Hi Christie yes I agree with you on this one I think the sort of levitation or hopping discussed by Yogani is totally different from that which has been publicly demonstrated by the TM people and has nothing to do with muscle spasms. The sort of thing the TM people do would not be possible in siddhasana and Yogani never mentioned sitting in padmasana to achieve it in fact it is only spoken of as an interesting symptom of purification that can happen while we are in deep meditation and practicing Samyama. 
It is the TM version that most peoples views of levitation are based on as this is the only version that has ever been seen. and although it is supposedly based on the same practices as ours namely Samyama when it is demonstrated publicly as in the short example at the beginning of this news item
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4153396.stm
It looks very much like a series of muscle spasms. 
Richard
Mike,
If you are opposing someone (and attached), you may misconstrue their mere strength as it it were aggression. You are delivering strong direct criticisms of me and my posts, and you probably STILL think you are the least aggressive of the two of us!
And yet notice that I stuck to the issues throughout, and never resorted to criticising you or your postings. So it looks like I can offer you some very good example, despite how ‘aggressive’ I may seem!
Scientists do have conviction as I was saying. The truth is, everyone does. The only time someone’s conviction bothers someone else is when they have contrary convictions. Our ally’s conviction on an issue we’ll call conviction; our opponent’s on an issue we’ll call a ‘fixed position’ or ‘stubbornness’ or something similar when we want to put it down! And likewise, our ally’s strength we may call strength, and our opponent’s strength we may call aggression!
( And I’m not even saying that the psychic powers don’t exist, rather that no-one can prove their existence scientifically. )
I said: “It’s a problem…that the internal and external are not properly differentiated in our traditions. Yoga is a system which grew in an earlier era and did not differentiate the internal and external too well.”
Sadhak and Doc,
I’ll get back about this but it will be after the Thanksgiving weekend, because I have to go. But I’m not putting yoga down, it might have been better if I said that its interpretations met the needs of the era it developed in quite well, but may need some adaptation to our modern times.
Happy Thanksgiving, all!
http://www.naruse-yoga.com/levitation.html
Submitted for approval, these are the only photos I am aware of that show an advanced yogi demonstrating levitation that are available to the general public.
Yogi Naruse is a Japanese yogi also known as Akasha Giri in India.
Welcome to the forum Swami Vajra 
,
Nice photos by the way.
Christi
p.s. Happy Thanksgiving David 
Hi Richard, and thanks for the reply.
Nice video- I’m not sure if Randi would give these guys a million dollars though 
. I have never seen this before. Yogic hopping would probably be a better term than yogic flying for this sort of thing. . I won’t say it is not a valid practice though, as I havn’t tried it.
Christi
OK…OK…I admit it. I just don’t get it. 
Perhaps I’m just an aging yogi who’s been around the block too many times, and seen it all too often before to invest anymore energy or excitement into consideration of such things as ‘levitation’. 
What if each one of you who reads this post could know for a certainty that you’d wake up tomorrow morning with the ability to levitate 
And I mean really levitate! Not merely hop around with crossed legs on a cushioned surface, but actually rise vertically off the floor without any use of muscular efforts or forward body weight momentum. You know, straight up into the air with a motionless body! That IS ultimately what is being referred to here, is it not?
OK…so let’s say that one of the Ascended Masters decides to grant your wish while you are sleeping, and when you arise in the morning…you continue to rise. 
SO WHAT Who cares other than you? What value is there in such an ability, other than the ego inflating gratification of knowing that you possess a rare skill or a magical power that others do not? Whoopteedo…Hoorah for you! One more landslide victory for ego attachment. 
How would this yogic power enhance or diminish the quality of your life’s work, your health, or your spiritual sadhana? Would any real good or benefit come from acquiring such a skill? Could there be any unforeseen problems attendant to demonstrating this power? And would those of you who are so entralled by the possibility of levitating, still desire such a skill if the only way you could have it for sure would be to give your sworn, solemn oath that you’d never reveal it to or demonstrate it to ANYONE What fun would that be, right?
