a chakra approach to NS

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Beoman Claudiu Dragon Emu Fire Golem, modified 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 12:08 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 12:08 PM

a chakra approach to NS

Posts: 2227 Join Date: 10/27/10 Recent Posts
Hello all,

Interesting meditation I noticed last night. Tho I'm not actively pursuing this stuff anymore, I tend to start doing it under the influence of THC. concentration meditation seems to go well with it. I just wanted to mention it cause it seemed a bit strange/not sure what it was.

A few times over the past year I've tried standing straight up, feet hips width apart, relaxing, and breathing from my abdomen. Supposedly should be really relaxing, except within a few seconds it always caused me intense stomach/abdomen pain. Not pain as in my stomach hurts from something i ate, but just something incredibly unpleasant there. This happens sober too.

Last night I did it again. Unpleasant feeling came in strong... but this time I was able to kind of let it relax and flow upwards. Now the stomach was feeling great, but solar plexus was in pain. It was very constricted - felt like there was a tiny bottleneck in there that I couldn't push out. It was loosening a bit, but I decided I couldn't do this standing, so went to lie down instead. The bottleneck wasn't there lying down (maybe something to do w/ hollowing my chest, allowing chi to flow, breathing more properly, dnno), so that area was able to relax, and it moved up again...

moved up past chest, neck, encountered resistance again in middle of head/3rd eye area. got some thoughts about how i usually am very concentrated on that area and that it doesn't relax much, and i was able to relax that, too. by this point my whole body was feeling fine, and now just some tension remained that went up to the crown. here was some tension related to thinking too much (take it w/ grain of salt, i had these associations before so i could be scripting to some degree), but then that was able to relax, too. now the whole body felt really awesome, connected, no pains or blockages anywhere.. just pretty dandy. what remained was some cluster of pressure in the middle of my head, but different than before - instead of being a blockage that had to be 'gone through' it was just observing what was there.

as i focused on that.. i guess i started to fade out. some weird kind of focus required there, but some kind of letting go happened, stuff gradually faded out, and then shortly i realized that i had just gone into cessation, complete with very relaxed feeling and such. cessation happened a few times . i noticed myself backsliding at some point, felt like blockages re-appearing in body, and i tried to resist, but then went with it.. then that ended up in a cessation too i think. like a slow fruition.

-----

Strangeness: I didn't go through the first 8 jhanas as far as I could tell, or at least definitely not 5-8, but once the body blockages were cleared, it seemed like those states up there corresponded to the 5 PL jhanas as described on KFD, complete with 'kundalini circuit closed at 3rd eye and crown' for their 3rd and 4th ones. didn't get any of the other effects, though ('feeling of being home', 'pure mind' or whatever). the cessation seemed similar to the way NS presents after one would do it from 8th jhana, and that corresponds to what KFD says about getting to NS from the 5th KFD PL jhana, but doesn't match the traditional description which says to go through 8 jhanas, and after 8th one enter cessation (so i guess if going by definitions, it wouldn't be NS, but some other kind of cessation?).

maybe that weird focus of me fading out was the 5-8 jhana but then that wouldn't make sense that they would present after the PL ones, unless it wasn't PL ones and something else, but that fading out resulted directly in cessation, not in 7th-8th jhana.

if it wasnt jhana at all but something else, also then how would cessation have happened?

Any ideas 'what it was'? (Though the mapping of it doesn't matter so much except as an intellectual exercise).

hmm wonder if cessation would have happened if i kept standing, heh... perhaps that is something i should not try to do.

-----

do with the description what you will, i suppose. bunch of interesting states up there, but ultimately one must come back to this actual world! i did realize something about my emotional self along the way, somewhere in there approaching cessation, so that was useful.
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Bruno Loff, modified 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 3:54 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 3:38 PM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

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Hi dude (how about letting us know your first name?),

Q1. This interests me very much. So you say that you got blockages released by going up from the belly, through the front of the body, then into the head through the forehead, and then what? Up the crown and then down the heart?

