Some practices are really strange and don’t sound very good to me. Like “cleaning” your stomach by throwing up (and any yoga book that includes this practice should have a warning that it’s not suitable reading for people with an eating disorder). Or learning how to suck up water through your anus. People who came up with such ideas probably had too little to do.
[QUOTE=Terje;71903]Some practices are really strange and don’t sound very good to me. Like “cleaning” your stomach by throwing up (and any yoga book that includes this practice should have a warning that it’s not suitable reading for people with an eating disorder). Or learning how to suck up water through your anus. People who came up with such ideas probably had too little to do.[/QUOTE]
raise kundalini and you’ll comprehend the purpose of those methods.
since you’re not likely to raise k soon (or meet any person who has), i’ll give you a tidbit about it.
before kundalini, the ego and karma predominate in the personality. in other words, the ego is obsessed with the appetites including sex, food, pleasure, pain, etc. [I]and[/I] the ego is prone to potty humor. the ego is interested in avoiding shame and guilt.
After kundalini, the ego is dealt a fatal blow (though not entirely dead yet). so potty humor doesn’t even come up in the mind of anyone who has raised Kundalini.
since the body is partially liberated from the grip of the ego, the body is seen as merely the means for interacting in a bodily world. Defecation is viewed as the natural result of eating; the only other result being holding the crap in your body forever. therefore, there is nothing gross about a colon cleanse or a water enema in the mind of the Kundalini-attained yogi.
i hope that helps you understand the lack of concern for the weirdness of that practice.
-dale
Have you read the Hathayogapradipika?
I’m guessing not, otherwise you’d know what these practises are for. They are from a less technologically advanced era when practising good hygiene was the only way to stay well along with eating nutritious foods and drinking clean water.
I have read the Hathayoga pradipika and in context I can see how it has its place. It’s not that these practices are gross, it’s just that I doubt how healthy a few of them are. And I also doubt that it’s healthy to constantly think about your intestines and bowel movements. And I honestly can’t see what could be good in throwing up unless you are sick.
YogaPrem,
it’s true that these practices were the best bet for improving health for the elderly yogi, the typical user of this text.
beyond that, we must reference the book itself in order to know it’s purpose.
"from the hatha yoga pradipika
chapter I, from verse 1:
…Haṭha Yoga, which like a staircase leads the aspirant to the high pinnacled R?ja Yoga.
so we can see that Hatha yoga leads us to the 8 limbed yoga; i.e. the path towards enlightenment including every preparation (asanas), purification(pranayama), tranformation (kundalini), meditation (samadhi), attainments (siddhis) and Liberation immediately before the ultimate attainment.
chapter II
If there be excess of fat or phlegm in the body, the six kinds of kriy?s (duties) should be performed first. But others, not suffering from the excess of these, should not perform them."
Fair enough but I still can’t see the point in throwing up unless you’re sick and I’ve read about these practices in other books than Hathayoga pradipika. Of course anyone can write a book with any kind of suggestions on different pracices in it and call it yoga and that doesn’t mean that the practices suggested are at all times wrong but… throwing up unless you’re sick is wrong at all times. That’s perhaps just my opinion but Ill stand by that statement.
[QUOTE=Terje;71948]Fair enough but I still can’t see the point in throwing up unless you’re sick and I’ve read about these practices in other books than Hathayoga pradipika. Of course anyone can write a book with any kind of suggestions on different pracices in it and call it yoga and that doesn’t mean that the practices suggested are at all times wrong but… throwing up unless you’re sick is wrong at all times. That’s perhaps just my opinion but Ill stand by that statement.[/QUOTE]
i’m not promoting those methods, simply providing perspective.
the majority of the hatha yogis were retired/elderly men who left their wives, families and homes to pursue enlightenment. so they had occasionally had weird ailments that obstructed their flow of prana, the tradeoff (for them) was worth it: enlightenment or bust.
personally, i think anyone that eats from taco bell or whosoever drinks monster energy drinks should be forced to throw it up before their bodies assimilate the aspartame. but hey, to each his own. we all have different priorities. what are yours? is there anything so important to you that you might consider voluntary vomiting in order to achieve/acquire it? enlightenment is near the top of my list.
-dale
Dale, you make some good points here actually, about the aspartame for instance 
And sure, if throwing up was a way to reach enlightenment I’d try it. The thing is, I have thrown up a few times in my life and so far it has brought me no enlightenment. But hey, maybe next time!
