama and Sudarshan Kriya.
Here is what we do. We sit in Vajrasana in our 3-stage pranayama practice. In the first stage we keep our hands on our hip (thumbs touching the hip bone, and hands parallel to ground) and inhale and exhale using Ujjayi drawing breath into the stomach region, we hold it for a count of 4 and then exhale using ujjayi. The next stage is with the hands near the heart and similar breathing patterns and in the third stage we keep our hands on the back (touching the shoulder blades). All three rounds roughly take about 12 minutes.
My question is whether I can combine spinal breathing with this pranayama technique? And can I do the Mula Bandha in this posture? (Also please keep in mind that we do ujjayi during both inhalation and exhalation, I am not sure if this is correct either since the AYP teaches the ujjayi only during exhalation, The practice that I am doing is helping me a lot, but I would like to incorporate the advanced practices mentioned in AYP to these practices.)
Shiva. |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2007 : 12:47:07 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by shivakm
I do Sudarshan Kriya once a day (taught by Art of Living). This has a Pranayama technique of its own. I do the Deep Meditation taught by AYP after my Pranayama and Sudarshan Kriya.
Here is what we do. We sit in Vajrasana in our 3-stage pranayama practice. In the first stage we keep our hands on our hip (thumbs touching the hip bone, and hands parallel to ground) and inhale and exhale using Ujjayi drawing breath into the stomach region, we hold it for a count of 4 and then exhale using ujjayi. The next stage is with the hands near the heart and similar breathing patterns and in the third stage we keep our hands on the back (touching the shoulder blades). All three rounds roughly take about 12 minutes.
My question is whether I can combine spinal breathing with this pranayama technique? And can I do the Mula Bandha in this posture? (Also please keep in mind that we do ujjayi during both inhalation and exhalation, I am not sure if this is correct either since the AYP teaches the ujjayi only during exhalation, The practice that I am doing is helping me a lot, but I would like to incorporate the advanced practices mentioned in AYP to these practices.)
Shiva.
Hi Shiva,
Welcome to the forum  .
Its good to know that deep meditation is working well for you (from your other thread). And yes, what Weaver said there, about repeating the mantra in your mind is the right way.
If you ask me, I would not recommend doing spinal breathing with your current practice. In AYP.. we do not put our awareness on anything else other than our spinal nerve and our breathing during spinal breathing pranayama. Doing spinal breathing along with your 3-stage pranayama will dilute the effects of spinal breathing... since you are distributing your attention on your hand position and focus of breathing from your stomach and doing kumbhaka and counting your breath...
If you do want to try spinal breathing, I'd suggest you do it as a separate routine just before deep meditation. Start off with 5 mins of Spinal breathing before meditation.
"Sit comfortably with back support, and close your eyes just as you do
when you meditate. Now, keeping your mouth closed, breathe in and out
slowly and deeply through your nose, but not to the extreme. Be
relaxed and easy about it, breathing as slowly and deeply as possible
without discomfort. There is no need to be heroic. Work your muscles
so each breath begins in your belly and fills you up through your
chest to the top of your collarbones, and then comes back down
slowly. Next, with each rising inhalation of the breath, allow your
attention to travel upward inside a tiny thread, or tube, you
visualize beginning at your perineum, continuing up through the
center of your spine, and up through the stem of your brain to the
center of your head. At the center of your head the tiny nerve makes
a turn forward to the point between your eyebrows. With one slow,
deep inhalation let your attention travel gradually inside the nerve
from the perineum all the way to the point between the eyebrows. As
you exhale, retrace this path from the point between the eyebrows all
the way back down to the perineum. Then, come back up to the point
between the eyebrows with the next inhalation, and down to the
perineum with the next exhalation, and so on. "
We do Ujjai only during our out breath..
