And that liberation requires work.
So I don't see what you are disagreeing over.
You speak of liberation as something automatic and effortless. Liberation will require lots of suffering. Which is the point of this thread. Most people are unwilling to pay the price.

Isn't that the whole point?
Of course don't overdo it. Ramp it up gradually over weeks and months.
But 6 pranayama is really nothing. People do up to 72 or even 100+ pranayamas a day.
Most of you will need to do 10,000s of pranayamas to start seeing serious results. Some will need less, depending on your spiritual attunement.

@SoonHei The bottom line is that it takes lots of mindfulness pratice and multiple awakenings.
The more you do the work more no-mind you will experience. At first it will be only seconds at a time, but with more practice it will turn into minutes, and then hours.
Kriya yoga is very good for attaining no-mind. It will speed up your progess a lot.
You can also specifically train mindfulness during busy work. Start by doing walking meditation. The try to meditate while driving, while doing the dishes, while out in public, and even inside of conversations. All of this will take a few years at least.
Attaining stable no-mind is not easy at all. It is a very advanced stage of practice and I am certaibly not there after 5 years of meditation and other kinds of work.
But I am getting closer. Just lately I made a significant step towards no-mind and I can see that it will come with years more of practice.
It's worth the work.

I could be way, way, way more conscious than I currently am.
My daily consciousness of God is mild. I want it much stronger.
I don't know. There isn't a simple answer.
100,000+ pranayama

You haven't even begun serious meditation or yogic practice. You don't even understand the effort required.
This is very advanced work. It requires momumental effort.
I recommend you do Kriya yoga. But even learning that will require much more effort than you seem ready to give.
Without effort there is no God and no liberation. Sorry, but that's just reality.
You need to sit down and rethink your priorities and your work ethic. Your priorities are bad and your work ethic is poor.

No, just do it as long as humanly possible.
It's very important that when you do your whole routine, that it be natural and organic. Don't waste too much mental energy criticizing yourself, timing things, analyzing yourself, etc. You must enter a flow state. The whole thing must become silky smooth and effortless. Let go of any self-conscious thoughts and just follow your heart.
Turn off your targeting computer and use The Force

Very important. Concentrate during those last 5-10 mins like a motherfucker.
The result you can expect is yoga: union with God.
Inhale very slowly from left nostril Pause Exhale very slowly from right nostril Pause Inhale very slowly from right nostril Pause Exhale very slowly from left nostril Pause That is 1 cycle.
Yes, close your eyes and look up at 3rd eye.
During Om Japa, as I recall, you let the breath flow naturally. You don't control it.
The most important part would be visualizing the energy flowing up and down your spine and through each chakra. Focus your limited attention on that. As you get good at that, I think you'll develop more attention capacity.
You don't need to do everything perfectly at the start. You will get much better over the months. Just focus on 80% that really matters.
Yes, I experience this problem too. You can decrease your need for oxygen by first taking 3 short breaths before beginning one of the long mahamudra breaths. You can also try quickening the rate at which you pull energy up and down the spine, so it doesn't take so long. And your Oms should be fairly rapid as you bend down and hold your breath.
Building lung capacity is part of this whole practice, from what I understand. You have to learn to breath more deeply and consume less oxygen.

It's not dogma, it serves an important physiological function, but you can add it to your routine later on.
The most important thing is to get your basic routine into place, so you're seeing results from it and you're happy with it. Then you can add on the extravagant bells and whistles. I would spend a few months building up your basic routine (Mahamudra + Pranayama + Breath Of Fire) before investing a lot of effort into the tongue exercises. You can always add those later. Don't let anything hinder you from building your core routine. The core routine alone is very powerful and you should start to feel it working on your mind within a month or two, which should give you motivation to keep building on top of it.

@Akira If you have an injury, just skip Mahamudra for now.
Mahamudra is considered an important core technique.
But you don't have to add it in right off the bat. You can master the other techniques and add in Mahamudra in a few months.
Pranayama is the most important technique.
Don't let perfectionism stop you from mastering yoga. Do whatever is necessary to circumnavigate excuses and obstacles.

Finding a comfortable sitting position is very important. I would say, just find any sitting position you feel comfortable with which allows you to sit for a solid 60 minutes with minimal discomfort.
Right now I've changed up my sitting position to using a Zen-style seize bench with some extra cushioning. So for the pranayamas and breath of fire I am sitting on my knees using that bench. The Mahamudra is done without a bench obviously. That's what I found works best for me.
You could even just do it using a comfy chair.
Again, don't let technical details get in the way of your core practice. Once your core practice is established you can always fine-tune it, change positions, add stuff, remove stuff, etc. But you need the core practice ASAP.