Q2. What happens to your energy when you get a fruition? (I get a release somewhere in the head, sometimes in the crown, sometimes in the back of the head, and then a palpitation in the chest, a bit like miocardia)

Q3. Do you ever get energy going down the spine or down the back?

I usually try to guide energy down the front, and up the back, but after reading your post I decided I'll try the other way.

This distinction is called "fire path" versus "wind path" in chi kung (fire path is up the back and down the front, wind path is reverse). I wonder if the wind path is more relaxing.

With regard to standing meditation and the solar plexus, I have noticed that standing in the horse pose (knees slighly bent, slightly squatting, standing with parallel feet shoulder width apart) is very stimulating of that particular region. Doing this kind of meditation emphasized blockages in that region, and eventually cleared up quite a few of them. There is still one particular blockage there which is still recurring, and after your post I thought I would try to let it flow up instead of down.
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Beoman Claudiu Dragon Emu Fire Golem, modified 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 4:23 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 4:16 PM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

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Bruno Loff:
Hi dude (how about letting us know your first name?),

Ah sure, guess about time for that! my pre-path dark night self was a scared one. (Actually I have been finding my self, period, is a scared one.. working on that though!)

Q1. This interests me very much. So you say that you got blockages released by going up from the belly, through the front of the body, then into the head through the forehead, and then what? Up the crown and then down the heart?

Then up the crown, and then there were no more blockages. The whole body felt unified and in harmony. All that was left that could be blockage-like was the sensation in the head, but it didn't feel like a blockage anymore, more just what was there. I didn't notice anything going back down, at least not leading into the cessation. leading away from it to normal, i'm afraid I don't remember.

Q2. What happens to your energy when you get a fruition? (I get a release somewhere in the head, sometimes in the crown, sometimes in the back of the head, and then a palpitation in the chest, a bit like miocardia)

Ah interesting you mention palpitations. I actually noticed I will get 3 quick palpitations in several parts of my body sometimes, a few groups of 3 in a row. I haven't thought to look for a pattern in the positions. not sure if each group is a fruition or if they all lead to one fruition. after stream entry i did notice the equivalent for concentric circles of my visual field, that would pulse white 3 times.

i guess the groups of 3 are impermanence-door ones? most often i just blank out without noticing what my energy is doing.

Q3. Do you ever get energy going down the spine or down the back?

I haven't tried it, and I haven't noticed it otherwise.


This distinction is called "fire path" versus "wind path" in chi kung (fire path is up the back and down the front, wind path is reverse). I wonder if the wind path is more relaxing.

Sounds like it, just going by the name =P. I was a bit scared going up the front actually, not cause it didn't feel good, but cause i heard it can be dangerous to bring your energy upwards if you're not careful.


With regard to standing meditation and the solar plexus, I have noticed that standing in the horse pose (knees slighly bent, slightly squatting, standing with parallel feet shoulder width apart) is very stimulating of that particular region. Doing this kind of meditation emphasized blockages in that region, and eventually cleared up quite a few of them. There is still one particular blockage there which is still recurring, and after your post I thought I would try to let it flow up instead of down.


Ah thanks! I'll definitely have to try that.

You have any advice on what to do with weak feet / a weak leg? I feel like the center point of my foot (i think Yong Quan) is very tender/has a hole in it, or something. I thought it was cause i ran into splinters a lot when i was younger, and that got my feet scared and naturally withdrawn, and thinking on that seemed to help, but the point seems to be weak again.

About my leg... when I do a standard tai chi stance, like single whip, if i do it with my right leg back and relax, everything stays where it is. if i do it with my left leg back and relax, my left leg wants to collapse and get reduced to just lying limp on the toes. after noticing this, i've been feeling a weakness in my left leg, above the knee... might have somethign to do w/ being kicked there really hard a year or two ago, it swelled up and i couldn't walk normally for 1.5 months or so, never saw a doctor about it, I thought it healed fully but perhaps not?
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Bruno Loff, modified 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 4:46 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 4:46 PM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

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Thanks Claudiu, I understand your hesitation to let it flow up, I had the same thing until now.

