Doing nauli, noticing an effect I hadn't thought of

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

It’s such an energy kick! I mean, drinking one liter of strong coffee first thing in the morning wouldn’t wake me up faster. Great preparation for morning meditation, although it can make me a bit restless.

Maybe I even sleep less, which is not what I’m after at all.

However, much of the energy it gives ritght away seems to stay with me through out the day. This is fine I suppose, although I do wonder a bit about why.

From what I’ve read this could be due to adrenaline, right? Or is it just the increased bloodflow after the rather thorough massage of the abdomen?

#2

Nauli also works with Manipura chakra which is the ‘fire energy’ or the ‘get up and go’ energy.

It also works to flush out any stagnant energy from your digestive and eliminative system and this can leave one feeling very awake, lighter and more energetic.

Be careful you are not holding your breath too long for a beginner, and are not getting light headed which could lead to a restlessness.

Nauli is a great practice to be done after you have emptied your bowels, your bladder and had a shower. And then to follow it with your normal physical asana practice… and hopefully with pranayama and meditation.

Unless you are doing a very strong dynamic practice such as ashtanga… where then you should do your pranayama and meditation before your physical practice.

Best Wishes,
Dave

#3

[QUOTE=Terje;51480]It’s such an energy kick! I mean, drinking one liter of strong coffee first thing in the morning wouldn’t wake me up faster. Great preparation for morning meditation, although it can make me a bit restless.

Maybe I even sleep less, which is not what I’m after at all.

However, much of the energy it gives ritght away seems to stay with me through out the day. This is fine I suppose, although I do wonder a bit about why.

From what I’ve read this could be due to adrenaline, right? Or is it just the increased bloodflow after the rather thorough massage of the abdomen?[/QUOTE]

I bet you typed that whole post in 7 seconds!

Coffee is highly acidic. Remember to try and maintain balance daniel san.

In the teachings this is called Bramacharya.

2 more posts and I unleash hades!

#4

[QUOTE=BurrenYoga;51499]Nauli also works with Manipura chakra which is the ‘fire energy’ or the ‘get up and go’ energy.

It also works to flush out any stagnant energy from your digestive and eliminative system and this can leave one feeling very awake, lighter and more energetic.

Be careful you are not holding your breath too long for a beginner, and are not getting light headed which could lead to a restlessness.

Nauli is a great practice to be done after you have emptied your bowels, your bladder and had a shower. And then to follow it with your normal physical asana practice… and hopefully with pranayama and meditation.

Unless you are doing a very strong dynamic practice such as ashtanga… where then you should do your pranayama and meditation before your physical practice.

Best Wishes,
Dave[/QUOTE]

One thing here that I’m not doing correctly according to the instructions (jeez, this gets a bit private… nevermind) and that is emptying my bowels before doing nauli. That doesn’t happen until after breakfast.

Then again, since it is actually said that one could do nauli later in the day and since the bowels are never really empty unless you’re on a longer fast I decided not to mind this.

Thanks for the tip on restlessness and holding my breath too long, maybe I am pushing it a little bit. I’m not getting light headed from it now but it’s well worth looking into.

Hm… I had better not reply to the other post there… :slight_smile:

#5

Nauli is great, isn’t it?

I had digestive problems about 10 years ago, and I pretty much healed it with Nauli (at least that’s the way it felt). It has such an incredible, positive effect on the whole abdominal area, massage, increasing blood flow, relaxing the muscles and clearing energy blocks.

I highly recommend it as a daily practice. Good for you, Terje, for incorporating it into your morning routine.

#6

Hi Terje,
I don’t know who told you that emptying your bowels is not so important?

You should always empty your bowels before this practice. I would only do Nauli first thing in the morning.

Maybe some teachers are more into ‘fitness yoga’ and don’t take into account the more rigorous instructions given for some of these yogic practices.

And in case your teacher also did not say it :wink: Do not use coffee to help empty your bowels… there are very good postures within the Shank prakshal that are useful to get peristalsis moving… or even the simple moon pose, with a modification where you curl your hands into fists, and place them on top of your thighs and pressing into the ascending and descending colon as you lie forward along the thighs in moon pose.

You should ideally be practicing yoga on all levels… and if possible minimizing or eliminating stimulants from your system… if your intent is also to get in tune with your inner energies. And definitely not drinking coffee before your yoga practice, especially if you are including asana, pranayama and some meditation practice.

