Re-Birthing Yourself

Posted on November 16, 2015 by admin

Every morning (unless you are a night-owl), you awaken to a new day and a new set of possibilities to unfold. As we look more deeply into the nature of reality, we begin to see that not just every day, but every breath offers the same opportunity to give birth to something new. In our work with pranayama over the previous few blog posts, we have discovered that breathing, when relaxed, arises from, and dissolves back into Stillness. Thus breathing is a major factor in our ability to ‘realize’ that the limitless mystery that is Stillness (or Silence, Buddha Nature, Purusha, Atman, etc) is the source of all that arises moment to moment. We are developing a proficiency in staying grounded in Stillness. Keep it going!

But what are the factors that shape what arises? How can we overcome habituated responses to life that drain our energy? How can our own unique creativity participate in the moment to moment unfolding? Lets look at some of the layers available to our investigation.

The Cosmic Fields: 13.7 billion or so years ago, the manifest universe emerged into being guided by what we may call the laws of physics. Energy, particles, atoms, stars and galaxies burst into being and variations of these continue to be self emerging and self sustaining. The sun, moon, planets and stars continually move around, but we can guarantee they will be here moment to moment.
Our Geological Fields: Mother Earth emerged into being some 4.5 billion or so years ago and continues to re-birth herself moment to moment through her movements, weather patterns, geological upheavals and water flow. If you have chosen to be here, Mother Earth will appear moment to moment in your reality.
Our Biosphere: The 8.7 million living species currently on the planet re-birth themselves moment to moment. Individual members die off and new ones emerge, species die off and new ones emerge, in an extraordinary dance. Where ever you go, the biosphere will be with you moment to moment, including you own living body which includes 30 trillion cells that have your DNA, and 300 trillion more bacterial cells which have their own DNA. Moment to moment there is a lot going on!
The Noosphere: A term coined by Teilhard de Chardin, noospere refers to the energetic fields generated by human thought and carried through culture in various forms. Science and religion are just two of the more obvious aspects, but educational, judicial, political, and artistic and many other social systems are also included. Every moment we awaken to the collective field the humans give birth to through their thought driven behavior.
Our own inner world: You wake up and your ideas, beliefs, memories, habits and patterns of emotional energy, likes, dislikes, plans and schemes are all there re-emerging, or lying latent for the right input to activate them. Habits are a two edged sword, as they can liberate the intelligence to look into more complex processes, but they can also keep you unconscious. This is the level where we can choose to give birth to something new, if we are awake, paying attention, and resting in the Stillness. The Upanishads offer some insight on some of the structures and possibilities available to us to help in our transformation.

A yogi’s model of reality, from the Taittiriya Upanishad:

We are are composed of 3 bodies, further divided into five nested sheaths or layers known as koshas. These extend inward from gross to subtle. All emerge from the Luminous Emptiness of Stillness. What is false dissolves into emptiness, (shunyata). what is real, the ground of all that arises, remains as light or luminosity.

The Gross Body (Sthula Sharira) has one sheath:
the Anamaya kosha: the body of food. We have weight and mass, as does all the matter in the universe. We study anatomy to make sense of how our structures interact. The known universe has a gross body we all share. Realizing that the whole universe is my body is an awakening that can arise in any and every moment. Feel this! Nurture this!

The Subtle Body (Sukshma Sharira) has three sheaths:
Pranamaya Kosha: the body of energy: we are also energetic beings, bubbling over with electrical, thermal and kinetic energies that are gifts from the dynamic energies of sun, moon, stars and galaxies. We embody this individually in our physiology, or the 5 pranas. Live well, stay healthy, give birth to health moment to moment.
Manomaya Kosha: the body of mental activity, including perception, memory and learned behavior patterns, and our personality structures. The universe is also imbued with perception and memory. Healthy use of this realm greatly eases our lives and deepens our capacity to dive into the unseen psychic/shamanic realms. Unhealthy use locks us into inflexible beliefs and patterns of behavior that perpetuate suffering through the generations through the Attachment process and other social and cultural fields. Healing comes from awakening the next level and integrating:
Vijnanamaya Kosha: the body of intelligence, also known as Buddhi. We can discern and discriminate. We can imagine. We can choose to change our actions, if we stay present, patient and alert. These conscious changes come from Stillness. But habits can carry on unconsciously and imagination can lock onto pathology. The intelligence is greatly nurtured when in can be integrated with the next level:

