from Madhuri’s tool-kit to “move energy on deep levels and blast you into the skies!”
Besides Dynamic Meditation, which is of course the basic active meditation of all time, I have found 3 others which really blow a meditator’s mind all to hooey and leave her spinning in the stars! They are very different from each other, and approach from different doors – so, putting them all together in one collection, we cover a lot of ground!
The first is from Waduda. She told us she had Cherokee ancestry, and offered this technique with a little story to go with it. I first experienced it in Psychology of the Buddhas – a training for Mystic Ring people. It just scoured me out and sent me through the roof and sent my whole organism wandering among the galaxies!
Since then I’ve facilitated it in groups and given it to clients as a session. But the technique is good any time – at whatever age, in whatever situation; as long as you’re fit enough to do a lot of wild and strenuous breathing! Your mind will really be blown, so you will also need the courage to face that. (I think that is one of the greatest helps a Master can be – that in some way he is holding your hand when you are somersaulting into outer/inner space. Otherwise it can be pretty scary! Though if you are your own guru, or simply the Mystery is, you can certainly give it a try! And bravo to you!)
It’s quite complicated, so I’m including a drawing of the breathing cycles. Once you get going with it it just flows, but it needs somebody sitting there timing the breath-cycles and keeping an eye on things. In the group where I learnt it there were energy workers roaming around helping participants with their presence, maybe a word or two, and sometimes energy work – a hand here or there in aura or on body. This certainly added to both the general intensity and the feeling of support in the room.
The first technique:
Cherokee Chakra Loop Fire Breathing
The theory: In Cherokee society, when a number of youngsters were reaching puberty, there would be a gathering where they did this meditation. Then they would go off and make love with a sweetheart. Their first experience of lovemaking was then with every chakra wide open! (One can only imagine how wonderful that might be, compared with what usually tends to happen!)
But the technique is good any time – at whatever age, in whatever situation; as long as you’re fit enough to do a lot of wild and strenuous breathing! And, as I’ve noted, your mind will probably disappear for a time, so you will also need the courage to face that.
One proviso: It is very important to be total. This doesn’t mean a lot of stressing and straining; rather, it’s a full dose of being where you are, right now, present and in a great let-go. Letting every nerve and cell and limb be fully here and alive, and holding nothing back. That’s how you will get the most out of this technique.
And: This is a noisy meditation! Take care to do it where nobody will be disturbed or call the cops. It needs swooping, stirring music that begins slowly and builds over time. I like Chariots of Fire or else Eternity, by Shardad Rohani – the full orchestral version.
The method: Put a sheet onto a pallet – a thin sponge mattress is good – and lie down with a pillow under your knees. (You need the sheet because you are going to sweat and exude moisture!) No pillow under your head! I’ll give you the breath sequence in a minute, but it’s important to know that at each in-breath you are going to push your pelvis into the floor; fill your belly with air, and then move your pelvis out and up on the out-breath. This is going to feel counter-intuitive! You have to stay very present and keep coming back to the pushing into the floor on the in-breath!
And, while you are breathing, let sound come; and also use your hands at the level on your body of the chakra you are in, to help the energy.
You’ll be going through the entire sequence 3 times; each piece is one-and-a-half minutes, or 90 seconds. You’ll need somebody sitting by with a proper old-fashioned pocket watch for this, where they can see the seconds going by. They will not have time to program a digital device in between each change.
You also have to know where your chakras are!
First: genitals, groin, coccyx, sacrum.
Second: belly, just below the navel, all the way into the back of the pelvis.
Third: Solar Plexus, and into the middle back.
Fourth: Heart, and into the upper back.
Fifth: Throat and back of neck.
Sixth: Third eye, and deep into the centre and back of the head.
Seventh: Crown; top of head.
So, it works like this: Guided by the facilitator (because you will not want or be able to think about what is coming next), breathe in to the 1st chakra, and out through the 1st chakra, for 1 and a half minutes. Press pelvis into floor on in-breath! Up and out on out-breath!
Next: Breathe into the 1st, out through the 2nd chakra.
Then: In through the 1st, out through the 3rd.
Now: In through the 2nd, out through the 3rd.
In through the 2nd, out through the 4th.
In through the 3rd, out through the 4th.
In through the 3rd, out through the 5th.
In through the 4th, out through the 5th.
In through the 4th, out through the 6th.
In through the 5th, out through the 6th.
In through the 5th, out through the 6th.
In through the 5th, out through the 7th.
In through the 6th, out through the 7th.
And now… grand finale for this round: In through the 1st, out through the 7th! So you’re breathing up through the entire body!
Next! Repeat the entire thing from the beginning! Breathe in through the 1st, out through the 1st… and so on.
And: One last time! Repeat it all.
So that’s three times through.
Don’t skimp and cut corners! Do it totally, exactly as described! There are three layers to our chakras, and the repetition goes down through all of them. If you get scared at any point, just breathe through it!
When it’s over, just lie back and rest for 20 minutes with your eyes closed. You’ll need the rest, and during it, everything is integrating.
