Friday, November 30, 2012

How I got started with The Backward Flowing Method

Back in December of 2009 I knew I had to improve my life. I had started to feel that I deserved more happiness, which was a big improvement. Prior to this I would listen to audio recordings about how to manifest more abundance and would get stuck on the earliest stages — the ones that say decide what you want. My problem was that although I knew I wanted more, I wasn't sure I cared enough to ever make it happen. My job was going to end in a few months and nothing seemed to be worth doing up until this time. I started doing daily meditation with only 15 minutes per day, focusing on the breath at the stomach level. This was part of something I was taught at the time, to increase Yang Qi in the tan tien. It is a blue energy from the air which tends to rise through the body.

A chiropractor friend who teaches Chi Kung had told me that my meditation would be more Yang if I held my left hand over my right in dhyana mudra, a common position for holding the hands while meditating. The person who was teaching me at the time had permission from his teacher to start a group of his own students, but that permission seemed to have been revoked. The first thing that changed was I no longer felt cold or sleepy while meditating. This had been a problem from the beginning. I also felt more like myself at night in dreams, to the point of beginning to remember biographical information. My confidence increased.

In January 2010, I heard about Common Sense Kundalini. Before I knew what it was, I knew it was something I could be interested in. I had been reading about Kundalini for a long time.

In 1999, I received Shaktipat. In 2002, Kundalini Reiki. I have been told by many people who teach energy work that my Kundalini was already active and working on clearing the channels in my bodies. There were two problems, however. The first was that the results were inconsistent, and the second was that I kept having to ask other people how I was doing.

I had received a seemingly random e-mail leading me to a website with an approach to Kundalini based on working with the body and following a consistent formula to gain consistent results: The Backward Flowing Method. I listened to the podcasts and read the technique on the website. I bought the CD on deep diaphragmatic breathing and read both e-books.

I realized that all I really had to do was continue the same meditation I was already doing, but with using the 4:4:4:4 breathing pattern. If the formula worked, then it would work for me also.

I was concerned that something often works for the person who creates it, but when other people try to achieve the same results, it doesn't work for them. On the other hand, if the formula didn't work for me, I was still improving my concentration and building up Yang Qi. There was nothing to lose. I really liked the idea of reaching the "it does you" phase, as opposed to the "you do it" phase where I had spent all my time. What really convinced me was the prospect of being able to reach a stage called Life Force Activation, which would follow me into future lives. It seemed very reasonable that this was so, and it seemed like the best possible insurance policy for my future development. I began to increase the amount of time I spent meditating.

In March 2010 I stopped going to work. It made sense to stop because they weren't going to keep paying me. They took my badge and my electronic door key, too, so getting in would have been a challenge. Even so, it felt like I was abandoning my duties by not getting up to catch the bus and going to my job. I had been spending well over 40 hours at work - often around 50 to 60. By bus, it took an hour each way to get there and back.

My job was more stressful than I realized. Within a week of not doing it anymore, I started to feel a lot better. I was up to an hour per day of meditation in the full lotus posture and often found myself doing the diaphragmatic breathing during the day. I wasn't sure when my 100 day meditation actually started, but I felt that I was making good progress. At the end of the month I started to sense the energy moving in a circular motion deep in my belly, a sign I had been looking for. The whole purpose was to reverse this energy, but I wasn't sure it was the real thing. I kept observing it, and it didn't last.

In April 2010, the energy current come back, and I reversed it. This actually happened more than once — there were false alarms, because I knew what I wanted to happen. Eventually, it took. I tried to reverse the reversal I had just accomplished, but that didn't work. It kept moving in the new — "the corrected" — direction. I realized I really was in the stage where nothing seems to be happening.

Naturally I became impatient. I didn't know what else to do, so I kept going. It didn't really feel very satisfying. I ignored the current which was moving the way I wanted it to because I didn't want to interfere with it. I focused on the breathing. Then something unusual happened. It felt like a tiny egg cracking at the base of my spine.

I remember thinking that this was supposed to happen, but I never really believed it would work that way for me. It felt so unusual, like a thick fluid, which was being pulled upward.

I was glad that this had happened during meditation and not while I was busy doing something else, so I might not have been aware of it. I knew the next thing that would happen was that the energy was going to flow upward to the top of my head. Once again — there was nothing for me to do. I had to allow this to happen; all I could do was improve conditions that made easier to accomplish. I had been a vegetarian for years, the ideal condition for awakening Kundalini. I kept meditating. My right knee began to be a problem, but I pushed forward.

