Centering Down

Posted on April 9, 2020 by admin

“Centering Down” is a Quaker expression referring to the act of becoming quiet, still, and silent, so as to be open to receive inspiration from the Divine. In the Quaker tradition, there is no priest, rabbi or minister because the belief is that we all have the spark of Divinity within ourselves and do not need a religious intermediary. In Quaker meetings of worship, members sit in silence, holding presence, and any member, if so inspired, may rise and speak. Kate and I were married at the Haverford Friends Meeting outside Philadelphia, and it was quite fun when the guests, after sitting in silence, most unfamiliar with Quaker traditions, finally realized they could stand and speak. There was a lot of heartfelt and playfully competitive back and forth between our west coast and east coast friends. The whole experience was a real time example of the two spiritual instincts merging in a flow of love and joy.

Centering Down is also the title of a book written by Dona Holleman in 1981. As a teenager, realized she wanted to study yoga, and her mother, a student of Krishnamurti, suggested she ask K for advice. She went to Switzerland, told Krishnamurti her desire, and he tells her; ” there is a yoga teacher from India living here and teaching me. I’ll introduce you.” Thus Dona became one of B.K.S. Iyengar’s first European students.

I met Dona in 1981, just as Centering Down came out, and immediately became inspired and impressed with her approach to yoga. She was super dedicated, with a precisely organized practice schedule, morning and afternoon sessions, timed with two different watches. Her poses were gorgeous and effortless, her teaching clear and precise.

And she also had a spiritual side that was very different from any of the other Iyengar teachers of the time. She quoted Yaqui shaman Don Juan from Carlos Castaneda’s writings. And she talked about the Quaker tradition of centering down into silence, and embodying this in the hara. In my yang youthful enthusiasm, I missed the part about silence. This morning, in wanting to develop the heart and hara theme from the previous post, I opened “Centering Down” and came across this quote:

“Soon we realize that we have to start ‘practicing silence’ instead of waiting for chance moments in our daily life. We must find a space and set a regular time to practice the art of sitting in silence, to allow ourselves to forget everything and approach our center within.” This comes at the end of the book, after many detailed instructions on alignment and practice in the various types of asana. Dona then continues with instructions in step by step somatic meditation, releasing layers of tension until, with grace, the Ground of Being reveals itself as unbounded ultimate mystery. It is a wonderful book, still available on Amazon.com.

Dona’s embodiment of the hara was profound and clear as her quick assimilation of Iyengar’s teaching shows, and in ‘Centering Down’ she offers the following observations on the this key area, and yoga. (My comments follow in italics)

DH: The sacrum is the holy bone: the lower abdomen (between navel and pubic, and bone) should be in contact with the sacrum. Where they meet within the pelvic bowl is Svadisthana Chakra (self-energizing earth center), or Hara. This is the center of gravity.

AK: The lower abdomen includes the points CV 2 through CV-7 on the Conception Vessel. Jeffrey Yuen says that we tend to feel more at home in one of these six points. Explore how you feel in this area, using your fingers to bring more sensitivity.

DH: Hara is the rock on which we build the temple of the body. Those who are centered in the chest have too much ego and those centered in the head have too much intellect. The chest and head must rest on and be stabilized in the center of gravity.

AK: Hara is the rhythm section of the body, the bass and drums of our inner and outer dancing. The African term “Get Down”, which has taken on many meanings in pop culture, usually involving dance or sex, originally referred to “a dance, posture or movement, involving the act of bending at the waist and knees, bringing the body low to the ground in moments of ecstasy or intensity. This was an expression of profound spirituality and connectedness to the earth”.

DH: In Tadasana and all other postures, the only parts which should uphold the body are Hara and the spine ‘growing’ out of the pelvis. The energy of the rest of the body, especially the energy of the head, shoulders, chest and diaphragm, should be withdrawn and transferred to these two parts. The skeletal body should be completely firm and straight, the pelvis and spine should never sag, but the muscular body should be empty. Hara is the earth center: from here the coccyx and legs “grow” downward as roots while the spine ‘grows’ upward, each vertebrae rising away from the one below.

