Others here have reached the same conclusion: Carson? Anthem?
Missing it, wanting it back?
Or missing it and grateful for that? 
Hi Dogboy,
Sorry, a bit late to the party here… just saw this.
I’m not entirely sure what the “conclusion” was that was reached here so I’m unsure if I can concur or not.
What I can say is that there is no longer much “seeking” happening here. The seeking for “enlightenment” is certainly gone. I do notice the mind still having thoughts about striving for things like happiness for my kids etc, but that is just the mind’s natural tendency to evaluate how things are going (within an ‘in-time perspective’) and project whether or not adjustments would improve the state of things. The mind’s play is usually immediately noticed for what it is (play) but there are still occasional times where the mind’s spinnings go unnoticed for a short while before I “snap out of it.” There is always a great lesson to learn in those moments if one is willing to get over themselves and sit in self-honesty.
If the conclusion was that proclaiming a state of “arriving” is an indication of still being lost, I would concur with that.
If I completely missed the conclusion that was drawn, I’m sorry… obviously I’m not enlightened. 
Love,
Carson 
Very well said Carson, I will remember that! 
Basically, if you think you’re enlightened, you’re not.
Carson,
I had to reread the thread to figure out this “conclusion”. I believe at the time you had mentioned discontinuing practices and this is the part of Parvati’s post that made me think of you:
Hi Dogboy,
Yeah, "authentic living" feels like an accurate (albeit poetic) description of this current stage of the path for me. I can't say that there are "no practices." Practices happen on occasion, it's just not a formal thing anymore and there is a very wide range of modalities/practices employed. Just a few days ago I felt called to sit for pranayam and meditation, and so I did (see the bottom of this post for some interesting observances from this practice session). Last time that happened was an hour before my Grandpa died back in March. I have no idea why I was called to my cushion the other day (although my cousin did have a baby a few hours later), but I also don't feel any desire to find a reason. This attitude I guess you could call "no striving." :wink: But that said, I still have lots of emotions (like longing) and notice desires etc, but they don't in general have the kind of power they used to. If there is some level of unconsciousness to the emotions and desires, then they will be acted out on, at least partially, on instinct. But those moments are Life offering me a lesson and essentially that is the whole path at this point... learning to bring the unconscious into the light of awareness so that I can see clearly, and it's happening in every moment in one way or another, whether I like it or not. Love, Carson :slight_smile: *** During my practice session I noticed an interesting "twist" on SBP happening (on it's own). Be careful with this as it only took one breath for me to be so super charged that the energy field was radiating well outside of my fairly large house. This is not an AYP practice but a modification that happened on it's own. Here's what I noticed: -the physical inhale was moderately quicker than a normal SBP breath so my lungs filled to capacity within about 5 seconds instead of maybe 15-20 like a normal SBP breath for me. -the breath naturally held itself about 1' above the crown. -the attention stayed with the energy as it rose up the spine at the same rate it normally would with a 15-20 second SBP breath -when the energy passed through the crown and meshed with the breath a foot above the head there was a white light explosion that resulted in the energy field radiating extremely far outside of the body. It was strong enough that I eventually had to "shield" a bit as it was causing distress for some others around me.
I am rather confused about this idea that an advanced yogi’s energy is uncomfortable to people around him. I always thought the energy of advanced spiritual beings is uplifting to other people.
I even had first hand experience of this and my perception was clearly not due to my expectations(I had none). Many years ago, when I was only 17 and totally, absolutely clueless about anything spiritual, I met a man on a train - the strangest encounter in my life ever. He was luminous. It was many years before I understood what was so fascinating about him - when I first heard the concept ‘inner silence’ I realised he was It. He could read my thoughts (or at least some of them). I feel blessed to this day that he condescended to talk to me. I worked it out later that he was practising either Taoism or Buddhism. We had this one hour and a half journey together in an eerily quite train coach (only the ticket inspector came once and it seemed to me even he took a humble expression as he stepped into our compartment). I didn’t understand many of the things this man told me, but I remembered them - strange as they seemed at the time - and years later they guided me towards my path.
Anyway, what I wanted to say was this: during that meeting, I must have absorbed some of his energy, because for two days afterwards I felt light as a feather and serenely happy without any clear reason. So this is how I picture the energy field of somebody very spiritual and the reason why I am confused about what you said above.
Enlightenment or call it whatever you will, there is something all of us here, whether we are doing yoga practices or just living life and learning from it, are progressing towards.
It seems to me the majority here shares this view:
Believing you’ve arrived simply means you’ve fallen off the bandwagon i.e. no longer progressing.
So the question is this - Do you think you have arrived at your destination?
Yeah I agree with you BR, certainly though there are changes in perceptions and way of seeing things that are concrete enough to report as we progress. A funny thing I remembered. A few months ago someone asked how many people reached enlightenment with AYP. 3 pages of posts later he still did not have one answer that said yes or no.
