About SPB and breath restriction

[SuryaDeva]

Hi mathurs

What could be the overload effects?.. I've been doing similar practice to the one amirabhat described and I'm not feeling too well. However I have other reasons why I might be having these symptoms, so I'm trying to understand what's happening.

What happens if somebody does too much pranayama? Are the side effects the same for everybody or vary from person to person?..

[mathurs]

Hello Suryadeva,
Yes Overload could affect differnt people differently and to different degrees depending on how sensitive one is.
But to me overload will mean feeling irritable, mood swings maybe, headaches, dizzy spells etc. Basically any changes to your normal temperament and health that are uncomfortable. These effects could be delayed as well- not necessarily immediate.

The spinal breathing practice is quite an advanced practice in itself.

[Shanti]

quote:Originally posted by SuryaDeva

.

What happens if somebody does too much pranayama? Are the side effects the same for everybody or vary from person to person?..

It feels like being on the edge after having 10 cups of espresso.
If you are used to having a few cups of espresso a day you don't feel too out of sorts, if you are not used to even a cup of espresso then you are bouncing off the walls.
Too much pranayam will affect people based on how sensitive they are to energy... some who think they are not sensitive also get affected by it, they just don't realize it, they don't feel the movement, but they do react to it by getting angry, irritated, antsy, anxious, stressed. People who are sensitive feel all of that and feel it in their nerves as well, they may feel jumpy, shaky, dizzy. Does this help?

[SuryaDeva]

Thank you Shanti and mathurs

It does help a lot. I was browsing the forum yesterday and found lots of posts of people describing getting irritable and angry. I always thought of myself as not being too sensitive to energy, so I think I definitely caused massive overload - I have to read the lessons again because I remember I had this issues before too...

A week ago I re-started my regular practice after a long break and I did a lot of pranayama in the morning - it was such a crisp refreshing air (unusual for where I live) that I couldn't get enough of it - it felt so amazing... But next day I decided that I have to paint the house because it started to bother me that it looks so old and ugly - so I had some intense argument with my husband and felt very unsettled since then...

I see now that it was WAY too much for the first day so I'll try to be more careful[]

SD

[trimurtiyoga]

I do Pranayama Yoga (Breathing Exercise) on a regular basis. It helps me to slow my racing heart, clear my emotions and bring rational thinking back online. It takes a lot of time to master this exercise, but    once you master-it; it helps u to concentrate more on your day to day activity.

[amitraghat]

Hi mathurs & Suryadeva,
                                            Let me clarify  things here. I do spinal breathing as a warm up to Pranayam. No bandh. Nothing. Just moving my attention up & down my spine in tandem with my rising and falling breath. Then, in one full intake i do moolbandh and retain the breath in my lungs visualising the movement of kundalini up my spine. During this period i do moolbandh with sambhavi in Siddhasan. Slowly i exhale and expel the whole air from my body. I remain like this and then again inhalation and moolbandha.
Now i have been feeling a crawling, whirring sensation on the top of my head. Once the sensation moved down over my face, my throat and my chest. It was amazing.
But i never had any unpleasant experiences. No irritation and no mood swings. Of course i meditate after pranayam and i lie down in shavaasan trying to keep my mind blank. No thoughts. I feel this is important.
But please do reply. Its only with the help of these discussions and mutual help and concern that we could help each other.
regards everyone. Please reply.

[Shanti]

quote:Originally posted by amitraghat

Hi mathurs & Suryadeva,
                                            Let me clarify  things here. I do spinal breathing as a warm up to Pranayam. No bandh. Nothing. Just moving my attention up & down my spine in tandem with my rising and falling breath. Then, in one full intake i do moolbandh and retain the breath in my lungs visualising the movement of kundalini up my spine. During this period i do moolbandh with sambhavi in Siddhasan. Slowly i exhale and expel the whole air from my body. I remain like this and then again inhalation and moolbandha.
Now i have been feeling a crawling, whirring sensation on the top of my head. Once the sensation moved down over my face, my throat and my chest. It was amazing.
But i never had any unpleasant experiences. No irritation and no mood swings. Of course i meditate after pranayam and i lie down in shavaasan trying to keep my mind blank. No thoughts. I feel this is important.
But please do reply. Its only with the help of these discussions and mutual help and concern that we could help each other.
regards everyone. Please reply.