AK: This was written 40 years ago when our sensitivity to the subtle fluid body was less articulated, especially in the yoga world. From the stability of the Hara, the spine awakens and learns to rise up from the release of not only the yang skeletal muscles, but the awakened qi of the organs, connective tissues and blood vessels connected to the spine.

DH: The body is a self-healing organism. Yoga serves to remove unconscious tensions, stiffness and blocks in the flow of energy (Qi), all obstacles to self healing.

DH: Yoga is to silence the body, mind and heart. A silent body is a body that has natural dignity.

Practice: The Structure Supporting the Hara

We now spiral back from the interior of the torso of the previous blog and rediscover the intelligence of the bones, especially the pelvis, legs, sacrum and coccyx. The key to awaken this area structurally is ‘double action’, where we simultaneously create two opposing actions to open joint spaces. The first will be the double action opening the hip joints.

Opening the Hip Joints

Human hip joints, like most mammals, primarily flex and extend, as this is where we find the speed and power to move. In most positions, including standing, the pelvis flexes and extends over the stable femur heads. However, there are positions where we can flex and extend the femur heads over the stable pelvis. We want to learn to flex and extend simultaneously to create a dynamic stillness the creates space in the hip joints. This double action has been helping me keep my dysfunctional hip from totally collapsing.

The easiest way to feel this action in the hips is to imagine-create-feel two opposing circular movements, one of the femur head, the other the acetabulum. This is the primary action in tadasana, the foundation pose for all other asanas.

In a simple standing forward bend like uttanasana, begin in tadasana by stabilizing the feet through K-1 and the heels. Then, as if sitting into a chair, move the femur heads backwards and downwards in a circular manner. Feel this all the way into the heels and recognize the is the same circular direction as GV-1 to CV-1, or ‘tucking’, up the front – down the back to the heels. To complete tadasana, remain extending upright with the pelvis lifting up off the femurs, but create the opposite action around the acetabulum, CV-1 to GV-1. This will create a nice release at the bottom of the groins that you will feel down to K-1, without tilting the pelvis forward.

To come into uttanasana, maintain the femur action, create the opposite at the acetabula, but now let the pelvis rotate, coming around the corner and down. As the pelvis begins to move, maintain the opposite femur action. (Always double action, especially in movement.) Feel this down the front into K-1, in the circular action of CV-1 to GV-1 or ‘untucking’, and up the back, lengthening the hamstrings up to the sitting bones. Keep the knees firm without hyper-extending. Continue both circles as you remain in uttanasana and then drop into stillness as the two energies balance in sthira sukham.

To come back to tadasana, reverse both circular actions; heads of femurs down the front/up the back; sitting bones down the back/up the front. As long as you have the double action, you can reverse femurs and acetabula actions to see if one or the other is more helpful. Of course, while moving, the movement determines the pairing. Apply this action at the beginning of your sitting practice to root the hips. Integrate with the double action larger microcosmic orbit and drop into stillness. This action is crucial in every pose.

Opening the Sacroilliac Joints

I couldn’t access this file for the blog, but check out this amazing video clip to see what is being described. This lateral view (Courtesy Joseph E. Muscolino. Manual Therapy for the Low Back and Pelvis – A Clinical Orthopedic Approach (2015)), shows the movement known as counternutation of the sacrum.

To open the sacro-illiac joints, we create another double action. First is an slight/subtle anterior tilt of the illium, following the circular action of; down the front-up the back/CV-1 to GV-1/ untucking/ pelvic flexion. The we add the circular action of the sacrum, as shown above; down the back-up the front/ GV-1 to CV-1/ tucking. This is best accomplished at the bottom of the sacrum where it joins the coccxy. This is the GV-1 to CV-1 that seems to be missing in many people. Balance the two actions in every pose.

