Boston Notes: 2

Posted on June 8, 2017 by admin

Microscosmic Orbit, Abdominal Breathing and
Finding Support in the Asanas
(A little more detail than we covered in May, but consider it your homework for October.

Find your root chakra, aka CV-1 or the ‘seat of yin’.
Find your crown chakra, aka GV-20 , the ‘seat of yang’ or ‘hundred convergences’.

Visualize your ‘Conception Vessel’, Yin in nature, running along the front of the body, from the center of the perineum up to the bottom lip. As we are working with the energy fields, we can visualize this as most of the front circle as shown in the hula hoop below.

Visualize the Governing Vessel, Yang in nature, running from your perineum, up the back body, around the crown chakra and down to the upper lip.

Imagine them linked in a circle like the hoop below, outside the body, except for root and crown. Because we are working with the energy field as well as specific regions of the body, we can use the circular image. Imagine a flow of energy following the circle, beginning at CV-1, moving up the front and down the back, linking root and crown. Then reverse, from CV-1 up the back and down the front.

For a greater challenge, try the double action of both at the same time to create the sense of a suspended field of energy. Relax as much as possible and then find the chakra line, aka the ‘Thrusting Vessel’, running as a diameter connecting root and crown from the inside.

Tucking and Untucking

If we take the double action just at the root chakra, or CV-1, we have the dynamic tuck/untuck action that activates and integrates the pelvic floor with legs and core. Try in simple sitting poses at first. Then tadasana. In uttanasana, try this: In going from tadasana into uttanasana, the primary action is untucking the sitting bones as the pelvis flexes/rotates around the femur heads. At the same time let the tucking action be taken at the coccyx to complete the double action. The reverse happens when going from uttanasana back to tadasana. Here the primary action is tucking the sitting bones down, extending the pelvis around the femurs. Subtly let the tail bone untuck to complete the double action. Next feel the double action all the way through the crown as well.

So, to reiterate, all backbends fundamentally require strong pelvic extension over the femurs, or strong tucking. Counterbalance by subtly untucking the coccyx. Now, as a beginner, your sitting bones and coccxy may be stuck together and the double action is difficult. Whatever action releases the spine for you in the moment is the correct one. Tucking the coccyx may feel opening. For beginners in forward bends, tight groins and hamstrings limit the ability to untuck the sitting bones. Be careful not to contract the spine trying to untuck. All forward bends require strong untucking of the sitting bones to deepen the flexion, but this has to come from a release of the front spine/psoas. Work with the image/energy of the circles to keep from collapsing or overworking.

For many beginning students, tadasana is a back bend because the groins are short and getting the pelvis parallel to the legs is a challenge. The double action can be learned in tadadana by squeezing a block with the thighs, internally rotating the femurs rolling the block backwards to untuck. Keep the action of the legs while you extend/tuck the pelvis. This action in double action of the pelvic region in tadasana is present in every asana, which is why tasdasana is said to be the root of all the asanas.

In the asymetrica poses, where one hip joint flexes and one extends, the double action gets a bit tricky. In the pose to the left, the left hip is going into flexion requiring an ‘untucking of the sitting bones and a ‘tucking’ of the tail bone. The Right leg is tucking the sitting bones and untucking the tail. If you feel this deeply you ay notice that untucking opens the botton of the groin, below the pubis, and tucking opens the top of the groin, above the pubis. Ideally both top and bottom of the groins stay open to keep the energy freely flowing between torso and legs. Easier said than done!

Opening the Neck and Throat

To work with neck challenges, there is a double action between neck and skull that you can explore. In the diagram below, the base of the skull is near GV-16. When flexing the skull (bowing the head) GV-16 goes up. This will tend to push CV-22 just behind the sternal notch downward. The double action is to lift CV – 22 when flexing the neck. this keeps the throat soft and open. When looking upward and GV-16 is dropping, pull CV-22 downward as well. This keeps the back of the neck from collapsing into an isolated contraction. To help, us your fingers on the scalene muscles on the sides of the throat. Looking down, draw the scalenes up. Looking up, draw the scalenes down.

Abdominal Breathing:

In the chart above, notice the three diamonds. These correspond to the three bony cavities of the body; the skull, the rib cage, and the pelvis. Or in Tao’ist practice, three energy fields known as ‘dan tians’. In neuroscience, there are three different nervous systems corresponding to these spaces; the brain, the heart and the gut body, each with its own mode of ‘consciousness.

