Practicing LDB and BF as a basic before starting KY sets.

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Message: 2

Sun, 09 Sep 2001 16:27:53 -0000

supertriangel

Re: When Will Something Good Happen???

 

Dear Steve,

 

You should look into the books of Gururattan and follow those sets.

 

Practical Books & Videos on Kundalini Yoga & Meditation. Also Meditation &

Mantra CDs.

 

Do the KY exercises 1 to 5 minutes and rest 1 to 5 minutes between.

 

The most important aspect is the breathing - long deep breathing (LDB) and

breath of fire (BF).

 

Long deep breathing:

 

You might want to practice LDB before starting a set. Sit with legs crossed and

wrists against the knees, then focus on expanding the diaphragm in the abdominal

area and solar plexus area as you start to inhale. At the same time apply an

inward pressure to your knees from your wrists to cause the downward focused

breath to expand into your chest area as your back begins to arch forward with

the continued inhalation. Focus on the expanding diaphragm from the bottom up

to the top as the air fills the lungs. Then exhale all the breath out. Do 5 or

6 breaths like this, then inhale and hold the breath, then exhale and relax.

 

As a second exercise, put your palms on your abdominal area and sniff air in

through the nostrils focusing the air into the abdominal area of the distending

diaphragm. Then put your palms on your ribcage below your chest and take a

second downward sniff of air in filling the middle area of your lungs as the

diaphragm distends further. Then put your palms on the upper part of the chest

and take a last sniff of air in filling the lungs entirely as you feel the

diaphragm distending to its top. Then with a downward motion of your palms to

the abdominal area exhale all the breath out. Take several LDB breaths in this

manner. Then on the last inhale hold the breath, then exhale and relax.

 

Before starting breath of fire, you should practice the use of the locks, which

are to be applied after most KY exercises.

 

The first lock is the root lock (mool bhand) "MB". It is done by pulling up on

the anus and sex organs and pulling in on the navel. The point where these meet

is called the Kandal, which is located between the navel and 4th vertebra, a

high voltage area that regulates the prana throughout the body field.

 

The reason for applying MB at the end of a KY exercise is that the following:

The areas related to each posture or movement in a KY exercise are brought under

pressure, which causes blood to saturate those areas. When the proper breath is

applied, especially when the lower part of the lungs, where most of the blood

sacks are concentrated, are filled with air, the blood circulating into these

areas becomes supercharged resulting in the nerves firing and the capillaries of

the related glands and organs opening, discharging toxins into the blood stream

and lymphs and then building a charge in the cells so that the organs and glands

begin to come up to their normal voltage and build a charge, much like

batteries. When you inhale and hold the breath, energy is released and has a

tendency to rush down and out of the body. In order to stop this downward flow

of prana (apana), we pull the MB, which brings the apana up to the Kandal area.

This Kandal is also the area that martial artists and Taoists call the chi.

 

The Kandal then circulates this energy into the spinal cord. You can notice

this, because as you pull MB, you also feel the tightening along the lower part

of your spine in the sacral squeezing upwards. Naturally the spinal cord can

carry considerable voltage, so that in the beginning you may not notice it. But

after some time you will, as the sensation begins to become hot, then electric,

etc.

 

We then practice the neck lock (jalandara bhand), which is the simple pulling

back and in of the chin. Not down or up or forcing (cramming) down, but

straight back, like you would see with a soldier coming to attention.

 

The reason for practicing the neck lock as well as MB is that as energy is

moving up the spine, there is a tendency for tension in the shoulders to block

the upward flow causing the energy to be released forwards, where the nerves are

weaker and unable to carry higher levels of voltage. With neck lock, you will

feel that the spine straightens and opens and the tension is completely

by-passed allowing the movement of the energy to flow upwards freely and easily.

 

Now that you have these locks in mind, you should practice a few more LDB

breaths as explained in the first exercise, then inhale hold and pull these

locks and feel how the energy moves freely and effortlessly.

 

Breath of fire:

 

As with LDB, breath of fire "BF" is generally done by breathing through the

nostrils.

 

Often people mistaken BF for bastrika, which is a shallow rapid even breathing

in and out through the nostrils. Others mistaken BF for Kapalabati, which is a

type of breathing where you forcefully exhale contracting the ribs and while

pulling the navel back towards the spine (usually along with MB), then relaxing

the lungs and letting the air flow back in naturally, as one breath which is

repeated forcefully for one to several minutes and has its own special benefits

in KY practice.

