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DavidAYP
USA
5 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 27 2015 : 9:52:37 PM
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Hi everyone,
I've been doing AYP deep meditation for about a month since reading the book. So far it has been great. I sometimes have a lot of trouble keeping hold of the mantra and making it effortless. It feels like I am putting a lot of work into it and I don't feel I am deep into meditation or as relaxed as I should be. I have a few questions about the way I am reciting my mantra below. Any advice would be appreciated !!
1) I find myself sometimes separating the I and the AM, I....AMMM. There is a gap of a second or two between the words. Should I be saying IAM / AYAM like it is one word ?
2) Should I be actively thinking the mantra or try to get it to rhythmically repeat on it's own ?
3) Often I find myself head bobbing each time I say the mantra, especially when it is coming effortlessly and my meditation is flowing well. Is this ok or should I try to be still ?
4) I was watching a Youtube video for Vedic meditation. In the video they use OM and really draw the mantra out so it is long and constant. Like OMMMMMMM OMMMMMMM OMMMMMMMM. I gave this a try it it was very soothing and easy for me to do. Any opinions on doing this instead of the AYAM AYAM AYAM ?
FYI here is the video I saw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBCZaNd1rkM
Thanks so much for you help in advance. |
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Dogboy
USA
2294 Posts |
Posted - Feb 27 2015 : 10:37:14 PM
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Hello David welcome!
1. Yogani recommends simply AYAM.
2. Simply repeat, it becomes rhythmic on its own.
3. If the head bobs on its own, allow it to do so. This might fall under "automatic yoga" for you. If the head bobbing is a conscious effort, best to be still.
4. Yogani's simple AYAM is recommended; I can attest to it effectiveness! Have you noticed how many "simples" I've mentioned? That's because the practice is meant to be simple and effortless. No need to complicate it 
Wishing you great practice! |
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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1734 Posts |
Posted - Feb 28 2015 : 06:22:13 AM
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Welcome DavidAYP
Your experience is normal for the beginning stage. It will get smoother with practice.
I'd like to add just a couple of points to what Dogboy has said already.
Regarding the gap between I and AM, if that feels right for you, that's what I'd go with. I do a long I myself. Rushing the AM after the I wouldn't feel comfortable to me either. We're supposed to follow our instinct when it comes to the rhythm and length of the mantra.
Don't analyse too much and don't worry of you lose the mantra. Sometimes the mantra doesn't stick, even for experienced meditators, but you know what, staying on it is not the point. The point is easily coming back to the mantra when you realise that you have lost it. That losing the mantra and coming back to it is a very important part of the process.
OM is a more advanced mantra and it is added later into the AYP practice. The reason why we are beginning with this mantra, according to Yogani, is that "I AM resonates in the full length of the spinal nerve from the third eye to the root." This is a very important energy pathway. The difficulty you experience might have to do with the clearing up that your meditation is already doing along that channel.
All the best. Let us know how yo get on. |
Edited by - BlueRaincoat on Feb 28 2015 06:52:15 AM |
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lalow33
USA
966 Posts |
Posted - Mar 01 2015 : 12:24:58 PM
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Hi David,
Everything sounds fine. Just favor the mantra gently and let it happen however it happens. |
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Prem
Canada
90 Posts |
Posted - Mar 01 2015 : 5:26:19 PM
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Hi David, welcome. It sounds like you're doing great. I wish all my students were as inquisitive and diligent. Your Bhakti is commendable.
1. Just let the mantra flow how it will, just be easy about the whole thing.
2. Don't think too much, again be easy about it.
3. Sounds like some automatic yoga, if the head bobbing is enjoyable leave it be.
4. I used the simple Ayam for over a year before adding enhancement.
It's easy to overthink but you're asking the right questions and you seem to be on track! Namaste- all the best. |
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DavidAYP
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - Mar 11 2015 : 10:18:10 PM
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Hello everyone !
Thank you all for the information and support. It sounds like all is good and I just need to keep doing what I am doing....but effortlessly.
I hope to continue to practice, grow, and share with all of you in this forum.
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Jayleno214
USA
88 Posts |
Posted - Mar 27 2015 : 9:04:01 PM
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hi David.
I know what we say never seems to apply once u sit down because .... (not important, back to the meat)
I have been on ayp system for 4.5 years. I got the same advice. just today I realized what they mean after trying many different approaches to what seems so simple.
the fact is the trick is not what you do but how you do it. I digress though, doing the right thing wrong long enough and like Tommy Edison...
easy and comfortable to a lay person like you means nothing. I know I did.
1. in time, immediate and long term, you see the effects of the practice
2. know one starting out does the right practice right most of the time because they have no effects to deduce a practice from.
