|
|
 |
|
| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
AYPforum
351 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 08 2005 : 12:39:46 PM
|
1052 From: "jim_and_his_karma" <jim_and_his_karma@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue Jun 14, 2005 11:19pm
Subject: Cautionary Tale: Don't Stop Practicing! jim_and_his_...
Offline
Send Email
I stopped practice for a little less than a month. I'm not happy about it, not proud of it, but
I'll try to steer my error into something positive by reporting back to you guys, so you
know what to expect. There were (dumb) reasons for the cessation of practice, but I'm not
going to explain, because I don't want to fuel anyone's regressive impulses!
I'm a professional backtracker. I have trouble "going the distance". I have bookmarks in
about 45 books, you get the idea. So I have a lot of experience with restarting stuff in all
realms. I'd noticed in my hatha yoga practice that intense asana practice suddenly stopped
is worse than never having done asana practice at all. The body REALLY does not like on-
again-off-again hatha yoga practice, though it's very easy to relaunch....bumpy
for a couple of days, but there's a glowy "welcome home" feeling.
Suspended AYP is more extreme. After a couple of lapsed weeks, I felt as if all the crap I'd
cleared out came back all at once, dumping downward on me with a big cosmic WOOMF.
Really REALLY unpleasant, and quite unexpected. And relaunching has been surprisingly
difficult.
I've just finished a full week of resumed practice, and there's been a good measure of
glowy "welcome home" feeling, but even after a diligent week, I'm nowhere close to where
I was. My sambhavi has gone dead (it's disorienting; I feel like a bug that's lost a leg),
spinal breathing feels more metaphorical than a tangible movement of energy. My heart's
closed back up, and I'm only having twinges of reopening (and a resumption of the
palpitations that accompanied the opening last time). I feel like all the machinery between
mid-neck and third eye is opaque and inert. My formerly awakened kundalini is now good
for, at most, a few impotent after-tremors.
I'm not letting myself get upset about this. i'm enjoying the ride, and deflecting
expectations of how things "should" be, insofar as I'm able. After all, my goal in the first
place wasn't a third eye with a 1000 mile range, gushy huge heart, and vivid spinal
breathing.....it was simply to DO THE PRACTICE, and enjoy whatever comes...or doesn't
come. Same now! So I'm just moving ahead diligently.
But....man. Trust me guys....don't stop this practice. In my long and rich experience of
backtracking and restarting stuff, I've never seen anything that lapses this hugely. Dip into
this well twice a day, because it dries up awfully fast! :)
1056 From: "Richard" <richardchamberlin14@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed Jun 15, 2005 2:23pm
Subject: Re: Cautionary Tale: Don't Stop Practicing! azaz932001
Offline
Send Email
--- In AYPforum@yahoogroups.com, "jim_and_his_karma"
<jim_and_his_karma@y...> wrote:
> I stopped practice for a little less than a month.
Thanks Jim that's made me even more determined not to miss a session
blessings R.C.
1063 From: "lilia_petkova" <lilia_petkova@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu Jun 16, 2005 7:56am
Subject: Re: Cautionary Tale: Don't Stop Practicing! lilia_petkova
Offline
Send Email
Dear Jim,
What you are saying is interesting - could you also add for how long
did you maintain a continuous practice before you took this month or
so off? Are you feeling better now that several more days have
passed - got rid of the big cosmic WOOMF :-)? I don't have any
excuses for skipping practice now and have been at it for about 8
mths without a gap but I fear this might change at some point who
knows.
Thanks for sharing this with us,
Lili
--- In AYPforum@yahoogroups.com, "jim_and_his_karma"
<jim_and_his_karma@y...> wrote:
> Suspended AYP is more extreme. After a couple of lapsed weeks, I
felt as if all the crap I'd
> cleared out came back all at once, dumping downward on me with a
big cosmic WOOMF.
> Really REALLY unpleasant, and quite unexpected. And relaunching
has been surprisingly
> difficult.
>
1070 From: victor yj <vic@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu Jun 16, 2005 5:21pm
Subject: Re: Re: Cautionary Tale: Don't Stop Practicing! vic
Offline
Send Email
This experience reminds me of all the admonitions by Iyengar teachers never to skip a day of pranayama, that its ok with asana but that pranayama REQUIRES daily continous practice. While I do admit to missing one day here and there over the years with no ill effects I never took the risk of skipping two in a row. I guess it was deeply burned into me and after years of practice would feel unthinkable at this point. One thiing about practicing twice daily however is that progress feels accelerated and if I have trouble doing both sessions any given day I don't feel bad for skipping one.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
1077 From: "jim_and_his_karma" <jim_and_his_karma@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:12am
Subject: Re: Cautionary Tale: Don't Stop Practicing! jim_and_his_...
