From AYP to kriya yoga to AYP: a story of practice

[apatride]

I'd like first to warn you that I'm french, so you don't expect perfect english :-)
I hope I remain understandable in my posts.

It's been a long time since I've first subscribed and written on this forum. I'm glad to be back.

I've recently witnessed some imbalances in my practice, and I'd like to witness about it. First a brief flashback on my practice: I discovered AYP website at the beginning of 2011. I constructed my practice on 2 daily sessions of pranayama and DM. Everything went fine except strong pains in the chest that I managed through self pacing.

I talk about my practice to a friend of mine who's teaching yoga, and she talk to me about kriya yoga. I took the initiation on June of 2011 followed by a 4 days retreat, at the end of which I've been accompanied with a rather strong pressure in the forehead that has never gone off since then.

My kriya yoga practice has oscillated between total dedication (1 hour session pr/dy for months) and total abandonment (no practice for weeks or months).

Lately I have practiced each and every day for 4 months, before my first children is born and from then I couldn't manage to find the time and the necessary rest to practice seriously.

2 or 3 months after stopping practice (I've not been practicing for almost 5 months), some unpleasant side-effects appeared : the pressure in the forehead, which has already been there, became very strong and uncomfortable. At times it was like a extremly concentrated point was pulsating in my forehead. When it hits that hard, I became irritated, angry and emotionally unbalanced.

Also, I experimented some strong dizziness, with the sensation of flush of dizzy energy in my head. I had them everytime I would sit or stand up or bend, especially in the evening with the fatigue of the day.

Weeks after weeks, it became unbearable so I decided to start practice again. I have no direct contact with a kriya yoga master so it's difficult to get advices and clear instructions except than "continue meditation" and "I will pray for you" (don't get me wrong here: I'm not angry at anyone, but I was expecting a bit more).

So I'm back to AYP which provided me a lot more pleasure and comfort in a few months than kriya yoga ever did. I'm not really in the position to compare both of them though, as they truly unveil their potency after months or years of practice. Dont' take my post as the expression of the Universal Truth; just a subjective point of view on the subject.

I'm also more confident in AYP because SBP and DM has lowen these unpleasant side effects to such degrees that I barely noticed them now. I'm doing a daily practice of two sessions pr/dy (10 min SPB + 20 min DM) that suits me very well, and is easier to integrate to daily life than kriya yoga practices.

So I'm here, following the AYP path now, and I'll let you know how it goes :-)

[Bodhi Tree]

Glad you are back. In regards to the pressure in your head (third eye area), I highly recommend taking a look at this lesson:
The Solar Centering Enhancement
http://www.aypsite.com/plus/368.html

I've been utilizing this enhancement daily for about a year now with great success. Last week I went to a Self-Realization Fellowship meditation, and the instruction for beginners was simply to focus attention on the third eye area. I'm assuming your kriya instruction may have been similar, hence all the pressure in the head.

The solar plexus enhancement gets you "out of your head".

Trust the inner guru and self-pacing instincts to be gentle and gradual as you dive into the Infinite.

Safe travels.

P.S. I love Yogananda and the SRF group. Great vibes.

[apatride]

Bodhi Tree, thanks for your kind advice. I've also been adviced to increase awareness at heart level, I guess it's all about unfocusing on the third eye sport.

Indeed the kriyayoga method emphasizes concentration inside the head, notably during the Hangso sadhana. Plus for us western practicioners, inside the head is the easiest spot to focus on.

Nevertheless, I think I'm gonna stick with the standard DM procedure for a while; maybe add the SCE in a few days or weeks if I feel myself comfortable with DM.

The standard DM has been quite easy for me to practice so I think it won't take a long time before I start enhance it, but... self pacing, self pacing, self pacing

During DM, I happen to notice that AYAM mantra is located in the head. When I notice that, I get back to AYAM but in a wider space, to make it resonate in the whole body.

I'm not sure that's a good thing as there should be no effort in repeating the mantra, but I find it easy, I can quickly unfocus from the mantra location and it stays there nonetheless.

Any advice on this point would be highly appreciated.

[Bodhi Tree]

quote:Originally posted by apatride
During DM, I happen to notice that AYAM mantra is located in the head. When I notice that, I get back to AYAM but in a wider space, to make it resonate in the whole body.

