Online Meditation Practices for Total Well-Being Day 7 & 8 - Subtle Energy Anatomy & Deepening the Experience of the Subtle Body Please note this is a very long session. You might find it helpful to print several copies of the worksheet and put the material for each chakra in the diagram. That way you organize the material for your study. Driver is subtle energy body: The driver is your subtle energy body - through prana and through intention and attention. Seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, hearing all these senses are driven by powers from your subtle body. They cannot work unless your subtle body drives them. It's the body of light inside of this physical one and the more you expand your consciousness, the more you'll perceive it. It can only happen by expanding the consciousness in the mental space. Our multi-dimensionality: We have seven levels in the multi-dimensionality. At the crown of the head there is the sahasrara chakra or thousand-petal lotus chakra and that is the centre of Infinite Consciousness. When it is totally activated we become aware of our cosmic nature, we feel connected to the entire Universe, with no limits, no borders in the consciousness. It's the highest centre in the brain. It opens the brain up gradually until it is completely activated.
The mind operates in that consciousness field. It's connected to the ajna chakra that we experience when we focus at the centre of the eyebrows and at the medulla at the back of the neck. The more you experience the ajna chakra, the more power you will feel over the mind, and you will gain more mental awareness. The air passage goes down from the nose to the lungs but the pranic energy that is connected to the medulla point will begin to energize the entire brain, so you can breathe prana into the brain. That's what we have been doing in the session. You have a subtle energy centre in the throat area called the Vishuddha chakra. Vishuddha means "pure". When you bring the prana into this centre as you breathe, you are able to have this experience of limitless space in the mind. An indriya is a power that drives the senses. It is not in the physical body; it's in your subtle body. So the power that drives the sense of hearing is in your subtle body. When you focus on this throat centre your hearing becomes more sensitized and the connection with space becomes more manifest in your being. True well-being means balance: The chakras from the throat to the root are connected to the senses and the elements of Nature. This is how your subtle body associates with the senses and with the elements of Nature. If you want to come into true well-being that also means harmonious balance with Nature then you need to understand the mind with the subtle energy anatomy. Not only understand it but realize it in your own awareness, begin to feel the power of it, the experience of it.
We have an energy centre at the heart that is connected to the sense of touch. When you come into that heart consciousness you feel that your hands and your touch are energized. So if you want to master the sense of touch and the energy behind touch you need to experience that energy centre of the heart. It's connected to the air element and you can understand why because the lungs are in this area. Navel centre is associated with the element of fire and the sense of sight. Can you understand why fire and sight are related? Fire creates light and light allows us to see, so this centre is connected to this power of seeing. When you bring your prana here you feel the body becomes fired up and you can feel all your senses coming alive in the body. Sight becomes even more powerful. Lower down at the sexual centre, we have a chakra. It is connected to the element of water. You feel that relationship of your consciousness with the energy of the water element, and that is connected to the power of taste in the subtle body, and the tongue. Sanskrit names of the chakras: The sacral is called Swadisthana chakra. Swadisthana means "Her own abode", so it's a powerful place where the energy operates in the human experience. The navel centre is called Manipura chakra. Mani means "jewel" and Pura is the "city". Manipura means "the city of jewels", so Manipura is the city of light. Heart chakra is called Anahata chakra. Anahata means "making sound without striking" and here is where subtle sound
comes without the striking of the tongue. So before we speak through the voice the sound is already in the subtle domain in the anahata or non-striking mode. It becomes a striking mode when you use the mouth. So it is the subtle area of sound. The root centre is associated with the earth element and with the power of smelling. So the power of smelling, tasting, seeing, touching, and hearing are in the subtle body and called gyan indriyas because they bring knowledge to us. Manas, indriyas, bhutas: That part of the mind that is engaged with the power of the senses (indriyas) and the elements of Nature is called manas. The elements of Nature are called bhutas. When you begin to look at the relationship between manas, indriyas and bhutas, you can really learn to have a harmonious relationship with the elements of Nature and the powers of your senses. Then your senses come alive. You know how to power them up and you know how to develop a harmonious relationship with the world around you. Then smelling and eating and tasting and seeing and touching and hearing becomes exciting! If you want to have the most exciting relationship with your body as a soul being, or subtle energy being, you need to understand the subtle science of well-being. Guided Meditation The first thing to do is to centre in the mental space. The mental space gives us the sense of identity, the ego. It gives us the power of reason. When you breathe, give attention to the third eye and medulla so you can really focus on the prana that s coming into the brain. And remember the secret of breathing: if you push the air out you ll be able to pull more air
