‘Moving as Being’ Standing Meditation
“Letting Go of conscious control of one’s body”
I recommend doing this meditation after ‘spiritual awakening’ as it allows you to practice ‘moving as being’, or letting go of moving yourself using voluntary control of body muscles using one’s mind. If you have not experienced a spiritual awakening yet, don’t let that stop you, if you are drawn to try it – go ahead – one must first and foremost follow one’s heart. Given how this technique is primarily a meditation and is done standing, it is thus powerful and will benefit anyone if they do it. All by itself, it is a powerful meditation, and can further your healing and spiritual awakening process.
The transformation healing process of human beings, is an evolutionary one and we are all within it at different stages, whether it is at level of pre-awakening, spiritual awakening or kundalini transformation, the process has at it’s root that of changing one’s body and mind (nervous system) away from a duality nervous system (split body, left/right brain, reflected world) response to ultimately one of spontaneous, unified, non-reflected and direct reaction to one’s environment. These changes in the body happen gradually over time and by themselves every time when one enters the state of no-mind or deep meditation, as when energy is withdrawn from the brain (one is not using it), it is only then that changes to the organization of the brain itself can be done. These episodes of no-mind activity can happen in other ways besides that of deliberate meditation or spiritual practices. They can happen in a trauma, a shock, by looking at extreme beauty or nature as well as meditation - what they all have in common is a sudden onset of forgetting oneself totally; one’s mind goes totally quiet. In this space one is changed.
To read the full article including directions on how to do it - click here
Betsy
Showing posts with label spontaneous movement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spontaneous movement. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Question about pain in lower back and sacrum
Question: "I am wondering how others have experienced, dealt with and resolved issues that have arisen with kundalini energies in the lower back and any pain and complications resulting from it. I have developed a very distinct knot of energy, tension and pain in my lower back surrounding my sacrum. I am aware of it even when I am sleeping, stretching has done little to ease or release this tension. The other thing that is remarkably helpful is when someone places their palm over the base of my spine, it's profoundly comforting, and actually triggers a change in consciousness for me. I'm contemplating massage and or reiki because of this - but am concerned and curious about other's experiences of this."
Answer:
I have experienced a knot of tension that you relate in sacrum area, and the way I resolved it was to do a standing meditation, then when meditative, to let go of my body and allow it to 'fold' or move by itself. This practice occurred to me early on, because I realized that 'being' was taking over. So then I decided to give an hour or two each day, to allow that to happen, trusting, that I could be moved like this. It started slow at first, not much movement, but as my nervous system changed, then each day it became more. So saying, eventually I was dropping into squat positions with a huge force of energy doing it, like it was melting into the muscles, flooding them with hot energy, which would then act to open the hips more and more each time. There was much pressure on the sacrum, and I have a congenital defect in the right hip, so for me it was very painful and hard to go through. What I can see happened 'with hindsight' is the fused bones of sacrum to hip girdle, unfused. This happened over many months of sessions. Then later the fused bones (or nearly fused bones) of all bones in my skull, unfused, with other kinds of spontaneous stretches. Later I concluded that the majority of energy of the transforming person, held as personality, is grown into and held in place by the bony structure that formed as one grew into adulthood. Thus to release this energy, the skeleton must separate again, and the places that are most important to be loosened are those bones, which directly attach to the central nervous system: skull bones, shoulder girdle, spine, sacrum, hip girdle. These stretches were never about trying to accomplish anything on my part, I just let my body go, and over time the transformation process happened. First thing was the hips were opened in various poses and stretches. Each time the tension would release and I would think, great, that's over, I would feel a huge release of energy coming out of the opened body part, and a big rush in freed energy, with all kinds of interesting symptoms. I would think great, that's behind me, but then in a little time, tension would build up again and I would have to start all over again. And so it goes on like this for many years, yet there is always progress, I become stretchy and elastic through all the bones of the body, including the vertebrae in neck, shoulder's and skull. So as I see it, it's a growing process, and one is opened a micron at a time, then the CNS changes, then it manifests physically as changed body posture. It's like the process is transforming old energy to new, and the old energy is held bent in lop-sided skeletal form, each time I am straighter, and also more energetic, the vibration rises each day.
I formed a word for it at the time, trying to explain it to myself. I called this bent loop of energy through the body, the cord of personality. When it first started it was like working in the hips for weeks on end, then it progressed later on to working in the shoulders for weeks. I thought, okay, it's nearly done, next is the skull and it's over. But then to my surprise it started all over again in the hips, then with less time, it moved up again to the shoulders. Then I thought, okay it needs 3 passes, like all things, which change. After the 3rd pass through, I was hoping it was done. No... It started over again. Then I noticed each time was less time between passes from tail up to skull. Today, it is one continuous movement of work, there is no gap and hardly ever separate work on body portions, the hips, shoulders, spine and skull bones all adjust in one long full-body spontaneous stretch. So this cord is like energy, it is the personality expressed in the way the body / personality has learned to be and develop, which by definition of personality is conditioned. So to be as being, one must transform this old conditioned energetic cord to a non-conditioned, free-flowing and balanced one, and this is not done by 'you' and figuring out how to do it or what you might need to do, but rather by 'YOU' as you allow it to happen. So the more you give/surrender and allow YOU to do what it needs to do, the less there is of ‘you’ and the more ‘you’ are ‘YOU”, so you change more the more you let go. It doesn't need your help, just your willingness to let go and be open to be guided.
Next you asked why’ laying on of hands’ on sacrum causes your consciousness to rise and tension is released. I think it's because when one gets more energy, it's actually easier, because the more energy you have the more awareness, it's like it encourages 'being to take over', then the change needed to be made, can only be done in this state. The tailbone/sacrum is the root of the spine, and it is where energy builds up, in a gyration fashion. So applying hands to this area (and also raising sexual energy, re: orgasm), causes energy to circle in pelvic bowl, thus it’s like building up a circular force, then this high energy is sent up the spine and energizes the whole nervous system. To make a change in any part of the system, there has to also be made a corresponding change in the skull/brain, and to change the brain/skull it needs a very high level of physical vibration to do it. So the body is one whole, like each microcosm of the body is a circle thru body and has a pathway through the brain for that body part. There are millions of these pathways. When energy rises in the Tailbone area, then it's sent up the spine, and this extra boost in energy is then enough to 'alter consciousness' (to make the voice go quiet), to change what is needed in the brain in that interval of quiet withdrawn energy, (to complete the circuit), then next a new instruction or signal of the change is sent back down into the body to make the physical change of the area that's in tension (being worked on to transform it). Okay, so this tension will resolve on it's own without you doing anything, probably when you go into deep sleep at night, when you surrender control of thinking. Yet, these periods of sleep are not that much time to do all that's needed to be done, so if one doesn't do more surrender sessions during the day, then I guess this process could go on much longer, and one might not be able to finish it even in a single life time.
