I’m a little old to start yoga, but it seems to be the single technique which can lead me toward the spiritual fulfillment. I practised yoga years ago under surveillance, but the man who led me is dead now. I tried a few sites on internet, but I don’t trust them and besides, I don’t have the money they ask for. I read a lot of books, but I don’t need gym and pranayama, concentration or meditation can’t be done acurately without guidance.
If anyone can lead me to a guru who can guide me remotely, please help.
Thank you
In all the books I have read (about 50) if you were to ask me to choose one author to guide someone to do yoga at home it would be Yogani. Here is his website. He outlines a spiritual practice in a very practical manner in my opinion and his books have helped me to understand things that had previously confused me very much.
AYP Home Page - Free Lessons in Meditation, Pranayama, Kundalini, Tantra
just my opinioin
Neil
Thank you Neil. I know the site and I think is one of the best, but… everyone has its peculiarity. I believe that “the guru is in you”, but one has to be guided to find his inner guru. For now I need an experienced person to show me the path.
Adrian
[quote=Lotekh;12627]I’m a little old to start yoga.
I read a lot of books, but I don’t need gym and pranayama, concentration or meditation can’t be done acurately without guidance.[/quote]
Namaste Adrian,
First, one is never too old to start yoga, I know of people well in their 60s and 70s who have started yoga, some of thm are still doing it. I know of a lady of 93 who still do her headstand every morning. It is not about how much or what you do, but your own inner awareness with which you do your yoga.
I am not sure if I understand the second part of your post which I have quoted here correctly, can you please expand your explanation, because if you say you don’t need pranayama, I want to say you are misguided, it is exactly pranayama which will help you to cultivate awareness and your yoga further.
I don’t think anyone of the guru stature would work remotely. “Guru” and “Remotely” seem to be juxtaposed concepts (for now). The issue with guidance is that it must involve palpation. The person guiding you must be able to feel you either in a tactile, aural, or visual sense (or all of them ideally). How can that happen remotely?
If you are house-bound then it’s understandable. If you are not then the question is “what importance does the yoga practice have?”. I moved several thousand miles to study with my teacher. And while that’s not for everyone it surely was for me. Sometimes we have to get out of the box and really look at what is important in our lives THEN behave in that way.
I think that you should have a contact physically with a competent teacher with whom you have a trustful relationship. If money is a problem you can deal with him/her, he can understand, decrease the cost, teach for free, ask for something else, you can give something later… Age should not be a problem to benefit from Yoga neither.
The inner guru is a reality as spiritual guidance in life, but Yoga is an art and to cover and develop all the aspects especially the technical part : asanas, pranayama… a proper teacher is needed, the inner guru could tell you to do so too. Individual courses in which Yoga is taught according to the student are the best for that.
May you find the guidance you need,
Philippe
Thank you all for your kind replies.
First of all it’s a coma missing in my first post. What I meant is that gym is not a goal (even if necessary), and pranayama, concentration and meditation need real guidance. My goal in this life is to do everything I can for spiritual fulfillment.
I’m bound to my family, to my work, I can’t find a way to go somewhere in the world to find a guru. I have to take care of my family first. I have to seek further, to try to find someboby who can lead me.
And for “InnerAthlete”: I respect your opinion, but I don’t think “remotely” and “guru” are antagonistic. I heard about people who have been guided in this way. I feel that someday I’ll find the right person.
Thank you again for your advices,
Adrian
Lotekh, have you read yoganis books on how to meditate, spinal breathing, etc… He outlines a practice in very easy to follow guidlines. I am curious though that you dont want to look for a guru as IA suggested but yet a stay at home practice is not enouh for you so what is it your asking for guidance in? You explained your limitations about family and such so that is why I recommed what I did, but then you say you need to find a person to assist you. If that is the case just hop around yoga studios untill you find the right one. How can we on here help you to find a person? Also if you think you need help in learning how to meditate, then yes your expactiations have limited you to what you believe. And that right person you hope to find, might just be the guru in you.
my best to you on your path
neil
Thank again “justwannabe”. I just bought the following Yogani books:
- Advanced Yoga Practices,
- Spinal Breathing Pranayama
- Tantra - Discovering the power of pre-orgasmic sex
- Asanas, Mudras and Bandhas
- Diet
I’ll receive them in 9 - 36 day. Hope they’ll be usefull.
Regarding yoga studios I have none around. I’m from Romania. The online yoga classes are not trustfull (even you have to pay a lot).
Somebody might ask why do I need so desperately guidance. I need it because I’m sure I made mistakes in my training. So 2 times I fainted during some pranayama exercises, I have visions during meditation, odd dreams, trembling and vibration in my body etc. Are they incidents? Are they real or is only my imagination? Should I continue on the path I started or I must change something? I have moments when I feel stillness in my mind (chitta-vritti?), then, after a while I feel agitation or even furry.
