Trauma, Neuroscience and the Microcosmic Orbit

Posted on July 3, 2018 by admin

The microcosmic orbit encompasses two of the eight extraordinary vessels recognized in Chinese Medicine; the yin Ren Mai or Conception Vessel, and the yang Du Mai or Governing Vessel. These two complete a balanced circuit linking both front and back, and inner and outer bodies, and also hold energy in support of the traditional twelve organ channels commonly used in acupuncture. (These include the six yin organ channels: lungs, spleen, heart, kidneys, liver, and heart protector (pericardium); and the six yang channels; large intestine, stomach, small intestine, bladder, triple heater (sanjiao) and gall bladder.)

The microcosmic orbit meditation awakens the flow of Qi in the two vessels, but can also point out blockages in the circuit. And these circuits and blockages have layers and levels. One of my first awakenings when I began exploring this was the amount of glue I felt along the back or Governing Vessel. Using the clock image below, my key areas of tension are around 2 o’clock behind my heart, and around 4 o’clock, or the region of my kidneys.

To no surprise, this tension is manifesting as an elevation of my blood pressure. And there are similar regions of tension on my front, along the Conception Vessel, between 8 and 10, up into the 5th chakra.

When my PTSD was activated in January, after the fire, the primary locus was on the front, near CV-12, the center of centers, (nine o’clock above). My yin blocked up and the yang tightened even more, preventing me from sleeping normally and doing a number on my nervous system (yang) and psyche. It took about a month, with lots of help from friends and various therapies, for my sleep pattern to settle back to some sort of equilibrium. It has been re-triggered twice since then, once in May and then again last week, and on both occasions, the initiating factor was acupuncture needling at CV-12.

PTSD activation is a very unpleasant experience filled with fear-based, chaotic energies disrupting my moment to moment experience. Fortunately, my process is mutating, the energy is finally moving, and my overall capacity to make sense of the process and hold it in open awareness is evolving. I am grateful for the Somatic Experiencing work I did years ago with Caryn McHose. This therapy, first articulated by Peter Levine, requires building strong ‘resources’, or regions of somatic strength and stability, that can anchor you during the release of the trauma. Other key principles in SE include not releasing more trauma than you can handle with your resources, and finding the support and guidance of an SE practitioner who can hold the space of open awareness and presence, help you track the sensations, and recognize that they are memories from the past that you are feeling in the present with some spaciousness.

I’ve been my own SE support this time around, which is challenging, but there is progress and it is my on-going sitting meditation practice that is my primary resource. Resting in Pure Awareness, even as the mind/body are doing their dance, requires a lot of trust, because most of the ‘time’, the practice doesn’t seem very ‘silent’. The mind field is a busy place. But the silence is ever -present, independent of what is arising, and this trust/faith that you are being held by the Divine, called shraddha by Patanjali (sutra I-20), is your most important strong resource. As a meditator, this begins as a ‘non-judgmental witnessing consciousness’

As Swami Dayananda taught me years ago, our moment to moment experience, observed formally in meditation, has two components. The first is Awareness, aka Pure Awareness, Purusha, Ground of Being, Luminous Emptiness, Stillness, or Witnessing, etc. The second is ‘What is arising in Awareness’. This includes all the transitory phenomena of sensation, perception, action and thought, or what we call ‘reality’. If we can sustain some dimension of the witnessing, then what arises doesn’t fully take over the mind field, but can be held and examined by the intelligence, known as buddhi in Sanskrit.

‘What arises’ has layers and levels and this is where the suffering and/or liberation takes place. Awareness is always free and unbounded. The first level of ‘what is arising’ is pure sensation, a triggering of the sensory nervous system by an impulse of energy. At the reflexive level of the nervous system, this sensation may immediately trigger an an action, as when a doctor taps your knee to check on your ‘mono-synaptic’ response. The knee-jerk tells the doctor your spinal nerves are working.