In my kundalini awakening and transformation process I have used Reiki and acupressure nearly every day. The first time I used Reiki for self-healing I fell in love with it because it rose my energy so significantly, I knew that was what I needed – more energy. As I see it, it's not really reiki, which is the source of the strong energy, rather it's your own power that is this source. What generates so much energy is actually the 'laying on of hands' technique rather than the reiki symbols. I think that Reiki is simply a technique to entrain one's own resonance to a specific frequency, which is helpful to accelerate healing. No matter what technique you use, it's always your own energy signature or self that is doing the healing/change. Reiki is misunderstood this way; people think they are channeling extrernal energy. I don't see this is in fact true. When one puts one's own hands on oneself, it raises one's own energy/being; it’s like self-entrainment (this is another topic). Thus the possibility of being meditative or in quiet mind states increases as one's own energy rises, and the effectiveness of making transformative changes increases in that kind of setting.
Betsy
Answer:
I have experienced a knot of tension that you relate in sacrum area, and the way I resolved it was to do a standing meditation, then when meditative, to let go of my body and allow it to 'fold' or move by itself. This practice occurred to me early on, because I realized that 'being' was taking over. So then I decided to give an hour or two each day, to allow that to happen, trusting, that I could be moved like this. It started slow at first, not much movement, but as my nervous system changed, then each day it became more. So saying, eventually I was dropping into squat positions with a huge force of energy doing it, like it was melting into the muscles, flooding them with hot energy, which would then act to open the hips more and more each time. There was much pressure on the sacrum, and I have a congenital defect in the right hip, so for me it was very painful and hard to go through. What I can see happened 'with hindsight' is the fused bones of sacrum to hip girdle, unfused. This happened over many months of sessions. Then later the fused bones (or nearly fused bones) of all bones in my skull, unfused, with other kinds of spontaneous stretches. Later I concluded that the majority of energy of the transforming person, held as personality, is grown into and held in place by the bony structure that formed as one grew into adulthood. Thus to release this energy, the skeleton must separate again, and the places that are most important to be loosened are those bones, which directly attach to the central nervous system: skull bones, shoulder girdle, spine, sacrum, hip girdle. These stretches were never about trying to accomplish anything on my part, I just let my body go, and over time the transformation process happened. First thing was the hips were opened in various poses and stretches. Each time the tension would release and I would think, great, that's over, I would feel a huge release of energy coming out of the opened body part, and a big rush in freed energy, with all kinds of interesting symptoms. I would think great, that's behind me, but then in a little time, tension would build up again and I would have to start all over again. And so it goes on like this for many years, yet there is always progress, I become stretchy and elastic through all the bones of the body, including the vertebrae in neck, shoulder's and skull. So as I see it, it's a growing process, and one is opened a micron at a time, then the CNS changes, then it manifests physically as changed body posture. It's like the process is transforming old energy to new, and the old energy is held bent in lop-sided skeletal form, each time I am straighter, and also more energetic, the vibration rises each day.
I formed a word for it at the time, trying to explain it to myself. I called this bent loop of energy through the body, the cord of personality. When it first started it was like working in the hips for weeks on end, then it progressed later on to working in the shoulders for weeks. I thought, okay, it's nearly done, next is the skull and it's over. But then to my surprise it started all over again in the hips, then with less time, it moved up again to the shoulders. Then I thought, okay it needs 3 passes, like all things, which change. After the 3rd pass through, I was hoping it was done. No... It started over again. Then I noticed each time was less time between passes from tail up to skull. Today, it is one continuous movement of work, there is no gap and hardly ever separate work on body portions, the hips, shoulders, spine and skull bones all adjust in one long full-body spontaneous stretch. So this cord is like energy, it is the personality expressed in the way the body / personality has learned to be and develop, which by definition of personality is conditioned. So to be as being, one must transform this old conditioned energetic cord to a non-conditioned, free-flowing and balanced one, and this is not done by 'you' and figuring out how to do it or what you might need to do, but rather by 'YOU' as you allow it to happen. So the more you give/surrender and allow YOU to do what it needs to do, the less there is of ‘you’ and the more ‘you’ are ‘YOU”, so you change more the more you let go. It doesn't need your help, just your willingness to let go and be open to be guided.
Next you asked why’ laying on of hands’ on sacrum causes your consciousness to rise and tension is released. I think it's because when one gets more energy, it's actually easier, because the more energy you have the more awareness, it's like it encourages 'being to take over', then the change needed to be made, can only be done in this state. The tailbone/sacrum is the root of the spine, and it is where energy builds up, in a gyration fashion. So applying hands to this area (and also raising sexual energy, re: orgasm), causes energy to circle in pelvic bowl, thus it’s like building up a circular force, then this high energy is sent up the spine and energizes the whole nervous system. To make a change in any part of the system, there has to also be made a corresponding change in the skull/brain, and to change the brain/skull it needs a very high level of physical vibration to do it. So the body is one whole, like each microcosm of the body is a circle thru body and has a pathway through the brain for that body part. There are millions of these pathways. When energy rises in the Tailbone area, then it's sent up the spine, and this extra boost in energy is then enough to 'alter consciousness' (to make the voice go quiet), to change what is needed in the brain in that interval of quiet withdrawn energy, (to complete the circuit), then next a new instruction or signal of the change is sent back down into the body to make the physical change of the area that's in tension (being worked on to transform it). Okay, so this tension will resolve on it's own without you doing anything, probably when you go into deep sleep at night, when you surrender control of thinking. Yet, these periods of sleep are not that much time to do all that's needed to be done, so if one doesn't do more surrender sessions during the day, then I guess this process could go on much longer, and one might not be able to finish it even in a single life time.
