This article has been contributed by Advanced Yoga Practices- Yogani.

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lesson is, "Why This Discussion?"

Q: I just went out of a 10 day silent retreat in India. A most
incredible experience. I tried to apply self-pacing and meditate as
lightly as I could (most of the time staying away from mantra or any
advanced practices), but it was overwhelmingly intense. Inner silence
and meditation invaded every moment.

One of the remarkable experiences I had was a realization of a new
level of kechari. I rolled my tongue deeper into the soft palate, and
suddenly hit an unconceivably ecstatic spot. A feeling I could never
imagine. However, after pushing it for some time, I stopped as I
realized this puts my tongue in a very problematic position, perhaps
"milking it backwards". I still have nasty marks on it, and it feels
a bit loosened. Are you familiar with such spot? Is it a taste of
stage 2 kechari?

Also, some remarkable experiences having to do with the third eye:
one night, while lying on my bed (definitely wide awake) a shining
spot appeared at the edge of my field of vision. It slowly moved to
the centre, stabilizing it in the middle of it, and suddenly got a
heart-like shape and grew a misty, black-uet colorful aura, greatly
concentrated in color and resolution. I turned my head, and there it
appeared again. Once again I looked the other way - and again it
showed up. I closed my eyes - yet it lingered in its place for some
time, Until finally gone. A similar incident happened yesterday night
as well.

Do you have any idea about the meaning of such occurrence? Does it
have anything to do with the third eye? Next time it appears - what
should I do with, can I apply it for further experience in any sort
of way?

A: Welcome back. Sounds like you made some wonderful progress on your
India trip.

On kechari, the automatic yoga inclination was strong enough to pull
your tongue back maybe further than it has been so far. If the tip
got to the place where hard and soft palates meet, this is right
below the bottom of the septum, and is very sensitive. There can also
be sensitivity further back in the soft palate itself, and even in
the throat. But the septum (higher up) is the focal point of ecstatic
experience. Once you get behind the soft palate (stage 2 – see
previous main lesson #223 and tantra lesson #34) the tongue will be
free to go up and you will find incredible sensitivity up there, and
you will never be the same. I look forward to hearing from you when
that happens!

In the meantime, don't force things too much. Where have you heard
that before?

Visions through the third eye can occur as the sushumna (spinal
nerve) is purifying. Some people start having them as soon as they
learn spinal breathing. The common one is a tunnel with a star at the
end, out in front of the brow. This is often first seen as a circle
with a bright light in the center. Other visions (variations) can
occur there too, as you have seen. You may want to check the lessons
on this (#92 & #179). There is advice in these on how to regard
visions - not doing much with them at all. If you look in the topic
index on the web site under "Scenery" you will find a group of
lessons on having and dealing with visions, etc. The more advanced we
get, the more visions can happen. Fortunately, by then we are much
more grounded in inner silence, so can resist getting off on the
tangents where visions can sometimes take us. Visions are symptoms of
progress, not transforming causes, nor the enlightenment itself.
Enjoy them, be inspired, and regard them as scenery along the road to
enlightenment. Then you will be able to keep focused on the practices
that promote the ongoing transformation in your nervous system. Carry
on!

Q: Thanks to your instructions (lesson #108) I have made some
progress from stage 1 Kechari, but did not find exactly what I
expected yet.

After some experimentation and feeling my way about, I am thinking I
am in a sort of Stage 1 and-a-half, with my tongue longer than needed
for stage 1, but not quite long enough for stage 2 yet. I don't know
if perhaps the existence of this intermediate stage is a feature of
my own particular anatomy, which other people would not experience
because of a slightly different layout.

Here is what I experienced:

By stretching the tongue upwards and to the right I was able to find
what seemed like a hole through which I was just about able to push
the tongue. I tried using a finger, but I seemed to be unable to make
use of it since the tongue was already at the limits of its stretch.

However, through that hole I sensed tissue of a type that I had not
felt before. I could sense this because it was salty! Salty probably
because of a thin layer of salty mucous on it.

I kept the tip of my tongue on that special tissue and moved it
towards the center. (The experience was dramatic and ecstatic.) In
the earlier days (it's been over a week now) it always slipped away
before I got near the center but with practice I was able to get it
to the center.

However, there are no nostril-openings to be found at this point, and
no septum between them. The organ I am resting my tongue on is
relatively flat, with a hint of a ridge in the middle. It is normally
covered by the uvula but I have gotten my tongue under that covering.
When I turn my head to the right, the right side of that organ bulges
towards my tongue, and correspondingly when I turn my head to the
left.

I believe the nostril-openings and septum are just **above** where my
tongue is currently able to reach on that organ. Therefore I think I
am in a sort of transitional stage between 1 and 2.

Do you think this is right?

A: Yes, I think your description of what is happening is pretty
accurate. Congratulations on getting behind the soft palate! It is
the beginning of a new world of progress and advanced experiences.

Maybe I can add a few clarifications that will be helpful. It sounds
like you are feeling the back edge of the hard palate from behind the
soft palate (behind uvula). The septum comes down to the center of
the edge of the hard palate. That would be the "hint of a ridge" you
feel in the middle. So, yes, you are still shy of the septum,
eustachian tubes, inner nostrils, etc. But you'll get there.

