Hi Lili:
Yes, it can happen that we have new purification symptoms or breakthroughs in experience with no change in practices. This is what yoga will deliver in time at any fixed level of practice.
In your case, it is a sense of separateness, which is a good sign of rising inner silence in your nervous system. It will integrate and feel normal soon enough and you will be able to go about your daily activities effectively with a stronger inner center of stillness, and getting stronger all the time. Bravo for that!
It can also happen that we may have purification symptoms that are more than we'd like. In that case, we will be wise to self-pace our practices, even if we have not added anything on lately.
The car analogy can help with understanding self-pacing. If we are driving along at a fixed speed (our current practices) and the road (our purifying nervous system) becomes bumpy or goes into a sharp curve (uncomfortable purification symptoms), can we continue driving at the same speed? Not in a car without increased risk, and not with practices either. In both cases we let up on the gas a bit until the road smoothes out, and then we can speed up again. This is safe driving, and we are least likely to end up getting banged up too much.
I am happy to see self-pacing coming up here as a dedicated topic. It is so important, and I hope others will share their stories relating to self-pacing too. It does not matter how advanced we are. The regulation of practices is always central to what we are doing in yoga, just like the gas pedal is in the car. In fact, the faster we are going, the more we need to be aware of the fine points of self-pacing.
Self-pacing is not only a factor for beginners. It is the constant reality for everyone at every level, whether adding on new practices or not. It is at the heart of AYP, because here we do not have to spend most of our time looking for practices -- we spend our time applying them. That really brings self-pacing to the fore, and our accelerated progress along with it.
The guru is in you.
Yogani
Edit PS -- Hi David. We posted simultaneously. Right on the beam there. Carry on everyone!