-
Continued from above.......
Alfredo wrote:
A person wanting to start could follow my example. Only a word of caution, as the Acharya told me in person: "This technique cannot be learned through videos". Why? It is very, very technical, and the proper use of locks is critical and requires specific and careful guidance. So, a person wanting to get proficiency will have, sooner or later, to get personal instructions.
Neo_Yogi's Reply:
Yes, I noticed, they look a bit complicated from the outside since one can only see postures and the rapid breathing. Don't you get dizzy after a 25-minute session breathing this way?
The hatha yoga I know from books and videos are static postures performed slowly and always having one's mind focused on a chakra, the posture itself or the natural breathing. This kundalini yoga however is performed much more dynamically, it looks like a type of gymnastics. I guess you have to be counting breathings, locks, etc while performing them properly, right? So where are you supposed to focus your mind on?
************************
Alfredo wrote:
I have been fortunate that the Acharya is staying temporarily about 25 miles from where I live in Miami, so I have been practicing with him, meaning he has been teaching me and at my level for the last 2 weeks or so. For this, I am very grateful.
Neo_Yogi's Reply:
It's said that when the student is ready, the master appears. Congratulations Alfredo, I'm very happy for you.
************************
Alfredo wrote:
Don't hesitate to ask any further questions you may have, and remember to check for another, and last, video, next week where the Acharya will be teaching me for about one hour at the entry level. I requested this video from him for the benefit of students interested in learning this type of breath infusion with asanas.
Neo_Yogi's Reply:
Yes, I'm waiting already for that video.
Michael, I see that you don't have any book on this postures, breathing technique, or you do? I couldn't find it in your amazon site. Where can I read more of this from a beginner level?
Alfredo 3 years ago
Neo wrote:
[Yes, I noticed, they look a bit complicated from the outside since one can only see postures and the rapid breathing. Don't you get dizzy after a 25-minute session breathing this way?]
Alfredo's Reply:
Most of this rapid breathing at the beginning targets the navel and muladhara chakra. It is there, at the navel level or lower belly area that a burning sensation will be felt at the beginning of the practice at the level of beginner (meaning for a while, perhaps months). This burning sensation is the result of concentrated CO2 in the blood in that area (physical) or apana energy (subtle). It goes away with time. As per getting dizzy, I suppose you are referring to the phenomenon of hyperventilation, it does not occur after a given time, as you mentioned, because the practice indeed temporarily breaks after each cycle, but it could occur after a specific cycle, especially during the process of applying the locks, and more often than not, when shifting from a kneeling posture to a standing one. This sensation of dizziness if also confounded with the arousal of the Kundalini energy that, after being energized at muladhara, is canalized through the use of locks (anus, sex, belly, throat and psychological locks) up Sushumna Nadi (spinal cord), which, when hitting brahmarandra or top chakra, either produces a black out or a gold out, being the former the most common.
Neo wrote:
[The hatha yoga I know from books and videos are static postures performed slowly and always having one's mind focused on a chakra, the posture itself or the natural breathing. This kundalini yoga however is performed much more dynamically, it looks like a type of gymnastics. I guess you have to be counting breathings, locks, etc while performing them properly, right? So where are you supposed to focus you mind on?]
Alfredo's Reply:
This Kundalini Yoga is indeed unique and quite esoteric.
Its precursors, here in the US, were Yogi Bhajan and Rishi Singh Gherwal. The Acharya lived temporarily in an ashram here of Yogi Bhajan and took classes and training there, but not much was disclosed. I would advance, that what we see is the result of 40 years of self-experimentation and getting advice from several Gurujis at the astral level. Come to think of it, the postures are innumerable, and many will insinuate to the practitioner as he/she practices. The dynamic aspect of this yoga practice is due to the need to infuse air or prana into hard-to-reach areas of the physical and subtle bodies, the asanas providing points of stress where the mind focuses for the energy to be distributed there. Problematic areas, for example, that requires long cleansing times, are the navel/muladhara chakra and the neck, among others.
You need not count breathing at all, but the locks are critical. Whereas at the beginning one must be attentive to the locks constantly, the application of them become automatic with time, and as that occurs, then the attention must shift to the interior, to the subtle body, to seeing the energy being distributed inside. This is a practice mainly conducted towards the subtle body.
Neo wrote:
[It's said that when the student is ready, the master appears. Congratulations Alfredo, I'm very happy for you.]
Alfredo's Reply:
This is correct, thank you very much. Moreover, the Acharya has said that our relationship comes from previous lives. In other words, I had practiced this before and had taken instructions from him before. Several people here are springboarding from previous lives' practices.
Neo wrote:
[Where can I read more of this from a beginner level?]
Alfredo's Reply:
There are several other books that have not been published and apparently never will. I have them but can only disclose them upon authorization. They are quite esoteric and mainly pertain to Kundalini Yoga, Kriya Yoga and the Yoga of Celibacy. See some of them here:
MiBeloved 3 years ago
Neo_Yogi wrote:
Now that you mention this, recently I read a comment/article by a swami saying that Hatha Yoga as we know it today was a 19th century invention and that when Patanjali talked about asana he meant a proper posture (straight spine basically) for meditation. Then I tried to search for old asanas statues, carvings, etc found in archaeological sites on internet, I could only find cross-legged sitting postures. What do you thing about this?
This kundalini yoga-compared to any other yoga system- is said to speed up one's psychic/spiritual development, right?
