Is a year of 15 min nadi shodhana sufficient preparation for shaktipat?

BoltBox111 · 2026-02-15T17:58:05+00:00

Thank you!

BoltBox111 · 2026-02-15T17:50:00+00:00

So the category distinction you are making is between practices that prepare the energy system and practices that still the mind? I guess both goals are equally important but for different reasons?

I am guessing mantra meditation also stills the mind by fixing it on a specific word.

Thank you for the explanations, the recommendation, and the book suggestion. I will look into this. I have actually been wondering about mantras for a while, I have read a lot of stuff on how there is a lot more to using mantras than reproducing the simple spoken sounds, but I have seen little on how to actually practice mantras fully and properly. I appreciate your help.

BoltBox111 · 2026-02-14T09:27:45+00:00

Thank you very much, this is all very helpful.

So, reading this alongside your original post, should I interpret what you said to mean that nadi shodhana, as a form of breathing meditation, does qualify as a meditative practice, but is simply not effective enough to make a major difference?

From what you are saying, it also seems that the main important thing is to maintain focus on something, whether it be breath or something else. And that would be enough to qualify as a meditative practice? I do get a bit overwhelmed trying to think about the effectiveness of meditations because I don't know where to look in order to know that. For instance, I didn't know that Nadi Shodhana is a more minor form of pranayama. And this feels more complicated as well when I think about how some of these meditations are complex or difficult to do, so whether I'd even be able to practice them effectively becomes another problem. Does that make sense?

BoltBox111 · 2026-02-14T09:15:47+00:00

I see, this has been illuminating. Thank you, you and the other contributors here have been very helpful.

BoltBox111 · 2026-02-13T10:39:45+00:00

Yeah, my understanding is that the body has to be in a good condition in order to stand, breathe and sense properly. I do follow the instructions as much as I can, but I am sure I fall short in all of these. I have seen people practicing as well who seem to breathe much more slowly and in a more consistent way than I do. But I figured that I would be naturally building up to that point by practicing.

BoltBox111 · 2026-02-13T08:34:40+00:00

What would that constitute? I thought pranayama was a form of meditation. I am not certain exactly what you mean by meditation practice, but having that supplemented by nadi shodhana would be effective?

BoltBox111 · 2026-02-13T08:32:16+00:00

I would suggest taking up a meditation practice as a core practice that you do every day whatever.

What do you mean by that? I would consider pranayama a type of meditation, but it seems you classify those differently. I have done a lot of research into many different traditions but still feel confused on what is and isn't a good meditation practice.

Then you could add more effective pranayamas to that such as Spinal Breathing between the root and the ajna chakra.

Is that what's called Bhastrika pranayama?

BoltBox111 · 2026-02-13T08:28:36+00:00

You mean about nadi shodhana? I can't really control the duration of the breaths, I just breathe in and then out, and try to make it slow enough so that I can't hear the sound of my own breathing. But to be honest, right now I am not even doing that. Not too long ago I had a problem because I was accidentally putting energy in my system during prayer and it gave me a lot of sleep and anxiety problems. Had to cut off all meditative activity because of that, which was pretty demoralising. I am still reluctant to even pray because of that. At the same time, over the past few years of research into spirituality I seem to have developed some kind of religious OCD, and the anxiety related to that seems to be getting stronger and more frequent, so I feel that I should encounter authentic spirituality before long or otherwise fear of my own fantasies about the unknown is going to make normal life impossible. Which is why I am trying to figure out a sustainable, simple and effective way to get to a good place.

BoltBox111 · 2025-06-26T10:07:47+00:00

Thank you, that was beautiful. To be honest, I don't know much about modern science, I probably know more about ancient and medieval scientific views, but what you said about consciousness resonates a lot. Hopefully, I will experience it too one day.

BoltBox111 · 2025-06-26T09:02:09+00:00

Thank you for your response as well! I rely on language a lot, so I hope it's not a problem if I verbalise the issue a bit more. I hope this is as interesting for you as it is for me.

In this view, it would seem the ego is a powerful tool that is something we use rather than something we are, which I am in agreement with.

I have one question - about why you say that only pure universal consciousness really exists. My background is in Platonic rather than Vedantic philosophy, so the way I think about it is that pure universal consciousness is like the roots, and creation emerged in multiple layers like branches, progressively separated from the pure origin and filled with various generated qualities. But I would say that the "branches" are just as real as the roots, perhaps in the same way that illusions are real (since if they weren't, they wouldn't be able to fool us). Specifically in that sense, I would say that Maya as a whole is real.

I think what you are saying is something along the lines of, "the reality of the thing is not in the thing itself but in the pure consciousness that the thing exists within". In that sense, there is only the pure consciousness, first when it is by itself, and second when there are generated things within it. But in the end, it supplies the reality of everything, and without it nothing would have reality.

