Advanced Yoga Practices

[sean]

Damn! Am I the only one that didn't know about AYP? This is an incredible resource. Can't wait to check this out in depth once I get a few books I'm reading off my plate.

 

Sean.

[Yoda]

Just tried his "IAM" meditation. It was cool. I did a phase of meditating on the sound of "IMA" awhile back. I definitely like this one better.

[Yoda]

I've tried the Iam meditation a few times now. Sometimes I'm better off with the healing sounds/smiling business, but I've had two very nice sessions with it. I haven't been much into sitting meditation for awhile, but I hope to gain it back as a regular practice. I did a sungazing/hs, primordial chikung, Iam progression this evening and it was ***extremely*** groovy. To top it off, my sister magically appeared from TX in a surprise visit for a couple of hours right after I finished! Good stuff!

[Yoda]

fully diggin this site, the dude is the new and improved Bodri. Here's a quote that sums him up:

 

 

First, tantric sex is in a similar category with mulabandha/asvini

and siddhasana, and success with these sexual energy-stimulating

practices is dependent on continuing global purification through

spinal breathing and deep meditation. You can go only so far with

tantric sex without the prerequisite practices. Then progress slows

down because you are using sexual energy alone for purification that

requires broader and deeper measures in the nervous system. The same

is true of the sitting practices that stimulate sexual/kundalini

energy alone. Without spinal breathing and meditation, things will

bog down. There can also be imbalances, kundalini symptoms, etc. So,

sitting practices are very important, spinal breathing and meditation

in particular, to complete the journey with a minimum of slowdowns

and detours.

 

Like Bodri, sitting meditation is king and should be *the* practice if you only do one thing, then comes pranayama/mco type drills, then yoga asanas in importance. If you do all three daily, then do the asanas first, then pranayama, then the sitting.

 

Good stuff, very clean and tight.

 

I'm not sure where things like standing or sungazing would fit in, but it's good

[Yoda]

The dude mentioned that sperm naturally travels into the bladder as they swim towards the brain. It's the first stop on their path. That made a lot of sense to me. When I'm in a retention phase, I often notice sperm in my urine even though there should be absolutely none present. And I wouldn't experience any loss of power. Now I'm thinking that that is just part of their normal migration pattern that they make when they face overcrowding downstairs.

[sean]

Yoda, I'm really glad you are digging this stuff and unpacking it. I can't wait to get some stuff off my plate so I can study this site more in depth.

[Yoda]

his bladder comment made me order his book. Good stuff.

[sean]

Just sank into a deep IAM meditation for about 30 effortless minutes. Really blissed out. Never got into mantras much but this is great stuff.

 

[edit]Damn, and it's deepening. My heart feels like it's on fire, but in a very comfortable way, ie: not overheated, just full of ... Love (not sentimental though, just deep, warm openness) and my perineum keeps spontaneously pulsing. It's all very pleasurable.

[Yoda]

I am reminds me of dog food and Yahweh...

 

I am using it inconsistently... sometimes it works sometimes not, but I am sitting now and that's a good addition to my practice life.

 

I can't get it to be independent of my breath, it turns into a breathing exercise for me. Can you do it rhythmically yet independent of your breath? The closest I can get is to imagine myself listening to Gregorian chanting of I am.

[sunshine]

The dude mentioned that sperm naturally travels into the bladder as they swim towards the brain.  It's the first stop on their path.  That made a lot of sense to me.  When I'm in a retention phase, I often notice sperm in my urine even though there should be absolutely none present.  And I wouldn't experience any loss of power.  Now I'm thinking that that is just part of their normal migration pattern that they make when they face overcrowding downstairs.

7730[/snapback]

 

O.k. We all are only slightly esoteric and pretty down to earth people

 

BUT: tell me. How is sperm meant to move from the bladder to the brain???

 

You think it travels "upstairs" to the kidneys and gets filtered back by the kidneys into the blood stream? Don't think so.

 

It is not to make fun of the thought but it is one of the most weird I have heard in the past... honestly.

 

The reason you find sperm in your urine is much more simple:

Even if you do retention practice it is very likely that some sperm overflows into the ejaculatory duct. As soon as it has left this it either has the chance to flow into the bladder or outside. Some people due to their condition always injaculate (in the sense of retrograde ejaculation into the bladder)... however: the semen has these two ways to go. Maybe YOU even only clean your urethra from the sperm by urinating without it ever "seeing" your bladder...

 

nevertheless: if you get any futher insights from reading the book, please keep me up to date.

 

Harry

[Yoda]

I know it doesn't make *any* sense. I usually try to make my ideas at least remotely possible from the perspective of a new agey scientist who's been hit on the head. Mrs Yoda is a PhD biology type scientist and obviously I don't even bother to hatch my theories to her.

