nsouth

Same as https://pypi.python.org/pypi/retry no?

It's nothing to do with reducing your arousal, but redirecting the nervous energy away from the genitals.

The thing is, if I see a fire and put my hand in it, I'll experience pain. An MRI scanner would be able to detect certain parts of my brain being excited.

If my brain was then artificially stimulated in the same region, no doubt I'd feel the same pain again. However, none of this means that the fire wasn't real in the first place.

Of course, it's interesting because perhaps the fire isn't real and it's just some fringe part of the brain playing up, but I'm not sure how you'd go about designing an experiment to work that out (i.e. whether the circuits exist because the fire is real, or whether they've evolved some anomalous behaviour).

So how do you explain the ability for a man to delay orgasm as long as desired through tantric sex? The technique is to draw energy upwards from the genitals so as not to reach an energetic "critical mass" and trigger the "usual reflex".

However if you were to mean that energy flows are controlled by the mind, then you'd be bang on. "Where the mind goes, the chi flows" as they say.

I see what you're getting at, but it's not quite how I feel.

For me teaching is predicated on having seen far enough to actually be a useful guide. Having said that there may be things I could teach before then, but I'd have to have experienced something major to convince me I was on the right track and the time was right.

Also, regarding the "just enough to be aware" it probably would be enough, but I wouldn't have been able to have reached my goal without the thousands who've gone before, so it'd be paying back that debt. There's just some part of me that knows it's important for me to do that.

Check out Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce. Even if you think out of body experiences aren't real, well, they're experiences. That book explains how to enter the hypnogogic state (mind awake, body asleep) which I think can also lead to what you experienced.

Become enlightened, and if it's as good as they say, spend the rest of my life teaching others how to get there too. I know for me, it's what I'm here for. Nothing else is as important to me. I can't wait to teach, but it must be from the perspective of my own personal, direct experience. There are already enough charlatans in the world, I don't intend to become one myself.

I don't think there's enough awareness the state can be achieved through specific practice. People like Osho, J Krishnamurti, Eckharte Tolle... they all seemed to have it just spontaneously happen and then try to retrofit techniques they think will probably work. Their approaches seem biased towards people who can already do what they're talking about ("just be aware"), instead of being more systematic processes that circumvent the mind.

The people who inspire me the most are the householders, living in the world who still managed to attain this greatest of prizes. They're the people who inspire me, and something I aspire to be. I think it's a valuable backstory that makes the teaching more approachable and easier to relate to if it's clear you don't need to give up this world to attain true happiness.

Having this mission puts the corporate world and paid work really into perspective as something that supports my life, but doesn't define it. That helps me keep it at a slight distance and allows me to take more risks - which incidentally have paid off.

Thanks for the thanks. I wasn't sure how this would be received on HN. They are the best lessons I've found, however I must admit that I think Mantak Chia's Multiorgasmic Man teaches the sex stuff better than Yogani's lessons. Plus it's a good idea learning how to bring the energy down the front as well through the Microcosmic Orbit.

It turns out there is a site with some impressive sounding scientific stuff on it: http://biologyofkundalini.com.

I'm not sure if it has, at least not rigorously. I've seen various research quoted in several books, but I tend to ignore those sections because "research" can pretty much come up with any conclusion depending on who's paying. Plus there's little point accepting the conclusions without investigating the methodologies, participants, etc. for which I have neither the time nor inclination. All my "research" is based on trying to experientially validate the experiences for myself.

I'd love to see rigorous research done on this, and I'm sure over time it'll happen. But first, I think there needs to be a general increase in awareness of this phenomenon, certainly in the West. While we've leapt on the meditation bandwagon, it's far less common knowledge that these practices traditionally were focussed towards a specific "end-game", i.e. they are intended to lead to certain definite, reproducible outcomes, rather than being practiced as techniques in their own right ad infinitum.

It seems to me as if the "first generation" of Western practitioners went to the East around the 60s and the majority came back with superficial knowledge and someone else's culture ("let's do all this cool exotic stuff people..."). Now, slowly and gradually, more Westerners are discovering the stuff that the first generation didn't bring back, and are having profound, authentic experiences for themselves. One benefit of this should be an increase in the clarity of teachings since different cultures have their own metaphors, language and mental models that can be used to convey meaning. Western teachers should be able to strip out the Eastern dogma and superstition and leave only those practices that do actually aid or accelerate the process (and incidentally describe the roots of Western religious dogma and "morals" as well, since Kundalini is alluded to in Christianity, just less explicitly and couched in different terms. If you can ignore the author's enormous ego, Electrical Christianity explains all, also on Kindle if you're interested).