Yes ak33, it seems a yes/no answer to this question is just not possible.
It’s like asking “Have I reached the highest point of my life yet?” As long as you’re alive, it is impossible to answer that question. And wouldn’t it be dreadful if you could?
I am rather confused about this idea that an advanced yogi’s energy is uncomfortable to people around him. I always thought the energy of advanced spiritual beings is uplifting to other people.
Hi BlueRaincoat, Perhaps your confusion is because I would not fit your definition of an "advanced yogi?" I really can't say. Either way, my experience is that when the energy is extremely strong and radiating far outside of the body, it can have both positive and negative effects on those around me. One thing that happens (nearly every time an opening like this one occurs) is Amrita (my older daughter) will break out into a kundalini rash. This time the rash appeared only a few hours later, right between her legs and up her back and was quite uncomfortable for her. Some tallow lotion and the "shielding" helped immensely and the rash is almost completely gone today. My other daughter, Akasha, will also experience some negative symptoms although for her they are much less physical than with Amrita. She is extremely sensitive on a dimensional level and starts to experience an increased amount of "non-human beings" visiting her, mostly during her sleep but not only then. This increase in external input causes her not to sleep very well and she (being only 2.5yrs old) can have some challenges with interpreting and releasing/channeling the information that she receives from these beings. Others experience very positive effects from being around when the energy is this strong. Certain friends of mine will want to hang out nearly every day after an episode like this and they'll often say things like "I love hanging out with you! I always leave feeling so charged up and vibrant!" There is also usually in influx of people looking to "download" when the energy is this strong. Usually this is just friends who know (more or less) that this is a service I provide, but I'll even have random people walking by my house find reasons to knock on the door and they will end up downloading for half an hour before they realize it. What I'm calling "downloading" is when someone needs another to be fully present to them and their problem(s). When I share "full presence" with someone they will usually start talking about what they are struggling with at the time and will talk until the whole issue (or issues) is completely out in the open, and then it seems to lose it's "charge" or magnetism. People often find that after "downloading," the problem they were experiencing no longer is as difficult and often even melts away with little to no effort. [quote="BlueRaincoat"] ....for two days afterwards I felt light as a feather and serenely happy without any clear reason. So this is how I picture the energy field of somebody very spiritual and the reason why I am confused about what you said above. [/quote] My experience with this dynamic seems to point to a "ratio" that plays out depending on the level of sensitivity of the individual in question. What I've noticed is that those who are extremely sensitive to subtle energies generally experience less positive effects from being around intense levels of light/energy and that those who are much less sensitive generally experience the more positive effects from the light/energy. Love, Carson :slight_smile:
You misunderstand me Giacomo.
What I said is that there is no end point, but there is a journey. And, importantly, there is the aspiration that tomorrow I will hopefully be a better human being than I am today.
Something that happened for me on the path was that eventually even the above aspiration had to drop. When there are aspirations (even noble ones) for the future you CAN NOT, literally, can not be fully in the present. All hopes and dreams have to be dropped in order to be fully present in the moment.
Just something to consider perhaps.
Love,
Carson
Yes 
And there is a goal, but there is no ‘end goal’.
@CarsonZi
Thank you Carson. It’s interesting different people react differently to your energy.
Perhaps your energy will refine as you progress and will become beneficial to everybody?
Giacomo, you’ve practised yoga for how long - 5 years? And you think you’ve see it all. Or so it seems from the way you express yourself.
Your opinions are appreciated. It might help however if you made them sound a little less final. After all none of us have arrived at the final destination, right? So the limits that seem set in stone today may, tomorrow, turn out to have been just a trick of the mind.
Actually some research will show you that advance meditators indeed have said to haveperformed miracles and have subtle energy fields. Milarepa, Sri Yukteshwar, several examples from The Autobiography of a Yogi, Sri M’s guru are one of the hundreds of examples. Of course these are in literature so I cannot confirm the validity first hand, but safe to say this many people are not making stuff up, and enough to counteract your point.
I may be making an assumption here, but you sound a lot like Jed McKenna, who has a very dry outlook and intellectual view on enlightenment. I’ll tell you know why a purely intellectual approach bothers me compared to meditation (since you have discounted meditation). Our minds are wrought with mental afflictions, cravings, and desires. We act out habitual thought patterns repeatedly. The whole point of emphasizing inner stillness (in AYP, but this theme is consistent in other paths), is so this stupid mind will calm down a bit, and allow us to assess the situation as a witness, or how it really is. Without this aspect, we just play mind games.
I have made several assumptions about your sprititual path in my post, please forgive me. But consider what I have said regardless.
Silence is golden .
It is indeed! so I will say no more