Kundalini Overload: Grounding/Front Channel Block

[emc]

Jim, a thought...

** "upward" spinal breathing/pranayama is much easier than "downward"

Since the natural flow of energy is upwards in the spine and downwards in the front, I always thought that was the reason why upward breathing is much easier than downward. It feels as if it's pressing down the wrong channel in pranayama...  Don't really get this. What's your view?

[Jim and His Karma]

Awesome question.

As I said to Yogani in another thread, this stumps me, as well. It may be unanswerable by 'experts' because this issue lies on the cusp between Indian (yoga) and Chinese (taoist)...right in the gap where they don't "match up". It's pretty new stuff, and I'm unusually situated to work on it, having worked pretty far in both models (and being particularly severely blocked).

I don't understand why dilating in the front of throat makes spinal breathing easier (as you say, spinal breathing's in the back), and I also don't understand why there seems to be a front-throat-chakra and a back-throat-chakra (there definitely  is....my kundalini, from the beginning, shot cleanly through throat, up the spine, in spite of my horrendous front-throat block).
 
It's all under-the-hood stuff for most people. But I have a horrendous front channel block that has been causing me increasingly serious health issues, plus has me down to little more than 10 mins/day meditation, period. My inner guru clearly is spurring me to address the issue, so on this one thing I'm WAY under the hood. Sounds like you're in similar circumstance. So let's stay in touch

Oh, one thing: AYP advocates an openness at throat during spinal breathing. I'd always interpreted that to mean at the throat point along the spine (where the Indians place the chakra), and, indeed, that is an important part of spinal breathing, and even the Chinese consider that back-throat to be an important "pumping" station for higher energies.

And, having put a pretty unbelievable amount of time/energy into this issue, I believe one can greatly open that area, and effect that pumping area, with the front-throat remaining blocked up tight. There's not a lot of grey area. You can take that conclusion with a grain of salt, as I'm not sure anyone out there claims this. OTOH, I've been studying the issue as my top priority in life for a couple years now, because I'm very concerned about the health problems and the increasing restrictions on my sadhana, so this problem (and the work I've been forced to do to shed light on it) has offered me unique insight (lucky me...).

[yogani]

Hi Jim and EMC:

The discussion on "front and back" in spinal breathing does not originate in yoga and is not mentioned in the AYP writings either, except when Taoist approaches are being considered.

It has been mentioned that spinal breathing like presented in AYP is "up and down the back." This is not true. The spinal nerve is more in the center of the body than in the back, and in the throat area it is right behind the back of the throat and esophagus (gullet). As ecstatic energy awakens and expands, it is found to be even more in the middle, and less following the physical anatomy of the spine, passing through the entire region of the throat instead. That is what happens as the spinal nerve awakens -- it expands from the center to become a large column of energy, eventually reaching far beyond the body itself. That is ecstatic radiance.

So all this up the back and down the front discussion does not resonate much with the yogic view, particularly as kundalini advances and covers a much broader swath through the body -- becoming one thing, not two things. Spinal breathing follows suit in this, working more or less from the center, and the front and back stuff is dissolved in it. From the yogic point of view, the front and back stuff was never there much in the first place and, in fact, drawing the distinction in mind and practices could become an obstacle to the natural expansion of the internal energies, much the way hanging on to a specific mantra pronounciation can become an obstacle to deep meditation. Spinal breathing works between the two poles of root and brow, and can be much less defined in-between as the energies evolve. In that situation, there is no front or back.  

Which is not to say that the front channel symptoms are not real. Certainly they are. But I am not sure the answer will be found in continuing to define and manage the energies in front and back categories. As we know, attempts to categorize and manage the details of internal energy flows can lead to more problems than solutions. A more holistic approach may yield better fruit. A middle way?

Just some thoughts.

The guru is in you.

[Jim and His Karma]

Thanks, Yogani.

quote:Originally posted by yogani
The discussion on "front and back" in spinal breathing does not originate in yoga and is not mentioned in the AYP writings either, except when Taoist approaches are being considered.

I tried to take pains to make that clear.

quote:It has been mentioned that spinal breathing like presented in AYP is "up and down the back." This is not true. The spinal nerve is more in the center of the body than in the back, and in the throat area it is right behind the back of the throat and esophagus

 I'm sorry I chose the wrong word, but it really is just a matter of wording. Whether we say AYP spinal breathing occurs in the back or center, it's certainly a different thing from the front channel, which runs down the very front of the body. You know this yourself (e.g. you mention it here: http://www.aypsite.com/plus/133.html ).

I've experienced a great deal of ecstatic radiance, my spinal nerve is well-awakened and expanded. But while my spinal channel is quite clear and smooth, and pranayama happens in what feels like a greased chute, I was having rather severe grounding problems (the yogic term for "front channel block"). Since I started AYP, I've been accumulating conditions and maladies that have made this issue clear to me. The block is NOT in my back...again, pranayama is smooth and wide, and kundalini shoots straight from mula to ajna, with no discernible impediment.