Offline
Send Email
I have a friend who's a professional violinist, who typically practices many hours per day.
On days when he absolutely doesn't have time to practice, he at least opens his case, takes
out the instrument, and "gets in touch" by playing even just a single note (with great
immersive concentration). That, to her, is vastly different from "skipping a day."
So...no need to "skip". Get in touch. Stick your toe in the pool! I think this is really really
important. Beyond just the benefit of a quick bath in a deeper realm, you keep your "habit"
sharp (Yogani's right; if you do two sessions a day religiously, you start to crave it).
And, fwiw, I'm super against Iyengar's pranayama (and I speak as a serious Iyengar yoga
stalwart for decades). I still practice asanas in the Iyengar style, but I've completely
migrated to AYP for pranayama. Most hardcore Iyengar practioners get sort of brittle, hard
and dry...repressed anger, etc. I'm sure it's the pranayama.
--- In AYPforum@yahoogroups.com, victor yj <vic@y...> wrote:
>
>
> This experience reminds me of all the admonitions by Iyengar teachers never to skip a
day of pranayama, that its ok with asana but that pranayama REQUIRES daily continous
practice. While I do admit to missing one day here and there over the years with no ill
effects I never took the risk of skipping two in a row. I guess it was deeply burned into me
and after years of practice would feel unthinkable at this point. One thiing about practicing
twice daily however is that progress feels accelerated and if I have trouble doing both
sessions any given day I don't feel bad for skipping one.
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
1078 From: victor yj <vic@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:31am
Subject: Re: Re: Cautionary Tale: Don't Stop Practicing! vic
Offline
Send Email
"And, fwiw, I'm super against Iyengar's pranayama (and I speak as a serious Iyengar yoga
stalwart for decades). I still practice asanas in the Iyengar style, but I've completely
migrated to AYP for pranayama. Most hardcore Iyengar practioners get sort of brittle, hard
and dry...repressed anger, etc. I'm sure it's the pranayama."
Thats a good question, Jim. I don't really know many Iyengar people that actually practice pranayama but there does seem to be a very pervasive brittleness and suppressed anger. It is very apparent.
After practicing Iyengar pranayama for many years I have completely switched over to AYP with no regrets. The difference to me is very distinct. For one thing the iyengar style emphasises keping the chest very lifted and expanded which after many years brought me to a place of over expansion of teh front body and also an erroneous sensation of the breath moving in front of the spine. When I closely observe the spinal breathing and also look at anatomy and where the actual spinal nerve is located I see that it is actually behind teh vertebral bodies so it is actually in the back body. When I moved my awareness of the soinal nerve as well as of the flow of the breath through that the sensation was of relief and balance immediately. I am not accusing Iyengar of giving false information but that somehow I didn't *get* this understanding till I switched to AYP. I also since practicing kechari no longer seal teh breath in the throat during kumbhaka but keep the throat soft and open as if
continuing to inhale. This has greatly releive d pressure in the torso and belly and lets the energy connect the head to the rest of teh body. I could go on.......
Lets see. For me doing pranayama with a static jalandhara and kumbhaka does seem to give a brittleness and rigidity whereas letting teh head rotate in the chin pump releases that energy and gives it somewhere to go. Now if we could just organize a school at some point I wonder if there would be interest from students of yoga ready to go deeper...
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
1080 From: "jim_and_his_karma" <jim_and_his_karma@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri Jun 17, 2005 11:29am
Subject: Re: Cautionary Tale: Don't Stop Practicing! jim_and_his_...
Offline
Send Email
Victor said:
--------
Thats a good question, Jim. I don't really know many Iyengar people that
actually practice pranayama but there does seem to be a very pervasive
brittleness and suppressed anger. It is very apparent.
--------
Well, my theory was that because Iyengar pranayama essentially has one hand slapping
the other - pranayama is about rousing energies, yet Iyengar also caps the energy, e.g. by
suppressing kechari mudra (all pranayama done with tongue DOWN) and doing everything
in jalandhara and limiting mulha bandha - I figured that was the cause. A lack of "juice" in
terms of higher energy. But if you're seeing "Iyengar syndrome" in practitioners who don't
do pranayama, then what do you supppose is causing the problem? The striving attitude
and long hold times? What is it about the practice that causes this?