In my kundalini awakening and transformation process I have used Reiki and acupressure nearly every day. The first time I used Reiki for self-healing I fell in love with it because it rose my energy so significantly, I knew that was what I needed – more energy. As I see it, it's not really reiki, which is the source of the strong energy, rather it's your own power that is this source. What generates so much energy is actually the 'laying on of hands' technique rather than the reiki symbols. I think that Reiki is simply a technique to entrain one's own resonance to a specific frequency, which is helpful to accelerate healing. No matter what technique you use, it's always your own energy signature or self that is doing the healing/change. Reiki is misunderstood this way; people think they are channeling extrernal energy. I don't see this is in fact true. When one puts one's own hands on oneself, it raises one's own energy/being; it’s like self-entrainment (this is another topic). Thus the possibility of being meditative or in quiet mind states increases as one's own energy rises, and the effectiveness of making transformative changes increases in that kind of setting.
Betsy
Friday, September 19, 2008
Kriyas are like a Baby’s First Steps; they are the Symptom of YOU coming alive.
Anonymous: “Right after a Kundalini workshop I had cleansing kriyas everyday which were very intense and it taught me a lot. I always started with specific exercises which were recommended and initially it started with snake like motions, when I was able to surrender to that, there followed the yoga poses.”
Betsy: As I see kriyas, there are transforming energy held in body as personality, the movement itself is happening by awareness, and happens when one has withdrawn energy from reacting as the mind/emotions. The movement is stretching that area of the body, to open that area, which holds an element of conditioned aspects of the personality – which one is holding one’s energy there as that. So kriyas as I see them, is the process of physical transformation, and they start out sporadic and over time increase, the time between them getting less and less until one's whole life is 'kriya' or as spontaneous movement - meaning one now moves as fully aware, not needing the mind.
Anonymous: “The best tip I had, was the tip that during meditation you DON'T have to sit STILL, to do so just blocks the flow, and that the silence will come automatically once the clearings are done and the energy can move freely.”
Betsy: That's a good tip, and good wisdom there at the end. I would just add that clearing is the process, so not to see it as 'done' or as a goal or one time thing. I think too many think of some people having blocks, more or less than others, and then kriyas only happen to remove blocks. I see the whole structure of personality as being one's current state of being, reflected as the body and it is loaded with millions of blocks. As one clears the blocks, one reclaims and transforms one's energy, it's a process, and one’s kriya movements will increase as one’s energy rises.
Anonymous: “At a later stage came 'having fun, dancing, dry orgasms and even spontaneous singing. Then I had an encounter with another being and after they left I cried; soon there followed the more heavy, mental, parts of the clearing, which still goes on.”
Betsy: There are all kinds of experiences in this process, and many like you say. For sure it's a highly sexual process and that is a big part of it. Laughing happens and crying, and unloading one's concepts and belief system - the mental aspect as you say. There is also the emotional component and then the more physical component, which is what I was referring to previously. Then there is the individual perspective, and how one experiences the whole process, which makes ‘everyone’s’ experience seem so different, not allowing us to see the commonalities within it as a ‘biological process’.
Anonymous: I heard from other teachers that kriyas are shaped by your own cultural references and experiences. So if your references are Indian dance, yoga and tai-chi that's whatyou'll get […]
Betsy: I haven't seen this, but obviously I don't agree. If it's shaped by cultural preferences, then it's happening via mind constructs or conditioning - one's movement is being channeled with thought, not pure non-mind movement. So it also makes sense to me that people think this, because they are still mostly identified with their personality when it starts, and can't discern beyond this conclusion. People can agree or disagree with me, it's not important to me and I won't go into an argument about it. For me, it's obvious that the kriyas are working to separate the spinal column bones, cranial bones and all joints connected to it: hip girdle, shoulder girdle and tmj and occipital ridge/atlas, to break apart the foundation or keystone of personality which is energy held most deeply in the formation of the skeleton during one’s growing. It’s a biological process and I have discerned the pattern of the movements and the purpose for them, because I have been through much of this process.
Anonymous: […] or if you're an Eskimo you'll get something that relates to you and doesn't scare you. Kundalini Energy is loving and doesn't want to scare you. It'll have you clear your body in a way that feels natural and familiar too you, if you don't resist it.
Betsy: Kundalini Energy doesn't have such attributes, it has no attributes, as pure energy it's unconditioned. Seeing it as loving, or as painful or as wanting to scare or not scare, these are 'judgments' or attitudes of personality, and are individual perspectives. The one that gets scared is one's essential energy (as the kundalini force), being identified with thoughts and emotions (reactions) and attaching to that. When one drops one’s own clinging to reactive thought coming out of one’s past, then it is the case that one is not resisting, and then there is no fear nor any other kind of judgment.
Anonymous: I don’t take the time anymore to let kriyas happen, but when I give a massage and the energy is good, kriyas automatically happen. I tend to end up in either Krishna or Shiva-like poses sending energy, or manipulating the person's energy grid, but I have no clue to what is actually happening.
Betsy: When your energy rises, as when you get any good energetic treatment like massage, then this is the condition to help your 'being arise', and at the same time let go of being as the personality (mind/reaction). It’s like a quick rise in energy being input into your system, and it will shock you out of identifying with your mind/personality and then healing starts in that interval - thus the kriyas happen with you. Treatments are good in most modalities, because they temporarily rise your energy flows and this is the right condition in which it is easier to shock you out of the old mode of being – behaving in conditioned ways as being identified with the personality – so you now can ‘let go’ of all that. So you see, even this doesn't need your doing. It’s like yourself just takes over when it can, when you give yourself what you need: more energy.
Anonymous: As always I still doubt myself that I’m not unconsciously pushing it in some direction that my ego likes to see.
Betsy: It's much better to have uncertainty and doubt, and to express that honestly, as that creates space for receiving, answers and growth. Thanks for your comments.
Betsy: As I see kriyas, there are transforming energy held in body as personality, the movement itself is happening by awareness, and happens when one has withdrawn energy from reacting as the mind/emotions. The movement is stretching that area of the body, to open that area, which holds an element of conditioned aspects of the personality – which one is holding one’s energy there as that. So kriyas as I see them, is the process of physical transformation, and they start out sporadic and over time increase, the time between them getting less and less until one's whole life is 'kriya' or as spontaneous movement - meaning one now moves as fully aware, not needing the mind.
Anonymous: “The best tip I had, was the tip that during meditation you DON'T have to sit STILL, to do so just blocks the flow, and that the silence will come automatically once the clearings are done and the energy can move freely.”
