The Accidental Yogi

Kevin Curtis, owner of the blog "The Accidental Yogi", has written an interesting yoga manual with an emphasis on the physiology of the various mudras, bandhas and kriyas. I particularly enjoyed his description of Kechari Mudra.

Khechari has a powerful stimulating effect on the deep brain structures. In fact, of all the physical techniques used in yoga Khechari mudra has the strongest influence over our brain's neurochemistry. The reason for Khechari's powerful influence over the brain is due to the direct stimulation the tongue has upon five of the cranial nerves and the erectile tissues in the nasal cavity - the stimulation of which is directly linked to left and right brain dominance (which plays an important roll in the awakening process).

By inserting the tongue into the nasopharyngeal cavity (Khechari Mudra) you are stretching and lightly contracting the tongue, which stimulates the vagus, facial, glossopharyngeal, and hypoglossal nerves, all of which lead directly to the deep brain structures responsible for the release of the hormones used in the awakening process. By pressing your tongue against the nasal septum (the divide between your left and right nostrils) you directly stimulate the nasopalatine and lingual branches of the trigeminal nerve, another nerve whose stimulation causes the activation of our deep brain structures.

With all of this deep brain stimulation and the resulting release of mind altering neurochemicals going on we can see why Khechari has been thought of, by yogis for millennia, as being the king of the mudras. This simple, yet admittedly difficult to achieve, placement of your tongue can have a deeply profound effect upon your brain and the way it functions, and consequently on the way you see the world and act within it. In the short term all of this change going on in your brain can manifest as emotional highs and lows that you might not even notice, though people around you probably will.

Noticing these types of changes is a bit like being in an airplane, when you're in the plane it barely feels like you're moving, but to people looking up at the plane from the ground it's quite obvious that you're moving at great speed.

With all of these dramatic, life-altering changes happening it's interesting and reassuring to note that the practice of Khechari mudra also induces a comforting sense of non-attachment - as if you're just watching the process unfold before you.

AYP Site: Advanced Yoga Practices

Yogani has been practicing yoga since 1970, and recently (in 2003) he started sharing his knowledge via Yahoo groups. Today, all of his teachings have been collected at aypsite.org. He covers many aspects of Kriya Yoga such as Spinal Breathing, Navi Kriya and Kechari Mudra, and offers many insights that are not found elsewhere. I've begun reading through all of his lessons and highly recommend them. Here is an excerpt from his introduction:

We will be talking about many inward ways here -- the ways into the divine you. How to really open things up. Are you ready for that? Do you long for it? Not everyone does. But everyone will sooner or later. In fact, a little practice fans the fire of divine longing. Just a little bit of practice opens the door enough so that the divine desire wells up. Then we are on fire and want more practice and more powerful ways in. It is a kind of addiction -- a divine addiction. I confess to being an addict to this spiritual practice game. It is an ecstatic spiral that pulls us out of our limited earth perception. Everything will look different, first just a little, and later on, a lot different. So if you are not wanting to become divinely inspired, divinely addicted, better stay away. Because the best means are here. If you set your heart and mind to it, you can do it. Honest. And then nothing will ever be the same. You will laugh and laugh when you see how it really is.

This discussion is for wise souls, those who are ready to do what it takes for as long as it takes. Were the sages of old less committed than this? Of course not. We marvel at their remarkable stories in the scriptures. It is just the same now. You will get out of your practices what you put in. It has always been like that.

Why bother with all this? To be honest, it is the greatest high we can have. The pleasure is beyond anything on earth. Really. The essence of divine experience is unending devastating bliss and an unshakable silent peace. It seems contradictory, doesn't it? That's how it is. But don't take my word for it. Try some of these methods and see for yourself. It's all waiting in you. Take a few baby steps, and soon you can be opening by leaps and bounds. That is assuming you are ready, and choose each day to go for more. Remember, it is the one thing we can take with us when we move on from this life.

I will be examining Yogani's teachings in greater detail in future posts.

Tantra and Sexual Life

In my last post, I introduced the five M's of Tantra. In this post, I want to take a closer look at the fifth M: maithuna (sexual intercourse), or sexual life in general as I often receive questions on this subject. I will use Swami Satyananda's article on the subject as my reference.

Sexual life has always been a problem for mankind. From the beginning of history, the primal energy has been misunderstood. Religious teachers and moralists have denounced it. But still sexual life has continued, not because man respects it, but because he wants it. He may give it up, but he cannot remove it from his mind, for this is one of his most powerful urges.

