Chakras – How to Meditate

Benefits of Meditation – Develop Mindfulness – Parasympathetic

—An Interview with Dennis Reffner, Part Two—
Go to Part One of this Interview:
Walking Meditation – Level of Awareness – Mindfulness Practice

Meditation How: Would you say that over time throughout your life as you continue to spend time meditating, regardless of the posture or method, that these episodes of anger lessen? In short, do you feel that there are significant benefits of meditation that carry-over into your daily activities… that there is less sinking back into “personal drama” as you put it?

Dennis: Yes, there is a carry-over into daily life. Instead of finding yourself smack dab in the middle of a storm, you can start to see it approaching in the distance. So you have a little time to make a conscious decision…do I want to go down this path of anger….again? Maybe I have other choices! It’s very empowering to actually choose not to get swept away, to react with a little more compassion for yourself, and for others. It feels like growing up a bit, you know?

Meditation How: I love the image of the storm. It is a great metaphor. Do you see a progression in terms of skill as far as this storm goes? I believe one graduates in skill from being able to temper it to being able to alter it and then to finally be able to stop it altogether and turn it into something positive. Do you find this to be true for yourself? Have your storm-transforming skills advanced and improved as you continue to meditate?

Dennis: There is a progression, but sometimes it’s two steps forward, one step back! Algebra may be linear, but life isn’t! I used to argue a lot with my ex-wife, usually when she had been in the whiskey patch, and it was pretty good training…at first, I was angry within about 2 seconds, then after a while, I would get angry in about 5 minutes, then, later on, I could sit and listen to her rant and rave for almost an hour….but still, I always did lose it eventually. I also learned to just get up and quietly walk away, and—eventually… I never came back. So, yes, you do improve, although it may not always feel like it!

Meditation How: The benefits of meditation. How do you suppose it does this? Is it because by meditating we develop mindfulness? Are we just more alert in the present moment that we can witness our emotional lives so much more readily? Is it that we see the scope of our beings more fully? And what name would you give this skill—mindful relating?

Dennis: One way to view it is by thinking about how are nervous system functions. There are two complimentary systems, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The sympathetic nervous system is related to our “fight or flight response” to stress. When engaged, the heart rate and blood pressure go up, we stop digesting food, our pupils dilate, and we get ready to fight, or run away. It’s an ancient response to threats, built into our bodies. The parasympathetic is the “rest and digest” response. Now, the pulse is slower, blood pressure is lower, muscles are relaxed. It’s a physically peaceful mode.

Meditation and mindfulness practices keep us more engaged with the parasympathetic mode of our nervous system, and much more able to respond to situations using a higher level of consciousness. The two systems work synergistically, but it seems that meditation allows the parasympathetic system to have a greater influence. I don’t understand it all well enough to give more information, but there is a book called “The Buddha’s Brain”, that goes into all in detail. The name for this skill— mindful relating sounds about right.

Meditation How: Wow. I am so impressed. This is such great stuff. Our nervous systems are tied into the chakra system and energy centers. Perhaps when we develop mindfulness leads or corresponds to our chakra development. This has been great. Thank you so much for doing the interview. I have really enjoyed it. Perhaps we can do another one on another subject related to meditation at some point.

Dennis: You’re welcome! I enjoyed it as well!

About Dennis: Dennis lives in Northern Colorado and is a long time student of Zen and eastern thought. He is also a certified Yoga Instructor.

Kundalini and Chakras – Practice, Techniques, Feelings

—My Personal Meditation Story, Part Ten—
Go to Part One of— Beginning Meditation – My Meditation Story

Meditation is Being Present
These articles are about meditation. The word “meditation” often only appears at the top as a title. Meditation is about paying attention to what is going on. I want to call the practice of meditation a journey and yet the place we are actually headed is the present moment. How present are we in this present moment? This is the real question, and this is what meditation will answer.

This is why so many of these articles are dealing with different various techniques used to become more present. Meditation is paying attention to what matters—to what is real. There was a great fog in my life that was made of many things—complacency, fear, denial, and many other things. This series of articles is about the processes I went through (and am still going through) to reach the present.

Our Bodies Are Organisms
Feeling grounded is a fine art. Once I had triggered the Kundalini energy, my first challenge was understandably to deal with the energy of the first chakra. The first chakra is located at the base of the spine. It is the energy center that deals with the primal fact of bodily existence. You are a separate being. You are an organism. How does this make you feel?

Terrified and alone is one feeling that accompanies the first chakra. After all, what is it that keeps us alive? How can we manage it? Are we that different from animals? What will I eat? Food, shelter, and what else? How do I defend myself? Need I defend myself? These are all first chakra questions. There are no answers. The challenge is there and real.

Primal Energy is Our Lives
We want to feel safe. We want to believe that there is something protecting us. What exactly, if anything is protecting us? Well, we are much safer just understanding this fact. If we are in denial of our situation as an organism then we are much more at risk. There is a sense of readiness that comes into play when we allow ourselves to get in touch with these feelings.