Betsy: That's a good tip, and good wisdom there at the end. I would just add that clearing is the process, so not to see it as 'done' or as a goal or one time thing. I think too many think of some people having blocks, more or less than others, and then kriyas only happen to remove blocks. I see the whole structure of personality as being one's current state of being, reflected as the body and it is loaded with millions of blocks. As one clears the blocks, one reclaims and transforms one's energy, it's a process, and one’s kriya movements will increase as one’s energy rises.
Anonymous: “At a later stage came 'having fun, dancing, dry orgasms and even spontaneous singing. Then I had an encounter with another being and after they left I cried; soon there followed the more heavy, mental, parts of the clearing, which still goes on.”
Betsy: There are all kinds of experiences in this process, and many like you say. For sure it's a highly sexual process and that is a big part of it. Laughing happens and crying, and unloading one's concepts and belief system - the mental aspect as you say. There is also the emotional component and then the more physical component, which is what I was referring to previously. Then there is the individual perspective, and how one experiences the whole process, which makes ‘everyone’s’ experience seem so different, not allowing us to see the commonalities within it as a ‘biological process’.
Anonymous: I heard from other teachers that kriyas are shaped by your own cultural references and experiences. So if your references are Indian dance, yoga and tai-chi that's whatyou'll get […]
Betsy: I haven't seen this, but obviously I don't agree. If it's shaped by cultural preferences, then it's happening via mind constructs or conditioning - one's movement is being channeled with thought, not pure non-mind movement. So it also makes sense to me that people think this, because they are still mostly identified with their personality when it starts, and can't discern beyond this conclusion. People can agree or disagree with me, it's not important to me and I won't go into an argument about it. For me, it's obvious that the kriyas are working to separate the spinal column bones, cranial bones and all joints connected to it: hip girdle, shoulder girdle and tmj and occipital ridge/atlas, to break apart the foundation or keystone of personality which is energy held most deeply in the formation of the skeleton during one’s growing. It’s a biological process and I have discerned the pattern of the movements and the purpose for them, because I have been through much of this process.
Anonymous: […] or if you're an Eskimo you'll get something that relates to you and doesn't scare you. Kundalini Energy is loving and doesn't want to scare you. It'll have you clear your body in a way that feels natural and familiar too you, if you don't resist it.
Betsy: Kundalini Energy doesn't have such attributes, it has no attributes, as pure energy it's unconditioned. Seeing it as loving, or as painful or as wanting to scare or not scare, these are 'judgments' or attitudes of personality, and are individual perspectives. The one that gets scared is one's essential energy (as the kundalini force), being identified with thoughts and emotions (reactions) and attaching to that. When one drops one’s own clinging to reactive thought coming out of one’s past, then it is the case that one is not resisting, and then there is no fear nor any other kind of judgment.
Anonymous: I don’t take the time anymore to let kriyas happen, but when I give a massage and the energy is good, kriyas automatically happen. I tend to end up in either Krishna or Shiva-like poses sending energy, or manipulating the person's energy grid, but I have no clue to what is actually happening.
Betsy: When your energy rises, as when you get any good energetic treatment like massage, then this is the condition to help your 'being arise', and at the same time let go of being as the personality (mind/reaction). It’s like a quick rise in energy being input into your system, and it will shock you out of identifying with your mind/personality and then healing starts in that interval - thus the kriyas happen with you. Treatments are good in most modalities, because they temporarily rise your energy flows and this is the right condition in which it is easier to shock you out of the old mode of being – behaving in conditioned ways as being identified with the personality – so you now can ‘let go’ of all that. So you see, even this doesn't need your doing. It’s like yourself just takes over when it can, when you give yourself what you need: more energy.
Anonymous: As always I still doubt myself that I’m not unconsciously pushing it in some direction that my ego likes to see.
Betsy: It's much better to have uncertainty and doubt, and to express that honestly, as that creates space for receiving, answers and growth. Thanks for your comments.
Letting Go of Conscious Control of One’s Body in Kundalini Awakening
Anonymous:” The way you describe things reminds me most of the way Noguchi describes what he simply called katsugen undou, or the 'exercise that gives life'. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsugen_und%C5%8D The preparatory movements are for beginners to learn how to fall into 'katsugen'.”
Betsy: I liked the link, partly because it tells how this spontaneous form can be done. Comparing to what I do, I see the preparatory exercises serve to activate one's energy centers, raising one's vibration similar to activating one's being or life force. Thus when done, it's easier to get some movement when one lets go of conscious control of one's body. What I intuited to do is activate all the meridians using acupressure, which I think is stronger that what's written here - to activate oneself. One thing missing from this is a meditative focus point, which is also needed as one lets go.
Anonymous: “I have found good reasons for various modalities, though their aims and purposes are quite different. I have found that the specific is there to allow you to engage directly with an aspect of your self either for healing or cultivation, using the method as a mirror.”
Betsy: What I've learned is that aims and purposes aren't very useful because then the personality has a goal, and I progressed more when I gave up trying to accomplish anything. But also this kind of decision will happen in its time, when one realizes the truth of it, and can't be forced. In whatever practice one does, if it has a meditative element, then I think it's good.
Anonymous: Whether it is a physical aspect or an energetic or spiritual one, the methods are not meant to be 'done', rather they are meant to be driven by the 'energy' being looked at.
Betsy: "driven by the 'energy' being looked at" is a paradox. if the 'energy' being looked at is fact one's true self, then how can one be looking at it?
Anonymous: An old term is dao yin or 'guiding qi', you are working with a particular aspect for a reason (healing) and guiding it, not with the mind but with the method as the mind watches. I think the qigong/neigong methods are meant to be like that, that is one side of the polarity.
Betsy: I think the forms of yoga, taichi, etc., work sometimes to make one enter into a meditative state for several reasons. The first is that exercise activates one's energy centers, thus raises one's awareness. The second is that when one does the practice regular, each day, then as well as rising one's awareness thru exercise there is happening micro healing each time and more energy can flow, so also one's overall awareness is rising. Then it can happen that 'being takes over', in the space of doing the exercise, because it becomes so automatic, that one can let go of one's thinking process. The experience the person has, is then of the exercise happening all by itself. This is the meditative state, or that of no mind.