Yes, it's way over-complicated. What I did was strip everything down to just 1 core technique: the spinal breathing and I just do that for 1 hr. I think this will produce 80% of the results and it's just so simple.
I suggest you pick 1-3 of the techniques you feel are most potent and focus on mastering those. Later you could always get more fancy but I don't think it's necessary, especially for the first year.
The very core of Kriya yoga is the up/down spinal breathing through the chakras. Everything else is just a fancy addition to that. As you do the techniques you can sorta feel into whether they are effctive or not. Try the spinal breathing for a solid month and just see how it makes you feel. If you feel it is quieting your monkey mind, that's good, so then just continue with it and perhaps add 1 more technique to your stack like mahamudra or breath of fire.
Slowly over a year or two can build up your own custom stack. I think this way is far superior to stricting following the book.

I don't imply that. I simply mean it is not a good cost/return ratio for beginners. Perhaps for advanced practioners it is useful. But as a beginner focus must go on pranayama and mahamudra. You can always add stuff later once you are feeling some core effects from your practice.

Not as regularly as I should, but yet.
I'm not sure. It's hard to know what is truly necessary without lots of experience and it will vary by individual.
If pranayama is producing good results then I would say not. But if pranayama doesn't feel like it is doing much for you, then you should add mahamudra to see if it boosts your results.
Test, test, test -- to find what works for you.

Well, in yogic traditions and in Buddhism they have you take vows when you join their community. The Buddha spoke of the Eight-fold Noble Path.
These vows typically include the following:
Not taking of life Not lying Non-violence Not using people sexually Abstinence from sex, drugs, alcohol, and other addictive substances These are not to be taken as moral commandments or truths, but merely self-imposed restrictions to hasten your path towards enlightenment.

@Enlightenment Jeffery Martin's work is good, but still very shallow. He has no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes. He's still within the materialist paradigm.
The stuff I talk about is what the most advanced yogis realize and embody. Total God-realization. You are not going to acheive that with a bit of self-inquiry or meditation. It requires a rewiring of your entire brain and even body. Which is what yogic techniques are designed to do.
Someone like Sadhguru is a good example. He is living in a full state of God-realization.

It's hard to become deeply enlightened as a householder unless you got some special tricks up your sleeve, like powerful yogic techniques or psychedelics or something.
The disadvantage is probably 10:1 to 20:1. If this wasn't the case, there would be no point in becoming a monk.
If you went at enlightenment full-time, hardcore, you could probably do it in 1-2 years. Although who really knows. These are just guestimates and everyone is different.
#1 factor in enlightenment seems to be undivided focus for long periods of time. Which is a rare thing these days. Which is why so few people get enlightened. Unnatural periods of focus are usually required.
It will have effect. But not likely to produce enlightenment.

Yes. Once I get warmed up and really into. But entering that flow doesn't always succeed. Sometimes I feel uninspired, exhausted, or distracted.
No. You don't have to read anything. Reading can help, but it can also be a distraction.
The utility of reading is learning techniques and learning about the many traps in this work. Without reading you are likely to fall into a serious trap and get stuck in it for years.
For me there is no direct connection. I like game design just because it lets me be creative and imagine cool worlds that cannot exist in normal life.
The most direct connection between design and philosophical work is that design is about thinking in a big picture, holistic way, and so it philosophical work. I have a designer's mind and I think like a designer. This is the common thread between game design and philosophy. A designer's mind must be very holistic because you need to take the entire product into account. A designer needs to see the game in its totality, not just in parts. A good game is designed top-down as one unified whole. Which is of course how God works.
Thinking very big picture, like a film director, is a very good skill to develop. I have that kind of director's mindset. It is the mindset of an executive, a CEO -- where you are responsible for the entirety of a thing. To invent a game, you must be responsible for the entire thing. It's the mindset of founders.

