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TensorTympani
USA
62 Posts |
 Posted - May 30 2023 : 3:55:37 PM
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I'm currently reading Yogani's book on diet and shatkarmas. In it he writes regarding practices involving the internal flushing with water:
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However, this is not a routine for beginning yoga practitioners, nor needed for advanced practitioners with ecstatic conductivity well established. The shatkarmas are most useful for spiritual purposes in the middle stage cultivation of ecstatic conductivity, done in conjunction with a full yoga routine.
So, I'm wondering how one is to evaluate the state of ecstatic conductivity. Did Yogani write something about "ecstatic conductivity milestones"?
I will write below some of the things I noticed in myself which very likely all result from standard AYP sitting practices I have been doing for about a year. Maybe some more experienced practitioners here could comment on whether they have experienced similar things and maybe what to expect in the future?
For me personally, the intensity and realism of the sensations of prana during SBP has been significantly increased over the course of nearly a year. I can easily feel it in my spine during normal daily activity if I slightly shift my awareness into the spine. Sometimes this happens automatically, for instance during running, when I often notice prana going up and down the spine synched with my breath, but without making any effort to keep it going. Seemingly unrelated to the sensations of prana, many areas on my body have (quite entertainingly) started to become erogenous to the point where I can achieve an orgasm by stimulating them (for example, applying light pressure to a point a few cm below the navel, or to any point on the lower spine).
So I'm wondering, what else does ecstatic conductivity entail for long-time practitioners for whom ecstatic conductivity is "well established"?
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Dogboy
USA
2193 Posts |
Posted - May 31 2023 : 03:05:06 AM
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Hello Tensor
I don’t know how long you have experienced conductivity, but from what you have described it sounds as if your ecstatic body has matured and sounds well established. AYP lessons allude to the possibility of 24/7 bliss. Six years in, I find gentle touch and intention/attention (especially on multiple particular spots) arousing also, albeit not with intention of orgasm, simply for arousal. Right now we have thepotential to arouse 24/7 with our attention, but it is not automatic, so obviously we need to continue to mature with our DM practice so that we may experience our true potential.
I should add that increased silence in your everyday, in a conductive body, surely establishes your foundation. I have been blessed with white noise in my left brain which guru has assigned to inner silence. It dissolves without attention, and with it volume increases, envelopes. If you feel in Samyama, you are well established. Silence is the medium for sensations. |
Edited by - Dogboy on May 31 2023 05:17:34 AM |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4364 Posts |
Posted - May 31 2023 : 2:28:02 PM
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Hi Tensor,
There are various stages that we progress through as ecstatic conductivity develops. The earlier stages often do not involve ecstasy. These are the stages where prana is beginning to move upwards in the body, and the chakras and nadis are beginning to open and become active, but we have not yet experienced any ecstasy. There are many symptoms that often come before ecstasy is experienced, such as shaking, involuntary yoga movements, heat in the body, energy moving, and so on.
With regards to basti, or colonic irrigation, the stage when this becomes useful is the stage when digestion begins to slow down. As the upward flow of prana becomes stronger, the downward flow will tend to become weaker. It is the downward flow that is responsible for things like digestion and defecation. So, if you feel that you digestion has become sluggish as a result of your spiritual practices, and things are not moving through as they should be, then basti can be a very useful practice.
It can take some time to get used to, but once we have passed the initial clunky stage, it does not take long to flush out the large intestines with water. When the large intestines are flushed out, this will help things to move through the smaller intestines as well. The practice leaves us feeling light and clean.
And then there is a stage in the process of kundalini where the upward flowing currents and downward flowing currents become balanced again, and digestion will go back to normal. So, then basti is not needed anymore.
If you begin practising basti too early, or continue when it is no longer necessary, there is no harm done to the body. So, it is not a big deal.
In terms of the development of ecstatic conductivity over the long-term, it does often start out as a connection between two places in the body. It will be present at times and absent at other times. These events are sometimes referred to as "kundalini rushes". Then, it will tend to gradually expand to include other parts of the body, eventually filling the whole body. Attention is related to this, as you have noticed, with the increased ability to cultivate ecstasy throughout the body, with only the attention. Eventually, ecstasy begins to expand beyond the body, affecting others around us.
It is always changing, depending on what is goin on, sometimes being stronger, and at other times less strong. Sometimes it is quite coarse and at other times is very refined and subtle. There is a stage where ecstasy, joy and love begin to merge.