Adrian
Adrian,
All of the things that you listed are reasons to wait until a teacher is available to you. Right practice in combination with right time. In my private practice as a Yoga therapist, I work mostly with those who have caused disturbances, both in the gross body and the subtle bodies, through inappropriate or wrong practices. A teacher will guide you through and protect your mind as you go deeply into it.
Because of the years you have earned, you are moving into the vata stage of your lifetime, and you must accommodate this in your foods, and with reference to your natural constitution and current imbalances, in your practices, etc. A well-learned, long-practice teacher will help you create a vessel in your self so that you keep the fruits of your practice and so that you are benefited by your practices. Often we are like leaky buckets without a loving, committed teacher. Our prana is lost as we gain it. I am without words to illustrate what my teacher is for me…protecting my mind always with his authority and slowly, compassionately building and guiding my personal work. I know enough to know not to be without a teacher.
I can also sometimes feel agitation, among other emotions, when I do, or have done wrong practice in the past. Like you, I am sensitive to these disturbances and must use more care than perhaps others may need. In classes where I am student (I am always a student :)) and when I am learning new techniques, even subtle techniques like hasta mudras, I can sometimes become agitated from combining techniques as I learn them. These resulting emotions can become quite captivating; they can sometimes captivate our minds. This is another role of our teachers, to train us to see that these emotions are also, and simply, [I]maya; [/I]they are illusions that are mistaken, for the moment, as real.
There are some threads on the forum already that I think may interest you. One is: http://www.yogaforums.com/forums/f18/one-reference-to-wrong-practice-2401.html and another is: http://www.yogaforums.com/forums/f20/does-one-need-a-guru-948.html
Mukunda Stiles, my living teacher, offers his Tantrik lessons free of charge and with guidance to those who make a commitment to themselves to practice them from start to finish. They are available here at the Yoga Therapy Center; perhaps they will appeal to you too. This very forum was originally created to share Mukunda’s offerings and you can find his gems in the deeper pages here, on nearly all aspects of Yoga practice.
Highest regards to you.
Your friend in Yoga,
Nichole
Lotekh,
in the methods Yogani talks about, the order that they go is Deep meditation started first, then pranayam second, asanas third. In the main book they describe how to do deep meditation, but if you want a deeper read on it look into getting the deep meditation book itself. A guru in person form is not always available and if that is the case for you then the books you are getting is a path that yogani believes you can do without a Guru, but then again a good book can be a guru as well.
Fainting in pranayama is probably a little past the pint of where you want to be 
as far as visions. some call this the fourth state of consciousness, the superconscious. Odd dreams, I hear you there, had quite a few odd ones myself. Trembling and vibrations. they say that when you start opening things up this is not uncommon. I have been experiencing it quite a bit lately myself , learning how to balance this stuff is part of your task. You will be fine, enjoy your books and they do offer plenty of support over there on the forum, yogani answers many questions.
my best to you
Neil
You are never too old to take up Yoga! Also for spiritual fulfilment, you may want to turn to a religon. Remember, the word ‘spiritual’ does not exist in sanskrit. It is just a western take on Yoga. Yoga is a science and not a spiritual practice, but you can mould it to your own needs and if they are spiritual, I am sure that is fine.
If you cannot find any teachers in your vicinity, you can always be your own man (as buddha taught) and become your own teacher. It is not dangerous as long as you are sensitive to yourself. Try find deeper levels of comfort in standing,sitting, and Yoga postures. Do not do anything uncomfortable. Be observant in entering yoga practises and break them down into micromovements, rather than doing big postures. This may help you move more effortlessly in and out of big postures such as the Warrior poses.Listen to your breathing, if it stops or becomes strained, your brain is telling you to change or to stop what you are doing. Even in the simple action of getting out of a chair, ask yourself ‘how do you do it?’, break it down to micromovements and discover more about yourself and your habits (which are normally responsible for much of our problems). Or when breathing ‘what moves first, the abdomen or chest?’ etc It’s endless and life can become a very deep meditation.
Wishing you all a peaceful life
[QUOTE=Lotekh;12627]I’m a little old to start yoga, but it seems to be the single technique which can lead me toward the spiritual fulfillment. I practised yoga years ago under surveillance, but the man who led me is dead now. I tried a few sites on internet, but I don’t trust them and besides, I don’t have the money they ask for. I read a lot of books, but I don’t need gym and pranayama, concentration or meditation can’t be done acurately without guidance.
If anyone can lead me to a guru who can guide me remotely, please help.
Thank you[/QUOTE]
Try this :