The Causal Body or Karana Sharira, has one sheath, the Anandamaya Kosha, the body of ecstasy or bliss. Here is Divine Revelation as the intelligence finally dissolves into wholeness and every atom and molecule, every form and pattern sings and dances in a Cosmic symphony that is ecstatic. We miss this because we are distracted by the confusion and delusion generated in the other layers when they are less than conscious.

As the anandamaya kosha awakens, the cosmic fields of the anamaya and pranamaya koshas are felt by the enhanced perception of the manomaya kosha. The vijnanamaya kosha can then recognize confused ideas, beliefs and patterns as seed forms in the manomaya kosha and, through imagination creativity and surrender into the cosmic fields, transform their energies into further spiritual growth and participation in the cosmic unfolding. All five levels function together as they arise and dissolve moment to moment.

The Practice: Sama Vrtti Pranyama

Remember, pranayama can be done as a kriya or cleansing, healing physiology, calming nerves, transforming the soft tissue structures of diaphragm, inter-costals, organs and spinal canal. Or, we can use it as meditation, to deepen our ability to stay in luminous emptiness. Sama Vritti is a meditative pranayama, as we are not specifically looking to expand the chest or stretch the diaphragm, having done that previously in asana and other pranayamas. We are looking to bring a deep sense of balance which can reveal the mystery of luminous emptiness.

In a comfortable sitting pose, or a supported reclining pose, spend several minutes settling in and observing the flow of the breath. Notice that the inhalation and exhalation probably do not have the same qualities of length, quantity and ease. They might, but… Be curious and attentive.

In sama vritti part 1, we will look to balance out the length of time of the inhalation and exhalation. You can count, like in music, or just feel it through. If you inhale to a four count, allow the exhalation to also have a four count. Back off on the easier phase, rather than trying to push to more challenged one. If your inhalations are generally easier and longer than the exhalation, let the inhalation be shorter to help balance. Same if the exhalation is easier. Let the pauses be soft and natural. You can spend years just on this level.

Part 2. We add a pause after inhalation, antara kumbhaka. In ‘Light on Pranayama” Iyengar suggests you start with a shorter retention, so the ratio of inbreath – retention – outbreath would be 1 – 1/4 – 1. With more experience (and much more space and elasticity in the chest), you can move to 1 – 1/2 – 1, 1 – 3/4 – 1, and finally 1 – 1 – 1.

Iyengar also suggests, and I agree wholeheartedly, that if you are not experienced in the retentions, only add them to sama vrtti part 1 every 4th or 5th breath. This is true for all levels of pranayama practice. When adding something new, allow several normal breaths to come between each pranayama breath. That will minimize strain and allow you to see how the relaxtion can deepen when this is natural and not forced. There is always some level of awkwardness when learning something new, but your intelligence can monitor the overall feeling and keep you on track.

Part 4: add the retention after exhalation. Start with smaller pauses until a relaxed ease is felt in the transition. Gradually work toward a 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 rhythm. The inhalations and exhalations will be naturally shorter to accommodate the longer retentions. You will begin to feel the that the antara kumbhaka is just continuation of the in-breath, without the gross breath moving, and the bahya kumbhaka is a continuation of the exhalation, with the further letting go internal.

Part 5: after any and all practice, savasana. Digest and rest in the luminous emptiness, drashtuh svarupe, avastahnam. Be born again, with your original face, radiant and free.