In any case, could it just also be possible that while a lot of yoga is fantastic some practices are just wierd or right out dangerous? This is what I think. Taking digestion as an example, I think it’s fine to eat enough fibre and move your body in different ways to stretch and massage your intestines to help things to move along.
But to eat cloth, throw up, absorb water through your anus (although that is a cool party trick), take regular enemas, drink lots of salty water to “wash” your intestines (I’ve done that, twice)… no, it’s not such a great idea IMO and as with everything else yoga can and should evolve and old ideas that aren’t that great should be left behind.
Like most people do with these practices.
It’s just that I’ve been reading these books on yoga where all these practices are mentioned and even promoted.
thank you for considering the controversial things that i had to say.
the body can only be healthy if digestion is.
so even when these practices have a purpose, it must be done thoughtfully. on some of them, i can only speculate on why they were done. about others, i agree about the potential for fanaticism.
i feel sad for those who rigidly engage in these practices, expecting enlightenment.
-dale
Dale, perhaps we agree more on this than we might think
[QUOTE=Terje;71985]Dale, perhaps we agree more on this than we might think :)[/QUOTE]
agreed!
The type of vomiting (vamandhouti) mentioned, my guru taught, is to be done in the morning to clean the stomach… nothing to do with eating disorders. In eating disorders (bulimia) vomiting is done right after a meal, without extra water and is not a health practice. The food that remains in the stomach in the morning is not nutritious, is probably putrefied/coated in mucus from sitting in the stomach all night and would do no good to digest as it would generate heat and dis-ease. This is only to be done in cases of Kapha-pitta predominance.
"Vaman dhauti helps to increase the efficiency of the abdominal muscle. As we consume large amount of water it stretches the stomach muscles and the gastric folds (mucous membrane folds in stomach) become straight and stretched. It helps to remove excess mucus and acid secretion. The oesophagus and stomach can be cleaned with this process. It also helps to remove the trapped gases and the fermented food in the stomach. Due to this the pressure on heart is also relived. As the water is salted it will not be absorbed, instead water along with toxins from the blood will come in the stomach and will be vomited out. So, it is a processes which helps in digestive problems, improves digestion, improves the strength of abdominal muscles, and to relive the pressure on heart.
As a preparation for the practice of this processes trim your finger nails and wash your hands properly.
Prepare two liters of luke warm water and add two tea spoon of salt to it.
Start the process by drinking the lukewarm water. Drink at least six to eight glasses of salted water and continue drinking until you feel the stomach is full and heavy. It is important that you drink the water fast and do not keep sipping it. After this the urge to vomit will occure. Lean forward and put the index, middle, and ring finger of your right hand in the mouth. Rub gently at the base of the tongue near the throat and induce vomiting. Try to empty the stomach completely.
Vyaghra kriya (tiger practice) -
It is the same as vaman dhauti, but it is practiced when the stomach contains undigested food.
Gaja karan kriya (elephant action) -
It is the advanced form of vaman dhauti. In this the abdominal muscles are contracted and pressure is increased on the stomach so that the water comes out of the mouth with force.
Note - Cleansing techniques are to be practiced only under the guidance of Yoga Expert." -source
The average person has 2-15 kilo of undigested rubbish in their colon… I think it’s more disgusting to leave that feces inside than to simply wash it out. Having a dirty colon creates difficulty in serotonin re-uptake and thus depression and digestive problems. Removing this weight from the intestines is literally enlightening (making lighter).
Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Ok, so there it is, the slight obsession I was referring to (sorry, omnamashivaya). While some of what you describe may bee good (but I doubt it) for certain conditions I can’t for the life of me see why a healthy person would want to “clean the stomach” by drinking water in the morning and then throw it up. It makes no natural sense at all. I don’t think the salty water goes down there, collects poisons and mucus and brings it back out, I think the water irritates the stomach so that it produces mucus that is then transported up when vomiting.
I don’t think we carry 2 - 15 kilos of rubbish in our intestines. We carry stuff in there but it’s not rubbish, it’s meant to be that way. We eat and digest, it’s how the body works. Some of that process is a bit disgusting, perhaps, but it’s not unhealthy unless something’s wrong with you, like a disease or something.
Moving the body around, giving the intestines a massage, increasing the blood flow, eating a proper diet that helps you avoid constipation, that’s all healthy and good. Throwing up on purpose when you’re not feeling sick, “cleaning out” the colon in various ways… no, I can’t see what’s healthy or natural with any of that.
And can you see how the description on how to throw up and how to clean out your colon combined with the idea that all of this will make you feel lighter can be a really bad thing to read for someone with an eating disorder?