In general, when the breath flows freely through the lower dan tian or the region from the navel to the pelvic floor, the mind becomes quiet, the emotions settle, and the organism can store energy, like a battery being charged.

Sitting comfortably, imagining the three spaces and the energy field of the body, allow the inhalation to descend down to the pelvic floor. Feel CV-1, the seat of the yin pulling down like the subtle drawing of a bow. Feel the kidneys descending creating space for the lungs to expand. Keep the heart lifting gently, as if CV-12 is lifting as CV-1 drops. Feel the pelvis widening and deepening as well.

As you exhale, feel effortlessly CV-1 lifting and the abdominal wall slowly squeezing to release the breath. Keep your attention remaining down in the lower center during the exhalation so you strengthen your sense of ground and weight. Don’t force the breath, but invite it to expand and condense smoothly and evenly. You can practice smooth steady exhaling by adding an ‘O’ or ‘AH” sound, or blowing into a saxophone or other horn and sustaining an even tone.

The key is to keep you awareness down in to lower center and use the breath to soften and open the organs, tissues and cells. This ‘yin’ breathing is quieting and energizing.

Microcosmic Orbit Meditation.

When the abdominal breathing becomes stronger and easier, you can explore using some of the acupuncture cavities as reference points to focus your attention.

As you inhale and CV-1 descends, draw the energy up the front to CV-6. On the exhalation, let your attention flow back to CV-1. Repeat.

Or, inhale CV-1 to CV-6 to CV-12; exhale to GV-4 to CV-1, completing a small circuit. Repeat.

Or, inhale CV-1 to GV-4 to CV-12: exhale to CV-6 to CV-1. Repeat.

Use the chart to help you remember the cavities. Work your way up to CV 22 and then GV-20, up the front/down the back and then up the back and then down the front, always returning to CV-1.

Complete your practice by allowing the body to digest and integrate, either in simple sitting or savasana.

Yin, Yang and Beyond

Posted on May 22, 2017 by admin

Notes from Boston and Portland, May 2017

Intention: 1. to keep awakening to the emerging depths of love, compassion and wisdom in ourselves, by aligning with the innate intelligence of the Cosmos; and to use our own unique set of skills to make things a little bit better, as best we can. May all beings be happy; May all beings find inner peace; May all beings be free from suffering.

Intention: 2: to discover the sacred geometrical patterns of cosmic intelligence, in form and flow, within and without, and nurture and integrate them into our daily lives.

Attention: What are the key points in the human energy field that, when discovered and nurtured, allow us to bring healing and harmony to our lives and the world around us? What are the primary rhythms of life and the cosmic intelligence that allow harmony, balance, stability and flow? How can yoga postures and practice use these points and rhythms to deepen our innate sense of stillness (Being) and integration (Becoming)?

Practice 1: Personal Practice
Samyama on these points, energy patterns and the fields they generate when linked in energy flow: Samyama is the simultaneous practice of dharana, dhyana and samadhi as articulated in the the third chapter of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the Vibhuti Pada. Dharana: bring your attention to the point, or energy flow between points. Dhyana: Stay there with discipline. When your attention wanders, bring it back (dharana). Samadhi: Remain there effortlessly. Stabilize the field by balancing yin and yang energies. (see below) This will take time. Eventually it gets easier and easier, but eventually distraction or fatigue comes. Begin again. This can be done in any yoga pose.

Practice 2: Practice in the Relational Field
Feel a heart-centered circle or sphere of energy surrounding the people you are interacting with. Bring in light. In a small group, feel the collective field, nurturing and being nurtured by the uniqueness of each and the communion of the whole. Out in public, expand your circle/sphere while sustaining a well defined/flexible self space.

First Seven Points:
1. Heart Center, at the back of the physical heart.

2. Center of perineum, known as the seat of the Yin.

3. Crown of skull, known as the seat of the Yang.

4 and 5: The two Kidney 1 or K-1 points located on the soles of the feet.

6 and 7: The two Pericardium 8, or P-8 points located in a similar place on the palms of the hands.

Polarity, Charge and Transformation:

The fundamental energy pattern in the cosmos involves polarity. For our studies here, we will call the poles yin and yang, or negative and positive, as in the poles of a magnet. In the slide to the right we see the stages of cell division and how creativity demands polarity. In the meta and anaphases, yin and yang, or the north and south poles separate move to opposite ends of the cell. A charge builds and the chromosomes are pulled in opposite directions. This is the ‘field’ of creativity that allows two cells to emerge from one.

