[QUOTE=umunhum;84449]
I have daily experiences where after a few minutes of holding the tongue in the open nostril, Dharana or one pointedness of mind takes place. Your entire focus becomes the contact of your nostril (Yoni) and your tongue (phallus). Slowly but surely the Yoni opens up more and more and then I become just the tip of my tongue. I feel like my tongue is coming out of a restricting circle and then free to explore the universe. It starts more snake like actions just like when I first started closing off the back of my throat in the later stages of Kechari Stage1 [/QUOTE]
When I stick my tongue up to the Tenth Gate (through the open nostril), all the breath must flow through the nostril with the inflated skin flap in it. On the exhale there is a pressure build up in the nasal pharynx area as the air is trying to find other ways of escaping because there is just a small amount of space the air can flow because of the skin flap. The pressure is so great that it opens up or widens the turbinate area around the tongue as the air tries to go out both nostrils. This allows you to stretch out the tongue further up to the Tenth Gate. The thickness of the tongue feels big and restricts how far it can go up the turbinate area. As Jesus said “narrow is the way.”
On the inhale you create a vacuum in the nasal pharynx area as air is desperately trying to get in the small opening of the nostril that is covered by this skin flap. This vacuum pulls the tongue further up to the Tenth Gate causing a snake like action at the tip of the tongue. So basically what I’m saying is that until the skin flap recedes (deflates) opening up your closed nostril enough to allow adequate flow for your breath to stop, your tongue is sliding further and further into the nasal turbinate area up to the Tenth Gate with every inhale and exhale.
I can now touch - push on the bone above the narrow passage that crimps off the nerve signals. It feels like it is covered with skin and is sensitive to the touch like the tongue is shocking it with electricity. The feeling is similar to what the turbinate areas felt like when I first started entering them.
Satyananda says that the reason Brahmamuhurtha is the best time to meditate (4 to 6 am) is because the energy from the sun and the moon is at its closest balance during this time. This time is the closest you will get to an even flow in your Nadis (Ida (lunar force) and Pingala (solar force)). Satyananda also says that we all have a heart so we should all practice Bhakti Yoga (devotional yoga). We all have a mind so we should practice Jnana Yoga (path of knowledge). We all have hands, feet and a mouth so we should all practice Karma Yoga (actions of selfless service).
Even Ramakrishna said that when the Goddess Kali comes, the tongue raises, and he was a Bhakti Yogi. I’ve read one book on the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi who was a Jnana Yogi and I love him. His teachings are not an easy read. I’m stalled out on another of his books reading The Teachings of Satyananda series which are a collection of Satsangs laden with Gems of Knowledge. My admiration for Satyananda continues to grow. He strongly advocates mantra in meditation. I use Shiva as my mantra most of the time. Shee on the exhale and Vaaa on the inhale when I’m breathing. As my breath stops my Ajna throbs even more and Shambhavi Mudra puts me into a state of bliss. I identify with Kriya Yoga so much because everything can be explained scientifically. When you do certain exercises, certain physiological things happen in your body.
Satyananda wrote that death is just like going to sleep. The average soul that is full of desires waits just 13 days before taking another body. Souls that have done some spiritual work are selective of what parents they are born to. And so they wait far longer for the right parents to come along.
If you think about our breathing apparatus you notice at the top of it we exhale and inhale from a Y with the mouth and the nasal passage being the top of the Y and the lungs being the bottom. The vacuum followed by pressure from the diaphragm contracting and then relaxing causes the breath to be turbulent mixing up the outgoing and the incoming air. This turbulence creates an environment that is very inefficient in its flow to dispose the toxic air (carbon dioxide) and get what is needed into the body(prana and oxygen). This causes a lot of unnecessary work for the body. When the breath stops, carbon dioxide forms a stream that peacefully slides out of the body. A straight spine with the chin slightly pulled in enables this stream to form much quicker. This is what is going on in the gross or physical body. I read somewhere that the air we breath in is 21% oxygen and the air we exhale is 16% oxygen. As I’ve written earlier, Sivananda says the main purpose for the inhale is not for the oxygen, it is for the prana.
