I would have thought this question had come before, but I did not find it with a quick search.
Recently, I found I feel very ecstatic by combining the SBP procedure (move attention to brow with inhalation; move attention to perineum with exhalation) with certain asanas, such as cat-cow, child pose, and cobra. It feels very intense–much more than while performing SBP seated.
I suppose there is nothing wrong with this so long as it does not cause overload symptoms (and I am not using it as a substitute for seated practices)? Thanks for any thoughts!
As Alain pointed out, Spinal Breathing Pranayama can be noticed to be happening sometimes during asana practice. This would be when it is occurring as an automatic yoga , also called a kriya. Whether to allow this to happen or not, would depend on the individual. If it is felt to be overstimulating energetically, then it is best not to allow it to happen. But, if not, then it is fine to let it happen.
The reason that Spinal Breathing is not used deliberately during asana practice is because it is a very energetically stimulating practice. For this reason it is timed quite carefully during our practices and is normally limited to 10 minutes, twice each day. Advanced practitioners could go up to 15 minutes twice each day, but this would be a lot during normal everyday life. You can imagine what would happen if someone were to use the practice during asana practice as well. If someone had a 20 minute asana practice, before each sitting practice session, then they would be doing 30 minutes of SBP twice each day. It would basically be all bets off, in terms of what would happen.
The same goes for using mantras in the way we use them in Deep Meditation, easily favouring them with our attention whenever we realise we are off them. They are best kept to Deep Meditation sessions and timed quite carefully. One practice that can be combined with asana practice in AYP is Samyama and we did this last Sunday during the AYP online retreat. A description for how to combine Samyama with asana practice can be found here.
Pranayama in asana class in this yogi usually follows the structure of SBP (up on the inhale, down on the exhale) but in a much less attentive way: the eyes are open, there is no spinal tracing, the exhale may also come out the mouth. The breath in asana is more about stimulating, integrating, and radiating heat and energy as the attention scans the body in stillness and action. SBP is all about preparation of your system for DM, and probably best kept on the meditation seat.
This is a very interesting question, and I also have been tempted to manipulate prana through attention and breath during my daily AYP asana practice once I noticed prana moving there automatically and in intriguing ways. Then it became very tempting to assist what is already happening automatically, especially if that little assistance triggers a lot of pleasure…
As part of an energetic self-pacing effort I tried to avoid this assistance. But it is difficult to follow through with it some days, because for me during asana it is a fine line between actively manipulating prana, and allowing it to happen, versus actively suppressing what is naturally happening. All of these things might be going on at the same time within a single asana session, oscillating between getting carried away by the pleasure and an attempt to strive for balance.
I see this as a fun way of exploring self-pacing, attachment to pleasure, pleasure itself and inner sensuality. I’m sticking to essentially the asana start kit, and more and more of these postures have become very ecstatic. It seems that asana practice serves as a kind of controlled test environment for handling ecstasy before it becomes 24/7.
Outside of asana practice I sometimes encounter similar situations. If I go for a walk, that I intend to be a grounding activity, but then get carried away by the pleasure in my soles and spine while walking, I’m likely not getting much grounding from it.
To help not getting side-tracked by the pleasure, and with it reducing the chance of escalating overload symptoms that could reduce life quality, AYP is structured so that the rise of the witness is happening before or at least at the same time as the rise of around-the-clock ecstasy.
A question to anyone who has been in a similar situation: I’m wondering if adding samyama to my asana practice could assist in my energetic self-pacing effort. The idea is that there would be a clearer task of what to do with my attention during asana, giving me less freedom to just trigger extra pleasure on a whim. On the other hand, samyama could also amplify energetic overload if it amplifies energetic effects during asana. I’m anyways curious to give it try and see how it goes.
