sequencing to extend Kumbhaka effortlessly

[Alvin Chan]

Thanks, Shanti and Yogani. Very detailed answer. It's a rather good news, since I won't have to practice that much for my whole life.

Another question: suppose I stop the additional practices for one week(or even more), and do only meditation. May be even stop meditation. Will I be going backward? Or just stop progressing without going backward. I am doing all my best to speed up the journey. But there can be, and WILL BE some VERY special days or even weeks which I can hardly practice except may be meditating.

I am asking since I've read some books which claim that the effects of our meditation will very quick be washed away if we don't meditation everyday. So there will be no use then. I would like to know if those authors are exaggerating, just to encourage people to meditate regularly.

My guess is that what we're learning in meditation is the skill of letting go. So that even if we stop for a few days, it would just take a very short while to recall that skills of letting go. Very much like: we don't have to start over again on how to ride bicycle after forgetting it a few years. We re-learn much faster, even though it's necessary to practice daily in order to have even better skills. Am I correct?

Alvin

[yogani]

Hi Alvin:

The fastest progress comes with long term stable daily practice, without too much overdoing or underdoing. Either one can bring disruptions in progress. This is why self-pacing is so important.

Jim can tell you about his experience when he stopped for a few weeks. His case is probably more dramatic than most, but illustrates the point.

Sure, there are times when we are all pinched for time, and we do the best we can with our practices. See lesson 209 for a detailed discussion on this -- http://www.aypsite.com/plus/209.html

The guru is in you.

[Shanti]

Hi Alvin,
Please don't stop meditation.. even if you don't have time for anything else.. don't stop meditation.. and if possible spinal breathing before that. Also, if energy levels get out of control or you just don't have the time, and you stop or slow down your other practices.. when you add them back on.. one at a time.. gently... whatever you add back seems bigger (that is the only word I can think of, to describes how I feel).
Go through lesson#18 and lesson#209.. they may help you.

[Alvin Chan]

It's not likely that I'll stop because of lack of time, just as I won't stop eating because of lack of time. But meditation and other pracitce requires an environment which I won't be disturbed. If I travel with my friend(s), it will be very annoying to them if I suddenly said" hey, I am going to meditate, so please don't disturb me for 20 mins!".

Now I enjoy 2 good sitting practices, both at home. That's very nice. In the future, or in any circumstances, maintaining the morning practice is still easy-- just wake up a bit earlier. But the afternoon one is not. In the coming year, I may be out from 9am to 9:30pm on week days. I'm not sure whether I can find a comfortable place to meditate without feeling rushed, and without making it too close to my dinner. The other option is to meditate at night, at home, which is also difficult to control sine my brother, whom I share a tiny room with, has a very irregular sleeping time. The room is so small that if I mediate, he just can't get in or get out.

For Americans, it would be easy as your houses are very large. Here the averge house is below 400 sq feets, for the whole family.

[Shanti]

Alvin,
Actually, how much space you have does not really matter. I have a big house.. but my house is always noisy.. with kids and a dog. They used to bother me, but now they are like any other distraction.. and I have seen lately there are times I don't even hear them. However, the best place I find to get privacy is the bathroom[].. now don't laugh.. When I have to work long.. I quietly sneak into the restroom.. and sit and meditate there for 10 mins.. I hope nobody is snickering here[:I]... At home, I have a walk in closet that I converted to a meditation room.. however.. if I really want privacy.. I still prefer the bathroom.. nobody ever disturbs you there.. Try it.. initially it may not seem right.. but if you get used to it, its not bad...
By the way, I am used to living in a small place.. it is the same in India.. we all had to all squeeze into a small apartment.. then, I did not meditate.. but my father always did.. in that 2 rooms we had.. so, if you think you want to do it, you will find a way..

[Shanti]

Well Melissa, at least I made you laugh[]..
 

quote:but actually hanging out in and interacting with spirits and etc. while sittin' on the john!