Christi |
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TensorTympani
USA
62 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2023 : 12:30:58 PM
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Hi Dogboy,
Thanks for your reply and some glimpses into your stage of ecstatic conductivity! It's interesting to hear some examples of long-term practitioners. Yeah, Yogani is alluding to a lot of things which are not believable to me (like levitation). But "24/7 bliss" is something Yogani is not just alluding to but is kind of predicting to be a generic outcome of continued practice. While it seems quite unimaginable to me how life will feel like in this stage, I guess it was similarly unimaginable to me two years ago how I would feel today. So I'm very excited about the prospects :)
I also made quite some progress with the bliss aspect too. During my DM and Samyama I routinely (for about 3 months or so) end up in deep bliss states which often last 10-20 mins even after the rest phase. I encountered this bliss state during my first Ayahuasca ceremony without any intention or effort. And I happened to arrive in this state in all subsequent aya trips. My DM and Samyama bliss still doesn't get close to the depth and robustness of the aya-induced states, but I can see that this might just be a matter of practice. During these aya trips the bliss state was accompanied by a "knowing" that this state is "the natural state" and therefore should be attainable without psychedelic help, which let me try out meditation and pranayama techniques, until a series of lucky coincidences made me land here 
Dear Christi,
Thanks for your insightful reply. Indeed, I started reading the book on diet and shatkarmas because I noticed something odd with my digestion. For 3-4 months now I can only eat two meals per day, and even those two meals are smaller than what I used to eat. If I eat more I feel bloated and discomfort in my stomach. However I don't have problems going to the toilet, so I think basti is not something I need at the moment.
In these 3-4 months despite the drastic change in food intake I did not loose any weight, as if, as you say, digestion and metabolism simply had slowed down. I'm wondering if and when I will return to "normal", since I'm kind of missing eating a lunch 
At the end of my sitting practices during rest I do feel something that somewhat matches the amrita "symptoms": I feel something drop-like moving from Bindu to my brow (within my head) and then down the nasal cavity and throat into my stomach. It's very fascinating to "watch", especially because it's one of these recurring things that make it hard to treat these meditation experience as mere hallucinations. But I have a hard time believing that these amrita-like sensations should have anything to do with a slowdown in my metabolism. But it doesn't seem to matter what I believe for these things to happen. It's all very fascinating...
I noticed that several practices foster this "connection between two places in the body" aspect. For instance, when the tongue touches the nasal septum during kechari I sometimes have this sudden identification happening of the line-like feeling of the septum and the line-like feeling of the spine. Another one I noticed is the line-like feeling in the stretched out leg and the stretched spine in the neck during Mahamudra. There are plenty of these momentary identifications happening.
Regarding spreading of ecstatic conductivity into other parts of the body, I recently noticed my palms and soles of my feet getting mildly ecstatic. Tapping them or concentrating on them can send small ecstatic shivers up the body. I noticed it first in the feet when I did cosmic samyama a while ago (which I do quite irregularly sometimes in the evening in bed). It's much more subtle than the sensations in the spine at the moment. But fascinating stuff 
So, Christi, if I may ask, are you in this 24/7 ecstatic bliss state with joy and love merging? And given your long history and activity here in this forum, have you heard of many people in this forum that they reached this state?
Christi, Dogboy, thanks a lot for being here. It's really amazing to have this kind of support. |
Edited by - TensorTympani on Jun 03 2023 1:47:03 PM |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4364 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2023 : 1:54:16 PM
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quote:
So, Christi, if I may ask, are you in this 24/7 ecstatic bliss state with joy and love merging? And given your long history and activity here in this forum, have you heard of many people in this forum that they reached this state?
Hi Tensor,
Yes, that is the state that I live in. It is a very dynamic state and is always changing. There are many flavours of love, many flavours of bliss, many flavours of ecstasy and many flavours of joy. And things are constantly merging and dancing in different ways. The word "state" makes it sound like something static, or unchanging, which is not the case. There are others in this forum who live in this state although they may not necessarily say so openly.
Christi
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TensorTympani
USA
62 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2023 : 11:03:58 AM
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Hi Christi,
Thanks a lot for sharing and putting in words what this "state" is. Having empirical evidence that AYP practices really do lead to this state is adding a lot of excitement for continuing my practice and peace of mind in the face of the quite crazy changes in my mind and body. |
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Stages of ecstatic conductivity
