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Victor
USA
910 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 12 2007 : 6:16:57 PM
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| I have been exploring the moment where the exhaled breath merges with the inhalation and have come up with some thoughts or descriptions of how I practice. When I reach the end of my exhalation in pranayama I make that last bit a little more dynamic, squeezing out just a little more at the end. I don't try to make my posture perfect or do classic bandhas at that point but its a squeeze and a bit of a pause at the point of empty and a gentle internal search for the impulse for the inbreath. Its not really a retention or suspension of the breath but that little extra squeeze and receptivity seems to draw the energy of the inhalation into the spine. It allows the impulse to inhale to come from a deeper place and then I let the inbreath be very receptive and and open as the inhaled breath flows up the spine. Not sure if some of you may be practicing this way or if it helps some or if its the same thing with different wording but it is helping my practice of pranayama have an exquisite feel to it so I wanted to share |
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Richard
United Kingdom
857 Posts |
Posted - Feb 12 2007 : 6:24:30 PM
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Yes I just explored that Victor..interestingly I may have been doing it all along without realising it. That very slight pause seems to produce a very pleasant surge from the root, thanks for sharing that 
Richard |
Edited by - Richard on Feb 12 2007 6:27:58 PM |
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sadhak
India
604 Posts |
Posted - Feb 12 2007 : 11:10:24 PM
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Hi Victor,
On days that my spinal breathing is real smooth, what you say happens automatically. I usually direct my awareness to staying away from exerting any effort in any of the processes. And if inadvertently I do, I get a headache! |
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Victor
USA
910 Posts |
Posted - Feb 13 2007 : 12:53:39 AM
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| Well, it all seems to be a process. I just discovered in my evening practice that if I bring my attention to the third eye at that point that I am waiting for the inhale thta it comes right up, like electricity going right up a circuit to the top pole. I think I finally have the feel for this spinal breathing. When I bring attention to the brow it draws the energy and the breath up and then letting go of that lets it drop for exhalation. It seems like an accelerated learning process at the moment and it feels great! |
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Zelebe
Netherlands
35 Posts |
Posted - Feb 13 2007 : 5:06:24 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by sadhak
Hi Victor,
On days that my spinal breathing is real smooth, what you say happens automatically. I usually direct my awareness to staying away from exerting any effort in any of the processes. And if inadvertently I do, I get a headache!
Hi Sadhak,
I realized that too, of the headache! When I just started I used to get them, now I try to interfere the less as possible and it goes good.
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sadhak
India
604 Posts |
Posted - Feb 16 2007 : 05:28:17 AM
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Hi Zelebe,
That makes us ex-partners in crime. |
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Maximus
India
187 Posts |
Posted - Feb 18 2008 : 10:36:52 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Richard
That very slight pause seems to produce a very pleasant surge from the root, thanks for sharing that
Two days ago I accidentally did this pause at the end of exhalation. Like you say it causes some pleasant surge from the root, but an equal or more amount of unpleasant *very* suffocating kind of feeling. Kind of eerie and frightening as though you are dying of drowning. Kind of reminds me of the unpleasantness I felt while learning to swim in the *right* way which is to exhale underwater and inhale from the sides, while keeping rotating the head at every stroke.
Btw, do we have AYP lessons teaching this pause at the end of exhalation during pranayama? I haven't seen one although Nauli encompasses it. |
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Victor
USA
910 Posts |
Posted - Feb 18 2008 : 11:00:48 AM
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| funny, i never got a suffocating feeling. Its not something that comes from effort, just feels pleasant to me |
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matangi
USA
53 Posts |
Posted - Feb 18 2008 : 2:05:53 PM
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Thanks for sharing this Victor. I'm going to give it a try tonight.
I've had a recent shift too during pranayama and I'm curious if anyone else has experienced it. It feels as if my third eye is a suction and and it sucks the inbreath up. Wahoo! Tingles all over at my third eye area and then all over my forehead.
It doesn't happen every time though and I'm okay with that otherwise I might become a pranayama junkie jonesing for "just one more" third eye rush! |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Feb 18 2008 : 4:32:09 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by matangi
I've had a recent shift too during pranayama and I'm curious if anyone else has experienced it. It feels as if my third eye is a suction and and it sucks the inbreath up. Wahoo! Tingles all over at my third eye area and then all over my forehead.
It doesn't happen every time though and I'm okay with that otherwise I might become a pranayama junkie jonesing for "just one more" third eye rush!
I have experience this
http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....D=1688#13123.
Yogani had said that at times the "pressure" in the third eye area may be due to lack of energy coming up (due to a block)... and not the other way around.. where there is too much energy.. and if doing uddiyana and mulabandha reduced this pressure.. that that was my proof. So, what may seem like an excess in the head can actually be a shortage under certain circumstances. This was true in my case.
Not sure how long you have been practicing Matangi, but the thing that helped me was Yoni Spinal Breathing Pranayama. It is powerful, but you can try it for a few mins towards the end of spinal breathing. |
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matangi
USA
53 Posts |
Posted - Feb 18 2008 : 10:32:30 PM
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Thanks Shanti. Perhaps my experience is related to what you share. Dynamic jalandhara has usually been an effective way of releasing blocks but maybe not now. Hmmm....you've got me thinking now. I'm looking forward to morning practice!