To go higher, it might be helpful to think not only about length, but
also about releasing the tongue from the floor of the mouth bit by
bit. Most people have the length already, but are limited by the
tether (frenum) tying the tongue to the floor of the mouth. By
focusing on length only we are, in effect, taking a detour back and
around the soft palate with length to compensate for the tongue being
tied down toward the front. If we untie the tongue, it goes up much
further much faster. That, combined with lengthening (milking) yields
the optimum progress in kechari. All of this is covered in detail in
lesson #108.

I'll not tell you what to do on this, as it is a very personal
journey, dependent on each person's bhakti and preferences. I'll
point out the mechanics. The rest is up to you.

Q: Thank you very much again for your response.

I used to pull the tongue but I found that a lot of pulling seemed to
be required to make even a little progress. I've been quickly
converted already by your posting to the idea of nicking the frenum
with a cuticle scissors. So when I say 'length' I really mean 'length
as allowed by the frenum'.

The only thing I'd like to mention is that I do make a number of tiny
nicks rather than only one (I make about 10) and I make them at
separate spots along the frenum surface). I expect that this greater
number speeds up the process. Actually, it seems to; after one
nicking session I can already feel a greater extension.

This larger number of nicks heals just as quickly as a single nick,
that is, in about three days.

Making more than one nick might be inappropriate in maybe the most
typical case because of the effect of the extra speed. But I feel
ready. Behind me I have twenty years of yoga and meditation,
including about 14 of Kechari. If you had any comments on that I'd be
interested.

I agree with you that nicking is ultimately less traumatic on the
tongue. The frenum is only a tendon, relatively insensitive tissue
with a simple task, while the tongue itself is muscles and nerves
largely.

A: You are on your way, knowing what you have to do. Bravo!

Regarding snipping, I don't think simultaneous multiple snips along
the edge of the frenum will speed up the process much. The reason I
say that is because the strings of tendon are piled up on top of each
other in the frenum by the thousands, and snipping in multiple places
at the same time may be snipping mostly the same string multiple
times, which will not produce additional new freedom for the tongue
once the string is snipped in one place. Except for a slight
increased risk of infection, It certainly doesn't hurt to try though.

It takes some time for new strings of tendon to come up and present
themselves once a string has been snipped. It is an interesting
phenomenon that occurs with snipping which is mentioned in lesson
#108. Once a snip is taken, then there is healing for a few days. At
the same time, kechari practice stretches it out. Then the unsnipped
tendons underneath are stretched to the surface, presenting a clear
target for the next snip. The more days that pass, the more prominent
the edge of the new tendon string becomes. Taking this snipping,
healing, and stretching new strings to the surface approach results
in steady progress over time, and with little to no pain or bleeding,
because the stretched tendon strings come up to the surface with an
edge like a callous that can be snipped easily. It is as though the
frenum was designed to be trimmed in this way.

All the while we are going higher, and soon ravishing the secret spot!

Q: Ah, is that the way it works?

I had imagined that the pieces of the broken strings separate but
join again with scar tissue, the scar tissue producing extra length.
For that reason, I had thought that multiple-snippings along the
length would help. Do you know that idea to be wrong? (You know, it
might be. I think I heard that tendon never heals....)

Your description of how it works is very helpful. This tells me that
whereas there may be little to be gained by snipping **along** a
tendon, if I were to do a series of snips in a line **across** the
tendon, in that way snipping distinct fibers, it would probably speed
it up...

To help avoid infection, I use antiseptic mouthwash before and after
the snipping, and I position the snipping between meals so I don't
eat for a few hours after. This way I have not experienced even the
mildest infection, even in the early days when I made a mistake and
snipped a larger piece than I should have. When the snips are small
enough I find that the surface is never even sore, it is just
slightly more sensitive.

"...All the while we are going higher, and soon ravishing the secret
spot!"

Oh yes! I'm looking forward to that! :)

A: Without kechari practice for weeks or months, there can be a
tightening up of fleshy tissue under the tongue. This is easily
stretched out again once kechari resumes. Once a tendon string is
snipped, it won't reconnect to itself or anything else that presents
a strong limitation. Once a tendon string is snipped there will not
be much there to hold the tongue down that can't be easily stretched
at any time in the future.

Make sure you stay in the middle when snipping. It is recommended
that you not venture far from the center edge. The path of least
resistance in the stretched tendon is there. If you go too far to
either side, you run the risk of getting into the arteries in the
tongue. It is not very likely, but that is obviously not the
direction we want to be going in.

Someone wrote a few months ago suggesting that there is risk of
cutting an artery when snipping any part of the frenum. It is not so,
as long as we stay on the stretched edge of the tendon string in the
center with our tiny step-by-step snipping.

Q: That makes it really clear to my engineer's mind. I'll make a
few snips across the tendon. I'd never go near the blood-vessels,
don't worry.

I only snip what shows up as taught when I pull out the tongue. In
fact, I've taken to pulling it out, drying the underside and marking
the taught, hard high-tension spot with a non-toxic laundry marker!
Then only the marked spot is eligible for snipping. I find the actual
snipping is easier when the tongue is not pulled out. I use a hand-
held cosmetic mirror in strong light, turn the tip of the tongue to
the roof of my mouth and put the cuticle scissors in and snip the
marked spot.

A: Sounds good (except you probably don't need the laundry marker).
Carry on at your own safe speed.

The guru is in you.

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