The Taoist yin/yang symbol expresses the relation between the poles. First, they cannot be separated into pure yin and pure yang. The seed of the opposite is always present. Secondly, they listen and respond to each other and the outer demands of the moment. If more yin is required, yang yields: 50-50, can go to 99-1 and on forever in subtlety, and the reverse is also true. When exploring this in the asana and breathing practices, always look to feel to the yielding one. In a back bend, this is the forward bending energy and vice versa. In a twist, right and left are yin and yang. In breathing, yin and yang are the expanding and condensing, like the Hoberman sphere action.

Extraordinary Vessels:
In our microcosmic orbit meditation, we discover a similar pattern and field to cell division. The seat of the yin at the pelvic floor and the seat of the yang at the top of the skull act as the two poles. Yin energy grounds and roots us. It stores energy. Yang energy rises and expands. It acts, within the body and out in the world. Yin and yang are always seeking communication, integration and balance. We will use some of the extraordinary vessels to help imagine and trace the energy flow.

There are eight extraordinary vessels in Qi Gong/Chinese medicine that help integrate the flow of Qi in the body. We will use the four in the torso region in this session. The other four include legs and we will pick up in a later post.

The energy line of the front, the Conception vessel is yin. The energy line at the back, the Governing vessel is yang. If we stay in the median line, up the core from root to crown, we have the primary yin vessel know as the thrusting vessel. The forth, the Girdling Vessel we will see below wraps around the body at the pelvic region.

We add points in front and behind the heart center to root and crown to create a circle or oval shape we call the microcosmic orbit, as seen with the hula hoop below, which includes and helps integrate the governing and conception vessels. As the energy generated in the body begins to feel the patterns, the poles support and strengthen each other, building a stronger charge, and the heart center expands naturally. Meditation and asana practice support this when we begin to feel the circular energy flows and use imagination to help guide the flow.

When standing we begin to feel the links to the legs through K-1 and the hands at P-8. This is especially true in down dog, where the core Qi circulates out through hands and feet and back again. In your standing pose practice, stabilize the core and add the points on the hands and feet. Wake these points up though samyama.

Coming back to the core, notice that the microcosmic orbit circle divides the body into front and back, but allows movement in the sagittal or front to back plane, where back bending and forward bending actions take place. Experiment with both imagining energy flow up the front/down the back and up the back down the front circular patterns. Notice which feels better, and where in the body is there a response to the flow. You may feel various regions of the body expanding and opening, contracting away, or remaining neutral. Then try both at once, as a yin-yang relationship.

Start standing or sitting, and then explore simple forward and back bending actions such as coming in and out of uttanasana, or going back and forth between up and down dog. Wake up the K-1 points. As you go forward, down the front leads, so make sure the up the front is present and yielding, not collapsing. On coming into extension, down the back leads, so find the down the front for balance. It takes time and lots of practice to be able to balance the energies this way.

We can also imagine the circle, still centered in the heart and passing through crown and root chakras, only this time in the coronal plane, dividing the body into front and back, and allowing side bending or fish body action like trikonasana, parsvakonasana or anantasana. Try clockwise and counter clock wise directions, and then both at once in a yin/yang interplay, including hands and feet as well.

The third dimension brings the circle perpendicular to the first to, in what in Qi Gong i called the girdling vessel. This circuit in the transverse plane, does not run have a diameter running through the core, but brings stability to the other two circles that do. You can call this the hula hoop or tutu because this is the circle of rotational energy, which provides the stability to the vertical axis. The major region of stability centered in the navel region. It varies slightly from individual to individual, up or down, but is a felt center, known as the hara in Japanese. This is the center of gravity in the body and we might imagine that our original cell, the one from conception sits there. From there, all the other cells, tissues and organs expand out into the full human form. You can imagine two points just outside the body at the navel at the sides, one front and one back to create a circuit. Sustain the balance of flow in twisting poses by feeling the left twisting when leading to the right and vice versa.

Longitude and Latitude Lines of the Body:

We can now begin to relate our personal energy field to that of Mother Earth by seeing the lines, circles and planes of each. The 3 dimensions of the human body can be described the three planes, as mentioned above and seen to the right, as well as with the hula hoop. The sagittal plane divides the body into right and left. Movement in the sagittal plane includes forward and back bending, or sagittal flexion and extension. The coronal plane divides the body into front and back. Movement in this plane is lateral flexion and extension, or ‘fish body’. The transverse plane slices through the body perpendicular to the other two planes and allows rotational movement or twisting.