Now that sounds like fun[]...
I love my closet.. I have a mattress on the floor (from an old bed).. a pillow for my back.. a blanket for the cold mornings.. and Ma Kali on a table.. close the door and a nice cozy meditation room... would not give that up for the world...

[Jim and His Karma]

quote:Originally posted by yogani
[brJim can tell you about his experience when he stopped for a few weeks. His case is probably more dramatic than most, but illustrates the point.

Here's the discussion. Hard to say, btw, whether my case was more dramatic than most people's, or if I was just a bit more sensitive to the backtracking than most people.

http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/index.php?topic=750&SearchTerms=lapse,jim

[tantien]

Hi Alvin:

I'm on my 93rd day of AYP meditation,and even though I can't report any events with lots of fireworks or deep inner silence, I can certainly say the effects I feel between sittings are good,stable and smooth.I haven't missed a session and would not even consider letting it happen. I live in a small house with my wife,9 year old son, and dog pepper, and they have all gotten used to and respect for my twice daily 25 min. sitting.

By the way I use earplugs and I find they really help eliminate the distractions. Also, I have found that meditation in my car is a place where I'm never interrupted.

I wish you all the best and hope you stick with it.

Guy

[Alvin Chan]

robertjames wrote:

quote: I live in a small house with my wife,9 year old son, and dog pepper, and they have all gotten used to and respect for my twice daily 25 min. sitting.

You are very lucky then. My family is not as considerate. They will disturb me even if they know I don't want to be disturbed. Not that they will talk to each others, which I don't mind. But they will ask me questions, making requests, etc. So I usually lock my door, if I could, and ignore whatever they said during my meditation. I can then be sure that they will not be able to touch me even if I ignore them. This is the only way which I can meditate peacefully without worrying too much. But as I share my room with my brother, it's not always possible to lock it.

Shanti, I don't think the bathroom is a bad idea. Not at all! But when 7 family members share 1 bathroom, each of them drink quite a lot, you could see that my bathroom is actually one of the busiest room!!

I tried meditating at night in a public garden right beside my home. This is the place which is always available with no one disturbing me.  But my mind keep producing images of someone attacking and robbing me if I go deep. Not very peaceful.....

[nearoanoke]

Bathroom is a very nice place to meditate. Wherever you go, you can find one. And nobody disturbs you there

[Alvin Chan]

Thanks, Jim. So do you think you had lost years of practice when you just stop for a week? "old stuff bubbles up" for a short while is not that serious in the long one. But if we have to start over again just by stopping one week, that's very frustrating.... If we can't carry our practices even to the next week, what reasons are there to believe that we can carry it to another life-time?

[Jim and His Karma]

Alvin, I didn't say that. I did say that I'm guessing it takes about 3 or 4 times the length of the gap to get back. Maybe a little more, though it's hard to tell.

I didn't say - and certainly don't believe - one has to start from scratch. But I'm absolutely sure of one thing: the mud builds up pretty quickly if we're not religiously wiping it away.

[Alvin Chan]

ic. Thanks. I'm just asking, and i didn't mean you said that. Probably you said that in your reply since I don't find that in the first post of that thread.

3 or 4 times. That's not too bad.

[Jim and His Karma]

Ah, sorry, Alvin, I see I misread.

There's one really critical point....I've said it a couple times but it bears repeating: when you stop practicing, and the old conditioning starts to come back, it feels "normal", because all the old ways of feeling and being are so familiar to us. That's in stark contrast to the effect of doing yoga, where every tiny infinitessimal opening brings such unfamiliar feelings.

So we can't go forward too much too fast without feeling overwhelmed and shooken up. But we can back slide very far indeed without hardly even noticing. It's like a ratchet wrench, and it's a dangerous and precarious thing. If you slack up in your practice, you can slide much much further back than you'd ever imagine without hardly even realizing. And you sure don't slide forward with the same speed and ease!

[Alvin Chan]

um...It makes sense. Thanks, Jim.

Jim, I know you had been trying many different practices before, may be on and off, and completely off now. Do you think you have wasted your time? (because their effects, if different from the AYP you're doing now, should go away already)