I refer to this as a sexual craving. Some call it libido or sex drive, while others call it lust. So as I mentioned in my previous post, most spiritual paths would have you abstain from sex, meat, wine, etc., which in my opinion, only serves to intensify your cravings and distract you from your spiritual practice. The exact opposite of what abstaining was intended to achieve. In my experience it is much better to continue to satisfy your cravings, but when doing so, simply turn the mind inward and be aware.

The process is exactly the same as I had described in my post about food, since food cravings or sexual cravings or any other type of craving is all the same: slavery. By turning the mind inward and being aware you can transform your slavery into mastery, and when done during sex you will find your attention drawn to the experience of orgasm, as orgasm is a spiritual experience.

The natural event that takes place between man and woman is considered as the explosion of the energy centre. In every speck of life, it is the union between the positive and negative poles that is responsible for creation. At the same time, union between positive and negative poles is also responsible for enlightenment, and the experience which takes place at the time of union is a glimpse of the higher experience.

For most people the experience of orgasm lasts for less than a minute and they assume the best way to maximize the experience is to simply have sex often. The spiritual seeker on the other hand, realizing the connection to enlightenment, begins to wonder if the experience of orgasm can be extended to last for a longer period of time, or perhaps expanded to fill the whole body. Wikipedia even has an entry for the Expanded Orgasm:

Expanded orgasm, or a full body orgasm, is any sexual experience more intense and extensive than what can be described as, or included in the definition of, an ordinary orgasm. It includes a range of sensations that include orgasms that are full-bodied, and orgasms that last from a few minutes to many hours.

Again, most people are completely unaware that an orgasm can be made to last for many hours. Swami Satyananda also agrees that an expanded and extended orgasm is the goal for the spiritual seeker:

The energy waves that are created during the mutual union are not as important as the process of directing that energy to the higher centres. Everybody knows how this energy is to be created, but nobody knows how to direct it to the higher centres. In fact, very few people have a full and positive understanding of this natural event which almost everybody in this world experiences. If the conjugal experience, which is generally very transitory, could be extended for a period of time, then the experience of enlightenment would take place.

Swami Satyananda then goes on to describe what techniques can be practiced for achieving this. For men, the first step is to learn how to achieve an orgasm without ejaculating. Here he explains why this is important.

Ejaculation brings down the temperature of the body and at the same time, the nervous system undergoes depression. When the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems undergo depression, it affects the brain. That is why many people have mental problems. When you are able to retain the semen without ejaculating at all, the energy in the nervous system and the temperature in the whole body are maintained. At the same time, you are free from the sense of loss, depression, frustration and guilt. Retention will also help to increase the sexual frequency, and that is better for both partners. The sexual act does not have to create weakness or dissipate the energy, on the contrary, it can become a means of exploding the energy. Therefore, the value of retaining the bindu should not be underestimated.

Holding back the ejaculation is achieved by contracting the urinary muscles, also known as vajroli mudra. This is then combined with moola bandha (contracting the perineum) for concentrating the energy. Then as the orgasm continues and the energy is maintained (rather than being dissipated) the concentration is moved up the spine and the energy flows with it to the higher chakras.

So while women don't experience ejaculation like men do, they do experience the same nervous system depression. Transforming that experience involves the same contraction of the urinary muscles, or sahajoli mudra, which is combined with moola bandha (contracting the vagina up to the cervix) for concentrating the energy. Then as the orgasm continues and the energy is maintained the concentration is moved up the spine.

The difference you will experience when you apply these techniques is quite profound. Even if you are only partially successful in your initial attempts, the difference in energy level is immediately recognizable. Some part of that orgasmic pleasure (or bliss) stays with you, and as your proficiency continues to increase you will notice a smaller and smaller difference between the peak of orgasm and your normal state of being.

Unconditional Love

Wikipedia defines Unconditional Love as love which has no bounds and is unchanging, so in the eyes of unconditional love there is no right or wrong, good or bad, or judgement of any kind. This is the most important thing to understand, know, remember, experience and become, and regardless of whether they know it or not, everyone is on the path to becoming pure unconditional love. The purpose of spiritual practice is to simply accelerate your journey along that path.

My introduction to yoga came in the form of Raja Yoga where the student is first taught to adhere to the Yamas and Niyamas. I rejected this notion, as even when I started, the strongest value I had was for freedom, and the yamas and niyamas seemed to be about taking away my freedom. Thankfully, I soon afterwards discovered Tantra, which has freedom as its core value, and I was in complete alignment with that.

For the beginner, Tantra starts out with Panchamakara where the practices include madya (wine), māṃsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudrā (parched grain), and maithuna (sexual intercourse). These are all things that the average person understands and likely consumes or engages in, but also mistakenly assumes excludes them from spiritual practice (as per the yamas and niyamas), but this is simply not true.

