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YogaIsLife
641 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 24 2010 : 05:16:01 AM
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Hello fellow travellers,
Today I had an interesting breakthrough during meditation I would like to share. This, of course, was not somethign I've "done", but somethign that "happened to me".
(Again, the mere act of trying to put this into words seems that betrays the whole experience and once again confirms that reality is way beyond words - it is only the superficial mind that talks here, of course).
I started my practices with somethign new today - a kind of spinal breathing, I later realised.
I woke up and read a page of a wonderful book by Bija Bennett called "Breathing Into Life". It is about the breath, noticing the breath, etc. This time the page fell into noticing the spine as one breaths. It is quite true. Have you noticed? If you let your breathing flow normally (not forcing in any way) and just notice how your spine reacts, how your whole body follows the breath. As you inhale your spine itself expands, opens, and from the bottom up it seems. AS you exhale it contracts, from the top down, gathering at the bottom. It is liek a tube being filled and emptied, bottom to top, and them top to bottom. This was my experience.
So I stayed with this for a while (felt good), but then I realised I was doing pranayama and, knowing this is a "dangerous" energy practice if kept only at that, I decided to meditate. My meditation is usually just being open to whatever arises. Sometimes I also just notice the breath at the nostrils or abdomen as well, if caught too much in the mind. I did this for a while but somehow after a while I started spontaneously counting the breaths. 1..2...3...4...until 10 and starting anew everytime. This, although not planned. has of course a concentrating effect on the mind, that does not get distracted by any other things happening inside or outside. This time concentration was strong, but calm and effortless.
And then I noticed. I've always been aware that there are deeper (powerful) energies having their own rythm in the body. This was even way before I started yoga (and why I started it!) and always puzzled me (actually it scared me - am I losing control? Am I going crazy? What is happening?), as "I" had no control over them. This energies are beyond what I call "myself" (that now I realise is just the superficial mind - the same mind that talks to you right now). I've mentioned a few times this energies in the forums because they often occur in my meditations - they are clearly internal and they usually have a pulsating and/or oscillating quality, like pumping through subtle nerves probably, I don't know. Also, I've always been aware of "problem zones" in my body in terms of energy: the left side, specific points, the neck and head, the crown, etc. These are zones where I feel there are "blocks" or a less smooth flow.
Well, this time these energies were present but it was different. Because the mind was concentrated, it did not interfere at all with its more smooth expression (and I suspect the gentle pranayama at the begginign also helped - there is somethign very powerful about conjugating breath awareness with awareness of the spine indeed, like AYP's spinal breathing).
So what I felt clearly was the energies going to my head and swinging my head gently from back to front. This rythm had its own pace and momentum, independent of breath and mind, but somehow inter-related, obviosuly (only in deep absortion these energies express themselves clearly and flow more smoothly). It was like there was an inner hand rocking me gently, thus allowing the stretching and opening of the subtle nerves and the smoother flowing of the inner energies. This is exactly how it felt. I felt that my head was better oxygented, or bathed in inner energies. Like the blocks opened a little. Furtehrmore other "starnge" things happened, like I lost sense of my left hand - its feeling, position in space, orientation, etc.
Now, this got me excited because it showed me with more clarity that the mind can indeed be a "block". Not that the mind itself is the "enemy" or "evil", but that we (awareness) get too often and too long distracted by the superficial mind. There are clearly many more levels/layers/dimensions to "us" that we are seldom aware of. As this unfolds in your presence it feels at once as the most natural thing, and the most amazing. It is like a flower blossoming. And this is only the beggining 
By the way, for whatever it is worth, I believe a truly enlightened being must have all the internal rythms (breath, mind, prana) in harmony, and this in turn in harmony with the surroundings. In other words - all flows naturally and smoothly Maybe this is the condition the yogis call samadhi.
Hope this is at least inspiring to somebody!
The miracle is in you! |
Edited by - YogaIsLife on Jan 24 2010 05:16:31 AM |
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The Breath, The Mind, and the "Other Energies"