 

This "Incredible Journey" story about a boy and his sperm really struck a chord with me, though.

[sean]

I can't get it to be independent of my breath, it turns into a breathing exercise for me.  Can you do it rhythmically yet independent of your breath?  The closest I can get is to imagine myself listening to Gregorian chanting of I am.

7915[/snapback]

I'm still experimenting with the tempo, I think that's part of it. The transient nature of the mantra. How every time it's internally spoken, it's done so uniquely. The first time I meditated with it I just allowed the mantra to come up slowly and naturally. Like taking a sip of fine wine every half a minute. The last few times I've done it my monkey mind was too dense so I found that I needed to repeat the mantra in a slow but steady stream IAM IAM IAM IAM to dust off the cobwebs and open up into bliss.

 

Ready for spinal breathing tonight.

 

Sean.

[Yoda]

I often have to do the 5HS as a warmup, but I'll try your technique.

[BobD]

Any chance of a direct link to the IAM meditation for us lazy dudes?

[Yoda]

http://www.geocities.com/advancedyogapractices/13.html

 

 

 

I tried doing Iam like Sean suggested and it was very nice. There is a release or vibrational response to the mantra in the body like in the use of the keysound, so it's nice to give each repetition its space.

[BobD]

Thanks Yoda. I will check it out.

[Yoda]

Got the book and IT ROCKS!!

 

I hope others here like the website, and get the book so we can chat.

 

I'm going to follow it. I haven't read about the sperm odessy yet, but I have just read the step by step guide to using your tongue to slide back and up to tickle the brain, etc. Heard about that practice before, but now I've gotten the scoop. Don't try anything before reading the book, but Gene Simmons had the right idea of grabbing the scissors! (baby snips over the course of many moons, also doing tongue pulls in the shower every day)

 

Fantastic descriptions of mco type practices. Both the hows and whys.

 

The Tibetans and Hindus don't share, the Chinese can't write, but this guy has it going on.

 

Good steer Sean!

 

-Yoda

[sean]

My copy is in the mail Yoda. I don't know wether it's just right time/right place for me or inherent value in the AYP practices themselves, but they are deeply affecting me and I'm generating more and more dedication/committment to them. And super bonus is that Lezlie is really digging them as well... Whereas she has been a bit half-hearted with the Taoist work, now we are doing the AYP meditations twice a day like clockwork and are both having what feel like real, tangible experiences with them. I think this is some powerful stuff (at least for us) and it's presented in such a down to earth, simple manner it's a blast.

 

Sean.

[Yoda]

Sean,

 

Here's a cool thread on mixing and matching the two systems. I don't necessarily agree with it, but it's an excellent read:

 

http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic.asp?TOP...rchTerms=taoist

 

-Yoda

[sean]

Hey Harry, Yogani has responded to your questions about the amazing sperm journey. Check it out:

I saw over there that a discussion on AYP tantra has come up, with particular focus on the idea of semen entering the bladder, and how this can lead to spiritual developments higher up in the body. A question about the physical plumbing aspect came up -- How can vital essences get from the bladder to the brain?

 

I wanted to point out that it is not only physical plumbing that is involved in this. It is quite complex, really, involving physical, biological and neurological processes in the body, all of which are connected as human spiritual transformation advances. Not only the bladder is involved. There are other pathways through the sacrum to the spinal cord and up. And it also reaches up into the digestive system where a lot of activity can be observed related to the awakening of an ecstatic radiance throughout the whole body. All of this depends on our rising inner silence gained in deep meditation. The rest of the methods in AYP build on inner silence ("moving stillness") to bring up the ecstatic aspects of our development. The union of inner silence (shiva) and ecstatic conductivity (kundalini/shakti) results in the complete unfoldment in the human being. In the end, what we have is unshakable inner silence, ecstatic bliss and outpouring divine love.

 

So it is a complex process going on there in the pelvic region that is part of a much greater whole. Fortunately we do not have to understand it all to move forward through the transformation, any more than we have to understand how our inner biology works for our normal functioning every day. All we have to know is how to stimulate this natural process that leads us to higher functioning. That is what yoga is about, of course. Someday the scientists will unravel the inner workings of human spiritual transformation. In the meantime, we can intelligently apply and enjoy the fruits of the wonderful practices that have been handed down to us by the many great ones who have come before.

 

Btw, the processes of spiritual transformation discussed above are the same in women as in men, including the entry of vital essences into the bladder, etc. There is more on all of this in the AYP lessons. So read on, share your thoughts here if you like, and enjoy!

 

The guru is in you.

