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Easy Lessons for Ecstatic Living Books.
Lesson 183 - Q&A Movements and automatic
yoga
From: Yogani
Date: Sat May 8, 2004 8:10am
New Members: It is recommended you read from the beginning of the web archive, as previous
lessons are prerequisite to this one. The first lesson is, "Why
This Discussion?"
Q: I have started to do yoni mudra kumbhaka and dynamic jalandhara along with spinal
breathing and meditation. During meditation I find sudden jerks in some parts of my body
like my hand moves involuntarily and most times upper part of my body moves towards the
ground. These movements are sometimes distracting. Just want to know if this is normal or
am I doing anything wrong.
A: Yes, the jerks are normal. It is energy opening inner pathways. The movements will
reduce as the pathways open and offer less resistance.
Sometimes movements point to "automatic yoga" positions. For example, if you
feel compelled to go down to the mat with your head and torso while sitting, this is the
sushumna (spinal nerve) wanting to stretch itself for more purification. If you do some
maha mudra as part of your asanas before pranayama and meditation it can help pre-empt the
tendency during sitting practices. The basic version of this is a sitting toe grab with
legs out straight and head toward knees with chin toward chest. Or, if your head and torso
irresistibly want to go down during sitting practices, then let them for a few minutes. Or
you can let yourself go into it for as long as necessary at the end of your sitting
practices. It is a natural expression of the connectedness of yoga through your nervous
system.
Obviously, we don't want to interrupt our sitting practices too much with spontaneous yoga
positions, but sometimes these things happen, so we let them if the urge gets to be strong
enough. The best way to minimize movements in pranayama and meditation is with a good set
of asanas before we start. And, if the movements become too much, we do as we always do
when symptoms of purification become excessive. We use self-pacing in our practices and
back off for a while until we find stability in our routine, and continue from there. When
we hit a few pot-holes in the road, we slow down until the road smoothes out again.
The occasional jerks are common at certain stages of development, and a sign of
purification going on. Milestones on the road to enlightenment!
The guru is in you.
Note: For detailed
instructions on building a balanced daily practice with self-pacing, see the
AYP Eight Limbs of Yoga book.
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