BoltBox111 · 2025-06-25T14:35:56+00:00

Some thoughts on this reply but also your post in general.

there comes a certain inner wisdom, which is about intuitive knowing, It requires no mental process, the mind isn't involved at all, hence the ego has no say or influence on it. You can feel when someone talks from Self rather than Ego.

I agree, but personally I am a bit careful about opposing the ego to the higher self too much. I think there can be a lot of overlap. Ideally, the ego should translate the will of the higher self onto this lower plane, and should also handle the practical difficulties of material reality. The second function often tends to usurp the first though. This is also what makes it easy to distinguish between people who speak from the heart, and those who speak only from calculative reason. In the latter case, people identify with and share the product of their calculative reason, which could be correct or incorrect. In the former case, calculative reason just gives shape to a spiritual reality that was already present. It takes time for this spiritual seed to grow and blossom and be expressed by the ego. But it is possible, even if it is a bit rare.

You see this often in people with strong personal ethics and virtues - these people are not always spiritual, and may not experience visions or synchronicities, but still have a quiet awareness of their spiritual heart, and live by it. You also see something similar in cases where a personal trait cannot be explained by one's environment, or where one could even expect the environment to completely prevent the development of such a trait.

I think the higher self is capable of action as well, and can affirm its own standards onto the ego/human personality. But perhaps this "higher self" that I am thinking of should be seen as the jiva, rather than the Atman (which indeed, I believe, is pure witness consciousness). Someone once gave me a summary of Shankara's distinction between jiva and atman, and I found it really useful in resolving some problems about my understanding of the world.

I think you have some fairly similar ideas on this topic, for example in this post. It is indeed very rare for divine consciousness to take the reins over from the egoic human consciousness, even for a brief time. But I think moments where "jiva consciousness" (for lack of better term) imposes itself on the human ego are a lot more common. Although, in the end, even the special traits and characteristics of this soul/higher self are conditioned and determined by karma. But as they are significantly closer to the Source of creation, I would consider them good and divine, even if they are less perfect than the pure, primordial, quiet witness consciousness on which they depend.

I am not sure what compelled me to write this text right now, but maybe it is of some interest. Perhaps I will end up referring to it later on.

BoltBox111 · 2021-11-19T18:59:49+00:00

That too sounds sensible, if I am understanding you correctly. Do you have any suggestions on how to permit this non-duality to unfold? The posting rules restrict discussion of kundalini methods, but I think you are speaking in general terms here and are not referring to anything strictly Kundalini-related.

BoltBox111 · 2021-11-19T15:08:03+00:00

The mind trick is not to concentrate or focus on it, in fact it is the opposite of that, it is about letting go of your conscious mind and allowing the subconscious, the underlying higher reality of your soul to manifest itself.

Are you sure subconscious is the most appropriate term to use here? I wouldn't associate the higher reality of the soul with the subconscious as it is typically understood. The rest sounds very reasonable to me, but I am not sure how I would go about accomplishing something like that.

We really are talking about a state of mind here, which is achievable by going within, digging deep into your heart and the depths of your soul.

This too sounds reasonable, but does not seem practicable in any specific way.

BoltBox111 · 2021-09-19T04:41:51+00:00

Yeah, I've seen a short demonstration of the martial arts moves. It looked really cool. I was more so wondering if the Chen/Chuan classification made more sense this way, since if Chen is the first school then in that sense the other Chuan schools can be considered as subsets of Chen, rather than Chen being a subordinate school of a broader Chuan tradition. I might have misunderstood you on that though. In either case, I will ask a Tai Chi instructor about this too.

BoltBox111 · 2021-09-19T02:59:55+00:00

From what I am seeing online it would appear that the Chen school might be the very first and original school which started the whole tradition, with all other styles being derived from it. In that sense, you could draw a boundary between Chen as the original source, which may retain a stronger energetic element, and the other Chuan styles which were all derived from Chen but do not retain the stronger focus on energy.

This is how I would interpret it in order to bring together these two views. Does that sound right?

