Lesson 42 - Pranayama Q&A – Is this natural?

From: Yogani
Date: Thu Dec 11, 2003 5:16pm

New Members: It is recommended you read from the beginning of the
archive, as previous lessons are prerequisite to this one. The first
lesson is, "Why This Discussion?"

Q: I am struggling to incorporate all the pieces involved in the
spinal breathing, and am not getting much out of it so far. It seems
contradictory to your repeated mention of how "natural" these
practices are supposed to be. It is certainly different from
meditation, which I find to be very easy and enjoyable. Is pranayama
supposed to be easy and enjoyable too?

A: Yes, pranayama will become easy. And enjoyable is an
understatement. Ecstatic is a better description for what pranayama
becomes. It may take some time to get it together though. Take your
time building up to it. Give it a fair chance in your regular
practice, and you will not regret it. There will be help coming in
the form of new elements of practice that will make pranayama much
more pleasurable to do. You will learn how to light everything up
from the inside. But first things first. Get the basic habits of
practice in place. Over time, it gets progressively easier and more
enjoyable. Meditation is easy and enjoyable from the start for most
people. With pranayama, it might take a little longer.

Is pranayama natural? There is no doubt that pranayama, with all of
its supplementary pieces, is a complex practice, and it may not feel
natural at the start. However, as with meditation, pranayama is
tapping a natural ability inherent in us. In the case of meditation,
it is the mind's natural ability to become quiet and experience pure
bliss consciousness. Just set up the proper condition in meditation
and the mind becomes quiet all by itself. In the case of pranayama,
we are tapping the nervous system's natural ability to refine and
become ecstatically radiant from within. Setting up the initial
conditions takes more doing. But once we have taken the necessary
steps through pranayama, the condition of ecstatic radiance comes up
naturally. Once it gets going, it is completely automatic. It is then
that you know without any doubt that your body was designed to
sustain divine ecstasy – quite a revelation. Just as inner silent
bliss consciousness is our natural state brought up through
meditation, so too is ecstatic radiance our natural state brought up
through pranayama. Once stimulated through pranayama, ecstatic
radiance deepens in meditation. Pranayama cultivates the soil of our
nervous system to the point where meditation is capable of yielding a
dynamic flowering of pure bliss consciousness. Pranayama enables the
silent seed we are awakening in meditation to grow into ecstatic
radiance, and this overflows generously into our daily life.

The objective here is to structure the advanced yoga practices to be
as easy as possible, and be pleasurable and fun. Otherwise, not many
will want to bother with it. Patient persistence will sometimes be
required during formative stages of practice. With your ongoing
commitment to daily practice, experiences will keep advancing. In
time, you will be rushing to get to your meditation seat, because the
ecstasy coming up there will be so great. Then, before you know it,
the ecstasy will be everywhere. The whole world will be transforming
before your loving eyes.

The guru is in you.

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