Integrating

Notice you can link sacrum and femurs with the pelvis suspended between the two. Femurs and sacrum ‘tuck’; pelvis ‘untucks’. Or the reverse. Which feels better for you. Try this in sitting. Feel how it activates the hara. Link it to the micro-cosmic orbit as well. Feel grounded and centered, ‘centering down’. Drop into stillness and allow Being to Be.

More on the Lesser Sac/Omental Bursa

Posted on April 8, 2020 by admin

Many more somatic delights to explore!

This more detailed view above is from Frank Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy, plate 331, if you have your own copy, showing a cross section through T-12. Netter always does his cross sections as if looking from below, so you have to flip your brain to reverse right and left, but the many internal spaces are well illustrated.

This illustration shows yet another perspective, tracking the lesser sac downward, with a great view of the epiploic foramen just below the gall bladder. The pancreas sits just behind, (where the words lesser sac are). Remember that this is not a large volume space, but rather distinct differentiated layers of fascia that ideally are lubricated with fluid to allow the organs to slide around. Think of the plastic supermarket bags for your veggies, before you get them open. Fat can accumulate here, as well as excess fluid in pathological conditions.

The T-12 section in general is one of the more complex and crucial regions of the body. Mechanically, the T-12 vertebrae has lumbar facets (primarily allowing flexion-extension) at L-1 and thoracic facets (primarily allowing rotation) at T-11 which allows it to act as a universal joint; (or not, if it is stuck like mine!) Structurally, we go from ribs/thoracic vertebrae to no ribs/lumbar vertebrae. The quadratus lumborum, the deepest abdominal muscle, runs from the 12th ribs to the top of the pelvis. The psoas (major and minor) has its top attachment at T-12 and connects to the diaphragm through the median arcuate ligament, linking breathing and movement of the legs and pelvis.

The Practice

Begin by dropping into stillness/presence as your ground and let it settle in to your field. We keep coming back when we realize we have lost this. This is step one in somatic meditation, starting in presence, returning to presence when we notice we have wandered away. In presence let your attention/imagination move to the lesser sac/omental bursa and then let go into a state of yin attention. In yang attention, we want to act; to do something, to grab onto something. Somatic meditation is practicing non-doing attention, known as ‘Wu Wei‘ in Taoist practice. Let the subtlest layers of your body be the teacher.

Also, because we have so many choices, if any of the the other areas shown in the diagrams speak to you, imagine/find/feel them in your practice in the same way, Wu Wei. Stay in Awareness/presence even as the subtle energies and insights emerge. It will be easy to become seduced and try to take over the process. Let the yang energy bring and sustain your attention to specific regions in the subtle field, but resist the urge to ‘do’ something.

Remember, in this region of the body we are half way between heart and hara. Here are some other explorations from my current practice. Some are more fruitful then others, but that may be a very personal thing. Find the ones that feed you and stay with them. From presence, you can drop into this any time of the day, not just ‘on the mat’.

Where the epeploic foramen links the lesser sac with the greater sac, directly in front of the inferior vena cava.

Where the falciform ligament of the liver separates the greater sac.

If you look closely at the top diagram, you can find the bottom of the pleural sac and the costo-diaphragmatic recess. Begin your exploration there.

Where the aorta emerges from being behind the diaphragm at the crura or crossing tendons, right in the center of the body.

Any of the stomach – spleen- kidney ligaments.

From the lesser omentum.

The spinal muscles directly posterior to the kidneys, allowing them to soften and melt.

From the psoas – diaphragm linking at the median arcuate ligament.

Please send questions from your practice, if and when they arise, and I can try to answer them in the coming blog posts. (yogarthur@aol.com)

The Dance of Heart and Hara

Posted on April 4, 2020 by admin

Falling Awake

Keep up your meditation practice, with the primary intention to relax into Awareness and let everything flow through you. We can call this resting in Stillness or Silence, with no attempt to inhibit the flow of thoughts, ideas and emotions. There is an inhibition of our reactivity to the stream by shifting in attention from the constantly changing world on the surface of the mind to the inner depths. Then, like falling asleep, we let go, falling awake, dissolving into awareness. Awareness resting in and as itself.