By turning the mind inward during the consumption/action of these five m's, spiritual knowledge is gained and spiritual advancement takes place. This is the beauty of Tantra, as it makes spiritual practice available to all.

In this post on diet, I explain how a natural evolution in diet takes place in conjunction with spiritual advancement, but even after reaching the breatharian state, your freedom is not limited, as you may still choose to consume wine or meat if you so desire without experiencing any negative effects. Trailanga Swami was famous for even drinking deadly poison without experiencing any negative effects.

Perhaps you are vegan and never consume alcohol, but with other friends you end up visiting the home of someone with a vineyard. The owner talks so passionately about his vineyard and the extreme care and attention he gives to growing his grapes and making his wine, that his love is clear for anyone to see. When he then offers a glass of his wine to you, what do you do? Do you look at the wine as if it is poison and refuse? Do you try to explain your spiritual goal of avoiding alcohol and then refuse? Do you lovingly accept it, but then pour it down the sink when no one is looking? Or do you lovingly accept it, drink it and savor every last drop, while imagining being filled with the love that went into growing the grapes and making the wine?

Certainly if you are going to be visiting the vineyard owner often due to perhaps a common interest in ecovillages, then you will need to explain your spiritual goals regarding alcohol, but is it appropriate to do so the first time you meet someone new?

During my first year of yoga practice (2001/2002), I followed the path of strict discipline and refused all food and drink I was offered, eating only what I had prepared myself. This behavior pretty much alienated almost everyone in my life. However, I did have many powerful experiences as a result, including being flooded with unconditional love in the summer of 2002, while meditating on the anahata kshetram.

I experienced a sensation of intense beauty that I reveled in for some time, and even though the experience seemed to refuse to end, I decided it was time to stop meditating. As I opened my eyes and began to move, I realized my shirt was soaking wet and I began wondering where the water was coming from. I soon realized it was dripping off my cheeks and chin, and that I was still weeping uncontrollably.

I got up and walked around, tried to think of something else, but this intense sensation of beauty, love, and joy that was making me weep, refused to leave. Finally, after about an hour, it abated, but I was forever changed. So while it was strict discipline that got me to this experience, it is unconditional love that has guided me ever since.

Be Food Free

Swami Nithyananda has another interesting web site that I took a look at recently called Be Food Free. As regular readers of my blog will know, I believe that 15 to 30 million people will become "food free" breatharians over the next 15 to 20 years. This is a prerequisite for ascension (see my post Diet for Ascension), so I find it interesting that Swami Nithyananda is also working towards making this happen.

Once again, Swami Nithyananda is fairly open regarding the technique for becoming food free.

What is Nirahara Samyama?

Samyama means exploring and discovering your various possibilities and powers being centered on certain technique or spiritual process. Nirahara Samyama means exploring and discovering our body's possibility without having any external input like food or water.

The purpose of the Samyama is to awaken our own natural intelligence of making food out of natural resources like sun rays, air and the praana which is directly available to us from the space. Swamiji says if fish can swim, we can swim, if bird can fly, we can fly and if plants can make food directly from the air and sun rays, our body can also do that. Every extraordinary capability and possibility is inside our bio memory.

When our bio memory is awakened, we don't need a will. We just like that feel highly energetic and highly feeling excited. Mainly we get liberated from many patterns that got created with food. Every human being associates his fears, greed, attention need and idea of love with food. All patterns associated with love and attention need is connected with food. Food is a very emotional zone. Now when we are liberated by master from food and patterns created by food, the first thing that will happen is the unnecessary emotions and sentiments associated with food will break. So the reasonless excitement, kind of subtle joy will be constantly happening in our system.

Technique (EFU):

eN-Chanting - Ajapa japa
Feeling Connection - Mahabhava
Unclutching - Sahaja Samadhi

Ajapa Japa is one of the most powerful process and technique. It releases certain kind of energy from our body, nectar from the throat. Shakthi sanchaalana happens through Ajapa Japa means constantly the Kundalini is awakened but never allowed to go out of the body and it stays inside the body. Japa means just the voice coming from the naval through the throat and tongue and leaving, a continuous linear movement of air getting converted to sound is Japa. In Ajapa Japa, the Guru Mantra: "Oh Hreem Nithyanandaya Namaha" mantra is repeated constantly with the visualisation of the mantra moving in circular direction around the throat. A prayer wheel with the mantra written in it will help in Ajapa Japa in the initial levels It helps in getting inside our inner space and unclutching becomes easy. Feeling connection - meditating on the Anandha Gandha Chakra remembering the master, being in Bhakti, the joy of looking for him and remembering him. Unclutching - Being an observer of all the thoughts that arise by just witnessing them, neither encouraging them nor suppressing them.