I have no advice, but the horse stance and other squats in general also work with the legs a lot. Ankle and knee rotations, plus squats, did a work on my legs and abdomen (I did those consistently for a couple of months early last year).

Also I wouldn't be surprised if a physical injury came to manifest itself as an energy blockage. I had an injury right in the middle of my back, which turned up during meditation. Every time something got loose in that place (energetically speaking), the pain from the injury got better.

It's interesting to me that there appear to be different ways of describing progress. Daniel's descriptions are mostly perceptional-referential (regarding sense of separate self, clarity, etc), but I myself could describe the entire thing in terms of where energy is blocked and where it is not. To me, things like "sense of self," or "mental chatter," or emotions for that matter, seem to be emanating from spots of physically-felt tension in certain places of the body. Tension which, when dissolved, causes the mentioned perceptional changes.

Take care,
Bruno
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Beoman Claudiu Dragon Emu Fire Golem, modified 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 5:55 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 5:18 PM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

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Bruno Loff:
It's interesting to me that there appear to be different ways of describing progress. Daniel's descriptions are mostly perceptional-referential (regarding sense of separate self, clarity, etc), but I myself could describe the entire thing in terms of where energy is blocked and where it is not. To me, things like "sense of self," or "mental chatter," or emotions for that matter, seem to be emanating from spots of physically-felt tension in certain places of the body. Tension which, when dissolved, causes the mentioned perceptional changes.


Yea, I think similar to how a fruition can present visually, or in a part of the body physically, or with energy, or with thoughts, or emotions, and how you can also go through the cycles using each of those, and also through the jhanas using each of those (well maybe not emotions/thoughts), and they all present in similar ways... it's quite fascinating, really. Probably in an analogous way, you can pick different ways to do things. Some views can only get you so far until they get in the way, much like some objects of meditation (like contemplative thought) will only get you to a certain level of jhana (just access concentration, in that example).

Noting seems to be killer for fast progress, albeit unfettered vipassana might be a bit too unbalanced (at least it was for me, hehe, though I'm not complaining as it got me far and fast).

For me, I seem to have been hooked on visual clarity. Every path or Path or whatever, I'd always check to see how my default vision looks like, and it's gotten constantly better. Maybe is cause my A&P was while rolling, and the crisp visuals blew my mind and stuck with me since.

Then Actualism just digs down to the very root and wipes it all away in the face of a PCE. How can one do energy work without chakras? =P.

Bruno Loff:
To me, things like "sense of self," or "mental chatter," or emotions for that matter, seem to be emanating from spots of physically-felt tension in certain places of the body. Tension which, when dissolved, causes the mentioned perceptional changes.


Indeed, I constantly feel one in the center of my head, ever since a few months before stream entry, whether I am concentrating or not. I will be happy when it is gone.
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Pål S, modified 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 5:32 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 5:32 PM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

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Bruno Loff:
To me, things like "sense of self," or "mental chatter," or emotions for that matter, seem to be emanating from spots of physically-felt tension in certain places of the body. Tension which, when dissolved, causes the mentioned perceptional changes.


Interesting, does this also work the other way around? I notice when there's a change in perception regarding a certain mental 'knot', a corresponding spot in the body gets activated/relaxed. I never really cared much for energy 'stuff' until I noticed time and again that different mental 'knots' had a direct link in/to the body. Although I should note that there is only a limited connections that I'm currently aware of, or have 'mapped out'. Any tips on approaching tension/'knots' from the body perspective?
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Bruno Loff, modified 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 6:46 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 6:46 PM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

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Claudiu Beoman Beoman:

Noting seems to be killer for fast progress, albeit unfettered vipassana might be a bit too unbalanced (at least it was for me, hehe, though I'm not complaining as it got me far and fast).