-m
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matangi
USA
53 Posts |
Posted - Feb 19 2008 : 7:37:19 PM
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Hi Shanti,
After doing some reading, what I believe is going on with the suction feeling at my third eye is I was doing spontaneous sambhavi. What I failed to clearly state in my first post is that the suction is a complete pull/tug from third eye to pelvic region. Very easy to feel and now easy for me to replicate. Mulabandha is also spontaneous.
I was surprised I put this together because I was under the impression that sambhavi was quite a physical furrow of the brow but after reading Yogani's lesson 56 on sambhavi, I realized that the movement of brows is a very subtle external movement and really an internal pulling the center of the brain forward. Exactly what is happening all the way down. I'm not sure if my attention is always going back and forth on spinal nerve but sometimes it is. What I really care about now that I understand what is happening is that maybe more of this sexual energy will be moving up and staying up!
Victor, I tried the little squeeze you described at the exhale and for a moment I thought I might have caught an exquisite sensation but I don't know....right now I have one annoying sensation wanting all the attention in that area of the body to enjoy what you described. Maybe someday.... |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Feb 20 2008 : 05:27:25 AM
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Hi Victor
quote:
I have been exploring the moment where the exhaled breath merges with the inhalation and have come up with some thoughts or descriptions of how I practice. When I reach the end of my exhalation in pranayama I make that last bit a little more dynamic, squeezing out just a little more at the end. I don't try to make my posture perfect or do classic bandhas at that point but its a squeeze and a bit of a pause at the point of empty and a gentle internal search for the impulse for the inbreath. Its not really a retention or suspension of the breath but that little extra squeeze and receptivity seems to draw the energy of the inhalation into the spine. It allows the impulse to inhale to come from a deeper place and then I let the inbreath be very receptive and and open as the inhaled breath flows up the spine. Not sure if some of you may be practicing this way or if it helps some or if its the same thing with different wording but it is helping my practice of pranayama have an exquisite feel to it so I wanted to share
I've been doing this pause thing for a few years, both after exhale and after inhale. It causes spinal breathing pranayama to become much more powerful as a practice. I was surprised that Yogani didn't mention anything about it in the main lessons. It has the effect of increasing the opening and activation of the 1st and second chakras when done after exhale, and increasing the opening and activation of the 6th and 7th chakras when done after inhale.
It is mentioned as a yoga practice in Osho's "Book of Secrets".
It makes SBP into a much more powerfull practice energy wise, so proceed with caution.
Christi |
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yogani
USA
5241 Posts |
Posted - Feb 20 2008 : 09:59:35 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Christi
It (breath suspension) makes SBP into a much more powerful practice energy wise, so proceed with caution.
Hi Christi:
That's why it isn't in the lessons. Though I am not sure it isn't mentioned somewhere in a cautionary way. It is easy for people to get hung up in deliberate suspensions during spinal breathing and overdo (many do).
So "official" AYP breath suspension (kumbhaka) is saved for more discrete practices like yoni mudra, chin pump and nauli, where practice times can be more tightly regulated without having to limit spinal breathing and the many benefits it brings. It is intended to be a smoother approach, with plenty of kumbhaka oomph available outside spinal breathing as desired.
It is always the practitioner's call, of course. 
The guru is in you.
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avatar186
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Feb 20 2008 : 2:34:04 PM
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| as far as im concerned, if you have a head ach with spinal breathing, its becouse pressures not being brought down the front, or back down the spine effeciantly. though i did experiance head aches when i wasnt doing the breathing. though i regulated my breath as 2:1 2 inhailation 1 exhail, in this way the heartbeat stays a steady pace, the opposite way, 1:2 slows it i believe. |
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Maximus
India
187 Posts |
Posted - Apr 24 2008 : 1:09:10 PM
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| For the past several days I have been pausing before inhalation while doing dynamic Jalandhara. I don't know why sometimes it causes urine to ooze out while rotating the head on the pause before inhalation, even though the bladder was appearing empty before sitting. Does anyone faced this? Is this indicative of some weak internal organ? And after the dynamic jalandhara (with urine expulsion) this evening I got a bad headache. |
Edited by - Maximus on Apr 24 2008 1:38:06 PM |
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Apr 24 2008 : 11:33:12 PM
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Hi Maximus,
Are you practicing mulabandha simultaneously with this as described in lesson 139? |
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Maximus
India
187 Posts |
Posted - Apr 25 2008 : 01:27:23 AM
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| I was doing it just before inhale. After I added the pause before inhale though I consiously or unconsiously stopped doing it because it was already so suffocating in that suspended state. Recently though I have made it a point to remember to do mulabandha though it makes the experience more suffocating. |
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2008 : 12:37:07 PM
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Hi Maximus,
Just to be clear, lesson 139 on dynamic jalandra found here:
http://www.aypsite.org/139.html
Doesn't have any breath retention prior to inhalation. This is likely causing the "suffocating" feelings you describe. I would recommend re-reading the lesson and doing it as Yogani descibes. |
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Maximus
India
187 Posts |
Posted - Aug 15 2008 : 03:12:17 AM
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| The compelling thing about holding the breath outside before inhalation is that it shows what death is like, atleast partly. Because we don't breath after we die. So I think it would be wise to slowly get accustomed to this state, as fear grips me what it would be like when the breath finally stops forever, when I'm not even able to make the breath stay outside for a few seconds. As difficult as this holding the breath outside is, it makes me realize how cruel is death by drowning etc compared to death by other means. |
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pause before inhalation
