Tag Archives: Yoga
Conscious Yoga Dance: Meeting of Two Sacred Expressions
Conscious Yoga Dance is for me a Dream come true. By joining Yoga and a creative inner expression, Dance, I have reached another level, finding freedom in the discipline.
I designed Conscious Yoga Dance as a connection between Yoga and Dance to tune our mind to our inner flow.
Conscious Yoga dance allows your body to come fully alive and express itself, building an energy field and breaking inner boundaries. It allows us to become more and more in tune with ourselves, expressing the body connection to the universal flow of life through music and movement.
After practicing Yoga for several years I have experienced a deep inner peace, harmony and flexibility in mind and body. The inter-connection of mind-body-spirit has become a reality for me feeling oneness. Learning how to spread this feeling of Unity is what brings me to study, practice and teach yoga. It has leaded me to find the way in which I can fulfill others and myself in a magnificent way. Continue reading
Cat and Cow Pose: By Christine Wushke
This pose is very effective for relieving back tension as well as nourishing the spine. This pose can be done as a meditation in motion. Keep your movements slow and gentle, as well as coordinated with the breath.
*Use caution if you have herniated disks, or arthritis in the spine. Continue reading
Cross Leg Twisting Pose: By Christine Wushke
This simple twist can be done by Yogi’s of any level. Twisting poses are very beneficial for cleansing and toning the organs of elimination, as well as increasing mobility in the spinal muscles. This is another excellent preparation pose for seated meditation.
*If you find sitting on the floor difficult you can practice this twist sitting in a chair. It is not recommended to perform twisting poses during early pregnancy or menstruation. Also use caution if you have herniated disks in the spine. Continue reading
Gentle Side Bending Pose: By Christine Wushke
This is another great pose to nourish the spinal column, as well as relieve stiffness in your back or shoulders. It is also an excellent preparation pose for seated meditation. Continue reading
Brain Nourishing Pose: By Christine Wushke
This pose is great for bringing extra circulation into the brain. I find it refreshing and yet relaxing at the same time. If you have high blood pressure use caution in this pose. Come out of the position slowly if you feel any pressure in the head or behind the eyes.
*You will need a chair and some yoga blocks for this pose.
1. Begin with a chair in front of you, and some yoga blocks near by.
2. Bend forward until you feel a stretch in the backs of your legs. Check to see what height your hands naturally reach to without forcing them farther. Bring your hands down to your chair checking that you are not pushing the stretch to far. It should feel like a very easy and gentle stretch at this point. (If it is not, then place a folded blanket or yoga block on top of the chair.) The idea is to use the props so that the pose can meet your body where it is right now without any strain whatsoever. Continue reading
The Journey of the Soul – II
This is in continuation of a Journey of the Soul – I
That is how it comes about that in scientific terms, one cannot prove that energy. What can be proven is only that which has motion. Yet motion is such that at the moment you view it, it changes, and you do not have a true picture of that motion at its most subtle level. That is why we know so little, from laboratory experiments, of the mind. Yet a whole vast range of the mind, over 90 percent, exists which is unexplored. As technology develops, there will be instruments or certain inventions which will probe a bit deeper into the mind. The 10 percent, explored, can become 15, 20 or 30 percent. But we want to know here and know the entirety of the mind, and the mind, being so involved in itself, cannot know itself.
When you are involved in a problem, an emotional problem, you cannot think straight because you are involved. But if you separate yourself from the machinations of the mind, you can view the mind from a different perspective altogether. That is why we have counselors, so that when you are in a rut (someone told me the other day, a rut is nothing else but a coffin with both ends open), you can go to a counselor who can view the subject or the problem objectively, because he is not emotionally involved. Many times people involved in a business deal will say, “let me sleep on this” That means that at this moment I am so involved in this problem that I need to let my mind rest. Tomorrow I shall look at the proposition with a rested mind, more objectively. In this process what travels from point to point is nothing else but the mind.
Now, where can the mind travel to? That is the other question. We have said that the spirit within a human being, or the spirit which pervades the universe, is omnipresent. If the manifestor is omnipresent, then its manifestation must be omnipresent too. Where is there a place for the mind to go? What happens is this: There is just a shifting of energies in the mind. Because there is contraction and expansion going on all the time in the universe, polarities are created. You lift the weight from this side of the scale, and you add some weight on the other side of the scale. The pendulum is forever swinging from one end to the other, and that is happening in the universe. That is what is known as contraction and expension. So the mind goes from nowhere to nowhere, while the energies are just shifting.
