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Sparkle
Ireland
1457 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 01 2008 : 1:01:15 PM
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quote:
I deliberately didn't mention the practices of siddhasana, mula bandha and asvini mudra, as indicators of ecstatic conductivity being present. This is because they all work either directly on, or pretty close to the root and sacral chakras. It could therefor be confusing as they can activate sexual energy in the body even when ecstatic conductivity (kundalini) is not active. For the same reason I didn't mention sex as a way of telling if kundalini is active or not (after all, who doesn't feel ecstacy sometimes during sex). Personally I would use the upper end practices (kechari, sambhavi) and spinal breathing as more reliable indicators.
There are other indicators. The body starting to shake uncontrollably is one (especially during sex). Feeling rushes of energy up the spine, or up the centre of the body is another, especially as these rushes become more powerful (not just a "shiver up the spine").
Very interesting Christi, more questions I'm afraid:
How would sambhavi indicate kundalini?
Can a persons energy channels be open all the way up the spine without kundalini present?
At what point does the transition occur between ecstastic conductivity and kundalini?
Thanks in advance |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4430 Posts |
Posted - Feb 03 2008 : 06:46:01 AM
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Hi Louis,
Louis wrote:
How would sambhavi indicate kundalini?
If the question is “how does sambhavi indicate whether kundalini is awakened or not?” then the answer is, it only does if the kundalini shakti has developed into ecstatic conductivity. Sambhavi has a direct effect on the ajna chakra. If ecstatic conductivity is present in the body then it will draw prana up the sushumna nadi and this will feel ecstatic (or at least pleasurable) along the length of the spine, and at the brow, as well as in the sex area.
Just one thing to note, even before the rise of ecstatic conductivity, chakras are active to a certain extent. There are relationships (link-ups) between certain chakras, and one of those links is between the ajna (third eye) chakra and the swadishtana (sacral /sex) chakra. This means that someone could perform sambhavi mudra and feel sexual energy moving in their loins, even without ecstatic conductivity being present. Chakras become particularly open during sex, so when people roll their eyes up during sex they are taking advantage of the ajna- sacral chakra connection during a moment of chakra expansion (sexual activity). Ecstatic conductivity (kundalini) is really about the “connectedness”, the “rising up”, and the “expanding out” of ecstasy throughout the body. It’s like the next step... beyond sex.
Can a persons energy channels be open all the way up the spine without kundalini present?
I believe they can, or at least, nearly all the way up. There seem to be many natural healers and psychics whose higher centres (chakras) and energy channels are very open. They can see people’s auras, see spirits, see and talk with angels and heal people. They also talk about unconditional love, the way people do when their heart chakras are open. But many of them do not seem to experience ecstasy as a natural part of their experience of being in a body. They also do not seem to radiate ecstasy (the natural next stage of kundalini as it expands outward from the body). So I can only assume that these people have somehow cleared their upper channels and opened their higher chakras, whilst some blockage still exists in the lower centres preventing kundalini from rising.
There are forms of yoga which aim to purify the energy channels in the spine from “top down”, so that by the time the kundalini is awakened from the root chakra, it simply rises up through an already purified nervous system and takes it’s seat in the crown chakra. I don’t know enough about those forms of yoga to know if it can really work as smoothly as that. Usually (for the rest of us) what happens is that some purification is done throughout the system of nadis, then kundalini awakens, and then the spiritual practitioner and the kundalini work in partnership to clear the remaining blockages. Sri Aurobindo was a big believer in the top down model, which is what his yogic system (Integral Yoga) was based on.
It sounds like you were doing something like this (top down approach) before you came to AYP, so you might know more than I do on this one? It could also explain to some extent why your development seems to follow a different pattern than other AYP practitioners?
At what point does the transition occur between ecstatic conductivity and kundalini?
This seems to be an area that causes some confusion. Clearly “ecstatic conductivity” isn’t a direct translation of the Sanskrit word “kundalini” and is not identical to it. But in AYP the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. So what is going on? Well... this is the classic tantric yogic model of the evolution of kundalini (and also the story of my own life):
First, kundalini is stored in a place near the root chakra. Here it is said to be “coiled” which is where the word comes from (kunda: to coil). In this state, a small trickle of energy is released continuously to sustain the body and mind. This stage often lasts for thousands of incarnations. Then, one day, when enough purification has taken place in the subtle body, kundalini is awakened. At first it can be experienced simply as pure energy, or as electricity, or it could be experienced as shaking, or as heat. It could cause headaches, or mood swings or all sorts of weird things as it moves through the body, purifying the system. It can also be experienced as powerful sexual energies.