I try not to overvisualize the spine (per Iyengar style) in pranayama; Yogani discourages
this (wait, I must be careful for readers along: pranayama in AYP is ALL ABOUT close
visualization of spine, but I'm talking about about an Iyengar style visualization which
plots the physical spine and its location very keenly in space). The up motion and the
down motion are, I understand, happening in different channels, and I trust YOgani that
AYP practice has it going in the proper way. I think too much anatomical probing might be
counterproductive, though it's definitely my tendency, too, after all this Iyengar work. The
way I avoid it is to work with my energetic spine rather than physical in pranayama, and to
think wider/bigger rather than finer and finer. If I could have the energy moving up and
down a 6 inch column, pretty much filling my body, that'd be just fine. I'm trying NOT to
bear down to the minutae. Just fwiw.
As for the over expansion in the front body, me too; that's what I was talking about in my
other posting. You're dropping your back ribs, as I've been doing. This makes your torso
lean back, which makes your stomach jut out. To fix, do tadasana (or a seated pose) and
sweep your back ribs VERY firmly up (it's a tough move), and let the shoulders ride up with
them, using the solar plexus as the point of pivot for the action. Then (and only then) drop
the shoulders. The effect will be a uddiyana bandha, but a peculiar one. The more
sophisticated way of thinking of it is that you're rotating your entire ribcage clockwise (to
the perspective of someone standing to your right. Again, focus on solar plexus during
this move. Not only will it fix your stomach issue, but it opens up a lot of abdominal
energy and may revolutionize your AYP.
Yes, one side effect of Iyengar discouraging any form of kechari is a closure of (what
Taoists call) the front channel, with exactly the effect you mention. He's imposed several
mechanisms to prevent kundalini awakening (read Light on YOga to see how he feels
about the dangers), but the problem is 1. he prevents this awakening not just for
beginners but for all, and 2. if you're scrubbing your nadis and practicing pranayama, it's a
little like being a celibate nun not being permitted Jesus in her heart. All dressed up and
no place to go......
Yeah, I think a bunch of hatha yoga students would flock to AYP, for sure. It's a great
companion to Iyengar yoga, especially.
1081 From: victor yj <vic@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:40pm
Subject: Re: Re: Cautionary Tale: Don't Stop Practicing! vic
Offline
Send Email
-Jim,
I like your visualization of the ribs and shoulders
very mch and it is along the lines of what I am
exploring at this time as well.
I am not ready yet to give up the physical attention
to detail ala Iyengar style yet until the transition
to energetic visualization comes naturally. The
transition is coming however as my sense of moving the
energy in the spinal channel is more like an energetic
current than a pysical sensation. that is overlayed
however on the phusical and that is more a refinement
of the siddhasana posture and the movement of the ribs
and spine. Neither is incorrect but my feeling i sthat
as the practice deepens in the same posture that the
physical sensations become more subtle and that the
energetic increases.
As for the "Iyengar syndrome", I don't know. I don't
seem to have it in me and that is one reason why I
drifted away after many years. It was as if they had
done all of the prerequisites and were very strong and
vital but seemed to lack the "spiritual vibration"
that I was hoping to find in yoga. You may have nailed
it on the head with "all dressed up with nowhere to
go". I don't know if the Pranayama is at fault but
maybe it is the intense striving without emphasis on
meditative practice but rather a more and more focus
on physical subtlety. Hard to say. but defnitely
observable.
-- jim_and_his_karma <jim_and_his_karma@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Victor said:
> --------
> Thats a good question, Jim. I don't really know
> many Iyengar people that
> actually practice pranayama but there does seem to
> be a very pervasive
> brittleness and suppressed anger. It is very
> apparent.
> --------
>
>
> Well, my theory was that because Iyengar pranayama
> essentially has one hand slapping
> the other - pranayama is about rousing energies, yet
> Iyengar also caps the energy, e.g. by
> suppressing kechari mudra (all pranayama done with
> tongue DOWN) and doing everything
> in jalandhara and limiting mulha bandha - I figured
> that was the cause. A lack of "juice" in
> terms of higher energy. But if you're seeing
> "Iyengar syndrome" in practitioners who don't
> do pranayama, then what do you supppose is causing
> the problem? The striving attitude
> and long hold times? What is it about the practice
> that causes this?
>
> I try not to overvisualize the spine (per Iyengar
> style) in pranayama; Yogani discourages
> this (wait, I must be careful for readers along:
> pranayama in AYP is ALL ABOUT close
> visualization of spine, but I'm talking about about
> an Iyengar style visualization which
> plots the physical spine and its location very
> keenly in space). The up motion and the
> down motion are, I understand, happening in
> different channels, and I trust YOgani that
> AYP practice has it going in the proper way. I think
> too much anatomical probing might be
> counterproductive, though it's definitely my
> tendency, too, after all this Iyengar work. The
> way I avoid it is to work with my energetic spine
> rather than physical in pranayama, and to
> think wider/bigger rather than finer and finer. If I
> could have the energy moving up and
> down a 6 inch column, pretty much filling my body,
> that'd be just fine. I'm trying NOT to
> bear down to the minutae. Just fwiw.