Second Technique:
Hara Burn
The theory: Two fingerwidths below the navel, and inside the belly, there is a place which in Japan is called ‘hara’ – the place of birth and death, an endless realm beyond the chakras and yet giving rise to them. It’s the ultimate centring – samurais and archers were taught how to come from there while doing battle. Meditators go there too.
In this technique, we are repeatedly and consistently stuffing energy and awareness into it, as a way of dealing with a stressful situation; we are not chasing any particular outcome, we are not avoiding pain, nor courting emotion; we are just actively stuffing the whole thing into the place beyond place.
I encountered this quite astonishing technique in 2008, in Poona. I had just read an email from an extended-family member revealing that her little daughter had finally told of the sexual abuse she had suffered when very small. I was very upset – I knew and loved that grave little child, with her cloud of curly black hair. At lunch I asked people at my table if anyone knew of a session I could get that might help with my distress. Vibhavan offered to give me a Hara Burn session. I had never heard of it before.
I can only say that it was absolutely wonderful, terrible, intense, and completely effective! I fell into the minds and bodies and sensibilities of abusers – Mongol warriors, and the like – pillaging, invading, and above all owning whatever or whoever they grabbed. And I kept going! It was excruciating, but in a good way – it sent me through the pain and down into some place of centredness and power that I have perhaps never experienced before or since.
It’s actually used in men’s groups, but since we all have an inner man, I was able to make good use of it. It requires a kind of absolute presencing – you have to be there every moment. No escape! This is where the warrior comes in – the attention of the hunter, turned back inside yourself. There is no space for softness, lollygagging, or skiving off. You are on, and on you stay through the entire 40 minutes of the first part.
And at the end you are really ready to rest!
The method: This is a partner exercise, so choose a partner. Best if they are a similar height to you. It’s fine to have a facilitator, but if you know what you are doing you would not need one – though timing the last phase can be tricky without a facilitator, as you don’t want to disturb it to check the time. Nor do you want to disturb it to fiddle with a digital timer. If it’s possible to set 2 timers: one for 40 minutes and one for 60 – that would work for a non-facilitated session.
You’ll need some hard music with a beat – in normal life I have absolutely no use for techno music, but for this exercise it works. Vibhavan played Transfer Station Blue by Michael Shrieve, which isn’t precisely techno, but has a similar beat. Turn the volume up, not enough to hurt your ears, but enough to sustain the power of this meditation.
You will need a place to lie down at the end, so make sure there is a good place for that – on a carpet, or a pallet, or a blanket on the floor; or a divan or couch. Each partner will need such a place, so get that sorted so that each person knows where they will go at the end.
You will also need an issue. Best is something burning and disturbing! But if you haven’t got one, choose anything that is bothering you at all – even something that is in the news, or in the life of a friend or family member.
Tell each other your issues. When the meditation begins, you will need all your focus for your own, but it’s good to tell it out loud beforehand if you can.
Set a timer for 40 minutes.
Stand facing your partner. Raise your arms and place your fingertips together above your head; hands are flat (see drawing). The hands are not touching the top of your head. This is not a comfortable position! And, you are going to stay like this for 40 minutes! You’ll have to keep bringing your hands back to the flat and the raised, not letting them slump!
Legs are planted firmly, feet shoulder-width apart.
Look into the eyes of your partner. For the entire 40 minutes, keep eye contact!
Ding! Music starts.
For the first few minutes, as eye contact continues, and music plays, just think about your issue. Whatever emotions arise, let them move around inside you. Ponder, muse, imagine, crank it up! That issue sucks! Maybe it’s the Pacific Gyre and all the plastics floating in that fake rotating island in the sea. Maybe it’s your girlfriend’s having sex with somebody else. Maybe it’s your dad’s shouting at you when you were small. Maybe it’s your nutty landlord invading your space. This war or that war! Sewage outflows at the beach! It can be anything! Let it be as awful as it is, as annoying, grieving, shitty!
Now, start feeling that energy from your head – where you are imagining all this – is going down into your hara.
Stay with the posture. And do not make any sound! All the energy is going into the hara.
Keep sending the issue down into your hara. Keep eye contact! Keep the posture!
Your body might begin to tremble. Your arms will tremble! That’s fine, trembling is fine, but keep the posture, the eye contact, and keep sending the energy and all thoughts that arise, down into the hara.
Simply continue this for 40 minutes. No matter what!
Ding!
Release your hands and let them drop down to your sides. Very carefully, back away from your partner. Release the eye contact. Back up to where your lying-down place is. Gently drop down onto your pallet or whatever, and lie flat with arms at sides, eyes closed. You’ll be lying down for 20 minutes. This is an extremely precious time, so it should not be disturbed fiddling with timers or anything else.
Ding!
Come back slowly. Drink water!
Sit with your partner and share with each other how it was for you. (If it feels too soon for this, have a break or lunch first and then share.) Thank your partner.
