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Eitherway
USA
100 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 17 2007 : 4:01:31 PM
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Hi all,
I've been doing the ayp meditation and pranayama for about 5 months solid as well as samyama for around 3 months. I've had prana buzzes for a couple of years, especially when urinating, and they have gotten more frequent and a little more intense (in a good way) with the ayp practices.
Lately, it seems like inner silence is finally tuning into me. I'm a lot more patient and can generally view my thoughts and actions from what seems like a witness state. With the rise of inner silence, the idea of surrender seems to become more than a concept.
I grew in a muslim country and i remember being taught that the word Islam means surrender but it has always been a concept with the only active counterpart to it being the prostration we do during prayers.
Well now that inner silence is starting to wink at me, I can sometimes surrender to it. This happens especially during deep meditation. I still repeat the mantra and focus on it lightly but at the same time, I feel as if I can "let go" and do while continuing the repetition. The letting go or surrendering is difficult to describe in words but it seems as if there is a physical component, largely relaxing the muscles of the face and looking slightly up which leads to a throbbing sensation in the 3rd eye area, as well as a mental component.
Interestingly, the surrendering seems to enhance the inner silence while getting lost in thoughts and emotions does the opposite. I guess that makes sense. This is becoming true in life outside of practices as well.
Samyama is also definitely enhanced by the inner silence/surrendering because the silence/surrender becomes the default state, then I lightly touch on a sutra, and then back to default.
Basically I have a couple of questions but I just want to tell other newbies like me, Yogani really really really knows what he is doing with AYP. Follow directions and try to get out of the way (don't worry about how to get out of the way- the inner silence will show you automatically). Don't waste time on a lot of analyzing of techniques, etc...... Yogani did that already. Consider ayp the cliff notes for the tremedous amount of yogic information/techniques out there.
As far as questions:
1) What would you all suggest as the next practice. I feel stable in pranayama, meditation, and samyama. I also practice a modified version of mulabandha.
2) There seems to be a definite pick up in my energy as far as activities go. I no longer feel sluggish as much and have a lot less mental fog. Is this because of inner silence or coincedental?
Thanks for any input.
p.s- I know I should just refer to the ayp books for the next practice but i'm busy these days studying and figured I'd veg out and ask for feedback from the forum.  |
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Sep 17 2007 : 8:13:45 PM
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quote:
1) What would you all suggest as the next practice. I feel stable in pranayama, meditation, and samyama. I also practice a modified version of mulabandha.
Hi Eitherway,
Glad you are enjoying the "journey". I personally followed the lessons in terms of what to add and when, as laid out by Yogani on-line here:
http://www.aypsite.org/MainDirectory.html
So Sambhavi or Siddhasana come to mind as next to add in. Be sure not to add them in at the same time or else you risk putting yourself "over".
quote:
2) There seems to be a definite pick up in my energy as far as activities go. I no longer feel sluggish as much and have a lot less mental fog. Is this because of inner silence or coincedental?
I would guess yes.
Best of luck to you,
A
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Edited by - Anthem on Sep 17 2007 8:14:06 PM |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Sep 18 2007 : 08:24:21 AM
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Hi Eitherway,
Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you are doing really well.
What are the practices that you are doing at the moment and how long do you do them for? How many times a day?
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Eitherway
USA
100 Posts |
Posted - Sep 18 2007 : 09:20:21 AM
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Hi Christi,
I've been practicing the meditation and pranayama for around 5 months. 2x a day with 20 minutes for iaming and 10 minutes for pranayama during each session. I've been also doing samyama for about 3 months now (10 min each session). The only other thing is a modified version of mulabandha where I contract a few times before tracing the inhale up through the spinal column. The only additional thing is prayer which I do in a prostration manner for around 10 minutes (2xday).
Actually Christi, I had looked up some of your earlier posts because I do hear some tones/bells/musically oriented sounds in my ears and saw that it might have something to do with the heart chakra. I do still have a lot of guilt and other heart related issues so I would really like to work with this chakra if possible.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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sadhak
India
604 Posts |
Posted - Sep 19 2007 : 1:26:50 PM
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Hi Eitherway,
The AYP way doesn't work on individual chakras specifically... whatever needs to get worked on, and when the time is right, it does get done. Also, I wouldn't make my sessions goal oriented... seems to take away from the whole meditational experience. But others may have a different point of veiw on this. |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Sep 20 2007 : 03:08:17 AM
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Hi Eitherway,
quote:
Hi Christi,
I've been practicing the meditation and pranayama for around 5 months. 2x a day with 20 minutes for iaming and 10 minutes for pranayama during each session. I've been also doing samyama for about 3 months now (10 min each session). The only other thing is a modified version of mulabandha where I contract a few times before tracing the inhale up through the spinal column. The only additional thing is prayer which I do in a prostration manner for around 10 minutes (2xday).