A fun piece of trivia I’ve retained from my MIT biology days is that frogs have a neuron in the retina that only fires when a black dot moves horizontally across the visual field. If triggered, a muscle at the root of the tongue fires and the tongue extends out to ‘capture’ the dot. No interpretation or deliberation is required. More primitive creatures have mostly reflexive nervous systems. Not a lot of thinking or analyzing goes on in the lower brain.

As evolution expanded the brain, a new type of brain cell, the inter-neuron, appeared, allowing the possibility of pausing, deliberating and/or analyzing the sensation before acting. This allows learning, and more and more nuanced responses to take place. Humans have lots of inter-neurons, and this scientific reality is what allows us to get lost inside our own heads. Our attention is drawn to the various loops of non-stop thoughts, beliefs and confusion flowing through neurons not directly connected to our moment to moment experience and this inner dialogue become our day-to day reality. This is the monkey-mind noticed by mediators. What is actually arising moment to moment is totally missed. When the PTSD kicks in, the mind reels in desperate attempts to escape, and the practice is to just notice the actual sensations, in the moment, however, wherever. The body wants to process and return to balance, but staying present to its information allows the body to reveal its innate intelligence

Any mindfulness practice will help develop the capacity to stay present so matter what by directing the attention to the sensations of the body as they arise, before interpretation kicks in. B. K. S. Iyengar did his best to teach me this. His constant lesson to me: Stop thinking about what was supposed to be happening in a yoga pose, or how it felt yesterday. Start actually feeling the sensations and tracking them and let them dictate the action of the pose. That did not happen over night for me! (A full articulation of his teaching on this is included in the 2 part ‘Samyama in Asana’ posting. Part1 and Part 2.)

Our use of the micro-cosmic orbit is a great way to organize and train our attentional field to lock into the flow of energy (qi or prana) and track it in and through regions of the human energy field. This practice builds stability of the mind (abhyassa) and frees up the organic field to improve not only health, but spiritual sensitivity through cosmic resonance with the life forms and energy field of Mother Earth and the celestial realms of the sun moon, stars and galaxies. To the Taoists, the micro-cosmic field is an immediate and conscious expression of the macro-cosmic field including all layers and levels of creation.

What other resources can we find within the micro-cosmic orbit? In previous posts we have explored the whole circuit, with the lower dantien as the root of our practice. We want to continue to deepen the connection to the lower dantien by breathing with the 4 points on the diagram below, CV-1, GV-4, CV-12 and CV-6, as if this is a small circle, and then expand into a dynamic sphere. Feel your tail and lower limbs being embraced by this to strengthen the grounding. You can do this as a meditation or breathing practice, or even add it to any asana you may be exploring. We are working with 3 dimensional volumes here!

Next, join the lower dantien with the middle dantien in your breathing practice. You can do this in two sections like this: inhale lower 1-2-3, upper 4-5; exhale lower 1-2-3, upper 4-5. Feel the diaphragm softening as it is supported above and below. Try other combinations until you find something that feels right for you. Upper dantien stays quiet, like in any breathing practice.

A more challenging, but fascinating option is to have three sections/parts, like Viloma Pranayama. Section 1 is the lower burner, or the bottom 2/3rds of the lower dantien; section 2 is the middle burner which is the liver/stomach/spleen/pancreas, or the abdominal organs inside the lower ribs. Section three is the area of the chest above the diaphragm, heart and lungs etc. Keep the primary in the lower. Inhale lower 1-2-3, pause middle 4-5, pause upper 6; exhale lower 1-2-3, pause, middle 4-5, pause upper 6. Or something like that. Like the shape of a snowman, only no head, three torso sections.