Through spiritual practices, we are also working with energies. We are also activating energies, but activating grosser energies and very systematically leading those grosser energies toward the more and more subtle energies which are in the mind. The mind has the conscious level, various strata of the subconscious level, and the superconscious level. All this falls under manifestation, and all manifestation is relative. It is relative to the Absolute.
Within the confines of this whole scheme of things, relativity has its gradations: The conscious mind, which is gross; the subconscious mind, including the various subtler levels of the subconscious mind (psychiatrists and psychologists only delve 10-15 percent into the subconscious layers) and beyond that vast subconscious field, the superconscious mind. So we start with the subconscious mind and lead it gently through the layers of the subconscious to the superconscious until we experience the finest, subtlest relative. When we experience that, we can safely say that we have the universe in the palm of our hand.
So there lies the movement from grossness to its subtler levels; yet it is standing still. All the movement in the ocean you see is surface movement. Really speaking, the ocean is not moving. It is there. So, if we think of movement and that which lies between the area of Silence to Silence, nothing has moved. Silence reamains the same and the superimposition remains the same. So, traveler, where do you come from and where are you going to? Nowhere.
It is all here and now. Of course, there are the theories of reincarnation and karma and “reap what you sow.” They also are true at certain levels. But in reality, a person moves nowhere, and the apparent movement is only the mind experiencing itself at its subtler and subtler levels. That is the greatest illusion: By thinking that I move, I sit still.
For the mind to experience the subtler states, various forms of evolution are necessary, and this evolution from very gross matter to the present stage of humanity has taken millions of years, proceeding through various forms. Yet the substance of all those forms is not different. The substance that makes up the vegetable kingdom is the same substance that makes up the animal kingdom, which is the same substance that makes up the human kingdom. In essence, the substance remains the same. What is this body? It is nothing but food.
These very same substances, assuming different shapes and forms are given names. This table and I are not at all different from each other; we are of the same substance. This table is at a grosser level, and I, having developed the power of thought, am at a more subtle level. That’s the only difference. This table cannot think, the animal cannot think, but I can think; it is just a matter of degree, not of difference in substance. The molecular and atomic structural framework of this table is the same that structures me. The great illusion is accentuated in human beings, because people have reached that certain evolutionary stage where they are thinking.
The great illusion comes about because a person thinks that he thinks, while he is not really thinking. The less a person thinks, the more he experiences. The very process of thought, if wrongly used, can be the wall between the changing unreality and the unchanging reality. That does not mean that we need to destroy the mind – the mind is a great instrument and is to be used.
A sharp knife given to a delinquent boy can be dangerous. But the same sharp instrument in the hands of a surgeon can help perform an operation. So the mind has to be consciously directed. The power and force of the entire universe is contained in the mind, but it has to be directed.
If the mind tries to direct itself, then many things can happen, including misdirection, because the instrument is trying to work upon itself. So we use meditation and spiritual practices to go deep to the superconscious level, which is the closest to the manifestor. We let those subtler energies remodify the thought patterns of the conscious mind, for the conscious mind is a conditioned mind, and we’ve got to use a subtler force to be able to repattern and overcome the conditionings of the conscious mind.
Most of our troubles are of the conscious level. These are in turn pushed forth from the subconscious level. The left hemisphere of the brain, which is said to control thinking, analysis, verbalizing, and symbolizing, is connected to, not apart from, the right hemisphere of the brain, the part that is said to be a link to the intutive ability and the universal mind. Through meditation and spiritual practices we enliven this connection, first in the organ of the brain, and then in its subtler layer, which we call the mind, it’s subtler self. The entirety of the mind has been grossified into the organ called the brain to give us the individuality that we have. Of this brain, three pounds in weight, containing twelve billion cells, we use only one millionth part.
