Hi SamsBoy,
Your dedication to practice is commendable. No doubt you have felt good openings, with much more to come. Keep going!
Regarding “hopping,” this is energy moving in the body as a result of the levitation sutra. If you feel an impulse, sometimes preceded by automatic rapid breathing (bastrika), it is fine to go with it. But not to get too carried away. We don’t want to fall off the bed. Hopping is not an absolute prerequisite for levitation, though it might appear so.
It might be helpful to offer some clarification on the “Akasha - Lightness of Air” sutra, and what it is doing in more scientific terms.
What is akasha? It means “space.” More specifically, inner space, subtlest inner space. We can also think of it as the subtlest level of Space-Time. In modern physics, Space-Time is what underlies all of relative existence as we know it. As sages and others have known for millennia, Space-Time can be altered in various ways. In the case of samyama sutras, impulses released in abiding inner silence, which is beyond Space-Time, various alterations can occur. No doubt we have felt subtle variations as we do our sutras, and even with core deep meditation, we can feel something moving deep inside, or perhaps ceasing to move altogether, deep inner silence. It is from there that everything else manifests, whether in ordinary daily activity, or in any particular samyama we may be doing. Eventually all of life become samyama, stillness in action, which is a very harmonious, efficient and uplifting way of living. Others do notice.
Now. getting back to the levitation sutra, how might we think about the meaning of the akasha - lightness of air sutra outside of samyama practice, which ultimately will express in the depths of stillness during practice? First of all, when we think of “akasha,” what is the meaning of that? We are touching on our relationship to it, that is, the relationship of our body-mind to akasha. In fact, in the original Yoga Sutras the first part of the sutra is “relationship of body and akasha.” AYP uses an abbreviated version, bringing the local relationship for our body-mind with akasha. What does this relationship we have with akaska mean? It means we are in the realm of Space-Time, in a unique bubble of Space-Time so to speak, which separates us from the rest of space and time, including the usually experienced laws of physics, like gravity, distance in space, and the other mediums and dynamics of the physical world. Space-Time folds around us and within us. When we become akasha, we become a separate Space-Time domain, able to do things that appear miraculous in the external world of Space-Time.
Once we are in that Space-Time bubble, created by becoming one in relationship with akasha, we can act from within that, like becoming lighter than air. It may be hopping at the start, but the Space-Time bubble can do so much more, appearing to violate the laws of physics from the external world of Space-Time. Our domain is different, being its own Space-Time domain, which we can manipulate, bringing many freedoms, some quite visible in the outside world, and many not visible.
We have always said that the spiritual path is an “inside job,” with samyama being a direct inside application, to the point of creating a unique Space-Time domain within and around us. But let’s not forget that abiding inner silence is the fundamental part of us, and all of existence, that enables improving quality of life, and the ability to uplift everyone around us simply by being what we are. Daily deep meditation remains the key to all of this.
Wishing you the best on your continuing path.
The guru is in you.