Working in Segments:
Another option is to use the circuit to look more closely at various segments or arcs to see the where obstructions manifest in our embodied energy field. If we imagine the circle as a clock face, we can use the numbers to define some of these regions. Looking from the left side as above, 9 is the front and 3, its complement at the back, passing right through the third chakra, or more specifically, CV-12, the ‘center of centers’ directly connecting with the middle burner. What has worked best for me is to by-pass CV-12. When I can link GV-9 to GV-4 and GV-1 ( not shown but at the tip of the coccyx) and through to CV-1, my back softens and opens somewhat. As a down the back inhalation, I can feel the kidneys grasping the qi as GV-4 and GV-9 work together to ground the breath at the root.

Similarly, if I can link CV-17 with CV-6 and CV-1 in a down the front action and link this to GV-1, I can feel a stabilizing of my front body to help support the softening back body. This ‘abdominal tone’ that arises from this circuit gives a presence to your sitting posture that is yin (internal and front body) which helps allow the witness to rest in stillness. Too much use of the back muscles keeps a yang inner state, a bit less conducive to quietness.

And please add any and all of these suggestions, plus your own that arise when you practice, to any pose, any time, when on the mat, sitting at your computer typing, in your car, walking about. Make it part of your moment to moment awareness. This is the neuro-plasticity that really is the core of the practice we do as awakening humans embedded in the cultural, relational fields. We can change how are brains are wired and this changes the field of the whole, as we are the field.

And, a question for all to ponder, How can we continue to speak-out and protest the stupidity, ignorance and violence being perpetuated by our government and segments of society without demonizing anyone??? This is no simple answer to this, but we have to use our intelligence and spiritual insight to find other options. The demonization of others is the primary problem of our times and the cause of all the suffering. We have political leadership that uses this ‘demonization of others’ to rally its base. As long as ‘liberals’ get sucked into the same insanity by ‘demonizing the demonizers’, there is zero chance of moving into a more progressive society. The first principle of Taoism, and Buddhism, and Vedanta is wholeness. There is no other;ther is only us. And we, the collective are seriously out of balance. The wisdom of the body knows this, and that is why embodied spiritual practice is so crucial to our times.

Keep practicing !!!!!

Working with the Three Treasures

Posted on June 11, 2018 by admin

In the previous post, I introduced the ‘Three Treasures”: Shen or Spirit, Qi or Energy, and Jing or Essence. To make sense of how to work with these, it is helpful to know the basic principles of the Taoist model of longevity and enlightenment which involves the integration of the functioning of microcosmic human body with the macro-cosmic Universe.

In Taoism, the ‘heart’ or fundamental nature of the Universe, known as the Tao, is ultimate mystery that beyond all capacity to be named or described. However, the Tao can be ‘realized’ through immediate direct experience, by returning ‘home’ to our ‘true nature’ and awakening to the creative impulse of our Soul. This is also the fundamental statement of Buddhism, Vedanta, Yoga and other mature Spiritual traditions. Taoism gives us an embodied bio-physiogical path to discovering this mystery and guidance on longevity so we may continue to bring the fruits of our unfolding into the present functioning of the planet. Based upon deep observations of the natural world and the inner workings of the human body, this path has clear steps and stages that can be tasted, developed and integrated into our lives and they fundamentally involve the integration of Shen, Jing and Qi.

Shen or ‘spirit’, the light of the candle flame, is the inner voice, or driving force, arising from mystery and calling us to return home, to our natural wholeness. We can find many analogies in other cultures of this link between the human and the divine, such as the ‘Holy Spirit’ of Christianity. Shen requests us to abandon our divisive, ego-centric or self-centered beliefs and behaviors that waste our Qi, our life energy. Shen encourages us to cultivate a presence that includes joy, generosity, compassion, curiosity, truthfulness, serenity, and creativity. In other words, to be a light in the community.

From an embodied perspective, Shen is centered in the upper dantien, in the center of the brain and is asscociated with the sixth chakra. But interestingly enough, Shen is divided into 5 branches to animate/activate different levels of the human body and the primary of these, also known as shen, is centered in the heart, the seat of the fire element.