One interesting thing to note is that there is generally broad, cross-cultural and cross-temporal agreement of some of the subjective experiences that result from these practices and Kundalini awakenings. So while looking purely from a physiological perspective would certainly be interesting, it seems that experiences are almost always accompanied by "spiritual" experiences (much like hallucinogens), often involving:

* a dissolution of the ego (the mental narrator/individual personality) * a greater sense of connection, deep feelings of love and altruism * common imagery/symbology * heat, feelings of electricity/"energy", and points of high electrical/energetic conductivity that can be perceived as lights, commonly called "chakras" * that we are all part of a single, pure consciousness out of which everything else arises. Nothing else fundamentally, permanently exists.

Jung came up with his "collective unconscious" as a result some of his own experiences.

So given these experiences suggest a very different world-view to the prevailing Western one (that we are in fact "spirits" with material bodies vs material bodies with some emergent property called consciousness), could it be possible to really understand this process objectively? It would appear that the conscious subject - indeed consciousness itself - is inherent in the process. Western science more or less proceeds from the standpoint of "if you can't poke it or work out its physical foundation, it doesn't exist", while here we have something diametrically opposite that says the physical only exists because of consciousness (BTW I may be way off here but doesn't Quantum Theory stipulate something similar - the result of a quantum probability isn't decided until it's observed, so the observer is required for the uncertainty to collapse to a specific state? Ignore me if I'm wrong, I'm not a physicist).

So anyway, back to your point. Some resources out there do contain what comes across as subjective, superstitious rubbish, but perhaps for the reasons above (i.e. they may be recounting experiences that are subjectively real, but which seem so fantastical and are so far removed from our normal day-to-day experiences they put people off this whole subject). And to be clear, some are legitimately, complete drivel. However, there are a few people putting stuff out in a much more neutral manner, more like "try this and see what happens", "what if you add on this extra practice?", etc. The latter approach provides fewer points of resistance to the Western, science-orientated mind, and better yet, actively engages you as the scientist. Yogani at aypsite.org is one such author.

Based on my own experiences, I believe science will catch up in due course. I'm pretty open to entertaining the possibility of some of the wilder claims now since so much of what I heard would happen up to this point has indeed happened, but I await my own verification.

In the end, should you investigate this for yourself, you'll be the judge of whether this stuff is real and yours will be the most important opinion to you.

There's also the book that started it for me: Path Notes of an American Ninja Master. The author's description of his awakening is pretty intense. It also contains important cautions, some of which he ignored. Worth reading if you're into chi kung, yoga, meditation or martial arts.

The key word is spontaneous breath retention. Google "kevala kumbhaka". Not BS at all, in fact it is a primary aim of the breathing exercises known as pranayama and is very widely documented within yogic texts, both old and current.

A loss of awareness of the physical body and physical world, and various phenomena may manifest such as visions, sounds, etc. Perhaps it's the hypnogogic state or similar, but some sources suggest it gives access to the subconscious mind.

Glad to help :-)

Yeah I think hallucinogens activate the same areas of the brain. The only 2 times I've ever felt totally, 100% contented was while tripping on shrooms and through meditation.

I went on a Zen retreat and asked the leader about whether they do energy stuff in Zen, and he just said "It happens on its own". I think all roads lead to Rome all traditions are basically teaching the same core practices. I think optimal results come from doing the breathing practices before mindfulness meditation. In fact, that's exactly what Patanjali wrote in his famous yoga sutras:

Physical postures (asanas) -> breathing (pranayama) -> introversion to progressively deeper degrees.

And once you understand the bigger picture, all the restrictions placed on monks make sense: conservation of semen for guys has a big impact (so either celibacy or tantric sexual practices), minimal diet (difficult to compress the abdomen if it's full of waste), waking early (there seems to be a connection with the circadian rhythm), silence seems to help, etc. Either way, there's plenty to experiment with. Good luck :-)

Ha ha I can't argue with that. I've heard of some yogis comparing hallucinogens to having a day pass, while they've got a lifetime membership.

