Jim Eshelman wrote:I wrote a long answer and then lost it in a browser crash. Here are the bullet points:
1. Automatic rigidity is a consequence of early stages of kundalini action. The classics relate this to pranayama, but I'm certain that's just because pranayama eventually triggers early stages of kundalini activity. (I always got this easiest during asana - though it first emerged strongest during asana in periods when I was also doing a lot of pranayama; and yes, concentration exercises can "push" it.)
Ah, that makes a lot of sense from my diary/experience. Thank you.
2. These practices shouldn't make you sick! Though any strong practice can break stuff loose inside of you that gives any number of symptoms, I've never encountered asana practice producing flu-like symptoms. It really sounds to me like you've got the flu - some sort of virus. (This isn't a medical opinion.) At least assess your physical condition and anything that could be producing the same symptoms, and treat them as you would if you weren't doing any kind of practices - take them at face value. (Have you an actual fever? If so, then al the other symptoms make total sense - you're sick!)
I guess I was sick after all. I was just wondering since released Kundalini can bring a man close to death that there were any 'small illnessess' recounted on that particular training path before one reached that point.
3. Physical symptoms consequent to long persistence in a posture - besides the aches and pains that can happen as you are getting used to it - are usually (1) no particular after affect, other than the briefest aftermath of the practice or (2) to feel refreshed and energized. Debilitation, besides something that makes sense from the actual physical exertion, is suspect.
Thanks.
4. I'm puzzled that you find the rigor mortis stage something to "grit your teeth and get through." For me, that's exactly when it all gets easy! The posture takes over, I'm no longer struggling with anything, I'm just resting in its rigid stillness. (Are we using the words differently?)
Yes I was referring to RA Wilson when he said the extreme tautness turns into an incredibly painful stage that can only be described as rigor mortis . I've been noting that down as the stage JUST prior to resting in it's stillness. I think Crowley described it as just when it becomes unbarable then success is perversely just around the corner (I paraphrase). The resting in the stillness is a perfect image so I guess I'm successful at ONE part of the training
The only thing I'm nervous about is the eye and neck pressure during the almost unbearable stage, just mentioned for some reason my brain screams warnings that I'm doing damage to my neck. It's similar to the warning the brain screams at you if you've ever been armbarred or trained in joint or even neck locks. If you think your back is breaking then this primal terror / lizard brain takes over - away from this pain VERY quickly. It's an interesting area . Have someone put you in a kumura , even in practice and you understand a great deal very quickly about how little control you have over the deeper areas of the brain. I digress...
That's the main stuff - but a couple of (more idle) observations.
5. I find your time scale very strange compared to my experience. The symptoms you have appearing after 30 to 50 minutes are things that (once they started occurring to me at all) would always be within very few minutes of starting a session - definitely under 15 minutes, usually 5 to 10. I don't think this is just the difference between us. It could be a language problem, struggling to describe properly. It could be something about your technique (I've never used meditation tapes, or anything of the kind including concurrent music - that would have distracted me too much - I would always do this practice just by sitting down with nothing around me to distract me or disturb me, and put my whole attention into sitting still.)
The meditation tape is Regardies Mantram from the GD tapes - 'ohm namah shiva ohm' repeated in block sessions with different pitch. I've only been using that recently since I wanted to try mantra work. However the symptoms are the same 'roughly' , give or take five minutes.
I'll try to be clearer. When I begin asana ( God, Dragon, Corpse) it takes around 5-10 minutes to lose active conciousness of the body. I simply rest into it and keep my mind occupied on a point, or just simple breathing.
This stage can last half an hour where I'm 'kind of' aware of the body but can ignore it's signals at will.
30 min mark (ish)
During Dragon stage my ankles begin hurting and sending distress signals, (I'm of a martial arts background however and used to be made to sit like this for 20 mins at a time on hardwood, so I have some practice in this) I become very uncomfortable.
During God I begin sweating profusely and my arms start shaking, my legs have a muscle spasm and 'seize up' a few moments later my arms and shoulders also start shaking - all the while I am determined not to move or change tension, I just start breathing through it.
During Corpse, almost identical symptoms as God however, since I've more practice at it the tension recently has become 'pleasurable ' (how subjective is that?!) it's as if my body expects this tension and welcomes it rather than in early practice - feared.
45 Minutes - have not passed 45 in Dragon but have not actually tried. It's my current training time. My ankles hurt for roughly 15 minutes afterwards.
45-- God - The body is as tense as it can get yet each minute it somehow manages to get tenser. I'm covered in sweat and find it incredibly difficult to breath. As yet have not passed 50 minutes but due to my results in Corpse I understand about the stages in my body's reaction and will return to it knowing that this stage ceases.
45 Corpse. -the feelings of tension and more tension have passed. I'm floating in my own very tense body just as you described Jim.
60 - corpse - still floating and feeling incredibly free but feel a huge 'something' building outside/and inside - like a spiritual realm of ultimate freedom is so close. Generally the realisation of this state of being is enough to throw me back into intellectual ganglia of thought and loose the freeness that allowed me to apprehend this 'other ' in the first place.
65 -70 minw in corpse, the whole body starts tensing once again to an extraordinary degree. Every muscle in my body is straining, my eyes, my neck, and then the whole body starts shuddering greatly as if in spasm. Here is where I really grit my teeth and challenge the body's rebellion. Each breath is pain ,the sweats appear everywhere, my teeth couldnt be separated by a crowbar and I'm sure I get a good glute work out... In short OW.
One thing then seems to happen at this crescendo - I take what I can only describe as 'the truest breath ive ever taken' the body itself from the stomach to the chest shoulders and throat just - opens - and in comes this amazingly pure breath taken in by the whole body. Almost like our first breath -with this breath comes memory that this isn't a new experience but this is how to actually breathe and my body has always known it..
After this breath the body seems to change, the rib cage seems to have moved , the legs stretch, my neck stretches ,all parts of my body seem to want to EXPAND.
Then , all of a sudden all the pain ceases. It just goes away along with any sensation of my physical body and what I thought was relaxation at 50 minutes is seen as no where near this sense of freedom. I feel completely and utterly body-less. This seems to be the result Crowley was talking of in his yoga lectures. Or to me it does at least.
6. I'm impressed that you can get any results in corpse position. Picking a posture that works for us is one of the places where everybody is a bit different. For me, the corpse position is useful for some things, but not for this "be perfectly still in one position for an hour" sort of practice. But don't argue with success. Your asana is your asana.
When I was 18, a good twenty years ago I was desperately trying for OOBE's and one book said lie on your back and so I did . It took 6 months of nightly practice before I achieved success and actually managed an independent corroboration of my observations while OOB.
Unfortunately I had no map at all to the other worlds at the time and ended up in a very very bad place. Are there a species of entities made from flies with glowing red eyes? Anyway I ended up there. I then put an end to any experiments of that nature and to be honest am slightly worried about entering that part of the training.
Not all was lost however, I am now certain that my rescuer was none other than my HGA.
In any case I don't fall asleep during corpse by finding a hard floor. I haven't needed to add the bed of nails yet.
93/93
