As the title says, I am looking for advice on when to start spinal breathing. My situation is a bit unique, and I will describe it in full. I first heard of kriya yoga in 2024 and have had a good practice of kriya pranayama. I have, however, not been able to go past kriya pranayama but have been somewhat practicing kriya pranayama with mahamudra and an attempt at khecari mudra (I learned all these from books). Self-pacing is the single biggest reason I have remained stuck, and I have been limited by a glass ceiling. I stumbled upon this site recently and was immediately convinced that it was what I desperately needed. I know all of the buzzwords, but the structure this site gives to the practice is what got me hooked. I decided to abandon all my practices (since they were not taking me anywhere anyway) and focus on following the Ayp path. Now before I continue, I would like to say that my kriya, pranayama, and mahamudra gave me some little results, so I am technically not a complete beginner. I decided to start the Ayp main path and focus on only deep meditation for at least a month or two, but from my very first session, I experienced involuntary movement, the chief of which was my body automatically bending forward after some time of deep meditation. By the second session, my body bent all the way forward, almost touching the floor (I sit cross-legged). This has continued for 2 more sessions. I looked up similar experiences on the forum, particularly this thread: involuntary movement during meditation . In this thread, @yogani points to lesson 183 on “Automatic Yoga,” which says that the spine stretching itself forward is part of the purification process. Later on in the thread, the original person @will.iam asks whether or not he should start Spinal Breathing, and he is advised to do so. My question is also whether or not these energy movements mean that it is okay to start spinal breathing despite only doing deep meditation for 2 days. The reason I am asking this is because of my past experience. I look forward to your suggestion
Hi Finkle,
It is best to practice Deep Meditation for at least a month, or two, before starting Spinal Breathing Pranayama. This is the case even if you are experiencing automatic yogic movements, or if you have already been involved in other spiritual practices. It is important to allow some time for the meditation practice to settle in and to make sure you are stable with it, before starting anything else.
That is mentioned in this forum post by Yogani:
“In the case of starting the AYP practices, it is not recommended to take on both spinal breathing and deep meditation at the same time. For most, it is best to take on deep meditation first, stabilize a daily routine with it for a month or two, and then add spinal breathing right before Deep Meditation.” [Yogani]
Automatic yoga movements are quite normal and natural and are simply caused by purification taking place in the energetic channels of the body. I recorded a short video about a month ago on the sushumna nadi and in that I mentioned some of these movements (around the 4.5 minute mark). That is here.
What about asanas like mahamudra. Someone mentioned doing mahamudra to pre-empt the stretching of the channel. Would you recommend adding in mahamudra now or waiting until i have a solid foundation in deep meditation?
Hi Finkle,I would still suggest spending some time focussing only on meditation before adding anything else. Deep Meditation stirs things up in the subtle nervous system and can have far-reaching effects throughout the body and mind. When using multiple spiritual practices in one session, it is important to get a sense of which practices are creating which effects. If we add different practices too closely together, this can become confusing, and if we need to scale things back later on, it can be difficult to know which practice needs scaling back. Many asanas are quite gentle on the subtle body, however, some have quite powerful effects. mahamudra is one of those as it includes shambhavi mudra, mulabandha, uddiyana bandha, breath retention and possibly kechari mudra. So, there is a lot going on just with that one asana. Other asanas can also have quite powerful effects on the subtle nervous system such as reclining virasana, anjaneyasana, ustrasana, matsyasana, matsyendrasana and so on.
So, I would say wait a while to settle in with Deep Meditation. There is no need to pre-empt automatic yoga movements. They are not a bad thing and can simply be left to play out as they will. They are a sign of inner purification and will not last forever.