They are synonymous with instinct. I know for myself that I was not in this place when Kundalini first started pulsating. I was in denial. I believed that somehow there was something outside me protecting me. I believe it must have been the unconscious internalized material that was programmed into me as a child being dragged to church every Sunday.

The Readiness is All
There is a power in innocence. There is a great power in trust. This is sufficient to a certain extent. A child has an aura of protection around them because innocence is sacred. A great percentage of the population recognizes this and holds them in this regard. However, there are those who do not—who prey on innocence. For this remaining percentage, animal instinct and fierce primal power is what nature has given us.

“If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.” —Hamlet, William Shakespeare

This remaining percentage can be likened to predatory animals. The fact is that if we were let alone deep in a real jungle we would face dangerous beasts looking for their next meal. Though they have the potential to rise to great heights of humanity, these human beings are lost in the part of them that is still very animal-like.

Do You Practice Howling?
I have encountered a wide range of people and get a very specific feeling when in the proximity of these beings. There is a particular aura that is given off. This is when our first chakra fires up and alerts us to potential danger. Had I lived in the forest I imagine I would have developed a very sharp antenna and sensitivity to these types of threats.

There are many books on chakras, kundalini and similar subjects. In them you are likely to find exercises for releasing energy, clearing chakras, grounding, and becoming more responsive. Most of the work I did on the first chakra involved screaming and howling. I would release anger and pump myself up to be ready for anything. This is not to suggest that I either anticipated or invited this type of conflict into my daily life. I wanted only to be alive— alive and responsive—ready for life.

Continue with My Meditation Story, Part Eleven

Kundalini and Chakras – Tension, Courage, Healing Self

—My Personal Meditation Story, Part Nine—
Go to Part One of— Beginning Meditation – My Meditation Story

Warding Off Negative Energy
The conflict I was feeling while in public only increased. I was working hard to feel grounded in circumstances that involved others but it remained a problem for years. Eventually I began to develop skills both self-taught and learned from others to protect myself and my sensitivity from the ongoing barrage of thought-forms that were being projected by others.

As I am approaching this description of my process of learning through meditation chronologically, I will present these skills as I learned them. Many of these grounding techniques involved visualization. Some of them involved postures and physical gestures. This problem was one of the hardest for me to deal with. I can state quite confidently now that these issues are almost non-existent for me now.

More Bathtub Healing Work
The next real significant break-through for me occurred in Pennsylvania in 1986. I was out of college and graduate school and was living with a girlfriend in Allentown. This also occurred in the bathtub and after having smoked some pot. I was lying in the bath and dealing with tension as I had learned to. I would use self-massage and acupressure to deal with pockets of tension.

I had by now freed much of the tension from my body and yet there were areas that were difficult or impossible to get to. At this time I ventured into territory that I had until now refrained from dealing with, and that was both my genital area and my stomach. It had always felt to me like an area where I could potentially do some damage if I didn’t know what I was pressing on.

Moving Through Deeper Blocks
I remember just deciding to trust that I was going to be okay. I remember thinking that it was more important to process it than to ignore it due to fear. So I began to manipulate my stomach area and poke my fingers deep into where my internal organs were to try to get at this annoying deep tension. Lots of breathing and moaning—even crying accompanied this.

I used the wooden skewers in my genital area very carefully working on tension there. I have to say that after doing this for a while I actually felt quite a bit of pain. It is a very sensitive area and I needed to approach it slowly and gently. I knew that I was holding a great deal of tension there due to repressed desires. Society does not encourage us to express our sexuality and I was through feeling oppressed.

Kundalini on the Rise
The results were incredible. I began to feel so incredibly grounded and relaxed. I was amazed. It was at this time that I first began to study and learn about Kundalini. Kundalini is otherwise known as the serpent-fire and it is the fire of development. The reason it became a focus of study is because by manipulating the areas of my first and second chakras I had in essence stirred this energy up and it was now on the rise.

Kundalini rises. People experience it differently, but common to all is the fact that it begins at the base of the spine and “snakes” upward. The energy is released and then moves upward chakra by chakra clearing out blocks. It will work on each chakra one by one until it has cleared out the block.

Clearing Blocks in Chakras
This can take years and usually does. It will stay to work on each block as long as is necessary. I suppose in those that refuse to work on their blocks, it can stay there indefinitely. It is now thirty years later and I am still working on it. It is presently in my upper chakras (sixth and seventh) which has been an area particularly subtle to process.

I will share more about this energy movement and the way it manifested for me in an upcoming post. I feel fortunate that I had the courage to work on the blocks and tension myself even in areas that felt taboo, sensitive, and potentially harmful. If this inspires you to do similar work please proceed with caution and (necessary disclaimer) at your own risk.

Continue with My Meditation Story, Part Ten