New to Practice

Meditationtime Forum Post

Date:  Posted 3 years before Nov 14, 2016

beverly 3 years ago

Jai Sri Krishna to everyone.  I am new to breath infusion.  During this morning session (eyes closed) I experienced moments where time is slowed down, all is bright & speckled, and I feel like I am losing consciousness.  So, I go down slowly while holding the locks & fade back into the now.  I admit it feels so good and is hard to want to come out of it.  But I do, and I continue with the breathing/poses and it happens a few times during my session.  This has happened during all 4 sessions.

My questions:

How long should my session be?

How will I know what poses to infuse the breath, there are so many?

When I experience this bright "high", is it Kundalini rising?

If so, is there anything besides holding the locks that I should do?

With sincere gratitude...

Alfredo 3 years ago

Beverly...welcome to breath infusion, part of Kundalini Yoga, a great yoga, as taught by the Acharya Beloved.

From my own experience after doing this for a few months:

One - A good session should be around 1/2 hour.

Two - You will know which poses to infuse breath intuitively, even there are so many, more will insinuate to you.

Three - The bright "high" you experienced could be Kundalini raising, but also the result of hyperventilation, or both combined. Alas, at first, it is hard to dissociate one from the other; in my case, I first experienced this with the kneeling asanas, here the effect of hyperventilation is keenly felt because of the rush of blood to the head in these kneeling postures. I could finally discern between the 2 when "given" (also insinuation) a mudra that wiggles the waist, allowing for Kundalini to bypass the lumbar granthi or knot.

This high can become, indeed, addictive. That's why at one point, later in the practice, it is looked upon in a different light.

beverly 3 years ago

Thanks Alfredo, I have the same concern as far as the hyperventilation.  It feels so good, but I am too inexperienced to sense if it is the Kundalini energy or not.  I had the opportunity to practice with Yogi Madhva this weekend and it happened a few times then too.  He made sure to reiterate to keep the locks held...especially the neck.

I know the logical solution is to practice...practice...practice to gain insight.

So how do you....or anyone reading....differentiate between Kundalini rising and/or the hyperventilation sensation?

unlimitedsun 3 years ago

Welcome Beverly! It is a great boon to come to kriya yoga. Certainly in this day and age that is only an option for those who have practiced seriously in previous births, others couldn't and wouldn't.

As far as I can as I can somewhat recall what was imparted to me, along with some other understanding. The difference between kundalini rising and hyperventilation is almost semantics. Outwardly the signs or symptoms are similar.

But hyperventilation does not imply kundalini rising per se because the latter only makes sense where there is forceful and persistent intent. They are phenomena that really belongs to different sciences.

Hyperventilation goes as far as certain mechanisms of the practice. Kundalini rising implies a purposeful harnessing and channeling of said mechanisms/reactions so far as to understand and study the kundalini energy as it moves; and that is beyond the concept of hyperventilation.

BTW, if the ride feels good still keep your guard on. It is very unpredictable energy, like being in the fiting ring with a psychotic personality, you don't wanna end up knocked down!

MiBeloved 3 years ago

Beverly wrote:

During this morning session (eyes closed) I experienced moments where time is slowed down, all is bright & speckled, and I feel like I am losing consciousness.  So, I go down slowly while holding the locks & fade back into the now.

MiBeloved's Response:

This is an indication that your nadi subtle channels are pretty much clear and free and do not have much pollution, where just a little practice causes the pranic energy to flow freely. May just be good luck or may be that you are carrying some mystic ability in your subtle body from past lives. Or that as a spirit you are categorically in a class of entities who have psychic perception which is always manifested even when using a material body.

In any case, now your task will be to learn the locks and apply them fittingly. Mastery of the locks is important. Do not be distracted by the feel-good energy or the bliss energy, just stick to maintaining the locks and compressing the energy inwards. As the energy tries to spread out through the nadis and spread bliss force here and there, your effort should be to compress the energy inwards.

For example in the rainy season a lake might breach its containment and flood through valleys and ravines. So instead of letting it do that, you would build up the embankment as to contain the rising water. As soon as you sense that the energy is swelling or bursting out, you should try to compress it inwards, so that it becomes more and more concentrated. When this is done sometime it will explode inside of you and then you should compress it inwards again and do this repeatedly.