So, by activating the right hemisphere, we are energizing the left hemisphere, and therefore there is greater clarity of thought, greater concentration, and greater one-pointedness: and all these qualities plus others make one’s life successful. Not only we are using the energies of the left hemisphere, but, as a result of spiritual practices, we are also drawing upon the intuitive level. If we combine the analytical with the intuitional, how much more forceful our actions become, how much more truthful our thinking becomes. In this way we are led to right thought and right action.
So after practice, over a period of time, the mind gradually starts functioning in a spontaneous manner, to do that which is right. Then thinking is not necessary; you just do. You would, for example, come to a fork in the road, and you would just ver spontaneously take the right road. Your analytical mind will not tell you why or how you did it.
What is working is that intuitional level, which fulfills your every need, not your every want. With “want” the left hemisphere comes into play: “I want a million pounds, I want a 50-room mansion, I want this, and I want that.” That kind of analysis leads only to ego-boosting.
Now, all this exists within the framework of the traveling from Silence to Silence. This is the motion that is created. When that which we are calling the left hemisphere dominates us, we are enmeshed in our ego-selves, which know only this: me and mine.
If the mind is empowered by what we are calling the right hemisphere, the intuitional level which has its roots in the core’s of one personality, which we also call the heart, then “me” and “mine” disappears and it is “thee” and “thine.” For the core of the human personality, though outwardly seeming individualized, also exists in its universilezed form. So what happens to a person is this: He can exist as an individual and yet at the same time be universal, for he has now realized, through his spiritual sadhana , how vast he is. When this happens, a person, being divine, recognizes and experiences this Divinity.
to be continued in Journey of the Soul – III
Soon coming.
Gratitude and Divine Grace
To those who worship Me alone, thinking of no other,
of those ever united, I secure what is not already possessed
and preserve what they already possess. (BG 9.22)
The story below appeared months ago prompting some discussion in the Guruvayur yahoo group in which I am a member. Today is Thanksgiving here in America, and this week we also celebrate Gita Jayanti, or the observance of the gifting of the Bhagavad Gita to the world by Shri Krishna more than five thousand years ago. As my thoughts turn to gratitude, I am reminded of this story below and the responses it produced in the Guruvayur group, and how important it is to always be grateful to the Lord for everything, knowing that He is our eternal well wisher and that everything happens for our highest good, even the things which which appear to be bad or are difficult to endure…everything means everything.
The focus of the discussion was on what should we ask of God. To what end do we pray, asking for this and pleading for that? Success in this venture, a new job, a happy marriage, a grandchild, a son or a daughter, a husband, a wife, a handsome husband, a beautiful wife, a nice house, a beautiful house, a mansion, good grades in school, a child who is a doctor or the president of the US? For what is it that we really seek, when all illusions are cast aside and maya’s veil is lifted? None of the above!!!
What should I seek from the Lord but the Lord Himself? That by His grace, I should know Him as the very Self in my heart, casting aside the shackles of the body and the solitary confinement imposed by the mind. He promises us, in the Gita, that if we are utterly devoted to Him, thinking of Him only, asking only for Him rather than of Him, He will be ours, and as such, will take care of us as needed. To understand this, to believe this, in full faith, can only be followed by complete surrender to His will, trusting that whatever happens is indeed His divine will operating to bring us out of bondage to birth and into reunion with Him.
From http://idharudharkee.blogspot.com/2009/07/what-we-should-ask-god.html
What should we ask of God?
This story from Mahabharata answers this question beautifully and categorically:
The Great War between the Pandavas and Kauravas was to begin. Arjuna, having pondered, decided to
go to Lord Krishna and ask him for help.
He went to the Lord’s abode and found him asleep.He stood respectfully at his lotus feet, with folded hands and head bowed in reverence. Duryodana, of the Kauravas, had the same idea of asking Sri Krishna’s help. He too came and, finding the Lord asleep, sat arrogantly in a chair placed at the head of Lord’s bed.
In due course, the Lord woke up. Arjuna, being at his feet, was the first person he naturally saw. As he turned to get up, the Lord’s eyes fell upon Duryodana.
The purpose of their visit was known to Him. However, he asked them what he could do for them.
Both answered that they had come to request his assistance in the ensuing war. The lord said that they had placed him in a difficult predicament by asking for the same thing. He said he could not deny either of them. He said he would offer himself, alone, without armies to one of them and to the other he would offer all his armed forces completely. He said that since his eyes had fallen on Arjuna first, he should have the first choice in the matter.
