Tom,
I gag when I use my fingers to push my tongue back… not otherwise.
I was not doing kechari with my practices so far, just practicing it on the side. I just did it with my spinal breathing… there was so much heat… I was sweating so much that it felt like I was standing under a shower… My arms and legs are still shaking…
Umm… guess I should back off…
May not have been kechari related though… had a tough day at work, was really tired and my meditation was really deep…
Congratulation, Meg. Your progress seems to be faster than I’d expected. It makes me want to snip again, when I have that luxury!
Hi Shanti,
That sounds like a pretty intense reaction! Some good purification. Backing off a bit is probably a good idea. I haven’t had anything that intense – a little spacey or ungrounded if I over do it, but nothing more extreme than that. Sometimes I find just doing some more spinal breathing will actually smooth things out.
Hi Tom,
I think it was Kechari related. I tried it this morning again… I started off without kechari but as soon as I started kechari… the heat just quadruples… and then meditation is soooooo deep. I am sort of scared and excited to think what will happen when I do enter the nasal passage. 
Maybe my meditation doesn’t go deep enough or maybe i am just used to it but in my experience it is not such a huge leap as some have been describing. perhaps may have to do with the newness of the experience and the effort involved in getting there. Kechari certainly helps me meditate but has gotten to feel pretty routine at this point so I think the dramatic experiences should fade with regular practice as you get used to the energetic shifts.
Hi Shanti,
That’s really interesting! Keep me informed as it progresses. It is clearly doing something very powerful. I have not had any heat. Meg seems to be having a lot in her feet. It doesn’t sound too pleasant, but at least it demonstrates very clearly that something out of the ordinary is going on with these practices. Victor could be right and it will even out afer some time. You could simply be having a big breakthrough. If it is too uncomfortable just back off for a while.
Heat is just purification…I hope everyone’s clear on that. If not, people could start reading this and do kechari just for the heat…and possibly not ever experience any! That would get pretty confusing. I hope everyone is clear on what they’re seeking, in doing these practices. Enlightenment!
Shweta,
Here’s a tidbit about purification from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika:
“12. In the beginning there is perspiration, in the middle stage there is quivering, and in the last or third stage, one obtains steadiness; and then the breath should be made steady or motionless.
13. The perspiration exuding from exertion of practice should be rubbed into the body (and not wiped), as by so doing the body becomes strong.
14. During the first stage of practice the food consisting of milk and ghee is wholesome. When the practice becomes established, no such restriction is necessary.”
- From Book II : Pranayama
So you being showered in your own sweat and shaking will end up passing. Rubbing your sweat back in, and drinking milk and consuming ghee is up to you, although I think it’d be good to do those things. It can’t hurt, right? In my experience, it helps the purifications pass quicker.
Also, I don’t suggest backing off! Unless in your daily life you notice that you’re being way too flakey or emotional…or you have ongoing heat, like Meg has. Purification isn’t a sign to self pace…things that mess with your day to day life are. At least that’s my view on the issue.
It’s good that your meditation was waaaaaaaay deep, but it’s better when you take that deepness into your daily life…when the world begins to unite as one thing in your mind. Then you’re always meditating, without trying. You can’t help it. You get absorbed in everything, like watching a great movie where you forget about everything but what’s going on in it. This is one-pointedness.
Someone could have the deepest samadhi when they sit for twenty minutes, but if it isn’t integrated with going through your day, what use is it? You come out and are still in delusion. I’m quite sure this is where Yogani’s up and coming Self-enquiry book will take us. To enlightenment!
Anyway, sorry I’m giving advice to you long time AYP folks. I apologize if you know all of this already, and I’m just coming off as a “look at me I know everything” type. We’re all on the same path, and I haven’t yet reached the end…so I assure you I don’t know it all…I’m just trying to help.
-Scott
Hi Scott,
Thank you so much. Your help is very much appreciated. Even when we do know stuff… its always good to be reminded of the basics…
Yes, heat is purification, if the energy does not interfere with my every day life, I don’t need to self pace. I knew those two. Thanks for reminding me though… 
The reason I said I may have to back off (which I did not do of course… because I tried it this morning again 
) was my hands and legs were shaking later on, and I was really light headed for a bit.
Ok, about the rubbing, I could try that. ghee… my favorite… will have to make some… milk… 
… sorry.
Meditation is waaaaaaay deep… the bad part of this is… it takes forever to get out of it… and if I hurry… I get groggy and disoriented. Ahhhhh! but I love that deep feeling, I hate coming out of meditation… and I think I do have that silence with me all day…
This was very sweet Scott… please do not hesitate to give more advice…
-Shweta
PS: Thanks a lot for “tidbit about purification from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika:” That was really good.
Shweta,
You’re very welcome.
