So one of my things in pranayama that was confusing to me was where to bring the energy at the perinium. Where was that physical point for me… so I have been bringing it in between my vagina and anus until…
I’ve been reading through the books I haven’t read on Yogani’s book list and I am halfway through ‘Kundalini Tantra’ by Swami Satyananda Saraswati… so in the chapter “Vama Marga and kundalini awakening” he explains that the male perinium point is in between their anus and sex organs but for women it is up behind the cervix personally I feel it a little behind the vaginal wall up behind there.-
Has made a big difference to me so I thought I would share it with you
Namaste
Babaly
So… when you follow the spinal nerve - is it sort of doing a sharp turn inwards toward the cervix? That would make a sort of square route from the ajna back throu the head, 90 degrees turn and then down the spine and again 90 degrees turn into the top of the vagina? Is that the correct route?
Hm… no wonder I have had problems finding that lower spot… Thanks, Babaly!
Hi EMC,
Yes, after following the Sushumna down the spine, then I follow it in further so I’m basically in between the anus and vagina and then I kinda swoop it up to behind the cervix. To me… it feels like there is a pool or resevoir of scintillating energy there.
Hope this helps:-)
Babaly
Apologies for butting in on you ladies
I find this very interesting and was thinking of it in terms of teaching. After a quick try of it myself however I find looping the energy path down and around to the scrotum and back up again to feel very good.
So perhaps this also applies to men.
Any thoughts?
Louis
Hi Louis,
Not having the same equipqment, I feel I can’t really answer… Maybe Yogani or one of the others might weigh in on the matter.
But if it feels right?..
Namaste,
Babaly
Got an insight today! I connected this new fact with Barry Long teachings about making love… It makes perfect sense that it is when penis reaches the very bottom of the vagina that the energies in lovemaking really flourishes and nourishes. If you just stay still, the organs will start to dance beautifully! And that is why clitorial stimulation now feels so… secondary… sort of, for me.
By the way, interesting that even in the yoga teachings, it is MAN’s anatomy that has been referred to. Woman’s anatomy is “forgotten” and not mentioned. Man seems to be the norm in this area as well.
Are there any more differences that one should know of?
Hi Babaly,
Why, I spent months telling people that I couldn’t feel the pulse between the anus and vagina, but more inside the uterus… and no one understood. (I don’t know where the cervix is exactly… have to refer to a pic of the anatomy of the female human) I no longer push my heel all the way back to find the spot between the anus and vagina… feel the pulse earlier. Thanks for bringing this up.
You’re right. I often felt irritation when I read everything described only from the male point of view.
As for the difference, Siddhasana used to be an issue. Some say the right heel goes down for females and the left for males. Why, no one explains. I prefer, therefore the AYP view that either heel for either gender is OK.
Having given your idea a go Babaly, I found it a bit cumbersome on the in-breath and found myself reverting back to the normal procedure as outlined by the lessons - excerpt as below:
Next, with each rising inhalation of the breath, allow your
attention to travel upward inside a tiny thread, or tube, you
visualize beginning at your perineum, continuing up through the
center of your spine, and up through the stem of your brain to the
center of your head. At the center of your head the tiny nerve makes
a turn forward to the point between your eyebrows. With one slow,
deep inhalation let your attention travel gradually inside the nerve
from the perineum all the way to the point between the eyebrows. As
you exhale, retrace this path from the point between the eyebrows all
the way back down to the perineum. Then, come back up to the point
between the eyebrows with the next inhalation, and down to the
perineum with the next exhalation, and so on.
It occured to me that the advanced sidhasana :http://www.aypsite.org/T28.html might give the same effect you were talking about, without detracting from the regular procedure - what do you think.
Louis
I have felt this too Sadhak.
Louis… I have been in sitting in advanced siddhasana for awhile now… and now that you mention it… I think that is what did the trick for me.
This thread has been extremely helpful! Thanks everyone. It’s going to take a little getting used to, but I can feel the potential for opening just behind the cervix…it’s definitely The Spot. How do you suppose Swami Satyananda Saraswati knew this? There had to be a Mrs. Swami, or a dedicated devotee who patiently dictated the anatomical particulars to him. I wonder if Swamis blush. In any case, it was a bold move and I’m thankful that he had the insight to include women in his writings. Incidentally, I don’t feel the need to do the swooping motion that Babaly described; I don’t understand that part of it. Like emc, the motion for me is down to the top of the vagina and a 90º turn in toward the cervix. Do you naturally keep the vagina and anus slightly flexed? Anyone?