For me? No thanks. If I thought I would enjoy becoming another roadside attraction, I’d run away to join the Carnival. Until then, I’d rather be able to maintain a pranic grounding cord connecting my 1st Chakra with the center of the earth from the driver’s seat of my meditation blanket than to levitate any day. So…while some of you guys are imagining how to lift off and levitate upwards…this old yogi is seriously gettin’ it down in front of the home shrine! 
http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/images/mad_wm_tell.jpg
Hari Om!
Doc
Could be kind of exhilirating!
Would be handy for picking apples and getting things off of the top shelf!
Great for a window-washing business!
Doc,
Not to argue with your points, which are perfectly correct, but to play the Devil’s advocate and show the other side to your points…
A lot of people care. They want to see things which push the boundaries…they want to know the truth. The desire for levitation is, at least to me, obviously also a desire for ultimate understanding. No one wants the truth held from them. Telling a seeker that they should avoid levitation and seek enlightenment first is like telling a heroin addict not to shoot up. Everyone wants that understanding above all else, and no one knows how to correctly find it (mostly no one at least). It doesn’t help when teachers say “avoid ego gratifying things like this amazing levitation trick!” Of course everyone is going to want to levitate then. Because it’s an area which calls for exploration. It’s a potential hiding spot for that truth which we seek.
In my opinion, if the ability to levitate is possible, yogis long ago should have been doing it and saying “what? It’s no big deal!” Because if something is out in the open people get used to it. They’re DEEPLY attracted to mystery. So if it truly is a pitfall, the intelligent thing to do would be to make it not so mysterious. Just tell it straight out - “Levitation is kind of a waste of time, but here’s how to do it! And watch me do it now!” Yogis should go on tv and start floating…get tested by Randi and show that there’s something to this yoga craze. Show serious seekers that it truly is just a waste of time (if it truly is).
You are right that it really doesn’t solve any problems. Perhaps if you couldn’t reach the top shelf, it could help you out. 
But really, right now, levitation would be very useful for showing the worth of yoga. Showing people that it’s not just about new agey type people trying to stuff their true feelings inside of a fake personality (which a large number of people in America see it as). Showing that there’s much more room for discovery in human biology. Showing that there’s more to life than drugs, sex and…bad hip hop.
I think it could actually turn a lot of people onto the true yogic path, the path to enlightenment and not simply levitation…that is, if the levitation was shown to the fullest extent possible and not in just a couple of photographs, or in a video which could be fraudulent. Even if those photos of that Japanese yogi were real levitation, it’s hard to tell. I don’t personally believe they were real, just because you’re not able to see enough of it. It could very well be an illusion rather than actual levitation.
If levitation were to be very rare, and you were one of the few in the world that could do it, then you could possibly make a lot of money from it…making your life’s work decent. Unless you mean the good things we accomplish in our lives, as our life’s work. Then I personally see levitation as neutral. It’s neither good nor bad…it doesn’t contribute to either, necessarily.
It could possibly dimish your health, since you’re using your energies to hover, instead of conserving them. But you could make money from it, and be able to afford a better lifestyle.
It would probably derail a person’s spiritual sadhana unless they weren’t swayed by having a lot of public attention. I know that many yogis in the past have stopped sadhana because they thought they reached the end of it all. Perhaps some did reach a point where sadhana ends…but most of the time, it seems that quitting is just the ego games…thinking “I am so great now!”
Would any good come from levitation…I think a lot of good could come from it, at least in getting people to become aware of normally hidden things. I really don’t believe it would be a bad thing for society if levitation were shown to be a true phenomenon. I think it would cause society to progress faster spiritually.
There very well could be. Sometimes, when a person believes in something (such as the case I’m presenting here, for levitation), then such problems don’t truly stand in the way of that person. Some people would risk their own health for other’s health.
If I could levitate, I would definitely take the risk and show everyone I knew. I’d get tested by Randi…go on Good Morning America…write a book, and make DVDs…because I do believe that it’s a good thing that people know of such things, if they are possible. I do believe it’s worth risking personal well being for…if it is possible.
Haha, that’s the clincher. Then the skill is basically worthless. I am sure that it would be very unimpressing to only show it to yourself, and no one else. The joy in thinking of being able to levitate is thinking of other’s reactions to it.
That’s the ego part of it. 
Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
Albert Einstein, “Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium”, 1941
The danger with religion is of course blind faith, saying, you just have
to believe it, you are not allowed to question etc.
The danger with science is to say, if I can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist.
Finding out the truth is noble and fine,
but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong
Faith/believe, hope and love - are they scientific ?
something to ponder
L&L
Wolfgang
Nice discussions going on in this thread.
Let me share my thoughts to this thread.
Are Siddhis real?
Yes definitely, its our ability and everyone is capable of doing that. nothing is impossible.
so why its not displayed in public?
I think this question is there in everyones mind including me.
in AYP Lessons its described that to have (spiritual experiences, siddhis, ecstatic conductivity etc etc whatever we can say) our nervous system should be fully purified. sometimes we can able to see some glimpse during our practice to make sure that we are progressing. but the vibration of our body and mind has to be ordered to experience the Divine within us.
without yoga practice there are methods to attain siddhis and have some experiences, but we will be damaging our own body and mind because our nervous system is not purified yet.
same like our body, earth itself is a kind of body and it has mind and spirit, and it has a level of vibration. and in the present era it cannot withstand if total human consciousness is totally shifted towards the subtle, disorders will manifests in the earth body.
ok now lets think on the other side
imagine that we manage to attain siddhis and also manage to show this to public in TV, newspapers, public gatherings and so on…
now all the humanity are aware of siddhis like telepathy, flying, psychokinesis, teleportation, materialisation and so on…
in this situation what is going to happen? and how the peoples will react?
this is going to be interesting…
first definitely everybodys reaction will be different, because the current state of development of human minds not ordered yet and it vibrates in various levels
so…
its going to attract first
younger generation, peoples with negative thoughts, peoples who wants to make easy money without working
consequences:
- thought force can be directed to others for healing purpose and prayers, also it can be directed to paralyse someone
- children will lose their concentration in regular studies
- religious conflicts and wars will begin
- natural calamities will occur because of unbalanced energies
- at one point there is a possiblity of total destruction of earth.
the opposite will happen if the total human mind is well developed and balanced with high vibrational level.
everyone will work in harmony with nature and with the Divine.
This is my opinion.
Thanx everyone
Kumar
Hi everyone,
I brought up the subject of levitation in this thread, not because I am enthralled by the possibility of anyone levitating. I was trying to explain why I may forsake a million dollars by possibly not ( I haven’t actually yet decided) going on the Randi show, and making a scientifically provable verification of the ability of humans to direct unseen energies using their mind in a public domain. I am still open to the idea, and I can see dollar signs flashing in front of my eyes. The money excites me, but the ability to move energy in someone else’s body in such a way that it is immediately obvious to them does not excite me. I have been doing it for a long time now, and it is part of my normal reality. In the same way, I am not particularly enthralled by the idea of levitation. I do not seek it as a power.
But as an actuality, it is all there in the available literature. How to do it, how it works scientifically (for those scientists that are studying the workings of energy in a multi-dimensional universe ), and the dangers and pitfalls involved.
I brought up the subject of levitation simply to point out that there are people in the world that can do many more amazing things than I can, and they are not up there on the Randi show putting the world right on a few matters, and I think there are some very good reasons why they are not.
Don’t forget that if we are to believe the New Testament, then one yogi has already demonstrated this ability, as well as an extraordinary number of others. He was crucified. Times have changed since then, but don’t forget, it has only been two thousand years. Sure, we have mobile phones and stuff now. But we are still fundamentally afraid of the unknown, and separate from our true nature. In a sense, not much has really changed. I have never said that levitation is anything more than a distraction on the path.
You are right Doc, if I could levitate today, tomorrow I would wake up and still be separate from God. Nothing would have changed.
Scott, I am open to the possibility that you are right on this one, but the Dollar signs are getting bigger, and I can’t say for sure that they are not trying to cloud my normally coherent rational thinking
David, please note that I also never said that the world was ready to receive this stuff. I simply said that I hoped that the scientific community was on the verge of accepting the theoretical understanding of the existence of other dimensions. That’s a very different thing.