Over time, as the nadis become increasingly purified, the kundalini energy is felt more and more as ecstasy, sometimes with sexual overtones, but increasingly without. At first, this will be concentrated in the main chakras and in the spine, and later will expand out from there to fill every cell in the body.
So what Yogani calls ecstatic conductivity seems to me to be a fairly developed stage of kundalini, which is experienced after the kundalini has become awakened and once enough purification has happened to allow the flow of kundalini to be experienced as ecstasy.
This could help to explain why there are folks here in the forum who are clearly going through a “kundalini awakening” and experiencing a lot of the classical symptoms, but who haven’t yet experienced the “ecstasy” or “ecstatic conductivity” that Yogani refers to, and that people in the forum often talk about.
From reading the main AYP lessons it could sound as if, once kundalini awakens, it will (automatically) be experienced as an upward, and outward expanding flow of ecstasy. Well it might do.... or it could take some time to reach that stage, everyone is different.
Christi |
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Sparkle
Ireland
1457 Posts |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 08:53:39 AM
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quote:
Christi said: It sounds like you were doing something like this (top down approach) before you came to AYP, so you might know more than I do on this one? It could also explain to some extent why your development seems to follow a different pattern than other AYP practitioners?
Yes, it is true that my spirituality in general over my life has been top down. This was purely to do with my conditioning, as quite a spirituality orienated person from childhood and where light from above was seen as "good" and where "heaven" was, and dark and below was "hell".
Even though I sat down and meditated with the vow to abondon all previous religious conditioning at 21 and simply look inward with a fierce intensity, it still never occured to me that anything would come up rather than down
As to how smooth it was, I can say it was anything but smooth, the complete opposite. I did have an awakening at 28 which was all to do with light and, as you say very present moment and loving.
Reading Amma's biography, it is said she first embodied Shiva, presumably from top down. Then she saw a vision of Devi and set about her quest to embody Shakti, which took her a few years.
I sort of empathise with her on this because that appears to be my road.
How this impacts on the experience of ecstatsy and kundalini in the body, I don't know. This, I suppose is something I wonder about sometimes - whether I have yet to experience the rise of kundalini or whether it has been going on in a gradual way over years and doesn't appear as dramatic.
However, where I'm at now is that I'm not too bothered, just putting in the practices every day and doing my bit on the service front.
The esential thing is to enjoy one's journey and practice as we go, no need for all that pain and pushing, it will happen whenever. Isn't this the beauty of self pacing, that we can negotiate the nice pleasant zone in our practice where life is good and peace is deep. This is where I am at presently and if given a choice between peace and ecstacy, I would choose peace all the time.
The more I learn to surrender though, the more I am directed to stretch myself, which seems like a contradiction. The difference is that I'm leaving it more to the silence or Ma or Amma or whatever. At the moment Amma is quite a force in my life and I don't seem to have a problem trusting this - which is a big first for me, with anyone.
Thank you Christi for your explanations, they are very helpful. My guess is the road map will reveal itself in time and as the understanding unfolds so will our ability to pass it on to others unfold.
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Edited by - Sparkle on Feb 06 2008 08:54:46 AM |
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old yogi
USA
1 Posts |
Posted - Oct 28 2009 : 10:04:07 PM
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| After touching the soft palate with my tongue from the age of 24 to the age of 62 I began to snore and gradually developed sleep apnea or interrupted breathing during sleep. This causes the body to stimulate hormones to restart the breathing, which in turn stimulates the heart to beat more forcefully and rapidly. This a strain on the heart when it should be resting during sleep. I can't say that touching the tongue to the soft palate continuously caused the apnea. It may be a function of aging. So I ceased deliberately touching my tongue to the soft palate with no decrease in my yoga experience of unity. My advice? Follow your own judgement. I have stopped the apnea by wearing a foam collar that keeps my jaw from dropping down when relaxed by sleep. Seems to work. |
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Oct 28 2009 : 10:41:57 PM
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| Hi old yogi, welcome to the forums and thanks for dropping by! |
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Victor
USA
910 Posts |
Posted - Oct 29 2009 : 04:43:41 AM
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| Welcome Old Yogi, please feel free to share your experience here |
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khechari snip creates snoring?
