Morning Practice

Meditationtime Forum Post

Date:  Posted 3 years before Jan 05, 2016

Alfredo 3 years ago

Woke up at 4 AM (Brahma Muhurta).

Started practicing Kapalabhati, a thing that I had not done since the mid 1990s when I used it just to support a freedive sport. I am doing this as per Michael's instructions to establish a reflex before considering Bhastrika. The abdomen heated up. I did this intermittently for one half hour, followed by 144 cycles of 2nd Kriya Pranayama (1 hour 15 minutes, I use a hand counter), I think the Kapalabhati helped with air flow.

Then Kriya meditation (Paravastha). Nothing outstanding. Light coming from Jyoti Mudra (Yoni Mudra) dim.

Dear Beloved 3 years ago

Here's a great video to demonstrate Kapalabhati for those who aren't familiar:

https://yogainternational.com/article/view/kapalabhati-pranayama-the-skull-shining-breath

I did some breathing this morning and the abdomen heated up quickly and started to burn slightly from the high levels of carbon dioxide accumulated overnight.  It took extra breathing to clear this out and to start feeling lighter down there.

Alfredo 3 years ago

Thank you...

What is the main advantage of Anulom Vilom pranayama?

Can this pranayama stand by itself and be done leisurely, let's say, in the middle of an afternoon?MiBeloved 3 years ago

Alfredo wrote:

What is the main advantage of Anulom Vilom pranayama?

Can this pranayama stand by itself and be done leisurely, let's say, in the middle of an afternoon?

MiBeloved’s Response:

I can only explain based on what I experienced with the anulom/vilom pranayama. First of all when Author Beverford showed it to me, he gave the classic ratio of counts 4-2-4, like that and he went it over in detail. I also got information at the time from books in India and from astral connections with yogis in India. This was around 1971.

For myself what I found out doing it, is that it works but it takes at least two hours of steady practice to really raise kundalini. Again this is based on what I tried. There was also the problem of maintaining the ratio of the count. It was nearly impossible to do that. Sometimes after say 5 or 15 minute, I would lose the count because the kundalini would be affected negatively, meaning that it would cause the buddhi to lapse in calculation. This affect of the kundalini was in effect a momentary jada samadhi but even though it was momentary, count would be lost anyway. Then I would have to gather my wits and begin the count from scratch.

Jada samadhi is when you phase out into a trance state and lose track of everything, even of the self. It is samadhi in the mode of ignorance (tama guna samadhi).

So then there was another serious problem which was that sometimes when holding the breath in or out for the count, then also kundalini would strike the buddhi and cause a jada samadhi so that when I gathered my wits about me, then I would realize that I lost track and would have to just begin a count all over again.

Sometimes I could not hold the count because kundalini would cry out for air and force the system to take air by causing a break in concentration at the buddhi. This would happen especially on kumblak (keep the air held out after an exhale for a certain count).

Observing this, I decided that this was crazy. I began to suspect that something was missing. I used to do much astral travel at this time around 1972, and especially I was being called to India in my astral body to Babaji and also to Sri Yukteshwar. I had a mind to ask them about it but I was never able to. This is because in Bababji’s presence especially no questions arise in one’s mind. With him there are no questions. You can be there in the astral region where he is with others but you cannot say anything. His environment is tightly controlled. You cannot even find it unless he has called you there.

Sri Yukteshwar was never available for questions even though he would sit and chat with some junior yogis and then suddenly say something like this, “Okay boys, Silence. Meditate.”

Then after a time, he would clap his hand and dismiss us.

So I did not know what to do because I could not ask any yogi about it. Then later again I saw a yogi doing it in a cave in the astral. This was a yogi whose picture was in Paramhamsa Yogananda book. I went up to him and since his fingers were operating his nostrils to do that. I asked him. I said. “Baba, how is that done? We got some instruction about it but the instruction must have a fault because we are not progressing with it. Kundalini is barely felt to move and it causes jada samadhi which is undesirable.”

He smiled and said this, “Boy, why do you bother me here. How did you come here? Okay do not practice that. Your system is not sensitive enough for that. Who showed you that? You are a Kali Yuga yogi. You boys cannot do that.”

