So what does a yogi do when presented with the banks of a river? of course!, pranayama. It is only ALL the ancient texts that speak of the preciousness and auspiciousness of doing so. Felt tempted to do asana too but it was Saturday, day of rest.
Magic is perhaps the best way to describe what happened, and me being totally utterly and shakable human. I found myself resisting it, wanting to read the newspaper instead, or writing the "to do" list, or... or... or. But I sat my bottom on the cushions I could find and started nevertheless.
Kapalabatti was uncomfortable, almost unbearable. But then in Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing), something happened, the breath flowed easy, deeply, in a steady rhythm, no jumps or jerking, a smooth intake and outtake of air, the count (which I had extended to 10 in my 1/1 ratio) went easily 16! without me trying. Could it be the river?
Then came Ujjayi, where I inhale with the Dark Vader sound (Ujjayi breath), hold and exhale through the left nostril, and here is where the most interesting thing happened, the count felt too short.
In the city I have been able to take it to 6 inhale, 6 retention and 12 exhalation but here it was easy and went straight to 8/8/16 and I could have done 10/10/20, only I did not want to exaggerate just in honor of the river, I figured I had to maintain some equanimity. Then in Shitalli the retention doubled.
I am aware that jumping around the practice instead of steady growing it is NOT advisable, but I suppose as a close student of yoga it was interesting to me to experiment and, actually in this case, be surprised by the effect of a powerful natural force nearby.
Meditation in such silence came easy afterwards and t was pure presence. I felt tempted to try to "feel" the nature around me, but came back to the breath, every time. I think I had forgotten what deep silence felt like, it was good to be reminded.
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ReplyDeleteCheers,
The Dolly Lammy
pranayama has given me much comfort in my life. i like to do it in the morning & when the sun is going down. pretty much changed my life.
ReplyDeleteHi Dolly Lammy, good luck with the website and products.
ReplyDeleteBindy that is really interesting, I only practice in the morning for now, find it fascinating that you also practice in the evening. Wonder if you blogged about it, but I would understand if you don't as sometimes it is pretty personal...
great post claudia, funny but i practice it everywhere, in the morning, evening at work cleaning a sax, on the train but never done it outside, i should now the weather's getting nicer.
ReplyDeleteKeep meaning to ask, do you have a mantra for the retention after the inhale. I use the Pranayama mantra takes about 20 seconds though you can recite it quicker of course. Found it makes such a difference to have something to focus on. The rest of the timings kind of hang on that now such that I can do without that handy itouch app.
There's a link on the pranayama mantra page at my place to Ramaswami teaching it, plus I put up a printout of the mantra. Bit of a bugger to learn, but i just put it on the itouch for a week.
Hi Grimmly, I think you may like it outside...
ReplyDeleteYes I did check the mantra that you have on your blog, and listened to it too. In the end decided to chant the Gayatri, which, at least to me, is an incredibly powerful mantra, and I mean in the effect it has in my daily life, that mantra is just so powerful!.
I agree that having something to focus on is a great aid. But the interesting thing is that I do not chant it in the retentions, as I feel like I am in a "void" during that time, I guess is as close as "silence" as I get... I chant in between different pranayamas...
I might try a mantra during retention at a later time, my retention right now is rather short...