On Mother Earth we see these planes as Latitude and Longitude lines (they are actually circles!) Longitude circles run through the north and south poles and are all the same length. In the body, the perineum or seat of the yin is the south pole, the crown point, or seat of the yang is the north pole. More than just the sagittal and coronal planes, we now have volume by rotating these around the transverse plane. The transverse plane gives us latitude circles which vary in length; very small near the poles, longest at the equator.

Linking Patterns of Energy Points, Lines and Fields:

To help visualize the links between our own bio-energetic fields and the larger patterns of the Universe we can use the simple image of the gyroscope. First point to notice is the vertical line or central axis, our chakra line of ‘thrusting vessel’. Second is the circle that uses the axis as a diameter, our micro-cosmic orbit. The third is the perpendicular circle or disc, our ‘girdling vessel’ or tutu.

The gyroscope balances stability and mobility through rotation of the perpendicular disc around the axis and this basic principle appears on Mother Earth,

our Solar System,

and our home galaxy, the Milky Way. (This is actually another spiral galaxy seen for above, as we cannot get ‘outside’ the Milky Way to photograph it.)

If we compare these planes and lines to the gyroscope, we can begin to visualize the stabilizing possibilities of the human energy field when we can access the points, lines, circles and spatial volume. Imagination, intuition and direct experience through practice are the keys to awakening your own bio-energetic field and allowing it to align with the cosmic fields of mother earth, the sun and our home base, the Milky Way.

Good luck. Practice well.

(Thanks to Stacy for the hoop photos!)

May all beings be happy.
May all beings find inner peace.
May all beings be free from suffering.

Embryology For Yoga Students

Posted on January 5, 2017 by admin

Embryology for Yoga Students:
Yoga Room Berkeley, January 14 and 15, 2017
embodying the earliest days of embryological growth and development
as a yoga practice/meditation:

In: Non Dual Wholeness

where in the present moment, the unbounded infinite,
containing all, including past, present, future and parallel layers and levels of reality

we recognize forms emerging as

Yin and Yang as Egg and Sperm

Egg and Sperm merge / two become one…. then

One becomes two …

And two become three

And three become 30 trillion…

Out of the infinite, luminous emptiness of the present moment arises the entire cosmos, in a mind boggling multiplicity of forms. The forms to explore today are the echos of our embryological past, still emerging, available when we can be still and feel our inner depths.

Some general principles for contemplation:
1. Embryology for yogis is an investigation of the emergence and transformation of forms through fluid dynamics.
2. The morphology of the embryo is present in the adult human as possibilities of deeper integration.
3. Structures and cavities appear and disappear through time during development.
4. Growth is movement!
5. Not all cells grow/divide at the same rate. This leads to changes in both shape and function.
6. Cells grow by contact along lines of energy, like ants following a chemical trail.
7. Membranes and fluids are primary.
8. The first major differentiation of cells, known as gastrulation, gives rise to three primary types of tissue. The endodermal cells become the gut body, the mesodermal cells become connective tissue structures including the heart, and the ectodermal cells become the nervous system. Most of our explorations will be here. (See day 12 in the diagram below.)

Week 1: Conception, spherical energy: rolling, falling, tumbling, dividing, condensing, hatching, hollowing, fluidity, freedom.

Practice: Being Yin/Egg: Standing calmly, feel yourself as a sphere with your heart as the center. Feel the round, soft receptivity in all directions. Be patient, waiting, internal, grounded, rooted, still.

Practice: Being Yang/Sperm: Feel one of your arms coming alive like a snake waking up, undulating, pulsating. Add your other arm. Let each leg feel snake like. One at a time give each limb a direction and feel the energy surging out into the world. Feel your spine like a snake, ready to move into action,into the world.

Practice: The emergence of the poles. In any supine position like setu bandha, let the upper and lower bodies begin to differentiate. The block here acts as a fulcrum, allowing the pelvis/tail/feet move in the opposite direction of the head, shoulders chest. Feel the dynamic tension in the middle realm of the body – liver-stomach-spleen kidneys like the telophase above. Find the one-two-three: whole body, dividing into two with the middle opening as three. You may discover your own ‘vesica pisces emerging as the gateway to all possibilities.