After one has that experience, then one wants it back, and there will be often years, of trying to accomplish it again, trying to find out 'how did I do that?'. Or 'what do I need to do to make it happen like that every time?'. Then there can be years of close observation and experimentation to see 'what you need to do to make it happen'. I went through similar with sitting meditation. So my take on it, is that as long as one is in control, driving with one's intentions', goals, amassing techniques, attaching to the technique - all using one's mind and being identified with 'properties of personality', etc., then it's not meditative because one's current realization is not yet ready to let go of attaining things for oneself (or one's reflected aspect). In order to be able to stop being like this, it will need a revelation of self-knowledge about oneself and how one is made up, which can't be intellectually grokked. This answer is received and it will come when one is ready to get it, and as long as one continues doing one's meditative practice. When this answer is received, one is done with seeking, not as understanding what that might be, but truly done with it, because of the nature of what was received. So it's not really so important the technique one is doing,any vehicle can be used, what is important is being meditative and doing it as much as possible and to keep self-questioning, to keep questioning one's own reactive nature, to keep a fine eye on what one can observe 'inside', etc.
Anonymous: “Much as in the same way that you cannot take in equally all that your eyes view all of the time, you can do this sometimes, but other times you move your attention from more specific things to other specific things.”
Betsy: So you tell me, that you can enter into a meditative state - "sometimes", so one can receive everything at once, when there is no focused/mental intention. So then that's the truth one needs to realize, and just get better at observing, when that 'all seeing' versus 'narrow seeing' flips back and forth. What was one doing when each happened, etc. Awareness happens in the space when there is zero intention, it doesn't need 'our help'.
Anonymous: “The other is 'just being' and the spontaneous 'kriya', 'qigong', 'katsugen' is the other polarity. Here the body and energies are allowed to be and take the form/rhythms that they are at any given time, and so find balance themselves (like water finding a level).
Betsy: Being is the one moving oneself, no matter where one is at in one's evolution, even if one is acting as a dense personality. Bodies and energies aren't separate from oneself. Body is what one's energy (you) has created. The driver is always you, but one's driving ability depends upon what one has realized, in how far one's body has been 'healed' or 'changed'. As one's awareness gets stronger, via reducing the old form of personality (one reclaims that energy and transforms it while in the meditative state - as 'non doing'), then one's movement 'as being’ will simply be more that and less as moving with mind and emotions as personality (what one is evolving away from).
Anonymous:” I think B P Chan's comments (paraphrased) "why do you think we learn these complicated healing arts? You know, hold your hand this way, keep the feet parallel, breathe like this,I want to find out, is this really my hand? Is this really my leg?" Can apply equally to the spontaneous 'formless form' too, certainly as you describe it. It is just the body/energy exploring itself as you witness it, rather than using a method/mirror- hahaha.
Betsy: I hear you... I think because we 'as personalities' are driven by desire and as 'essence', we are driven by wanting 'more light'. But because we start out as the former, then our practice becomes one of something to attain. We keep doing it that way, until we learn how futile this is, which takes it's time -- steps we have to go through before we can give up this kind of wanting. So any technique is performed according to one's actual realization - one can't skip steps, nor do it better than what one is. So another topic, is that one can't move spontaneously until one's awareness can support it. So I guess it might be frustrating to try a spontaneous form technique and then have nothing happen, so then one would stop with it. I don't suggest people try it, until kriyas have actually started.
I recall that I didn't start doing it, until it started happening by itself, which was after the criss-cross spinal column remaking and then I think around 3 weeks of body parts going numb and tingling -- I think this was a major change to my nervous system, and then after, I just noticed that I was totally moving without thinking. The next step for me then was to just start out standing and learn to let go and let myself move. At the time I got frustrated with it, thinking I didn't get it, because I could only 'float' from standing to sitting, then I would 'lose it'. Turns out, it was because my body had not changed enough yet to do it. The practice session itself, the kriya movements are what change the body (when it starts). Over time the kriyas get closer together, as they progress they grow into more fluidity, closer to one continuous 24/7 movement. Then it's interesting because one can move for a whole hour in kriyas, and an outside observer would think you are voluntarily doing it or with 'some technique', yet you aren't, it's being totally done without mind. Which I see is the purpose of all this, we are transforming our old brain which supported the structure of personality - kind of a reflected world into direct spontaneous interaction with things and happenings as they occur. So it's a growing process, and one changes to the new when in the meditative state of true quiet or 'no mind', little by little, as all energy has to be withdrawn from activity in the brain in order to change the brain itself, and this happens in this interval of silence.
Betsy (prior): Spontaneous Kriya Movement, is not very sexy, not very appealing, not entertaining, not dance like and not an easy thing to do.
Anonymous: Hahaha, no I can imagine not : ) I am not at the place where the spontaneous form is driven from a strong 'energetic' movement. I use the memory or the spontaneous movement that occurred after receiving shaktipat, and allow any swaying, rocking, spasms, noises or other movements to come forth…
Betsy: I too used an altered state experience as a memory/guide in my years of work. First to be able to know when I might be like that - so experimenting with different things to see what works and what not and second to remind myself not to stop this 'work' thinking I had 'awakened (knowing how one can easily fool oneself with one's own mental conclusion - I gave up listening to that) until I would FEEL exactly like that 24/7. I keep working towards that, not as a goal, but doing my practice and seeing what works, asking questions when I don't know, and listening and acting upon what I receive as answers. Because things progress, that is the only feedback and confirmation I need, as one becomes more alive it gives a new kind of confirmation 'directly', that doesn't need anyone else's or any other experts approval. This is all about becoming independent and learning to trust.
Betsy: I liked the link, partly because it tells how this spontaneous form can be done. Comparing to what I do, I see the preparatory exercises serve to activate one's energy centers, raising one's vibration similar to activating one's being or life force. Thus when done, it's easier to get some movement when one lets go of conscious control of one's body. What I intuited to do is activate all the meridians using acupressure, which I think is stronger that what's written here - to activate oneself. One thing missing from this is a meditative focus point, which is also needed as one lets go.
Anonymous: “I have found good reasons for various modalities, though their aims and purposes are quite different. I have found that the specific is there to allow you to engage directly with an aspect of your self either for healing or cultivation, using the method as a mirror.”
Betsy: What I've learned is that aims and purposes aren't very useful because then the personality has a goal, and I progressed more when I gave up trying to accomplish anything. But also this kind of decision will happen in its time, when one realizes the truth of it, and can't be forced. In whatever practice one does, if it has a meditative element, then I think it's good.
