--- In AYPforum@yahoogroups.com, "Richard" > Hello David
> Thanks for your reply. At first I had a lot of difficulty with the
> pressure of breath as I think I have quite a large lung capability,
> now I have learned that you can block the breath to some extent with
> the chest while still letting enough through by holding the
Hello Richard,
if you are having 'problems with the pressure of breath' watch out to
see if you are over-inhaling. A 'full' inbreath is not meant
literally in the sense that you take in as much as you possibly
can. 'Full' is still a relative term here, not an absolute one. The
breath should still be quite natural, but full (relatively). Think
about it --- we never take in a strictly full breath spontaneously.
If you have too much pressure, consider if you need to breath in a
little less.
> Sometimes I get all the bells and whistles flashing lights etc but I
> am not sure if this is being caused by pressure on the optic nerve.
The pressure on the optic nerve (or rather retina, I think) does
cause some flashing or glowing light. Traditionally this is looked on
as the 'light of God'. We can rush in there with our science
knowledge and say that it is 'just' nervous activity, not the 'light
of God'. But what part of our nervous activity is not the 'light of
God'? It's all the light of God. So looking on it as a sacred light
can be helpful in context. From an advaita point of view, we'll
never see anything anywhere that isn't the energy of God. Same with
the 'sounds' that the nervous system makes, which can be listened to
as the sound of God.
So here's a suggestion to people: if someone does see some flashing
light, let them 'pretend' it is the Light of God, which it is, even
if it *is* caused by the pressure on their nerve. No harm 'pretending' that
something that is true, is true if you need to. Hopefully in the
long run, it might help you *stop* pretending that any of the other light you
have ever seen is not the Light of God.
Blessings,
-David