Once the Kundalini is activated, in the subtle body the prana slides up the Sushumna directly into the lungs. It is no longer needed from the air outside the body. The way to achieve this (Turning on your Kundalini ) is to balance the Nadis ( Ida and Pingala ) stimulate the Muladhara enough to send the spark (Apana) up to the stomach by creating a suction drawing it into the stomach area and the prana down to the stomach area with Uddiyana Banda. With the breathing chambers still, this combination ignites something in Muladhara. Without this stillness there is too much turbulence in the breathing chambers and the mixture does not happen. It is like trying to start a fire in a windy area. You need the stillness to create a proper combination of electricities.
Once again the tongue sealing off the back of the throat is key – Kechari stops the outgoing air from stimulating the nerves on the roof of the mouth that sends an electrical signal to the diaphragm to contract. Mula Bandha helps stretch the diaphargm to its maximum stretch. Naskagra Mudra opens up the Muladhara. Jalahandra Bandha locks the prana in, And finally Uddiyana Bandha (with the tightest vacuum) stretches the diaphragm to still it. Maha Bandha turns on your Kundalini. Some Yogis do 50 Maha Bandhas and that’s their whole Sadhana. I always do them in Siddhasana. I don’t stretch out my legs.
A good practice is to run off 30 breath of fires and go right into Satyananda’s Kriya 7 follow by Kriya 6. And then sit and wait for the body to tell you its time to start breathing again. Pay particular attention to Mula Bandha during both Kriyas and Nasikagra Mudra during Kriya 7. And make sure your Kechari seals off the back of your throat.
Every Maha Bandha I do now makes me slide effortlessly into the breathless state. I don’t even inhale most of the time transitioning to Kriya 6. I just bring my torso up and go into Sham Kech Moo. This causes the tissue in the breathing chamber to stay taut and slowly pull in just enough air to equalize the pressure with the outside air. Calming the turbulence so that the exiting carbon dioxide can form its peaceful stream. I can feel it the split second the stream is completed. You feel like you’re floating and you know you are breathless.
It is imperative for beginners to practice Talabya Kriya for Kechari. Maha Mudra and Maha Bhedra Mudra should also be practiced together every day for the ignition of Kundalini. I practice these Kriyas together every day as Satyananda says this is the heart of Kriya Yoga.
Thank you for your update.
If one person benefits from my ramblings, the effort was worth it. I am so thankful for Satyananda, Sivananda, my yoga instructor Vander, Yogananda, Yukteswar, Lahiri, Babaji, David Hawkins, AYP site, Ennio, Manoj, Jesus, James Golden.
One funny story about Satyananda was when he met Muktananda’s Guru Nityananda. He said as he approached Nityananda he suddenly felt a shock of energy like he grabbed an electric cable. Satyananda wrote that Nityananda wasn’t even aware of him until he felt the shock. And Nityananda muttered “They can’t carry the load but they all want it.” Satyananda said Nityananda had an extremely high level of consciousness. He spent most of his time in deep Samadhi completely oblivious to physical life.
Jesus sweated blood when he meditated. Buddha said it felt like demons were breaking his bones. David Hawkins said that it is painful to get to the extreme high levels of consciousness because this physical dimension or man’s consciousness has not evolved to a high enough level yet to allow it. These great souls are somehow clearing the path and opening up the possibility of our enlightenment. The first lines of Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now is “You are here to enable the divine purpose of the Universe to unfold. That is how important you are.” David Hawkins said he saw the trail that Jesus left as he was evolving. That few people had made it to where he was at and they all left a trail.
I keep thinking about Ramakrishna’s metaphor of being in the body is like being a fish trapped in a bucket. And being in Samadhi is like someone dumped the bucket into the Ganges. And Yogananda’s metaphor of the divine being the ocean and us being ocean water trapped inside a bottle floating around in the ocean. Samadhi is dissolving the bottle so we can flow into the Cosmic bliss. You then realize that we are all there ever was and all that there will ever be. And somehow we are all connected. The time, space, and matter of this world we are experiencing is an elaborate fantasy created by our mind. None of the various electricities the world has to offer the senses of the body can compare to this feeling. I really want to experience Samadhi!
