Morning Practice - 6/13/2012
Meditationtime Forum Post
Date: Posted 3 years before Jan 14, 2016
Alfredo 3 years ago
Woke up at 5:00 AM (still Brahma muhurta). Pacified Pitta with concoction of Aloe Vera, water, and turmeric.
Note: MB = Michael Beloved.
Studied “Anu Gita Explained” for about 15 minutes. Have been doing that for a week slowly, often retracing my steps. This is it. The sole review in Amazon.com by Mr. John Wilson is good, and helped me at first: http://www.amazon.com/Anu-Gita-Explained-Michael-Beloved/dp/0983381798 (click “1 customer review” link) Why only one review? Well, how many people read the Bhagavad Gita? Perhaps quite a few. Then, how many know that Krishna instructed Arjuna a second time in the Mahabharata in the Anu Gita? That review pointed me to the last verse of the Anu Gita:
Verse 60: This is all that is to be said. There is nothing beyond this. O son of Prtha, one who practices proficiently and consistently for six months accomplishes this yoga.
I intent to keep this in front of my mind’s eye.
Practice:
- 15 minutes Kapalabhati. Neck lock working. Studied Chapter 1 of “Meditation Pictorial” as instructed by MB to start adding the Mind Lock (pratyahar).
- Followed by ½ hour of Anulom-Vilom pranayam (1 hour yesterday was too fast, too much, thus quality suffered), trying to control “gaps in concentration that miss the energy” (MB instruction).
- Meditation: A change in Sadhana. Decided not to follow 2nd Kriya meditation right after Pranayam, and to shift this meditation alone to an afternoon practice. Instead went straight into meditation following guidelines in “Meditation Pictorial”. Why? Well, I am very fond of 2nd Kriya meditation, but it requires several mudras that take about 20 minutes before the “meditation proper”. By this time the effect of the breath infusion is gone (MB instruction). Meditated for about 15 minutes. Learning.
MiBeloved 3 years ago
I agree that for now it is best not to do the 2nd kriya right after the breath infusion. Right now suspend the second kriya for a while unless you can do it separately.
Each of these kriyas have to be judged on their own footing which means to practice them and then observes what they do to the consciousness, what changes they produce.
It does not matter what a yogi said about it in the past because another yogi today may not get the same result which that yogi got because of several differences in the practice and especially in the preparatory practice which we may not even have heard of in the sampradaya.
Right now do the breath infusion with full focus on doing just that, so that the mind does not get this attitude that it is going to do something else because then it will not give full focus on the infusion.
So do the infusion and immediately after without even a second’s break sit to meditate. Be sure the lower spine is adequately supported so that it is braced from behind and does not have to try to find a balance upright situation for itself. This frees the mind from going to that problem during the meditation.
Then just immediately observe if the breath infusion has done anything at all. If you notice a concentration force, light or anything, then fuse yourself to it or in it.
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For the 2nd kriya practice, you can also do that with bhastrika but then you are doing bhastrika as a preparatory stage upon which to do that. Then make a note of how the energy is responding at that time and compared to when you do the 2nd kriya without bhastrika as a preparatory stage
So then you can meditate immediately after you finish the number of cycles of the 2nd kriya and note what the meditation is like, again first noting its effects at first in regards to what level the mind is on and what concentration force prevails.
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This method may seem different but here instead of working to make certain things happen in meditation. You do a preparatory stage and then you observe what work that stage has done to make things happen in meditation with you as the observer.
This does not end here because in some of these meditations a Guruji will give you inself instructions on how to direct what is already happening in the meditation or on how to use the meditation as your escape velocity to reach even higher levels of samadhi.
Alfredo 3 years ago
Michael Wrote:
[or the 2nd kriya practice, you can also do that with bhastrika but then you are doing bhastrika as a preparatory stage upon which to do that. Then make a note of how the energy is responding at that time and compared to when you do the 2nd kriya without bhastrika as a preparatory stage]
Alfredo’s Reply:
Thanks Michael!
I am not doing Bhastrika yet as you told me to first get the reflexes for Kapalabhati...can I substitute for Kapalabhati in this instruction? I was thinking about continuing with Kapalabhati for about a month before I move to Bhastrika. I understand Bhastrika well as I have watched your pranayam videos over and over, but I don't think I am ready for that yet.
MiBeloved 3 years ago
That was my error.
This applies to either bhastrika or kapala bhati which ever infusion practice you are doing at the time.