Third Technique:
Ecstatic Shake
I first experienced this in a beautiful Women’s group in the School of Mysticism, led by Karima. It was called Ecstasy Shake then, but when I led it at Osho Leela during a festival they changed the name – for obvious reasons I think! It is for groups, but if you wanted, you could also just do it with three women. I have also led it in mixed-sex gatherings, and it seemed to be fine! But I’m open to opinions on that.
The Theory: We are naturally meant to be ecstatic, just being in our bodies and energies and auras, alive.
Energies tend to get stuck in certain places, and by simply bringing awareness and presence to some key locations in the body, with the help of other women, those stuck energies can let go and begin to flow, making us a rippling pillar of joy from the feet to the head, and above.
My own experience: This meditation is a big WOW! Just a huge orgasmic juicy up-rushing river, taking me away, orgasmic and improbable – improbable because nothing is needed except music and the energies of a few people. No drugs! No booze! Just the energy we’ve already got, and what is around us! Yes, like dancing; but in one place, so that the energy is very concentrated.
The Method: Get into groups of 3, with lots of space around each group. Make sure that there are pallets or blankets near each group so that at the end each person has a place to lie down. It’s possible that the Let-Go Woman might fall down during the process, so if that begins to happen, the other two women will need to get a pallet underneath her.
Decide who will go first to stand in the middle; she is known as “The Let-Go Woman.”
The Let-Go Woman stands with feet shoulder-width apart. The other two women kneel, one at each side of the Let-Go Woman. The facilitator guides everyone into a centred, grounded space.
Music is very important in this exercise! I use one whole CD, The Very Best of Otis Redding, which starts out slow with These Arms of Mine and Pain in My Heart, and proceeds through the glorious That’s How Strong My Love Is and then quickens up, soon launching into the wild stuff: I Can’t Turn You Loose, Satisfaction, and eventually Shake, which is the best ecstasy-wiggle-and-shout of all time! Of course you can choose your own music, but I’d caution you to avoid electronic sounds and stay with something organic, wild, and possibly even sassy.
As far as noise goes: the Let-Go Woman will naturally be gasping and yelling a bit, but the energy should not be primarily sent to the voice, but instead allowed to move deep into the body and its energies, with sound coming as a secondary outlet. It’s a lot like lovemaking – you don’t want to fake the sounds, but let them come out of a deep inner experience.
Now: Get ready! The Let-Go Woman raises her arms above her head. She just breathes and feels energy moving. Each side-woman places her hands loosely around one of the ankles of the Let-Go Woman. The music starts, at first not very loud. The Let-Go Woman closes her eyes, just breathes, and feels energy moving. (The eyes will tend to close and open at different times during the process. It’s helpful to come back again and again to the closed-eyes space as this helps keeping in contact with the energies inside.)
The Let-Go Woman will keep her arms above her head during the entire process, but they can move a lot! If sometimes they slip down, that’s fine, but go on bringing them back up and letting them ripple up there. As energy builds and begins to flow, the Let-Go Woman will find herself gasping, moving like a strand of kelp in a kelp forest. There might be erotic feelings, coolly ecstatic feelings, hotly ecstatic ones, sacred reachings where Grace is pouring down or lifting her up – anything is possible! Let it all happen!
The facilitator will be timing the changes in this meditation, but there is no set timing for each stage; rather, the facilitator can feel the energies in the room and decide when the kneeling women are going to change the placing of their hands. There should be a sense that enough movement has happened with a placing before the next is invoked.
When there is the sense that enough time has been spent at the ankles, The kneeling women will move their hands up to the knees of the Let-Go Woman. They gently hold the knees, and the Let-Go Woman enjoys the new unlocking of energies there and lets her celebration of her own mystery intensify and let go further. Gasps and sobs and yells and head thrown back and arms up into the air! Stay introspective! This isn’t a disco – or not only a disco – but a deep inward liberation. The Let-Go Woman is going to feel vulnerable and exposed, which is perhaps why it was designed to be a Women’s group process. The whole front of her body is open, her arms up, and everything is happening!
When enough time has been spent at the knees, the kneeling women move their hands to the hips of the Let-Go woman, resting them there lightly. The Let-Go Woman experiences in her inner world the change and further freeing that happens there, and might find that her whole body is waving and rippling, and her arms are too, above her head!
The next place for the hands to rest is the waist, and after that the throat.
Make sure there is music till the end.
Change over! Take a few minutes for the Let-Go Woman to kneel or lie down and recover her senses; while a different woman steps into the centre, feet shoulder-width apart, to become the next Let-Go Woman.
The other two rest their hands lightly around her ankles. The facilitator guides everyone into grounding.
And now go through the whole process again, with this second Let-Go Woman.
And again with the third.
Now everyone lies down and rests, arms at sides, not crossing legs, eyes closed. About 20 minutes is probably a good amount of time.
And now… sharing – either with the whole group or in groups of three – is good. With something this intense it might be best to wait till after a break. Even if they share in groups of three, at some point it’s good to let the whole group share too.
Related article
- When I was a man – Madhuri’s adventures while impersonating men to understand and discover their power. She also describes the meditation called Hara Burn (February 2018)
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