>
> As for the over expansion in the front body, me too;
> that's what I was talking about in my
> other posting. You're dropping your back ribs, as
> I've been doing. This makes your torso
> lean back, which makes your stomach jut out. To fix,
> do tadasana (or a seated pose) and
> sweep your back ribs VERY firmly up (it's a tough
> move), and let the shoulders ride up with
> them, using the solar plexus as the point of pivot
> for the action. Then (and only then) drop
> the shoulders. The effect will be a uddiyana bandha,
> but a peculiar one. The more
> sophisticated way of thinking of it is that you're
> rotating your entire ribcage clockwise (to
> the perspective of someone standing to your right.
> Again, focus on solar plexus during
> this move. Not only will it fix your stomach issue,
> but it opens up a lot of abdominal
> energy and may revolutionize your AYP.
>
> Yes, one side effect of Iyengar discouraging any
> form of kechari is a closure of (what
> Taoists call) the front channel, with exactly the
> effect you mention. He's imposed several
> mechanisms to prevent kundalini awakening (read
> Light on YOga to see how he feels
> about the dangers), but the problem is 1. he
> prevents this awakening not just for
> beginners but for all, and 2. if you're scrubbing
> your nadis and practicing pranayama, it's a
> little like being a celibate nun not being permitted
> Jesus in her heart. All dressed up and
> no place to go......
>
> Yeah, I think a bunch of hatha yoga students would
> flock to AYP, for sure. It's a great
> companion to Iyengar yoga, especially.
>
1076 From: "jim_and_his_karma" <jim_and_his_karma@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:04am
Subject: Re: Cautionary Tale: Don't Stop Practicing! jim_and_his_...
Offline
Send Email
If you mean specifically my AYP practice, I started that back in February. But because I've
been doing a number of practices for kind of my whole lifetime (including 90 min/day
hatha yoga for a few years up to that point), I'd made fast progress (I had an immediate
kundalini awakening upon reading lesson #56...I shouldn't have been skipping ahead, but
I thought I was just reading!).
I'm in about day 10 of my renewed practice, and only today am I really starting to reenter
the realm that I was in. The scary thing is I was NOT aware of how seriously I'd
backtracked in the interim, until I sat down and did practice. I was a different person living
in a different universe, but I'd had no idea.
I've stopped and restarted ninety gazillion things in my lifetime. i thought I knew what
that's all about. But this was by far the single fastest dry-up I've ever experienced in any
realm of life. I'm absolutely dumbfounded....and, having regained at least some of what I
had before, I wag my head in astonishment that I wasn't aware, at the time, of how much
I'd lost.
Words truly cannot express how vital it is not to lapse. The combo of the torturously slow
process of renewal, the obliviousness to what had been lost (man, I could have continued
lapsing for months...even years!), and the WOOMPH of stuff I thought had been cleared
landing back on my head (frankly, I was near suicidal) are some kind of hell.
Tonight I know peace and happiness again. Not two things I knew much about for most of
my life. How on earth did I not notice them missing this past month? And how could I let
them go? Holy mole....peace and happiness are no small thing! Don't be stupid like me and
neglect the practice that elicits them! You can't take them for granted. They don't stick
around (much less grow) without maintanence!
Please guys, let's not have too many other testimonials like this here. Let me be the only
idiot, ok?
--- In AYPforum@yahoogroups.com, "lilia_petkova" <lilia_petkova@y...> wrote:
> Dear Jim,
>
> What you are saying is interesting - could you also add for how long
> did you maintain a continuous practice before you took this month or
> so off? Are you feeling better now that several more days have
> passed - got rid of the big cosmic WOOMF :-)? I don't have any
> excuses for skipping practice now and have been at it for about 8
> mths without a gap but I fear this might change at some point who
> knows.
>
> Thanks for sharing this with us,
> Lili
>
> --- In AYPforum@yahoogroups.com, "jim_and_his_karma"
> <jim_and_his_karma@y...> wrote:
>
> > Suspended AYP is more extreme. After a couple of lapsed weeks, I
> felt as if all the crap I'd
> > cleared out came back all at once, dumping downward on me with a
> big cosmic WOOMF.
> > Really REALLY unpleasant, and quite unexpected. And relaunching
> has been surprisingly
> > difficult.
> >
|
Edited by - AYPforum on Jul 08 2005 12:44:02 PM |
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
| AYP Public Forum |
© Contributing Authors (opinions and advice belong to the respective authors) |
 |
|
|
|
Cautionary Tale: Don't Stop Practicing!
Forum Locked