Jing or essence, the foundation substance or matter of our embodied presence, is centered in the lower dantien. Pre-natal jing is the core or constitutional energy that we have been given through genetics to accomplish the goals our Soul has set for us in this lifetime. This pre-natal Jing is supported by the post natal Jing we are constantly creating from our intake of food and drink and healthy digestion. Jing is the wax and wick of the candle.

Qi, centered in the middle dantien, is our life energy that moves us and moves through us as dynamic action. Our physical, physiological, emotional and psychological processes are all Qi in action. This is the flame of the candle. When Shen or spirit meets Jing or essence, then our Qi is directed toward spiritual action, within and without.

The Practice

In a comfortable sitting pose, let your attention move into your heart center and imagine light radiating outward into the world, as if you are sitting in a sphere of light. Now, without losing awareness of the light, let you attention move to the breathing in the heart space where shen meets the qi. Visualize the breath bringing light into the body and distributing it to all the cells of the body. Now visualize the breath moving in and out of the bone marrow of the legs, lower spine and pelvis (and any other bones you can find), as if the light and breath penetrate into the interior of the bones. Bone marrow is created by the jing, so we are now penetrating this treasure with shen and qi. Feel the three treasures as a single vibrant presence.

To strengthen the jing even further, feel the breath originating in the kidneys, as if the kidneys are helping to draw the in-breath all the way down to the root. This is called ‘kidneys grasping the qi’ and helps revitalize the kidneys and stimulate the creation of kidney jing.

Now, remaining open and relaxed, connect your whole body, through CV-1, the seat of yin, deep into Mother Earth, letting gravity and the three treasures intermingle as a single vibrant energy field. Reggie Ray, in his somatic pure awareness meditation teaching, calls this the ‘primordial soma’, or what the Yoga Sutras call ‘prakriti’. As you surrender into the field, feel the infinite space that is the source of the field, sustains it and yet is infinitely still and unbounded. Rest here.

Before you transition out, feel the cells, the fluids and organs alive, vibrant and bathed in light. Imprint this, and then go out and enjoy the rest of your day.

Yes/No-Yin/Yang: Notes from Rochester, NY

Posted on April 4, 2018 by admin

Included:
Embodied Conscious Awakening; Basic Goodness / Bodhicitta / drashtuh svarupe
Using the Micro-cosmic orbit in meditation, breathing and asana.
Saying yes and no at the same time.

Basic Taoist Principles:
Unity of Macro-cosmic and Micro-cosmic levels. As humans we reflect the harmony of the heavenly movements of stars, planets, moon, and weather in the human system. Healing is returning again and again to a state of harmony with the whole of creation.

From a spiritual perspective however, we are the “whole” and are never ‘out of balance’. Our basic goodness/bodhicitta/drashtuh svarupe, with its two faces of ‘radical emptiness and unconditional love, is untouchable by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Thus arises the spiritual paradox everyone on the spiritual path encounters. Not practicing does not affect your basic goodness, nor does practicing. So if how you feel about your self goes up and down like a political poll, based on the quality of your practice, or your life in general, you have drawn a wrong conclusion about yourself, (sutra I-6 viparyaya, sutra I-30 – bhranti darshana). The Atman, True Self, Buddha Nature, or whatever other words we may use to point to our innate perfection, is universal and unassailable. But if we don’t feel this, know this, we create lots of suffering. And, in our non-dual reality, we also still have much to learn and layers and levels of evolution ahead of us. (We’ll pick this idea up again in the Yes/No section that follows.)

Yin and Yang are a unity: never separate from each other, but complementary, not oppositional. (Yin/Yang compared to gunas; (non-dual vs dual). In Samkya, tamas and rajas are seen as separate from each other and undesirable in themselves. Only in the third quality, sattva, do they find a transitory harmony.