In May 2010, I found that massage and acupuncture really helped control side effects. When I closed my eyes and tried to sleep at night, my legs would kick and it felt like my back was bending in unusual directions. I had headaches and nausea. I kept going with the meditation. It seemed to be taking longer for the energy to reach the top of my head than I supposed it would, but it was going in the right direction. The lower back was the part that took the most time. When I focused my attention on my back, it felt first like a pressure and then in more detail, a liquid in the middle of my back.

In June 2010 I was fairly certain that the energy had reached the top of my head and that something new was starting. It was difficult to tell, because the higher up the energy went, the more it seemed to be spreading to the sides. It seemed like the bulk of the current had been preceded by a part of the energy scouting ahead.

Finally the main current reached the top. To my surprise, rather than an intensification of the upward rising current, it seemed that the energy was flowing back down to fill my entire body.

I double-checked my observations. I reasoned that the energy was filling in my entire body and aura was confirmed, but I was being told something else. Previously I'd had a sense of being cut off from the universe; now that sense of separation was disappearing. Finally, I saw myself as part of the universe, more supported in my surroundings. This came as a surprise, but it felt right, an unexpected bonus.

My knee had reached a point where it hurt to walk. Stairs were especially uncomfortable. I switched from seated meditation to walking meditation. The main thing, though, was confirming that The Backward Flowing Method had worked for me. It felt more like a beginning than an end. I was confident everything was as it should be. I would now proceed according to the Kundalini's plan for me, as quickly and thoroughly as possible. It was doing me.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

In Today's Health News: A Reflection

Why is it economists use a basket of products to estimate inflation, but they never include truly inflationary products?

I ask because this entry from Reuters Health just crossed my desk:
“U.S. price increases on popular branded drugs in the past year have been more than six times the overall rate of inflation for consumer goods, while spending on specialty medications is up nearly 23 percent, according to data compiled by Express Scripts for its first quarterly drug trend report.”
Listening
Reading this reminded me of a story a woman told me back in 1991. She'd heard about a doctor in the UK who had discovered a regimen for treating high blood pressure without drugs. She consulted this physician not because she was trying to save money, but because she wanted to find release from the monotonous obligation of taking so many drugs. 

In the back of her mind she had always believed she could find a way to stop; she just didn't know where to begin. There must be a way. If she could only find someone.

She was 35-years-old when a friend told her about the UK doctor and she consulted him. After he'd outlined his treatment, she had more than a few reservations.

Could this treatment — which, after an initial diagnosis and preliminary deep rest period, included a cold turkey break from all medication — work? 

The critical factor in the treatment was a point of no return, akin to stepping off a cliff. No use even considering it, much less undertaking it, she told herself, if I cannot summon the courage to carry it through. She decided to go ahead. 

First, she was heavily sedated for a week, rendered unable even to sit up and read. She lay in bed, drifting into a kind of induced base state: the mind wiped clean. Manchurian Candidate territory — wipe clean to reprogram.

His research had determined that there were several types of high blood pressure patients, the treatable kind being the ones whose basic nature was perfectionist. The ones who worried about not achieving or under achieving, not measuring up to personal standards. After an exhaustive interview process, he determined that this woman belonged in that category and could therefore be treated. Why not all patients? His research showed that some patients actually have high blood pressure as a physical condition; others, like the woman, only self-induce the condition.

The next step was getting her to buy in. Once this was accomplished, a period of deep sedation began. This entailed using a series of drugs; it also entailed finding a place where the drugs could be administered, the patient could be cared for, undisturbed. Again, the idea of inducing a kind of back to the womb state. A letting go of all worldly concerns: memories, dreams, obligations, and reflections.

Slowly the patient emerged from deep slumber, under close supervision. She stayed in the clinic for two more weeks, learning to meditate and exercise. Nothing fancy. No religious affiliations, no Kundalini meditation, just a homemade meditation focused on recalling the sedated slumber state. Most important of all, she learned to memorize the cleared state — a kind of bio-feedback exercise. This enabled her to return to that state at any moment and to hold it steady until she was confident that the desired state could be summoned at any moment, even at moments when she felt conditions conducive to high blood pressure.

Graduation consisted of a formal sealing up of pillboxes. The day of reintroduction into the world came and went.

I lost touch with the woman a few years later. Up to that point, she was still medication free. Not being a medical professional, I can't comment on the treatment or on the doctor's competence. I can say that I knew her before and after and I have firsthand knowledge that her story is accurate.

