32 parts of the body practice

I’ve memorized the 32 parts of the body sequence and now find it useful for getting into a concentrated state…good for a short meditation or precursor to “just sitting.”  I haven’t done the proper practice that is recommended on the 32parts.com site.  i.e. spending multiple weeks on each section.  I’m sure it would be worthwhile.  I find it useful to know little facts about each part…like the nature of mucus, where it is, its function etc.

Need to study synovial fluid, and bone marrow.  Not exactly sure about these ones when concentrating on body parts.

I’ve also studied more about the brain and the parts of the limbic system and gland systems.

Brain parts meditation example: frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, temporal lobe, corpus collosum, l/r ventricle, 3rd ventricle,  4th ventricle, pituitary gland, hypothalamus, thalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, pons, medulla, cerebellum

Gland meditation example (for men): testicles, prostate, adrenal, pancreas, thymus, thyroid, parathyroid, pituitary, pineal.

thymus is an interesting gland…

where am I?

After a week or so of contemplating the brain and reading several chapters of Zen Physics, this started during a meditation but took a while to surface:

The machine’s alive, exclaims inside
I must insist that I exist
But where I am I can not find
I can not touch these experiences within the mind
Organic machine, so clever
Who feels these feelings?
Dustless, Stainless
Colors only exist here
I can not see, but I’m not blind
Vision exists within the mind
“Out there” is in here.
Where are you?
I can’t find myself
I’m floating
mixing, masticating, consuming, excreting
joining, transmuting
I’m being

 

zen physics and the brain

one of the less clear aspects of my practice is the process of death.  My teacher and from what I know of Buddhist teachings indicate reincarnation & past lives.  These are interesting to me but I don’t have a firm experience with it (such as recalling past lives, or energetic experiences like kundalini awakening).

One book that I have read part way on this subject is called “Zen Physics.”  I have only read some of the first part of the book.  This part of the book is really cool.  The author talks about consciousness, and the nature of the brain.  There are some descriptions of brain disorders, and of studies done on such things as people who had their corpus collosum cut, or even more drastic: one whole hemisphere of the cortex removed.

I wasn’t expecting this study of the nature of the brain in this book.  I was looking more for an understanding of reincarnation (probably in the second half of the book).  However, the stuff in there about the brain has helped me to have less association with the brain.  I feel this is one of the hardest places to not identify with.  e.g. its pretty easy to see that “I am not my hand”…or “I am not my kidney, heart, liver” etc.  But the brain…its harder to understand this one.  The book “Zen Physics” is worthwhile to read if you want to crack into the brain and see how it is not you.

“Zen Physics” is out of print.  It is available for free on the author’s website.

dime dream

Here is my dream journal entry for one of the dreams I had recently:

5/31/2011 “In a big area.  Have to fight a Golem (feet of clay) to get through door.  His weapon has long chain, with flail on end.  Jump over flail.  Run towards him.  He drops a war hammer (large).  I am going to pick up the hammer and smash one of his feet.  Dimes are on the ground (gravel).  I point them out to someone.  Start picking up the dimes.  Some of them are foreign coins (Canadian?)  Drop the coins but then start picking out the dimes.”

A strange thing happened yesterday…I was with my mom at the Ramona Grasslands Preserve.  We were in the gravel parking lot and I found a dime and a penny.  When we were leaving my mom found a dime as well.  Maybe just coincident that I had dreamed about picking up dimes from a gravel lot…but maybe not 🙂

 

body parts meditations

Focusing attention on parts of the body cultivates concentration/relaxation/breath regulation.  All precursors to meditation.  The Buddhist type of body part meditation, I believe, is suppose to also help with culling sexual desire and body identification.  I am familiar with a couple sequences from several sources:

• Yoga Nidra
• My teacher’s relaxation sequence
• My own sequences
• 32 parts of the body Buddhist meditaiton

Yoga Nidra: I enjoy and have memorized Swami-j’s “61 Points Relaxation” for the purpose of “parts mediation” .  It is a good sequence of joints/fingers/toes & also some chakra points.

Yoga Nidra: Rod Stryker’s sequence on “Relax into Greatness”  is also great, and a little more random.  Since its so random I haven’t memorized it…but I think the randomness is intended in his case.  Whereas if you look at 32 body parts mediations, these are intended to be memorized.

Yoga Nidra: The other sequence I have tried is from Jonn Mumford.  He has a script in his kundalini book and also it is recorded on his yoga nidra CD.  This sequence is very similar to Swami-j’s …except with more detail.  For example Swami-j’s sequence would focus on a finger as a whole, whereas Mr. Mumford’s Sequence divides the fingers into 3 sections.

My teacher, Erhard Vogel’s, sequence is one I am familiar with because  we start a lot of our guided meditation with a body parts relaxation sequence.  This sequence was the first time I noticed my hand chakras starting to activate.  I sometimes expand his sequence with more body organs (lungs,spleen,liver,gall bladder,pancreas, kidneys), glands (thymus, thyroid, adrenal,pineal,pituitary).

In my own sequences, I am devising ones that include veins, arteries, lymph system, nervous system.  I have one that deals only with brain parts (pons,cerebellum,circle of willis, pineal gland, pituitary gland, left hemisphere, right hemispere, optic nerve).  I am still devising it and intend to add other parts like the lobes, cortexes etc.