Arjuna promptly prayed to Sri Krishna that he alone should side the Pandavas.. Duryodana heaved a sigh of relief and requested Sri Krishna for all his forces. The Lord agreed to their requests.
We know who emerged victorious. The moral is “We should ask for HIM, not ask for things He can give us”
If the Lord gives us everything in the Universe but withholds Himself from us, we gain nothing. But if we seek HIM for Himself alone, we get not merely Him but all that is His, too!
abhyaasa yOga yuktEna cEtasaa naanyagaaminaa,
paramam pursham divyam yaati paarthaanucintayanMeaning:
He who with his mind disciplined through Yoga in the form of practice of meditation and thinking of nothing else, is constantly engaged in contemplation of God attains the supremely effulgent Divine Purusha (God) (sloka 8 in chapter 8 of Gita)
And what did Arjuna request? The Lord Himself. In his earnest bhakti, he intuited that this was the right choice and it was. When you ask for the Lord Himself, with utter devotion and humility, how can He deny you? In the Gita, He makes this promise to His devotees…
ananyaaScintayamtO maam yE janaah paryupaasatE
tEshaam nityaabhiyuktaanaam yOgakshEmam vahaamyaham. (BG 9.22)
To those who worship Me alone, thinking of no other, of those ever united, I secure what is not already possessed and preserve what they already possess.
https://luthar.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/bgita.pdf
But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form—to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.
http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/categories/The-Gita%3A-Chapter-9/?Page=2
Those who desire My eternal association precluding all else meditate on me with exclusive devotion; those persons I insure the uniting of their individual consciousness with Ultimate Consciousness perpetually. http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Gita/verse-09-22.html
Yoga-kesamam, means to provide what they lack and safeguard or preserve what they have. In this context, yoga is said to mean making available what one does not have, and ksema means the preservation of what one already has. For some, the sloka is interpreted to mean those who recognize the nonduality of the Self, abiding in the Self at all times; for others, this is considered to be a promise from the Lord to take care of His devotees. If we go online, we can find countless articles claiming that the interpretation therein is the right one and that all others are missing the point, thus missing salvation itself!
For me, neither one has the right to claim the other is wrong…it can mean both, one at the level at which we exist as entities in this world of maya, or saguna, another at the level of the formless nirguna. The Lord, in His infinite mercy, prescribed numerous paths in the Gita. I am a bhakta. He is my Lord and while I know that philosophically speaking we are indeed nonseparate as it says so in the Gita and in the Vedas, as far as I am concerned, that can only be truly perceived through His Grace. So, while I am nothing but Him, on another level of worldly perception, this is known and experienced only through the operation of Divine Grace.
It is so stated in the Mukanda Upanishad 3.2.3:
nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo
na medhayā, na bahunā śrutena,
yam evaiṣa vṛṇute tena labhyas
tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛṇute tanūṁ svām.
(Mukanda Upanishad 3.2.3)
This Self cannot be realized by studying the scriptures, nor through the use of reason, nor from the words of others–no matter what they say. By the grace of the Self the Self is known; the Self reveals itself. http://www.peterrussell.com/Upi/Mund.php
The Supreme Lord is not attained by reasonings or by vast intelligence, nor even by much hearing. He is attained only by one whom he Himself chooses. To such a person He manifests His own form. http://bvml.org/SBVPGM/sgt.html
And the Katha Upanishad 2.2.23:
The Self cannot be known through study of the scriptures, nor through the intellect, nor through hearing learned discourses. The Self can be attained only by those Whom the Self chooses. Verily unto them Does the Self reveal himself. http://booksandphotos.blogspot.com/2009/05/upanishads-kena-and-katha.html
This Supreme Self cannot be reached by argumentation, or by applying one’s independent brain power, or by studying many scriptures. Rather, he alone can achieve the Self whom the Self chooses to favor. To that person the Self reveals His own true, personal form. http://vedabase.net/sb/10/87/27/en1
The reason I have reproduced more than one translation of the Gita and Upanishad slokas above is that I wanted to read them in several formats for my own benefit and I also wanted to offer the reader the option of seeing it as such. So many ways of saying the same thing. And so many schools of thought want to say that their interpretation is the correct one and all others false and faulty. In the end, Divine Grace is the operational catalyst, whatever you deem its source.