Anonymous: Whether it is a physical aspect or an energetic or spiritual one, the methods are not meant to be 'done', rather they are meant to be driven by the 'energy' being looked at.
Betsy: "driven by the 'energy' being looked at" is a paradox. if the 'energy' being looked at is fact one's true self, then how can one be looking at it?
Anonymous: An old term is dao yin or 'guiding qi', you are working with a particular aspect for a reason (healing) and guiding it, not with the mind but with the method as the mind watches. I think the qigong/neigong methods are meant to be like that, that is one side of the polarity.
Betsy: I think the forms of yoga, taichi, etc., work sometimes to make one enter into a meditative state for several reasons. The first is that exercise activates one's energy centers, thus raises one's awareness. The second is that when one does the practice regular, each day, then as well as rising one's awareness thru exercise there is happening micro healing each time and more energy can flow, so also one's overall awareness is rising. Then it can happen that 'being takes over', in the space of doing the exercise, because it becomes so automatic, that one can let go of one's thinking process. The experience the person has, is then of the exercise happening all by itself. This is the meditative state, or that of no mind.
After one has that experience, then one wants it back, and there will be often years, of trying to accomplish it again, trying to find out 'how did I do that?'. Or 'what do I need to do to make it happen like that every time?'. Then there can be years of close observation and experimentation to see 'what you need to do to make it happen'. I went through similar with sitting meditation. So my take on it, is that as long as one is in control, driving with one's intentions', goals, amassing techniques, attaching to the technique - all using one's mind and being identified with 'properties of personality', etc., then it's not meditative because one's current realization is not yet ready to let go of attaining things for oneself (or one's reflected aspect). In order to be able to stop being like this, it will need a revelation of self-knowledge about oneself and how one is made up, which can't be intellectually grokked. This answer is received and it will come when one is ready to get it, and as long as one continues doing one's meditative practice. When this answer is received, one is done with seeking, not as understanding what that might be, but truly done with it, because of the nature of what was received. So it's not really so important the technique one is doing,any vehicle can be used, what is important is being meditative and doing it as much as possible and to keep self-questioning, to keep questioning one's own reactive nature, to keep a fine eye on what one can observe 'inside', etc.
Anonymous: “Much as in the same way that you cannot take in equally all that your eyes view all of the time, you can do this sometimes, but other times you move your attention from more specific things to other specific things.”
Betsy: So you tell me, that you can enter into a meditative state - "sometimes", so one can receive everything at once, when there is no focused/mental intention. So then that's the truth one needs to realize, and just get better at observing, when that 'all seeing' versus 'narrow seeing' flips back and forth. What was one doing when each happened, etc. Awareness happens in the space when there is zero intention, it doesn't need 'our help'.
Anonymous: “The other is 'just being' and the spontaneous 'kriya', 'qigong', 'katsugen' is the other polarity. Here the body and energies are allowed to be and take the form/rhythms that they are at any given time, and so find balance themselves (like water finding a level).
Betsy: Being is the one moving oneself, no matter where one is at in one's evolution, even if one is acting as a dense personality. Bodies and energies aren't separate from oneself. Body is what one's energy (you) has created. The driver is always you, but one's driving ability depends upon what one has realized, in how far one's body has been 'healed' or 'changed'. As one's awareness gets stronger, via reducing the old form of personality (one reclaims that energy and transforms it while in the meditative state - as 'non doing'), then one's movement 'as being’ will simply be more that and less as moving with mind and emotions as personality (what one is evolving away from).
Anonymous:” I think B P Chan's comments (paraphrased) "why do you think we learn these complicated healing arts? You know, hold your hand this way, keep the feet parallel, breathe like this,I want to find out, is this really my hand? Is this really my leg?" Can apply equally to the spontaneous 'formless form' too, certainly as you describe it. It is just the body/energy exploring itself as you witness it, rather than using a method/mirror- hahaha.
Betsy: I hear you... I think because we 'as personalities' are driven by desire and as 'essence', we are driven by wanting 'more light'. But because we start out as the former, then our practice becomes one of something to attain. We keep doing it that way, until we learn how futile this is, which takes it's time -- steps we have to go through before we can give up this kind of wanting. So any technique is performed according to one's actual realization - one can't skip steps, nor do it better than what one is. So another topic, is that one can't move spontaneously until one's awareness can support it. So I guess it might be frustrating to try a spontaneous form technique and then have nothing happen, so then one would stop with it. I don't suggest people try it, until kriyas have actually started.
I recall that I didn't start doing it, until it started happening by itself, which was after the criss-cross spinal column remaking and then I think around 3 weeks of body parts going numb and tingling -- I think this was a major change to my nervous system, and then after, I just noticed that I was totally moving without thinking. The next step for me then was to just start out standing and learn to let go and let myself move. At the time I got frustrated with it, thinking I didn't get it, because I could only 'float' from standing to sitting, then I would 'lose it'. Turns out, it was because my body had not changed enough yet to do it. The practice session itself, the kriya movements are what change the body (when it starts). Over time the kriyas get closer together, as they progress they grow into more fluidity, closer to one continuous 24/7 movement. Then it's interesting because one can move for a whole hour in kriyas, and an outside observer would think you are voluntarily doing it or with 'some technique', yet you aren't, it's being totally done without mind. Which I see is the purpose of all this, we are transforming our old brain which supported the structure of personality - kind of a reflected world into direct spontaneous interaction with things and happenings as they occur. So it's a growing process, and one changes to the new when in the meditative state of true quiet or 'no mind', little by little, as all energy has to be withdrawn from activity in the brain in order to change the brain itself, and this happens in this interval of silence.
Betsy (prior): Spontaneous Kriya Movement, is not very sexy, not very appealing, not entertaining, not dance like and not an easy thing to do.