This is not easy to do, or should I say ‘not do’. But if we can open-heartedly accept the reality of your mental states, every once in awhile, we will forget the efforting and, voila, the magic of presence is there, resting as the ultimate stability of the unchanging Ground of Being. This is the ‘Ishvara Pranidhana’ of the Yoga Sutras, (PYS I-23), letting go into Divinity in its fullest sense. We need to practice, abhyasa, with open hearted devotion, continuously, for a long period of time, like forever, to be truly anchored here. (See PYS I-13 and I-14). This is the nivrtti marga mentioned in the previous post.

Now, back to our engagement with the wonderful world of form, or what Patanjali refers to as Prakriti, as we traverse the pravrtti marga in our somatic practice. The on-going goal of our practice is to continue to open our human energy field to become more balanced, integrated and coherent, within our unique selves and the Cosmos as a whole. This allows the Ground of Being to shine more clearly through the world of form, which makes it easier for the meditation practice to get stronger, deeper and more grounded, which allows the energy fields to become more coherent, which strengthens the human collective energy field, in an evolving spiral of deeper integration on the personal level and expansion of the collective intelligence. This is the evolutionary leap of our historical moment. This interplay of the inner and outer journey, our personal and relational lives, and as we will see, heart and hara, is the natural unfolding of a spiritual life.

Awakening the Lesser Peritoneal Sac

To continue to deepen our embodied integration and coherence, we will return to our Daoist models of the human energy field. (This section is long and detailed, and we will continue this theme, in differing ways, over the next few blogs, but this is the core of what you need to know.

The diagram on the right shows the three dantiens, or elixir fields, as they are described in Daoist practice, along with the yin’conception vessel’ and the yang ‘governing vessel’. On a gross level, the dantiens are easy to access as they correspond to the three bony cavities; the skull, rib cage and pelvis. Physiologically, they represent organizing centers of our psycho-biological life activity, further depicted in much more metaphorical detail in the Neijing tu.

On yet another level they can be seen as the centers of the three means of knowing: through the abstraction of the intellect, the relational compassion of the heart and gut level intuitive instinct of the hara. The abstract intellect is the most recent in evolution, and the most problematic in modern times. It took the universe at least 4 billion years to create this mode of knowing, so we must honor it as a precious and valuable gift, but it needs to be integrated into the older wisdom of heart and hara to not be damaging to our evolutionary journey.

The organizing center of the lower dantien, known as the hara in Japanese, is the center of gravity of the human body, or the energetic center of our movements. The first and second chakras can be found in the lower dantien, and this is also the center of the lower burner as we will see in the diagram below. As a movement center, it helps coordinate the action of two legs and tail with the spine. When our attention is centered here, there is a sense of being rooted or grounded, whether while sitting in stillness, or in movement. It is the place of embodied stability, the sthira in shtira sukham asanam. Further cultivated, its opening takes us down into the mysterious depths of Mother Earth and the 4 billion years of wisdom accumulated by life on this planet.

The center of the middle dantien, the heart center, is our spiritual center, the 4th of the seven chakras, the home of Shen, the Daoist term for spirit, and is also home of the upper burner, as we will see later. It is the source of our relational intelligence and our capacity to know we are one with all of creation, manifesting as love and compassion.

This middle dantien is also a movement center for quadrupeds, as it helps coordinate the movements of the upper limbs and head with the spine. Quadrupedal movement involves linking the lower and middle dantiens, the dance of heart and hara. Dogs when running offer a fantastic example of this coordination in action. In the photo above, (thanks to @William_Nettmann), notice the hind legs and tail (lower dantien) extending backward as the upper legs and head (middle and upper dantiens, reach forward.

In the next photo, (courtesy of Dan Gold on Unsplash), we see the next phase of quadrupedal running, where the energy of the limbs is gathered back to the center, like bakasana, even as head and tail continue to extend out in opposite directions for balance. To begin to embody the heart – hara dance, visualize a dog running; extend – gather – extend – gather, yang – yin – yang – yin, etc. Where do you feel this in your body. I love the fact that most of the time their feet are off the ground, like they are flying across the land. Speed and power arise form this powerful movement integration.