"In a week or so, or whenever you are feeling steady with the ten minutes of pranayama before your meditation, add the following features: On the exhalations, allow your epiglottis to close enough so that there is a small restriction of the air leaving your lungs. The epiglottis is the door in your throat that automatically closes your windpipe (trachea) when you hold your breath or swallow. By partially closing it as you exhale, a fine hissing sound will occur in your throat. This is called "ujjayi." Be easy about it. Don't strain. Keep the slow, deep rhythm of breathing you have become accustomed to as you add this small restriction in the throat during exhalations. On the inhalations, allow the throat to relax and open more than usual. Do not restrict the air coming in. Rather, allow the deepest part of your throat to open wide, comfortably. Do not change the slow, deep
rhythm of breathing you have been doing. Keep your mouth closed
during pranayama. An exception would be if your nose is stopped up
and you can't breath easily through it. In that case, use your mouth."
Although, doing spinal breathing in addition to your other pranayama may have a doubling up effect... so keep an eye on how things are going for you during the rest of the day. If, after you add spinal breathing (as a separate practice) you feel groggy, disoriented, irritated, sluggish.. back off spinal breathing, or back off the other pranayama you are doing... here in AYP we call it self pacing.
It is always better to stop your other pranayama when you start spinal breathing.. till you know how it feels.. and then add the other stuff back in if you think it's required.
Please don't get me wrong, I am not asking you to stop what you are doing right now.. if you are happy with your current practice, then just stick to it. But it is preferable not to mix different kinds of pranayama, at least not in the beginning.
Wish you all the best in your chosen path. |
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shivakm
USA
41 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 12:50:56 AM
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Shanthi,
Your post was very useful. My current pranayama is very helpful to me. I do not want to change it in any way. So, I guess I have to do the spinal breathing pranayama separately.
Thanks,
Shiva. |
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shivakm
USA
41 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 02:29:11 AM
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| the problem will be to find the time to do both... |
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yogani
USA
5241 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 10:37:31 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by shivakm
Shanthi,
Your post was very useful. My current pranayama is very helpful to me. I do not want to change it in any way. So, I guess I have to do the spinal breathing pranayama separately.
Thanks,
Shiva.
Hi Shiva:
Of course, you are welcome to experiment with integrations of practice, especially if a time savings can be achieved without significant loss of results, or while improving results! That is one of the primary themes of "R&D" in AYP. However, as Shanti points out, the results of mixing practices from multiple systems can be unpredictable -- "doubling up" effect, especially with pranayama. So any such forays will be your own R&D, whether you are doing the practices in sequence, or combined. Nothing wrong with doing R&D if you have a good foundation in practices (especially deep meditation/inner silence), are motivated, and have a good knowledge of "self-pacing" in your back pocket. There also has to be a willingness to occasionally travel a bumpy road in the interest of science.
Keep in mind that long term effects may not mirror short term effects, so the most meaningful experiments will be the ones that last many months. Please report back here with whatever you find.
All the best!
The guru is in you.
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 12:00:56 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by shivakm
the problem will be to find the time to do both...
Hi Shiva,
Yogani has given a great answer. If you are stable in your other panayama, you could try and add spinal breathing to it and see how it feels. Just keep the self pacing rules in mind... and also watch out for any overload symptoms.
OR
If you want to add spinal breathing after your regular panayama.. at first, do it just once a day.. for 5 mins... if you like it, are stable with this additional practice and have the time you can then gradually increase it to 5 mins twice a day.. and so on... |
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shivakm
USA
41 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 5:47:29 PM
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Yogani,
Thanks for your response. It has given me some hope. I was worried because my current pranayama practice was very good and I felt insecure (worried that I may loose the benefits) dropping it and transferring to the Spinal Breathing practice. But I will try to incorporate the SB techniques with my practice. I am stable on my current pranayama techniques for few months now. Before that there was a break on my practice for about a year or so. I was doing the Kriya yoga taught by Parahamansa Harirananda (and his disciples) before that for about couple of years. So, I have some foundation on yoga, even though it was not completely regular. I am going to consider your suggestion and try doing some R&D and see how it goes. I will report here as to how things are after a while.
Shiva. |
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Mula Bandha / SB in Vajrasana?