Sounds great. In terms of what to add next, I would agree with Anthem, Sambhavi and siddhasana sound like the next step if you are not doing them already, or spinal bastrika?
I don't know if you have read the Secrets of Wilder novel by Yogani, but towards the end of the novel there is a chart which clearly outlines which practice to add when, and which practices to combine with which as we progress. It also shows which order to do the practices in. I find it very useful as it can get confusing without this chart. I am surprised that Yogani has not put it on the main website.
quote:
Actually Christi, I had looked up some of your earlier posts because I do hear some tones/bells/musically oriented sounds in my ears and saw that it might have something to do with the heart chakra. I do still have a lot of guilt and other heart related issues so I would really like to work with this chakra if possible.
And again... I would agree with sadhak... Yogani doesn't normaly advise working on specific chakras, simply because it's very hard to know which ones need working on when and in what order. The practices take care of the chakras in the right order... kind of amazing really! Having said that, there are a couple of exceptions in the main lessons. One is a practice specifically for working on the heart chakra here:
http://www.aypsite.org/220.html
and the other direct chakra practice in AYP is a practice specifically for working on the crown (lesson 199).
I don't know if working with the heart chakra will necessarily dispel emotions of guilt. I think guilt (and other negative emotions are dispelled naturally through the gradual purification of the nervous system and the rise of inner silence (the witness), and maybe through forgiveness in prayer. But working with the heart brings about many beautiful flowerings of it's own.
Enjoy
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yogani
USA
5241 Posts |
Posted - Sep 20 2007 : 11:12:16 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Christi
I don't know if you have read the Secrets of Wilder novel by Yogani, but towards the end of the novel there is a chart which clearly outlines which practice to add when, and which practices to combine with which as we progress. It also shows which order to do the practices in. I find it very useful as it can get confusing without this chart. I am surprised that Yogani has not put it on the main website.
Hi Christi:
Glad you have found the Secrets of Wilder practice chart useful. The plan is to expand on it and include it in the upcoming Eight Limbs of Yoga E-Series book. Then it will appear, probably enhanced further, in the AYP Easy Lessons Vol 2 textbook (another big one), along with a lot of other new information. For now, the only place to find the chart is in the Wilder novel.
The reason why the practice chart hasn't shown up on the website is because AYP isn't financially solvent yet. So the emphasis these days is on writing, publishing and distributing books, ebooks and audiobooks, and keeping in touch with everyone here in the forums. Interestingly, this approach, brought about by necessity, has been opening many new doors to the public that would not have been opened as quickly otherwise. So there is a method in the madness of having to expand AYP into multiple publishing and media channels simultaneously. I am just along for the ride.
In the writing, my first love is sharing online, and I look forward to getting back to that when AYP is finally self-supporting with a larger body of published work in the marketplace. That will mean more free online lessons and information, including charts. It is a matter of finding a balance between the publications which will support AYP and the free website. We'll get there.
These forums are an important part of it, and I greatly appreciate the ongoing contributions by everyone to each other and the growing public knowledge base. There are a lot of gems here -- both people and knowledge.
All the best!
The guru is in you.
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Sep 20 2007 : 12:35:57 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Christi
Having said that, there are a couple of exceptions in the main lessons. One is a practice specifically for working on the heart chakra here:
http://www.aypsite.org/220.html
and the other direct chakra practice in AYP is a practice specifically for working on the crown (lesson 199).
I don't know if working with the heart chakra will necessarily dispel emotions of guilt. I think guilt (and other negative emotions are dispelled naturally through the gradual purification of the nervous system and the rise of inner silence (the witness), and maybe through forgiveness in prayer. But working with the heart brings about many beautiful flowerings of it's own.
Enjoy
I agree with Christi and others.... an overall purification will be much smoother (especially in the beginning) and it is better not to focus on a certain area.
However when you start working with the heart.. it opens new dimensions that, if you are ready for, will result in really beautiful heart openings. How do you know you are ready, it just comes to you.. everything around you will tell you to work with your heart.. your inner guru will tell you.. if you will listen.
