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In our courses we talk a lot about alignment principles. I thought I go a little into this subject and it’s history in my own life.
It all stared in the early seventies when I read Carlos Castanedas books. I think it was in the third book “The journey to Ixtlan” that Carlos’s teacher Don Genaro climbs ”powerlines” up a mountain (while Carlos is throwing up if i remember rightly).
I remember this was the first time I pondered the concept of powerlines. Intriguing as it was, it was too otherworldy and I did not think that I could do the same.
The second time I got involved with powerlines was through my alchemy teacher Glynn Braddy. Glynn was a student of Canadian researcher Francis Nixon who developed the concept of “vivaxis” energy lines in the 1970’s.
Through Glynn I learned to locate and utilize these energy lines with the help of kinesiology (muscle testing). Glynn also taught us that these energy lines were part of an energy grid that surrounds the whole planet.
Years later as I became involved in martial arts (black belt Hap Ki Do – yeah) i discovered that most of the movements and stances that are taught in martial arts are based on simple geometrical concepts that are used to generate power – particularly straight lines, circles and spirals.
SACRED GEOMETRY
This led me to studying various concepts of sacred geometry such as:
Ley lines are geographic energy lines that were discovered by Alfred Watson in 1929. These energy lines undoubtedly show that many sacred places on earth have been placed in the full knowledge of a sacred geometric grid that is present in the earth and in the solar system. Many ancient sites or holy places, such as pyramids, stone circles, standing stones, cairns, and churches are located on these grids. There are many examples of these geometric maps when you google “ley lines”.
Planetary orbits and alignments –
The geometric alignments of different planetary bodies (such as the relationship of sun, moon, earth, other planets etc.) are absolutely fascinating and have been shown to form the basis of our basic household measurement system *. For instance the booklet that i linked to the title of this paragraph shows the fascinating dancing movement of the planets venus and earth around the sun. Here is a video where you can watch this:
And it also turns out the same sacred geometrical laws that are found in the heavens are also represented in every body cell (cytoskeleton, DNA) and even further into the subnuclear world (toroidal energy patterns) and possibly beyond – just watch Nassim Haramein in one of his many lectures on the net and you get the idea.
In short, energy lines are geometric wave frequencies that carry a certain amount of power (energy) – hence the name “powerlines”.
There is a drawback though…- powerlines or energylines are invisible to the human eye in its normal vision range cannot see them (as our visual perception is limited to a color spectrum that lies somewhere between 380 – 770Thz (tetrahertz)).
Anything above or below that frequency span and we don’t see it visually.
The drawforward is that you can certainly feel them.
AND HOW DOES ALL OF THIS RELATE TO YOGA ASANA…
In my experience any asana that i have ever learned is a position of alignment with the same energy lines that form the earth grid, vivaxis lines, ley lines or planetary orbital geometry.
As an aside, being a kinesiology practitioner i can also confirm that a yoga asana rightly performed will switch on and balance meridian energy imbalances – another non-visible form of energy line that has been known for thousands of years in Chinese medicin.
In actual practice this means that when the right alignment is found in any asana there is a noticable ”switch on” of an energy that can be felt and seen.
The effect is comparable to tuning a radio channel. If my favourite music is only available at 93.3 FM, I will only hear a distortion at 93,4 and static or nothing at all at 93,5.
So getting an asana right is really all a question of fine-tuning.
And this is the point where a good yoga asana instructor comes in.
SUPERNATURAL POWERS
In yoga philosophy there is a lot of talk and instruction about the development of various supernormal states of being, such as the feeling of oneness with life (samadhi), purusha (the divine conscious being) or moksha (liberation).
These states are said to come with superpowers such as telepathy, telekinesis, precognition and the awakening of the kundalini powers. There is a great book by Dean Radin called “SUPERNORMAL”, in which Dean scientifically expores the reality of these powers in yogis and meditators.
And above everything there is the state of love (real love in this world that is, not metaphysical love) which includes being connected to other people and beings, living creatively and being able to communicate.
As far as my own experience goes all of these states are very real and achievable. However it all depends on the amount of energy that I have created.
There are many ways to create energy – for example you have to eat right, you have to deal with subconscious emotional patterns or live in a cleaner environment.
As far as yoga is concerned, one of the ways to create better energy is by tuning into archetypal energetic body positions known as asanas, in other words body positions that align you with cosmic universal energy lines.
Let’s have a look a two asanas to illustrate the point:
1.) VIRABHADRASANA 2 – THE WARRIOR
The warrior as an archetypal internal energy pattern includes clarity of thought and intention, one-pointedness in action, courage in the face of fear and love as the most profound state of life.
The geometric pattern that makes up this asana can also be found in martial arts. The warrior needs a strong stance that is both balanced and flexible to move (you don’t want a warrior that falls over easily when pushed from front or side)
The warrior has a one-pointedness of thought and intention thats is actually faster than thought (you don’t want to think too much when you fight, you want to act and be in your senses, thinking is way too slow).
Your body is relaxed but fully alert as tension anywhere will cause a certain amount of rigidity and slow you down.
Your muladhara chakra at the base of your spine is active and deals with any fears that arise.
Your being is centered in love.
Geometrically (sacred geometry that is) in this asana the legs are in such alignment that the front leg is rooted at a 90 degree angle, the back leg is rooted at around 45 degree angle.
This can take time to develop (for those that cannot get to 90 degrees, you get into the sense of being firmly rooted in the ground and into the inner state of ”warrior” – which is the psychic aspect of this asana)
Both knees are slightly flexed to enable an energy transmission through the knee joint. Middle of the foot, knee and hip joint are in a straight line. In this way the energies of the earth are transmitted to the power center (manipura chakra) without leaking at the joints.
The body is straight, pointing up in a 90 degree angle to the ground, spine active but flexible. This enables a free energy flow from the base of the spine to the center of the skull.
The arms are horizontal to the earth – the front arm representing the Yang energy of outgoing intention, the back arm representing the Yin energy of reception.
The mind is focused on the moment – thoughts are suspended in meditation. Attention is 360 degress around the body – as the warrior needs to be aware of what is going on in the moment and flexibe enough to respond.
Now the beauty of getting the alignment right (or close to right) in this asana will not just exercise physical muscles, ligaments, joints, digestive- , nervous system etc. It certainly has all these internal action but it also activates the inherent psychic energies that belong to the inner warrior – in other words the body is aligned with the energy lines of what a warrior is.
Of course this is just a general description of energy alignment as it relates to our example of virabhadrasana. There are many more fine points to align like for example hand positions, eyes, head or breathing but for now this example will do to illustrate the point.
Lets take another one …..
2.) VRKSASANA – TREE POSE
Vrksasana is one of the most graceful and joyful asanas which has tremendous benefits in creating a heightened sense of balance because in Vrksasana you are a tree.
This asana has a very strong up-down energy lines which are basically downward gravitational and upward antigravitational. A tree defies really defies gravity by growing up towrd the heaven.
In this asana the standing leg, pelvis, spine, shoulders and head are all in a vertical horizontal alignment relationship that ideally avoids any sidebend or forward bend.
Vrksasana balances the body on one leg while the other leg is raised (without lifting the leg manually) at approx. 45 degrees. The standing leg becomes a tree trunk.
And the mind stays still in meditation and becomes a tree.
Cheers for now
Michael