I've heeded your suggestion not to look under the hood, and I wholeheartedly agree with that approach in most cases. However, that approach didn't so much as budge the problem. I've removed and shortened practices to the bone, and I've tweaked diet and lifestyle, and I've given it not days or weeks but months and years....but symptoms haven't reduced in an enduring way.

So I spent the past months working single-mindedly on solving this problem, and my findings (per above) have brought relief. My symptoms are improving, and I'm able to meditate twice per day (instead of one 10 minute session/day). I agree that drawing distinctions and tracing pathways is not the optimal way to approach spiritual practice. But it's better than ceasing spiritual practice entirely. And it's worked where the "holistic" route of modifications to pacing,  diet, etc., have not.

I've tried to make clear that this is a last-resort approach. But I'm very glad to offer it to those who need a last resort. And, finally, beyond all the theory, what amounts to a suggestion of transferring the feeling of a yawn to the base of the front of the throat strikes me as pretty uninvasive. Does it really seem so extreme? (what I went through to reach that suggestion, of course, is a whole other thing...but the same could be said of some of the experimentation you did before you came up with AYP, no?).

[yogani]

Hi Jim:

If it is working, facilitating balance and forward progress, then by all means go with it. I was not sure that was the case, given all the back and forth.

I do believe in the long run we have to let go of the mental categorizations though, and allow the process to unfold naturally. Whatever practice regimen we are using will morph accordingly. We will still use the same procedures of practice, but with much less deliberateness -- meaning in stillness with less mental baggage attached. I'm sure you know what I mean -- letting the cosmic barber do his thing. All we have to do is show up, assuming we are visiting the barber best suited for our needs.

As for Lesson 133 (http://www.aypsite.com/plus/133.html), that is about the evolving neurobiology (the yogic view of it), which is refined and transcended in awareness as the process of spiritual transformation proceeds. Our practices refine along with it, including mudras, bandhas, pranayamas, etc. -- some of which facilitate frontal openings, as you know. The expansion of inner silence and the associated energetics, while emanating from the neurobiology, move beyond it. So, while we can talk about up the back and down the front on the physical plane, it all eventually dissolves as we move into identification with the product of that, which is Oneness.

Taoist approaches tend to hold on to the categorization and focus on physical components longer than yoga methods do. But in the end, both will dissolve into the same destination.

Well, none of this removes the issues at hand, and I understand that they have to be dealt with, using whatever practical means that are available. Just trying to add a little perspective.

Onward!

The guru is in you.

[Jim and His Karma]

Yogani, I totally agree in spirit. I'm all about the Barber!

And I do intuitively understand that the ever-widening column of spinal nerve will eventually subsume all the sub-structures, making the distinctions moot.

But I reached a point where I really had to tweak, to protect my practice and my health. The work I did on the issue surely distracted and disrupted my sadhana somewhat, but the maneuver I finally came up with is pretty gentle and innocuous, so I have no regrets.

I'd like to stress that what I'm talking about isn't "Taoist". It is, again, at the gap between Yoga and Taoist practice. It mostly seems Taoist because I've lapsed into using the term "front channel". Again, the term  "grounding" is the exact same thing, and is more yogic. Yogis understand the need for grounding, and use asana, walking, and pranayama for that. In my case, those tools were not up to the job...or, shall we say, could not keep up with the quantities of energy elicited by AYP.

Beyond the background theory and explanation, this is really a very gentle move (though must of course be self-paced). So if it truly works as a powerful way to ground (as appears true from my experience and that of several respondents), this may be a way for practitioners to raise the overdoing bar in cases where that overdoing stems from energy trapped in the head (which is pretty common, I think). And that'd be a good thing, no?

[Wolfgang]

Great discussion, thanks !

[Bill]

Jim,

I may be off base here, but I have a few suggestions.  One would be a standing qi gong or Tai Chi practice.  Spinal breathing while standing?
Also Keith's essays on the front channel at www.alchemicaltaoism.com offer a great view on "opening" that are useful no matter what under the hood model is being used.
Bill

[Jim and His Karma]

Done qi gong (a perfect one for this issue shown me by Michael Winn). Worked a little, but far better in combination with throat dilation and with Chinese herbs. in fact, the dilation and herbs are so much more effective that the qi dong isn't really necessary. And, yeah, I've done spinal breathing in all sorts of inappropriate situations. I've really poured it on with this issue (I've not outlined all the dead-ends I've gone through), and I suspect what I've come up with is as good as I'm going to find.

But I didn't know about that web site, will surf now. thanks!

