Yantra Yoga books Pranayama

[padma norbu]

There was some discussion about what was public to practice in the books and what still required personal instruction from a teacher. I just have a question about the big Yantra Yoga book. It has lots of detailed instructions about pranayama for each section. I don't see any warnings anywhere in the big Yantra Yoga book. Is this book overall safe to do by oneself?

[Thomas Amundsen]

I think this topic covers your question: http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=13632

[padma norbu]

Sort of but not really since it gets into specifics regarding the second book which I don't own (and so I don't understand) and the thread is also locked for some reason.

Other questions I did not pose in the OP but would also like to know are:

1. What is the point of this pranayama? Is it to "raise kudalini" safely like other pranayama?

2. Is it really dangerous? First of all, its printed in a book. Secondly, I have a feeling like most classes I pay a few hundred bucks for, it will still be vague when class is over, thus irritating me that I spent a few hundo on learning it and then I will likely never bother practicing it since I don't really understand. It would probably take quite a bit of dedication to even damage myself mentally or physically trying to practice it even with proper instruction.

3. A fun experiment might be to just do it from the book and if I go nuts I'll just post that result here, since there are no warnings in the book that I've seen.

[padma norbu]

Not related to pranayama, but along those same lines of trial and error... It is tempting to attempt a weekend retreat of nothing but a certain reverse mantra we all know in the Dzogchen Community. We're only supposed to do this mantra in reverse a few times at most because it's SO powerful. Well, I've already tried it as instructed and its power seems to have eluded me. Maybe if I do it for 8 hours at a time it won't be so elusive. If my life suddenly falls apart, at least we will have definitive proof that this is indeed a powerful mantra. And if my life suddenly gets better, well that would be nice, too, and still prove the same point.

[heart]

Not related to pranayama, but along those same lines of trial and error... It is tempting to attempt a weekend retreat of nothing but a certain reverse mantra we all know in the Dzogchen Community. We're only supposed to do this mantra in reverse a few times at most because it's SO powerful. Well, I've already tried it as instructed and its power seems to have eluded me. Maybe if I do it for 8 hours at a time it won't be so elusive. If my life suddenly falls apart, at least we will have definitive proof that this is indeed a powerful mantra. And if my life suddenly gets better, well that would be nice, too, and still prove the same point.

Sounds like some very bad ideas I must say, because doing this is completely contrary to your master's teaching.

/magnus

[padma norbu]

Not related to pranayama, but along those same lines of trial and error... It is tempting to attempt a weekend retreat of nothing but a certain reverse mantra we all know in the Dzogchen Community. We're only supposed to do this mantra in reverse a few times at most because it's SO powerful. Well, I've already tried it as instructed and its power seems to have eluded me. Maybe if I do it for 8 hours at a time it won't be so elusive. If my life suddenly falls apart, at least we will have definitive proof that this is indeed a powerful mantra. And if my life suddenly gets better, well that would be nice, too, and still prove the same point.

Sounds like some very bad ideas I must say, because doing this is completely contrary to your master's teaching.

/magnus

This is true. Glad I mentioned it as soon as I brought it up because I actually never thought of it that way, but he does explicitly state never to do it more than a few times. He doesn't say anywhere in the big Yantra book never to do these practices by yourself that I have seen. The practices seem overly complicated, so I've never really been interested enough to read the book straight through, but I did read the intro and skipped ahead to different pranayamas. I didn't see any warnings about different breathings. It does seem a bit difficult to learn from a book, but I can imagine how it would go with a real live person teaching: about the same. Unless they're going to put their hand under my sphincter to see if it's contracted enough, etc., they are not in my body and can only tell if it looks right to them. As far as contracting, breathing and pushing down and visualizing, that's all on me to figure out if I'm doing it right. They won't be able to tell by looking at me.

[padma norbu]

Unless they're going to put their hand under my sphincter to see if it's contracted enough, etc., they are not in my body and can only tell if it looks right to them. As far as contracting, breathing and pushing down and visualizing, that's all on me to figure out if I'm doing it right. They won't be able to tell by looking at me.

Is there anyone here with experience having attended such classes can definitively say I'm wrong about this?

[Pero]

The instructor can check your breathing from the outside.

[Soap-Bubble]

Is there anyone here with experience having attended such classes can definitively say I'm wrong about this?

I registered just to answer your question.

When I attended the retreat the instructor was explaining things not written in the book. There's no way I could figure them out on my own. How to do yantra (not book details, the sense in general), how to breath correctly in general, how to tell for yourself whether you're doing various specialied ways of breathing correctly, etc. As a bonus, you can't question a book but you can question an instructor.

[padma norbu]

Is there anyone here with experience having attended such classes can definitively say I'm wrong about this?

I registered just to answer your question.

When I attended the retreat the instructor was explaining things not written in the book. There's no way I could figure them out on my own. How to do yantra (not book details, the sense in general), how to breath correctly in general, how to tell for yourself whether you're doing various specialied ways of breathing correctly, etc. As a bonus, you can't question a book but you can question an instructor.

Thanks for registering just to answer. Are you referring to "breathing in general" instructions like fill the belly first and then upper chest with a straight back? Having read the pranayama sections quite thoroughly I just don't see how it could get any clearer than it is written and I'll feel like a real chump if I pay hundreds of dollars to hear someone basically tell me out loud what I see written in the book.

An example of what I mean is how can someone describe "pull up from the bottom and push down from the top" any better than that? That is about as clear as that is ever going to get. I'm not even sure it makes much sense (the push down from the top part). It reminds me of other teachings I've gotten about how to do something and I just sit there and think "that's it?" I ask questions and get answers that still leave me wondering "that's it?" One time I specifically said "I don't understand" and got the answer "nobody understands." LOL. So, being able to ask an instructor questions isn't a big selling point for me. I wouldn't be so wary of plunking down the cash if it hadn't already happened to me before. Did you really leave the teaching believing you fully understood you were doing it correctly? Or did you leave thinking you should probably take some more classes in the future because you're not entirely sure you've got it? Thanks again.