Autumn Lesson 3: Unifying Our Energies

Autumn Lesson 3 in The Season of Cups: Unifying Three Essential Types of Vital Energy

In autumn, we focus on cultivating our intrinsic vital energy, or ch'i. The suite of Cups (from the Minor Arcana) is associated with autumn, and with the metaphysical element of water. Thus, when we put our attention on Cups (water) energy, we are really seeking to develop our internal cup, or energy basin.

 

Stephen Covey, in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, identifies the second habit as: Begin with the end in mind.

 

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We previously saw a visual depiction of our goal: Being able to bring our energy up and have it "fountain" or "flow" down around us. We saw this in the classic Rider-Waite interpretation of this card.

 

Our desire to "fountain" our energy is a normal and natural one, especially once we gain some proficiency with energy work. I learned about this energetic practice from Medea, my first teacher in Oriental dance.

 

"Medea had studied yoga. Her lover was also her guru. He had, she explained, taught her to bring up her energy during love-making - and to give it to him! Then they broke up. What, she wondered, was she going to do with her energy, if she wasn't going to give it over to a man? She finally figured it out. As she told us, 'Instead of giving it to him, I've learned to bring it up, and then to "fountain" it back down and take it in again!'" [Unveiling: The Inner Journey, pp. 402-403]

 

In last week's class, we got more specific. We began our energy-study in earnest, with an etude (study piece) cultivate the two vital energy streams that come up on either side of our primary energy pathway in our spine. That is, we focused on the Ida/Pingala energy channels. We saw these two energy channels symbolized by the picture for the Two of Cups.

 

In this Two of Cups picture set, we see a consistent theme - a man and a woman come together to share their energy.

 

In the central picture, we see that the man and the woman each are holding a cup, and are each extending their cup towards each other. We connect this to the first step of the Ida/Pingala energy raising. We note that the two persons seem just a bit tentative; this is their first experience of bringing their unique energies to "cross over" and join with the other. This is where Ida (left) and Pingala (right) cross over at the base of the spine, at the root chakra.

 

Now, "begin[ning] with the end in mind," we take a look at the final card for the Suite of Cups. The Ten of Cups similarly shows a man and a woman, and again each holds a cup.

 

The big differences? Their wrists wrap around each other, and their cups are upraised. There is energy flowing into and out of their cups (the rainbow). The signs of "cups" are all about them; the union of these two energies has resulted in a happy, positive overflowing abundance - complete success!

 

This is our end-goal for our Ida/Pingala energy-raising exercise, and in fact, for the entire Autumn Quarter, when we focus on Cups.

 

Keep in mind that when we look at imagery such as this - strictly in terms of how these images represent steps and challenges (and overcoming challenges) in our personal growth and mastery - that each person or being represents an aspect of ourselves. In the pictures showing a man and a woman, they represent our masculine and feminine psychological poles, and/or our different energies - in this case, specifically the Ida/Pingala energy channels, or nadis.

 

In this context - of knowing our overall goal for the quarter - we look at the Three of Cups.

 

Images for the Three of Cups traditionally show three woman, often dancing together. The middle image here shows them bringing their cups (energies) towards each other, and intertwining their arms.

 

This brings to mind what we learned last week; the Ida and Pingala are on either side of the primary energy channel, the Sushumna. This week, we remind ourselves that our deeper goal is not just to bring energy up the Pingala and Ida channels, but also bring up our primary energy (up the Sushumna channel); this becomes a kundalini awakening - a very advanced step. In our classes, we focus on prerequisites - on the "beginner steps" towards this very advanced goal.

 

One of the most basic, and important, practices for energy cultivation is pranayama. We introduced a "baby pranayama" exercise together with energy raising in the etude that we have set to Rasa's Gayatri Mantra. (Hereafter, for simplicity, we'll refer to this as the Gayatri Mantra energy-raising etude, or simply the Gayatri Mantra etude.)

 

In this Gayatri Mantra etude, we do three things:

• Bring energy up our spines, where we anchor (drop our body weight) and allow our hands to come up each time we "bring up our energy,"
• Coordinate the energy-raising with specific mudras (hand gestures) and with vibrating the words that go with each mudra, and
• Coordinate all of this with a simple (baby-level) pranayama breathing pattern.

 

This is only complicated until it's not.

 

By the end of this quarter, we should be proficient with:

• Bringing energy up to each of seven different chakra-levels (actually, six nadis on the spine and then our crown chakra),
• Coordinating this with seven different mudras and their respective "intonations," along with the ability to do some baby-level pranayama, and
• Some awareness of our Ida/Pingala energy channels, which interweave about our spinal column.

 

Also, by the end of the quarter, we should be much better at:

• "Containing" our energy in our pelvic "energy cauldron," as opposed to spilling it out,
• Minimizing "holes" in our "energy cauldron" (making it a "cauldron" and not a "sieve" or a "colander"), and
• Protecting our energy boundaries (yes, "setting boundaries,") so that we don't unintentionally give away all this lovely energy that we're cultivating.