I’ve Got Rhythm (and so do you!)

Posted on October 7, 2015 by admin

Who could ask for anything more?

One of the major means of facilitating shamanic journeying is the rhythmic beating of a drum or shaking of a rattle, to help the brainwave patterns shift to 4 – 8 cycles per second (Hz) theta waves, the range just above the delta waves of dreamless sleep, but just below the alpha waves of waking consciousness. This dream state band is a rich source of information about not only our inner world, but also about the hidden dimensions of the outer world. What is it about rhythm that is so powerfully transformative? There is no culture on the planet that does not have a rich tradition in music and dance, including India, home of yoga, so we may discover the roots of yoga embedded in the inner rhythms of our embodied being. What is the connection between rhythm and our aliveness?

Many eons ago Mother Nature decided a nervous system would be useful for life on planet earth. Animals (as opposed to plants, which do not have nervous systems) needed to be able to move about their environment, to find food, mates and shelter, while simultaneously avoiding danger. The nervous system evolved to coordinate perception, prediction and movement so animals could learn and master certain survival skills that could be called upon in a moments notice. Mother Nature’s secret to coordinating this complex system is rhythm.

Rodolfo Llinas, In ‘I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self’ develops a model of how timing waves generated in localized neuronal structures modulate global neuronal activity, much as a conductor sets the pace and dynamics for an orchestra. He describes the origins of the nervous system, and the related mind and ‘the mindness state’ as the need for “predictive interactions between mobile creatures and their environment.” (Here is the beginning of dance.) “Neurons arose within the space between sensing and moving. This space mushroomed to become the brain.” (The possibilities of dance became more and more complex.) “Neurons came into existence in order to facilitate and orchestrate the ever-growing complexity of sensori-motor transformations.” (Action and perception are integrated rhythmically. As we yogis know that samyama is the integration of the organs of action and the organs of perception with the intelligence to create a single conscious movement within the entire body, we can now say that yoga involves learning how to shake your buddhi. )

From the back cover of ‘I of the Vortex’: “At the heart of Llinas’ theory is the concept of oscillation. Many neurons possess electrical activity, manifested as oscillating variations in the minute voltages across the cell membrane. On the crests of these oscillations occur larger electrical events that are the basis for neuron to neuron communication. Like cicadas chirping in unison, a group of neurons oscillating in phase can resonate with a distant group of neurons. This simultaneity of neuronal activity is the neuro-biological root of cognition. Although the internal state that we call the mind is guided by the senses, it is also generated by the oscillations within the brain. Thus, in a certain sense, one could say that reality is not all “out there”, but that we live in a kind of virtual reality.”

Not that we need to ground our shamanic experiences in science, but here we are. We are resonant with the world around us at a multiplicity of frequencies, both internal and external, and we build a sense of reality and self from our perceptions of these fluctuating rhythms. How many of these resonances do we actually perceive, how many are fully activated and integrated into our daily activities, how many others are available to explore in our practice?

Llinas goes on to propose that in the background of the brain, “continuously humming”, are 40 Hz coherent electrical waves linking the thalamus and cerebral cortex in timing waves that may be the basis for a ‘self sense’. As we mentioned above, the shamanic journeys often involved traveling on the 4 – 8 Hz theta wave frequencies in the brain. There are many other rhythms of aliveness available for exploration as well.

Practitioners of Chinese and Tibetan medicine learn to read the pulsing of the heart and circulatory system and a skilled practitioner can differentiate 24 – 29 different types of pulse. Heart beats run in the 40 – 100 beats per minute, translating to .8 – 1.6 cycles per second. Craniosacral therapists tune into the three tidal rhythms of the cerebro-spinal fluid system. These much slower rhythms include: the cranial rhythmic impulse at 8 – 12 cycles per minute; the middle tide at 2 – 2.5 cycles per minute, and the very subtle long tide is 90 – 100 seconds per cycle. We will explore these craniosacral rhythms in a future post.

