I’ve been practicing Isha’s Shambhavi Mahamudra for a couple of months now and loving the results. My question is should I practice this as a stand alone practice with a separate DM session later on or can it be treated similar to SBP and go into DM directly following the shambhavi practice.
Also,are there any similarities to the shambhavi mahamudra practice and the spinal breathing practice by AYP? With the shambhavi practice the energy is quite powerful. For those unfamiliar the Shambahvi Mahamudra incorporates
Alternate nostril breathing followed by
AUM chanting then
Rapid Breathing then
Breath retention (on fullness and emptiness of breath) with Whole body bhandas (3 locks) then ending with
5-6 minutes meditation following the breath while focusing on the Anja.
Hi Lateralus, if you have good results and can perceive Jaggi’s presence guiding and boosting the process, you may experience an alteration of this energy flow by adding other practices. But ultimately try and see how it goes.
For adding the witness into your routine Isha also offers three meditations, namely Isha Kriya, Shoonya and samyama. The first one you can learn on YouTube, the second being an advanced and the third an even more advanced technique.
We have very few experience reports here on this forum in regards to Isha practices. Have not shared mine here too, but the hint would be to remain in one system for max smoothness. The other option is trial and learning 
Your reports are welcome to read
Peace and happy practice!
Forgot your question 
SBP being derived from kriya pranayama mainly addresses the sushumna nadi and the chakras within that nadi. SMM is a more rounded approach which opens all the side channels of the body-mind by means of physical practices and those you have mentioned, at the end landing at the third eye which also is a sushumna chakra. Keeping the attention there and having open and purified the gates to sushumna, life energies also start to enter it and rise up to the third eye. The destination of the life energies is the same, SBP is more direct and SMM a little indirect.
SBP would be a good complement to SMM, but the mix would again alter the life flow inside and outside the body. If that flow is to your liking you have to decide
Happy practice
Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement
Dear Holy,
Sorry, this is off topic. I tried to email you privately, but the site wouldn’t allow it.
I was going through an old chat on the AYP forum and I saw where you and another person mentioned Dr. Vagish Shastri(Vagyoga) in Varanasi. I was wondering if you would mind to give me any feedback you have heard about him, as I am likely going to study with him in Varanasi this year. Any insight would be grateful
Warm Regards,
Richard
Hi, sorry as well, as this is Offtopic.
I just wanted to say that Holy - I also sent you an email (not sure you received due to Forum’s bug).
Cheers.
Hi RJS,
will come back to you
@Domos,
sry your messages landed in the spam section Most probably due to changes in the messaging mechanism at the AYP forums, but now they should arrive in the right place (= Will also answer to your writing
Back to topic again
Greets and happy practice ^^
Thank you Holy. I wanted to work on the SBP,so thanks for clarifying how it would interact with SMM. Should it be done prior to SMM,say 5 minutes and then directly go into SMM or wait for a bit before going into the asana’s then SMM. As you said,it works more directly with the sushumna and that’s what I was looking for.
I’m also looking into attending a shoonya seminar,but probably not until next year. Again thanks for your input,you seem to be pretty popular on here.Greatly appreciated.
Actually,I think I will treat them as separate practices. Maybe SMM in the morning and SBP-DM in the evening.
My questions revolve around a question another ISHA practitioner asked about having a separate meditation practice from SMM. Sadhguru said that the SMM should come first as the primary practice. If it comes down to one or the other, always SMM. Through SMM I do connect with the inner silence,the same that Yogani talks about in DM. This leads me to ask,is DM or any other traditional meditation not involving pranayama needed? I feel that maybe it’s just different ways of leading to the same destination,that inner silence within. Which is quite awesome,I must say 
. SMM is a 21 minute practice, but I find myself wanting to stay with that silence for a longer period of time. And one big thing was,“do not alter the main practice”. I’m sure Sadhguru has his reasons and I’m sticking to them out of respect,hence the reason for maybe incorporating a separate meditation practice.
Hi Lateralus,
you can try out the seperate practice. It will give yuo the option to observe cause and effect better, although both will add and complement to one another. If the resulting overall effect will be better than two times the same practice you will have to find out. But for testing purposes this is the best approach, without making you lose your base practice that should become clear at some point in time.
Happy practice friend!
Yeah,this is working out nicely. There definitely seems to be a balancing effect going on. I also have a tendency to get bored with the same routine,even when it’s good for me . Adding SBP and DM as a separate practice changes things up in a good way, not to mention all the little add on goodies I can play with as I progress. It’s only been a week or so since adding the SBP and DM,so I’ll report back when I’ve gotten a little more prana under my belt,heh-heh .
What can I say, I have a knack for creating really bad jokes .
Part of AYP is self pacing. Don’t go overboard. 