into your lungs, and you can generate more pranic power by extending the breath. That brings you into pranayama, which means extension of the prana that you are using (the pranic power). Push the air out, focus at the centre of the eyebrows, back of the neck focus at the medulla, and use the ujjayi breath. Centre in that mental space giving attention to the peacefulness, the silence, and the focusing power that you have. And give attention to the totality of your being. Breathing out, take your attention down the spine; all the energy centres are there right down to the root. Create a relationship with your physicality by breathing down to the root and then holding the root area firmly, then breathing along the spinal column to the back of the neck at the medulla point and into the brain. Become conscious now of the senses. When you breathe into the throat area sense of hearing, element of space - take a moment to really begin to appreciate the connection of your throat centre (energy centre) with hearing. The ear is not far away and the mind is not far away, the mental chakra is not far away. Look at the relationship now between hearing, listening to the mind and spaciousness in the mind, limitlessness in the mind. And there you re coming into throat centre consciousness. You re coming into the power of hearing. Not the ear, but the power of hearing, the subtle power of hearing. Breathe in and out with an extended breath - with a pause at the end of the out-breath and a pause at the end of the in-breath - and this is how you energize the centre of the throat and you energize the centre of the mind. Now let s take the consciousness to the heart. Remember, your sense of touch is going to be heightened. You ll begin to experience the power behind touch, and you re developing a relationship with the air element. As you open up the chest to breathe, the joy of breathing comes, and power comes to the hand to float, to be energized. Your touch is empowered. Open up your loving being so your mind becomes fragrant with that loving energy of being. Observe how the manas, the
part of the mind connected to the senses, becomes pacified by the pranayama experience, extending the energy of the breath. And here if you can appreciate, you re expanding your consciousness. You re going beyond the physical into the subtle realm, into your soul being. Here you can see clearly how your meditation is influencing your state of well-being. So your listening also comes down to the heart and the heart mind. When you repeat a mantra, for example, in your subtle body, you listen to the sound in the heart space and then you appreciate what the anahata experience is, the subtle sound. The belly area: Here is the manipura chakra. It fires up the digestion, fires up the entire body, and fires up the activity in every cell. It puts you into a relationship with the fire element, and that fire in the body creates this radiance of light in your entire being. It s connected to the power of sight, the power of seeing, and the power of seeing in the subtle energy field is connected to the subtle colours that you may see in your meditation. Seeing is not just gross, it s also subtle. So it s also connected to the third eye seeing. Third eye is the subtle eye, the subtle perception. So as you breathe, you will actually feel a big boost in the nervous system of the gut. It brings vital power into your gut. The body feels a lot of fire in its being which brings confidence and brightness to the mind, a spring in your step, and vital power to the voice. The pranayama experience at the gut is that graceful breathing. Remember, when you breathe out completely you can breathe in deeply. So here your consciousness, through the mind, the ego, is in a relationship with the fire element, vitality, and perception both subtle and gross. Breathe into that centre just above the sexual organ, and stay in connection with the belly, with the heart, with the throat, and with the brow. You influence the vitality of your body but that subtle centre has to be in a relationship with the navel chakra, with the heart chakra, with the throat chakra, and with the brow chakra. So when you breathe out, take your consciousness down the spinal column, down to that sacral centre. And when you breathe in, take your attention up the
spinal column, opening up the belly, opening up the chest, breathing into the throat. So now your mind, your manas, is having a harmonious relationship with the senses of hearing, touching, seeing, and tasting. The sacral chakra is related to the sense of taste. We have gross taste and we have subtle taste. Now take your attention right down to the root centre, grounding in the physical body but from your subtle body, so you create a relationship with the perineum centre. When you breathe in, you re breathing in from that perineum area by contracting it gently and taking your consciousness there. You re going to feel grounded in the body and that s associated with the sense of smell. Smell becomes heightened; you can actually feel it. There s a greater relationship of your soul being with the gross body. So learn to build that relationship with your perineum area by breathing down into it and breathing in from it. So now there should be total spinal column awareness and an appreciation for the consciousness of the elements, the powers of the senses and the mind associated with them. Learning this science and deepening this relationship is what makes meditation super exciting. If you observe carefully, you re more in balance than when you began the meditation. Your senses are more heightened so that in your activities today you ll have a better relationship with your senses smelling, tasting, seeing, touching, hearing - and you ll have a better relationship with the elements of Nature. This makes for harmonious co-existence. Affirmation: I centre my consciousness in that Infinite Being within, that source of Infinite Being, that source of infinite peace, love, goodness, wisdom and vitality. I centre my consciousness in every part of my being, every level of my being. And I stay centered there, aligned to the Divine, that my every expression in this day my every thought, my every word, my every action be a blessing to my world. I give thanks for all the blessings I have received and I pray to continue to be worthy. Om peace, peace, peace
Contemplation A guide for your personal reflections and self inquiry Deepening The Experience of the Subtle Being The core ideas for Day 8 is very similar to that of Day 7. Please review the notes. Print out the diagram below and use the core ideas document from Day 7 to help you fill in the following: 1. The experience of subtle being at every chakra. 2. The sense associated with every chakra. 3. The element associated with every chakra.