Hi All:
I have been following this discussion with interest. Not being a woman, I have been a little reluctant to jump in.
But now I’d like to offer some comments that might add some perspective.
Picking up on blujett8’s post over here, where she points to ecstatic connections in and around the perineum: http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1979#16564 …
In AYP spinal breathing, the primary lower end point is indeed in the area of the perineum. As we know, the perineum is the crossroad between the anus/rectum and genitals. There have been previous discussions seeking exactly where the bottom end of the spinal nerve is. There has been a tendency by some to take it forward to the genitals, and, in fact, the AYP tantra lessons lean this way with siddhasana for women (Satyananda does too). Yet, as the rise of ecstatic conductivity progresses, the sensitivity tends to move, or spread out, to the anus/rectum area as well.
It is well known that the classical literature places kundalini in the anus/rectal area, wrapped around it 3 1/2 times and all that. We need not get wrapped up in the details , but it is good to know that we are talking about ecstatic openings in both the area of the genitals (including the natural vajroli flow of fluid/essence up the urethra to the bladder in both sexes), and the awakening of ecstatic conductivity in the anus/rectal area (that is why we do mulabandha/asvini with our pranayama and kumbhaka). In later stages of root opening, siddhasana may automatically shift from front to back also.
From all of that, we might assume that the perineum, while not necessarily the primary point of awakening (or is it?), is a strategic location that covers, by proximity, the entire territory of root awaking, front and back. So, to borrow from the immortal words of Scott Fitzgerald in the Spinal Breathing Pranayama radio interview: “The perineum tain’t in the front and it tain’t in the back.” (In fact, the perineum is also called the “tain’t.”)
Regardless of where the perineum is not, it is in the middle, and awakening goes in all directions from there.
And what about the area behind the cervix, or that ecstatic sensitivity somewhere in the middle of the pelvic region? Well, it is the sex center, isn’t it? It is similar for men, with radiant ecstatic sensitivity arising in and around the seminal vesicles. It would appear that the similarities between the sexes in these matters are many more than the differences. What might be different is what is awakening when and where in the individual, which is a matter of personal purification and opening, and not necessarily gender related. Such variations are not based on anatomical differences as much as on individual patterns of obstruction we are each dissolving gradually through our daily practices.
In spinal breathing we are enlivening all of these areas as we touch with awareness the root location(s) and the area in the center of the pelvic region, not to mention everything else connected with the spinal nerve between the root and center brow. There is no need to alter our practice to accommodate whatever seems to be ecstatically sensitive in the moment. In fact, this might be favoring the scenery over the practice, something we all need to cognizant of.
So, should the sex center be the terminus of the spinal nerve in spinal breathing? Probably not, but no one is prohibited from experimenting with variations in practice. Satyananda’s approach may be a valid variation. The proof of the pudding will be in the long term eating.
My only suggestion would be to not leave the root area/perineum out of the practice. Just because an area does not seem ecstatically active in the moment does not mean there is no gold in them thar hills!
Just some food for thought.
Great discussion and exploration!
The guru is in you.
Yes, thanks for the great insights, Yogani. I’ll continue to look for gold in that thar perineum. I will say that, regardless of what chakra it is, finding this spot behind my cervix has helped my spinal breathing.
Clarification needed. I have watched a lot of anatomy pictures now and all point at perineum being the SKIN between anus and genitals, while the cervix is located at the same hight as the end of the spine. A relaxed vagina do not stretch very far up in the body. Is the center located in the SKIN or perhaps some distance up in the body? Is the perineum the whole area between the colon and the vagina? What area is counted as perineum? It is not much area left under the cervix. =)
In lesson 174 Yogani writes:
I have experienced this quite a lot (having female ejaculations) and I do not find the quote now, but I am pretty sure I have read somewhere that it would not be possible if the connection between the root chakra and the ajna wasn’t there.
From that perspective, my experience of not finding the root chakra near the skin (if that is where it is located) would be interesting. If it is possible to get this connection between the ajna and second chakra, that is also interesting. What do you think? Something seems a bit weird for me with this description of perineum.