But you don’t like milk? What kind of yogini are you!? Just kidding of course… Swami Sivananda said it’s the perfect food. However, I don’t think it’s as perfect when bought from the grocery store nowadays. Check this out: http://www.realmilk.com/
Also, I think you would like Charu for a day time snack…
“Charu: A preparation of boiled rice, milk, sugar and ghee, to be offered into the fire for gods; a sattvic dietary regimen usually taken by yoga-practitioners and celibates.”
- From http://www.atmajyoti.org/sw_role_diet_sex_control.asp
The reason I say day time…eating before bed messes with your sleep and thus your health.
“I think I do have that silence with me all day…”
Of course you do, the Lord always watches over us
. The more we empty ourselves (by making our attention singular) the more we know that…the more silence there is.
You know this stuff already.
-Scott
Charu sounds delicious!
Scott,
I have failed this yogi diet big time. Maybe its time for me to give up the idea of becomming a yogini… 
Charu… is known by other names too… very staple food in India… we generally add bananas to it too… if you think of it, its like having a bowl of rice cereal with milk… but not one of my favorits… main ingredient milk .
Thanks any way.
Yes, the Lord does always watch over us Scott…
-Shweta
Shweta,
I hope you know I was totally kidding about the milk thing. You’re obviously a great yogini…showers of sweat are your tangible proof. I’ll give a tip on making charu, because the way you described it isn’t how I make it…
When you cook rice, it soaks up the stuff you’re cooking it in…so it’s soaking up the milk, sugar and ghee. It should be soft and gooey and there shouldn’t be any extra fluid. Not like rice cereal with milk at all…but more like rice pudding.
Anyway if you still don’t like that, I don’t know what to tell you…you may have no hope in yoga.
I was definitely kidding there.
-Scott
Hi Scott,
Yes I know you were kidding my dear . Cooking the rice in milk… well now that is not Charu… that is call payesh where I come from, it is served as a dessert…
OK, here is the deal… I don’t like milk, I don’t like sweet food, I don’t like desserts… so this one is a no no for me… I do make it often… my kids and my husband love it… but I don’t touch that stuff. Here is something you can add when you make this… add some slivered almonds, pistachio and raisins…
Thanks for trying to get me to drink my milk though and make me a good yogini… Yep! no hopes for me in this path…
OK now back to Kechari…
Does anyone feel like the mind becomes completely still when in Kechari… or is it just my imagination…
Shweta - yes, I think that may be the case with me too. While my tongue is in kechari, there is a profound feeling of stillness, or rest, which feels like, Ahhh . . . home at last. But later, like in the middle of the night, there is incredible energy movement in every nook and cranny of my body. It’s calmed down a lot since I’ve cut way, way back on kechari (max. 5 min. a day), so it feels manageable and even sensual. There seems to be a very fine balance between the stillness and energy movement, Shiva and Shakti. But what I’m noticing from reading others’ experiences with this is that kechari affects everyone differently. For you it’s stillness, for me it’s purification, for Tom it’s prana flow, for Scott it’s charu. 
OK, I have found the nasal passage. But my tongue does not go through… the passage does not seem broad enough for my fat tongue to go through, I guess… and if I try to push it in… it burns.
Any one else experience this, or am I doing this wrong?
Shweta you are doing fine, juatdon’t try so hard to break through. Explore the opening to teh nasal passage, feel the midline, get familiar with the territory. During your practice just gently rest the tongu there easily and comfortably. Then, maybe after a few years or sooner or later if you are so inclined you can explore the right or left passage with the tip of your tongue but I really wouldn’t worry about that at this point. just finding the nasal openings is enough for a good long while. enjoy and get comfortable there!
Hi Shanti:
Good advice from Victor. It was about 10 years after stage 2 before I went into the nostrils. There is no rush. Take time to assimilate what you have energetically before moving on. You don’t have to wait as long as I did (it was a much lonelier road back then – all this kechari company we have today is wonderful), but no need to get ahead of yourself either. In time, the mechanics of it will manifest, or maybe not. It is not mandatory to penetrate the nostrils to proceed along the path. In fact, the journey can continue without kechari stage 2. That is the advantage of a diverse integrated system of practices – one way or another we will continue to move ahead according to our inner light.
Each of us has our own tendencies, and each of us will travel our own path.
The guru is in you.
Thanks Victor and Yogani.
Its really disappointing though… no near yet so far… 
I just hit stage 2 last night, without yet snipping the frenum…I was sitting there for 20 minutes pushing with my fingers, thrusting forward, etc…it happened when I wasn’t paying attention to it. Then I could easily feel the midline and what seemed like the passages on either side…
This morning I awoke to do my practices with a high pitched ringing sound in me (not just in my ears). I had noticed the sound beforehand during meditation…as if a TV was on. Sometimes it sounded like wind rushing through the woods. This time it was higher, stronger and centralized. When I’d move my head too far forwards, the sound would go away…or too far backwards, or to the side. Only when I was in alignment was it the most apparent.
Interesting stuff.
-Scott
Well Congratulations Scott. That is great… without snipping… one of the lucky few I have to say.
Hummmmm high pitched ringing sound… purification maybe?
You are right its very Interesting…