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Originally posted by yogani

Hi Bluesfan, Meg and Shanti:

Some good solid feedback here on spinal breathing and on what to put in the body. It is great to see you all working it out so well, and with good humor too. The same goes for other recent discussions where the questioner needed some clear guidance. You all are making my job easier. Thank you!

On the attention cycling with breath in spinal breathing, if during our journey up and down the spinal nerve during slow deep breathing, we find our attention off into internal or external experiences, sensations or other stimuli, then we just easily go back to our practice of slow deep breathing up and down the spinal nerve. It is normal to lose track of what we are doing and be off into other sensations, thoughts and feelings. When we do, we just simply re-engage the process of spinal breathing again. When we realize we are off it, we just easily come back.

If we have some difficulty visualizing and tracing the spinal nerve as a tiny thread or tube, then it is perfectly all right to follow the spinal column in a less specific way. Over time, we will find more definition in our practice. There is no need to strain or struggle in our visualization. The main thing is that we end up at the brow at the completion of inhalation and at the root at the completion of exhalation. How we get back and forth is less important than traveling from one end to the other without strain during our slow deep breathing. In time, it all comes together.

Sometimes, there can be noticeable resistance in the process of spinal breathing. There can be several causes.

In the beginning, the most common cause of resistance is the newness of it. We all go through a certain amount of awkwardness as we are learning the practice. The first time we got on a bicycle, did we just ride off smoothly? Of course not. It took some practice, some getting used to. Then, after a while, riding the bicycle became easier. Spinal breathing is like that. There will be degrees of awkwardness. Some will take to it easily, while others may need some time to adjust in the beginning. Keep in mind that it is a simple process, and it does not have to be perfect. All of spinal breathing is a favoring – favoring slow deep breathing, and favoring a pathway inside the spine between root and brow. When we wander off, or feel stuck, we just easily come back to it.

There is another reason for resistance in spinal breathing – obstructions in the nervous system. These are neurobiological restrictions within us that we have carried throughout our life. With spinal breathing, we are coaxing them to relax and release. In the beginning, the resistance from these inner knots can be quite palpable. Some people may find it difficult to pass through a particular area of the inner body with attention and breath traveling up and down inside. The resistance can be found anywhere – the pelvis, solar plexus, heart, throat, or in the head. The resistance can be felt as a blockage that we can’t get past, or as some pressure.

What do we do? It is simple. If there is a pressure or a resistance, we just go right by it with our attention and breath. Easily right by it. We never try and force through inner resistance. We just stroke it gently with our attention and breath as we go by. This has a good purifying effect, and will not be uncomfortable. Discomfort comes from forcing against an obstruction. We never do this in spinal breathing. We just whisk on through. What we did not dissolve on the first pass, we will get on the next one, or the next, or the 10,000th pass, maybe years later in our practice. That is how we purify the inner neurobiology. And all the while, we will have the experience of less resistance accompanied by more clarity and fluidity. Then traveling the spinal nerve will be easy. Even when there is resistance, we can still cover the full length of the spinal nerve like that.

For more on this, see the Spinal Breathing Pranayama book.

On tracing the spinal nerve physically with the eyes along with attention in spinal breathing, lesson 131 discusses why we'd like to separate the physical position of our eyes from our attention, and provides a practical exercise for easing away from that. It is called, "Coordinating Sambhavi and Spinal Breathing" -- http://www.aypsite.org/131.html

All the best!

The guru is in you.

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