So, what should we ask of God? Truly, there is no thing to be asked. There is no thing to be given. How can we give Him what is already His? All we can do is realize, through His grace alone, that we are already His, in every sense that we as mortals can conceptualize in our limited minds! Not only will He take care of everything and look after the welfare of the devotee, He will guide us if we listen. Thus, I do have a prayer…to fully surrender, to listen without fear of the consequences, no matter what He asks me to do. Where it will lead, I have no real idea and no plan of action! He is guiding the chariot now. May I sit quietly and not be a backseat driver. Chitta chora!!!
Bliss yoga: By Christine Wushke
This style of yoga was inspired by a tantric dance called the Tan Da Va. When I was first introduced to this dance I was told that part of the dance training was to sit and watch a stick of incense burn. After a few hours of watching the smoke rise and spiral, one begins to get in touch with the intuitive flow or a natural instinctive movement. Bliss yoga is movement that comes from an inner naturalness. There is an ancient wisdom within your body waiting to unfold and flow like the rising smoke of lit incense. When it is given space to flow it becomes a beautiful expression of your unique wisdom inherent within. Bliss yoga can be described as the poetry of yoga: rules are not important and expression is everything.
1. Sit on the floor with the legs crossed; if you find this position to be uncomfortable, sit in an alternative position or in a chair.
2. Close your eyes and let your awareness move inward. Be aware of your sit bones in contact with the floor or chair.
3. Take a moment to inwardly honor the deep wisdom and intelligence inherent within the body.
4. Imagine that just below your tailbone a stick of incense is burning and the smoke is rising up the spine. Set your imagination free: see the smoke spiralling, or moving straight up. There is no wrong way to do the practice; it is about allowing what is and making room for your intuition to take the lead.
5. Slowly allow your torso to move side-to-side, forward and back. Allow the movement to come from the inside out–allow the inner wisdom to be the mover, not the mind. Get creative, stretch forward and back, side to side. Allow your movement to be intuitive.
6. Hold each stretch for as long as desired.
7. When you feel intuitively ready to finish moving, let the body slowly unwind and return to sitting quietly.
8. As the body comes into stillness become aware of the movement or aliveness of prana (life force energy) inside the body.
9. Enjoy the effects of heightened awareness for a few minutes or longer.
Benefits: Loosens and releases the sacrum. Relaxes the muscles of the pelvis, and lower back. Massages and oxygenates the back of the pelvis. Increases flexibility in the abductor, and adductor muscles in the thighs. Increases body awareness aiding in a healthier and more loving relationship with your body. Increases prana (energy) in the body. Deepens your spiritual practice.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to find out more about the writings of Christine click here.
© written and modeled by Christine Wushke, Photo’s by Dianne Wushke.
Christine Wushke is a certified yoga and meditation teacher with over 15 years of experience. Her aim is to create a sacred space for students to effortlessly find the presence of stillness and an inner silence. Christine’s mission is to raise consciousness on the planet by empowering people to realize their own Divinity and to uncover a deep peace within. Christine is committed to assisting you in your journey, and helping you to realize directly for yourself the truth of what you are, and the stillness of truth within. In addition to her yoga and meditation training, Christine is also a registered massage therapist. In the past two years she has studied extensively in the spiritual tradition of Advaita Vedanta. Her teaching style is largely influenced by Iyengar yoga, and the nondual tradition of Advaita.
www.journeytolight.net
www.innerlightyoga.blogspot.com
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The Disengagement of the Reticular Activating System (RAS): By Pieter Schoonheim Samara
For those interested in the mechanisms within the body and how they function during the transformative stages leading to the experience of Enlightenment of the Whole body —– for the scientists amongst us —–
Sat Nam,
Further to the “right path” article, for those interested in the mechanisms within the body and how they function during the transformative stages leading to the experience of Enlightenment of the Whole body, it may be of interest to know about the reticular activating system, which is the focusing mechanism referred to, and the thalamocortical system, which relates to the reflective consciousness.