One word of caution, the heart breathing is a very powerful practice.. please don't be fooled by its simplicity and overdo it. My father tried it.. twice.. and both times he had very severe and uncomfortable purifications.. and suffered for awhile. When I asked him why he did it a second time, when he knew he reacted so badly to it the first time.. he laughed and said, "I had to be sure all these symptoms were caused by the heart breathing.. now I am convinced"..:)..
I did add heart breathing very early on in my practice, it did nothing for me and I dropped it. About 4 months back I started this practice again.. and this time it did wonders. I also tried a few other heart opening techniques.. I think Yogani's lesson worked the best for me.
Beautiful experience on surrender BTW. Surrender is something you have to experience.. it is a concept you can talk about as much as you want.. and try to understand it with your mind as much as you'd like.. however when you experience it just once.. suddenly it makes so much sense what everyone was talking about all along. Once you get a taste of it.. you never want to go back to control.. so much easier to surrender and be taken:).
Not sure if you'd be interested.. but the feeling of surrender you feel during meditation, see if you can naturally apply it to your everyday life. If it is an effort, don't worry about it now. Just try it with very small things at first, and when you see how easy it is to let go and let flow.. every step you take during the day you can surrender to Ma. Surrender is not "not doing".. it doing everything with love and doing it from a place where there are no expectations.
How do you get to experience this.. exactly how Eitherway explains.. practice without trying to analyze or trying to look for results.
quote:
Eitherway said:
I just want to tell other newbies like me, Yogani really really really knows what he is doing with AYP. Follow directions and try to get out of the way (don't worry about how to get out of the way- the inner silence will show you automatically). Don't waste time on a lot of analyzing of techniques, etc...... Yogani did that already. Consider ayp the cliff notes for the tremedous amount of yogic information/techniques out there.
Very well said Eitherway. Thank you. |
Edited by - Shanti on Sep 20 2007 12:59:49 PM |
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Eitherway
USA
100 Posts |
Posted - Sep 20 2007 : 2:54:17 PM
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Thanks to all who posted,
I've decided to add siddhasana as the next practice and am definitely interested in the heart breathing, although I will probably wait for atleast a month in order to be stable in the latest addition. The overall purification seems to be the best way of going about it but sometimes you can't help but wanting to get to the heart of the matter.
Shanti, I will definitely try to incorporate the surrender into my daily life. Right now, it really only happens automatically when the inner silence is strong. This can be during the meditation or sometimes this feeling of inner silence lasts a couple of days but tends to wear off. I would hazard to guess that this must be a sort of a peek between the clouds at inner silence and hopefully with continued practice this will expand into the 24/7 kind. That must be amazing!! Just the few hours blows my mind (literally).
If anyone who is reading this is new to ayp and is considering starting up a practice. I can't suggest strongly enough, don't waste time, just get to it. Each person's journey is unique, but I haven't read about anyone ever saying, yeah, ayp is okay, i wouldn't have minded waiting a couple years more before stumbling onto these practices. Conversely, I and many others wish we would have found yogani's map to the gold mine earlier!
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Sep 23 2007 : 04:26:20 AM
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Hi Yogani
quote:
Hi Christi:
Glad you have found the Secrets of Wilder practice chart useful. The plan is to expand on it and include it in the upcoming Eight Limbs of Yoga E-Series book. Then it will appear, probably enhanced further, in the AYP Easy Lessons Vol 2 textbook (another big one), along with a lot of other new information. For now, the only place to find the chart is in the Wilder novel.
Sounds like there are lots of exiting things still to come! In the meantime it looks like anyone who wants to use the chart will have to buy the Secrets of Wilder novel. Not a bad thing, as then they could read it. Personally I found it amazing, I couldn't put it down from start to finish.
Looking forward to reading the upcoming publications. |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Sep 23 2007 : 3:38:00 PM
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| Thank you for this notion of the chart. Strangely, I am quite the opposite of you, Christi. Secrets of Wilder is the only book I haven't been able to read yet. Started a few times and felt such resistance every time, so I haven't bothered trying to get through it. But now I think I'll have to take a look. |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Sep 27 2007 : 04:32:14 AM
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Hi EMC
quote:
Thank you for this notion of the chart. Strangely, I am quite the opposite of you, Christi. Secrets of Wilder is the only book I haven't been able to read yet. Started a few times and felt such resistance every time, so I haven't bothered trying to get through it. But now I think I'll have to take a look.
well... it could be one of those books you have to be ready for. For me it was like a breath of fresh air. So many things that had happened to me in my life, also happened to the main character, John. And, many things happen to him that haven't yet happened to me .
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Surrender - kind of important
