Riding The Wind Horse

So far, in terms of our practice we have covered the importance of the following steps: 1. Inner Alignment / Setting Intention: Setting a basic but sincere intention for our practice. This is basically aligning ourselves inwardly and physically. We also align ourselves outwardly by making sure that the spine is fairly straight, chin is gently tucked, and the body is comfortable and at ease not strained in any way. 2. Letting Go: Fully exhaling out the mouth, as a way of releasing pent up energy. Giving oneself permission to simply be, no attachment to an outcome. Ideally the sound ahhhhh, like setting down a big backpack. 3. Belly Breathing: The importance of belly breathing (expanding the belly and then the chest on the in-breath) and then exhaling in a way that the chest sinks in and then the belly goes inward on the out-breath. Fully breathing in, and fully breathing out. 4. Softening Any Clenching: Relaxing areas of tension in the body, simply notice any physical tension and breath into it and then exhale and enjoy releasing the tension. 5. Letting the Breath... Breath You: This is where one is no longer controlling or forcing the breathing. It is very helpful to allow the ego to soften it's ambition and control and to shift from solar plexus chakra (control) to heart chakra (surrender). 6. Wind Horse: The next step we will cover is weaving the mind into the body and accessing the wind horse. The main take away point for this step in the process is that we will "ground" the mind into the body through a slow body scan. The result of this is that it pulls all of our psychic energy into the moment and calms the frenetic mind. Our mind is so often projecting itself into imagined futures, into the past and reliving past experiences as well as being lost in imagined conversations, arguments, deciding between two things, fantasies, etc. Regardless, such patterns scatter our minds, but they also scatter our energy through time and space, through the past and future and so on. So imagine that as we do this part of the practice we are reeling in a wild kite or taming a wild horse. This is one of the oldest tried and true ways of calming the mind and thus the emotions. The result of this is that we bring our energy home so to speak, and then we start to feel heat, warmth, and energy building in the body. There is a saying in Eastern medicine "that where the mind goes, chi (chee) goes." This chi and heat wants to "melt" stored trauma and obstacles, or knots, within the subtle energy body. The subtle energy body consists of 72,000 rivers of energy (called nadi channels) in our auric field. These can get knotted, clogged, and imbalanced in various ways. However, the generation of this flow and chi is also doing a couple of other things; it's calling us back into our bodies (which is very important for those who have experienced trauma) and the heat or warmth is also considered a kind of rising wind of energy, and it is required for the functioning of our higher human potential. In fact the concept of the wind-horse in Tibet was traditionally considered an aspect of the human soul, but also an element of the body-mind (psyche does mean soul) that delivers healing, and good fortune. The wind horse ( Lungta i n Tibetan) is not so much considered personal to us, but a kind of supportive wave of good energy that we can ride. Lungta or wind-horse energy exists throughout all of nature and we can access it for energy, healing and more. The catch is that in order for us to harness it, or ride it, we must soften, let go of our ego clenching, resistance, and grasping. The energy is depicted as a horse and often contains the symbolism of a jewel which we will explore in later teachings. So this good energy and warmth happens when we centre ourselves and align the mind with the body. When we "peg our flapping tent down" so to speak in the here and now then we are able to access greater energy for both healing and awakening. However, the thing to keep in mind here is that during this process of grounding and accessing energy some uncomfortable mental, emotional or physical pattens may make themselves known in a stronger way. This is because the Chi and the psychic heat energy is kind of "pushing up and rising upwards" to push against any stored or embedded blockages. These blockages may be from old physical injuries or traumas, as well as emotional trauma. In addition to this, the increased mental awareness / presence along with the building energy in the body can make any existing patterns of restlessness, anxiety, frustration, and so on, start to feel amplified. Let's keep in mind that most people are normally avoiding being present and "stopping the world" so to speak to truly be with what they feel and process it. When practicing at this point of the slow body scan it is important to, in a very relaxed and accepting voice tone, suggest that "if anything uncomfortable is coming up, just notice it, accept it, breath into it, and exhale - let go." Acceptance is key here, and the word "noticing" is used a cue to be neutral and non judgmental towards what is arising. If a person judges or resists what arises then it can compound and the discomfort or pattern can grow or get worse. The other key point here is that we will be guiding, and re-guiding the " monkey or busy mind" back to the body in the here and now. Slowly the busy "monkey mind" will start to calm. For those who have learned Ayurveda this would be akin to "grounding the vata dosha." So it is good to cue people in a calm way, to keep coming back to the body, keep being open to the breath breathing them, and to allow (not force) full exhalation. At is also key to suggest a softening of any unnecessary clenching. Most people start to simply feel relaxed, grounded, and warm. I will again mention that the more people are in resistance the more they are likely to feel pain or discomfort. This is why we often ask "what might is feel like to let go a little deeper?" The natural flow of energy, when there is no resistance, is quite blissful and pleasant and the healing happens quite harmoniously. If any pain persists, then we can begin to dialogue with it, which is the second level of Jyoti practice we call Jyoti-bala. As we go deeper into this current level of practice, we will tune into the feeling of gravity and the weight of the body which will deepen this effect and generate the wind horse . Think of the body like a battery, and tuning into the feeling of gravity, or the weight of the body, is like one pole of a battery. The breath (prana) and our clear neutral awareness is the other. Together, great energy and awareness are generated and the result is the clearing away, or transmutation, of disturbing karmic patterns and the realization of the beauty and depth of our true nature - which is most akin to our descriptions of love, peace, and bliss. To wrap up, this phase of the Jyoti Method is for grounding and generating good energy for healing, and also to support the next stage of the practice. This has been a behind the scenes exploration for us, however the experience itself is quite calm, quiet and simple for the ones being guided. It is important not share all this kind of information during the experience of meditation. Our approach is to get out of the way, help others get out of their own way, and to let the intelligence of nature, the breath, and the wind-horse do it's thing!