Recently I got AYP Plus and I’ve been reading the first couple of lessons again. One thing that I’ve noticed very quickly, is how bold and exciting the first lesson makes it all sound. There is talk about craving something more and about divine addiction. It sounds really intense. Back when I first stumbled upon the lesson, all of this really spoke to me and it all did spark a lot of excitement, enough for me to actually be open to these ideas of the subtle nervous system, which challenged my beliefs about the world in a significant way .
However, looking back at things I can’t help but think that, if I were to teach a class, I wouldn’t introduce things in that way. I would say I’m naturally sensitive, and back then I was suffering quite a bit, which was transmuted into bhakti in a quite beautiful and powerful process. At the same time, I can’t help but think that at that point some sort of attachment was created - to the method, and inevitably also, to the bliss.
Now however, I am much more drawn to how the AYP Deep Meditation book introduces things. It feels like Yogani took a more sober approach in them, explaining inner silence, its perks and who we really are. It speaks to me now, and it feels like the danger of using Deep Mediation to the point of discomfort is minimized in that way. Who knows if it would have spoken to me back then when I started AYP ?
Would you agree that the contents of the Deep Mediation Book are better suited as a base upon which to teach an AYP class? I might have an opportunity soon. Yogani, what are your feelings on this first lesson, has something changed in 20 years? I know we already have a lesson addition about what changed in 10 years
Thank you to the AYP community for being an amazing place to explore spirituality and thank you to Yogani to creating this system, which by now, has pretty much every aspect of my life. I look forward to practicing it for the next two decades and seeing what happens. This time, I will do it with care, and avoid the pitfalls of excess intensity.
Thanks for your support at AYP Plus, which includes twice the original lesson content, all the AYP books in online mode, audio for everything, and quite a few instructional videos. Note: Today we experienced a rare outage at AYP Plus, and the site is up again. Apologies to anyone logging in there earlier today.
The original lessons were started over 20 years ago in a Yahoo Group as a stream of consciousness, and it was only me in the beginning. So Lesson 10 is a personal intro, answering the question “Why this discussion?” Within a matter of months there were thousands of people reading there and the lessons evolved over the years, adding the “full scope” sequence of yoga practices and addressing the diverse experiences of the many using them. I had been practicing over 30 years before the lessons started, and discovered the importance of “self-pacing and grounding” along the way (as represented in the Secrets of Wilder novel), which became a core teaching in the lessons as thousands coming from many backgrounds and levels of initial awakening joined the discussion.
So are the lessons a good resource to teach from? It depends. They represent the complete evolution of a flow of yogic knowledge coming out from stillness, starting with one yogi, and soon involving and addressing the needs of many. So the lessons are an interaction between yogic knowledge and practitioners. To what extent teachers use them is up to those who are teaching. Of course, anyone can access the original lessons, which provide a good detailed check on what AYP is about, and help prevent the distortions that agenda seekers may bring into the community of practitioners. As we have often said, when in doubt about what AYP is, check the lessons.
To get to your question, since fairly early on, the lessons were also published in books, and then with the 12 Enlightenment Series books being offered to provide the core AYP teachings in bite-sized pieces. The concise Deep Meditation book provides the foundation for all the books that followed. So yes, it is a very good teaching tool, and highly regarded in the world of full scope yoga. In more recent years, Tristan and other teachers have been developing online video courses covering Deep Meditation and the other AYP practices at the AYP Academy. This is also a good place to start in AYP. Retreats and teacher training have been ongoing as well. So there are multiple ways to approach the knowledge according to individual preference.
PS: Regarding the energetics that may result from engaging in the knowledge, I don’t think Lesson 10 and its spiritually ambitious tone, or any of the AYP writings, are the primary culprits related to energy surges, with rapidly expanding bliss and bhakti. It has more to do with the inner potential for awakening residing within each of us. It is that potential (the guru within) that responds to knowledge. And then it expands through practice, spiritual community, and so on. And yes, self pacing and grounding are essential along the way. So while it may make a difference with the initial experience where one starts in the knowledge - Lesson 10, Deep Meditation book, etc. - the process of awakening is going to happen according to each person’s unique process and spiritual aspiration.
I was recently asked about energy transmissions (shaktipat), which is answered in several places in the lessons. This one may have relevance in this topic.
In other words, “Your faith is making you whole.”
Hopefully not too whole all at once. That’s why we have self pacing and grounding.
I could also really relate to the Shaktipat question and I actually found it pretty relevant. On the first couple of months of 2025 I had a surge of Bhakti, and I practiced more intensely than ever before. I read the secrets of wilder novel, and at times I even felt like I was yogani, as strange as that sounds. It felt so freeing, somehow. I was even doing advanced pranayamas and, at times, the navi kriya. Somehow, I was fine.
However, there was something approaching. I was meeting resistance from my parents. I was looking for a job, but couldn’t find a good match. My parents couldn’t let me go and they were holding on to some past image of me. There was big drama. Confrontations with darkness, with what I would describe as an entity. It was too much. It all came down crashing, energetically speaking. I was overloading badly as a result. I had to stop practices and moved. The inner yogani or the inner guru was hurt, badly.
But life goes on, months passed, the obstructions started to clear. It’s still not complete. But eventually, I have to pick up the torch again. Understand that spiritual ambition is not the same as recklessness. My shortened SPB + DM seems to work. I actually believe it is making things more stable. I’m not craving more, I’m patiently waiting for an opportunity to add a minute or two. The inner guru needs to be fully revived, in time.
Now that I’ve added some more context, perhaps you’ll be able to understand a little better what is going on
I would say, no, it’s not imbided and assimilated. I’m using “bliss” a bit as an umbrella term here, referring to sensations such as peace, or the general pleasantness of energy being able to flow freely. It sometimes comes during the day as a general sensation of pleasantness of being, but it’s not all-pervading. It has definitely not fully penetrated action.
I’ve heard that when the knot in the heart gets pierced, energy comes from the surroundings to you and you don’t rely as much on your own. I’m still waiting for this to happen and, when it does, I expect action to be more fully penetrated by the divine.
In as experienced, Bliss in permanence comes about as a stage in the kundalini activation process, where after ascent from root to crown, piercing the fontanel, male and female energies are balanced. This is all a physically felt process, very vivid, disconcerting even since there is gender oscillation. If we remain still, the energies get balanced in a short while.
Then, Hiranyagarbha or cosmic egg in the head splits and we are literally hatched out of it. The male and female aspects, Shiva and Shakti, they descend to the heart via what scriptures call the Amrit nadi. Divine union takes place in the heart, resulting in an explosion of bliss, which illumines the central vein, Sushumna. It spreads to all cells of the body although it is felt more vividly at the chakra points.
Bliss then becomes a permanent embodiment of being, just like our breath or heartbeat, irrespective of the external.
There is more to say about the energy grid that loops form over back and front and the actuality of the location of Sushumna but that is another topic.
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