Same here on both accounts: very fast, but it became too unstable, and I had to resort to all sorts of different practices.

Claudiu:

For me, I seem to have been hooked on visual clarity. Every path or Path or whatever, I'd always check to see how my default vision looks like, and it's gotten constantly better. Maybe is cause my A&P was while rolling, and the crisp visuals blew my mind and stuck with me since.

Then Actualism just digs down to the very root and wipes it all away in the face of a PCE. How can one do energy work without chakras? =P.


Yes, visual clarity became progressively more and more stunning. These days, if it is sunny, I will get into a PCE.

Claudiu:

Bruno Loff:
To me, things like "sense of self," or "mental chatter," or emotions for that matter, seem to be emanating from spots of physically-felt tension in certain places of the body. Tension which, when dissolved, causes the mentioned perceptional changes.


Indeed, I constantly feel one in the center of my head, ever since a few months before stream entry, whether I am concentrating or not. I will be happy when it is gone.


Am I correct to guess that this tension in the middle of the head behaves in such a way that it contorts, or gets riled up, when you try to focus directly on it? Is it a fluttering, annoying, pow pow pow (very fast fluttering) tension?

If so, to get rid of the tension in the center of the head (at least this is how I've done it), you have to do what you already realized needs doing (judging by your other threads): you need to balance effort with relaxation, which means in your case you need to relax more. I made extensive use of sauna and jacuzzi during this stage, and meditated exclusively on being relaxed.

Then one day, I followed Kenneth's instructions for NS, and that tension seems to have been sucked through the middle of the forehead. From then on, that same tension seems to have moved into the back of the head (or some similarly-behaving tension was revealed there when the one in the middle of the head cleared up).

---

An update on going up through the front. It seems that I have made some breakthrough! I was feeling stuck now for a couple of weeks, and apparently this was what needed to be done. In my last meditation session, I shifted the tension up from the upper belly, through the chest, then the throat, and finally reaching the third eye. I'm tired now, but the release was amazing. I realized that there must be more than one nerve (or channel or whatever) in the front of the body, since at some point I was getting flows of energy up and down simultaneously!

Very very good! Thanks for sharing your experience Claudiu, it really prompted some progress in my vipassana!
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Bruno Loff, modified 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 6:46 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 6:46 PM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

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Well, I have mapped out a few things, for instance:

Fear is clearly in the belly, and can be diminished by focusing on the belly and the spine (at bellybutton height). Irritation is related with intestinal discomfort, and is diminished by a release in that area.

Mental chatter is clearly being caused in the neck, all the way to middle of the brain. I haven't been able to get rid of this one yet, and I have quite obsessive mental chatter. Any tips for working with the neck would be great.


A hint I found useful: there is a lot more going on in one's intestines and digestive system than one might suspect. Finding ways of releasing tension in this area can really improve mood. After some practice, unusual stuff starts happening in the digestive system, for instance I can feel the contours of my guts when I get high or really concentrated, and I've begun to spontaneously swallow air (I used to burp it out) which then gets pushed around massaging the intestines (and making for a somewhat noisier gut emoticon ).

The horse stance is great, and squats are just terrific, I have used both extensively. Recently I obtained a collection of yoga exercises dedicated to working exclusively with this area --- I can put it in the wiki if there is interest, but I haven't tested it thoroughly (unlike squats and the horse stance).
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Beoman Claudiu Dragon Emu Fire Golem, modified 13 Years ago at 2/12/11 12:03 AM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/11/11 11:56 PM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

Posts: 2227 Join Date: 10/27/10 Recent Posts
I'm glad my experience helped you, Bruno! Can you go into what the breakthrough is in more detail? I'm curious.

I find lately that whatever I read seems to help in some way, be it old Buddhist text or AF stuff or random posts. Stuff to think about.

