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aypsisya
USA
14 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 06 2010 : 11:35:38 PM
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Dear All,
When I first started pranayama, I felt so blissful and excited. But, nowadays I am feeling as if my mind is dead and it seems to work very slow.
The reaction time for anything is too high and always a feeling to go to sleep. I am doing for only 15 minutes a day.
I know Yogani had advised that we do meditation along with Pranayama as only Pranayama is not good and I am also doing meditation.
Is there anything wrong here ? Your help and advice can really enhance my life !!
Please guide me  |
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Jan 07 2010 : 03:17:27 AM
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hi aypsisa , 1st i think that you shouldn't practice more than 10 minutes of spinal breathing pranayama and even though you are not feeling what's going on inside for now but something is happening you can be sure of that.
2n in reply to your topic i suggest you nudge things up and add on some new practices and see if that can give you the desired results.
AYP offers a lot of them new practices, especially the ones involving kumbhaka but i suggest you take things very slowly and follow Yogani's advise.
another thing that might help in case you are under sensitive, i suggest you do your practices in a dark room that helps in the pratyahara aspect "letting the senses withdraw to the insides."
light and love,
Ananda |
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SeySorciere
Seychelles
1553 Posts |
Posted - Jan 07 2010 : 03:30:27 AM
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Hey aypsisya - good question. I am feeling exactly that today! Dullness of the mind. I've been feeling that way a lot lately... pressure in the third eye area, heaviness in the head, sleepy. It started when I added sambbhavi and mulabandha to SP a couple of weeks ago. I think it is probably overload, so I'm trying to back off a little. The thing is a lot of energy is stirred up in the belly and I automatically try harder at pushing it up the spinal nerve and the whole thing is no longer relaxing but hard work (sweating). Then when I start DM, I am too filled with enegy and I just rock and rock automatically; my head going round and round. I know this is addressed somewhere in the forum ( I remember a mention somewhere) - if someone could kindly point the way ?
Thks |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jan 07 2010 : 07:47:04 AM
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Hi Aypsisya and SeySorciere,
A quick question... do you rest after your practice?
Make sure you get at least 10 min or more of rest after your practice. Sometimes, the dullness and/or irritation during the day is because we have not rested enough after our practice. So try that.
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aypsisya
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - Jan 07 2010 : 08:05:51 AM
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Hello Shanti/SeySorciere/Ananda,
Thanks to all of you for the reply..
Shanti - No, I am not resting - I do it early morning before I go to the office. Will that help ?
quote:
Originally posted by Shanti
Hi Aypsisya and SeySorciere,
A quick question... do you rest after your practice?
Make sure you get at least 10 min or more of rest after your practice. Sometimes, the dullness and/or irritation during the day is because we have not rested enough after our practice. So try that.
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jan 07 2010 : 08:13:07 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by aypsisya
Shanti - No, I am not resting - I do it early morning before I go to the office. Will that help ?
Resting a bit after your practice helps integrate and balance out the stillness so the rest of your day goes smooth. Rest a bit from your next practice session and see if that helps with the dullness.
You are meditating right? Even 10 min of it will help take the energy you cultivate in paranayama into the stillness. It is very important you do like 10 min spinal breathing and 10 min (at least) meditation and then rest for a bit. You will see the difference.
Wish you all the best. |
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aypsisya
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - Jan 07 2010 : 11:28:31 AM
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Hello Shanti,
Thank you very much !!
I have a few questions .. sorry for the bugging ..
Just 15 minutes of Pranayama cause dullness or overload of energy, how come those Yogi's and others do for 1 hr or more a day.
When I was reading about Aurbindo last night, that person was doing Pranayama for 5 hrs a day. I saw an interview of BKS Iyengar, who is so famous here in the west and he does it for 3 hrs a day.
When he was talking on the interview, he was so fresh (at that age of more than 90)and didn't see the dullness that I possessed yesterday.
Just wondering how is that possible ..
And again .. sorry for repeated posts, I believe this forum is meant to sort our confusions and also help folks benefit from Spinal Pranayama and other important Kriya's.
Hope you all forgive my ignorance and shed some light
quote:
Originally posted by Shanti
quote:
Originally posted by aypsisya
Shanti - No, I am not resting - I do it early morning before I go to the office. Will that help ?
Resting a bit after your practice helps integrate and balance out the stillness so the rest of your day goes smooth. Rest a bit from your next practice session and see if that helps with the dullness.
You are meditating right? Even 10 min of it will help take the energy you cultivate in paranayama into the stillness. It is very important you do like 10 min spinal breathing and 10 min (at least) meditation and then rest for a bit. You will see the difference.
Wish you all the best.
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vd007
USA
38 Posts |
Posted - Jan 07 2010 : 2:29:17 PM
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These people u mentioned are doing other pranayamas and not spinal breating pranayama for 5 hours or so. |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jan 07 2010 : 10:19:30 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by aypsisya
Just 15 minutes of Pranayama cause dullness or overload of energy, how come those Yogi's and others do for 1 hr or more a day.