When healthy, excess yin transformed into yang, excess yang transformed into yin
Healthy Yang: action flows from clear perception in present moment
Healthy Yin: Receptive, alert, present

When unhealthy, energy gets blocked: deficient yin or yang, excess yin or yang
Unhealthy yin: passive, depressed, unstable, damp/wet/soggy
Unhealthy yang: aggressive, un-co-operative, up-rooted, dissociated

Yin/Yang of Radical Awakening: Emptiness and Love

Love: Heart as portal
Yin/Yang as giving and receiving
Yin Love: Heart receiving love flowing in from the whole
Yang Love: Being a source of Love flowing out to the whole
Yin/Yang Love: allowing both to ‘just be’ as dynamic state

Yin/Yang as Heaven and Earth, crown and root chakras as gates/portals
emergence of center line/median line/chakra line, notocord/primitive streak

Yin/Yang as front and back, endoderm and ectoderm, flexion/extension,
fwd bends/back bends

Yin/Yang as lateral flexion/extension: on side (anantasana), or trikonasana and related poses.

Yin/Yang as right and left, ha and tha, ida and pingala, bilateral symmetry

Yin/Yang as radial expanding/condensing, centripetal/centrifugal forces

Yin/Yang as Emptiness (no, I am not this) and Love (yes, I am this) saying yes to the most horrible things you can imagine about yourself, not just the good stuff.

YES/no and NO/yes

The non-dual vision of Taoism offers us an infinite number of ways in which the unity of duality can express itself. A very important one is the notion of Yes/No as Yin/Yang, a paradoxical integration of what appear to be opposing perspectives. The two faces of spiritual awakening are radical emptiness ( the path of ‘no’), and unconditional love (the path of yes). Dive deeply into one and you discover the other. they are inseparable.

Saying yes to the inner world is the subject of the famous poem by the Sufi mystic Rumi, ‘The Guest House’, here translated by Coleman Barks.

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Saying yes to our repressed emotions and other scary and unpleasant aspects of the unconscious brings them into the light. Of course, the challenge is then to say ‘no’ to getting entangled in them, feeding them with energy, or actually believing their story. Rumi’s poem is used as a guide in Mindfulness practice, where spacious open attention is held as the mental phenomena are allowed to arise and then dissipate. The deep seated, well entrenched pathologies and traumas will likely need the professional support of a well trained therapist, but the everyday silliness can be worked with on your own.

The path of ‘Yes/no’ is the ultimate expression of unity and wholeness. To be fully alive, to be fully awake, is to say ‘yes’ to everything and anything life throws our way, whether arising from within or without. Ojai’s own Byron Katie uses this principle as the core her teaching, known as ‘The Work’, and described in her first book, Loving What Is’. As she learned, “when I argue with reality, I lose, 100% of the time!” She is talking about all levels of reality, from politics and weather, to our own mental output.

As this is a non-dual vision, saying yes to all of reality does not preclude saying ‘no’ to specific choices available for our actions. Yes, I want to see my unconscious habits and patterns, as painful as they may be. Then I can so ‘no’ to any actions that come from those self-centered egoic mind states. Like parenting, we can say yes to the absolute innate divinity of our children, and, at the same time, still say ‘no’ to behavior that is not acceptable.

If you want to try an advanced practice, work with our current president. See his basic goodness. See him as a ‘child of God’ with innate Buddha Nature, as one might say, and simultaneously strongly condemn his words and behavior. Being for Love, Peace, Accountability, Maturity, Compassion, Wisdom is primary. This way we are constantly injecting love and light even as we criticize the pathology. This promotes healing. Being primarily ‘against’ invites dualistic separation and creates an unbridgeable gap in society. Our own anger needs to be transformed into positive social action, not more negativity, and certainly no more whining!

