>>keep in mind that the effectiveness of the techniques does vary person-to-person because our biological machines are different. Because the machines are different, the result of an experiment on one machine does not predict the result of the experiment on another.
I understand that… we all know that the systems of body-building work, and that certain ppl can build large muscles within a short time, but it depends on many factors, like talents(of one’s body); diet, time and effort one put in… And maybe some ppl do not have much response with it!
That’s exactly why we need scientific evidences for esoteric techniques, in a somewhat larger scale. We need un-biased statistics, not just a few positive or negative examples. Here in Hong Kong we have something similar in its status: Chinese medicine. (or some other alternative medicine) We already know that certain part of it is effective in treating certain diseases (including SARS, they claimed), but the main part of it remain esoteric to the scientific community. The theory of it is–just as yoga, and actually overlap with yoga in the description of “nadis”— rather absurd for scientists and most rational beings. But as long as it works, who cares? A method may work for some mysterious reasons. The “theory” in the eastern sense is, after all, an easy way for us to grasp and organize knowledge; in stead of the western “theory”: an EXPLANATION which allows us to predict, control.
On the other hand, I would also like to take note of the placebo effect. If you exercise regularly in a certain way, you’ll get stronger even if you’re never told about their effects. But if you’re sick and I give you some useless, fake drug to eat, then my reputation; my description of that drug, etc all can determine whether you’ll be helped by that drug. This is verified by scientific studies. Would you still say that the drug is “effective”? It’s a hard question, depending how you look at the question. Because of this, my enquiry can also include the following: whether the “higher” part of yoga belong to the first or second case. The hatha yoga (or the asanas) part of yoga belongs to the first case: you’ll be benefited even if you don’t believe. Why’s the difference important, as long as something works? If it is the second case, usually one cannot go too far: you may feel happier by going to Church every weekend, but probably you won’t feel happier and happier and happier…for too long. For an example of the first case: if you learn an musical instrument (and practises!) you will have a long way for improvement. You can turn yourself into a piano player gradually, and you can expand your repertoire indefinitely–provided you’ve enough time.
Now a comment on Sahaja. It’s a classic in my mind. First of all, to be fair, it does have a practice of meditation. So even in the eyes of the scientific community they should be helpful–to some extent. But their claims go too far. They said you’ll awake your kundalini in just a few minutes, just by some strange rituals. (which they said are not useful(!); only your desire is important) So, you can expect, ppl expect a proof. At the end they ask you to put your hands above your head to see if there’s heat/coldness coming out: this is the sign of the rising kundalini to the crown. For me, I ask for “real” sign. I DO HAVE some feelings for this reason: try putting your hand in exactly the same way they ask you to do. You’ll feel something like a hot/cold current even if you don’t know their “yoga”. That’s because of the change of blood flow when you take your hands in that position. Certainly not kundalini. Try another experiment(sometimes it does not work, it depends on your body condition and the room temperature): take your hands near your liver, with your palm facing it, do not touch your body. If your clothes are thin enough, you will feel some heat on your palm. That’s because of the heat, the infrared radiation coming out from the body. Of course they have their theory, which is much more complicated. Simple when I told you now? There are other tricks, but you know what I mean anyway. Combining with the amostphere, their preaching(very skillful though not convincing for me) and the ignorance of the audience, many ppl think they’re having a rising kundalini just because of these tricks.(ppl usually are doubtful about their “experience” at first, but after hearing the other’s sharing of experiences, the preaching of the preachers, the encouragements; all these encourage them to believe)
That’s more about them: while they seems to respect all religions at first, they gradually expect you to dedicate yourself to them; worship and serve their spiritual leader (a woman, whom they regard as god/goddess), everything she said must be correct, any other religion is inferior to her when the teachings contradict each other, etc. Of course that’s not the first impression they are going to show you: they know it’s difficult to be accepted. If you search “Sahaja yoga” in google, you’ll find a lot. It’s not the traditional yoga, but still rather famous. (on the other hand, you can also find a lot of complains about them :-> )
That’s why you cannot always only rely on reputation. You have to test for yourself(or know from scientific studies/well-tested knowledge on the effects of brushing teeth, doing exercises,etc).
So far my experience with AYP have been great: plain teaching, no insititution. One good sign about Yoga (the traditional ones, not Sahaja,Kundalini yoga by Yogi Bhajan, etc) is that even though the theory is absurd, the practices are plain: no religious rituals involved. That’s important: for more people to accept and get the benefits, you can only keep the practices as simple as possible, removing all rituals which are not the core of the practice (that’s a great feature of Yogani’s teaching, e.g., on spinal breathing, meditation) Afterall, why we need those rituals if the practices work without placebo effects?
I will give the practices a few years. Anyway, meditation is already helping me. I am just concerned with spinal breathing, the heat/cold currents…Will I ever get to that? seemingly the first step is the hardest…
