Cygnus wrote:... what Crowley means by Automatic Rigidity (which, BTW, is not mentioned in the classic texts) ...
He means Pratyahara, actually it is mentioned in the classic texts for example Patanjali, Hatha Yoga Pradipika.
See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PratyaharaCygnus wrote:... "lock up" as with an advanced asana ...
That is a phenomenon that is part of the parcel that is Pratyahara. It has been interpreted by neurologists as the same state you are in when you are dreaming - the body locks so that when you experience something very dynamic you do not hurt yourself by trashing about or accidentally strangling someone next to you
At certain stages of focusation and sitting still the body goes into the same state, the mind too actually, an EEG shows a combination of REM-sleep and widely awake patterns if in Pratyahara + Dharana.
Cygnus wrote:... I'm currently grinding on the 32/64/16 level, for ten-fifteen minute periods.
If "grinding" implies you are straining yourself I would suggest going down to a rythm that you can just so do without straining - you can endanger your physical health (and do not get all the benefits from a good Pranayama) if you overstrain this.
Jim Eshelman wrote:Smooth transition. The major thing was visual: I was kneeling in posture, doing pranayama, in front of my altar, and noticed the top of the altar dropping down past my face, i.e., it took a moment to register that I was rising (wondered why everything else was slowly dropping away). Best guess is that it took maybe 10 seconds to rise 6" or so, at which point I registered what was happening, tilted like a gyro was off, mentally flailed, and dropped.
Fascinating. My experience was similar in two aspects, in that the first thing I noticed was strange when opening my eyes was that my POV was wrong, and then that when I dropped, it sure felt like dropping 20 centimeters down on my legs.
Jim Eshelman wrote:I've had other events (different kinds) that seemed like a movie scene transition. ("Soon he found himself walking half a mile from his house" or whatever.) One in particular I tend to think to this day was entirely astral because I was (as you say, in a different time/space) somewhere else, spent time there, and then came home - with the 'going' and 'coming' not existing in memory.
Intrigued that you write about these experiences here, I am even more interested because I have also experienced phenomena of lost or altered space/time stretches like these, sometimes together with other people not trained in anything, and your's sound quite similar to those experiences of mine. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between interpretations of altered state of consciousness, an astral experience or an actually physical one (subjective, astral or objective?) with these I think.
It can only be decided indirectly as in, what did other witnesses (if any) experience, were they all sober or under some influence, how similar have the experiences been, is it possible to predict things as a result of the experience that can be verified objectively, etc.
Would be quite interested in sharing, dissecting and attempting to interpret experiences like that, btw.
Cheers
Simply Simon
P.S.:
Frater Potater wrote:I had a weird/similar experience of my own once. Although it was more of a jumpy switch, like Dar describes. I won't explain because their is no reason for any one to take my word for it. Also, it's not related to the subject of the thread.
Even if it is impossible to verify the veracity of anecdotes like that, it is still interesting to share experiences not so many people have, as in trying to understand them. Method of science anyone? So imo share away