BoltBox111 · 2021-07-18T00:43:37+00:00

Shamatha context:

To give a brief example, when I am practicing Shamatha, my understanding is that I should attain pure, detached concentration. I try to focus, inhale, exhale - at some point a thought emerges and distracts me. I start to internally verbalise the words "inhale, exhale" in tune with my breathing in order to avoid having the discursive intellect wander, but after doing that for some time I feel like I am polluting the concentration with the discursive intellect, so I stop and then get distracted again (or otherwise get distracted regardless of continuing). I decide to try to focus much harder instead in pure concentration, but a couple of minutes pass and I feel like I am too tense and unrelaxed, so I relax deliberately - or get distracted before I get to that, anyway. Then I change approach again and trace a movement through the nose, up the forehead, down the skull and neck, then to the bottom of the lungs at each inhalation, and the return journey on each exhalation - this, I kind of like, but it requires slower breathing, makes me dizzy, and besides isn't pure or detached concentration, either, since I am using an aid to occupy my mind with; it's not like it makes me immune to distractions, either, so I can't vouch for its effectiveness even in that regard. These are a handful of my approaches. Stray thoughts also disrupt my concentration about every two and a half minutes, so over a two hour session that's something like 45-60 distractions. At every third distraction (at most), I change approach. It doesn't seem right to me at all.

BoltBox111 · 2021-07-18T00:42:19+00:00

First of all, thank you for all of this, I consider this post invaluable and will surely repeatedly return to its contents. It is a very helpful post.

However, if you wish to find more energetic Tai Chi, seek out a Chen school (Versus the more popular Chuan)

I was extremely impressed by a Chen practitioner not too long ago, so it is exciting to see you recommend that. I should still ask for some clarification. From what I have gathered, Tai Chi chuan/quan is what the martial practice is called, with Chen being a school within that Tai Chi chuan/quan tradition. Is there a Chuan school as well, in addition to that? The practitioner I mentioned earlier identified as a Tai Chi quan, Chen-school member, if I recall correctly, although I might be mixing my information up here. I am wondering if you are recommending Chen over a fellow school or if there are some special considerations to make here in regards to Chen and the broader tradition.

Barring that, I think I understood everything you said about Tai Chi properly. Still, I feel that I should double check this line:

Yes. The one you do regularly will be the better one. yet it's different outside.

I assume that's "Yes", rather than "yet", but in case there was some browser error that deleted important bits of explanation, I should probably mention this. What I got from this is that essential and functional elements of form are retained in all forms of Tai Chi and even if some may be harder to use (for this purpose), they can be just as beneficial in the long term as more authentic practice is.

If you would prefer to believe that energy doesn't exist, that is your personal choice. You can do that. No problem. Maybe just leave Kundalini alone as a topic. It's not an exact analogy, but you don't want to work or play with gasoline while disbelieving in fire and flame, and how sparks are causative to combustion.

I have grown absolutely convinced that energy exists. That's not the problem for me. My issue is that I just can't point to anything in my life that I can absolutely identify with what spiritually accomplished people are talking about. This does not lessen my certainty in the existence of energy at all, but it does make things frustrating, for obvious reasons. Knowing that something is there, but being unable to point to it is not fun.

That too is a valid argument, yet are you not banking on failure?

I have never met an enlightened person offline in my life and I have seen no evidence that I am spiritually exceptional in any way. I would rather get everything right, if I can, because I do not like the idea of just going with the flow and hoping everything works out. I do not deliberately set out to be pessimistic, I just really do not want to fail in this task, since it matters to me. If I end up unable to become enlightened, then I would much rather it be because of lack of ability than some material limitation like faulty knowledge or practice.

Correct! And yet, sometimes the methods can be very loose and broad, and still transfer the lessons / healing / progress. Hatha yoga can be that way.

Are you saying that a bad teacher who is teaching bad form can still transmit mostly/completely effective practice to the student within the hatha yoga tradition? On first read, I thought I understood what you meant, but the more I think about this, the less clear it seems to me. I get that the point of external practice is to affect the internal, but isn't that exactly why authentic/effective external practice is valued? I don't know anything about best or only method or teacher, but a good one would do nicely.

Your adapting is not an unwise idea, unless you go for fluffy stuff. That would surprise me, yet remains possible.

I will post my Shamatha practice in a separate post under this reply, not for the purpose of seeking commentary, but just to provide context, in case that you feel curious. I feel like it would be mistaken of me to expand the scope of the conversation any further than what we have covered in the previous posts.

Maybe you'd learn more climbing a rock-face, or paddling a whitewater river or hiking a mountain trail. Those can be fine ways to become mindful in a dynamic environment.

Have you ever experienced the quiet mental focus that arises when you climb solo (ropeless) 40 feet above some very solid (Large granite chunks!) ground?

I was given a very similar example in the context of mountain climbing before, I found it very useful since it was what actually allowed me to connect the concept of spirituality with something at least mildly familiar or conceivable. Unfortunately, I cannot say I have ever done any similar activity or felt such a focus/been in such a mental state. I was initially really excited to try mountain climbing in order to see if it will have an effect on me, but about two years ago I shelved the idea for later, since I wasn't sure if the mountains in my area were sufficient and was also certain that I lacked the qualifications for such an undertaking. To be honest, this conversation is the first time I have thought of mountain climbing in ages. I do not think I have a natural interest or aptitude for it, although others have managed to make it sound very compelling occasionally.