Here in this usage you actually means your psyche or your subtle body. It is not you but it is conventionally called you.

Before time begins to slow you should detect the movement of the energy and you should begin to squeeze it in both muscularly and also mentally and emotionally, to concentrate it like how curd is squeezed when making cheese. As it is squeezed the curd becomes denser and denser. So the energy will be more and more concentrated.

If you give in and just begin to enjoy it, then it means that later when it is time for the final departure from the body, you will be stuck in the lower angelic world, the place known as Swarga loka heavenly world ruled by Indra, and you will bar yourself from going to the higher places like Maharloka, Tapaloka, Satyaloka and beyond. If you are overcome by a little pleasure and get carried away by it, then that means you will be stuck on the level where such pleasure will hit your subtle body as it rises, and you will go no higher.

Then after sometime you will be drawn back to the earth and will come out again as some woman’s baby.

As soon as you sense the energy is moving, then immediately apply the neck lock and tighten it and apply all the lower locks as you were shown. Then immediately get down on your knees so that you are near the ground and that will make it so that if you cannot keep control of the body, at least it won’t fall very far.

When you sense that the energy has subsided then begin the breath infusion sessions again and keep going until you feel satisfied that you have filled up the subtle body with fresh energy. This you will have to judge for yourself. As Alfredo indicated it takes about 30 minutes, for the least about 20 minutes but on the average it will be between 30 and 40 minutes to do a full session to fill up an adult human body with fresh air, and the corresponding aspect in the subtle body.

Keep your attention inside and do not let your mind wander here and there outside nor be involved in all sorts of unrelated thoughts. This process brings rapid result to those persons who can keep the attention and interest inside the body inside the psyche during the practice.

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

Beverly wrote:

I admit it feels so good and is hard to want to come out of it.  But I do, and I continue with the breathing/poses and it happens a few times during my session.  This has happened during all 4 sessions.

MiBeloved's Response:

Feeling good!

It is not all about that. What is the matter with you? Try to aim for liberation from material existence. Don’t be too involved in a little happiness from elementary yoga practice. If you get stuck enjoying, then how will you get very far in this practice?

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

Beverly wrote:

How will I know what poses to infuse the breath, there are so many?

MiBeloved's Response:

Use your intuition. If you pay attention inside while you do the breathing, you will find that it comes into your mind as to what pose to use next and this will happen until you get a feeling that you have done enough. Then sit to meditate immediately without any break in between.

There are some video in the Video section of this site. (Click Video in the menu bar and then look for yoga/pranayama videos) Study some of those and that will give you some idea of some poses, but overall if you pay attention you will develop your own style and own poses to use. After some months if you keep practicing, I will check your practice again and give you pointers on what to do.

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

Beverly wrote:

When I experience this bright "high", is it Kundalini rising?

If so, is there anything besides holding the locks that I should do?

MiBeloved's Response:

In your case, because of the open nadi channels, you have having two instances which are kundalini rising and also infused energy just flowing through the nadis freely. In most people they do not have the infused energy flowing freely through the nadis until after kundalini bores out the dense energy in the nadis. In your case you were having both instances. You will know if it is kundalini if it is sourced in the spinal column. If you find that it is bursting out somewhere else irrespective of the spinal column, then it means that the infused energy has combined with hormone energy (subtle and gross) and then due to that mix, it has exploded and began to run through the nadis with a bliss energy effect.

As I said above just compress this and hold this under tight control and let it burst inwards and not outwards.

In science there is the concept of the big crunch, so you do something like that where instead of the big bang where the energy is running in all directions outwards as this universe is currently doing, it instead begins to head inwards into a central point. You pressure it inwards and hold it there like a great yogini.

devaPriya Yogini 3 years ago

Welcome Beverly~

All blessings to you and your practice.

Like Michael said, the flow of asana will become more and more intuitive.

Just keep practicing, tuning into yourself and you'll know what comes next.

beverly 3 years ago

Many Humble thanks.