368 From: "jim_and_his_karma" <jim_and_his_karma@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu Mar 17, 2005 11:49am
Subject: Pranayama: Yogani vs. What You'd Been Doing Before jim_and_his_...
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Pursuant to my interest in integration......
Is there anybody out there who'd had a previous practice of pranayama who's either
modified it or replaced it with Yogani's? Or, for that matter, is keeping up both practices?
I'm an Iyengar student, so I'd be particularly interested in hearing how other Iyengarites
(for lack of a better term) handle the issue.
371 From: victor yj <vic@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:41pm
Subject: Re: Pranayama: Yogani vs. What You'd Been Doing Before vic
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Jim,
I have been doing Iyengar Pranayama for many years and now have switched to AYP pranayama. For me it was not a departure at all but a natural progression. My pranayama had been seated practice drawn for "Light on Pranayama" as well as learned in the teacher training at the Iyengar Yoga Institute in San Francisco and in public classes with ramanand Patel. My practice consisted of sitting 20 minutes every morning in lotus with head down in jalandhara bandha and doing Sama Vritti Pranayama (equal length of inhalation retention and exhalation). I loved tyhis practice for many years and it helped open my breating, stabilize my seat and help me feel the internal subtleties of the breath.
After two decades of practice I was reaching a plateu however and it seemd that Iyengar teachers were teaching more and more basic pranayama. Backing things up more and more. I was feeling an urge to find the next step. There was also a blockage of some sort that i could feel in my neck and throat area that was not being addresssed by my practice. I started experimenting with different head positions. Tried practivcing with my head back instead of down. With head to the side. with a static circle of having the head to stay in a position for a breath, then rotate a postion for the next breath etc. I discovered that the instruction to keep the head down in pranayama could work well for me in any positon as long as I didn't keep the head up. The idea being to relax the neck rather than hold it stiff. This was my independant discovery of Yoganis Dynamic Jalandhara. At this point I also felt an urge to learn Kechari. I had jeard of it but knew no one who had any personal experience. I
was blessed with a flexible tongue and was able to do a basic kechari already but had no instruction so I did a search and found AYP. When I found teh site it was like a teaching exactly appropriate for my level had appeared.
So back to differences with Iyengar style. I began to do Kechari (which Iyengar does speak of in "Light on Yoga") and began the Dyamic jalandhara. Far from this feeling strange or a departure from Iyengar style it felt like the perfect next step for me.The spinal breathing is a little challanging to me because I am must better at feeling subtle sensations than visualization. It is slowly coming along though so practice is good. I had also been doing breath timimng with mantra (which iyengar says is one method in Light On Pranayama). Yogain suggested seperating teh mantra from the pranayama and to use natural regulation of teh breath which I did to great benefit. When I do the breath cycle now from completely inner cues on how long to inhale/retain/exhale I find that the cycle is actually LONGER than when I was timing it though at this point I don't really care how long it is, I just do the practice from a feeling level. Also have switched to Siddhasana from Padmasana because I
believe that Siddhasana is more compatibl;e to the dynamic jalandhara and Padmasana is more static.
The blockage in my neck/throat is being released and my general upper body integration is much improved now so all changes have been very positive.
Also added meditaion with mantra which is not taught by Iyengar. This was a bit difficult at first especially after pranayama but is coming along nicely. It is very much like TM with teh notible difference that you don't need to pay large sums of money to a corporate organization for a mantra. The I Am mantra seems perfectly selected for this specific practice so after 2 decades of Iyengar practice I am dilighted to find this step.
I have not been doing Asana as much as I used to and may or may not go back into that again. For Asana of course Iyengar is king and I have no reason to feel otherwise in that department.
jim_and_his_karma <jim_and_his_karma@yahoo.com> wrote:
Pursuant to my interest in integration......
Is there anybody out there who'd had a previous practice of pranayama who's either
modified it or replaced it with Yogani's? Or, for that matter, is keeping up both practices?
I'm an Iyengar student, so I'd be particularly interested in hearing how other Iyengarites
(for lack of a better term) handle the issue.