How does her story pertain to the current inflationary price of prescription medication? The manufacturers know there are no limits that the public will not go to to get their prescribed medications. Ergo, no limits on the prices they set.

Do other physicians offer this type of treatment? Will treatments like this become part of the medical lexicon? Can patients take part in their treatment? Are other trials similar to this taking place?

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

My Daily Dose Workout

Everyone does some form of exercise; even advanced couch potato-ism, or the utter lack of exercise, is a statement on the issue. Okay, maybe it's only to take a stand against it. Maybe it's laziness. Whatever. It is what it is. All I can do is present my meager workout and the reasons behind each component.

By most workout standards, mine isn't very impressive.

I spread it out over the day. Starting with 10-20 squats when I get up, I add various pieces during the day in no particular order:
  • Squats
  • Hatha Yoga
  • 2-3 mile walk
  • Nordic Track
  • Slant board
  • The Nauli
  • Earthing
I'm not out to set records or build washboard abs; I'm merely seeking to create a rounded approach to preserving the health of my body. After all, most of my exercise is accomplished during meditation: action through non-action. When the Kundalini is at its most invigorating. Seizing control of my being, taking inventory, sending energy throughout my Being.

I've been doing the same Yoga routine for many years now; it's the centerpiece of my workout. As for walking, I'm blessed to have a choice of terrains, from moody seascapes...
Pacific coast off Trinidad
...to sparkling bird sanctuaries in the low country marshlands.
Arcata Marsh
The walk over, I'm back at writing and editing. Somewhere along the way, I'll come back to the present and spend 5-10 minutes on the Nordic Track. Not one of the new fancy ones, the Classic Cross Country Skier:

This device is the closet thing to real cross-country skiing. Yes, it's expensive, but I've had it for 21 years, enough time to amortize the cost. No. it's probably not in vogue. So what? It serves. And once you start gliding, you can close your eyes and imagine the French Jura mountains.

I finish the day on my slant board. It's not the most well-known device, and active, it isn't. But although it is passive, I can feel a lot going on inside me as I lie there.

Ten to fifteen minutes and all my organs are back in the right places. Blood is circulating in new, refreshing ways, and for a moment gravity has been held to a standstill.

The manufacturer tells us, "Slant boards have been popular in the natural health and beauty fields for many years. The BodySlant works on the same principal as a slant board. And, as recommended by slant board advocates, the height of the BodySlant (both models) in the slant position is 14 inches. Laying on the BodySlant is a passive position. It's a lazy way to perk up you youth and vitality. Still, if inverting your body is a topsy-turvy concept to you, you may wish to seek the advise of a wellness expert before you begin. But, you can't escape Gravity's pitfalls on this planet. And the BodySlant, in this light, is certainly user friendly for everyone."

That's my workout: desultory, almost without purpose.

Recently, I've added Earthing, which, from the way it works, would seem to be completely passive. Yet it's quite active in that it's constantly infusing my body with the Earth's energy.

 

According to Earthing literature:
"Earthing is a fast-growing movement based upon the major discovery that connecting to the Earth's natural energy is foundational for vibrant health."
In keeping with my sensitivity to all energy sources, both positive and negative, I definitely feel a tingling sensation as the Earth's energy flows into my body. Earthing products bring the healthy equivalent of walking barefoot indoors to your high rise condo or your second floor bedroom. Check out the science behind it.

The main thing is: You must remain health-consciously vigilant. Take charge of your health care. Manage it yourself — to the best of your ability. Here's a good reason why Number One (your Being) needs to look after your own body and your health:
 
Insurers seek to cash in on unhealthy lifestyles
"British pension providers are asking insurers to identify people likely to die young in a bid to reduce the amount of retirement income they have to pay out.


"Pension trustees ask people to provide private medical information. The data is then given to an insurer which may take on the brunt of the liabilities of the pension scheme if it believes members will die shortly after retirement."



My Take
We need the will, both individual and collective, for better health. A desire that influences, and ultimately diminishes, the numbers of preexisting conditions. After all, what are preexisting conditions but exposure to the various adverse, de-generative conditions of modern life.



Surely they are not the by-product of the Cosmic numbers game, where conditions are handed out before birth? A this-time-around-it's-your-turn kind of thing? The universe determining who gets the short end of the stick. Individual and collective will can shape our health Get us to a point where fewer people have these conditions. Is it easy? No. But it is possible.