Christi
Kumar,
Is it possible that wars wouldn’t break out, that people wouldn’t lose interest in their work, and that more people would heal instead of be hateful…if siddhis were revealed? I tend to think that most people would stick to their routine anyway, and just take it into consideration as a new part of their lives. “Oh yeah, people can float in the air with yoga…I will go back to my work now”. That’s how I see a lot of people reacting to it, at least where I am from in America. I really don’t think anyone would care as much as we think they would. I am not sure if it would bring things more out of balance than they already are…but it’s possible, and it seems many think that it is the case.
Christi,
If levitation, or lets say walking on water even, were shown to the public as a twist on Christianity, I can definitely see it getting out of hand. But if the performer wasn’t attached to the outcome, and they did it just saying “This is what yoga can do” without putting any kind of religious twist on it, then I think it would go over very easy with people.
There are a lot of people I know who are threatened by yoga, in Christianity. They see someone meditating and it’s percieved as evil…which is kind of funky, but that’s just how things are right now. We are moving away from that sort of mentality, it seems…but for someone to come on TV and say “Look, I can do all the things JESUS did!!” People might take it as that person trying to one up the son of God! (Even though the son himself says we can do those things as well as greater things, and that we should become like him)
A majority of Christians have an obsession with “the anti Christ”. If someone were to display powers, I’m sure at least a small portion of Christians from around the world would be claiming that person as the anti Christ. Small, meaning at least a few thousand. It could make the levitator’s life stressful. Perhaps they would get death threats. The type to accuse one of being an anti-Christ sometimes seem capable of going overboard and doing something extreme like murdering someone who is “evil”.
But I do believe that if the levitator was nonchalant about it, and if they had a calm and rational mindset, not imposing…people would digest that new information very easily. Like I said to Kumar, they’d probably react like “Oh, people can float in the air with yoga…cool…time to do my thing now.”
When and if this body ever gets to levitating then it will be a spontaneous act of celebration and manifestation of liberation from physical bondage. If it is time to share with others then that will be the case. If in this still dense age on earth it would be a distraction from pointing others to the Source then it wouldn’t be revealed. If it would help point others to the Divine then it would be employed when needed. It probably has always happened here and there but not in the midst of “busy-town”.
My three cents, Alan
Here’s my fourth cent
Flying does really seem to be an underlying desire. I very often have dreams wherein i’m flying. Usually the focus is on the beginning of flight. The other night it was from a shore and moving out over an expanse of blue water. I always say to myself something like, “Oh yes, of course, i know how to do this”, and i feel my intent begin to rock my body a couple of times (from a sitting position) and up i go. I also briefly remind myself that I then know how to stay afloat and intent makes it so. It would be fun to actually (physically) fly!
Hi Kumar,
Great post.
You are right. If I went on the Randi show, I would just be making easy money without working. Are you sure that is not a good idea?
Do you really feel this? I thought that the earth was crying out for us to wake up, and doing everything she could to help us?
I thought all these things were happening already . Especially the children losing their concentration in school bit . Maybe it is different in India?
Great perspective.
Christi
Hi Christi
Unless i’m misunderstanding you are hinting that you can levitate as well as go weeks without physical food. That’s pretty nifty. The no-food alone is quite impressive from the outlook of my current developement. Please share more about these (and other?) abilities stemming from your yogic experience.
Alan
http://www.amazingabilities.com/amaze8a.html
Well, noone said this guy was the anti-christ. Maybe you should work on your levitation abilities Scott, you’ll be a rich man . When you make your millions, don’t forget about us .
Christi
If I made millions, the first thing I would do is create the AYP center. But I am far far far far far from floating around. Especially with all this thanksgiving food in my belly.
Hi Scott,
I agree with Kumar on most points.
Siddhis, or extraordinary abilities like levitating are a pitfall for many a yogi. Such abilities come when you are vibrating at a different (rarer)frequency. And things like money, fame, debates on shows (that go I’m right, you’re wrong… egoistic clashes)are vibrating at a denser frequency. If these abilities are used for earning money, fame, it’s going to pull down the practioner straight to a denser level.
Also, I feel that in a world where the majority don’t see much beyond money, status, communities, religion, such abilities or even control over people with such abilities will be misused.
Which is why Wilder didn’t agree to run… straight to the definite halls of fame… because he felt the supernormal ability he’d got was not to used for such trivial stuff.