Practice: Rolling and Pouring, from “How Life Moves”. Lying on your back, quietly feeling your weight, your fluidity. Feel in inner currents and tidal movements even as you lie still. Let those fluid movements invite the body respond in movement, not from the limbs, but from the fluids, like a baby exploring rolling over. Feel and find the omni-directional freedom, felt sense of weight, rotation/spinning in relaxed, supported, quiet environment. This is a very internal, meditative state. Savasana or other restorative poses can take us here as well.

Week 2: Implantation; landing, attaching, making connections, establishing roots.

Practice: Making a connection with floor or wall, feel how a new level of stability allows more types of growth and movement. Attach yourself in one place and allow everywhere else freedom to move. Now we are moving outside ourselves to find support from the world around us. It is a more extroverted state, discovering the ‘other’.

Week 2: Gastrulation: differentiating into front, back and middle; expanding, differential growth. This is a huge shift in perception/awareness as the biological intelligence now differentiates into three modes of being/action/perception.

Practice: Explore each of these three places and modes of being before they complexify and differentiate more completely. This can be done in any pose, as all embryological moments are available at any time, as fields waiting for imagination to re-ignite them. However, new students may want to stay on the floor where you can safely surrender to gravity and feel the awakening of the fluids and membranes. The fluid filled cavities carry nutrients, sound waves, and waves of movement.

Front body as:
Endoderm – yolk sac space- nurturing – gut body, eventually to become upper, middle and lower GI track; Feel the deep support of the yolk sac before it is drawn into the body and elongated. Feel it as expansive, soft, full. Kapha in Ayurveda.

Back body as:
Ectoderm – amnion to become amniotic sac, and primitive nervous system – brain – sense organs – skin; Feel the deep support of the amniotic cavity before in encircles you, before the middle emerges as mesoderm. Feel the wide sensitivity of the future skin/brain/nerves. Vata in Ayurveda.

Middle body as:
Mesoderm: mediator; grows out from middle – all connective tissues, muscles, bones, ligaments, fascia, heart, kidneys and eventually limbs. Pitta in Ayurveda. Find the middle ground as place of balance in all planes and movements.

Week 3: Yolk sac drawn into body as amnion grows around to complete sphere. Deepening the roots. The three layers begin there next level of differentiation. The ectoderm enlarges to become the neural plate and then the neural crest and neural tube. The neural tube will later become spinal cord and various sections of the brain. Mesoderm shows beginning of head and tail, heart. Bones and muscles will emerge. Endoderm begins lengthen to mouth and anus. Lungs, intestines and bladder will emerge.

Practice: Gut body; Hu breath or Vessel breath to active gut body – hollow tubular fluid consciousness. Wake up the fluids and feel the shifts in pressure as the fluids rebound around inside the membranes containing them.

Practice: Emergence of the Mesoderm: Lying on your back, feel the entire floor as your back body/ectoderm and amnion; the ceiling and space above you as your front body/endoderm/yolk sac. Take this into your cells so that all the cells behind your median plane become the ectoderm and all the cells in front become the endoderm. Now imagine the emerging of a middle layer growing along the interphase between endo and ectoderms. This is the median plane feel it spreading sideways and also lengthening to head and tail. Finally find arm buds, leg buds, head and tail emerging.

Practice: Embryonic Folding Click to see short video)

Coiling and Uncoiling pt 1: (right image) Rolling onto your side, use the mesoderm to begin to ‘coil up’, extending through head and tail, to come into a fetal position Keep the back long and feel the yolk sac being drawn into the body as you curl. Now, again from the mesoderm, begin to uncoil, extending through head and tail as you feel the gut body lengthening, carrying the spinal column into a mild back bend. Slowly and mindfully repeat this coiling and uncoiling. Bonnie Cohen calls this physiological flexion and extension as it is driven by the gut body action.

Coiling and Uncoiling pt 2: (left image) Lying on your back, feel/imagine the back body expanding sideways and wrapping around the center mesodermal channel to close the front, as the ribs emerge from the spine and wrap around to protect the heart and lungs. Feel space and openness along the whole back body. Then, gently reverse the action, softening and opening the front body like the petals of a flower unfolding.

Practice: Bring any of these explorations into any yoga pose or sequence of poses. Find where there deep inner movements and fluid waves can support you so there is less ‘muscling’ and more surrender in the poses.

Practice: Shamanic Journeying and Active Dreaming: With the support of your guides and gatekeepers, imagine that your soul awareness can step outside of time and see the soul energy coming in at conception.