How can us bipedal humans utilize this amazing coordinating capacity? This dynamic integration is a key action in the yoga of B.K.S. Iyengar, and can be seen in how he presents all of the forward bends in “Light on Yoga”. Ardha baddha padma pascimottanasana is just one example, but they all begin with anterior extension by opening the yin conception vessel, which is a posture in and of itself.

The forward bend then emerges in the opening/yielding of the yang, back body, governing vessel. These are not spinal muscle actions but pranic/organic releasing in the deep interior structures of the body. Iyengar makes advanced actions look simple, here heart and hara in perfect harmony. But they are not, unless you are a dog!

All yoga beginners know the cat-cow pose which, like the forward bend process of Iyengar, mimics the running action of the dogs through the spine. Unfortunately, as humans, we have less than helpful tail and challenging connection from core to neck and skull. Because of this, and cultural reasons as well, in extending, instead of opening the yin anterior body, we tend to overly contract the ‘yang’ spine (the Governing Vessel or Du Mai), especially the lumbar and cervical regions. Correspondingly, in flexion, instead of softening the yang spinal muscles, we tend to compress the yin fluid body (conception vessel – ren mai).

We must learn to awaken the intelligence/dynamic presence of the organs and connective tissue structures in the core of the body, where the coordination in running takes place as our primary support system for the human upright posture. From an evolutionary perspective, this is where the oldest embodied wisdom is stored. We were a gut tube long before we developed a spine and limbs.

A Detailed Inner Anatomy Lesson

We will include both Daoist and western anatomy in the presentation. The key region for integrating flow between the middle and lower dantiens, known as the middle burner in Daoism, includes the liver, gall bladder, stomach, spleen and pancreas, as well as all of the ligaments that hold it all together. These organs are below the diaphragm, but inside the volume of the ribs. The upper burner is the torso above the diaphragm, the lower burner the rest of the abdominal organs including the kidneys. Sometimes the small intestine is included in the middle burner because the upper part, the duodenum, is intimately connected to the stomach and pancreas. We can visualize the three burners as the process that organizes and balances the fire and water elements in the body.

The diaphragm and heart are the primary movers of the energy flow through this space and the diaphragm especially in the movements of the body through space. The diaphragm is intimately connected to the psoas muscles thus linking the legs to breathing. (The integration of breathing and walking is a basic principle in Ida Rolf’s work). So, surprise, surprise, breathing is primary. In the dogs, and other quadrupeds, the diaphragm and organs are vertically suspended downward from the horizontal spine by ligaments and have tremendous freedom of movement. The diaphragm is ligmentously linked to liver, stomach and spleen below and the heart above. As bipeds, we humans carry a lot of vertical compression in our spine, diaphragm, ligaments and organs, inhibiting energy flow. Finding our vertical plumb line, sitting and standing is a key component to helping the relieve compression.

A subtle approach to softening and opening this region uses the breath and comes from Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen’s explorations of the Daoist ‘Embryological Breathing“, and this will be our practice. Watch this video clip and hear how Bonnie describes ‘allowing the breath to emerge from behind the stomach in the omental bursa’, also known as the lesser peritoneal sac depicted in turquoise in the diagram. She contrasts this with more traditional abdominal breathing which primarily engages the lavender greater peritoneal sac. Observe how the lesser sac divides the greater into a front and back, so it puts you in the center portion of the abdomen. Bonnie also refers to the epiploic foramen, where the lesser and greater sacs are linked, which can be seen below.

Now it is very important to know that the volume of the peritoneal spaces depicted in the first diagram are greatly exaggerated. The organs take up most of the space. This is more obvious in this transverse section, taken at the top of the region. What is difficult to see is is that these sacs are the micro-space between two layers of the peritoneum, the continuous membrane which lines the abdominal/pelvic cavity, covers the abdominal organs, and links with various ligaments to provide them a structural support.