When I was reading about Aurbindo last night, that person was doing Pranayama for 5 hrs a day. I saw an interview of BKS Iyengar, who is so famous here in the west and he does it for 3 hrs a day.
When he was talking on the interview, he was so fresh (at that age of more than 90)and didn't see the dullness that I possessed yesterday.
Just wondering how is that possible ..
Please don't be sorry. We are here to help each other and you can ask anything that comes up to ask.
The person who practiced 5 hrs of pranayama, was there any mention of how long he was practicing? BKS Iyengar started yoga at the age of 16... so he had a good many years of pranayama under his belt before he managed to do 3 hrs of pranayama in a day at 90+.
They too may have gone through phases of overload when they started. It is purification, it is cleansing your nervous system, and if you try to send 220 Volts of electricity thru an appliance that can only handle 110V.. well the appliance will burn. Similarly, if you practice hours of pranayama and move lot of energy through an unpurified nervous system, you will burn yourself.
As you continue with your practice, and purify and open more, the chances of overload becomes less and less. But in the beginning, it helps to take it slow. Then the process becomes an easier ride than a bumpy, uncomfortable one. |
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aypsisya
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2010 : 12:42:07 AM
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Thank You Shanti !!!
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SeySorciere
Seychelles
1553 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2010 : 05:39:59 AM
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Thank you Shanti, you are always so helpful. I am guilty of not resting enough; somehow after my 40 minutes (10 mins SP, 20 mins, DM, 10 mins Samyama) are up, I don't seem to have the patience to sit quietly... plus if I keep sitting still, I just drop deeper into the silence - it does not lessen - or if I am rocking, I can keep rocking for another hour if I just sit there. Anyway, evenings I only have time to do my meditation just before I go to bed. I know it's not what's recommended but that's the best time for some quiet around my home - and sleep then counts as resting, right? In the mornings, I try to wake up at 5 a.m. (I do not always manage to get myself out of bed but I'm getting a lot more regular, then I have to go to work.
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2010 : 09:15:39 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by SeySorciere
somehow after my 40 minutes (10 mins SP, 20 mins, DM, 10 mins Samyama) are up, I don't seem to have the patience to sit quietly... plus if I keep sitting still, I just drop deeper into the silence - it does not lessen - or if I am rocking, I can keep rocking for another hour if I just sit there.
I know how that is. But surprisingly, you will soon realize that the rest actually does as much if not more than the entire practice session. Going deeper in during rest is not bad at all. Falling asleep is even better. As long as you are not repeating the mantra and/or the sutras, you are fine going in deep. Actually if you are going in deep, I would say it's because you need the rest more than anything else. If you can afford to sit and rock in your chair for an hour, do so. There is nothing wrong with it. If needed, cut back to one round of sutras in samyama, or cut a few min off spinal breathing and meditation to get 5 min of rest time.
quote:
Originally posted by SeySorciere
I know it's not what's recommended but that's the best time for some quiet around my home - and sleep then counts as resting, right? In the mornings, I try to wake up at 5 a.m. (I do not always manage to get myself out of bed but I'm getting a lot more regular, then I have to go to work.
Well I meditate close to bed time too, it is the only time I get. Many others do so too. It is not recommended because it can result in disturbed sleep. But if you are like me and can sleep after meditating, then it's fine to do this close to bed time.
It is however not recommended (actually I will say, please don't do this) to get up from meditation and go straight to bed for your night sleep. You will wake up next morning really groggy and fuzzy headed and feeling lethargic. The best thing to do, after the evening practice (which will include at least a few min of rest), get up and move for at least 15-20 min and then go to bed. Get a drink of water, watch a little TV, do something out of bed for a few min before you hit the bed for the night. This will also help you to get up at 5.00 with a bit more ease. |
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SeySorciere
Seychelles
1553 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2010 : 12:04:47 PM
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quote:
It is however not recommended (actually I will say, please don't do this) to get up from meditation and go straight to bed for your night sleep. You will wake up next morning really groggy and fuzzy headed and feeling lethargic.
Oops! This is exactly what I do.. get up and go to bed. No wonder, I've been feeling so exhausted lately. Funny... It did not have this effect before I added the extra bits to SB. What would sometime happen before is I would wake up in the middle of the night and feel my crown chakra is open and bliss (the witness) kind of pouring /staring out.
Thanks so much for the tip. |
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yogani
USA
5201 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2010 : 2:40:02 PM
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Hi All:
It should be mentioned that the main difference between hours of pranayama not being enough, versus 20 minutes of pranayama being too much, is deep meditation after pranayama in the second case.
Each of these two practices greatly increase the power of the other, and that largely accounts for the difference in results, and the time it takes to produce them.
