Thanks, Yogani.
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Originally posted by yogani
The discussion on "front and back" in spinal breathing does not originate in yoga and is not mentioned in the AYP writings either, except when Taoist approaches are being considered.
I tried to take pains to make that clear.
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It has been mentioned that spinal breathing like presented in AYP is "up and down the back." This is not true. The spinal nerve is more in the center of the body than in the back, and in the throat area it is right behind the back of the throat and esophagus
I'm sorry I chose the wrong word, but it really is just a matter of wording. Whether we say AYP spinal breathing occurs in the back or center, it's certainly a different thing from the front channel, which runs down the very front of the body. You know this yourself (e.g. you mention it here:
http://www.aypsite.com/plus/133.html ).
I've experienced a great deal of ecstatic radiance, my spinal nerve is well-awakened and expanded. But while my spinal channel is quite clear and smooth, and pranayama happens in what feels like a greased chute, I was having rather severe grounding problems (the yogic term for "front channel block"). Since I started AYP, I've been accumulating conditions and maladies that have made this issue clear to me. The block is NOT in my back...again, pranayama is smooth and wide, and kundalini shoots straight from mula to ajna, with no discernible impediment.
I've heeded your suggestion not to look under the hood, and I wholeheartedly agree with that approach in most cases. However, that approach didn't so much as budge the problem. I've removed and shortened practices to the bone, and I've tweaked diet and lifestyle, and I've given it not days or weeks but months and years....but symptoms haven't reduced in an enduring way.
So I spent the past months working single-mindedly on solving this problem, and my findings (per above) have brought relief. My symptoms are improving, and I'm able to meditate twice per day (instead of one 10 minute session/day). I agree that drawing distinctions and tracing pathways is not the optimal way to approach spiritual practice. But it's better than ceasing spiritual practice entirely. And it's worked where the "holistic" route of modifications to pacing, diet, etc., have not.
I've tried to make clear that this is a last-resort approach. But I'm very glad to offer it to those who need a last resort. And, finally, beyond all the theory, what amounts to a suggestion of transferring the feeling of a yawn to the base of the front of the throat strikes me as pretty uninvasive. Does it really seem so extreme? (what I went through to reach that suggestion, of course, is a whole other thing...but the same could be said of some of the experimentation you did before you came up with AYP, no?).