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amani
Canada
4 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 03 2014 : 6:54:15 PM
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Hello everybody!
First, I would like to thank the members of this forum for their guidance and help in clearing up a lot of my questions without me having to post yet.
I started AYP approx. 6 months ago and have maintained a twice daily practice of 20min DM followed by 5min of rest for the first 5 months and introduced SBP a month ago (7mins). I had to do a bit of self-pacing in the beginning (build up of energy and tension on left side of body: arm/shoulder ) but have managed to stay fairly stable in my practise for the last 4 months.
A few questions:
1) I am still having trouble with letting go of attention to my breathing during the DM portion. I feel like my breathing tends to be a bit erratic and my exhales are always longer than my inhales, which are short and sometimes gaspy. I have always been somewhat of a shallow breather and am wondering if anyone can recommend any breathing exercises outside of my practise to smooth out the process so that I am not continually distracted by this seemingly irregular pattern. I thought that by adding SBP the breathing would naturally smooth out but I seem to be more acutely aware of this after the addition. Is it normal for my breath to stay this way? Will it smooth out eventually or should I supplement my routine with techniques to try and deepen my breathing? My friend suggested I incorporate a mild/internal form of qigong to release tension and deepen the breathing process.
2) I have recently become confused with the "losing the mantra" concept. I have always been intoning the mantra back to back with short gaps in between (never longer than a few seconds) and have never "lost" the mantra. It has always been there whether in the background with thoughts(in which case I easily and effortlessly come back to the mantra) or on its own without distraction. Over time it has refined itself and become more faint (almost a whisper) but nevertheless has never been "lost". Does this "losing of the mantra" happen inevitably and spontaneously for everyone? Do the gaps in between gradually get longer over time or is it even necessary to "lose" the mantra at all? I know this has been stated before but if someone could give me some clarity on this issue I would greatly appreciate it:)
Looking forward to any advice or suggestions,
Thank you
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SeySorciere
Seychelles
1571 Posts |
Posted - Nov 04 2014 : 12:13:48 AM
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Dear Amani
Welcome to the Forums. Sounds like you are doing great. I will attempt to provide guidance on your two questions
1) What do we do when we find we are not favouring the mantra above all other experiences? You got it - we go back to the mantra. That includes any distraction /focus on what the breath is doing.
Now if your breathing is bothering you and creating unnecessary anxiety, I would say yes, go ahead and spend some time learning to breath properly i.e. from the belly, three part diaphragmatic breathing. 3 - 5 mins each day and you will soon clue on. Sorry, I don't have a link to help. Maybe someone else can cue in here. Breathing properly will also help you get SBP right.
2) Losing the mantra concept - we have lost the mantra anytime we are not repeating it. This can happen because thoughts and/or other distractions have taken over. Sometimes we have not 'lost the mantra', it is going on in the background of thoughts, so we are no longer favouring it - we change focus and put the mantra in the foreground. The mantra is to be repeated back to back with no gap between it. The repetition rate can change - sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes loud, sometimes just a vibration.
There comes also a time where you have no thoughts, no mantra, no awareness until you realize you were off somewhere. You gently move back to the mantra.
Ok - I hope this is helpful
Enjoy your practices 
Sey
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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1734 Posts |
Posted - Nov 04 2014 : 1:35:16 PM
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Hello Amani! Welcome to the AYP forum
quote:
Originally posted by amani
I am still having trouble with letting go of attention to my breathing during the DM portion. I feel like my breathing tends to be a bit erratic
I had this problem too when I started mantra meditation. In my case the breathing was shallow and erratic because I had a stress problem at the time. The fix I chose was to switch to breadth focussed meditation to avoid my attention being split. It was an easy decision for me because I'm also quite sensitive to practices.
To add to Sey's point, this is a pretty good description of the complete yogic breathing: http://www.yogaindailylife.org/esys...yoga-breath/
If you add this exercise to your daily routine, make sure you self-pace - it is a form of pranayama.
With regards to your second point, the question I'd ask is - Are you relaxed during your meditations? It is not necessary to lose the mantra, but if you are relaxed it tends to happen. It is a good sign that the mantra becomes more faint.
