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Chiron
Russia
397 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 11 2016 : 7:45:11 PM
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Greetings friends,
Recently after about 11 years of practicing yoga I have finally been able to maintain the lotus posture for 3 hours in one sitting. I've read that in hatha yoga such a duration signifies mastery of an asana on the physical level. It took me a lot of hardship and pain to get here. I remember when just starting out even sitting for two minutes was extremely painful. And throughout the years sitting for even one hour required some effort. Recently though, some internal switch has been flicked and the pain has disappeared. I only have to break the posture because of the need to go to the toilet, not any other discomfort.
Diet-wise I am vegan, bordering on raw. Only cooked foods i eat are steamed veges. As for grains its mostly quick-rolled oats soaked in warm water for 5-10 mins. My staple diet is fruits, and a summer salad of spinach, cauliflower, tomatoes and home-made sauerkraut, sprinkled with olive and flaxseed oil for balanced Omega 3 vs Omega 6. I don't eat bread or any flour products, no dairy, no sugar. The only salt I consume is himalayan crystal salt. As for sex, I usually go a couple of months between emissions. All other times I finish without orgasm and ejaculation, using a variety of techniques but predominantly the PC muscle flex during intercourse. I say all these things because they have a big effect on my body and energy condition which I believe played a role in increasing the duration in padmasana.
Just sitting in this posture, even without any other practices, intensifies my internal energy feelings. I also believe it has played a major role in restructuring and reshaping my physical body. I practiced counter-postures and exercises whenever any part of my body started aching during the asana. Ie. if it was the hips I did splits. If it was the knees I did paschimottanasana. If it was the back that was aching I did the bridge posture etc.. and so on and so forth.
Now I am directing more attention to pranayama and breath retention practices, such as anuloma viloma. I am also practicing more with Frolov's trainer-inhalator. Since my asana level is ready I guess I can progress further? You could say I am taking my yoga practices really slow, indulging in every level. Of course I have done practices at many other stages of yoga, including some AYP practices, but now they are entering a new intensity. I am longing to go on a multi-week or even a multi-month meditation retreat which will be possible starting from the middle of this year when I move into a remote village home.
Anyway, I wonder if anybody has pursued a similar path in regard to padmasana and achieved a similar duration or longer? And what benefits have you derived from the practice and what are your goals in the future? I know its a bit of a hardcore practice and there may not be many like-minded practitioners, but there is always hope :)
Regards,
Chiron |
Edited by - Chiron on Feb 11 2016 9:43:30 PM |
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Holy
796 Posts |
Posted - Feb 17 2016 : 5:58:10 PM
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Hi Chiron,
nice to read from your success in this asana. Can you forget your body and the body remains stable in that posture or do you have to consciously correct it to keep it steady?
If you can forget the body, this would mean that one major factor to enter into samadhi has been mastered. Now the remaining part is mastery over the internal energies to make the rest of the moving components still.
To my own experience, you can handle the body-mind stillness via many approaches. Make the body still, the rest will also get still. Make the mind still, the rest will get still. Neutralize the breath currents, everything is still. If you have a practice that addresses all parts, full stillness will be faster and easier available, with this longer, deeper and more stable samadhis.
This body here has been spoiled by the AYP approach of taking the meditation seat with back support, sitting on a bed :P The good part is, you can forget the body more easily as nothing hurts, shorter samadhis can happen without problems. But due to the lack of more focused body-discipline, it can happen that the spine looses its erection in absorption and by this microadjustments aka movements do disrupt the perfect stillness unnecessarily often.
I still love it, but have tried an alternative seat with a heightening yoga cushion lately. Thanks to it, the spine was perfectly erect without any other requirements and the seat was automatically stable and still, leading to a third causal factor of entering into samadhi and that was quite a suprise! The problem here was the cushion, which was way too stiff and did hurt alot, making it impossible to sit for too long either :P
I'm already imagining a new type of seat ("samadhi for the modern comfort yogi LOL"), consisting of a two-layered mattress-like cushion, which does not hurt and heighten your upper body, allowing the legs to remain comfortable and pressure free. Any yoga-cushion-producer who is reading this? :D :P
The better way is still what you have done, although 11 years is a long time. What is your strategy to address the next limbs of yoga?
Thanks for your sharing,
peace and happy practice :) |
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Chiron
Russia
397 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2016 : 09:30:22 AM
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Hi Holy,
I don't forget the body for the whole duration. It happens in short intervals and this "forgetting" is driven by bliss which comes up from within. Although whenever I go deeper into meditation my attention is pulled back out and I become conscious of the body because of breath. So breathing is a major limiting factor for me right now :) Practicing with Frolov's trainer-inhalator, anuloma viloma and spinal breathing will be the main focus of my practices now.