Yogis and other somanauts learn to travel on the physiological frequencies of the respiratory system, and our exploration in the next few posts will be to play with these in pranayama practice. The breath is universally acknowledged as a gateway into the inner functioning of mind and body as it links the structures, diaphragm, ribs, spine and limbs with all of the emotions, from fear and anxiety, to delight and joy. We will learn how to ride the rhythmic oscillations of the breath like a surfer and possibly discover new worlds and new rhythms of connectivity between our selves and the inner realms of creation.

The first step, and our practice today, is to establish contact with the feel of the breath and dive deeply into its waters. In yogic terms, it is dharana – dhyana – samadhi aka samyama applied to the flow of energy we call breathing. The fundamental rhythmic pattern has four stages: inhalation where the lungs fill; exhalation where they empty; a brief pause where the inhalation ends and before the exhalation begins; and another pause after exhalation and before the inhalation begins. In a normal healthy breath, these pauses are smooth and fluid. There is no residual tension. If very relaxed, the pause after exhalation may be quite long, revealing a deep inner stillness. (Remember that all energetic processes arise in stillness and look to find completion by returning to stillness.) These pauses are unique and very important in our practice.

Either lying or sitting in a comfortable position, let your attention move to and stay with the breath. (This is meditation 101.) Sustain the sense of being suspended in the breath while your curiosity awakens. Some questions to consider: How does the skin move/respond to the breathing? the bones? the large outer muscles? the smaller, inner muscles?, the pelvic organs? the abdominal organs? the heart and lungs? the neck, throat and face? And: can you feel your diaphragm? your intercostal muscles? Many questions for many days and years of practice. Perhaps only one is needed to nourish you in this practice session.

Allow the breath to become smoother and softer by dropping whatever tension and sense of effort you can. Pay special attention to the pauses. The breath may become more shallow, or possibly deeper. Either way, let the breath lead you. You are feeling, listening, receiving sensation riding on the waves of breath. Let the breath lead you deep into the stillness and rest there. Let the stillness radiate out through your cells. Nurture this state so it becomes easier and easier to access. Then bring it into your daily activities.

Here is Patanjali on pranayama, (with my commentary) from the Sadhana Pada.

II- 49 tasmin sati shvaasa-prashvaasayor gati-vicchedah praanaayaamah
The mastery of asana allows the exploration of more subtle life energies through regulating the natural flow of inhalation and exhalation.

Mastery of any asana means the ability to sustain the posture through time without any aggression or dullness in the organism. This is the natural state of the animal kingdom but because the human mind can interfere with this natural state of relaxed aliveness we need the interventions learned in asana. Eventually asana, the innate intelligence of posture and movement sustains itself as we move through life. (We do need to keep practicing to maintain this!) When the outer layers of the body, the musculo-skeletal system, are harmoniously integrated (sattva) the more subtle physiological or organic movements are seen more clearly and they may reveal more subtle blockages in the pranic flow. Pranayama practice is a way to help dissolve these blockages.

II- 50 baahyaabhyantara-stambha-vrttih desha-kaala-sankhyaabhih paridrsto diirgha-suukshmah
The movements of breath are outward, inward and restrained. Practice involves allowing the stages of the breath to become longer and more subtle as you explore where the breath is felt inside the body, how longs the movements take, and how many cycles you can perform safely.

Pranayama is not a practice of the will the way asana can be. It emerges as a natural sensitivity to the pranic flow that you can ride the way a hawk rides a thermal or a school of fish rides ocean currents. The practice involves constantly getting out of the way of aliveness, of dissolving the subtle blockages in the pranic flow from emotional memories and habits, and releasing the inner currents of prana through the organs and cells.

