Regarding the Speed of different types of Yogas

[Guest guest]

[Just "thinking aloud". Or perhaps it should be "writing aloud"?]

 

There are many, many different types of Yoga (Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti

Yoga, Karma Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Bindu Yoga, Nada Yoga, Kama

Yoga, Anna Yoga, Tantra Yoga, Yantra Yoga, Laya Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, etc).

Therefore, there is ample provision for a wide variety of paths, to the

same ultimate goal. The "many rivers merging into the one sea" or "many

mountain paths reaching the one summit" paradigms/analogies naturally

spring to mind.

 

Consequently, it cannot easily be stated in absolute terms that any one

Yoga is necessarily and automatically "faster" or "better" than another.

It depends on several factors.

 

* A good student is as important as the type of Yoga.

* A good teacher is as important as the type of Yoga.

* A good target/aim is as important as the type of Yoga.

* A good environment is as important as the type of Yoga.

 

Given a good teacher, student, environment, and goal, the choice of which

Yoga to follow is dependent on the particular characteristics of the

individual. For example, people have different inherent (or natural)

interests/skills and these can be matched to a specific choice of Yoga

systems. That is, corresponding to one's abilities there will exist Yogas

that are natural, easy, enjoyable, and beneficial. There is no need for

any kind of struggle with any types of Yoga that are not suitable for one's

character. People may want to develop via any one or more of the

following: exercises, meditation, devotion, action, Kundalini, sound,

food, philosophy, arts, sciences, etc. It is acceptable to take what works

for you from the many Yogas that are available.

 

Heath is the first happiness since without health no other happiness can be

properly enjoyed. Exercise, breathing, concentration/meditation,

relaxation, cleansing, and purification are the fundamentals. Once a path

has been chosen for a student, the teacher contributes about 1% (the

theory; the inspiration), while the student contributes about 99% (the

practice; the perspiration). The main requirements for students is

gentleness and patience.

 

Hari Om.

 

Bhavin.

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam Bhavin,

 

And thanks for your contrast and comparison of our teacher's Kundalini Yoga

to the many other choices out there, after all "Truth is one, paths

are many".

 

"A few years ago, it could take about an hour to reach such a meditation

state. Over the past few months it has been occurring progressively more

quickly and a few minutes is often sufficient. Recently some of the

initial symptoms have been occurring within just a few seconds."

 

--Bhavin, maybe you could relate and compare some of these experiences to some

of your KY experiences, since that is our point of reference for

this board in general.

 

For someone who meditates alot (and I do), many of the symptons (not all) are

common, whether its Kundalini, Zen, Vipassana etc..

For instance loss of time reference '5 minutes could be sixty', one pointedness

at the brow center, ....

 

'Speed' of yoga. In addition to Kundalini, I also practice Hatha sporadically,

and have done some Ashtanga. 'Speed' of yoga based on raising

Kundalini is much faster than either of the other 2 yoga's I've done.

Its also telling, that the many Hatha and Ashtanga students at the school I

attend for teacher training, are quite blown away, when trying to keep

up in a typical Kundalini class. For the same reason, I feel like I haven't

really done 'enough' when I just go to a Hatha class.

 

Sat NAm

 

Brad

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam Brad, Bhavin and all,

When you start teaching Kundalini yoga the speed

increases even more. This is a must experience.

 

Have a good one.

 

Sincerely yours

Hari Sant Singh

 

Give up your sense of mine and yours and become the dust of the feet of all. God

resides in every heart.

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Brad,

 

Perhaps I should explain a bit further for clarification. I have practiced

Yoga since the age of 8 and I am now 40. I learnt from books initially

until I met my Yoga Teachers a few years later. I have been teaching for

over 20 years. I am Gujarati and Hindu, and live in England near London.

My Yoga Teachers were Jack Boulton and John More (who were English and

Christian) in United Kingdom. Their Teacher is Swami Dev Murti Ji (who is

Punjabi and Sikh) in India. I met Swami Ji's Teacher Shri Vishwa Nath Yati

Ji (ie my Great Grand Teacher) once in my life in Dehradun, India, and at

that time he was about 150 years "young". Swami Ji's Yoga is essentially

Kundalini Yoga with practical and beneficial aspects of other types of

Yoga. Yoga should be regarded as an integral path, the various types are

merely facets of the same shining diamond. Each facet has its use and

purpose. The whole of Yoga is greater than even the summation of its

separate parts.

 

My first spontaneous Kundalini experience was in 1986 at Nottingham

University (while studying for an MPhil in Mathematical Logic), but I did

not know what it was at the time. The experiences that I described in "A

Meditation Session", a few posts ago, are exactly the results of Kundalini

Yoga practices. I thought it would be useful to the group to know about my

experiences.

 

In the past few days I have noticed an additional activity where the spine

becomes extremely rigid, straight, and vertical, even more so than my

normal upright sitting position. This is similar to the way a hosepipe

becomes straight when water starts to flow through it. After a few more

minutes the base of the spine starts vibrating (or "shivering") from left

to right. This causes a side-to-side wave motion from the base to the

head. Similar to a sinusoidal wave in mathematics. If I try to "assist"

this motion then it dissipates to nothing very quickly, but if I relax then

it continues strongly of its own nature. This feature also applies to

other Kundalini activity in that any conscious effort to "assist" tends to

reduce the symptoms whereas relaxation (physical and mental) allows the

symptoms to manifest themselves without any intentional effort.

 

Another symptom, which I have had for a long time, was not initially

identified as a Kundalini symptom until recently. My hands would be open

and then suddenly a pattern of finger movements begins where each finger in

turn bends towards the palm. If the index, middle, ring, and little

fingers are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 respectively then the pattern is a

continuous repetition of 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-3-2.

 

I recognise that these are only initial symptoms and should be distractions

from the unhindered progress of Kundalini and its ultimate aim.

 

Regarding your second paragraph shown below, all the Yogas are natural

(having come from Nature). Other systems (including the ones that you

mentioned) throughout the world have also been based on Nature. Due to the

common source it is a natural consequence that there should be many

similarities in essence, and differences only in local/geographical

details.

 

Sat Nam. Vahe Guru.

 

Bhavin.

 

--------------------------------

> Brad Greenstreet <sixthchakra

> Re: Regarding the "Speed" of different types of Yogas

> <<<snip>>>

>

> --Bhavin, maybe you could relate and compare some of these experiences

> to some of your KY experiences, since that is our point of reference

> for this board in general.

 

> For someone who meditates a lot (and I do), many of the symptoms (not

all)

> are common, whether its Kundalini, Zen, Vipassana etc..

> For instance loss of time reference '5 minutes could be sixty',

> one pointedness at the brow center, ....

> <<<snip>>>

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