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Zaelithe
United Kingdom
33 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 11 2021 : 10:49:54 AM
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| Greetings all. I have an ‘under the hood’ question brought about by recent experience. After a period of several months of self-pacing and using only breath meditation, I have recently been able to return to using the I Am mantra for short periods. What fascinates me is the sheer power of this mantra. How can it be that just repeating something ‘in my head’ for a few minutes has such an immediately discernible effect? I can feel prana moving within a short period of time and will stop if it becomes too strong. But how can this be? I would love to know how silently repeating those two sounds actually works in the body - especially as one is not actually ‘vibrating’ the self by speaking them aloud. |
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interpaul
USA
551 Posts |
Posted - Jun 11 2021 : 6:36:59 PM
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| Zaelithe, I've wondered this regarding many AYP practices. My sense of the under the hood thing is that we are using powerful techniques to tap into our unconscious brain function. I had explored self hypnosis quite a bit in the past. Saying a trigger such as "sleep" has profound effects on my physiology now. When a stage hypnotist says a trigger they can invoke all sorts of physcial/psychologic/physiologic responses in the hypnosis subject. I think we are tapping into a similar mechanism. An alternative way I look at this is in line with how Yogani describes the practices as similiar to cleaning the window that obscures our view. Along those lines I think its a little like an engine that, once all the contacts are cleaned electricity flows quite easilyl in the engine making it more efficient. Yogani repeatedly says we are just returning to our natural state of being by removing all of these "obstructions" |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Jun 11 2021 : 7:40:02 PM
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Hi Zaelithe,
Another way of looking at this is that thoughts (including mantras) have a vibration and this vibration resonates through the subtle nervous system. So, thought vibrates at the same frequency as the prana which comprises the nadis and chakras of the subtle neurobiology.
This can actually be seen and felt, and even heard, at a certain stage on the path, so we can literally observe it happening in detail.
Christi |
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Zaelithe
United Kingdom
33 Posts |
Posted - Jun 12 2021 : 5:06:16 PM
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Christi - thank you, that helps my understanding of what is happening. I also read your reply to Wolfgang which clarifies a little more!
Interpaul - thanks for your reply: this part really set me thinking -
“Zaelithe, I've wondered this regarding many AYP practices. My sense of the under the hood thing is that we are using powerful techniques to tap into our unconscious brain function. “
I am beginning to think that I do not experience DM and the mantra at the level of my conscious/subconscious or even unconscious. I am not sure if I can find the right words to express how I experience it, but I think I would say that when I sink into DM that it somehow transcends my brain-based and bodily consciousness and moves into something more expansive and less personal - a wider awareness? This gets tricky, it is clearly me having the discipline to sit there and make the decision to say the mantra in my mind but the mysterious part for me is what that can then open up (definitely not always). It is so powerful and so impossible to describe that I am, as usual, filled with gratitude at having the space to share such wondrous weirdness. Does this make any sense at all.....?  |
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Dogboy
USA
2294 Posts |
Posted - Jun 12 2021 : 9:46:37 PM
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quote:
I am beginning to think that I do not experience DM and the mantra at the level of my conscious/subconscious or even unconscious. I am not sure if I can find the right words to express how I experience it, but I think I would say that when I sink into DM that it somehow transcends my brain-based and bodily consciousness and moves into something more expansive and less personal - a wider awareness? This gets tricky, it is clearly me having the discipline to sit there and make the decision to say the mantra in my mind but the mysterious part for me is what that can then open up (definitely not always). It is so powerful and so impossible to describe that I am, as usual, filled with gratitude at having the space to share such wondrous weirdness. Does this make any sense at all.....?
The mantra and our shushumna points (root, solar center, Ajna) are our tethers for when silence&energy expands as we “fill with light” and “go elsewhere”. Your disciplined practice has brought you to this place; the tricky part is surrendering to the vibration of it, rather than delve into instinct to shape or define it. The very idea of mantra = vibration is breathtaking in its ancient and mysterious ability to elevate “us” and tease us with glimpses of “our” afterlife. We will never know for sure, so we might as we just surrender and enjoy. |
Edited by - Dogboy on Jun 12 2021 9:49:53 PM |
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Zaelithe
United Kingdom
33 Posts |
Posted - Jun 14 2021 : 4:00:47 PM
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| Dogboy - lovely, great advice! |
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interpaul
USA
551 Posts |
Posted - Jun 14 2021 : 11:03:33 PM
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quote:
I am beginning to think that I do not experience DM and the mantra at the level of my conscious/subconscious or even unconscious. I am not sure if I can find the right words to express how I experience it, but I think I would say that when I sink into DM that it somehow transcends my brain-based and bodily consciousness and moves into something more expansive and less personal - a wider awareness?
Zaelithe, It sounds like your practice is going very well. In your initial post you said you have an "under the hood" question. This response suggests you realize this is outside of the car entirely. Beyond our intellectual explorations trying to tether these experiencing to neurophysiological processes or brain function, the rest ultimately is experiential and not solvable with the rational mind. I enjoy taking a look under the hood too but am getting more comfortable just enjoying the ride. |
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Mantra mechanics