I'm not sure that's a good thing as there should be no effort in repeating the mantra, but I find it easy, I can quickly unfocus from the mantra location and it stays there nonetheless.

Any advice on this point would be highly appreciated.

"A wider space"...hmmm...sounds like the natural expansion of inner silence in your meditation. Voila. If coming back to the mantra brings you to a wider space, then that is a symptom of purification and opening: rising inner stillness, which always seeks to expand, even though it is eternal and unchanging. That's more of an automatic effect of the technique, rather than something that has to be deliberately focused on.

But to "quickly unfocus from the mantra location" sounds like too much extra effort. Whether it's the third eye or the solar plexus, you don't have to shove your awareness away from the location. That's outside the parameters of "easily favoring". Just remember, nothing is forced--neither a "clinging to" or "pushing away from". It's all about abiding, following the flow, allowing the mantra to dissolve and refine itself by easily favoring its repetition (and location if you're using the enhancement).

Here's to wider spaces...inside and out!

[apatride]

I agree but from the moment you choose to practice an enhancement of the DM, Solar Enhancement or whatever, there is a bit more than "easily favoring".  

Let's say I practice "Whole body enhancement"

So when I hear the mantra is located in Ajna and pulsating, I widen it a little so it can resonate through the whole body. Then I let go and it stays there, slowly fainting... reapparing... living its own life and making its own way, layer by layer.

But maybe you're right, that's not correct practice. I'm just wondering how Solar enhancement could be considered as "easy favoring" when Ajna-to-whole-body enhancement would not be.

[Bodhi Tree]

The mantra will resonate throughout the whole body without any effort to "widen it a little". The "widening" of its resonance/reverberation is more of an effect than a cause. By favoring the solar plexus, the widening begins from that location, but it still widens in the same direction/magnitude (as Yogani says, the mantra is like a tuning fork, with predictable qualities). Also, the more inner silence, the wider it will go, right? So, the magnitude of the mantra's purifying trajectory is determined by the presence of inner silence (not exactly quantifiable ), rather than any mental effort to spread or widen the mantra's sound.

So, if your ajna-to-whole-body technique is something you easily favor, then that is cool. It's just not an AYP technique, per se. But that what's so great about AYP--it's an open-source system in which inviduals can tweak baseline practices to suit their needs. But I guess it's good for us in the forum community to be clear on what the baseline techniques are...so we can distinguish between Yogani/baseline lessons and custom/user-created add-ons.

Hope this helps.

[AumNaturel]

Hi apatride,
solar centering is introduced late in lesson 368, and even there it suggests not to add it right away.

There are no enhancements of DM. Mantra enhancements follow the same simple procedure. Solar centering may be called an 'enhancement,' but it is clarified that it serves instead as an extension of what already may occur naturally during DM: "we may be unconsciously locating the mantra in the head or elsewhere, creating a slight angle in the body that may not be noticed."

The way your practice is described does make it sound like a step was added: "During DM, I happen to notice that AYAM mantra is located in the head. When I notice that, I get back to AYAM but in a wider space, to make it..." Solar centering is tagged on to the procedure of "gently introduce the thought ... I AM ... and begin to repeat it easily and effortlessly in your mind" (L13), with "when we easily pick up the mantra, we favor locating it at the solar plexus."

Noticing where the mantra is located is different than noticing that the location isn't being gently repeated at the solar plexus, assuming you are using solar centering. It is easier to just pick it up, than to see where exactly it happens to be manifesting, and then proceeding to doing something with it. There is no need to 'make it' anything. Resonating already happens regardless of where it is picked up. "When we realize we have drifted off the mantra, or the location of it at the solar plexus, we just easily favor the mantra at this location."

Do let us know how it goes for you.

[apatride]

Ok thank you both for your answers, it's a lot more clear for me now.

I'm wondering if it's really a problem that AYAM is located in Ajna, I'm maybe putting to much pressure on this aspect. I'm just worried that the pressure in Ajna will get louder if I don't manage to diffuse AYAM elsewhere.

Maybe it's not that important, and SPB + DM is a good combo in itself to reduce imbalances. I'll give a try for the basic AYP procedure and see what happens, and let you know.

Again, thanks for your kind and fast answers.