[QUOTE=Avatar186;85684]
Now keep with me.
Both these sets of nerves connect to the carotid arteries in the neck.
The blood flow in the carotid arteries are heavily effected by breathing " when their is no nostril resistance, the sound of breathing is created by the throat, meaning their is resistance in the throat, meaning stimulation".
To be short. Stimulate the blood flow in either carotid artery and you stimulate the nerve attached ;).
[/QUOTE]
I am still grappling with the interplay between the 5 bodies that make up our being and the states of consciousness. I know that there are 5 sheaths or bodies that make up our being and 4 states of consciousness that make up our awareness. The 5 bodies are the physical, the electrical, the mental or emotional, the psychic (dream state), and consciousness. The 4 states of consciousness are what we experience successively between these 5 bodies (for the most part – the goal posts move a little bit) and are the conscious state, the subconscious state, the unconscious state and the supra conscious state.
I now understand that as long as there is polarity in the body from the breath, you are stuck in the conscious state. Nadi Shodhana is instrumental in exiting the interplay between the Physical (Annamaya Kosha) and the Electrical (Pranayama Kosha) bodies. Interestingly the physical body can be used to control the electrical body and visa versa. I believe that shutting down the senses is necessary to get past the Subconscious state that exists between the Electrical body and the Mental body (Manomaya Kosha). This takes you to the Unconscious state or the void (beginning stages of Samadhi) that exists between the Mental state and the Psychic State (Vijnanamaya Kosha). Once the Third Eye opens you make it to the Anandamaya Kosha or SupraConsciousness (Enlightenment).
You achieved this about 10 months quicker than I did. What you are feeling and calling a ribbon is the thin strip of skin between those two openings and yes those holes lead down to the nasal passages. The top of that ribbon is the secret spot or what AYPsite calls the alter of bliss. You can see the ribbon gets thicker and “bulgy” near the top. This tissue will get more sensitive with time and practice. You need to stretch your tongue up to the top of the holes, go through them and up and you are on your way to the “Tenth Gate”. Look closely at the nostril holes – there are two passages in each hole. The lower one is to the nasal passage and the upper one is to the Tenth Gate.
The Sella Turcica is right below the Pituitary Gland – this is above the “Tenth Gate”.
As Jesus said Matthew 7:13:
13Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
After you spend some time in Khechari, the skin that supports the tongue in stage 2 gets pliable and moves forward. This allows the tongue to go straight up. And the turbinate areas that were once “narrow” open up quite a bit. It takes a while to desensitize this area which is the stage I am at right now, so the rest of this is just conjecture.
Yogananda wrote that he practiced shutting down his senses one by one by pushing on a bone. Lahiri wrote:
There is a sticking point above the holes in the nose and it will go beyond that - gradually. Don’t force it; if you do so you can injure yourself. It will do its work after higher Kriya.
They must be talking about going up the pharynx and through the turbinate areas, that is the white part that hooks down. You then push on that bone that sticks out like a diving board and you can see that the bones above it, that support it, bend allowing it to compress the nerve signals that travel above this bone. Eventually you break through this bone and place the tongue directly under the Sella Turcica. The Sella Turcica encases the Pituitary Gland and is the round half circle type bone in the dark area known as the Sphenoid Sinus. The tongue then brings enough electricity to the the Pituitary Gland causing it to vibrate which causes the Pineal Gland to vibrate, they both start making their liquid which combine making Amrita. And then you get to drink from the Holy Grail or Fountain of Youth. This liquid anesthetizes the mind. The electricity from the tongue eventually turns on the Third Eye.
There are several reasons why I don’t think I have evolved enough yet to experience this. First off, all of my Chakras are not open. In Revelations, Jesus didn’t become one with The Divine until he opened up all seven seals. Samadhi is when your consciousness is absorbed into The Divine Consciousness. Lahiri talks about needing to loosen the 4 knots – You open up Muladhara with Maha Mudra, Vishuddha with Khechari, Manipura with Navi Kriya (I prefer following Satyananda and practice Nauli) and Anahata with Thokar (I practice Dynamic Jalahandra Bandha and Agnisar Kriya). So 4 Chakras have “knots” that need to be unraveled, Ajna has a bone you have to break through and Svadhishthana is the only Chakra that would appear to be easy to open. And I still haven’t opened it. I believe that as long as the lower Chakras are not open, there is not enough electricity running through the body to give the tongue the energy to open up the Tenth Gate and later to turn on The Third Eye (Ajna Chakra).
Lahiri wrote (referring to the lower 6 Chakras):
- One can say everything when the Kriya practice continues spontaneously at the six centers.