Finally, the 32 parts body meditation from Buddhism…I am not too familiar with it.  I intend to study it because I see the power of this type of meditation and also enjoy learning body anatomy and enjoy how effective this type of mediation is.  Also I see the value of it in helping to purify body views.

neutral vedana

I have been practicing being mindful of the feeling tone “vedana” of experience.  I was noticing my refrigerator sound and saw that it was a neutral sense.  This was a  breakthrough for me because I hadn’t been sensitive to neutral tones.   I am becoming more sensitive to this and see there are  a lot of neutral experiences.

I have lately been trying to note the degree of feeling about each tone.  e.g. “slightly unpleasant”,  “greatly pleasant”.  If the tone is more neutral but still a little pleasant or unpleasant, I will note it as “slightly neutral”.

I think that’s a funny term: “slightly neutral.”  Is there such a thing??? 🙂

 

Akashaya mantra

we are learning an Akashaya mantra at my Ashram.  This mantra has to do with the light of the world/consciousness.  When reciting the mantra I sometimes imagine a column of light coming up from the Earth (ascending from infinity).  The column goes right through my spine.  Also imagine the column descending from the sky.  Another visualization is spherical light emanating from heart center.  Other geometrical forms of light are imagined such as rays or discs.

One thing I realized about consciousness was its “illuminating” quality.  I tend to think of sound for example as coming towards me and then I perceive the sound.  But if you look at the illuminating quality of consciousness, it is actually the consciousness emitting outwards to perceive the sound.  The consciousness illuminates the object is perceives.  The illumination process is outward – coming from the center of being.

namarupa

A new relationship to the body is one thing I experienced after the 5/4/2011 meditation retreat.  When walking, I sensed that the body is lifeless.  Like a marionette or microscope.  Just a tool for experience/expression..  It is a strange feeling…almost dissatisfying, disenchanting.

Another thing I noticed is the body works on its own.  So to say it is “lifeless” is not entirely accurate (but nevertheless the “lifelessness” of the body is something that can be perceived). Not only body but all the faculties (mind,body, feelings,emotions, etc.) are somewhat independent.  It is through willpower or intention that these things can be influenced, and brought to your center in order to stay present.  The source of that willpower must be seen as “not me” or coming from the divine.  To see otherwise is “desire for continued existence”/”false view”/”the process of becoming”.

In a mp3 talk I heard from Joseph Goldstein, he mentioned a sense that the body is being pushed during walking.  That is another thing I have noticed.  That “pushing” is the intention to walk (and can be noticed when staying present).  When not staying present, the pushing is replaced by an “escaping” energy.  The energy to not want to stay present.  This is the mind/body’s way of discarding the walking act as something not important.  This is that “independent” aspect of the mind/body.  When left to its own devices (and not properly conditioned), the mind/body will run away from being present.

prakriti and purusha

In Ayurveda, prakriti is the body constitution.

In Samkhya Prakriti is the natural, phenominal world, and Purusa is the pure consciousness.

In the individual body this can bee seen as well…not only is prakriti the body constitution in Ayurvedic terms, but also it is that matter that is part of the Purusa/Prakriti reality.

In the body Purusa appears autonomous, but is somehow influenced by Prakriti. I think one way to understand this is in terms of the Koshas (speheres of existance). The subtle permeates the gross. The grosser layers of existance are permeated by the more subtle. Purusa can be seen to manifest more on the grosser layers especially the outer two Annamaya, and Pranamaya. Prakriti comes from the subtle layers.

It is possible in the individual to not be aware of the sublte layers (as is the norm…at least with me). This is where people get into trouble; identifying with the mind, body, senses, intellect, intuition. These are all part of Prakriti.  These things are not “you.” These things are non-self.

One intersting thing however, is that the grosser layers can influence the subtler layers. This is seen with the trifecta of  Yoga asana, Pranayama, and Meditation. Asanas deal with the physical layer, but this can affect the energetic and mental layers.  Pranayma can affect both the mental as well as physical layers. Of course, meditation can affect the mental, energetic, and physical layers.  The interesting thing to note is how the gross can affect the subtle.  i.e. the body can affect the energetic and mental layers.

One “ok” analogy which is not totally satisfying but has some merit is:

• Yoga Asana – body (Annamaya kosha)
• Pranayama – energy (Pranamaya kosha)
• Meditation – mind (Manomaya to Anandamaya kosha)

"If you can control the breath or Prana, the mind is also easily
controlled. He who has controlled his mind has also controlled his
breath. If the one is suspended, the other also gets suspended. If
the mind and the Prana are both controlled, you get liberation from
the round of births and deaths and attain Immortality."
- Swami Sivananda

Mother Teresa on silence

Former CBS anchor Dan Rather found himself unprepared for a
television interview with Mother Teresa several years ago.
Ron Mehl described the newsman's encounter this way:

Somehow, all of his standard appraches and formula questions
were inadequate for the task, and the little nun form
Calcutta, sitting beside him so sweetly and tranquilly, didn't
seem inclined to make his task easier.

“When you pray”, asked Rather, “what do you say to God?”
“I don’t say anything,” she replied. “I listen.”
Rather tried another tack. “Well, okay… when God speaks to you,
then, what does He say?”
“He doesn’t say anything. He listens.”
Rather looked bewildered. For an instant, he didn’t know
what to say.
“And if you don’t understand that,” Mother Teresa added,
“I can’t explain it to you.”

"So, you want to be like Christ?: Eight essentials to get you
there" By Charles R. Swindoll