Kundalini: The Ancient Power

“Everybody, whether householder or sannyasin (renunciate) must remember that the awakening of kundalini is the primary purpose of human incarnation.” – Swami Satyananda Saraswati.

Kundalini is the energy which brings alive our subtle body system by way of activating the chakras. It is traditionally said to lie as a serpent coiled three and a half times deep within the depths of our foundational chakra, the muladhara. The aim of the practitioner of kundalini yoga is to blast open the muladhara in order to release this ancient energy. The chakra is located on the perenium right at the base of the spine and it is said to be the secret abode of Lord Ganapati, the Remover of Obstacles. Once the energy has been activated it ascends the subtle yogic channel known as sushumna which runs the length of the spine and into the brain. Its resting place is the brow chakra, ajna, known in meditation as the Place of Command which rests on the pineal gland. From ajna it might then be possible for this kundalini-shakti to ascend higher, to the crown chakra, the sahasrara, otherwise known as the Thousand Petalled Lotus which once opened showers indescribable bliss down through the whole of the body both subtle and physical.

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Eye of Meditation

The header image for this article is a photograph taken by Johannes Plenio as found on Pexels.

Today the sitting was better, more focused than the last couple of mornings when I have struggled to stay on the button, struggled to keep concentration tight enough so as not be continually losing sight of the meditation object, struggling to place it in the mind’s eye. What is this eye? To keep concentration tight enough so as not be continually losing sight of the view, struggling to place it, can be difficult and requires practice. Again, what is this eye? Well, for me, as I have written before in other places here and there, the mind’s eye is located more or less in the centre of the forehead, between the eyebrows, or at least just above the point which is between the eyebrows.

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Countin’ Out Time

Meditation is the countin’, countin’ out time. By this I mean observing the breath, counting the breath – so that an inhalation and an exhalation is one, an inhalation and an exhalation is two, an inhalation and an exhalation is three and so on.

A full round of inhalations and exhalations would be a count of 108 for me when meditating. Under normal circumstances this takes around 30 – 35 minutes, depending on how fast or how slow I might be breathing; as a ball park figure that is usually the time it takes to do a round of 108. In Buddhism 108 is a scared number, corresponding to the number of beads found on a Buddhist mala or rosary, similarly there are 108 beads on Hindu rudraksha malas as well. So 108 in breaths and 108 out breaths seems appropriate. Continue reading “Countin’ Out Time” →

Words on Meditation

So today, after the usual amount of time lying around in the warmth of my bed, half awake, half asleep, I went downstairs to do a light clean of the coffee table in the lounge, the glass top table where we sit to drink our morning coffee. Did a light clean of that with a spray and paper kitchen towel then also brushed the kitchen floor, yes, gave it a quick going over with the dustpan and brush. When that was done it was back upstairs for meditation, no actually, come to think of it, there was no cleaning this morning, there was just the straight walk from bedroom to shrine room in order to sit down and meditate. Shrine room is the little room we have at the end of the landing which would be a small bedroom except that for us it is not, it is our shrine room instead, the place where we go to meditate, contemplate, sitting before the shrine we have with Buddha and other religious objects placed upon it. Continue reading “Words on Meditation” →