The two layers are the parietal peritoneum lining the inner side of the abdominal wall and the visceral peritoneum which has turned inwards to surround most of the abdominal organs. The organs that are surrounded are called intraperitoneal and include stomach liver and spleen. Organs not surrounded by the visceral peritoneum are called retroperitoneal and include kidneys, pancreas, duodenum, oesophagus, ascending and descending colons, and rectum. These greater and lesser sacs, actually very narrow spaces, are usually filled with a small amount of lubricating fluid to help sustain the mobility of the organs in relationship to each other.

Notice how deep into the core of the body this lesser sac space is, and also how it is right in front of the aorta and inferior vena cava. Notice the retroperitoneal kidneys are even further posterior and very close to the outer spinal muscles. A lot of tension is carried in the kidney region because of our overuse of the large spinal muscles just behind the kidneys. We will comeback to an important kidney-lung relationship in a subsequent post. One more thing to note in the cross section is the green costodiaphragmatic recess. This elusive space separates the ribs and diaphragm and all subtle work with the breath has to eventually flow through and open this to further liberate the diaphragm.

Speaking of the diaphragm, (phreno comes from the Greek root word for diaphragm) there are more ligaments that connect this middle region to the upper burner and these are shown on the left. The phreno-cardiac ligaments connect the heart to the sternum, diaphragm, spine and these are continuous with the ligaments below the diaphragm. If you look carefully at the transverse section, you can see the diaphragm looping around the spine right where the aorta passes through it. These pictures are here to help you navigate/visualize these deep inner spaces when we dive into the practice. Much thanks to the web site, Teachmeanatomy.info and Caryn and Kevin for the drawing of the ligaments.

On to the Practice

The secret is to embryological breathing is to eliminate all effort and tension. It is a letting go into a natural softening and opening that takes on a life of its own, like the embryological development process, outside the will power. Sounds a lot like meditation practice! Begin lying down with legs supported in any of a number of ways:( knees bent-feet on the floor: knees lifted with bolster or blanket: lower legs up on the seat of a chair). Relax and allow a few regular breaths to settle the system. Notice if abdominal breathing is your normal breath. Ideally it is, as this is relaxing, like a baby breathing. Chest breathers often have a constricted diaphragm and some level of anxiety as the norm. (Pranayama breathing is a whole other ballgame.)

Visualize the space behind the stomach (the lesser sac) and allow the breath to emerge from and through here. This is much quieter than abdominal breathing, with much less effort. Allow the breath to take on a life of its own. It is not about controlling the breath willfully. If you find yourself tensing through effort, back off and wait a few minutes. Then begin again. Like our sitting meditation practice, patience and a quiet presence are the key. As you allow the breath to flow, it may start to subtly move in all sorts of directions, through all sorts of tissues, through the spaces between layers, in anywhere or everywhere in the body. Let your attention be on the sensations, without trying to manipulate or control them. This is a very yin practice; feeling, listening, noticing and letting go more and more. Patanjali, in his second sutra on posture, PYS II-47, says “keep letting go of effort and allow the cosmic wisdom to flow”.

Once you get a feel for this, you can take the practice into any pose where you can stay alert and relaxed, allowing the pose to flow. Restorative postures are perfect. Supported bridge pose, in any variation, is excellent as it helps you experience the inner opening of the chest as a flow from within, rather than from spinal/muscular effort. Imbalances in the neck and throat, as seen here, can be explored as well by allowing the oesophagus to soften away from the trachea. Some extra height under the shoulders might be helpful here.

Seated twists also work if you can quietly sustain the double spiral action (right and left). Supported backbends, supported forward bends … be creative. Just remember Patanjali’s instruction: “keep letting go of effort and allow the cosmic wisdom to flow”. Finally, take it into your sitting meditation as another ‘seed’ of attention. By resting in stillness and simultaneously being present to the subtle breathing, the breathing begins to teach you. Both of the spiritual instincts are present, informing each other. Feel the radiance (heart) and the stillness (hara) embracing each other, moment to moment, in the timeless dimension of your True Nature.