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SRF Walrus > SRF Teachings and Ideals > The Walrus Teachings -- Yogic Techniques for Householders
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Should Free Registered User (2/8/02 8:33 pm) Reply ezSupporter	The Walrus Teachings -- Yogic Techniques for Householders I open this topic (which the board operator may consider to turn it into a new forum) that we may help each others more effectively in our sadhana. I have come to a point where I see the sadhana as a great opportunity to express our God given creativity, instead of practicing in the SRF offensive, rigid, boxing style. I find delight in creating, perfecting and experimenting with yogic techniques. Sometimes I apply a technique that a friend told me about, or I read in a book, or I may find joy in discovering a new technique. I used to feel guilty because I had this interest of experimenting with and inventing yogic techniques. “This is ego” I was telling myself. If you read the Lesson #3 you will understand why I was feeling guilty. That Lesson, to say it softly, is full of cult B.S. But one day I talked to Brother Bhaktananda about my last “invention.” He was supportive. I stopped feeling guilty and now I have fun creating or experimenting with all type of yogic techniques. I’m sure many of you have had similar experiences and may in fact know different tricks that can help us to practice a more effective, creative, and fun sadhana. I will begin by sharing here a very effective and simple yogic technique to detoxify the body. Yoga, to me, is fifty percent about the body -- how to keep it healthy, strong, and vibrant with energy. If we fail at this level we may never find enlightenment. Often the body accumulate toxins in the intestines -- that is natural. However, if we do not know how to get rid of those toxins, we may begin to experience pain in the joints or developing serious physical and mental illnesses. To clean the colon with a deep enema can be helpful but not enough. Enemas do not clean the small intestines, which is very long! I was told by a friend, that the second most advanced disciple of Master, Mr. Oliver Black used to practice this technique every day! I have found useful to do it once a week. It is a simple and safe method to purge the body. Put a pan with 6 cups of water and three teaspoons of sea salt (sun dried) to warm up. When the water is warm and the salt has been dissolved drink to cups. Wait five only minutes doing asanas. Take two more cups. Do five more minutes of asanas. Drink the last two cups. If your body is big you may need two more cups with one more teaspoon of salt. Then wait, and listen! You will start going to the toilet until your intestines are clean. I guarantee it! I have found useful to add one extra teaspoon to the total mix, and to use eight cups of water -- everyone is different. Try to drink the water fast, but if you feel nausea while drinking the water slow down. Do not worry some nausea is normal. The salt does not impact the system negatively. Remember that millions of years ago we also came from the sea. Practice at your own risk and enjoy a clean, healthy body.
AumBoy Registered User (2/8/02 8:46 pm) Reply	Re: The Walrus Teachings -- Yogic Techniques for Householder Excellent suggestion and idea. We are Children of God and as such are endowed with everything He has. Creativity is one of His aspects. I, too, will contribute here. Great post!
Pig Ma Registered User (2/8/02 9:10 pm) Reply	Re: The Walrus Teachings -- Yogic Techniques for Householder Wow- I've done a lot of cleansing, but I've never heard of this method before. If it worked for Oliver Black and you, I think it is definitely worth a try. I like how it uses basic, simple and affordable materials, without a lot of preparation time. Thanks for the suggestion- I'll let you know how I fare.
