AYP Lesson 417 - Automatic Yoga Revisited

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Lesson 417 - Automatic Yoga Revisited (Audio)

From: Yogani
Date: July 7, 2010

New Visitors: 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: Several years ago I experienced spontaneous yoga asanas and mudras. I came to the conclusion it was a partial kundalini awakening. But I had not learned yoga previously, and had just been doing meditation for a few weeks when it started. I haven't found a master to guide me with this, so I left spiritual practices altogether. Any prayers or meditation, or even a thought, would trigger the asanas. I have just one big question, what are we suppose to do with it anyway? I read so many unpleasant, up to horrifying, stories on spontaneous kundalini awakening, with or without a guru, and I'm too scared to do anything with it, but also think there has to be a reason or a purpose.

A: Yes, there was energetic purification and opening going on there, with a sensitivity to any bit of bhakti (devotion) and quieting of the mind. It is not a bad thing. It is spiritual sensitivity. It is a matter of regulating your practice in a way that supports further growth without energy excess.

Movements are very common among spiritual practitioners at one stage or another along the path, though perhaps the degree of sensitivity you are describing is not so common. It can be worked through if you want to continue your unfoldment.

Gently favoring our structured practice routine over automatic yoga, plus self-pacing of practices as needed, are the keys in the AYP approach. This means not giving over to unrestricted automatic yoga, which can lead to uncomfortable excesses. So your inclination to back off practices was correct. But practices are not all or nothing, you know. If you resolve to find a balance, you can. If there is an over-sensitivity to deep meditation with mantra, a shift to meditation using breath as the object may be a smoother ride for you until obstructions have been cleared out a bit. Then the movements will subside and you can decide how to proceed with practices from that point. See Lesson 367 for more on measures for sensitivity issues.

Likewise, with kundalini, there is no reason to be fearful about it. It is evolutionary energy moving within us, and if we are prudent in practices and lifestyle, not taking anything to excess, the journey of purification and opening can continue with relative comfort and safety. There are many in the community of practitioners who are dealing with similar circumstances with good success.

The view we take in AYP is that automatic yoga is an effect of practices and/or kundalini awakening, not a primary cause of spiritual advancement. Such symptoms can be wide-ranging, or none at all. It depends on the inner process of purification and opening, which will vary from person to person (and at different times for the same person), according to the inner matrix of obstructions (karma) gradually being dissolved through practices.

Automatic yoga, and other "scenery" (visions, sensations, etc.) we may experience along the way are associated with the "friction" of energy passing through inner obstructions. As we continue with a self-paced, stable and comfortable practice routine over time, the friction/symptoms become less as the obstructions are gradually dissolved. Then our experiences become much more refined, blissful in stillness, and flowing as ecstatic outpouring divine love. As this progresses we find an increasing sense of Oneness inside and outside. This is the rise of the unending experience of unity and non-duality, which is freedom, even as we remain fully engaged in ordinary daily living. In this situation, we find we have more to give to those around us, and far beyond.

So these movements are a stage, one that can be navigated in a way that leads beyond the purification and opening occurring in the moment to a more refined stage, and to more quality in everyday living.

For more on the AYP approach to handling instances of automatic yoga, see these lessons:

Lesson 104 - Stubborn Energy Blockages
Lesson 183 - Movements and Automatic Yoga
Lesson 210 - Handling Automatic Yoga and Siddhis

For more lessons on automatic yoga, see "Automatic Yoga (and movements)" in the Topic Paths.

The guru is in you.