The silence is between the words

05. Satsang Cafe - General Discussions on AYP
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Hi everyone,

I have used the third mantra enhancement for almost 10 years, since after the 2017 teacher training, and for a while now I didn’t think much about the mantra itself, I also achieved to refine the mantra over the years and that was really a surprise, I wasn’t sure I could do it. And since I have taken AYP I had great results in all aspects of my life. I am really grateful for that.

So recently I got hold of the audio book “Advanced Yoga Practice, The AYP Plus Lessons” that is 100 hours of Yogani reading all the lessons plus the additions, I downloaded it to my phone and listen to it while I go on walks. I was surprised to hear about the solar centering enhancement, somehow I missed it for all those years.

So I decided to give it a try, that would be the first change to my practice in years. I started a few days ago and very soon questions arised but not about the solar enhancement.

During DM I became aware of the words of the mantra, something that almost never happens, not the significance of the words but the separation of the words. Let me explain.

Where is the inner silence cultivated?

Is it between the mantra?

Sri Om, Sri Om, silence, I Am, I Am, silence, Namah, Namah, silence, repeat, or

Between the individual words?

Sri Om, silence, Sri Om, silence, I Am, silence, I Am, silence, Namah, silence, Namah, silence, repeat, or

Between the whole mantra?

Sri Om, Sri Om, I Am, I Am, Namah, Namah, silence, repeat.

I have the feeling that it can be a mix of all that, whenever the silence occurs that’s where it is!!

What is your experience with this? Is there a specific way to do this?

Thanks

alain

Note: I post this knowing full well that as usual the answer will come to me the moment I press the send button!!! :joy:

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Hi Alain,

I hope the answer came to you as soon as you pressed that button! :slightly_smiling_face:

When using the mantra, just start it off and then let it go as it will. There is no need to give it another thought. If you do find yourself wondering where the silence will come from, just notice you are off in thoughts and easily come back to the mantra, again letting it go as it will.

Silence is not necessarily silence without mantra, although it could be. But, it can also be silence with mantra. In fact it can be silence with mantra and thoughts. The mantra, and thoughts, are very small things in a very large mind. And the mind is 99% silent. It is just that we do not usually notice it. It is like the silence in a forest. We may be sitting in a forest and notice the sound of a bird singing, or the river running past, or the wind in the trees. We are naturally drawn towards the sounds because we are used to noticing these things. But actually the forest is 99% silent all the time. The mind is like this. We notice the mantra and thoughts when they arise, but we do not notice the 99% of the mind that is always silent.

When the mind begins to become settled, still, calm, and equanimous, that is when we start to notice the 99% of the mind that is always silent and never moving. And the really trippy part is that we then start to notice that the mantra, and all thoughts, arise from this ocean of silence, dissolve back into it, and are always it, even when they appear as a sound vibration. They are never truly separate from the ocean of silence in the mind, just as a wave is never truly separate from the ocean. A wave is just the ocean in motion. In the same way, a thought, including a mantra, is just silence moving.

There are many ways in which silence can come. But it usually comes when it is not expected, or desired. It usually comes when the mind is peaceful and free from attachments, and aversions.

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Thanks Tristan,

The answer that came to me was: I just added a new twist to my practice, so there is extra purification going on causing me to overthink a simple symptom, and I should hope that I didn’t waste people’s time with that question. But in fact you provided a really nice spiritual and practical response to my questions. It is unquestionable that all is filled with silence and missing that fact is what we do best. I’ll carry on with your advice and I’ll be looking forward to progress spiritually and refine the solar centering enhancement.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, it’s much appreciated.

I’m just a small wave in a big ocean.

Cheers mate!

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Cheers Alain

I believe adopting the solar center deepened my practice immensely. By placing the mantra and inner guru there rather than the third eye relieved head pressure, stabilizing an energetic DM experience; with an ‘active’ root and third eye, residing at the midway with gentle attention allows this body to fall away, dissolve, into the mantra. The whole shushumna feels involved, not simply the third eye and crown. (I feel stable enough to give the crown a few gentle minutes near the end of sitting). The solar center is under-covered in my opinion and experience, I would love to hear from others of their experiences.

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Thanks for sharing Michael

Looks like you have a good grip on your practices.

Cheers

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Hi Michael, Alain and all,

Just to clarify for anyone reading along, there is no stage in DM practice where the mantra is deliberately located at the ajna chakra. It could happen spontaneously as the mantra is moving freely around the body and could get stuck there. In this case the solar centring technique could be helpful.

Full details on the technique are here:

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Glad to see this recent discussion on solar centering.Thanks all for sharing these experiences and Tristan for clarifications.

I began it a few weeks ago.

For the first week I felt there was too much effort going on in a way I hadn’t experienced with my meditations prior. I also was finishing with a minor headache after each session. I wondered if this meant I wasn’t ready for it; despite 9 years now of DM (first alternate enhancement for 5 of those).

I went back to Yogani’s teachings on it, re-read those and with some assistance from the amazing AI tool on here that searches years of posts and realized what the issue was - that I wasn’t just easily favoring the general area very gently and picking up the mantra there and not try to insist I was placing it at exactly where I thought the solar plexus was at any given moment. And of course favor a faint fuzzy feeling of the mantra however it appears.

The issue has resolved itself and I’m really enjoying the greater stability I’m feeling and it seems like a welcome and wonderful new gear for me. My thinking during the day also seems to be clearer with awareness moving more through my lower body along with the blissful effects I receive from spinal breathing and less bottled up in my head.

I know no reason to dissect the experience but there you have it.

I also purchased Yogani’s epic audio book with all the plus lessons and love it on walks!

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my experience also, by moving awareness to the center it registers (to this yogi) in both the third and fourth chakras and is offered up to ishta in the mantra. Christi, thanks for the reminder, the mantra has been a funny thing over the years. I went through all the enhancements and conductivity happened. The one time I had a meditation session with my adult daughter, I instructed her with AYAM and then kept it going and simple from then on, probably five years now, Yogani’s flywheel effect, less becomes much more.

Once I started solar centering, moving the voice in my head there seemed natural, perhaps I believed “I did that”.

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I wish to add that gently residing at solar center is an intentional choice, made when in DM one is feeling lost, or too much head pressure, or fearful, or prone to overloading. Solar center is a place away from mind for safety in the experience of then. This yogi uses isolar centering as the default in DM while still in the body. Obviously in samhadi we are beyond any awareness of SC or the body.

As with most practices hold gently and willingly let go.

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