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Scott
USA
969 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 09 2006 : 1:25:55 PM
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I have a question for everyone...
In a few months, it's likely that my situation in life will change drastically. What that means is I won't have all the free time anymore that I do now. My sleep schedule will be greatly altered, so that I will be lucky if I get a full night in. My eating schedule will be way off. Any free time will be sporadic. I will constantly be around other people.
How can someone maintain yoga practices in such an environment?
A couple of practices which can be done any time, regardless of being busy: kechari stage 2, and mulabandha. These can be done without people knowing, and without distracting me from staying alert to the outside world. I can also maintain brahmacharya very easily since I will be so occupied...but that's not really a "practice" per say.
Is it okay if there will be a longer meditation (30 mins) some times, and then a short one (10 minutes) other times? Ten minutes is probably all that will be possible to do sometimes. Probably won't be able to do a full routine like: asanas, spinal breathing, meditation. Asanas will have to be at a separate time. There may be some days where meditation is missed.
Is this possible?
Does anyone have any other ideas? Thanks. |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4513 Posts |
Posted - Nov 09 2006 : 2:17:13 PM
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What's happening Scott? Are you going to fight in a war, or having a baby?
Love and light
Christi |
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Scott
USA
969 Posts |
Posted - Nov 09 2006 : 2:44:45 PM
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Having a baby!  Just kidding. |
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Richard
United Kingdom
857 Posts |
Posted - Nov 09 2006 : 4:27:55 PM
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Hi Scott I have had problems of this nature myself it really is a big test for your bhakti yes that old saying where there’s a will there’s a way really comes into its own now. Meditation is the key practice here even the odd ten minutes grabbed for meditation when you find yourself alone is good in extreme situations all other practices can be sacrificed but remember you can still over do it  you shouldn’t over compensate by seizing an opportunity to do much longer than 20 mins or so for meditation
Yogani has some good advise on this problem have a look at these two lessons.
Lesson 18 - Meditation Q&A – Finding the time
Lesson 209 - Fitting daily practices into a busy schedule
Hope this is some help to you scott 
Richard
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Edited by - Richard on Nov 09 2006 4:34:04 PM |
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Scott
USA
969 Posts |
Posted - Nov 09 2006 : 5:21:48 PM
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| Thanks Richard...that does help. |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4513 Posts |
Posted - Nov 12 2006 : 3:59:12 PM
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Hi Scott,
I feel that I should reply to your question. I started practicing AYP 18 months ago. 12 months ago my partner gave birth to our second child. Anyone on this forum who has - or has had-, two small children, will know what that means... A year of sleepless nights, hours of screaming, two children to look after, before and after work... a partner that is struggling to cope... too tired after the children have gone to bed to do anything, even to clear up the mess. I will stop the graphic description before you start crying 
Basically, most days, I don't get ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes in the evening to practice deep meditation. But then some days, my partner takes the kids off for the morning at a weekend, and I have a whole morning to practice- like five hours (of course, I can't and don't practice for 5 hours, as my set of practices takes one hour).
So I have had to adapt my practice a great deal to try and cope. I am very lucky in a sense because my bakhti is high, otherwise I would have given up, like most people in my situation.
I have had to put on hold a lot of the good advice that Yogani gives about balanced practices, regular practice and about self-pacing, and try and work something out for myself, that works in my situation, without too many problems.
What I do, in terms of practice, is to do a full sitting whenever I can. For me this is 15 minutes spinal breathing, 5 minutes bastrika, 20 minutes deep meditation, 10 minutes samyama and 10 minutes sivasana (lying down). This I manage about twice a week. The rest of the time, I simply take the different aspects of the whole AYP practice, and break them down into pieces, and try to fit them into my life. This means that I do 15 minutes spinal breathing whilst driving to work in the morning. When I do my computing at work I hold mulabandha and slow my breathing down. I do samyama and deep meditation lying down at night whilst I am waiting for my children to fall asleep (they don't go to sleep without being cuddled for about an hour!). And I do something else. I think it is called conscious breathing, or pranic breathing. It is where you breathe slowly and deeply, and you focus on the inside of your nose. If you have ecstatic conductivity going, you will notice a build up of prana in your body whilst doing this. I find it very useful, as I can do it whilst playing with my children. Kechari also works like this. Anything that can be done whilst doing something else, is worth it's weight in gold.
Of course, Yogani has put a great deal of time and effort into developing, and teaching, a balanced set of practices, and giving safe guidelines in terms of practice times and regularity of practice. As I understand it, basically, you don't want too much energy moving, with no silence, and you don't want too much silence, with no energy (that's the balance aspect). And you certainly don't want too much energy, or silence, too quickly (that's the practice times aspect). But if you understand the principles involved - as I am sure you do - and you are in a tight corner practice wise - as it sounds like you are going to be, then something like this could help. I feel a bit like one of those climbers who climbs without ropes! Of course it is dangerous, but then, if you can feel the energy, you will know when something is going wrong before it does, and you can cut back. Sometimes I make mistakes, and get grumpy, or get a headache. But mostly (so far) it is working. I feel like I can now tell the difference between a headache, or a grumpy feeling caused by raising two small children, and the same things caused by excessive purification, or a pranic overload. The important thing for me is that I feel like I am moving forward in my practices. I feel like purification is happening, and every day I am a day closer to divine consciousness.
This email should come with one of those "please do not try this at home" warnings . Or at least a "Please do not try this without an adult present". I realize that I am doing everything wrong in terms of the advice that Yogani has given, but then he did say, "If it works for you, do it". Or at least I think he did?
I hope this was helpful in some way.
Christi
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Scott
USA
969 Posts |
Posted - Nov 12 2006 : 4:06:14 PM
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Thank you very much for your thoughtful and personal reply Christi. Yes, I think Yogani did say that. |
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Where there's a will there's a way