Smooth practice and steady progress |
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amani
Canada
4 Posts |
Posted - Nov 05 2014 : 5:23:54 PM
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Sey: Thank you for the advice! "mantra is to be repeated back to back with no gap" is exactly what I needed confirmed. I think I mis-read an older post and became fixated on the notion of the gap between mantra repetitions getting larger over time and that was distracting me a bit.
I have now let that go and since that part of my attention is no longer on "the widening of the gap" and my worries about "do I have to lose the mantra" are gone I have been able to have some really deep sits since your advice! Vry helpful!
Thanks!
BlueRaincoat: Thanks for the link. I think I will spend a little time each day doing some breathing exercises and see what happens.
Thank-you,
Andrew |
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Anima
484 Posts |
Posted - Nov 05 2014 : 6:27:23 PM
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Namaste
Dear amani:
quote:
Originally posted by amani
1)... I feel like my breathing tends to be a bit erratic and my exhales are always longer than my inhales...
I've found the persistence of (my own) breathing patterns to be normal for a while. Mine have tended to dissolve in phases. If you want to improve shallowness of breathing outside of practices, I suggest swimming. It's great for letting air get to your body and regulating breath. Also, if you smoke, maybe try to quit. I had to try six times before I quit the second time around.
quote:
Originally posted by amani
2) I have recently become confused with the "losing the mantra" concept.
Perfect! The mantra seems (to me) to be self-regulating... It will take care of itself as it is taken up and laid down in so many ways.
Sounds like you're doing really well!
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dv2014
USA
93 Posts |
Posted - Nov 05 2014 : 8:21:55 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by SeySorciere
The mantra is to be repeated back to back with no gap between it.
I am so glad I happened to find this post and followed upon to the discussion at: http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....&whichpage=1.
I too have been thinking letting go of the mantra is the key ... incorrectly so
So it looks like DM for beginners starts out as conscious mental repetition of the phrase I AM (as in I AM I AM I AM ...). The refinement should occur on its own - and there should not be any favoring of 'letting go'. And when we realize we are off the mantra just go back to the whole string again .. I AM I AM I AM ...
Thank you Sey and everyone else |
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amani
Canada
4 Posts |
Posted - Nov 06 2014 : 5:45:23 PM
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Anima Deorum: Thank you for your kind words of encouragement! It is interesting that you mentioned swimming as I had a friend suggest this to me just last week! I think I am going to give it a shot and see if I can squeeze in a couple of days at the pool a week though I'm not the greatest swimmer
Thank-you
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Radharani
USA
843 Posts |
Posted - Nov 06 2014 : 10:39:24 PM
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Dear Amani,
Re: the link that BlueRaincoat provided, above. It is a pretty good method and I used to do it that way before I learned a couple of nit-picky details of refinement from Krishnamacharya style, which is how I teach it now: The inhale has the same anatomical features as shown on this link, BUT in a different order. We receive the inhale from above, the chest lifts, then ribcage expands, and finally the diaphragm drops, as if taking the breath deep into the belly. We send the exhale back up strongly from the base, pulling everything in from the bottom up, like squeezing a toothpaste tube. The other difference is this breath has 4 parts: inhale, pause on full, exhale and pause on empty. The pauses are very brief at first. You can explore adjusting the timing of each phase as you feel comfortable. It may be useful to add arm and spinal movements to get the most out of the breath: On inhale, lift the arms out to the side and up, to join prayer hands above the head, look up at hands while arching back and opening the chest; on exhale, bring the arms back down to the sides while bringing the chin towards the chest and doing a small concave forward bend. You want to feel like the breath is moving the body. I hope that is helpful. |
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amani
Canada
4 Posts |
Posted - Nov 08 2014 : 4:36:47 PM
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Radharani: Thank you! I like this take on the yogic breathing. The breath seems to go much deeper with your technique. Does it matter if I do this before or after my SBP+DM? How long should I do it for and will it interfere(possibly cause any overloading) with my spinal breathing?
Thank you |
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Newbie with a few questions
