Hi everyone. I'm new here. I've studied Chinese qigong and meditation for a few years and just added some of the AYP practices a few months ago to impressive results. I'm really grateful that all this information is being presented in such a clear, matter-of-fact way.
I have a couple of questions about achieving nauli for anyone who's willing to help: I can get a pretty good vacuum effect with uddiyana by sucking the diaphragm up, but in my attempts to then push the abdominals forward I'm not completely sure I'm on the right path. After a few weeks of practice I find I'm better at isolating the abdominals from the obliques (which are supposed to remain sucked in but relaxed throughout, right?), but tensing the abdominals to make them go down and out seems to be in opposition to keeping the diaphragm up. Or is it precisely this opposition which intensifies the effect?
Regardless, if I try to push the abdominals out further, it has a tendency to make the diaphragm come down and thereby release everything. If I try tensing the abdominals with the diaphragm still up as much as possible, I see some movement in the abdominals but they don't come nearly as far forward as they do in pictures and videos I've seen of nauli. They just kind of twitch a bit. Using the pressing on the knees I can make the very top of the abdominals seem to come out just a bit, but it's a bit of a strain. Is it that I need to keep up this pressure until that bit at the top extends all the way down or is this barking up the wrong tree? Like I said, it's a bit of a strain , albeit not a terrible one--but I also don't want to be applying a lot of pressure in a way that isn't actually getting me closer to nauli.
It's also a bit confusing because some online descriptions of nauli say to "keep the obliques tense while releasing the central abdominals" or "squeeze the abdominals to push out by tensing the obliques," which is almost opposite of other descriptions, including Yogani's, which seem to point more toward tensing the abdominals while keeping the obliques relaxed but sucked in. I'm inclined to trust Yogani on this point, of course, but I'm just wondering if my understanding of this is correct.
Anyway, any tips on achieving nauli or more detailed info on what exactly is/should be going on with the various muscles involved would be much appreciated.