In previous articles posted, it was discussed that, as the voltage of the body increases through systematic practice of Kundalini Yoga sets, Kriyas, mantra and meditations, at a certain point there is a disengagement of the focusing mechanism of the mind, which results in the experience of simultaneously feeling the radiance of the entire body through all the body cells at once, versus focusing to feel that radiance in one or another part of the body. this is the beginning of being able to experiences and recognize one’s Self as being a unit or field of consciousness which lights and animates and denotes the sense of realness and being to the body, mind, thoughts, impressions and emotions.
If you’ve read the Radiant series https://luthar.com/kundalini-yoga/, then it’s clear that in KY practice, the focus of awareness through the body is one of the main ways through which the voltage is retained and stored. This is because wherever one focuses attention there is a stored remembrance of that attention in the nerves in that part of the body. For example, as a child learns to tie a shoe, the child applies attention to the practice of tying a shoe, so that there is a neurological remembrance imprinted in the physiology of the nervous system. In the same way, when during and in particular the passive aspects of the KY exercise you systematically feel through your attention the radiance in each part of the body, then the voltage and related chemical electric glandular secretions are stored/remembered in those areas. This also affects a disengagement of previous encoding of impressions stored by the mind as to who we think we are, versus who and what we really are, so that, without a practice such as taught by Yogi Bhajan, our innate consciousness becomes shrouded by stored thought impressions difficult to untangle and unravel .
But when though systematic practice the voltage is felt evenly penetrative throughout the body, so that the voltage inherent in the source of the awareness permeates inside and outside the body, then automatically the focusing mechanism disengages and the mind reflects the pure Self shining in the Heart.
Christ’s teachings on this are summarized in Luke 11:34, in which he states that by holding to the “seer” singly, meaning without recognition or attention to objects appearing in the mind, “the whole body will be filled with light.”
So, when, through any means, the mechanism of attention is disengaged, as happens through systematic practice of KY, then you immediately become aware of the field of the radiant body. With this comes a special Intelligence or inner Knowledge or recognition of the remembrance of who and what we are, which is That Pervasive Consciousness which lights and gives life to the body. This Knowledge is felt by the pulsing of the soundless reverberation of “I” as “I” which when inquired into pierces through the Spiritual Heart and results in the experience of the Totality of Being. This is why Yogi Bhajan said, “Kundalini Yoga is the Totality of Being.”
The way that the RAS works is that it maintains the focus of impressions of who and what the “I” identity is. So, for example, if the role of parents in relation to their baby sleeping is that when the baby cries the mother gets up to attend to the baby and the father sleeps through, it means that even though the mother is in unconscious sleep, when the baby cries, the mother immediately awakes to take care of the baby, while the father sleeps through, unaware. It also mean that, if the mother is out, and the father is alone with the baby, then his role in the relationship also results in his instantly awakening from a profound sleep, when his baby cries. This means that we are always aware, even in the unconscious state. What RAS does is define in a limited way who we are into thought impressions. This is also why people that set and daily repeat to keep in mind the programming of their goals often find that the goals tend to come to them as much as they seek to achieve them, because the identity is changed to believe or image one’s self in terms of being the goal or impressions stored, not the apparent reality one is living. However, the creative force that brings about the materialization of the imaged goal is always the Self, which is the screen upon which all images appear, transpire and fade.
Interestingly, many people that are driven towards the realization of goals at some stage in their lives begin to feel the pulsing of the Self, the “I” as “I,” because the expansion of radiance does not diminish when the goal achieved is realized. This is why striving for excellence in one’s life is not a hindrance to Self Realization. This also means that whichever way we turn we are confronted with the means through which the shroud of ignorance is unveiled and the Self is realized.
The Infinite Consciousness, which like a Sun shines through the Spiritual Heart and lights and animates the mind and body, denoting the sense of being and realness to all experiences, is always single and all-pervasive, always undifferentiated and uncaused, always unconditioned, always the substratum of being and consciousness and always resonating a uniquely impalpable non-focal sensation “I am the Truth.”
Thus, when the focusing mechanism disengages, then the reflective consciousness in the brain directly mirrors the Self Radiant Heart, resulting in a flashing forth of the experience of one’s Self as always abiding in and as the Infinite, what Yogi Bhajan calls the experience of “impact” of the individual unit of consciousness (Atman) with the Infinite Consciousness at Its substratum (Brahman), the recognition or remembrance of the unity of the 2 being the Spirit (Akal Takht). The experience of the Spirit acts like the force of a cosmological Singularity in which the mind in absorbed into the source and at the same time Sun-Like Radiance pierces through the atoms of the body. This is the Transfiguration of the Body or the Enlightenment of the Whole Body that a number of Saints, Sages and Saviors have referred to.