Although Patanjali mentions three movements of the breath, there are technically four: exhalation (rechaka), restraint or retention after exhalation (baahya kumbhaka), inhalation (puraka), and retention after inhalation (antara kumbhaka). The two retentions are different from each other because of the physiology of respiration and are included in the more advanced forms of pranayama

Inhalation is a neurologically initiated action. When the CO2 level in the blood reaches a certain level, the vagus nerve triggers the diaphragm to contract and draw air into the lungs. Exhalation does not have such a trigger and thus we often have to learn to exhale. This is especially true in cases of COPD, emphysema and asthma where sufferers struggle to inhale into lungs that have no room because the exhalations have been forgotten. In yoga, the exhalation is learned first as it is calming to the nerves and mind. Then, when exhalations comes easily, inhalation can begin to be prolonged. Trying to force air into lungs still half full is stressful and pranayama is about releasing stress, not adding more.

Over time, the ribs, diaphragm and spine become more elastic and integrated and the breathing cycles flow more and more effortlessly. Then you begin to notice the natural pauses that arise at the end of the in breath and again at the end of the out breath. These ‘restraints’ are spontaneous and natural. As your pranayama practice becomes more relaxed, you begin to prolong the pause after the in breath. This is known as retention after in breath or antara kumbhaka. As there is no reflex to exhale, this is safe. The ribs are sustained in an open state and the diaphragm is suspended dynamically. Ideally there is no sense of strain or effort but simply an allowing of the lungs to absorb more and more of the oxygen and release more of the CO2.

In baahya kumbhaka, retention after exhalation, the lungs and blood stream have become so saturated with oxygen from the expanded inhalations and retentions that there is no reflex to inhale for quite some time. This is a very quiet internal state and can lead to the experience of a new level described next.

II- 51 baahyaabhyantara-visayaaksepii caturthah
The fourth (in addition to outward, inward and restrained) surpasses the limits of outward and inward.

This suspension of the breath is spontaneous and not the result of the previous mentioned kumbhaka practices. In other words, there is no sense of ‘practicing pranayama’, but of resting in deep neurological stillness.

II- 52 tatah ksiiyate prakaashaavaranam
Then the covering of illumination is weakened.

Obscurations is a lovely Buddhist word describing the nature of the dull or stuck (tamasic) and agitated or chaotic (rajasic) mind states and activities that are said to cover the inner light of seeing, vidya, of the Seer resting in unbounded awareness. Even the breath can be seen as a very subtle disturbance and when the mind is in deep rest, the breath is effortlessly suspended and only light remains. This is not an action of the will, but the result of a natural stillness.

II- 53 dhaaranaasu ca yogyataa manasah
And the mind becomes fit for concentration

Manas is that aspect of mind dealing directly with the senses and thus it is often busy. When it is still and undisturbed, buddhi, the aspect of mind that sees, is now ready for its refinement. The vital energies, as prana, have been calmed and clarified by pranayama practice leaving an alert stillness in the mind field.

Photo of George and Ira Gershwin courtesy of Stephen Pond.

A Shamanic Cosmology

Posted on September 29, 2015 by admin

Cultures throughout history have had some sort of cosmology; that is, a story or model, or belief system that defines the origins, structures and functioning of reality as experienced by that culture. The modern era’s cosmology is a quirky cultural stew of scientific rationalism, religious dogma, and enlightened spiritual insight. My vote is for an enlightened spiritual insight which arises from an ongoing, direct and intimate contact with the world as it arises moment to moment. The question here becomes what do we mean by “the world as it arises?” The shamans have a very interesting view on ‘the world’, feeling all of creation is spiritual, and that much of the world is unseen to the human eye.

Reality: An Overview

From a shamanic perspective, reality has two fundamental expressions: the seen, and the unseen. The seen is what the average human would recognize as the physical world. It includes the sky, with clouds, stars and planets, mountains and the rest of the continents, oceans, rivers, lakes and streams, weather, and living beings of all sorts, etc, etc. All of these are experienced through the five senses and we are in constant relationship to this world in our daily activities.