Anonymous: Hahaha, no I can imagine not : ) I am not at the place where the spontaneous form is driven from a strong 'energetic' movement. I use the memory or the spontaneous movement that occurred after receiving shaktipat, and allow any swaying, rocking, spasms, noises or other movements to come forth…
Betsy: I too used an altered state experience as a memory/guide in my years of work. First to be able to know when I might be like that - so experimenting with different things to see what works and what not and second to remind myself not to stop this 'work' thinking I had 'awakened (knowing how one can easily fool oneself with one's own mental conclusion - I gave up listening to that) until I would FEEL exactly like that 24/7. I keep working towards that, not as a goal, but doing my practice and seeing what works, asking questions when I don't know, and listening and acting upon what I receive as answers. Because things progress, that is the only feedback and confirmation I need, as one becomes more alive it gives a new kind of confirmation 'directly', that doesn't need anyone else's or any other experts approval. This is all about becoming independent and learning to trust.
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.
Kundalini Awakening Symptoms & Evolution to a New Species of Human
Anonymous asked: ”The following exercise/activity has been occurring regularly for several weeks, perhaps even a few months. I get the urge/feeling to lie down and nothing happens for a few seconds. Then a specific pattern of breathing begins, where it seems to speed up and sometimes the breath is held, beyond what is comfortable. > I experience Mula Bandha (i.e. contraction of the sphincter) consistent with the breathing, at the end of the breath out. There is also a formation of the Surya Mudra hand symbol during the session, which lasts at least until the end of the session. In more recent sessions, I have felt some strong tingling or tickling activity at the site of the third eye and also at the base of the sternum. At some points there is spontaneous spine wriggling, the spine feels as if it is getting stretched straight. Mostly the process is enjoyable and relaxing and energizing and I can feel occasional thrilling rushes of energy. This can easily last from 30 to 60 minutes. Any ideas about what is happening and do you have any suggestions about what to do?”
What you describe is possibly the beginning of nervous system changes being done to your spinal column in a more profound way. As one's awareness gets higher, due to regular practice of some form of meditation, then this is because one's nervous system is being changed in the interval that one has 'withdrawn energy' away from being the thinker. The brain changes, then later it gets reflected in the lower body as the cells are remade. As one's awareness continues to grow - little by little, eventually it reaches a high enough level to start to trigger larger nervous system changes.
The need to lie down and the feeling of movement in the sphincter area is an indication to me, that the spine is being worked on. You might soon start to feel it like a butterfly moving more actively there, the first time this really got strong for me, it was quite profound. What I started doing at this time was what I now call - 'moving as awareness' meditation. Basically I stand and enter into meditative state, then let go of my body, allowing it to move to whatever position it wants to move to. This is allowing awareness to move you without thought, so it could be called 'spontaneous movement', because you are not voluntarily moving your body with thought/decision to do so. So in standing, just keep checking that you are not 'holding your body', and work to relax any held tension.
Probably you will go quick down to lying like before, but there might occur other poses of spine on the way down. Don't force it, just allow yourself to melt and move all by yourself. The breathing often goes into apnea - no breath, while it works in the chest and in the brain and takes on these patterns, it means there is stronger working energy inside your body working in the nervous system. When work is done in lungs and heart and in throat areas of body, then breathing stops.
Often I’ve noticed breathing patterns, but I think it's better not to pay attention to it, as this takes you out of meditative state. If you can keep your focus simply on the vibration like feeling in the groin, lower abdomen or in your legs, without trying to make it be in any way - then this can help you stay meditative and the kundalini transformation process will be more effective.
When there is tingling then this is an area of the body opening and making new nerve connections. With the strong gyration in groin and tingling in 3rd eye, then you see there are connections being made along the spine itself. It's like a strengthening or enhancement of the existing nervous system in the spine. The spontaneous spine wriggles and stretch is your system energizing the muscle cells, charging them to move and open the tissues involved and strengthen the nervous system. See it like a maze of nervous system paths being created in the brain and then in the body, in millions of directions. Every second you free 'essential' energy by being totally quiet; you unleash this force in your brain. Often after a stretch, you will feel what I call 'shimmering shivers', or rushes of energy traveling the length of the spine. This indeed feels good, whereas sometimes you will feel strong tension, like a strong physical therapy or 'pain' in the muscles. I usually hold these tension positions, until I feel tingling or a release.
If one doesn't resist such 'strong tension', and just becomes the observer of this feeling and doesn't resist, then more opens. In this way you also become very good at learning to discern when you are quiet and when you are not, intensifying the process further. Sometimes you will feel like you are freezing cold as spinal changes progress. Also you might start to enter into a phase where it feels like a criss-cross pattern, like laces in a shoe being done all along the spine. This happened for me over 8 hours with me sitting in one position, I think it was sitting with legs out to front straight, bent over, being slowly lowered, like one notch at a time through the vertebrae. At the time I thought I had to sit until 'the internal work' finished, so often I would go into these long sessions -- going too extreme I can see now, which isn't necessary. It will pick up where you left off next time. One hour to 1 1/2 hour long sessions are the most effective, and taking breaks in between.
Anonymous replied:
Thank you for your detailed explanations. Your description of the 'moving as awareness' meditation sounds very similar to experiences that I have had, that I thought of as spontaneous taichi or qigong (although I don't know taichi or qigong). Looking back on events that have happened, I do remember a butterfly or fluttering feeling, during Nauli Kriya exercises. I can deduce that a lot of internal work has been going on for years, helped by the Yoga practices, although I was not aware of the extent of the progress until recent years.
You’re welcome. I agree with you that this work has been 'going on for years', and it is later that we realize that fact, when spontaneous movements start. I'm pretty sure that every micro-second that we are truly quiet in mind, these internal nervous system changes are happening in that interval. So the more you practice and the more effective your practice (you really can succeed in quiet mind), then the more these changes happen. It surprised me when the spontaneous movements started and the 'pick up' in intensity with physical changes; because it was something hardly any masters were talking about. Looking in the histories of various adepts, I don't see much talk about 'this aspect'.
As i see it we are growing as a species over time, and what many are encountering these days is relatively new territory, and the history seems to support that notion. So then I don't think you will find a name for this phenomena. The way I see it is we've mostly learned from years of meditation about quiet mind, so the difference in state between active and quiet mind. This is actually a kind of growing phase, where the nervous system changes. After enough changes happen then it starts to affect body movement, the kundalini changes in the body are basically preparing for moving the body or reacting to stimuli without the mind.
So you see, spontaneous movement is not like voluntary movement of the body - this is what we are moving away from. A totally quiet mind, full awareness, must also have the same capability in the body. As the mind changes little by little in quiet mind states, then the body is also changing. The whole kundalini process is working towards a new kind of body that doesn't need the old way the brain works with 'reflected thought'. To move voluntarily, we think, make a decision; the muscles get the signal, the body moves. To move spontaneously (without thought), then one just needs to move.