Am I correct to guess that this tension in the middle of the head behaves in such a way that it contorts, or gets riled up, when you try to focus directly on it? Is it a fluttering, annoying, pow pow pow (very fast fluttering) tension?

If so, to get rid of the tension in the center of the head (at least this is how I've done it), you have to do what you already realized needs doing (judging by your other threads): you need to balance effort with relaxation, which means in your case you need to relax more. I made extensive use of sauna and jacuzzi during this stage, and meditated exclusively on being relaxed.

Then one day, I followed Kenneth's instructions for NS, and that tension seems to have been sucked through the middle of the forehead. From then on, that same tension seems to have moved into the back of the head (or some similarly-behaving tension was revealed there when the one in the middle of the head cleared up).


Hmm it's a bit different. It definitely contorts and gets riled up as I focus on it. I think it is what spreads out to form the 'disgust face' when one is in the disgust nyana. It is annoying but not irritating, and not fluttering (unless I'm not seeing it flutter).

It's more like something that just feels permanent, like it's always there, moving around, very unpleasant. Mostly it just feels stiff. I know it's not permanent cause I focused on it exclusively during a sit once, and I 'broke through', it kind of separated out and lost its center point and just became a bunch of vibrations at the periphery, so I know it is not permanent, but it feels that way in daily life.

Actually that sit was interesting. I read an analogy about the self: the self is like a circle. Most people think the circle has a center point. They can only see the edge of the circle, they don't care to look inside, so they feel there's something to it. In reality, it's just the circle, with no center point. I found experientially that that analogy seemed to hold for the pressure in the center of my head. The pressure is really just a set of vibrations that, if I don't look too closely, feel very solid and imply that there is something behind them. During that sit I stripped away layer and layer of vibration, only to find more vibration beneath, and finally to see that there is nothing in that center. it was all just vibrations. However, as i unfocused, they all built on each other again... so here I am now, though perhaps with less fear about it, if I think about it.

I think relaxing is good. I try not to do any insight nowadays (4 days and counting, lol), though it happens when I'm just lying down or falling asleep and I can get easily drawn into doing it from there.

What were Kenneth's instructions for NS? Focus on the 3rd eye area/kill switch?
Change A, modified 13 Years ago at 2/12/11 12:09 AM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/12/11 12:09 AM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

Posts: 791 Join Date: 5/24/10 Recent Posts
Bruno Loff:
To me, things like "sense of self," or "mental chatter," or emotions for that matter, seem to be emanating from spots of physically-felt tension in certain places of the body. Tension which, when dissolved, causes the mentioned perceptional changes.


Absolutely. No physically-felt tension equals no mental chatter or sense of self. Then senses work at their very best. Physically-felt tension is directly proportional to mental chatter and vice versa. Tension can be dissolved either through various physical exercises or mental ones. I think that experiencing this is essential for freedom. This makes for a better map than any other and if physical exercises are balanced with the mental ones, it doesn't result in an ASC. Just physical exercises don't result in understanding the mental part of the puzzle. Just mental exercises don't result in understanding the physical component of the puzzle.
Crazy Wisdom, modified 13 Years ago at 2/12/11 9:46 AM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/12/11 9:46 AM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

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About sending the energy up the front and down the back, that is warned about by some and recomended by others. In the Kundalini Awakening Process system they recommend doing it quite a bit and call it the yin orbit I think. It is supposed to mitigate some of the imbalances that can come from other types of practice. As people stay safe and balanced doing that system it seems doing the reverse orbit is safe.
Crazy Wisdom, modified 13 Years ago at 2/12/11 10:15 AM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/12/11 10:15 AM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

Posts: 45 Join Date: 7/5/10 Recent Posts
Bruno Loff:
Well, I have mapped out a few things, for instance:

Fear is clearly in the belly, and can be diminished by focusing on the belly and the spine (at bellybutton height). Irritation is related with intestinal discomfort, and is diminished by a release in that area.