● I used to have crippling social anxiety, even getting off a bus, going to class, and of course talking to girls. This is 90% gone after two years and this alone has done so much for my life. I use to get very frustrated when people told me you have to live with it. I rejected that flat out.
● A lot of health benefits. Overcoming eating problems, dropping ALL supplements, and eating about 60% of what I used to and still maintain my size. I'm 186cm, 94kg and 14% body fat. Extremely active, bouldering, jiujitsu, powerlifiting and I eat almost half as much without losing ANY weight. 
● Sleeping less, and taking less shits lol. It has also enhanced digestion. Maybe 7 hours of sleep which again is crazy for my level of activity. 
● Had very bad OCD (diagnosed) and perfectionism. OCD is almost totally gone. I can plan compulsively sometimes but I don't check the door 50 times in the morning so it's been so liberating. 
● The desire for porn, coffee, eating meat, watching TV, alot of this stuff just naturally fell away. I didn't try to do anything. Sex drive probably halved.
● More frequent non-dual experiences. For example, walking down the street, I suddenly feely merged with everyone around me. Frequent episodes of bliss and love but it's not awakening. 
● A more elusive one, but it's easier to get what I want in life and I am generally much happier. Better emotional states. Feel more balanced and capable.
● I also have a deeper sense now that I don't really need to do anything in life. I just feel fulfilled. I don't feel obliged to help anyone or do anything and I don't think it dictates my worth as a human.
● I have become a catalyst for growth for everyone around. After people spend some time around me they usually want to change. Major impact on family.
I credit a lot of my progress to reading Dr Hawkins book about surrender and for years I took surrender and kriya yoga EXTREMELY seriously. I did it religiously. Sometimes I was doing kriya yoga three times a day. It was addictive.
I have always wanted to make a video about this but I'm afraid people will call me a pseudo scientist full of shit etc... lol

It's complicated.
They are all distinct achievements.
Sahaja samadhi would be abiding God-consciousness as I understand. Other lesser samadhis are temporary. They are not abiding. So in that sense they are like a psychedelic peak. Psychedelic puts you into samadhi automatically. Then from that state you can have profound insights and realizations.
Liberation to me means totally overcoming the self. Breaking free of all identification and all attachment to the material world, such that you are not driven by cravings or suffering. At this point you would be close to just leaving your body because you are so detached from life. You are basically giving up human life to be formless because you've had enough of form. You are no longer interested in exploring form. You just desire to be the Godhead. Liberation should bring you very close to something like that.
No-mind is yet a distinct achievement. Although of course there tends to be overlap between all these. They are all pointing in the same general direction.
I would not worry about these nuances for now. Just focus on having a few solid awakening experiences. You'll figure out the rest afterwards. Don't get ahead of your skiis.

Having fun wingmen is the #1 tip for going out.
Yes, going solo is brutally hard so you won't be motivated to do it. You need good wingmen who make you wanna go out for the fun.

When you are sick you can not do it.
You will still get benefits.
But if you are not sick you should do it every day. It is an issue of priorities. You have the wrong priorities in life.

1) That was a general statement. It could have exceptions for some people.
2) Kriya yoga is different. I think it is more potent and accumulates better over months, so you can do 1-2hrs per day and it builds up. Meditation does not build up so well. For meditation to build up requires like several days of nonstop practice.
Again, these things will vary if you are spiritually gifted.

I'm not doing kriya anymore for now because I have some heart problems. But I can tell that stopping kriya was one of the most horrible experiences of my life. Everything came back after a week or smth. Bad sleep. Bad mood. Mantal claritity dropped like a brick. Memory dropped. Ability to think and articulate thoughts dropped. everyday I dream about when will I be able to start it again  
Kriya yoga was the best thing that happened in my life. I was at a point where I could fall asleep in 2-3min, Mantal balance and constant joy within everyday... all gone...

 

There's nothing wrong with focusing on getting your life together.
Just keep your meditation practice going. It's not a big weight. Plenty of people manage to run their life and meditate an hour a day.
Kriya yoga, for example, was designed to only take about 1 hour per day. The instruction was: spend 1 hour per day on yoga and enlightenment, and the rest of your day handling your business and family obligations.
You do not need to become an ascetic to become enlightened.
Just do your practices more diligently. Quality > quantity.
I know people who do 2-3 hours per day of yoga and still manage to run a busy life.
A very effective structure is this: 1-2 hours per day of inquiry + four 10-day solo retreats per year. The rest of the time, do whatever business you got.
Another option is: take 3 months off and go balls-to-the-wall with inquiry. 24/7. Get your awakening breakthrough and then return to ordinary life, deepening your realization with 1 hour per day of meditation/yoga.

No, it will not give you want I said. I was talking about a serious full-length Kriya practice.
What you are doing is dabbling in one technique. That will not produce a sigificant change.
Yoga must be done seriously. If you are too cheap or too lazy to get the book and follow it rigorously, then yoga is not for you.
Yoga routines must be done perfectly. DO NOT HALF-ASS YOGA!