Blog | Arthur Kilmurray | Explorations in Yoga, the Re-Awakening of the Sacred Feminine, and the Emerging Planetary Consciousness

The awakening process is fascinating, to say the least. Never what we might have imagined. Way too complex for that, and the infinite is beyond even imagination. But if there is a constant lesson, it is that awakening requires continuous growth, on as many levels as possible. These include emotionally, spiritually and in the field of expertise used by your soul to contribute to the evolution of the the planet. Another word for growth is integration where new skills and insights continue to feed a deepening complexity in our abilities to sense and respond to our world, as individuals, as communities, and as the human species discovering its place in the great stream of life.

Emotional Awakening

It would be easy argument to say that emotional growth is the most important of them all, as it is the realm of emotional confusion and dysfunction that creates all of the damage and destruction we witness daily here on Mother Earth. And it is easy to do a spiritual bypass where you throw your self so completely into your spiritual practice that you avoid or deny the shadow side of your unconscious. These emotionally traumatized parts of yourself that desperately need to be healed, but are so painful that denial seems a better option, contribute to create suffering for self and others. Communities as well as individuals can suffer from the spiritual by-pass syndrome. All the asana or meditation in the world is not going to help grow the emotional body the way therapy and a relational-field-based inter-personal spiritual exploration will.

“The internalization of our spiritual practice and the embodiment of a higher consciousness is not expressed in the experimental bubble of retreat centers, but in challenging life situations, in the marketplace, when deployed in areas of crisis, and in the confrontation with poverty, illness and conflicts.” ~ Thomas Hübl

Thomas Hübl is a contemporary spiritual teacher who deeply engages the emotional-relational aspect of ourselves while grounding this in the “Infinite Absolute” of spirit. He brings a mystical fire to his teachings that stems from his own continuous growth and practice in developing a collective planetary and cosmic consciousness. Thomas lives at the ‘field’ level of consciousness, where in his teachings, he connects his students to the ‘relational fields’ and the ‘collective field of information’ ever available to us if we can learn how to access it. He also uses sound in the form of solo or group ‘toning’ to generate sonic fields of coherence and healing. If you want to travel in the fast lane of growth and awakening, hitch your wagon to Thomas.

Spiritual Awakening

Spiritual awakening is the ‘realization’ that my fundamental essence, the ‘I am’, is ‘Infinite-Absolute-Stillness’, the ‘drashtuh svarupe’ of Yoga Sutra I-3. Spiritual growth is learning to rest in, and gradually stabilizing your presence here, (avasthanam), independent of whatever may be happening at any of the levels of the world of form. In the previous post the term ‘turiya’ was introduced by my dream guru, Robert Moss, to describe this universal presence. His quote was taken from the Spanda Karikas, a sacred text of Kashmiri Shavism and here I would like to present the root source of ‘turiya’, the Mandukya Upanishad. This is the shortest of the Upanishads, the Vedic texts that, along with the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras, constitute the basis of Vedanta philosophy. In the twelve verses of the Mandukya Upanishad, unique in the Upanishads for having no imagery, dialogue, rituals or tangible forms of worship, the individual and universal expressions of ‘Infinite-Absolute-Stillness’, Atman and Brahman are presented and equated. They are one in the same. Atman is turiya is Brahman, tat tvam asi.

The four states of consciousness, waking, dreaming, deep sleep and turiya (which is not a state, but the root source of the other three!), are related to OM, or AUM as it is spelled out in Sanskrit. A is the waking state, U the dreaming, M the deep sleep, and the silence as M dissolves is turiya. Thus the mantra OM designates both Atman and Brahman. Yoga Sutras I-27 – I-29 also discuss this.