Spinal breathing is one of my core practices which I picked up from AYP around the same time I started practicing padmasana. I have to admit I was a bit biased from the start vs the AYP sitting style. Although because of the padmasana practice I can now sit in siddhasana alot longer and much easier. I still prefer the former because it shows me much quicker where the blocks in my body are. Maybe its my bias speaking, but I feel padmasana generates a lot more bliss for me too. Although once you can feel energy you can probably do it in any posture just by being still and as long as the spine is straight.
It seems that the more hardship I go through in padmasana that the more bliss I can feel afterward. I wonder if this has anything to do with the body producing natural painkiller hormones. Of course the effect is not only physical, as the internal energy sensations in the chakras that I feel also intensify. A type of mild religious masochism with beneficial results. I'm not a fan of tapas that damages the body but as long as the effects are positive, and the body is developed instead, then I figure some degree of pain is acceptable in the process.
Does samadhi for you involve total cessation of breath? Have you done any tests on heart rate and brainwave patterns? And does it matter what kind of diet you are on, have you done it on fasting? Sorry for so many questions, its just that I'm very intrigued by the topic :)
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Edited by - Chiron on Feb 25 2016 6:45:36 PM |
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mdlr
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - Aug 01 2017 : 1:46:16 PM
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Because I don't see many posts about Padmasana for long hours. Can you please give suggestions to improve my Padmasana sitting time.
Presently I am able to sit about 50 minutes in Padmasana Meditation in a single stretch after 10 years of practice.
Recently I am able to sit about 1 Hour 5 Minutes in Padmasana two times (Not doing Meditation whole 1 Hour 5 Minutes but just sitting and doing on and off meditation).
After those two occassions, even not in the Padmasana I was forced to sit my spine erect for whole one week. Usually I sit slight bent.
Now I want to improve this Padmasana Meditation sitting time to more than 3 Hours for Asana Siddhi.
So now I am practicing this every day and based on the convenience and time I am doing twice and thrice a day. Please suggest and guide. Thanking you in advance. |
Edited by - mdlr on Aug 01 2017 3:28:04 PM |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4364 Posts |
Posted - Aug 01 2017 : 4:29:31 PM
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Hi Mdlr,
Welcome to the forums. 
If you want to improve the time that you are able to comfortably sit in any cross legged position, there are a number of asanas that can help. These are mostly hip openers such as badrasana (butterfly), virasana (hero), kapotasana (pigeon) with head towards the sky, hanumanasana (monkey pose) and so on. Also sitting toe touch and similar asanas will help to lengthen the spine.
These can all be done before your sitting practices.
As you may know, in AYP, siddhasana is the recommended pose to work towards, rather than padmasana. Siddhasana is light years ahead of padmasana in terms of energy cultivation and the same degree of purification can be attained in much less time.
You may find this lesson useful:
Lesson 75 - Siddhasana - Living in a Fountain of Ecstasy
If you have not reached siddhasana yet in the lessons, then you may find that half-lotus (ada padmasana) is more comfortable and just as effective as full lotus.
Christi
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mdlr
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - Aug 02 2017 : 11:09:58 AM
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Hi Christi,
I thank you for your suggestions. I feel more comfortable, stable and beyond that I enjoying sitting in Padmasana. I tried some other postures you mentioned but Padmasana is my favorite. So now I want to increase my sitting time in this Padmasana. I see Chiron's post on this Padmasana and seems he attained Asana Siddhi in it. So I posted in this thread started by him hoping that he could help me with his guidance and suggestions in improving my sitting time. Thank you.
Hi Chiron,
Can you please suggest. Thank you in advance.
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Edited by - mdlr on Aug 02 2017 12:08:31 PM |
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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1730 Posts |
Posted - Aug 03 2017 : 04:11:12 AM
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Hi mdlr
I wish you good luck in finding answers to your question.
One point I would like to make: Don't disregard Christi's advice before considering it properly. It's good to be focused on your goal, but sometimes it's even better to stay open to better options. It sounds like you don't have a teacher to guide your yoga practice. This means you are relying on trial and error more than other practitioners and more at risk to get stuck in a dead end. Listening to what more advanced practitioners have to tell you can be very useful. Perhaps in time you can find yourself a teacher or an established system of practice. There are a few online. AYP is one of them.
Back to your specific query, I wouldn't dismiss Siddhasana in haste. Padmasana is a nice posture and a very stable meditation seat, but it lacks the opportunities for manipulating the energy that Siddhasana offers. The pressure we apply at the root while in Siddhasana is a major help in training kundalini energy upwards. Some famous yogis have used siddhasana as their preferred meditation seat and the reason for that choice is obvious.
All the best on your path  |
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Dogboy
USA
2193 Posts |
Posted - Aug 03 2017 : 06:14:52 AM
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| You can also place a perineum ball (rolled socks, hacky sack, et al) at your root to simulate siddhasana. |
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