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ycloutier2000
Canada
78 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 15 2010 : 3:43:18 PM
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I had never read the HYP, however I am doing so now and was quite surprised to read the instructions as below:
(58-60) Place the feet on the [opposite] thighs. This is padma-sana and removes all diseases. Having assumed this posture, exhale with closed mouth until a pressure is felt on the heart, the throat and the head. Then one draws in the breath with a hissing sound until it touches the heart. During all this time head and body are kept straight.
(61-62) Again inhale and exhale as indicated, again and again, as a blacksmith worlds his bellows, in this way the prana is kept ill constant circulation in the body. When tired exhale through the right nostril. This is bhastrika kumbhaka.
The original instructions seem quite different than what most of us know as bastrika.
It seems more like the air is pressed out in an active way from the top of the chest, followed by a passive inhalation with a throat constriction, done in a circular breathing fashion so that there is no pause.
Unless I am misinterpreting the text?
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Victor
USA
910 Posts |
Posted - Apr 15 2010 : 6:28:12 PM
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| yes, that is pretty much bhastrika but I would not constrict the throat. The hissing sound happens naturally without any need to restrict the air further. Inhalation should be passive. With practice the whole thing becomes pretty much automatic |
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ycloutier2000
Canada
78 Posts |
Posted - Apr 15 2010 : 8:09:41 PM
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So if I understand correctly, the hissing sound it describes is coming from the inhalation, but the sound is from the air coming in through the nose? This is the hissing it refers to?
I think I have been doing bastrika wrong all this time. I have been doing something that is more kapabalati-ish.
But now i get what bastrika is supposed to feel like. The exhalation is not abdominal contraction, but rather from chest contraction. |
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Victor
USA
910 Posts |
Posted - Apr 16 2010 : 01:35:59 AM
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| i think that it gets difficult to differentiate between abdominal and chest contraction during that sort of bretahing and that it is best to follow your bodys natural flow. From my undestanding kapalabhati and bhastrika can be interchangeable names for the breath of fire, yet other teachers say that kapalabhati is more abdominal and bhastrika also includes expansion of the chest. I would follow your inner guidance on that and rather than aim for a specifically named breath, go with what your body feels is appropriate at the time. Personally I don't find either one of htose as very significant other than as a warm up or cleansing breath. As far as pranayama goes, it is not very meditative and while it is good for stirring up alot of prana to open up blocks it doesn't really go very deep. |
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Holy
796 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2010 : 12:26:30 PM
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The bhastrika pranayam I know and practiced some years ago intensly was like:
Inhale and exhale for about 10 times in a strong and fast sequence. With the last inhale, hold the breath as long as you can, then exhale slowly. Perhaps the kumbhakka part at the end makes the big difference in depth which victor criticizes.
Because for me, every round was like instant samadhi as long as the breath was hold. I have never come across any more direct and intense way to jump into pure bliss no mind. It is like direct self-shaktipat. But the effects after some weeks and months made me look like a zombie, though totally blissed out and permanent nondual perceptions. Because of this blood-breath issue Arjuna was too afraid to go on =P |
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Victor
USA
910 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2010 : 7:36:50 PM
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| Yes, adding kumbhaka does make a big difference in depth for sure, that makes it a true pranayama rather than simply a cleanse |
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harmony
Hong Kong
18 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2011 : 10:02:16 AM
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| does the breathe need to be from the nose or mouth ? or does it not matter ? |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2011 : 11:01:06 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by harmony
does the breathe need to be from the nose or mouth ? or does it not matter ?
Here is what the lesson says:
http://www.aypsite.org/171.html
Now we will introduce a powerful new pranayama practice called spinal bastrika. "Bastrika" means "bellows." It is rapid breathing, like a dog panting, done with the diaphragm only (abdominal breathing), preferably through the nose. If it is too difficult through the nose, it can be done through the mouth, as necessary.
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Asvinas
Australia
9 Posts |
Posted - Jun 06 2011 : 10:32:42 AM
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Just tried it out using Holy's way... Interesting that it brings pure bliss quietness immediately, even more so with Shambhavi Mudra.
The two seem to go together... Bastrika Khumbhaka and Shambhavi Mudra.
In that case, I'll try it out with Khechari Mudra, Bastrika Khumbhaka and Shambhavi and see what happens...
Ah niiice it makes the Aum vibration! It seems to bring the mind closer and closer to the precipice before it is ready to drop off into the void. You can tell by the way the mind just quietens but shudders in a funny way at the 3rd Eye area, just above the nasal cavity, along with the inner Aum. Most people often experience that feeling just before they are about to nod off to sleep, but because their ego is intact, the body just goes to a blank state of no thought (deep sleep) instead of naturally returning to the place of God, which is what deep sleep is really meant to be. |
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Bastrika as described in Hatha Yoga Prapidika