 

BF is also not an abdominal pumping where you distend and contract the abdomen

or even the abdomen with the solar plexus to rapidly pump that area.

 

Let's consider BF as an extension of LDB, where the diaphragm is used as one

side of a bellows, i.e., 2 boards with a canvas or leather sack and a hole for

air at one end. So too, the full length of the diaphragm makes up one side of

that bellows, not just the lower end (abdominal and solar plexus), or the middle

(ribcage) or upper end.

 

As with a bellows, if the air is shallow the fire before you will hardly ignite,

but when the pumping is done powerfully and rapidly, you will see the fire

become larger and gathering greater intensity. practicing BF in any posture or

movement you will feel the whole body field brighten and the mind becoming

clear.

 

So now we come to the practice of how to get into breath of fire.

 

Start by taking a powerful long deep breath, as the inhaling practice in LDB,

focusing the air downward, while arching the spine and ribcage forwards to fill

in the air throughout the lungs, then immediately contracting the breath out

forcing the navel to the spine. Then take another breath, but this time without

inhaling so completely nor exhaling so completely. Then gradually speed up and

reduce the fullness of the breath until you reach a natural rapid yet powerful

rhythm, where the full length of the diaphragm is expanding and contracting,

just like the full length of the board used for the thrusting of air in and out

of a bellows. You might liken this BF exercise to a steam engine locomotive,

where the first few chugs bring power to the wheels, but after the power is

built up the wheels seem to turn effortlessly. After a few minutes inhale

deeply, hold the breath, pull MB, arch the lower spine forwards, bring the chin

in (neck lock) and let the energy circulate upwards.

 

The next exercise, which completes the practicing of BF, is to sit cross-legged

with the spine straight and body and shoulders relaxed. Then start a very

shallow rapid breath where you just feel the breath just at your nostrils. At

the same time watch all the way along the length of the diaphragm the even and

complete rapid inwards and outwards rhythm. Once you feel relaxed in this

inhale a bit deeper and work with the pumping of the breath inwards and outwards

rapidly with that fuller breath. Again watch the full length of the diaphragm,

while maintaining the abdomen, the ribcage and shoulders and spine relaxed.

Once this feels natural and the body feels relaxed and loose, take again a

deeper breath and work with the pumping of that breath continuing gradually with

increasing increments of deeper fuller breaths in this manner until again you

have a very powerful and rapid breath called the breath of fire. Then inhale

hold the breath, pull MB, arch the lower spine forwards, bring the chin in and

feel the easy flow of energy consolidating in the Kandal and flowing to the

spine and upwards and out the top of the head (crown).

 

Now, you are ready to put your palms together at your chest (sternum) inhale and

chant Ong Namo (in the Name of the Creator) in one breath, then take another

breath and chant Guru Dev Namo (in the Name of that inner divinity {"Dev"

pronounced day with a slightly higher tone} that takes me from darkness to

light). Once the nerves are charged from the practice of LDB an BF, the body

field will vibrate to the sound of the opening chant.

 

If you start your KY sets like this, then you will have the recollection to do

the breathing and locks correctly throughout the KY exercises. If you relax

between the KY exercises a the minimal of half the time for each exercise with

10 to 15 minutes at the end to let the energy and glandular secretions entirely

circulate, then very soon you will feel intermittently (after the earlier

feelings of brightness coupled with numbness and fatigue as toxins come into the

blood stream and lymphs - drink plenty of water) - coolness, which is the nerves

purifying; heat, which is the organs and centers charging, with the nerves

carrying greater voltage between, then electricity and then an etheric sensation

within and throughout the body field so that gradually the distinction between

in and out fades.

 

Also, remember that the power of a meditation is not in the meditation itself,

but in the meditator. The part that sees and hears is the consciousness we call

"I." In any practice of any meditation hold (isolate) the seer. Then you will

feel the all-pervasive Universal Consciousness (Parbrahm Akal).

 

Kundalini is another word for Awareness, i.e., the Awareness of God, felt as

That single "I," the True Name, which illumines the body and mind (Sat Nam).

 

For more information, you can go to www.kundalini-matashakti.com.

 

Hope this was useful.

 

Pieter