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Chapter 1 – You are the City of God Human beings have remarkable capabilities for achieving what has been called spiritual experience. No one is excluded from this possibility. For those who wish to open the inner door, a wondrous world awaits. We don’t have to go further than the functioning of our own heart, mind and body. Through these seemingly common aspects of our everyday existence, the infinite can be unfolded from within us. We only need apply some effective methods, or practices.
In the Advanced Yoga Practices (AYP) system, we begin with a short, twice-daily routine of deep meditation. Within a few weeks or months after learning deep meditation, we can add spinal breathing pranayama, which is performed right before our meditation sittings. These two practices constitute the core of the AYP approach. They cultivate two qualities in us that form the foundation for all subsequent practices, and the rise of profound and unending spiritual experience interwoven with our everyday life. Deep meditation cultivates the quality of inner silence, or stillness. Spinal breathing pranayama cultivates the quality of ecstatic conductivity, the flow of divine energy within our body and beyond.
If we begin with deep meditation and spinal breathing pranayama as core practices, then we will find aspects of practice contained within yama and niyama rising naturally as effects. These effects will then add further causes to our practice routine, much more so than if we had taken on the methods of yama and niyama alone at the beginning.
behaviors and increasing self-judgment. If our conduct in matters of diet and inner cleansing methods is coming naturally from within, rather than enforced from outside, then we stand to gain much more from the measures presented in this book.
The best approach is to avoid extremes and take all things in moderation, favoring the measures we know will bring us greater health and happiness. Over time, our path will become more clear, and we can let our conduct in these matters shift gradually according to our intuition, which will be steadily rising with our inner silence and ecstatic conductivity, as we continue with our yoga practices.
All of it is aimed at supporting what we call the rise of ecstatic conductivity in the nervous system. As such, the practices will be to support specific neurobiological connections, including: Mouth, Urethra and Anus – in relation to the neurobiology of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Nasal Passages, Eyes and Ears – in relation to the neurobiology of the brain and spinal nerve.
If we are engaged in yoga practices like deep meditation, spinal breathing pranayama, and others, the call coming from within us refines. Our sensitivities refine along with our urges, and we are called to do those things we did not even imagine before. We might question our own inner urges. Yet, with yoga practices in the picture, we will gradually learn to trust the call coming from within. We will learn to trust our refining intuition.
Addictions What is addiction? In the simplest definition, addiction is a habit we are unable or unwilling to change. There are addictions that can be beneficial, such as an addiction to divine unfoldment, without limiting its scope in any way. It can also be seen as an unwavering dedication to a cause – an obsession. Some might not see this as good. Yet, an addiction to divine unfoldment will eventually lead to its own transcendence. It is an addiction to surrender, an addiction to letting go – one of the essential secrets of devotion in spiritual matters. It is active surrender.
In terms of the things we eat, such addictions can take many forms: Alcohol Tobacco Caffeine Refined Sugar Medicine and food supplements Chronic overeating of any or all foods Chronic undereating of all foods (anorexia)
It is always going to be an inner journey leading to surrender to that which is evolutionary and positive within us. Yoga practices are designed for this. They clean the mud off the windshield of our nervous system, so all will become gradually much more clear, and we can navigate through life with more clarity and purpose.
AI Summary
Diet, Shatkarmas and Amaroli - Yogic Nutrition & Cleansing for Health and Spirit by Yogani presents key insights from the Yoga tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.