 

The end result is that we should approach winter solstice with a strong, vibrant energy - ready to share at our discretion as we spend time connecting with friends, family, and colleagues. We should be energetically "insulated" against winter, and be strong for the next aspect of our inner journey.

 

Most of all, we should be feeling "juicy." As in, downright fabulously "delish"! Here's to a great autumn season for all of us!

 

Namaste! - Alay'nya

Energy Dancing with a "Water Feeling": Flowing and Swirling Motions

Playing with Water Energy in Dance: Flowing and Swirling and "Fluid" Motions

The Autumn Equinox marks the transition from the fire energy of summer to the water energy of fall. The notion of having different "elements" (air, earth, water, and fire) comes from our classic Western European esoteric tradition, which teaches that each quarter is governed by a "suite" (swords, pentacles, cups, and rods), and that each of these "suites" is respectively associated with an "element."

This is important for us not just because of our Western European cultural heritage, but because these various "suites" also connect us to growth stages identified in the Kabbalah, which is the earliest known "roadmap" for personal growth (leading, potentially, to God-realization). In a much more immediate and practical vein, these various "elements" connect us to a feeling of what is going on in our environments, and to how our bodies react to the changing seasons.

The "Ace of Cups" - the ultimate symbol for water energy.

It makes sense for us to invoke water energy into our lives after the fire energy of summer. This often correlates with what is going on in our weather, as well. After a late summer drought, we get rains once again. September is, in fact, a prime time for hurricanes!

And whether or not we've quenched the fire energy of our summer by going to the beach (getting a water energy infusion), by the end of summer, we're often "burned out." We desire not only the coolness, but the "swirliness" of water.

Practically speaking, how do we take this into our dance?

There are certain kinds of movements that almost shout water energy to us:

• "Rounded" movements such as hip circles, rib cage circles, and figure-eights,
  
• "Snakey" movements such as snake arms,
  
• "Flowing" movements such as many veil patterns - whether done around our bodies while we are in one place, or as we move across the floor.
  

There are also certain rhythms - or musical sections - that speak a "watery" language to us:

• Chifti tellis,
  
• Taxims, and
  
• "Lyrical" beledis.
  

This autumn, we'll be studying and building choreographies with each of these different "watery" feelings.

Rebuilding Personal Energy (Ch'i)

Building Personal Energy (Ch'i)

Over the past few days, my personal energy levels had dropped down a bit. I was a bit more tired in the afternoons, and craving carbohydrates and sugars. These were tell-tale signs that my energy and balance were off.

To start rebuilding my personal energy, or ch'i, I prepared with a short and easy yoga session (mostly to stretch out the leg meridians; these help with sleep and relaxation), and took a nap. (Always a good choice.)

When I woke up, I found a good action movie on TV that was just getting started, and did a two-hour yoga/core/resistance/stretch session. Just the basics, nothing new and certainly nothing fancy. But I felt hugely better afterwards.

Then I did some juicing with the last of the "juicing greens and veggies" that I had stored in a special kitchenette where I keep the juicer (and a garbage disposal for handling waste, even though I compost most of it). A dedicated area helps, as a week's worth of juicing veggies and greens takes up a lot of room. Also, since this is "raw foods," it's best to keep it from meats and other food types. My ingredients were: a whole small beet, a whole large carrot and a whole Granny Smith apple, a small handful of parsley, a small handful of cress, and a few stalks of celery (including the leafy parts at the top, and the "celery root" area below the stalks). This was one of the best combos I'd ever made, it was great!

By this time, my energy was perking up. I wound up doing this in the middle of the night, so my goal now is to calm down and go back to bed. However, the combination of yoga and exercise, together with the nutrients from the freshly-squeezed greens and veggies, has my energy flowing again.

It is from this slightly more energized state that I started doing some basic T'ai Chi, and the silk-weaving exercises.

I've looked online for vids of the silk-weaving exercises as described in Michael Minik's book (referenced in a previous post), and couldn't find any good, "basic" ones. I'm sure that chi kung training is similar, but at some point I'll try to do a simple little silk-weaving vid, and post on YouTube. This is a great energizing practice, especially when used in conjunction with the basic things that get our bodies moving and our energy flowing.

P.S. - I'm still winding down and getting ready to go back to bed. Herbal tea - I use Celestial Seasoning's "Sleepytime Extra," the valerian helps induce sleep, and stir in a little GABA. Also have a chug of the Calcium/Magnesium components of the two-part liquid vitamins that I get from Dr. Sievers at Care Plus in Fairfax, VA.

It's only when I've done a good bit of yoga and stretching to warm up and get my lower back released, and core work to get my abdominal muscles engaged, that I feel ready to fully take advantage of T'ai Chi. And then, only after all of that do I feel that my body is really ready to work with dance. The elements of Oriental dance involve so much stretching and flexing of our spines, our pelvic girdle, and diaphragms - and so much core strength if we are to do it right - that we can have a really good dance workout if half our time (or even more) is spent with warm-ups and preps, getting our body ready to move in the right way. Then the dance techniques flow from internal strength and connection, rather than from being "imposed."

And we have a much better chance of doing energy circulation work in dance if we've prepared properly.