Downward Facing Blog

With reverence to the downward flow of energy in the body and the role it plays in health, we come to the standard yoga stance;

“Praise to the upward flow of Udana Vayu!”

What this means is, lifting up of your body and mentality on an energetic, directional level; both inside the body and inside your life.

Two different currents of energy are said to move upwards; prana and udana, but the movement patterns are slightly different. Udana rises up along the spine and acts as the force of speech, and is concentrated mostly in the upper chest and throat area. Udana is also the force by which kundalini rises and which the spirit leaves the body a few days after the physical body dies. Prana which has it’s home in the head moves inwards through respiration and has a general movement of expanding and lifting.

Meditate now for a moment:

The Udana Breath
Stand , take a deep breath in through the mouth, drawing your life force up to the throat pit. Visualize a dark blue lotus at the throat that is the source of all sound, both subtle and gross. When exhaling, chant the mantra OM and let it expand through the entire horizon.

There are numerous variations of meditating on the upward force in the form of kundalini along the spinal sushumna channel . I will write about more meditations you can practice later.

So as I mentioned in the last post, sexuality and its physical expression is in large part governed by the downward force Apana. As you know, sexuality can be expressed in so many forms, ranging from violence to pure love. It depends through which lens your sexual energy is being filtered through, or in yoga terms, which chakras are open and functioning to their highest application.

It’s the difference between quickly “getting off” and really experiencing bliss.

This has most relevance to men because women are naturally more balanced in their energy, and most importantly, the physiology of orgasm in men and women. Men obviously lose fluid, and a great deal more energy when we ejaculate.

Here’s the deal though: desire is lost. I believe the French call it the “little death”? When desire is cultivated, not “spent”, and not focused upon one thing or person and left to burn, illuminating the being, we interface with life in a new way. The point is, delayed gratification is the start for all kinds of interesting developments within the love, and connection a couple can experience.

The same means by which we practice lifting the energy through mula bandha, visualization, and breathing can be practiced to delay the orgasm, stop the strong downward movement of energy and simultaneously channel this intense energy UPWARDS along the spine to more subtle and blissful ways of connecting to your lover.

In the meanwhile when you practice your yoga: (or sit at the computer) Concentrate your mind that when you inhale, contract mula bandha (perenial muscles) and visualize the energy moving up the spine like a straw. The bottom of the tailbone is like the bottom of the straw, and the top of the straw can be visualized as the heart or the crown of the head. This and other similar practices are the start of lifting apana to reverse, and channel the sexual energy for higher application.Have a lovely day.

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