Continued from above…

My answer to Jivana's question would be an. I have responsibility in that process. I keep seeing it manifest in clients, so I keep up the sadhana.

But there's LOTS of room for improvement !

MiBeloved’s Response:

Robert,

That was cryptic your statement of:

unfolding awareness of energy which is modified for the benefit of others

For me I would say the same thing with an explanation that the modification for the benefit of others, is that when you are doing the practice there is this sense of responsibility which naturally arises and in it, there is this need to observe what the unfolding awareness of energy is doing, as to how it is changing the energy in the psyche or using Patanjali’s terminology as to how it is changing the chittavritti.

This is important because one can do pranayama not have that benefit-for-others energy affecting one, in which case one will leave no record of the practice behind, one will explain it to no one and in fact one might progress without ever knowing how that took place. Then one will have to describe the progression as being the infinite, the indescribable, the inconceivable, the Absolute, the Void, the Colorless nothing ness and so on.

I learnt meditation first from Authur Beverford. He was a disciple of Rishi Singh Gherwal. Rishi was a master yogin, a contemporary of Paramhansa Yogananda. He lived in Santa Barbara, California. Beverford did not practice pranayama to proficiency and therefore he taught meditation in the Western way which is to sit, focus on the third eye or some other focus and just be mentally silent.

I did this for some time but found that it was stagnant and did not really penetrate into the psyche much. Later I learned the bhastrika pranayama method which Yogi Bhajan taught around 1972. That was super because on a daily basis I could raise kundalini and guide it through sushumna into the head. Meditation after doing this is totally different. The subtle body once it is infused by bhastrika or kapala bhati, changes in configuration. There is increased psyche perception, opening of third eye, realization of the buddhi analytic psychic organ and other features.

I found over time that sitting to meditate was a waste of time if breath infusion into the subtle body was not done before hand. Then it made sense why Patanjali listed pranayama as happening before pratyahar and samyama.

In a word, pranayama practice changes the energy level of the subtle body, causing it to jump to higher planes and to be in harmony with higher levels of awareness.

In terms of sutra number 2 of Patanjali which states:

Yogah cittavritti nirodhah

pranayama practice achieves that by energizing the buddhi intellect organ and changing the attitude of the troublesome mischievous downward-bent kundalini, so that the buddhi stops (nirodhah) the cittavritti operations.

It has made me realize that there is only one organ which operates the chittavrittis and that is the buddhi organ and this is why in Chapter 2, the first thing Krishna began teaching Arjuna was buddhi yoga.

Kundalini is involved to be sure but it cannot create the mental effect or vrittis without the assistance of the buddhi intellect. Thus if the intellect is energized, then the operations ceases at the stage of pranayama and one automatically is transferred into the stage of pratyahar and that causes interiorization of the sensual energies which results in the samyama sequence as explained by Patanjali.

For me meditation without first doing pranayama is for misinformed people who have missed the boat of the real ashtanga yoga. But hey, to each his own. Whatever you feel works, let it work for you.

Here is what I do for meditation:

Do breath infusion (Bhastrika or Kapala bhati pranayama) to force down prana into the subtle body down the front part of that body from the lungs down into the pubic area.

Once it reaches the pubic area, I forced it further to jump over to muladhara chakra which is the home-base of kundalini.

This causes kundalini to move under the stress of the surcharged energy accumulated by the pranayama.

Kundalini is directed up the spine into the head.

I then return into the trunk of the subtle body and infuse the prana into various parts of it, while this is done I extract all the apana energy from the subtle body.

When this is achieved, I move into the head of the subtle body and infuse the various parts of it, beginning with the area above the neck, the back of the head, the middle of the head and then the front of the head.

After this I return to the trunk of the body and cause kundalini to fire into the trunk of the body rather than just up the sushumna passage. This makes sure that all of the subtle body is free from the apana negative energy.

Immediately after this I sit to meditate.

I do not sit to meditate unless I have done pranayama immediately before sitting.

MiBeloved 5 years ago

Alfredo wrote:

Michael, thanks:

MiBeloved wrote: [For Westerners this has become their problem because what has happened is that because of the reluctance of Westerners to do pranayama practice for hours on end, sitting in lotus posture]

Alfredo's Reply:

This is very important, I once wanted to open this Pranayama line here, but was reluctant. Although you can do this without being in Lotus posture, which is very difficult for many.

That you know this to be the key in this case, does not surprise me.

Now, I have studied the letters to and from disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya himself (rare book that I can send in pdf file to anyone upon request). In this book I learned that a few of his earlier disciples extended the 2nd Kriya Pranayama exercises (that was taught to me by Swami Hariharanandaji, which consists of an intricate Chakra pranayama interlaced with a Mantra with extended Kumbhaka in the middle) to over 1,500 cycles at one time.

Quoting a disciple letter from the book: A couple of days after coming here I did 1728 pranayams as per your instructions (A Patanjali number, 144 x 12 = Samadhi). I started at eight in the morning and ended at eight at night. It was all a little fast.

Now, I do 144 cycles of this Pranayama (Patanjali too 12 x 12), and it takes me approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes. This disciple did 12 hours, so 1748/12 = 145/hour which closely matches my experience.

Also, Sri Aurobindo, while in Baroda and before taking up Yoga per se, did 6 to 8 hours of Pranayama daily for about a year. Specific experiences occurred to him, some of which, to a lesser extend, match those that occurred to me when I started the 144 practice. I have occasionally extended the number above 144. I do not have a problem elaborating upon the experience I obtained from this practice of Pranayama, but would like for you to take the lead.

Please elaborate on Pranayama, as Jivana asked you. This is extremely important.

============================

Alfredo wrote: "Now, I have studied the letters to and from disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya himself (rare book that I can send in Word to anyone upon request). In this book I learned that a few of his earlier disciples extended the 2nd Kriya Pranayama exercises (that was taught to me by Swami Hariharanandaji, which consists of an intricate Chakra pranayama interlaced with a Mantra with extended Kumbhaka in the middle) to over 1,500 cycles at one time."

Jivana’ Reply:

So, can a person who doesn't know Sanskrit or Hindi understand it?

If so, please send...