I know that many yoga teachers in the west habitually drink coffee, but that is not a good excuse to follow these habits if one is truly interested in working on the more finer levels of one’s being.

I hope that i am not starting world war 3 with those addicted to coffee :wink:

I wish you well with your practice.

Best Wishes,
Dave

#7

To Dave: About emptying the bowels in the early morning… what if there’s nothing to empty right then? I don’t think forcing this to happen is a good thing, and that’s more from personal experience than from any advice.

And yes, I’m addicted to caffeine but not really ready to quit it right now, but thanks for your concern :slight_smile:

To DoYogaWithMe: Yes, it is very relaxing for the whole abdomen, I am noticing this too this time around. Works through a lot of stress related tensions for me.

#8

Hi Terje,
You are right in that you should not force. However, most dedicated yoga practitioners who ‘buy into’ these guidelines… their systems become naturally regulated over time, and as one becomes more healthy, food passes through one’s system more easily, and one tends to become more regular in emptying one’s bowels once a day first thing in the morning.

It’s not something that happens very quickly, but by being consciously aware of it, and gradually bringing the time to empty the bowels closer and closer to early morning, this becomes the most natural thing in the world.

And if you have eaten a big meal after 4 pm the previous day, there will be stool ready in your bowels in the morning.

But best not to force, and just allow the time to creep closer and closer to 'first thing in the morning.

Best Wishes,
Dave

#9

I’m wondering a bit about how much nauli actually affects and involves the colon. Most of the movement seems to be higher up, mainly the diaphragm.

I can absolutely see why it’s necessary to not have eaten or had anything to drink before doing nauli.

I have rad in different books, and actually the teacher who taught me nauli long ago said the same thing, that while it’s best to do it in the early morning you can do it in the late afternoon or evening too.

To me that means the empty your bowels is an ideal situation but not something that’s absolutely necessary.

#10

Nauli for beginners may appear to be confined to upper abdomen or close to the surface, but with practice the churning is very deep and involves intestines as well as diaphragm area.

I personally am not sure ‘why’ the bowels should be emptied… i accepted that advice from my teachers based on their long years of practice and studies with many yoga masters. But i would guess that if one has excrement inside one’s intestines, one does not want to be squeezing them, or pressing against them.

If they are empty, it allows stagnant blood or energy to be ‘squeezed’ from those areas, which when relaxed flush with fresh blood supply, vitamins etc.

However this is mainly on a physical level that we westerners tend to try to ‘work things out in our heads’… and the more we practice yoga and read the ancient texts, we realize that much of yoga is working with internal energies and subtle pathways that defies our simplistic way of looking at things.

There are many areas of yoga that we don’t understand ‘the why’…

Traditional over thousnads of years, yoga practices were passed from master to disciple… and the practices were taught and passed on… they did not question ‘why’ in the same way we do with our busy restless minds. Maybe Nauli is mainly working with the Pingala channel or is it mainly stimulating manupura chakra… which could need to have the bowels empty. I just don’t know, but it makes more sense to me that one should practice on empty bowels rather than not.

Best Wishes,
Dave

#11

[QUOTE=BurrenYoga;51568]… it makes more sense to me that one should practice on empty bowels rather than not.

Best Wishes,
Dave[/QUOTE]

It sure does, but what to do if that’s not really an option right now? I’m gonna continue and see what happens. Of course I won’t continue if there’s pain or some other bad effect that I’m noticing. So far it’s all been good. Nadis or not, this does not feel subtle at all, it feels more like a rush. Not a violent one but perhaps comparable to the slight sugar kick you can get from eating only fruits for breakfast. Similar to the kick I once got from coffee, actually. Hey, I might get addicted to this!

:slight_smile:

Anyway, I just wanna say that I am thankful for your taking the time to help me out and even if it may seem that I’m not taking this seriously I am. I’m just following the Buddha’s advice on this, what he said in the Kalamasutta: Don’t follow tradition or teachers, not even me, but find out for yourself if what you’re doing is a good or a bad thing and if it’s good you continue otherwise you stop.

#12

My article "Enhancing the Benefits of Nauli with a Key Exercise for Abdominal Muscle Strength" (PDF, EN, 2023): https://bit.ly/3XBvzmb