username Registered User (2/8/02 9:48 pm) Reply	Re: The Walrus Teachings -- Yogic Techniques for Householder From Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Light on Hatha Yoga published by Bihar school of yoga www.yogavision.net/main_set.htm p.166 Hatha yoga is famous for these .. cleansing techiques page 171 Varisara dhauti is more commonly known today as shankhaprakshalana. In this practice you drink a total of 16 glasses of warm salty water and evacuate it through the bowels. First you drink two glasses and perform a series of five specific asanas: tadasana, tiryaka tadasana, kati chakrasana, tiryada bhujangasana and udarakarshan asana. After every two glasses of water the asana should be performed until the water starts flowing out of the anus. Once clear water starts coming through, you will know that the stomach and intestines are perfectly clean and you can stop the practice. Forty five minutes after completing the practice of shankhaprakshalana, a saltless liquid mixture of cooked rice, mung dal and ghee has to be eaten until the stomach is completely full. There are dietary restrictions to observe for a week after this practice and as it is a 'major operation', it must be done under expert guidance. There is a shorter technique called laghoo shankhaprakshalana. Laghoo means 'short'. In this practice only six glasses of warm saline wataer are taken. After every two glasses the same series of asanas are to be performed as in poorna or 'full' shankhaprakshalana. The Hatharatnavali mentions the use of jaggery water or milk water(1.50) instead of salt water. There are also various other herbs and juices which could be used, such as a few drops of lemon, onion or garlic juice. Laghoo shankhaprakshalana could be done with carrot or celery juice. Edited by: username at: 2/8/02 10:20:54 pm
Should Free Registered User (2/9/02 4:25 am) Reply ezSupporter	We are not wandering monks Dear Username I can see the value of Hatha Yoga and the techniques such as the one you mention in your posting. However, note how extreme the yogis can become. Those extremes are damaging for the householder and we have been damaged already by them. Look at what SRF did to all of us. They presented a sadhana that is impossible to practice by a householder. They set us up for failure. They projected their monastic BS on the householders. Add all the time we SHOULD devote to each one of their SHOULD DOS in the lessons and 25 hours per day would not suffice to practice their stupid routine. We are householders. We live in the world, so we need to follow our desires and passion. We need to make money and take care of our families. To drink 16 cups of salty water and to go through a week of dietary restrictions is yogic craziness -- extremes. I rather follow the shorter version that you mention in your posting. Also, it makes me angry to see all those names in a strange language that do not mean anything to a westerner -- it sounds to inauthenticity. Many yogis have tried to introduce their bla, bla, bla, terms, to make their staff look cool and to impress us. But the truth is that perhaps not even they know what such words mean. But I'm sure I can translate that long word: Shankhaprakshalana means BS watered down in salty water Please do not take this posting personally -- it is not intended that way. I'm saying these things because we urgently need to become differentiated from the monastic craziness. We need to understand our path as householder; to separate what is for us householders and what is monastic BS. We need to become more authentic and do not let anyone impress us with their long ochre robes or their long Sanscrit words. We need to discover our own style that fits our own needs and reality. Only such authenticity will give us enlightenment. If we keep trying to be what we are not we will go from one disappointment to the next. Greetings to you -- Should free Edited by: Should Free at: 2/9/02 4:47:20 am
username Registered User (2/9/02 7:50 am) Reply	Re: We are not wandering monks Should free; I am not advocating doing anything. I merely posted this because it is a translation of the ancient yogic text. The technique is very old and commonly known to those who practice yoga.(I say here known, not necessarily practiced) Those who have followed SRF, however, have not been exposed to anything outside of SRF and are missing the basics of Hinduism, yoga etc. Personally, I felt very embarassed when I realized that after practicing SRF for twenty plus years I did not know the basics. People who had done nothing but a weekend yoga intensive knew more than me. I didn't even know how to pronounce the common sanskrit terms.
Should Free Registered User (2/9/02 11:58 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Re: We are not wandering monks Dear Username As I said it is not a personal matter. I do not think you did anything wrong at all and my sincere apology to you if I hurt your feelings. I just want to encourage a greater differentiation from those who are suppose to be our teachers -- monks, or swamis or yogis or sadhus or whatever -- but have never lived the life of a householder. To a degree, we need to create our own set of techniques -- simple techniques that really work and do not take much of our precious time. Techniques that can be integrated and intertwined in our eclectic life styles.