[selfonlypath]

Jim,

There is a North Native American practice in emergencies to bury a person in a pit up to her neck for several hours and let the Earth heal her or give her assistance or wisdom.  She is never left alone and the idea is that Earth's energy is the highest energy available to us.

I happen to have been initiated into quechua shamanism in Argentina and among many practices, there is a precise protocol when healing someone with stones (cuya). After using a mother stone for taking out heavy energy (hucha) from someone, it is required to bury all night the stone on earth then it will be ready for future use. In fact after this step, the healer has to make a specific whirling dance (gira) then falling on the ground to release whatever hucha got stuck in his vessel while transfering it to the cuya. The earth will then process all this heavy energy to make it light energy (sami) and re-sending through sacred mountains (apus) to sky.

What I mean is the only way to clean a mother stone is by burying it in the ground many hours. That kind of healing tool can NOT be cleaned by water, salt or other classical grounding technique because it can drain in no time SO much heavy energy when healing someone.

You might want to picture your body as a healing stone who has collected so many energies from others not meant to reside in you.

Just dig a big hole in the earth, bury yourself and stay there a few hours !

Albert

[Tibetan_Ice]

Hi Jim,
  I have been reading in Reiki Tummo that you are supposed to take the kundalini up through the crown chakra to a location above your head where the other higher chakras exist. The kundalini then mixes with Divine Energy and showers golden and white energy back onto the body.
  Could it be that your kundalini is just bottled up? Have you tried passing it up through your crown? Have you ever done a top-down visualization/meditation of bringing in Divine White light down into your crown from above?
  Have you ever tried this grounding exercise: ?
http://www.mysticalwonders.org/group/download.php?id=53



TI

[Jim and His Karma]

TI, AYP cautions against premature crown opening, so I"ve steered clear of any practice there.

Albert, I'll start shoveling this afternoon, though I'm afraid Mrs. Shansky, my next door neighbor, may grow alarmed, and her semi-feral cats will have a field day licking the perspiration off my undefended forehead.

[Tibetan_Ice]

Hi Jim,
  I believe I read somewhere that Yogani states that you can test the crown.  
http://www.aypsite.com/plus/287.html

  What I don't understand is why, in other practices like Reiki Tummo, Chakra Meditation, Taoism etc the main idea is that opening the crown lets in divine, cosmic or spiritual energy, which is a higher/finer form of energy that also cleanses blockages.

  WHEN YOU SMILE IT OPENS THE CROWN.

  If you shake a coke bottle when the cap is on, and then release the cap, BANG! Big mess.
  If you shake a coke bottle when the cap is off or has a hole in it, yes, there is much less pressure in the bottle, and not so big of a mess.

  Jim, how long has your kundalini been active? Are you stable but just building up pressure? Have you tested the crown?


TI

[Jim and His Karma]

Read the lessons (at link above) for Yogani's rationale, which makes great sense. AYP, fwiw, doesn't totally leave the crown cold and untouched. The practices nourish the crown for sure, and gently prod it. Just nothing violent. A smile would be an example of the former rather than the latter! The issue is that the final, dramatic full crown opening should happen when nadis are nice and clear and the neurological system is capable of handling lots and lots of energy SAFELY.

My kundalini first awoke 2 years and 361 days ago (yup, was Valentine's day). As it has slowly grown more and more continuous, overall energy has been increasing, but pressure is not increasing. Per my reply in another thread today, I'm keeping pace with handling the energy increase. But only just barely. I'm feeling totally fine, no pressure, but there's not much headroom. And surrendering to it amplifies it.

As for testing crown, I'm not actually all that interested. My interests right now are 1. increasing my energetic headroom, and 2. more and more settling into the wondrous conclusion that nearly everything we do and have ever done was nothing more nor less than the sublimation of deep-seated yearning toward God's love (tragic, as, per the dishwashing soap commercial, we're SOAKING in it). Including the idiot driver honking his horn at me, for whom my speedy acceleration is God.

[emc]

Hi Jim,

I just stumbled on a practice I find very effective in drawing the energy down the front, at least to the dan tien per automacy, and with a push it's easy to get it down through your feet. I read it in a magazine, tried it and found it working immediately. And it is so simple... I wonder if you recognize it or get the same effect as I do?

The brain likes "cross movements" it is explained in the article, so you just take your right hand up and hold it in front of you, and then move it in an eight figure (eternity figure) while watching the thumb all the time.

After a while (I just do it until I feel effect) do the same with your left hand, and if you manage - the last part is both thumbs simultaneously. (Must admit I didn't understand the last part of doing both at once - same pattern or opposite? And if opposite, where are your eyes supposed to focus??? *sigh* magazines... So I just skip the last part! It workes fine any way!)

I found it surprisingly easy to get energy down from the head to the navel area with this method. What's your experience with it?