Tuning In (further thoughts)

[Guest guest]

Tuning in as we do it for kundalini yoga is actually a kriya. It’s the

first kriya we do. It’s not

just the particular repetition of several different sounds in order to

create some sort of

bogus affect, tuning in actually through chanting the mantra Ong Namo

Guru Dev

Namo is a particular kriya which opens up all of the centers of the

body, all of your

chakras. This is kind of important because we do Kundalini Yoga which is

all about

raising the energy up the spine. If you have read anything in the more

popular

readings on kundalini yoga, it's enough to make you not come to class.

Because it

talks about very scary things happening to people, people winding up in

mental

institutions, inability to move their hands and all kinds of neurotic

nonsense. But some

of these things do happen to people when the kundalini rises suddenly,

and it

happens because their centers are not open and they have this rocket

explosion of

energy going up their spine and the nervous system cannot handle it. The

practice of

tuning in is so perfect and pure, that even if you are someone who has

messed up

your body and nervous system and never meditated a day in your life and

your

centers are 97% closed, this "tuning in" actually opens up the energy

centers just

enough so as to allow the purity of this energy to travel up the spine

at a pace that it is

meant to.

 

So whether you become enlightened in your first class or your 14,000th

experience in

yoga, there is energy that is moving up the spine. It is very powerful.

By chanting this

mantra correctly it opens these little stars, these little centers,

these circles of light,

these chakras that are on the path of the spine and allows the energy to

move and

balance itself.

 

Our aim is not to just be totally up here (in the head); we want a

perfect flow between

the chakras. You may know people who have meditation practices, they may

do

"TM", or they may do this practice or that practice, you may sense or

even be told that

they may be very enlightened people, but their physical form is a mess,

their nervous

systems aren’t great, they are all up here and down here they have

serious

imbalances in their energetic being. Our aim is to create some sort of a

flow. There is

enough energy down here (gestures to groin) already, and if it could all

wind up here

(gestures to "third-eye", that’s great, but we need to move it up so

there’s a balance.

 

The mantra Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo has to be chanted in a particular way.

In

chanting a mantra one of the most important things you can do is to have

neck lock.

Neck Lock is one of the four bhandas or four locks (jalandhara bhanda)

and it is

accomplished very simply. Your head moves slightly back and it perfectly

aligns your

spine. You just lift up from the back, and what will happen is, the chin

will come in.

Your chin is not down here, you don’t want some sort of strange angle

going off to the

front of the room, the neck is straight, your chin is in and your face

is forward. This

accomplishes a couple of things.

 

The first thing it accomplishes is that it opens up the throat center

and in doing so it

allows the vibration of the sound (which is created herein the vocal

cords by passing

prana from the lungs through them) it allows that vibration to move up

into the sinuses,

that vibration in the sinuses has an effect on the third eye and the

pituitary. So as you

chant there is a very specific thing that is taking place, the chin is

in and you are

chanting from the navel. Ideally you may notice that you don’t have

enough breath to

make it all the way through Ong Namo.

 

Originally this was taught as a kriya, it is done with one breath and it

is a particularly

short breath, it’s a long powerful chant. Now you can take a little

breath after Ong

Namo. What that is translated to after thirty years of being in the West

is that people

take enough time to go get a cup of water between this Ong Namo and Guru

Dev

Namo - you take a little sip. You may go and take a class somewhere else

and it may

be a totally different teaching, but the original way it was done is one

breath and the

idea is that you build up the capacity of your pranic body so that you

have enough

breath and strength in your lungs, so you can do it one breath. But if

you can’t, you just

take a little breath and you complete the rest.

 

Your eyes are focused at the third eye as you do this and your spine is

very straight.

So let’s tune in so we can begin.

 

Sit in a comfortable meditative pose, your hands resting on your knees

for a moment

and begin to breathe long and deep. Eyes are closed. Use your awareness

to know

this is no small endeavor to tune in, because it is the foundation for

the work that will

do. A concentrated action to clarify your energetic body. Consciously

try and prepare

yourself for this, in many ways, most important kriya. To acknowledge

yourself for

even creating the time in your life and the space in your life to work

on yourself. It’s a

noble act. Feel yourself prepared and ready for all that comes, because

the mantra

itself will invoke your highest self (Ong the Namo - the infinite is

identified, Guru dev

Namo - the teacher within - that aspect of me which will move me from my

darkness

into my light is identified).

 

An invocation of the self. Perfect! Bring your palms together, rub your

hands, the

hands are in prayer pose, palms are together, the sides of the thumbs

against the

fingers and now the sides of the thumbs are going to press against the

sternum. This

is the area known as the mind nerve. Straight spine shoulders back and

down, eyes

are closed and feel yourself solidified as a perfect yogi, prayerfully

ready to invoke

the inner self. Spine is straight, eyes are closed and the focus is

within and up at the

third eye (seat of the soul). Inhale deeply, exhale, inhale, and exhale,

inhale deeply,

and exhale completely! Inhale to tune in.

 

(Class chanted Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo). Now inhale, suspend the breath,

draw

your focus within and up and meditate. Exhale and inhale, exhale and

gently relax

your arms down, your wrists once again to your knees, your hands in

receptive gyan

mudra (the index finger touching the thumb) and connect to the breath.

Slowly open

your eyes (if you like).