I believe here Lahiri is referring to Samadhi. Your consciousness is absorbed by the Universal Consciousness and you get to do anything you want. The whole universe becomes your playground.
Can you expand on what you mean by quickening effect? The only thing I take is a couple of teaspoons of MSM a day and a vitamin and mineral supplement. I read an ebook (pdf file) about 6 months ago by an architect that claimed he healed his debilitating neck and knee problems and basically that all joint problems can be solved by taking MSM. Since he had no vested interest in promoting it and seemed like the real deal, I started taking it. And magically about 3 weeks later, my knee pain disappeared. I recommended it to my yoga instructor and he had the same results. The liver turns MSM into Glutathione and this reduces inflammation in the body. It only costs $25 for a years supply and the guy has got over 100 pages in his book of testimonials. (if you have joint pain, I highly recommend doing a search for the free book “its the liver stupid”)
Which verse and who’s version of Pradipika are you studying? I don’t have any problem inducing inner heat. I am a sweaty mess after I practice in the morning. Part of this is because I live in Panama where it is pretty humid. I wouldn’t call what I do relaxed breathing though. As I wrote many posts ago, I designed my Sadhana based on Manoj’s Golden Age Kriya:
As my skills have grown, my Sadhana has gotten progressively more intense.
- I start off with 11 rounds of Nadi Shodhana. I start by exhaling through the left nostril with my tongue in Kechari stage 3 completely sealing off the right nostril into Maha Bandha. After I lock out my stomach with Uddiyana, I do 50 stomach pumps (agnisar kriya). When I first started doing these I could only do about 8 pumps 10 times and my stomach was worn out. On the inhale, I go into Dynamic Jalandhara Chin pumps for 10 circles ( http://aypsite.org/139.html ) but instead of counting I say AYPsite’s Samayama ( http://aypsite.org/150.html ) saying the 9 words one with each circle and adding perfect vision for the tenth circle. I then exhale into the right nostril repeating the process for a total of 11 rounds on both sides. If your kechari cannot seal the nostril, you have to use your fingers for the exhales and inhales.
I then switch from sitting in Siddhasana to Padmasana. Nauli is much easier when the stomach muscles are stretched out. (Stay in Siddhasana when you perform Maha Bandhas if your Kundalini is not on yet - it is more important to work on your Muladhara than Manipura)
-
Breath of Fire or Kapalabhati. I do 10 rounds out of each nostril rotating back and forth for 100 rounds ( 50 out of each nostril ), then rest my tongue on the Nasal Septum for 200 rounds out of both nostrils at the same time for a total of 300 exhales.
-
Go right into Maha Bandha and do a cross between Stomach grinding and Nauli for 20 times to the right. The next exhale 20 times to the left. I try to practice Nauli but it is more of a churn than a roll. This still builds up a lot of heat though. On the inhale, I immediately go breathless and do two rounds of Chaturtha, but instead of just going up and down the chakras, I will once again say AYP’s Samyama words in the chakras. I do a total of 20 Maha Bandhas churning both ways 10 times and repeating the Samyama words twice. (the word inner sensuality is my favorite because it has 7 syllables and so you can say a syllable in each chakra)
-
Shanmukhi Mudra - On the exhale, once again go into Maha Bandha and do 20 to 25 agnisar kriya pumps (it is more difficult to do these because my hands are now closing off the 7 gates instead of being able to brace myself pushing down on the knees) and on the inhale I alternate between Satyananda’s Kriya 10 and 11 (Naumukhi Mudra and Shakti Chalini) I don’t imagine a trident piercing my chakras though, I just pump out 20 mulabandhas and imagine the energy rising. I normally do 3 cycles down the Arohan and up the Awarohan path of the chakras for Kriya 11. I do this for a total of 12 times doing 2 sets of Kriya 10 and then 2 sets of Kriya 11 – 3 times. These are also done with the tongue blocking off alternating nostrils going into Maha Bandha.
-
14 internal OM’s. Just inhale a full breath, keep the mouth closed and exhale out the right nostril humming as loud as I can. Repeat on the other side for a total of 7 on each side
-
Bow down to the Gurus. I say the Lord’s Prayer and then 5 Jesus’ Prayer, then bow down 4 separate times – One for Jesus – One for the Yogananda Linage – One for the Satyananda Linage – One for my family, friends, lovers and other teachers.
-
I chant Satyananda’s Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Je858eqwUw
and then say a few prayers.
And so I practice an advanced form of Nadi Shodhana in 1, 2, 4, and 5.