For the Scientists amongst us, here below is some interesting information regarding the reticular activating system (focusing mechanism) and the thalamocortical system (reflective consciousness mechanism), which are explained in the radiant series, regarding how KY practice works, and how its fruit is “hearing” “recollection” and “abiding.”https://luthar.com/kundalini-yoga/
Reticular activating system (RAS)
The system of cells of the reticular formation of the medulla oblongata that receive collaterals from the ascending sensory pathways and project to higher centers; they control the overall degree of central nervous system activity, including wakefulness, attentiveness, and sleep; abbreviated RAS.
- http://images.google.com/images?q=reticular+activating+system&hl=en&rlz=IT4PCTA_enTH229TH229&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reticular_activating_system
- http://www.thinkarete.com/wisdom/works/notes/1434
(above image in weblink)
The reticular activating system (RAS) is involved in most central nervous system activity, including control of wakefulness, sleep and part of our ability to direct attention toward specific areas of our conscious minds. The RAS is a primitive network of interlacing nerve cells and fibers that receives input from multiple sensory pathways. It extends from the spinal cord to the lower brain stem, upward through the mesencephalon and thalamus, and then is distributed throughout the cerebral cortex. RAS fibers affect the autonomic and motor systems. They integrate the regulation of cardiovascular, respiratory and motor response to external stimuli.
The RAS diffusely distributes incoming sensory stimulation throughout the CNS, upregulating and readying the system to respond more specifically to input. An example is the body’s response to a loud noise. The noise is perceived initially as a shocking stimulus that heightens awareness in all the senses. Once upregulated the CNS begins to search for more data and coordinate information to locate and deal with the cause of the noise. Without a functioning RAS, the noise might remain as isolated and unrelated stimulation within various CNS structures.
Thalamocortical system
http://www.pharma.unizh.ch/sleepcd/demo/brain/chap3/chindex.htm
http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/7/3/228
One experience of the Self is like this:
Once the radical experience of the pulsing of the “I” as “I” emerges, the mind is drawn into the discovery of its source. The force of Intelligence of That, which is Self Aware, sets itself up like a Singularity in the Heart penetrating and blowing apart the images and impressions of the mind in an inexorable inner quest at voltage levels far greater than the voltage resulting from sustained practice, extremely subtle, bright, singularly discriminative between the resounding soundlessness of the “I-I” source and impressions reflected through Its Living Light.
Then.
At about the level of the upper part of the next and skull (RAS), there is a severing or sundering of the knot that binds the sense of “I” to the thoughts and impressions of the mind. Thoughts are seen to percolate up like bubbles from the ocean depths from the Ocean of the Heart and materializing in the brain. Everything just happens on its own, without the sense of being the doer (the experience of Karta Purkh). A multi-colored flame is seen rising through the spine and through the top of the head; irradiate Light in the Heart and through the nadi between to the crown, without anyone to be interested. Near and far have lost all meaning. Ideas of 2 and even oneness have no meaning. Even stillness and its experience have no place here. Even to say one is the ground of being, the Substratum of name and form are just thoughts like wisps holding no interest or meaning. Ideas of time, even timelessness have no meaning.
All this to say that there is a mechanism that is activated that transforms into what it was intended for when one takes up Sadhana. The daily practice brings with it innate knowledge of the Path. Even without Yogi Bhajan to provide guidance to one’s practice, as he did to thousands personally, by phone, through letters and e-mail, the combination of reading and following his Teachings and explanations together with the scripture of the many Saints, Sages and Saviors have in them the answers of what we seek, simply because we are seeking, i.e., the meaning of Christ’s “ask and you shall receive.” So, that when one takes up one’s Sadhana a relentless and inevitable process is set in motion that results in the “hearing” “recollection” and singular “abiding” in the Truth.