The path of “No’ or neti neti, ( not this, not this) is another vehicle of awakening, used in Vedanta. Here, we develop a ‘witnessing consciousness’ that begins to notice; I can be aware of my body, therefore I am not the body. I can be aware of my thoughts, therefore I cannot be my thoughts. In fact, anything that arises in my awareness cannot be me, because I am the witness to what arises. eventually, even the ‘witness’ drops until just ‘Pure Awareness’, the Seer’ remains. When we ‘See’ this vast, open spaciousness gives birth to all of life and then a resounding ‘yes’ emerges from the depth of no.

Using the Micro-Cosmic Orbit Chart

The chart displays four primary modes of exploration: 1. the specific points listed; 2. the three primary vessels (energy lines) (and there is a fourth we will get to later); 3. the three volumes (diamond shapes in the diagram) known as ‘dantiens‘: and three regions of the torso, from CV-22 to CV-1, aka the ‘three burners. This framework, a few practices and your own imagination will provide you with homework for the rest of your life, should you be so inclined! Take it one point, one vessel, one volume at a time.

The micro-cosmic orbit completes a circuit, linking the orange and green lines as seen in the next illustration. The green line, known as the Governing Vessel, is the primary Yang channel, emerging from the ectoderm in embryology, and primarily involves interactions with the outer world. (Remember yang always contains yin and vice versa.) It begins at a point between the coccyx and anus, travels up the back, through the crown chakra, (GV-20 above) and ends at the top of the mouth.

The Orange line is the Conception Vessel, primary yin, emerging from the endoderm and involves the inner world, primarily. It begins on the center of the perineum, continues up the front body and ends up under the bottom lip. The two link up to create a single circuit that supports all the other 12 meridian lines in the body. Interestingly enough, the the two points meet and break at the two ends of the gut body, the mouth and anus. At birth, with the respiratory and digestive systems finally open up to the outer world, the vessel becomes constantly challenged to stay connected.

Meditation Practice 1. Sitting in a comfortable position, adjusting front to back and side to side on the sitting bones until you find your center, feel your median line extending through your core connecting the body to heaven and earth through crown (GV-20) and root (CV-1) chakras. This is the ‘Thrusting Vessel’ and creates the blueprint of the body in Chinese Medicine. This comes right from embryology as the primitive streak and notocord. Feel the balance of weight (yin/ground) and lightness (yang/sky). Feel the Yang fire energy from the heavens descending down to meet the yin/water element at CV-1. Feel the water energy arising up from the earth, through CV-1 and ascending to meet the fire energy at GV-20. Feel Yin/water and Yang/fire intermingling as the healthy flow of qi in the entire body. Let this feeling support the pose and rest in the stillness at the core of being.

Meditation Practice 2. Same position, visualize the circle. Here we can add that there are three layers of the points: along the field, as shown by the hula hoop; along the surface of the body, where the needles go, and inside the body, where the inner qi is engaged. Our meditation works well on the outer ring.

Bring your attention the the seat of the yin, CV-1, the center of the perineum. (root and crown chakra points will be on the body.) Breathe in and out through this point. Observe how it moves as the inhalation and exhalation come and go. Then choose either CV-6 on the front, or GV-4 at the back, and connect to CV-1. Inhale into the perineum, let the exhalation travel on an arc to the next point. Inhale into that point and let the exhalation travel back along the arc to CV-1. Next breath, repeat with the opposite point, and eventually trace the breath on an arc from from to back always passing through CV1. (like riding the half pipe in snow boarding!) You can also reverse the breath, exhaling into CV-1 and inhaling into the other points. CV-1, the seat of the yin/water is a very important place to establish and stabilize the grounding of the body.

Meditation Practice 3. Same as two only now add new points, one on the front, one on the back. You can go right from CV-1 to GV-9 and CV-17, or you can include GV-4 and CV-6 on your travels. No rigid rules, just exploring the points along the circle, until you can also pass though GV 20 at the top. A clock face can be helpful in locating points and spaces. Imagine a pie sliced into 12 sections. Feel the shape of each section. Many will be compressed, collapsed, twisted, etc. Use you imagination to even out the sections. No need to use muscular energy. Just feel expansion and opening (yang) and receiving (yin).