I had practiced Japa seriously back in 2008 while working through the Systematic Course book and the experience I had was similar to what's described "Kundalini is awakened but never allowed to go out of the body". After about a month of practice, I experienced a sudden surge that filled my stomach. I couldn't eat for 3 days and only sipped water. I didn't feel the slightest bit hungry (I felt full in fact) and had plenty of energy, but discontinued the practice as I still had many more lessons to try out in the book, and after the aforementioned 3 days, the energy dissipated and my appetite returned to normal.

I've started practicing again according to Swami Nithyananda's instructions and have found them to be very effective. Most important is visualizing your mantra moving in a circular direction around your throat, passing through the Vishuddhi kshetram and chakra. The movement may be in either direction. The video below provides more details of the practice.

Video Project

I've been busy since February working on a video project for my cousin's wedding. That project is now coming to an end, but I'll be busy with other activities until the end of April. My schedule should get back to normal by May, so I'm hoping I'll be able to write a new blog post and film another yoga video and get them up before the end of May. Thanks.

Behind the Scenes

In my first video for Kriya Yoga Course 4, it appears as if I'm sitting outside in the snow, but I'm actually warm inside and have just superimposed myself onto the frozen lake behind my parents' house. This was accomplished by placing a green screen behind and under me when filming inside and then using software to replace the green with the background image. I purchased a Cowboystudio Chormakey Green 9 x 15 ft Muslin Backdrop for this purpose.

Separately, I went out onto the frozen lake and shot the footage for the background. We had shovelled the snow off part of the lake for the kids to skate on, so this is where I filmed. I'll also mention that I purchased a new Canon VIXIA HF R30 Full HD Camcorder which films at a resolution of 1920 x 1080, which is far superior to my old camera's resolution of 720 x 405.

After filming all of the footage and transferring it onto my computer, I noticed that the playback was very choppy as my old computer couldn't handle the HD picture resolution, so I then had to purchase a new computer too. This was turning into a more expensive venture than I had anticipated, but I was able to find a Lenovo G505s 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) on sale which was able to play the HD footage smoothly.

I now needed some software that could produce chroma key green screen effects. I had been using the free tool Avidemux for some simple editing of the footage from my old camera, and while it worked great it didn't have a chroma key function. After searching a bit I discovered another free tool called Wax 2.0 which could do the job. Upon trying to load my video footage, it immediately crashed. I eventually figured out it only supported the wmv file format. After converting my footage, and then trying to apply the chroma key effect, it crashed again. I eventually figured out that if I removed the sound from my footage, the tool would finally produce the chroma key effect I was looking for.

It was quite a painful process for just this one function, so in the end I decided to buy PowerDirector 12 Deluxe which works really well, and I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to create more professional looking videos. It supports many file formats, has many special effects features in addition to chroma key, however, I discovered that when I mixed chroma key with fades the end result was a bit choppy. To solve this, I had to create an intermediate video which just applied the chroma key effect, and then used that video to create another video which added the fade in/out effects on scene changes, along with beginning and ending titles. My video footage was now complete.

The soundtrack was another story. Many people had complained to me about the low audio level in my videos, so I was eager to solve this problem. The soundtrack editing and mixing features in PowerDirector are pretty good, but in this case I found a free tool that was even better: Audacity. With just one click of the "Compressor Effect" the audio level in the entire soundtrack was raised to an optimal level without causing clipping.

Finding music for the soundtrack was far easier than I expected. From within PowerDirector I was able to search for sitar music, listen to different samples, then directly add the one I liked to my video. However, mixing the music with my voice was most easily done with Audacity. In this case I used the "Auto Duck Effect" which automatically lowers the music volume level when I'm speaking. I exported the video with the mixed soundtrack to my computer and was quite pleased with the final result.

All I had left to do now was upload my video to YouTube. PowerDirector will do this for you automatically, so I expected this to be a breeze, but my first attempt caused PowerDirector to crash. I suspected I was again trying to have PowerDirector do too many things at the same time, so instead of loading my project file, I imported the finished mp4 video and tried again. This time it looked like everything was working, except it got stuck at 100% complete and eventually spit out an error saying the upload failed. I tried to directly upload my mp4 file, but YouTube complained about that format. Using PowerDirector, I tried converting the file into different formats until wmv finally worked. The quality is not as good as the original mp4, but the video is now finally up at YouTube. Check it out below. I have also made the original mp4 available at Sellfy to download for $0.95.

Lastly, I just wanted to thank everyone that has sent me donations, either here at my blog or at my YouTube channel. I'm currently just collecting the money, but once I have enough I'll set up a non-profit dedicated to spirituality and sustainability. Thank you with all my heart.