Then he and the cave disappeared. This was all in the astral. When I got back to my physical body, I could not recall what happened. This was because the yogi did not want me to have his vibration. He did not want me to ever find him again because I disturbed him and brought a bad vibration to him, since I was a Kali Yuga yogi.

Years later, I recalled what happened and then I decided not to practice the nadi shodana practice. However once, Swami Rama mentioned it up to me in the astral and he said something like this: “Never mind what the Guruji said. You can practice it but after you have purified the subtle body with bhastrika. Before that for you it is a waste of time doing it. You would not get the results intended.”

After I got this instruction, sometime around 1977 when I was in Minnesota, I got this idea in my mind to try it again but this time I wanted to just do it after doing bhastrika as explained by Swami Rama. It so happened however that then I found out that it works but not if the system is thrown in jada samadhi by the kundalini. Then I really understood what is meant by a Kali Yuga yogi.

So my conclusion is that if the system is thrown into jada samadhi while doing this, then it is not going to work.

If it is done after bhastrika and it is a good idea for you to try this and compare it to when it is done without that as a pre-practice, then I found that it is more effective. It is tighter in so far as you are able to force the prana to go through and draw the prana up the spine. When I used to do it, the prana would jump up from one chakra to the next. There would also be a spark at the base chakra where the ida and pingala channels joint into the sushumna central passage. But I found that because of the Kali Yuga yogi nature, some short jada samadhis occurred.

So to answer your question, really I do not know if it would work. Right now Srila Yogesh has me on bhastrika and comes into my head (head of subtle body) and instructs me in various kriyas mainly for the purpose of developing what the Gita calls as jnana-dipa (jnana-chakshu) which is when the buddhi intellect organ turns into a visual perception orb to see into the spiritual sky (chitakash). He also wants me to reconnect with the cosmic buddhi and cosmic ahamkara. So I have assignments and I cannot stray away and do other practices, because then who knows what he will do. He might just put himself off limits and then where will I be without an experienced guide.

Information about kriya yoga from Babaji is in the book Kriya Yoga Bhagavad Gita and also in the book Brahma Yoga Bhagavad Gita, where Siddha Swami Nityananda asked me on occasion to get a comment from Babaji.

I think that you would be doing the kriyabans who are struggling with the nadi shodana practice a great service if you practice it and report in details what happens and how it progresses you.

Too many yogis are remaining silent especially about where their practices fail and so the neophytes are left without assistance as to what happens and how to handle the situation when something happens.

One of the main purposes of meditationtime is to provide this type of discourse. Yes it is a fact as you stated that people are intimidated by what I write but then again they have to understand that I am a crazy adept. Crazy people are crazy. What do they expect? But still others like yourself should speak up about what you are practicing so that neophytes can benefit. Who cares what I write? Or if I do not have any etiquette or nice qualities? That is not the issue.

If someone wants to attain spiritual glory, then they should do whatever is required to get it and take instructions even from people who insult them. When you are desperate to get something you put up with crap to get it. Just see how people sign their names to get designer clothing, fast cars, luxurious houses and the like, practically signing their lives away. So why not put up with some shit for the sake of becoming liberated?

Alfredo 3 years ago

Michael Wrote:

[One of the main purposes of meditationtime is to provide this type of discourse. Yes it is a fact as you stated that people are intimidated by what I write but then again they have to understand that I am a crazy adept. Crazy people are crazy.]

Alfredo’s Reply:

Michael!!!!
I was watching those videos Marcia pointed out to me, and yes, only a crazy adept can do that! You are one of a kind.

And by the way, fascinating, thank you very much about the Pranayama explanation above.

-------------------------------------------------
Michael Wrote:

[So why not put up with some shit for the sake of becoming liberated?]

Alfredo’s Reply:

Definitely, thanks again, it is just my stupid ego.

I have a question: I am finishing your "Spiritual Master" and now have several choices, but I am inclined to start studying (Sex You and Spiritual Master I basically read although Sex You needs several readings), well, studying your Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, I also have on hand the Anu and Bhagavad Gita Explained and the Meditation Pictorial is arriving tomorrow, but again I feel I have neglected the Yoga Sutras...what say you?

MiBeloved 3 years ago

Because you have taken instructions from Guruji Sri Swami Hariharananda, you may carefully study Babaji hints in the Kriya Yoga Bhagavad Gita, so as to get a grip on how the Gita has the kriya process in it.