Soul Awakening

What is ‘Soul? In a series of previous blogs beginning here I wrote about aspects of soulness. Here we will use soul to describe the unique history, creative gifts and challenges we bring to this incarnation. As such, awakening and growing the soul requires the ability to ask deep questions about our choices in life. Following someone else’s script or living someone else’s life does not nourish the soul. So the first question asked by the soul is this. “Have I given away my power to a leader, or group who claim authority?” It is easier, on a simple level, to let others have the responsibility, especially when there is a large group buying into the scene and enjoying the power. However, in the long run the soul suffers and the collective stagnates at best. A group that stifles individual creative expression cannot grow in any meaningful way. This is true in the corporate world, the artistic world and in spiritual and religious communities.

The next question the soul asks is ” can I let go of what I know, and especially what I think I know, and rest in ‘not-knowing’? Suzuki Roshi’s classic, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” addresses this question head on. His opening line states:

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”
First, you cannot hold onto the ‘Truth’, but you can rest in it, if you let go, (see Yoga Sutras I-23 – I-29). Secondly, you will find that letting go of stuff doesn’t mean it goes away. It just floats there, and if you need it you can pick it up and use it, and if you realize it no longer serves you, than you leave it be. This is challenging for those with years of experience in a subject. The history of science is filled with examples of major breakthroughs and insights that were ridiculed and rejected by ‘establishment scientists that were stuck on their own limited vision. Beginner’s mind was not included in their curriculum.

My own yoga practice has continuously been overhauled, sometimes painfully so, by insights previously un-imagined, and discovered outside the ‘yoga world’. That which is of value returns again and again, so it is not a matter of re-inventing the wheel, but of expanding our view, our horizon, the magnitude of our vision. The collective vision is extraordinarily rich, but we have to step outside of our comfort zone to see with new eyes. My own understanding of Iyengar’s practice and depth of knowledge of yoga, which is fundamentally my own soul path, has been greatly enhanced by the creative insights of explorers in other realms of somatics and spiritual practices.

Of course, the egoic structures of the mind do not like change, insecurity, not knowing, being a beginner, so stirring the soul is not always pleasant. This is why new resources of support can be very helpful. As we gain more ground in the shamanic realms and other levels of non local reality, we discover a support system used by shamans and dream travelers for millenia. As a collective, we humans are total beginners here, but our historical moment is primed for a rapid expansion of sensitivity, insight and integration, if we can summon up the patience and courage to plunge into this infinite mystery. The world we are creating begins here, and right now collective unconscious fears are driving the agendas of the political and economic powers. We can change this, now. To re-quote Thomas Hubl,

$omfractal$ Part 1: Dream Practice

“In order to acquire continuity of consciousness, unaffected by lapses into unconscious states, you must hold yourself at the junction of all the states, which constitutes the links between sleeping, dreaming and waking: this is turiya, the fourth state.”

Adapted from the Spanda Karikas of Vasagupta a tenth century Tantric text.

Robert Moss uses this quote at the beginning of one of our Quantum Dreaming sessions as it describes the essence of the dream practice. Spanda is a Sanskrit word denoting ” active, throbbing, pulsating with life” and refers to the dynamic tension between Shiva and Shakti, or between Purusha and Prakriti, the Seer and the Seen, to use Patanjali’s terminology. Another word for the immediate and personal experience of spanda is kundalini. The Spanda Karikas, along with the Shiva Sutras, are key texts in the Kashmir Shaivism tradition, and it was delightful to see this being integrated in to the Quantum Dream teaching. It’s all yoga!

This fourth state, pure awareness without attributes, is the core or foundation of the other three states. The Yoga Sutras, in I-3, describe this as ‘drashtuh svarupe’ the the true nature of the Seer, and we experience this as the infinite ever-present dynamic stillness awakened in practice. In savasana, we begin the journey, in stillness, from waking to dream, but pause in between, in the twilight zone, where we are no longer awake, but have not dropped into sleep. Here imagination, or vikalpa, one of the five vrttis mentioned by Patanjali in I-6 and I-9, is activated.

