Friday, September 19, 2008

Spontaneous Movements or Kriyas Happen to Long Time Mediators (The origin of Yoga)


Anonymous: “I initially thought that the spontaneous movements were not mentioned in Yoga (but they are mentioned and are called Kriyas).


Betsy: Yoga is thought to have originated from spontaneous movements happening to long time meditators... So then they develop a ritual/form/technique hoping to get the same result - of awakening.

Anonymous: “However, last year I was very interested to discover the Yogi's spontaneous Dance of Shiva mentioned as un-codified freestyle taichi movements. Therefore, the answer to my original question is that there are so many types of naturally occurring Kundalini Kriyas and exercises that only the more common types are grouped together and given names.”

Betsy: I'm more interested in the reason behind, why a kriya, and thus this has been my question and after 1,000's of hours of kriyas, I have a pretty good idea of what is the reason behind. That there is a rhyme and reason for it is clear to me, and it's part of healing and transformation. Stretching is the way the body uses to open blocked areas, it excites nerve and muscle cells. I don't experience the kriyas as very dance like or with finger poses or tai chi forms, not outwardly, but it can feel like that as one 'rides the wave', as another put it and allows one's Central Nervous System (CNS) to control one's body without using the mind. There are yoga-like poses, but not very many and not many happen in one session, usually only three or 4 - basically: standing, forward bend at hips with arms dangling, upwards and downwards dog, sitting spinal twists, lying on back, lying on stomach with cobra lift of head on supported arms. Lying on stomach with top of head on mat and 'neck pops' with legs and arms in a kind of frog shape, one feels pressure on the sacrum and neck at same time. Deep squats with legs apart to open pelvic bowl. Sitting with legs to front and slow lowering of spine. Sitting with legs folded, child's pose, sitting Indian style, but not with feet on top of thighs.

That's all I can recall over 3.5 years. I have all these notes each day, so at least I record it, and apparently I’m pretty alone with going through it like this. What I've been through is in the last years doesn’t look so pretty, not very appealing, not entertaining, not dance like and not an easy thing to do - challenging me to my core and to my endurance and ability to continue on with it. But getting a totally rebuilt skeleton and body and being restored to full health and vibrancy is a great benefit, not to mention the rising awareness, enhanced sensory apparatus, etc. But positively the most awesome and thrilling thing I've ever done, and I would do it again and go through all that pain again, if asked to do so...

Anonymous: “I now recall that, a few years back, a Kundalini teacher said something like "don't be distracted or mesmerized by the Kriyas because they occur on the path but are not the path nor the goal". "The best approach is to just observe or witness the spontaneous Kriyas and enjoy the experience." There is no need to try to control them because by that point it is too late.”

Betsy: this advice has to do with the tendency of one's personality to take over and make something out of nothing, to create a technique, to name it, to follow a regime, to 'be conditioned'. It is also given in meditation, in regards to 'maya' or symptoms experienced through this process. So then meditators get trapped trying to create 'altered states' of reality. That the same happens with people that want to have kundalini transformation, they pretend they are having kriyas or get lost in technique. The hard part is we are used to doing things via learned behavior through conditioned (where we're coming from and evolving away from), and we just can't seem to grasp the simple idea of 'we don't have to do anything'. The more we let go, the more it progresses all by itself, it doesn't need any technique, etc.

Anonymous: “It's interesting how, even when one knows the theory (in theory), it is quite different to be able to apply it in practice at the right time and place for practical purposes”.

Betsy: so you see, this is inherently problematic: knowing isn't helpful, applying what you know isn't helpful. The more you try to apply what you know 'as practice', is equal to -> learned or conditioned behavior. This requires engagement of the mind and focusing one's energy through thought, this doesn't work, this process only progresses when one can drop all that 'old way of doing'. It's needs no direction, no technique and no knowing.

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