But in so far as Yoga Sutras are concerned. That is the classic explanation of what yoga is and what is required to master it.

So that is a reference book. Of course if you do not know what is in a reference then you won’t know when to go to it. So you should take time out to really study Patanjali’s gift to humanity. The book Meditation Expertise is the same Yoga Sutras book but in a slightly different format and with important diagrams.

Meditation Pictorial shows what sort of practice I did in order to cross over the terrain of the neophyte stage of meditation. It also gives some hints about how I dug up and reactivated the progress I made in previous lives.

The sex you! book is important because most of us, aspirants, are baffled by sex desire and just don’t know what to do about it. Even great sannyasis abandon their swami vows just to have sex. So it is definitely something which we need to understand if nothing else, even if we cannot at the moment challenge it and overcome it.

But again I feel that your intuition is reliable and it can guide you through the jungle of my books. Thanks for even taking the time to look at them.

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

Alfredo wrote:

The abdomen heated up.

MiBeloved’s Response:

When the abdomen heats up during kapala bhati or even bhastrika pranayama rapid breathing, this is a very important sign that the navel chakra in the front of the body is blocked and was blocked at least from the time the embryo of the present body was formed in the mother’s system.

There will come a stage in this practice, where no matter how fast you breathe or how long you do the rapid breathing, the abdomen will never heat up, or stated differently, there will be no accumulation of prana at the navel. It will be like there is no navel there, as if all the energy is passing freely.

The second block point is the groin area, the pubic area.

There is a difference between the navel chakra on the spine, on sushumna and the one in the front of the body. In a way the one in the front of the body is just the expression of the one on the spine, but it is more than that, because it is used by kundalini to establish the relationship with the mother’s kundalini when one is in the embryonic condition.

In the father’s seminal system, one takes possession of the sperm formation and from there one acts as an impulse to get into the mother’s uterus but once there, the kundalini is what runs the show. It bites into the ovary of the mother and begins feeding there for development.

This eagerness for biological life is represented by this front navel chakra.

When you feel the burning there during breath of fire practice, you should keep the rapid breathing going just a little more, a little beyond what you can tolerate. And then stop the breathing on an inhale and pull back and up the belly area, while applying the chin-draw back neck lock. This is where the instruction changes drastically because even though physically you are to pull back and up, mentally you are to push down and around the pubic loop. Mentally push down the psychic energy which is the counterpart of the physical burning.

This is a vital hint about this nabhi kriya.

Remember that physically this is an upward action but psychically, this is a downward compressing and squeezing action.

=========

So what is that all about? Well here is the loop on it:

When the fresh air (prana) is breathe in during rapid breathing, it enters the blood vessels and then it finds that it cannot go any further because of the blockage at the navel area. So then certain veins and arteries begin to burn. In order to stop the yogi from his madness, the kundalini gives an instruction to the navel to hold the fort and not to allow the penetration of any more of the fresh air (prana).

Getting this order from the supreme commander, the navel rallies the troops which are the apana energy which it keeps in reserve for such insurrections. This apana energy having already sensed the danger, was on red alert anyway because of the abnormal sounds and energy moving due to the rapid breathing. Therefore the apana energy comes up from down below the navel and from the navel area itself and becomes united to push back the fresh air so that the lungs do not take in any more of that air and does not send any more of it into the system.

This resistance is experienced as a burning sensation at the navel.

The yogi if he is scared will stop the rapid breathing and will not apply the uddiyana bandhah navel lock and he will just give up on the practice and like a defeated warrior who sits down to think things over. Then the navel will call off the troops and everything will return to normal in the body and the yogi will find himself in the same spiritually compromising position he was in before that session of practice but at least he will be happy because the apana energy will be pleased that he came to his senses and stopped the rapid breathing practice.

Other yogis, who are war crazed men, will not stop at the burning and will instead push the prana (fresh air) down more a little more and them compress it and send it downward with orders to take no prisoners and never to turn back even if faced with death. So then the fresh air will push the apana energy down into the groin area and all hell will break loose in the camp of the enemies of the yogi. The groin area is the sex center. It will be distressed because this crazy yogi has invaded with an army of prana soldiers.

But this is just the beginning of the great war of Bharatas (Mahabharata).