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spinal_tap
Indonesia
40 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 02 2009 : 10:31:57 AM
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| Hi, Does anyone here have bulging/expanding stomach from doing meditation or prana healing or vegetarian diet? My father has been doing prana healing and stopped eating meat(except seafood) for around 10 years. He used to be fat before doing prana healing/vegetarian lifestyle, but recently his stomach seems to be getting bigger and bigger. Just wondering if you guys know the cause. Thanks. |
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Scott
USA
969 Posts |
Posted - Feb 02 2009 : 10:55:37 PM
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Does he belly breathe as a practice? Abdominal breathing is known to cause the "qi belly".
My opinion is that it's a result of forcing the breath, and causing the innards to bulge out with the contraction of the diaphragm. Like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika says:
quote:
15. Just as lions, elephants and tigers are controlled by and by, so the breath is controlled by slow degrees, otherwise (i.e., by being hasty or using too much force) it kills the practitioner himself.
16. When Pranayama, etc., are performed properly, they eradicate all diseases; but an improper practice generates diseases.
17. Hiccough, asthma, cough, pain in the head, the ears, and the eyes; these and other various kinds of diseases are generated by the disturbance of the breath.
18. The air should be expelled with proper tact and should be filled in skillfully; and when it has been kept confined properly it brings success.
Think about how you train a lion to do something. You don't pull it by the leash - it'll attack you. You put food over there if you want him to go over there. You reward him, using positive reinforcement...not commands and punishment if he doesn't do it right.
So in the same way, the right method of doing pranayama is nothing like what is often suggested. The right way is setting up the conditions, so that the breath calms down...the wrong way is in trying to calm the breath down. So first, posture work is used to create as much space for the body to breathe...but you don't try to breathe any certain way. You let yourself be breathed.
Belly breathing even if it's gentle is forceful and can cause problems, such as a big belly. |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Feb 03 2009 : 08:01:13 AM
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Hi Spinal_tap,
Welcome to the forum.
Yogani gives an explanation to prana belly in this topic :
kechari and "prana belly".. maybe this will help.
quote:
http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....D=1544#11564
Originally posted by yogani
Hi Victor:
Yes, it is a kind of internal kumbhaka which can happen naturally in the GI tract as part of the "alchemy" going on there -- food, air and sexual essences blending to produce "soma," a biological component of rising ecstatic conductivity. From there, soma can expand air-like throughout the body and out through the pores of the skin, contributing to ecstatic radiance extending beyond the body. The sweet aromas sometimes noticed around yogis and yoginis have been attributed to this.
Muktananda's guru, Nityananda, was known for swallowing large amounts air to accentuate this phenomenon, leading to a large air-filled belly. Not recommended in AYP. It can compromise health.
With kechari and other mudras and bandhas, combined with moderate breath retention during chin pump and yoni mudra, and the slowdown of breathing during spinal breathing pranayama, the retention of air and combined essences in the body will occur naturally. Of course, deep meditation has an underlying role to play in all of this, as in all yogic phenomena we encounter. Inner silence is the foundation of all spiritual progress.
Over time, the internal processing of air becomes more or less a "pass-through," meaning it is not necessary to have a Nityananda (or Buddha) belly to progress with ecstatic conductivity. In fact, an excessively swelling belly or undue pressure anywhere inside is usually a signal to, you guessed it, self-pace our practices.
The guru is in you.
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Edited by - Shanti on Feb 03 2009 08:02:32 AM |
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spinal_tap
Indonesia
40 Posts |
Posted - Feb 11 2009 : 12:20:15 PM
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Hi Shanti.
Thanks for the explanation guys, he stopped doing pranic healing anyways. A friend told him he needs to stop doing the healing or fast for 40 days. He chose to stop healing. I'm not sure why he needs to fast, but I think it has something to do with the bad energies in his stomach. That's what I heard anyway, don't know how he could end up with bad energies in his stomach by healing people. |
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Stomach problem