So you are doing spinal breathing first followed by I guess something like yoni mudra, without the things we do with our fingers in yoni mudra, correct?
http://www.aypsite.com/plus/91.html
 

quote:Now, with our closed eyes in third eye nudged mode, we go up inside the spinal nerve with our inhalation from the perineum to the point between the eyebrows. When our lungs are full and our attention is at the top of the spinal nerve at the point between the eyebrows, we close our nostrils on the outside with our two middle fingers pressing from either side of the nose. At the same time we keep the index fingers in place pressing the eyes gently toward the point between the eyebrows. Also, at the same time, we lift our tongue to the roof of our mouth, sealing off the mouth inside so no air can escape through there. Now we are holding our breath. But we are not holding it with the epiglottis in our throat, as we normally would. Instead, we allow the air pressure from our expanded lungs to come up easily into our nasal passages and sinuses. This is not a big pressure, only a small one. We don't push it up there. We just let the natural pressure of our filled lungs be up there. Our middle fingers and tongue block our nose and mouth, so no air can escape.

What you are experiencing with the crawling in the head and the energy moving down to throat etc, is good. And as you say, you don't feel any overload symptoms, so that is good too. If you start feeling heavy headed or dizzy or pressure (headaches) then back off, or if during the day you feel any of the overload symptoms, then back off... else you are doing good
The only thing I would add is if possible, add some meditation to your routine. The shavasana that you do after your pranayama sounds like meditation, but you will greatly benefit from adding a formal practice of this, http://www.aypsite.com/plus/13.html
Wish you all the best.

[mathurs]

Amitraghat,
Yes thanks for clarifying. As Shanti says no overload - no issues. The rest of your routine sounds good as well.
Howlong is the warm up and how long is the Pranayama itself?

[SuryaDeva]

Amitraghat

My practice is different from yours in that I did alternate nostril breathing with breath retention (14 sec inhale/exhale  and 7 sec hold after both inhale and exhale of total 10 cycles) and visualizing the energy moving up and down the spine like in SBP with mulabandha and sambhavi mudra. I did not do them consecutively like you've been doing your pranayama practice.

I've been practicing  alternate nostril breathing for quite a long time before AYP so it felt rather natural to me to just combine these two techniques like that. However breath retention is not recommended in SBP and now I think I understand why[:I] I oftentimes do everything in excess including pranayama so it's just the way I learn I guess...
I did this for a week or so and felt great - my body was filled with light every morning when I was doing my practice and I got abundant energy from it - it felt like I did few lines of coke (pardon me this comparison[}:)])...
But is it really why I want to do yoga and pranayama?... To get high off of it?.. My husband brought it to my attention that I was acting like an complete asshole towards him otherwise I wouldn't even notice that something is wrong because I was on such an ego trip... Sorry for TMI...

So I decided to stop all my experiments and follow the AYP lessons strictly from now on because I don't know what I'm doing apparently:)

Much love
SD

[amitraghat]

Hi Suryadeva,
                        Seems you are doing a variation of anulom-vilom. I remember reading a lesson by Sri Yogini in which he was of the opinion that when we are doing spinal breathing, there is no need to do anulom-vilom or nadi shodhan.
What we are seized with here is hath yoga. It is an intensely spiritual practise that aims to realise and perhaps visual the Supreme. Pranayam is not getting on a high. You can get on a high more easily by several substances or drugs. The "high" in pranayam is a sign on your road to self realisation. So bhakti, as we understand it in India, is the bed rock of yoga. People do pranayam/yoga without any spirutual grounding or psychology and end up making a mess of themselves. That is why mantras have also been incorporated in hath yog practices.. Please read the marvellous treatise on hath yoga. Its hathyoga pradeepika available on wikisource.
I hope my humble thoughts would be of some help.
                    regards.