The unseen can also be called the dream or spirit world and and has two primary levels, the lower and upper. The lower realms include the spirits of the earth, including plant and animal spirits as well as spirits associated with rocks, rivers, weather etc. The shamanic animist reality sees all creation is being imbued with a spiritual as well as a physical expression. (Thomas Berry’s ‘Principle 3’ acknowledges these two levels.) The lower realm, or underworld is often the destination of the dead, where human souls go in the afterlife. There are many fascinating tales and teachings about what happens to souls when they get there.

The upper realms include gods, angels, devas, celestial beings, saints, ascended masters, and spiritual guides. In most cases, heaven is the highest reward, and place of eternal beauty, health and happiness and reserved for those departed souls who have passed strict qualification tests, either on the earthly plane or in the underworld. These tests vary across cultures, but they all weed out the unworthy.

This three part reality is almost universal: The heavenly realms, the earth where the action or karma of our lives take place, and the underworld, and the nature of these realms varies tremendously from culture to culture. The modern Western world is currently dominated by the patriarchal monotheistic religions who were terrified of the power of the shamans and thus redefined the lower realms as hell and murdered nearly 100,000 women through the middle ages.

The Shamanic Journey

The modern shaman uses ‘technology’ to enter ‘altered’ states of consciousness, travel to the lower and upper realms, acquire help and helpers in the form of spirit helpers or teachers, and information, to help bring healing to the middle realm of action, in the body, in culture and throughout the planet. The entry point of the journey is through the body, or body soul, aka physical soul, where perception takes place, and the ‘technology’ is to use a drum or rattle to rhythm entrain the brain waves to fire at the Theta or 3 – 8 HZ. “Theta brainwaves occur most often in sleep but are also dominant in the deep meditation. It acts as our gateway to learning and memory. In theta, our senses are withdrawn from the external world and focused on signals originating from within. It is that twilight state which we normally only experience fleetingly as we wake or drift off to sleep. In theta we are in a dream; vivid imagery, intuition and information beyond our normal conscious awareness. It’s where we hold our ‘stuff’, our fears, troubled history, and nightmares.” (from www.brainworksneurotherapy.com). The drumming or rattling have to be accurate and consistent to sustain theta for 20 minutes or so. We will go further into some of the protocols and process of the journey in the future.

Our Practice

In the last post, we began the process of differentiating the felt sense and movement possibilities related to the lower six chakras. Today we will go a little further with this exploration. Imagine a ladder; two parallel lines linked by six horizontal lines. Imagine a circle or sphere in the center of each rung, and these will represent the chakras. Now, lying down in savasana, find the chakras and the two parallel lines running down the right and left sides of your body. Visualize and feel these two lines passing through key places aside the different chakras: inner ears, two sides of the jaws, two lungs, two kidney, two pelvic bones, two legs/feet. these are just a few suggestions. Find what awakens in your own perceptual field.

Now imagine the space between the chakras becoming like a frisbee and let the energy spiral back and forth, ascending and descending around each of the chakras.you may begin to notice something that looks like this. Enjoy the ride. This is the ‘fishbody’ we have been working with for many years now. Smooth out the spaces. You are liable to find places on the sides of one or more chakras where the energy is sticky, or just plain stuck. In that moment, the habit is to ‘contract’ something to force the issue. Inhibit this urge. Contraction vrtti nirodha. Relax. Use imagination and visualization to help open channels.

Now return to the ladder image and find the points where the rungs intersect the vertical. Imagine all twelve points breathing together and feel. Imagine the heart beating simultaneously in all twelve points and feel what arises. This may take some practice and patience. Now take this into your asana practice and discover these points and energetic patterns anew. Let them dance you, reshape you, awaken you from deep within. Now go out into nature and do the same. Feel nature dancing with you. Be open to surprise, awe and wonder.

Further Reading: “A Bowl of Light” by Hank Wesselman, and all material at sharedwisdom.com.

(It was an amazing weekend!)