I then go outside for a walking meditation where I perform Nadi Shodhana saying Hari Krishna Mantra (Maha Mantra) for about 45 minutes to an hour. (two counts on the inhale (Hare Ri), 6 counts on the kumbhaka (Krish Na Hare Ri Krish Na), 4 counts on the exhale (Krish Na Krish Na), 4 counts on the kumbhaka Hare Ri Hare Ri). Hari Rama on the other nostril. As soon as I make it to earth on my walk, I go barefoot. I believe in Earthing.
When I return, I will sit on my yoga ball and roll off 30 Breath of fires. On the last breath I will stand up off the ball exhale as deep as I can dropping my torso to the ground and go into Maha Bandha. I then perform Nauli rolling my stomach 20 times to the right. On the inhale sit back down on the ball and perform Samyama again in Cathartha pranayama going up and down the Chakras 2 times before repeating the 30 Breath of fires and performing Nauli to the left. I do this 14 times or 7 on each side.
I don’t do any basic Kriya Breaths in my morning Sadhana. I know that this Sadhana sends a lot of electricity through the body because this is what burnt up my frenulum causing scabs to keep appearing under my tongue until my Vishuddha opened. When I didn’t do this Sadhana a few days when I traveled last year, the scabs disappeared and immediately reappear once I started up again. I was doing a more basic form of this back then – only 20 agnisar pumps instead of 50, 5 Jalahandra chin pumps instead of 10. Try doing this Sadhana for a few days and see if your Uvula is burning through the bottom of your tongue. Normally the 1 - 7 part takes me about an hour and 15 minutes.
You and I think alike. I have no Guru either other than the masters that I read and follow. I read that it takes 3 things to become enlightened; a burning desire, practice, and the company of saints. I try to fulfill the later by reading as many masters as I can. I have over 100 books now on yoga and have only read about 40 of them. Most of these books are not the kind of book you can read 100 pages a day. And so on one hand I feel overwhelmed and don’t know which book to read next. On the other hand I am so blessed to have so much great information available to me. That said a Guru would really simplify my life taking away a lot of uncertainty.
The Tenth Gate is the Cribriform Plate. If you go back and look at Post #157, I posted two pictures that show it. One is a skull and the other is a graphic. I believe that it is necessary to break through the Tenth Gate to open the Third Eye. As long as the Tenth Gate is intact, you cannot get your tongue directly under the Pituitary Gland or the Sella Turica as Anonymous posted, and so the electricity flowing to the Ajna Chakra is not powerful enough to turn it on. And thus you are stuck in the lower levels of Samadhi. The Tenth Gate is a barrier of sorts. Hopefully this and my explanation above clarifies this for you.
As I wrote before, Lahiri would have his disciples practice 10 to 12 hours of basic kriyas to get to Samadhi. Maybe this is a prerequisite of breaking through the Tenth Gate to open up Ajna. I don’t know. This is one of the first questions I would ask my Guru. I have no problem sitting and practicing pranayama for about 90 minutes every morning. I have never gone beyond this.
I am doing a lot of work on my Manipura Chakra right now and I am very happy with the progress I have achieved in the performance of Nauli but I am still in the dark about where I stand. I feel like I need to open my lower chakras (Svadhishthana and Manipura) before I can reach Samadhi.
For me the tissue underneath the Tenth Gate is more sensitive than the Secret spot (top of the Nasal Septum). When I put my tongue on this tissue I immediately feel sensitivity whereas the septum’s sensitivity builds after practicing for awhile. I have noticed that when I practice Nauli, I also unconsciously roll my tongue the same direction as my stomach over my nasal septum which makes it sensitive. After an orgasm with my tongue touching the Tenth Gate, everything gets extremely sensitive.
This knowledge has me somewhat perplexed because on one hand Yogananda was a lifelong celibate. Vivekananda (RamaKrishna’s foremost disciple) said that if you go 12 years without a sexual thought, you will reach enlightenment. Sivananda expressed thoughts similar to Vivekananda. Yet I have experiential evidence that suggests sex creates the greatest amount of electricity in the body. And I can’t help thinking that all 12 of Jesus’ disciples were married including Jesus himself according to the Gnostics. Satyananda particpated in sex but in a satsang said that once every two weeks was sufficient because of the amount of energy created. Go figure that out.
The Tantra School that I studied at said have sex as much as you want as it creates electricity in the body but never go past the point of no return. (no orgasms) Eventually if you can stay at 90% (of the stimulation needed for an orgasm) for a long period of time (an hour plus), you will experience wave after wave of energetic bliss. These people didn’t practice Khechari though and I know from experience that when one nostril is completely sealed along with Vajroli Mudra, no Ojas is lost during an orgasm. That said, after an orgasm the tissue under the Tenth Gate and the Nasal Septum is so sensitive that I can’t keep my tongue in Khechari. I would love to hear other people’s experience with this.