Asana Practice 1: In tadasana, find the micro-cosmic orbit and feel the space between your body and the imaginary circle. Feel the qi in that space. Use the clock to find hours that may be collapsed or over inflated. Be as even as possible in your imagination and allow the breath to support the fullness and evenness. Remember, we are all distorted in our fields, so perfection is not the goal. Just curiosity and playfulness. Feel how the skin, flesh and fluids respond to your imagination and intention.

Now slowly come into uttanasana and notice what happens the the field (the whole volume of space surrounding the body, your breath, the skin, the bones, everything. Reverse back to tadasana observing how the integrity of your field changes.

Asana Practice 2: Lets add K-1. In tadasana, feel the weight of the body engaging K-1 on the soles of your feet. This is the first point on the kidney meridian, known as the bubbling spring, or where the water element begins to rise up from the earth, like a spring in the ground. The kidneys are the most ‘yin’ of the yin organs and govern water, so these points are crucial in awakening the fluid body’s intelligence. Once you can feel them (move around if necessary), connect them to CV-1, the seat of the yin, to link your root to the earth. Walk around some and feel the action of K-1 as you move. Eliminate any tension and just move by sustaining the flowing qi through the earth, the surrounding space and your body.

Now, when you you try uttanasana, sustain the flow through K-1 all the way through. this should help the field (and the body) stay more open.

Asana Practice 3. Let’s add the tail. Our human tail is rooted in the pelvic floor, to keep the organs from falling out in our predominantly upright life style. In your imagination, add an animal tail of any sort and let it extend like a party favor. In tadasana, let it be as long as your legs and feel its presence near the inner heels. (we will use the inner heels later in trikonasana and wide distance poses. When going into uttanasana, retain the micro-cosmic orbit, K-1 on each foot, and now the long tail. (Juggling for yogis!) The field will be stronger and over time more and more effortless. There will be less fighting with tight muscles and more just opening into space.

Asana Practice 4: Trikonasana: We now rotate the micro-cosmic orbit 90 degrees to open the lateral plane. This engages the gall bladder meridian and helps integrate front and back bodies where the meet at the sides of the torso and legs. Add K-1, your imaginary tail, the inner back heel to open the true coccyx, and press the inside edge of the back foot (without collapsing the ankle or arch!!) like a skier carving an edge in a sharp turn. This energy flow will release the spinal energy even further, opening the field. (Same principle for parsvakonasana and ardha chandrasana.) Your torso should feel like a wind sock at an airport with a steady breeze.

Asana Practice 4. Flipping the dog: (not the same as flipping the bird!) There is a point on the hand that is analagous to K-1 on the feet, known a Pericardium 8 or P-8.We will use these points in dog pose to open and ground the upper limbs and keep the neck and shoulders form tightening up in weight bearing. Establish a strong down dog, and then lift and extend one leg into one legged dog. Fun a fun experience, lift the opposite hand off the floor to come into the contra-lateral dog. Balance is tricky here. To flip the dog, return to the one legged dog, bend the top leg and begin to rotate the pelvis like ardha chandrasana. As the pelvis reaches 90 degrees, anchor your attention in your coccyx to sustain the height of the pelvis as you rotate more and the leg lowers. Lift the arm and float the foot off the floor for a bit for balance and upon landing deeply extend the entire body. Reverse the steps to return to down dog.

Asana Practice 5. Double Action in the Pelvis opening the groins through the sacrum, hips and the CV-1 connections.