Mental chatter is clearly being caused in the neck, all the way to middle of the brain. I haven't been able to get rid of this one yet, and I have quite obsessive mental chatter. Any tips for working with the neck would be great.


A hint I found useful: there is a lot more going on in one's intestines and digestive system than one might suspect. Finding ways of releasing tension in this area can really improve mood. After some practice, unusual stuff starts happening in the digestive system, for instance I can feel the contours of my guts when I get high or really concentrated, and I've begun to spontaneously swallow air (I used to burp it out) which then gets pushed around massaging the intestines (and making for a somewhat noisier gut emoticon ).

The horse stance is great, and squats are just terrific, I have used both extensively. Recently I obtained a collection of yoga exercises dedicated to working exclusively with this area --- I can put it in the wiki if there is interest, but I haven't tested it thoroughly (unlike squats and the horse stance).


Interesting! Fear/anxiety is supposed to be connected to the kidneys in TCM and I can often feel that in them directly or just in the belly area. Worry is supposed to be connected to the spleen and I can feel that there also sometimes. When the worrying is intense it feels so anxious that I think many would classify it as anxiety or fear rather than worry. When it gets to that level I can also now feel it in my spleen meridians, especially by two acupoints that are about a couple of cm lower than the navel and maybe 2-4 cm to the side of it. WHen I did standing meditation I cam to a point where the energy really started to go down and then I noticed this worry/anxiety intensly as it was calming down paradoxically. It had sort of been there all along as a sort of base emotions so normal I could not see it anymore or distinguish it as a form of discomfort and then as it was disappearing I felt it intensely. The more I let go of it the more it went down. When I started focusing on trust on of the key positive emotions of the spleen it went down further. When one is perfectly grounded one in a sense has complete trust because you feel you can stand safe and let everything sink. You trust the earth sort of.

So worry leading to energy rising fits well with excessive thinking making energy rise to the head and the spleen being the organ of excessive thinking and earth energy.

Someone told me once that that her qigong master taught his students to relax their neck many times a day. It sounded a bit strange to me at the time but the connection between mental chatter and the neck would explain why.

Irritation is, together with anger, supposed to be connected to the liver and I can often feel it there. I can`t say I directly feel it in the intestines but when the liver gets irritated it does seem to spread somewhat to that area.
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Bruno Loff, modified 13 Years ago at 2/12/11 10:48 AM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/12/11 10:48 AM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

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Beoman Claudiu Beoman:
I'm glad my experience helped you, Bruno! Can you go into what the breakthrough is in more detail? I'm curious.


It seemed that I was forcing a direction for energy to move, and that was not allowing the blockage to release. Then I realised I was doing it all over the place, for instance, I was also trying to get blockages in my neck to release upwards (into the crown), and interesting stuff started happening as soon as I had it releasing downwards (as per the wind path)!

Given that I've had no development in these regions for so long, I think it was a breakthrough.

Claudiu:

What were Kenneth's instructions for NS? Focus on the 3rd eye area/kill switch?


KFD:

Question: Is there some technique you use to access nirodha samapatti?

Answer: If you turn your attention into a beam like that of a flashlight, you can wave the beam around inside your skull. When you wave it across the area just behind the 3rd eye, you may feel a deep calm and the beginning of power down. If you leave the beam focused there, the mind will power down very smoothly. There is no need to strain. It does take a lot of practice, well-developed concentration and, of course, the anagami attainment.


Also other was of "focusing the beam" might be useful, such as "looking down the front of the neck from the perspective of the third eye."
eric d, modified 13 Years ago at 2/14/11 10:23 AM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/14/11 10:23 AM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

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Re: the guts

I have actually had noisy guts since I started doing abdominal breathing, probably around 14 or 15 when I started getting into yoga. No one has been able to adequately explain this, but when I take deep abdominal breaths there is often audible (to those even standing a few feet away) 'burbling' sounds. Apparently, I swallow air when I drink water.