Pig Ma Registered User (2/10/02 9:55 pm) Reply	Okay- I tried it! I found the information here especially interesting, because I have tried so many different cleanses with wonderful results. Americans in general can be so reluctant to discuss this natural, everyday process- but I have found cleanses very helpful in clearing out old stuff, making me feel clean physically and spiritually. I've done Master's 9 day cleanse with the herbal laxatives, and other cleanses that involve enemas and colonics (hey- Ghandi experimented with that as well, I'm in good company!), and I've always felt a great benefit afterwards. I figured it made most sense to do it in the morning. I woke up, and after a healthy elimination coming out on it's own, I heated up the water with the salt, put it in a teapot, and went out to the... ...trampoline!!! I knew that I was going to do a Bikram yoga session shortly, and I felt more like bouncing in the fresh air than doing postures. I poured out two cups, and drank the mixture with a straw. It tasted like salty, watery soup. Not bad at all, and no nausea for me. Then I set a timer and jumped for joy the next five minutes. Just for fun I tried doing warrior, triangle and tree pose in the air to fulfill the "yoga" aspect. Ding! I drank two more cups, the water still warm from the teapot. More jumping up and down, two last cups, jump, jump, and time to get going. I had two small eliminations, and then, the big one came. Wow! It was so easy and simple, no cramps, just a nice long watery elimination. After that, everything settled down, and I had a wonderful yoga class. I had a similar experience the next day. So Oliver Black did this every day? I think I'll try it for a while, so far I think it is great. We had a guest who is a nurse stay with us last night, and she said that they do something similar (of course, their solution has additional ingredients) to patients before tests where they have to put a scope inside the bowels. For myself, I'm not worried about the salt content because I sweat for a good 90 minutes a day in the yoga class (done in a heated room). I know I feel very good right now, and I'll report back if there seems to be anything I can add to elaborate on this experience.
Should Free Registered User (2/11/02 2:03 am) Reply ezSupporter	Cool Look! I'm glad you are getting good results Pig Ma. However, I do not know if it is a good idea to do it every day. I was told by a friend that Oliver Black did it, but it sounds quite extreme to me, and it may damage the inner surface of the intestines. I have been doing it once a week. In my last purge I made a mistake and instead of putting three teaspoons I putabout two tablespoons -- double dosage of salt. I realized it after I had drank the water. I worried because I became somewhat dehydrated. I even called a friend who is a doctor because eliminating too much water can be dangerous. But nothing happened except that the purge was extremely powerful. Last night I dreamt with a beautiful river that was going through the middle of a city. It was huge and I was admiring its cold freezing waters. They were extremely pure and crystalline. I woke up and I interpret the dream as a signal from the subconscious mind now the body was clean. Here is another technique that I enjoy. This is more spiritual in nature -- not so much s.. Many of us commute, and that time can be quite valuable to experiment. Master said that if we look upward (above the horizontal or towards the forehead) we activate the superconscious mind. While driving you can bring the chin down, relaxing the muscles in the back of the neck. That forces you to look to the road "upward." The attention flows to the spiritual eye immediately. However, soon you will find yourself lifting the chin, because this position is a bit uncomfortable. However, if you use a pair of dark glasses and you put them on your nose so that you look at the road above the glasses, you can keep that posture indefinitely -- especially at night when it feels very uncomfortable to look trough dark glasses. As you practice this, you can also listen to your favorite "rock" music (or whatever music). After about 15 minutes doing this you will feel that the attention becomes quite riveted at the spiritual eye. Half an hour is even better. Be careful, there are some risks, especially when you change lines and you have to look through the mirrors and backward to the blind spot. Practice at your own risk. You can also try this, while watching Television or working at the computer. But the best results I have had is while driving.