3. ecstatic experiences sway your focus from what you are doing
4. maintaining consistent ( not forced) favoring is correct practice ( consistent tempo)
this just worked out for me: keep the same tempo of repetition. not very fast and not too slow. if you catch yourself doing anything other than the mantra, here's the trick: go back to the mantra but with the same tempo.
I made the mistake of rapidly clinging to the mantra immediately after every time I wasn't on it resulting in a meditation session with various tempos, and as a result various comfort levels ( the mantra is nd and your attention both have effects on you and your comfort) the tempo makes you calm and effortless, that's where the lapse in understanding is I think. in that we expect you to be comfortable and the instructions don't mention how to achieve that. the tempo is how you acheive comfort. keep it consistent throughout the session at whatever tempo makes you easy and relaxed ( not tensed and too focused: uncomfortable) its like I hear you and my past self saying: "the reason I'm meditating IS because I'm NOT or can't be./don't know how to be comfortable!!"
this helps because once you have full blown kundalini (vs just kundalini, because you already have kundalini: ever been happy? kundalini!) it will tend to want to sway you into faster or longer tempos for more pleasure and that's not good. too much ice cream! |
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Jayleno214
USA
88 Posts |
Posted - Mar 27 2015 : 10:41:47 PM
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just finished my PM meditation. after four years I've never felt better with any other approach. I'm calm, centered, at peace, relaxed.
I'm posting because I noticed something: after repeating the mantra in tempo for a while, I involuntarily stopped repeating the mantra for a second to a dream like vision of nothing, (yet I saw something), and I remembered after a second about the mantra and thought " oh jeez the tempo isn't working" and I simply came back to the mantra, but at the same tempo! then I continued repeating the mantra with my same tempo while thoughts were present after the lost mantra. thoughts were present both in the lapse between repetitions and during repetition.
sounds like what I just said is nothing major. but if you study further, you can use this experience description to describe proper and improper meditation.
a. there are times of silence with no thoughts
b. times of lost mantra (forgot about the mantra)
c. times of thoughts
to beginners, the simple task of repeating the mantra becomes threefold!! "this is easy" they say! haha ( then again if u stick to it ull find out for urself like I did)
A. u see I used to repeat the mantra fine back to back with a semi comfortable tempo in silence, but still too fast because I was noticing the lapse of silence in between repetitions and said " oh! back to the mantra" and there I went even faster back to the mantra to avoid not having a mantra ( as was my understanding and of the instructions; now I believe comfort is forefront priority, ease in activity afterwards is the proof)
B. this is easy to spot and usually is a surprise with a moment of " where to from here??!!". its when you realise a break in the tempo or better described as forgetting the mantra .this moment is what the instructions refer to by lost mantra, and by contrast not c. thoughts or a. silence.
C. my trouble was increased when thoughts were present. I repeated the mantra after every thought thus becoming tense. simply because I thought I was b.losing the mantra by having c. thoughts or a. silence. and trying to be comfortable all the while!!
truth is when in a. and b. the mantra isn't lost, you just haven't repeated it, yet haven't forgot it. I think the instructions don't emphasise the difference between when to repeat the mantra and when to come back to the repeating of the mantra, CLEARLY for laypeople.
the emphasis helps people like me who tend to take the instructions to mean "repeat the mantra when you notice silence(a.) and thoughts(c.), not to mention when you downright forget to repeat it (b.)" vs " begin repeating the mantra comfortably consistently and continue to do so without changing the speed and thus comfort through thoughts(c.), silence(a.) and when you forget (b.), never compromising the comfortable speed of repetition and the repetition through any of the three states."
edited for clarity.
for ur questions
1. try not to do anything with the mantra. it will happen on its own. if its change gets uncomfortable, stop for a second or two and come back to the original nonelongated mantra. it elongates on me too! keep going forward!
2. those differences are perspectives that happen on their own. only thing for you to do is find a good tempo and keep it throughout the meditation. things will happen on their own within your meditation. just keep a soft non stimulating tempo ( ur question 4 suggests u were doing what I was: repeating too fast as a result of lack of adequate instruction for to relate to)
3. oh goodness this is the beginning of kundalini. you are awakening your nervous system and it is you who are causing it with the mantra. if you only knew the sweet and subtle pleasure you are indeed experiencing, I envy you. I chased the pleasure with over doing and not self pacing ( tempos too fast and hanging on to mantra with your attention cause rapturous pleasure of the best kind, better than sex indeed,WAY, but it is short lived and high priced with negative effects on m activity) . I wish I had this subtle manifestation you have. if I could teach you something from my experience its: go slow when you begin feeling pleasure. back up even.and don't force anything .
4. same as question 2. the movement of ur head is because of the mantra. omm is too advanced. it brings pleasure and purification to the ones in the video. they likely have purified the I am channel. |
Edited by - Jayleno214 on Mar 28 2015 12:55:00 AM |
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New to AYP - getting my Mantra down