MiBeloved's Response:
If you want to find out about Hatha Yoga do a search on Gorakshnath Mahayogin. He wrote a few books long ago and the hatha yoga was initiated by him. You may also check the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. In the 19th century due to the British influence in India with Western gymnastics and athletics, the 3rd stage of yoga known as asanas became known as yoga so that in the West most people assumed that yoga was only its third stage of asanas or postures.
Yoga is defined by Patanjali and his description of it is also confirmed in the Puranas by Sri Krishna and others.
So here are the definitions:
Hatha Yoga = kundalini yoga + mastery of postures + pranayama (Source Gorakshnath)
Yoga = ashtanga yoga (Patanjali gave ashtanga which means astha (8) anga (parts).
Patanjali more or less gave meditation as samyama which he said was the three highest parts of yoga done into one sequential practice. So that
samyama = dharana+dhyana+samadhi.
========================
Patanjali listed asana as a part of yoga. He also spoke about samyama in an easy posture when doing meditation. This does not mean that asana is only one posture or one easy posture. Patanjali said that when you sit to meditate then you do an easy posture. This does not mean that there is only one posture but it means that you cannot meditate in fact if you do not assume an easy posture, otherwise it will cause mental distraction.
To study Patanjali you can see any of my three books. Here are links:
This is an excerpt from my Yoga sutras of Patanjali
Chapter 2 Verse 29
यमनियमासनप्राणायामप्रत्याहारधारणाध्यानसमाधयोऽष्टावङ्गानि॥२९॥
yama niyama āsana prāṇāyāma pratyāhāra
dhāraṇā dhyāna samādhayaḥ aṣṭau aṅgāni
yama – moral restraints; niyama – recommended behaviors; āsana – body postures; prāṇāyāma – breath infusion; pratyāhar – sensual energy withdrawal; dhāraṇā – linking of the attention to higher concentration forces or persons; dhyāna – effortless linkage of the attention to higher concentration forces or persons; samādhayaḥ – continuous effortless linkage of the attention to higher concentration forces or persons; aṣṭau – eight; aṅgāni – parts of a thing.
Moral restraints, recommended behaviors, body posture, breath infusion, sensual energy withdrawal, linking of the attention to higher concentration forces or persons, effortless linkage of the attention to higher concentration forces or persons, continuous effortless linkage of the attention to higher concentration forces or persons are the eight parts of the yoga system.
Commentary:
Śrī Gorakshnath in his writings gave six parts to yoga, leaving out the preliminary parts of yama, moral restraints and niyama, recommended behaviors. This is because those two are preliminary. A person who has not integrated those, must instill them in himself as he practices the advanced portions. I experienced many students who are not masterful at the preliminary stages. They should master these as they proceed or find that their lack of skill in cultural dealings causes impediments. According to the advisories and warnings issued by Śrī Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā, a person who does not have an exemption from cultural activities, cannot succeed fully in yoga. Actually the sooner that a yogi can realize this, the better and more advanced he will be. If he does not cooperate with the central person in the Universal Form, with Śrī Krishna, he will not be able to get to the samādhi stage. It will be impossible.
Śrī Gorakashnath did not want the hațha yogis, his students, to waste their time and energy in the moral field, in trying to perfect righteous living, but nevertheless, if one does not work his way cautiously through the cultural world, one will fail at yoga practice. We must understand that Śrī Gorakshnath is a birth taken by Śrī Skanda Kumara, the celibate son of Lord Shiva. As such he never advocates grhasta ashram but that does not mean that it has no value. We have to understand its value, just in case we require another human form. The moral restraints and recommended behaviors have their usage to keep us on the good side of King Dharma, the supernatural person who sponsors righteous life style.
========================
The cross legged postures are the best and are the most difficult ones to assume if you were not doing yoga from childhood years. These cross-legged postures can only be done to proficiency if you have already mastered the other postures.
Suppose I tell you that we only find jet engines on aircraft. You hear that from an authority, and then you run here and there saying that only jet engines are on aircraft.
You have no idea about how jet engines were developed and that before there were prop engines only. Because of ignorance you will give the idea that there can be jet engines without prop engines before as the background of the creation of the jet engines.
Therefore yes, cross legged postures are displayed, but those who mastered that had to do many other preliminary postures.
========================
Kundalini Yoga does speed up psychic development as you suggested but the main purpose for it is to energize and elevate the subtle body. It is for changing the subtle body so that the kundalini is no longer primarily interested in sexual expression. As it is, as we get this body by the grace of material nature, it is geared towards developing sexual maturity and then to using the sexual energy developed.
Kundalini Yoga tampers with this natural orientation to sex coupling and reproduction.
Alfredo 3 years ago
I just uploaded 3 books to the files section: Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita, and Shiva Samhita.
MiBeloved 3 years ago
I do not have any books explaining in detail what is done during the breath infusion while doing bhastrika pranayama in various postures.
Perhaps Alfredo can be a big help to do something to satisfy that need.
All of my books are at the link below with explanations of what is in each book
Click on the topics to the right one by one all the way down.
Michael Beloved Books:
Prasanna 3 years ago
Alfredo Ji... I'm very happy for you for your association with Guru of your past-lives. Pls accept best wishes from a fellow seeker.
Micheal Ji - Thanks for all that you are doing to support us newbies. I've been around for more than a year now (although, only recently started posting my comments) and it really is very heartening to see you provide very detailed comments/explanations for all kinds of questions. My heartfelt thanks and best wishes on your journey towards perfection.
- Prasanna.
Comment to Hariharananda / On Having a Third Eye