rayuna Registered User (2/11/02 10:14 am) Reply	Re: The Walrus Teachings -- Yogic Techniques for Householder Not at all an uncommon cleanse...many holistic practitioners recommend a cup of hot, lightly salted water with lemon in the morning, instead of coffee. It works. Yes, yogis can be extremists and I've often wondered about the extremist in Master. Is it the Lessons or SRF that advocates routines no one has time for as householders or is it Master. I think the trouble is that Master just displayed all he knew and realized. When we get that in the Lessons (well, I guess some will argue we don't get it), technique after techniuqe, we feel overwhelmed. But I don't think he meant for everything to be practiced everyday. There are many peripheral techniques we're supposed to use when we need it. I don't sit around with my mouth open to the sun, tensing and relaxing my throat when it's not sore for example. Even the meditation techniques can be prolonged, but everytime a monastic has been asked what to do if you have only 15 mins., the answer is: Kriya. I feel we need to develop commonsense, which is notoriously lacking on our path, both in the leadership and ourselves. As far as Sanskrit, hindu scriptures, yoga texts, etc., don't knock 'em. It's somewhat homophobic to do so...Sanskrit is a science and if you've never chanted you're missing out.
Should Free Registered User (2/15/02 2:29 am) Reply ezSupporter	The Acceptance Affirmation Here is another technique that can be valuable. SRF's teachings place extreme emphasis on resisting. However, often it is useless to resist. The art of acceptance is almost unknown in the teachings. Brother Bhaktananda says that the only way to find God is complete surrender to Him. However, in 180 lessons there is not one devoted to the art of surrender or acceptance. We find many lessons on topics like marriage, visions, stage anxiety, how to sing and so on. However, on the most crucial aspect of the spiritual path there is not one lesson! But we can learn to practice acceptance by ourselves and it brings great liberation from the SRF’s obsession with control. How to practice: The practice is quite similar to the “affirmations” method. When we are confronted with a situation we dislike we affirm (perhaps several times if necessary) "I accept this." The affirmation aims at accepting DEEPLY the external situation we dislike. When that deep acceptance occurs we inmediately experience peace. We can also apply it to an inner state of mind that we percieve as painful. And here the fun begins. This is a very effective approach to deal with any uncomfortable or painful feeling. By fully accepting the feeling we raise above it. It can be anxiety, sadness, guilt, anger and so on. We can also accept negative thoughts and they will stop bothering us. There is a time to resist and a time to accept. We need to know how to do both. But the greatest challenge is to know when to practice acceptance and when to resist. That is obviously a matter of attunement with God. Accepting is a very effective technique to deal with our inner world and with difficult external conditions as well. One day, we will have to accept the unacceptable -- our own imminent death. Eventually, no amount of resistance will work. No amount of vitamins or exercise will work. But if we have practiced acceptance the transition will be much easier. So, next time you are caught in a traffic jam try acceptance.
Self Respect Registered User (2/23/02 4:06 am) Reply	The power of creativity I know a man who is 85, and his mind is young and clear. His body is healthy and energetic. For many years I wandered what was the secret of his success. I finally understood -- creativity! He is always creating. He is never overconcern about being focus into one project. In this matter he rather follows his heart. Most often he is always involved in many projects simultaneously. And he has always room for one more exciting project. He is not overconcern with results either. If his projects fail, he always have a new good creative idea to pursue. In that regard he is close to the goaless mind of the Zen monk combined with the creative mind of a great artist or great business man. But the expression of his creativity has one more extraordinary quality -- it is never selfish! His projects may include his well being of course, but uppermost he is excited about helping others. If he writes a new book he enjoys thinking how many souls will benefit from it or will feel inspired by it. If he initiate a new business adventure he is thrilled by the perspective of making tons of money, which he will use to help those in need and to pursue other projects for the well being of humanity. Humanity is his family. When I meet with him for coffee in the morning (I’m 46) he chats for hours about his numerous and creative projects. It took me years to understand, but now I do the same. I do not mind if my projects come and go, if they turn into a success or failure. Some will succeed anyway. God will take care of that. Many will be just a complete failure in the eyes of the world. However, in the process of exercising my creativity, in the joy of expressing God’s creative power, I’m blessed beyond measure. The energy flows, joy is natural, excitement becomes my companion all day long. Such energy movement I think cannot lead anywhere, but straight to God and complete liberation. It may take a few years, a lifetime or many lifetimes -- but so what? I’m so thrilled with life that it does not matter wahtsoever. This is the path of the householder, a million times more joyful and exciting than the cold, depressive, repressive path of renunciation -- "desire thy worst enemy." This is what we lost for decades as a result of the monastic brain washing we got through the SRF lessons.