This experience, related to the disengagement of the reticular activating system, was also described by Vivekananda, when early on, after he had met his Guru, Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna placed his foot on Vivekananda, and he had that experience of Totality, in which the head was severed from the body – i.e., the “I am my thoughts” idea from the “I-I” Itself, and he remained as Infinite Consciousness for some time. Subsequently, Ramakrishna told him that this was just to remind him of who he really was, as Ramakrishna had, during meditation, found a star in a constellation of 6 stars, from which he drew down Vivekananda to be born to do the work of Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna told him that this experience and who and what he really was would be recollected by him again, once the work was completed. Many years later Vivekananda disciples were sitting with him at a camp fire and one of them asked him if he had recollected what Ramakrishna had said years back, and Vivekananda said he did. Shortly after, he asked that an attendant fan him, while he went into a secluded room to meditate. After a while blood started to flow from his nose and eyes and crown. What had happened is that he withdrew his consciousness from the body with such a force, returning to his original Star-like consciousness, that it burst the blood vessels through his body, as the kundalini came up. I read elsewhere that this happens sometimes to great Saints, when they leave. Anyway, an interesting story.
Some Saints acquire a “Body of Light” meaning that their bodies transform into pure light. You may have read about Milarepa from the 11th Century, in who it was described that the nerves of his body were the same as the sushumna of realized yogis. When he finally passed on, his body began to radiate with light and rise into the sky (similar to how Christ, who experienced the Transfiguration of the Body into Light years before with Peter and James, departed), until it became bright like a sun transmitting a deep meditative experience to the 100,000 people that had gathered that lasted 3 days.
In regards to the mechanisms in the body related to the process of unfolding Enlightenment or Transfiguration of the Body, what scientists call the reticular activating system is in the same location of what yogis refer to as the focusing mechanism of the mind, which disengages, when the voltage of the body is even and strong enough, as happens with daily Sadhana.
This in turn results in the emergence of a force of discriminative Intelligence through which the individual experiencing his/her self as a field of consciousness that lights the mind and body senses, recollects their oneness with the Infinite with the experience of the “I” pulsing as “I” versus as “this or that.” The resulting sense of “abiding” as That gradually dissolves the last vestiges of the sense of separateness. In KY, this is called One Star Spirituality. The beginning of the experience is what Yogi Bhajan calls Pradupati or Crystallization, because the sense of “I” has been distilled and clarified through Sadhana, so that you recognize Its reflection in the mind as your own Self, like coming out of a state of amnesia. Once this recollection begins, you feel a sense of inward abiding as spatial consciousness, that is all absorbing and quite different from the build up of voltage through kundalini yoga practice.
You might say that these 2 postings are a follow up to the radiant series of handouts I used to give for TT classes. https://luthar.com/kundalini-yoga/
I thought it would be useful for you to know all this, i.e., the 2 postings and the articles in the Radiant series, as many people don’t quite know what’s happening, when it starts, although it’s the real beginning of Yoga. I can see from your website and the video that you’re truly a great teacher. I hope you have this unique experience, which begins to happen to a large extent by reading scripture, as the sacred words of the Saints, Sages and Saviors are recognized by the True Self, which begins to pulse “I” as “I” in recognition, so that you experience the isolation of the Self, stated as the purpose of yoga in Patanjali’s Yogi Sutras, and the meaning of Transfiguration.
There are 3 parts to KY practice, one of these the Path of Radiance, the other, the Path of withdrawal and the third the study of scripture, in particular to try to figure out what it is that the Saints, Saviors and Sages are describing and recognizing it within yourself. This is also how Yogi Bhajan described how he read scripture. The ability to grasp the experience they describe comes to a large extent as a result of daily Sadhana that distills the impurities from the mind so that your inherent Intelligence emerges, recollects and reflects Its Source. Understanding that there is a “scientific” process is a great help in motivation of one’s sustained practice. As one practices and notices the gradual spreading and evening out of the feeling of Radiance and easy increasing of voltage, and the changes in clarity and consciousness, it is useful to also know where that is leading causes practitioners to become interested in the words and lives of the Sages, Saints and Saviors to glean from them an experience that seems to be closing in, sort of like a magnet that is close to another magnet, where you feel the pull, but the impact hasn’t happened. But, as you will find in all religions there is a simple statement: “Hearing the Word, my Soul is healed.”
Luthar.com 
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