Root Lock, 5 tibetans, pineal gland

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam Steve:

 

We've actually discussed the 5 Tibetans here before - there are

apparently two somewhat different versions of it floating around. I

posted the sequence that my teacher taught me - here is the link:

 

/message/Kundaliniyoga/2798

 

If you search the web-site using the search term "tibetans", you can

get a list of the discussion posts on this subject.

 

> empirical evidence in her that the exercises did what

> they were claimed to do. Have others heard of this,

 

Of course there are many things that can hasten (or slow) the onset

of physiological age - for all we know she might have been aging much

faster without the practice.

 

The 5 Tibetans was taught to me as a longevity kriya - I don't know

of any modern research that supports (or denies) this particular

claim, but I do feel rather confident in the idea that the practice

of yoga in general is likely to have benefits in terms of better

health, which in turn, is clearly related to extended longevity,

especially because of the effects on stimulating the immune system.

Whether this particular kriya is the best kriya for this remains open

for study, I'm sure...

 

Furthermore, I support the "conditional belief" idea presented in the

yoga sutras of Patanjali, the idea that one should prove the claims

of yoga for ourselves, but begin by being willing to suspend

disbelief in those claims until we are in a position to assess them.

 

The yogis who created and refined the kriyas that we practice were

(and are) engaged in a scientific process, testing and refining a

body of knowledge passed down to them and to us, and there is no

question in my mind that they discovered many very useful things

about what we are and how we work - some of which has only recently

been proved by modern science, and much of which remains beyond our

ability to test.

 

YB has referred to one meditation, saying that it could take another

500 years before medical science will explain how it works!

 

> Another question has to do with the pineal gland. I

> have heard what you say before - that the pineal shuts

 

>From what I understand, the pineal gland begins to shrink and calcify

as we age. It isn't that it shuts down, but just doesn't do what it

did as a child, and I would stress that, from a physiological

perspective, we really don't understand everything that it does.

 

And the pineal gland seems to be the physical aspect of the 7th

chakra - that is, I don't think that the spiritual effect of

activating that chakra is explained only in terms of the activation

of the gland itself. Chakras (and meridians or nadis, the energy

pathways, and so forth) are real things, if not very well understood

things.

 

A couple of hundred years ago, our understanding of the skeletal

system and how to deal with broken bones was pretty rudimentary - now

we have X-rays and the rest of the equipment of modern medicine, and

have little trouble with broken bones. By the same token, I imagine

that in a few hundred years we will have much more insight into the

subtle energy systems of the body - we are just coming out of the

equivalent of the Dark Ages, as information about our energetic and

spiritual aspects becomes public, and is discussed and investigated

openly.

 

As modern science becomes interested in exploring the information

that comes from yoga and similar practices, and as more and more

people begin to practice such disciplines, I expect an explosion of

knowledge and information similar to the explosion of information in

other areas that we have seen in the last century - and we have front-

row seating

 

> melatonin that people take melatonin supplements,

> although this is said to be dangerous. Are you saying

 

The studies are pretty ambiguous on melatonin supplements - it seems

that for a small percentage it is helpful, for a small percentage it

is harmful, and for most it has no particular effect.

 

Many blessings to all!

Sadhant