From http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=561

 

Sean

[sean]

Also, I had a nice back and forth with Yogani regarding self-pacing that I found helpful. Here is a piece that I wanted to share:

 

I wrote:

"I'm keeping steady with just these first two practices, as is suggested, and in this last week the intensity has settled which I am actually taking as a good sign. But I've gotten sick, or at least have flu-like symptoms with a bad sore throat manifest since yesterday. I have an intuition it's from too much purification occuring. Actually, this may sound crazy, but on Friday I kept trying to do Kechari mudra. (Jumped way ahead). Kept playing with it all day. I managed to push my tongue back to my uvula and it was so pleasurable I kept doing it the whole rest of the day. Eventually I managed to get to the point where I could do it without pushing my tongue with my fingers. Every few minutes I had this compulsion to stick my tongue back and touch my uvula. As if a plate of chocolate was in front of me. Later that evening I got an intense headache (not common). The next day I had a bad headache and my throat hurt and I had a very strong intuition to avoid more kechari attempts. My headache got worse and then eventually went away, but now I have flu-like symptoms. Is it possible this is a result of jumping the gun here?"

 

Yogani wrote:

"Sorry to hear you are a bit under the weather there. There is no doubt you got off to a very fast start in AYP and that can cause some imbalances, as I am sure you have read in the lessons already. With so many practices freely available in AYP, understanding and applying the principles of "self-pacing" is of vital importance. It is like learning to drive. We learn pretty quickly that having the "pedal to the metal" all the time is not the best way to drive. So, just slow down and take it one step at a time is my advice. That includes letting go of the urges for "automatic yoga" (not acting on them all the time) in favor of a more systematic approach. Automatic yoga has no regard for your health or well-being. It just wants to open everything right now. That is fine, but it needs to be regulated if you are going to make the long term journey with any comfort while continuing to function in the world. Yoga is a marathon, not a sprint. You know the story of the tortoise and the hare, right?

 

On the flu symptoms, actual flu (which you may or may not have) results from a combination of our immune system's condition and and whatever is in the air. By overdoing in yoga maybe you compromised your immune system -- that is temporary. If that happens, you can "catch" something when your natural defenses are down. Maybe the imbalance in yoga was not a factor. It's hard to say. The other possibility is that this is yogic purification only. If it clears up in a day or two, you can assume the latter. In the meantime, back off on practices until you are comfortable in daily activity. Find a steady platform of practices that gives you both growth and stability. How we feel in daily activity is the real measure of our practice, not whatever whiz-bang experiences (or lack of them) we might be having during practices."

 

 

I like the emphasis he places on proper self-pacing. It reminds me a lot of two other important teachers of mine, Scott Sonnon and Kathleen DesMaisons who both place equally strong emphasis on going slowly. The analogy Kathleen would use, in the context of healing sugar addiction, is that this work is like getting braces. You give yourself a simple, basic structure and slowly you tighten it up. Every few weeks, you tighten a turn or two. Eventually, after a few years, you don't need the braces. Your teeth are growing in the right direction naturally now. Without a clear goal and a simple plan you are just kind of randomly putting some sort of home-made brace contraption on, twisting it way too tight, taking it off for a few days, putting it on again, but backwards, putting it on your feet one day. Just kind of all over the map. Or maybe you decide to "be a man" and buckle down and fix these damn teeth once and for all. You stick the braces on and tighten them, tighten them, tighten them and then *snap* you broke all your freakin' teeth out, dude. And that's not the point. So I'm heeding Yogani's advice. Slow and steady wins this race.

 

Sean.

[Yoda]

Stop playing with yourself!!

 

I can't reach, I'm jealous!

[farooq]

So i polished off the 'secrets of wilder"

 

very sweet sweet read

 

He has illustrated what i came to realize too: these practices we do are tools that not only benefit us physically and mentally, but ultimately take us up to the pinacle of spirituality.

 

The ultimate end of all the really beneficial techniques and exercises allows us to meet our Creator, with no intermeadiary or ambiguity, nor leap of faith. the reality of it becomes all encompassing.

 

I am in awe of Yogani's knowledge and ability to convey what are very very powerful tools to spark the deep transformative changes of any one who has the desire to be all they really are

[Yoda]

This is me for the past couple of years: revv up, max out, back off, repeat. Whether I'm sungazing, standing, doing sex practices, pranayama, etc or some gnarly combination thereof, it's always the same story. That then spills into my inner life, social life, financial life, etc.

 

Fun for awhile, but I'm ready for a change.

 

Now with ayam meditation there is a sweetness and love component that exists independently of how revved up I am. I'm thinking that this is the balancing factor that I've been looking for...

 

Then I can *really* gun it!

 

-Yoda

[growant]

TTT

 

After taking a break for some years, I have returned to practicing AYP. Really like the inner silence (and ecstacy) that arise from these practices (from advancedyogapractices.com, click on main lessons) Wondering if anyone here's been practicing for awhile and can share their results and experiences? Also love the way Yogani writes about enlightenment, his sobriety and voice-