Practice wisely, and enjoy!
The guru is in you.
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aypsisya
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2010 : 8:10:06 PM
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Thanks for the clarification Yogani !!
quote:
Originally posted by yogani
Hi All:
It should be mentioned that main the difference between hours of pranayama not being enough, versus 20 minutes of pranayama being too much, is deep meditation after pranayama in the second case.
Each of these two practices greatly increase the power of the other, and that largely accounts for the difference in results, and the time it takes to produce them.
Practice wisely, and enjoy!
The guru is in you.
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SeySorciere
Seychelles
1553 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2010 : 02:49:59 AM
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I am in overload and trying to get a grip on things. Shanti, I have done what you said; I've cut back on spinal breathing and I rest more. I keep rocking (quite violently) for another hour before getting up. Last night, I did not do SP nor DM at all. The moment I sat down and relaxed with a long release of breath, I started rocking. So I just let it roll for an hour. I have too much energy inside with no way to release it. Any further suggestions? Would physical exercise help? I was thinking maybe the asanas? Or would that be adding another practice which will lead to even more over-loading? I am terribly bad at any form of physical exercise, I can't get up the enthusiasm to stick to any form of exercise.
Help! |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2010 : 08:46:45 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by SeySorciere
I am in overload and trying to get a grip on things. Shanti, I have done what you said; I've cut back on spinal breathing and I rest more. I keep rocking (quite violently) for another hour before getting up. Last night, I did not do SP nor DM at all. The moment I sat down and relaxed with a long release of breath, I started rocking. So I just let it roll for an hour. I have too much energy inside with no way to release it. Any further suggestions? Would physical exercise help? I was thinking maybe the asanas? Or would that be adding another practice which will lead to even more over-loading? I am terribly bad at any form of physical exercise, I can't get up the enthusiasm to stick to any form of exercise.
Help!
Absolutely... exercise is what you need. Grounding. You need to ground the excess energy. I am glad you are resting more. That helps me a lot.
You don't have to go to a gym really, there are many ways to ground around the house. My favorite is to put on some loud upbeat music and scrub floor and bathrooms. I remember being very overloaded once and did this, down on my hands and knees cleaning the floors.. by the end of it I had a very grounded Shanti and some nice clean floors.  Another great way to ground is to dig and work in a garden, weather permitting of course.
Do you know how to do surya namaskar (sun salutation)?
Here was a great suggestion given to me some years back:
quote:
Originally posted by david_obsidian
>> The only additional thing I do in the morning is Surya Namaskar.
Great, you are 90% there -- speed up your Surya Namaskar (sun salutation), and you have one of the best cardio-pulmonary ("aerobic") exercises I know of.
I do this sun-salutation quite rapidly -- I think about 12 seconds per full cycle. That's 50 cycles for me in a ten-minute period. Depending on how fit you are, and how much you want to push yourself, you may or may not want to meet this pace.
You can build it up to whatever speed you want and therefore to whatever heartrate you want, producing whatever strength of cardiopulmonary (aerobic) exercise you want.
Sun Salutation done at speed is I believe a far superior aerobic exercise to jogging.
Funny you should ask this now when I wrote about my fast sun-salutation regime just a while ago.
One great advantage of it is that it is an all-weather exercise, not requiring you to leave your home. It has no preparation time (no putting on/taking off your running clothes etc.) either which makes it ideal for someone who is short on time.
If you wish to take this path, don't expect to be able to reach the high speeds immediately. You should gradually speed up over time.
Rapid sun-salutation doesn't seem to be known in the yoga world as well as it should be.
If you are not sure how to do surya namaskar (sun salutation), look at this topic, it may help:
Learn Surya Namaskar? (Sun Salutation!)
Sun Salutation Website
Adding asanas may be good too. It moves energy in certain ways that may help even it out. But you will have to figure that out for yourself. Some people find asanas very grounding, some overload on it.
Other things that will help... eat heavier for a few days. Stay away from spiritual, bhakti igniting stuff. Do mindless work, do fun stuff, watch a movie with non spiritual friends anything that will keep your mind away from the energy and spirituality. The more attention we give the energy, the stronger it gets.
Hope some of this helps. |
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SeySorciere
Seychelles
1553 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2010 : 02:36:28 AM
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| Everything is back under control ! Thank you Shanti. I did some postures (a friend did introduce me to sun salutation once, but I did not stick with it. I'll have to get back to him), released a lot of heat and now I'm ok. Gentle rocking is still there but ok. In fact, I'm feeling great today, Divine Love flowing... Today, for the first time, there was an element of light to the energy channel between between root and crown; just red-ish glow (from inside it)and there was a sense of outward extension in the third-eye area (I don't think it was a real opening).. encouraging symptons ! |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2010 : 09:57:36 AM
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| Good to hear SeySorciere. |
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Can Pranayama cause mind dullness ??