AumBoy Registered User (3/7/02 10:30 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Books I've found helpful Some books I’ve found helpful in my sadhana: 1. The Tracker and Grandfather, by Tom Brown, Jr. and several other books by the same author. Tom Brown, Jr., grew up in Toms River, NJ, and was trained by an Apache Indian Scout, Stalking Wolf who Tom referred to as Grandfather, a name connoting deep respect. Stalking Wolf revered everything. He referred to God as The-Spirit-That-Moves-Through-All-Things. It was amazing to read how Stalking Wolf bathed in a lake. He would caress the surface of the water gently, then cup it in both hands and hold it up to the sky. He would like it slowly drip back to the lake and then bathe only after giving thanks. He never rushed. As Should Free stated above in the affirmation, “I accept this,” I remembered that Stalking Wolf trained Tom and his best friend, Rick (Stalking Wolf’s nephew), to do this in a somewhat different fashion. One day when it started to snow heavily, he told the boys to talk off all their clothes except their underwear and boots. He then told them to walk back to the cabin as they were after waiting for him to leave. For Tom and Rick, this was a new phase of their training. Tom describes it as extremely cold, almost blizzard like conditions with heavy snowfall. He says their teeth were chattering and they were shivering as they walked along. They got colder and colder and then it did not touch them any more. By the time they returned to the cabin where Stalking Wolf was waiting for them, they were laughing and having a running snowball fight. Stalking Wolf’s lesson was to not resist the weather. Let it blow through you and it won’t effect you. Similar to “I accept this” and let it go. Another thing about Tom that has stuck in my mind: He said, “My walk is my prayer.” This is practicing the presence of God. 2. Kinship with all Life, by J. Allen Boone This is an amazing book that helped me to see all life as being my brothers (or sisters): plants, trees, ants, etc. And I practiced it. Amazing results. Have you ever felt love from a plant? If you have not read this book, look for it. Boone starts off with having to “babysit” an extremely intelligent German Shepherd named Stronghart. It helped me to see, as equals, all living creatures. I found this to be an incredible book. After reading this book, I began to read Master's stuff (Whispers from Eternity, Songs of the Soul) to plants, treating them as equals. And I received and overwhelming response one day. 3. The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Anne Catherine Emmerich. I found this book years ago and later found that it is a set of 4 books. This volume can be found separately, sometimes. Emmerich was a stigmatist who saw the entire life of Christ. This particular volume has to do with her visions of Christ being crucified. It is very graphic and gives descriptions of things happening in the astral, too. When I first read it around Easter many years ago, I simply broke down and cried, exclaiming, “How could they do this to Him?” Like I mentioned, there are parts which are very graphic so this may not be suitable for all. 4. Saints That Moved the World, by Rene Fulop-Miller This book contains the biographies of 5 Catholic Saints: Anthony, Augustine, Francis, Teresa, and Ignatius. It was this account of Saint Anthony that is described on one of the SRF tapes. (I forget which.) This is the account that Master had a part read over and over. My favorites are Anthony and Francis and of these two, Francis. Everytime I read his life story I cry.
Archangel Unregistered User (3/20/02 7:50 pm) Reply	You like women to much? Are you single? afraid to get married because you think you will not advance that much? Please read the next site www.fortunecity.com/victo...kashi.html Hopefully this will cool several devotees down.

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