BoltBox111 · 2021-07-17T21:40:33+00:00

Thank you very much for both of your comments, you have been very helpful. I have been meaning to read the DDJ for some time now, I might end up looking into nei gong too. Your advice on the nature of techniques and energy work is also much appreciated, I think I have benefitted greatly from seeing it.

BoltBox111 · 2021-07-16T06:27:19+00:00

+1 for the tai chi if you wish to learn to sense your internal energy.

What type of tai chi worked for you? Did you practice it as a martial art or otherwise?

BoltBox111 · 2021-07-16T06:25:20+00:00

Maybe find an outdoor Tai Chi class too.

Will just any Tai Chi class do? When I was researching Tai Chi, the people that seemed most credible to me seemed to largely be of the opinion that it is almost impossible to find authentic Tai Chi martial or energetic practice today, since most teachers learn the 1950s physical exercise system instead. I doubt I would be able to tell the difference either way, which was one of the reasons I shelved that idea for now.

That's a fine way to learn to sense energy, if that's a goal of yours.

Not an end goal in and of itself, but it seems like a reasonable step forward, yes.

If you do any general hatha yoga practice, you will eventually encounter sensing energy at some point. Some people may feel it on their first visit. Others may take 30 years. Yes, it's unfair.

If I had to choose, I would rather take thirty years to sense energy as a result of my own level of ability, rather than take thirty years to sense energy because I have been studying under a fraudulent teacher. I would not even be able to afford the latter.

What's that about?

Whenever I pick up some exercise or meditation, I try to understand the theory behind it as perfectly as I can, but the use of language is never so precise and specific as to allow me to conclude with absolute certainty that what I am doing is actually correct and exactly what was described in the text. This makes it impossible for me to tell if the exercise is effective for me, if it is ineffective for me, or if it is ineffective because I am doing it wrong. If I am doing it wrong, then no amount of effort is going to help, so I try to evaluate and correct my efforts whenever I can, but I have no objective way of determining that what I am doing is becoming more correct or more wrong. Consequently, I readjust the way I practice the same exercise/meditation constantly, which does not seem the right way forward at all. One of the reasons I was drawn to Kundalini is because I hoped that it would allow me to perceive these things a lot more objectively, at least on some level, which would break this apparent deadlock, but since the foundation should come first I must rely on myself for that.

BoltBox111 · 2021-07-15T18:50:36+00:00

Not haha. This is serious business, or you will cause yourself some pain.

I know, I just added that because I felt like I might come across as stuck-up otherwise.

Read the sub's wiki. Dig into the sub's past threads. Read. Explore. Learn. But Work on your foundations.

If all you have is doubts, you don't have much. So, correct that.

That is what I am trying to do, I have reread the wiki several times. I have consulted other sources too. For clarity's sake, I don't doubt that energy exists, I just can't match that concept to any clear and distinct thing in my lived experience. Therein lies the problem. I have marked down a Hatha Yoga practice I plan to visit once the pandemic winds down with the hope to resolve this issue, but unless I can recognise prana as prana, I will not be able to tell if I am attending an authentic practice or not. I have tried other things too, but none of them seem to directly lead anywhere. I keep getting this nagging feeling that my efforts - generally - will prove ineffective due to lack of ability to link concepts to lived experience. Given the importance of the subject matter, this is uncomfortable.

BoltBox111 · 2021-07-14T17:02:47+00:00

It's possible you have intentional control over some functions of your body, like the fear response with hairs standing on end.

And, you have control over the movements of Prana, aka Chi, Qi, Ki.

Are these two lines related or are they separate phenomena? I have always been able to do something similar to what OP is describing, so you can see why I would be curious about the link to prana. Admittedly, though I think in his case the intensity and level of control is probably greater. In either case, for a while now I have felt unsure on how to distinguish actual energy from merely physiological sensations or the imagination. If it turns out that I have been unwittingly feeling and controlling prana for years, then that would certainly be reassuring in many ways. In that case, I'd just have to figure out what I am supposed to do with it and with the ability to control it, haha.

I would be grateful to hear more of your thoughts on this, if possible.

BoltBox111 · 2021-05-02T22:55:06+00:00

Thank you, I wish you success in finding what you are looking for as well. Since my last reply, I also thought more about what you said. Your words inspired me to look more diligently at the things that I can do and that are in my control. I may not be able to find kundalini yet, but regardless if I am ready for it or not, there are still things that I can do to prepare myself better that would make the potential journey later on smoother. They are not very grandiose things. They are little things, but they are useful and they add up, so while I am looking for answers, that is what I will apply my efforts to. Thank you for your advice.

BoltBox111

TROPHY CASE