One warning - don't mix drugs with yoga. I've heard of a few people who did. They ended up "walking with the gods" for a while and then it just stopped and they crashed down majorly. If you need drugs to force your body to produce these chemicals, at some point the party will finish.

Gopi Krishna is the canonical worst-case scenario of an unprepared Kundalini awakening, so check out his "Kundalini: Evolutionary Energy in Man". I've heard that if you're careful, you should have an easier ride. However some people can have spontaneous awakenings, sometimes following traumatic (near death) events. One guy suggested there was a link between the adrenals and kicking off this process. The endocrine system is certainly involved.

But in general, symptoms can include some/all of the following, and vary in severity depending on how slowly you progress, how clean your lifestyle, etc:

* Energy surges - intense feelings of heat/electrical sensations in the body, typically in the spine (I've been woken in the past with electrical sensations surging through my body) * Dietary issues - one of the nerve passes near the stomach and apparently can alter appetite as well as making you intolerant to some foods (I read of one guy not being able to keep water down for several days), etc. * Sexual side effects - feeling intensely horny or totally disinterested * Insomnia * Headaches, feelings of congestion * Hallucinations - auditory, visual, kinesthetic * Spontaneous out of body experiences

Apparently these all settle down over time but can be a bit unsettling (e.g being woken in the night to ghoulish laughter, but there's nobody there).

On the plus side:

* Feelings of intense bliss/ecstasy, contentment * Mental clarity

I've only experienced a few of the above negative side effects, and generally only mildly. But the Supreme Fire exercise has kicked things up a gear. Plus, I'm almost able to perform "full khechari" (look it up). My body just wants to do it. Spontaneous yoga can happen sometimes. Your body knows what it wants given half a chance :-)

As for joint damage - yes that is a definite risk. Never force the lotus position since it can put pressure laterally on your knees which can damage them over time. Also, there's debate around inversions (who'd have thought putting your entire body weight through your cervical vertebrae could be damaging :-D?), so while some people say they're amazing, I avoid them.

As it turns out, one of the most useful sitting postures places direct pressure on the perineum. This is traditionally done with the heel (siddhasana) but can be done with a prosthetic. Roll a sock up and sit on that. I use that on a Zen-style meditation bench to spare my knees sometimes. So you don't need great flexibility, certainly not to the level of the hyper-flexible people in yoga magazines.

A lot of it is common sense - don't force yourself with either the physical postures, or breath retention, and listen to your body. You need to activate the parasympathetic nervous system and operate in that mode. The other thing to bear in mind is you can have a delayed reaction. So you might do some breath retention, and feel great. So you do more. And more. Then that night you get the congestion/headaches/insomnia. So just build up gradually over several weeks, and back off if you need to. It's no different to pacing yourself with weights at the gym.

The AYP site has a very helpful forum with people far further down the road than I am. If you're interested you'll find lots of information on that forum to peruse at your leisure, and a friendly community to answer questions.

Apart from practicing deep breathing periodically, you might want try getting a lacrosse ball and using it for deep point massage. I was able to release a lot of tension from my neck and shoulders with one. Also, a theraband was recommended to me by a physio so I could do flys to help pull my shoulders back into proper alignment.

I'd recommend seeing a physio - one did me the world of good and was able to suggest exercises and make me aware of what good posture looked like. I've had to do a lot of core strength work to fix bad habits and now I feel much better.

Yoga (proper yoga, not the gymnastics they do in most gyms) is all about stimulating the vagus nerve and several others. The "locks" (bandhas) and various breathing exercises (pranayama) all work on it in different ways and stimulate different parts of the nerve. If you really want to juice it up add in some breath retention.

Eventually you reach a sort of homeostatic state where your breath just naturally suspends, and that's when the doorway to the inner world opens.

There's more about the nerves in The Accidental Yogi's ebook (free online), and more about breath retention in Kundalini Exposed (on Kindle). The "Supreme Kriya Fire" technique in that book is the absolute real deal, but definitely not for beginners. Beginners may want to start with Yogani's free lessons at aypsite.org.

Remember - Kundalini is not a game. Work up slowly to avoid negative side effects.