Hi Jim and EMC:
The discussion on “front and back” in spinal breathing does not originate in yoga and is not mentioned in the AYP writings either, except when Taoist approaches are being considered.
It has been mentioned that spinal breathing like presented in AYP is “up and down the back.” This is not true. The spinal nerve is more in the center of the body than in the back, and in the throat area it is right behind the back of the throat and esophagus (gullet). As ecstatic energy awakens and expands, it is found to be even more in the middle, and less following the physical anatomy of the spine, passing through the entire region of the throat instead. That is what happens as the spinal nerve awakens – it expands from the center to become a large column of energy, eventually reaching far beyond the body itself. That is ecstatic radiance.
So all this up the back and down the front discussion does not resonate much with the yogic view, particularly as kundalini advances and covers a much broader swath through the body – becoming one thing, not two things. Spinal breathing follows suit in this, working more or less from the center, and the front and back stuff is dissolved in it. From the yogic point of view, the front and back stuff was never there much in the first place and, in fact, drawing the distinction in mind and practices could become an obstacle to the natural expansion of the internal energies, much the way hanging on to a specific mantra pronounciation can become an obstacle to deep meditation. Spinal breathing works between the two poles of root and brow, and can be much less defined in-between as the energies evolve. In that situation, there is no front or back.
Which is not to say that the front channel symptoms are not real. Certainly they are. But I am not sure the answer will be found in continuing to define and manage the energies in front and back categories. As we know, attempts to categorize and manage the details of internal energy flows can lead to more problems than solutions. A more holistic approach may yield better fruit. A middle way? 
Just some thoughts.
The guru is in you.
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