I have never experienced this as 'massaging my abdomen' as you say, Bruno, but I wish I did. For me, it can almost be uncomfortable, and is generally something I wish would go away. Frequently in my work with the guts, abdomen, intestines, etc. I find that there is a spontaenous release and suddenly air will rush up (or down) resulting in a quick series of belches, or farts. Hard to tell if the gas is related to this, but the burping certainly is.

ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT for everyone, everywhere, at all times is the diaphragm. I am a musician, primarily having been trained as a singer from a young age. I study Indian classical music, which I have to highly recommend for any musicians/meditators. This involves lots of long toning, drone-singing on one note. It also increases the body awareness, especially of the throat, chest, diaphragm, spine.

The diaphragm is the FIRST place in your body that stress is stored. The diaphragm should naturally be lowered. In a state of non-stress, the diaphragm is not raised, allowing the lungs to expand deeply and giving the lungs and the heart ample room. In a stressed state (nearly everyone in modern society could probably be said to be stressed), the diaphragm remains lifted: this hampers the lungs and puts pressure on the heart.

Most of this I learned from a couple of books on Qi Gong, which are available as PDFs online. One is 'In Search of Wu' (author I can't remember) and the other is 'Way of Energy' by Lam Kam Chuen. Highly recommended if you are getting into Qi Gong.

Anyways, check your diaphragm consistently throughout the day. Puff your belly out if that helps you find conscious control of the diaphragm: you should feel it sink down.

And don't forget to listen to Indian Classical Music!
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Tommy M, modified 13 Years ago at 2/14/11 5:20 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/14/11 5:20 PM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

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I am a musician, primarily having been trained as a singer from a young age. I study Indian classical music, which I have to highly recommend for any musicians/meditators. This involves lots of long toning, drone-singing on one note. It also increases the body awareness, especially of the throat, chest, diaphragm, spine.


I'm a singer too, not trained though although I've got about 3 octaves, but I've tried singing along with some Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan stuff and I see what you mean about it being useful for meditation. I'll check out your link too, I think that singing is a great thing to become aware of the different sensations that make up the voice actually so that's some really solid advice you've given. Nice one!
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Beoman Claudiu Dragon Emu Fire Golem, modified 12 Years ago at 4/5/11 2:30 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 4/5/11 2:30 PM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

Posts: 2227 Join Date: 10/27/10 Recent Posts
Bruno Loff:
Then one day, I followed Kenneth's instructions for NS, and that tension seems to have been sucked through the middle of the forehead. From then on, that same tension seems to have moved into the back of the head (or some similarly-behaving tension was revealed there when the one in the middle of the head cleared up).

tis interesting, something like this happened last nite. there was like a sudden sucking something with a noise and a pop, and i felt the pressure move to a more calm knot in the back of the head. although it seems to have re-situated in the center since then. at the time i was trying to 'be naivete' by feeling inwards and going down to the naivete center.. i think was basically 'fire path' stuff

has anything happened since for that pressure? did it re-move to the center like mine did? did it move somewhere else? disappear?
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Bruno Loff, modified 12 Years ago at 4/6/11 5:06 AM
Created 12 Years ago at 4/6/11 5:06 AM

RE: a chakra approach to NS

Posts: 1094 Join Date: 8/30/09 Recent Posts
Beoman Claudiu Dragon Emu Fire Golem:
i think was basically 'fire path' stuff

has anything happened since for that pressure? did it re-move to the center like mine did? did it move somewhere else? disappear?


The sucking event seems related with the energy pathway forehead/third-eye -> sinuses -> throat -> chest -> solar plexus -> lower belly. Energy is shoved through the third-eye.

Although it occasionally places itself in the middle of the head, it is in the back most of the time. Since that period, it has moved both down to the neck (sometimes the very base of the neck), and up through the back of the head into the crown (there is a blockage there that is being actively digested since the strange "I am a belief" event).

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