Dakota

the cluttered nest - meditation

Jack Kornfeld tells a story about a man who comes to one of his workshops. When Jack looks over at his cushion, the guy seems to be perched in the middle of a nest. Framed photos of two gurus, crystals, feathers, tokens, ceremonial blankets, ancient texts and the like surround him. Jack thought the clutter was probably not working in his favor.

This is a description of my morning meditation. Jack would probably be horrified. The routine keeps me busy focusing on almost nothing and sometimes is a doorway into somewhere else. That's riding the theta waves for you.

I get up at 5 AM to do this. I throw on my sweats and my fleece and go downstairs. I take a fistful of supplements and foul Chinese herb tea with lots of water, and strap on my CD player. Then I go into my office and kneel, as I state my intentions and stretch the top of my feet which are a bit contracted. Killing two birds with one stone is my specialty. (I'm reading "Scattered" by Gabor Mate about ADD and it sounds like me.)

I took the basic format of the Reiki prayer that I learned in Reiki Level I, and added a few tidbits. Kneeling (and stretching) I ask that both Reiki and generalized life force energy flow through me for purposes of the highest healing. I ask that my body relax and allow all the energy that I'm calling into it to flow. I ask that my ego step aside, which it gladly does. I ask that my guides be with me. My Reiki guide is the eye of Horus. This is the symbol that came to me during my Reiki (Level II) training when we asked for our Reiki guides. I didn't know anything about the Eye at the time. I recently found a coin imprinted with the eye. It was a token for an amusement park. I was amused. I'll take a picture. I have other guides, like a bear, an owl, a seal and a few Tibetans that I recognize by their voices, but have never really visualized. You can see the nest is getting crowded.

I turn on my CD player to Centerpointe Research's Level I Purification disc and begin. The sounds - rain, static and temple bells are supposed to induce theta states, but you have to go at it gradually. I've been climbing up the levels (Awakening I,II,III, IV) for about four years. Sometimes I am impressed by my dedication, since I've only missed one or two sessions in all four years, but what else would I being doing at 5 AM. Do not even consider suggesting sleep. I will probably write about sleep sometime.

Next I set the timer on my Chi Machine for ten minutes and hop on. The Chi Machine wiggles my ankles back and forth, as I lie on the floor on my back, and simulates the spinal movement of, guess what, a FISH - how about that? More fish activity in my life. see goldfish

As long as I have ten minutes to kill riding the chi, I trace my secret Reiki Japanese characters (available on the Internet of course, but that's a secret too) in the air, and on both of my palms. I try to avoid writing automatically with attention elsewhere. It was easier when I was just learning the characters, because I would have to concentrate on them and not my little lists.

Moving right along, I place my Reiki prepared hands on my crown chakra, and tone to the tune of what once was my softspot, so it vibrates to the tone (high, angelic). I proceed down my chakras, toning to the resonance of each one. Except for my root chakra which I cannot conveniently reach when riding the Chi Machine. I just visualize it or forget it altogether. About then, the Chi Machine stops abruptly. If I am sufficiently hydrated, I am filled with the most delicious wave of energy. It is completely yummy and lasts for a few minutes. I tone to its vibration, and pay attention the CD in order to pick out the same vibratory tones in the bells. For a minute or two, I'm all lined up.

As I read this description, it seems like I go to quite a bit of trouble to produce this effect. I think of it as attunement rehab for those of us who didn't have mothers that helped us feel the vibrations of the universe in our bodies. Chi Machines are $139 in the Fascinations Catalog. Thank god they're for sale. Naturally, I have two.

Usually the preceding routine takes about twenty minutes, leaving forty to go on the CD. Next, I assume a straight backed posture in my chair, bolstered by a few pillows and covered with my lofty down throw, and begin breathing exercises. I learned them at an Art of Living Workshop last year, in a mere nineteen hours. They are, of course, a secret. I even had to sign a pledge not to teach them to anyone else, since the Art of Livers want all breathers to be trained correctly. This is a required course for the Bombay and Botswana Police.

There are three different sequences, the first done seven or eight times with three arm positions. The second a cheerleading sequence with nasal huffing and the third a Kriya. I won't go into detail, but it's halfway through the Kriya that I generally reach theta, I think. No thoughts, but not asleep. PHEW.

When I first learned the breathing, I was doing it separately, but that added another twenty minutes to my routine, so I compressed for the sake of efficiency. Forgive me Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, (the developer of these techniques, not to be confused with the sitarist). I think my immune system is strengthened by the breathing, as they claim. It is not as relaxing to me as it is to others.

After rereading this, I realize that I could give a "Level I Workshop"and teach Dakota's Deep Dish meditation routine. Everyone else is doing it. Guess it's too late to keep it a secret though.

Posted by Dakota at November 12, 2003 11:34 PM