This is an evolutionary advantage for survival, in that one can quickly and more efficiently react and adapt to stimuli one encounters. There is no name for it, but we can coin our own if we are so inclined. I don't really like spontaneous because it implies that it is happening all by itself. The reality is we are moving ourselves in 'spontaneous movements’; it's just that we aren't quite yet comfortable with knowing ourselves at that. We are in between, in a metamorphosis, mostly familiar with the way to move voluntarily. So those spontaneous movements seem like someone else is doing it. As one proceeds, as the body changes, one will start to identify more with the source and see this truth directly: "I am doing it."
Betsy
What you describe is possibly the beginning of nervous system changes being done to your spinal column in a more profound way. As one's awareness gets higher, due to regular practice of some form of meditation, then this is because one's nervous system is being changed in the interval that one has 'withdrawn energy' away from being the thinker. The brain changes, then later it gets reflected in the lower body as the cells are remade. As one's awareness continues to grow - little by little, eventually it reaches a high enough level to start to trigger larger nervous system changes.
The need to lie down and the feeling of movement in the sphincter area is an indication to me, that the spine is being worked on. You might soon start to feel it like a butterfly moving more actively there, the first time this really got strong for me, it was quite profound. What I started doing at this time was what I now call - 'moving as awareness' meditation. Basically I stand and enter into meditative state, then let go of my body, allowing it to move to whatever position it wants to move to. This is allowing awareness to move you without thought, so it could be called 'spontaneous movement', because you are not voluntarily moving your body with thought/decision to do so. So in standing, just keep checking that you are not 'holding your body', and work to relax any held tension.
Probably you will go quick down to lying like before, but there might occur other poses of spine on the way down. Don't force it, just allow yourself to melt and move all by yourself. The breathing often goes into apnea - no breath, while it works in the chest and in the brain and takes on these patterns, it means there is stronger working energy inside your body working in the nervous system. When work is done in lungs and heart and in throat areas of body, then breathing stops.
Often I’ve noticed breathing patterns, but I think it's better not to pay attention to it, as this takes you out of meditative state. If you can keep your focus simply on the vibration like feeling in the groin, lower abdomen or in your legs, without trying to make it be in any way - then this can help you stay meditative and the kundalini transformation process will be more effective.
When there is tingling then this is an area of the body opening and making new nerve connections. With the strong gyration in groin and tingling in 3rd eye, then you see there are connections being made along the spine itself. It's like a strengthening or enhancement of the existing nervous system in the spine. The spontaneous spine wriggles and stretch is your system energizing the muscle cells, charging them to move and open the tissues involved and strengthen the nervous system. See it like a maze of nervous system paths being created in the brain and then in the body, in millions of directions. Every second you free 'essential' energy by being totally quiet; you unleash this force in your brain. Often after a stretch, you will feel what I call 'shimmering shivers', or rushes of energy traveling the length of the spine. This indeed feels good, whereas sometimes you will feel strong tension, like a strong physical therapy or 'pain' in the muscles. I usually hold these tension positions, until I feel tingling or a release.
If one doesn't resist such 'strong tension', and just becomes the observer of this feeling and doesn't resist, then more opens. In this way you also become very good at learning to discern when you are quiet and when you are not, intensifying the process further. Sometimes you will feel like you are freezing cold as spinal changes progress. Also you might start to enter into a phase where it feels like a criss-cross pattern, like laces in a shoe being done all along the spine. This happened for me over 8 hours with me sitting in one position, I think it was sitting with legs out to front straight, bent over, being slowly lowered, like one notch at a time through the vertebrae. At the time I thought I had to sit until 'the internal work' finished, so often I would go into these long sessions -- going too extreme I can see now, which isn't necessary. It will pick up where you left off next time. One hour to 1 1/2 hour long sessions are the most effective, and taking breaks in between.
Anonymous replied:
Thank you for your detailed explanations. Your description of the 'moving as awareness' meditation sounds very similar to experiences that I have had, that I thought of as spontaneous taichi or qigong (although I don't know taichi or qigong). Looking back on events that have happened, I do remember a butterfly or fluttering feeling, during Nauli Kriya exercises. I can deduce that a lot of internal work has been going on for years, helped by the Yoga practices, although I was not aware of the extent of the progress until recent years.
You’re welcome. I agree with you that this work has been 'going on for years', and it is later that we realize that fact, when spontaneous movements start. I'm pretty sure that every micro-second that we are truly quiet in mind, these internal nervous system changes are happening in that interval. So the more you practice and the more effective your practice (you really can succeed in quiet mind), then the more these changes happen. It surprised me when the spontaneous movements started and the 'pick up' in intensity with physical changes; because it was something hardly any masters were talking about. Looking in the histories of various adepts, I don't see much talk about 'this aspect'.
As i see it we are growing as a species over time, and what many are encountering these days is relatively new territory, and the history seems to support that notion. So then I don't think you will find a name for this phenomena. The way I see it is we've mostly learned from years of meditation about quiet mind, so the difference in state between active and quiet mind. This is actually a kind of growing phase, where the nervous system changes. After enough changes happen then it starts to affect body movement, the kundalini changes in the body are basically preparing for moving the body or reacting to stimuli without the mind.
So you see, spontaneous movement is not like voluntary movement of the body - this is what we are moving away from. A totally quiet mind, full awareness, must also have the same capability in the body. As the mind changes little by little in quiet mind states, then the body is also changing. The whole kundalini process is working towards a new kind of body that doesn't need the old way the brain works with 'reflected thought'. To move voluntarily, we think, make a decision; the muscles get the signal, the body moves. To move spontaneously (without thought), then one just needs to move.
This is an evolutionary advantage for survival, in that one can quickly and more efficiently react and adapt to stimuli one encounters. There is no name for it, but we can coin our own if we are so inclined. I don't really like spontaneous because it implies that it is happening all by itself. The reality is we are moving ourselves in 'spontaneous movements’; it's just that we aren't quite yet comfortable with knowing ourselves at that. We are in between, in a metamorphosis, mostly familiar with the way to move voluntarily. So those spontaneous movements seem like someone else is doing it. As one proceeds, as the body changes, one will start to identify more with the source and see this truth directly: "I am doing it."
Betsy
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