Imagination can be seen as a creative mental process that is fed by streams of energy and information. If the only streams feeding imagination are our superficial thinking and disturbed emotions, our imagination can be self destructive. However, if our imagination can tap into a deeper stream of our own souls yearning and creative impulses, whole new worlds can open, full of healing and growth. If we go further and let our imagination tap into the stream of the creativity of the whole universe, then we become active participants in the cosmic creation process. These imaginal realms are explored in active dreaming.

An asana practice based on sensitivity and deepening perception is the foundation for the creative imagination. Being able to drop into the energy flows and fields of our body, of organs and cells and fluids, and swim around in there is great preparation for active dreaming. In active dreaming, we consciously enter the ‘savasana twilight zone’ and journey to imaginal realms to study, heal, explore and discover new levels of awareness and consciousness. We use archetypal structures as starting points for these journeys that offer an infinite number of possibilities for our own unique experiences. In the previous blog, two active dream structures were presented for your explorations. Here is another I learned from Hank Wesselman, my shamanic guide and it is well presented in his book seen below.

The Sacred Garden

The Sacred Garden can be a home base for our explorations in non-local consciousness. It is a place of “for personal empowerment, as well as physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual restoration.” It is also a jumping off point for further journeys. According to Hank, the garden operates under four primary rules. 1. Everything in the garden symbolizes some aspect of our lives or experience. 2. Everything in the garden can be communicated with. You can ask questions and receive answers, although the language may be a bit different from our normal daily experience. 3. You can change your garden; add structures, plants, invite visitors and full time inhabitants; or remove the same. 4. As you garden changes, some aspect of your life will change.

Sitting or lying in a comfortable position, dropping into ‘savasana’ consciousness, imagine a place where you know you are totally safe and nurtured. It may be from your child hood, or any part of your life, and we are calling it a garden, but it is a place where you can go and take refuge. Begin to notice the sensory details: how it smells, the sounds, the lighting, the structures. It can be small or large. It is your imaginary creation, but you want to begin to stabilize the basics so you can return here again and again. It may become quite elaborate over time. (Hank told us his sacred garden has a house with a house keeper and he will go there at death for the bardo phase as he decides what to do next.) Feel free to move things around. I have towers, fountains and underground rivers in mine. Lots of water! Find a place in the garden that is the most powerful, where you can go to recharge and also begin other journeys. It may be at the foot of a tree, or inside a cave, or in the middle of a flower bed. Trust your inner psychic instincts and imagination to help you out here. Upon your return to waking consciousness, take notes to help anchor your experience. Return to it daily for practice.

Part 2: Asana Practice

Continue to release the spinal column in bridge, supported and unsupported, and begin to inhabit the interior of the spine. Find the spinal canal and the spinal discs, including the annular ring and the nucleus. Feel the spaces where the nerves emerge as the spine decompresses. Use breathing to help. Carry this into sitting, standing, and postures, and your daily life. Feel the physical body becoming more ethereal, even if old injuries and traumas stand out as anything but ethereal. Approach these traumatized areas from spaciousness, support and flow and find how and where more integration can arise. Enjoy your practice in whatever form it may take.

As I am being challenged by my right hip joint these days, my journeys involve the bone fields of the femur head and acetabulum. My DFL is broken and the femur has lost an integral connection with my core. Thus my contraction and tension between the trochanters. I have found that creating a circular flow around the rim of the acetablum helps trace the three bones: illium, ischium and pubis and help align them to each other energetically. Also, once inside my sacrum, I can adjust the illium and widen the pelvic space with a fish body action. This is helping the psoas and iilicus muscles to reconnect diaphragm to feet.

There is also a spiral through each of the pelvic bones centered on the acetabulum. If you can visualize the pelvic bone beginning as a single plane, the illium rotates up and externally, while the ischium (sitting bone) rotates down ward and internally, twisting the whole bone in opposite directions. This spiral is blocked on my right side, but slowly opening back up. Working at this level, especially with an injury or trauma, is a slow process, but a gold mine for learning about energy flow, fields, and simple walking. Jump in there and play.

Monthly Archives: June 2016

Continuing to Grow

Yoga and Active Dreaming