Using a block or bolster for support, lightly ground K-1 through the feet and center the pelvis. Try these twomovements; (bottom of the groin is everything below the femur head; top of the groin is everything above the femur head) bottom of the groins dropping to the coccyx side of the block for the forward bending, internally rotating, untucking, CV-6 to CV-1 action; top of the groins dropping on the navel side of the block, for the hip extending, externally rotating, tucking, GV-4 to CV-1 action. Now do both at the same time by using energy and imagination so you feel as if the sacrum is floating in space and the pelvis is floating over the femur heads. Sort of…..

Once you have a feel of the double action, try with one leg extended into the air, and then both. Keep the lower spinal muscles relatively soft, so the energy flow sustains the posture, not tension.

Asana Practice 6: Spirals Around the Median Line

We have used three ‘vessels’ so far; the yin conception vessel and the yang governing vessel which comprise the micro-cosmic orbit, and the median line connecting root and crown chakras known as the yin ‘thrusting vessel’. The yin thrusting vessel has a yang complement called the girdling vessel which circles the lower body around the lower dantien perpendicular to the other three. Think of it as a latitude line, or the horizontal component of a gyroscope. Its spreading action parallel to the earth (when sitting or standing) stabilizes the body and we can explore and utilize this girdling action in twisting poses. Most students contract to muscles in a twist, hit a barrier of resistance and then fight against this to push the edges of the pose. What if the action was to move outward from the center in centrifugal expansion so you create more space rather than less. Of course this is a field action, not a structural one, so your imagination needs to invite the energy flow to move this way.

By using a hula hoop for both tactile and visual effects, we can begin to feel some new possibilities in the spiraling field of the twisting poses. The simple standing twist is the easiest place to start. Stay grounded in K-1, both feet, and allow the spiral to rise up as the pelvis begins to receive the action. By holding the hoop this way imagine the body getting wider as the spiral ascends, creating space around and between the bones, muscles and organs. Also, because of the hoop, we are utilizing another double action. We are also activating both directions of rotations at the same time, even as one dominates. In the example above, I am rotating to the right with my gross body (muscles and bones) but the dynamic action of my right arm looping in the opposite direction engages the fluid body to feel both spirals. My limit is when I begin to lose this ‘hidden’ opposite action. I pause and wait for yin and yang to find a new balance point, ‘sustaining’ the pose in a state of vibrant stillness. This is sthira sukham asanam, meditation in action, samyama in asana.

Breathing Explorations:

Lower Dantien Breathing

Lie on the floor with your knees bent and your feet on the floor so you can feel the K-1 connections. Adjust your pelvis and sacrum so they are neutral, as in the above exploration on the block. Slowing allow the breath to fill the lower body, as if the area from the navel to the pelvis is expanding on the in breath and condensing on the out breath. Observe how CV-1 moves with the breath. continue for several minutes, feeling the insides and outsides of the pelvis softening to receive the breath.

Now create a two part breath. Inhale into pelvis as above and when full, pause, and then expand the breath further into the region between the navel and the diaphragm. then soft exhalation. Feel the difference in this part of the body, the upper abdominal versus the lower abdominal. Repeat gently for several cycles or minutes.

Now add the third section, the chest/middle dantien region. Let it expand from the support of the lower two sections. This may feel like a three part Viloma breath, with subtle pauses, but feel how the lower dantien anchors the breath in all three sections. Eventually add the limbs, so they can partake in the oxygenation of the cells.

Blood Breathing:

I made this one up during my swimming somatic meditations. Here, we feel that the blood flow is also aided by our breath. As we inhale, there is an expanding negative pressure that pulls air into the chest and lungs. This negative pressure also draws blood the the heart and lungs. As you inhale, using the lower dantien as the anchor, visualize the blood flowing up into the heart and out into the lungs where it meets the air. As you exhale, visualize the blood flowing back to the heart from above, but also being squeezed by the abdominals from below, traveling up the the heart and out to the lungs. The net result is the sense of sustaining the up flow of the water element, in the form of blood here, as a continuous field of lightness. In TCM, the fire transforms the water to mist so that it rises and cures ‘dampness’.