Keys to understanding the universe #4: the right posture

As explained in the second last article of this series, directions do influence us, and even the most materialistic inclined people know since body-building that specific exercises do train specific muscle groups.

The same applies to the mind which is known since thousands of years through the many yoga-postures which in its beginning stage of becoming known in the west still are merely seen as a female version of physical wellness, but the spiritual principles behind them are rarely understood.

However, in all spiritual directions, including the mainstream religions, specific postures were and are embedded in rituals, which then create a process the human has to undergo in order to transform. In a christian mess humble kneeling, attentive standing and sitting is regulated to emphasise on the attitude one should have during certain parts, the folding of hands balances out the left and right brain hemispheres, the islamic kneeling and bowing down which also is a yoga-kriya, levels the heart with the brain to prepare it for devotion, Ashtanga Yoga focusses on the transformation between several postures, and many more aspects can be found everywhere.

But in order to keep it simple let us focus on the most basic postures which serve as a root of them all and start with the upright position. Why do we always speak from heavenly forces from above? Christians believe in heaven, but we all know that there is no “angel-harp-bliss” somewhere up there. So we have to look at what does happen to us when we are “drawn down” or “uplifted”. Gravity pulls us not actually down, but to the largest body of matter, in our case to earth, so over millennia we agreed on calling earths gravity pull down. But on a cosmic scale we merely are pulled to our nearest matter, hence the downward movement is associated with materialism, whilst the upward movement relates to a transformation out of it. Look at humans on earth – technically they don’t stand up, but out into the universe:

And now let us see the universe as a bunch of neurones and synapses: The synapses are the knot-like structures, like our planet earth, and the neurones are the connections in between them. In intelligent people the connections between the synapses are improved as the term “lateral thinking” does indicate. When I was in a rehabilitation centre for stroke-recoverers I realised that the less mentally flexible people were, the more damage they had after their stroke. This is why in tests, pupils who had music and math lessons did better in math than those who did have twice the amount of math lessons.

So what do you actually do when you “rise to the heavens” in an upright meditation posture? You do connect on a macrocosmic scale the synapse earth to the cosmos and create a neurone into space, so on a microscopic level you access that space in between matter, of which there is 96% in the universe and way over 99% in matter. So exterior you are telepathically connecting to other planets and interior to unknown parts of yourself when sitting upright in order to dedicate yourself to the divine (what the next article will be all about).

Ancient Chinese had a sense for this energy which they called Qi, and Indians an even more non-materialistic one, which is called Prana, which Tibetans also call “Wind-energy”. To distinguish the different aspects of Prana, 4 elements are used (which do correlate to western elements and to a certain extend correlate to the Chinese elements).

Earth is as mentioned above descending in nature, hence the downward arrow symbol and the line through indicates that it is a final stadium.
Fire is ascending in nature and transforms matter into Prana, there is no line through, because it is a process transforming earth to air.
Air is the ultimate upwards energy, hence it has a line through.
Water, finally, does transform air back into matter (earth), just as rain does, hence no line through.

To sum up the 7-fold Veru Chana Posture meditations: There are different Wind-energies inside a person:

The wind which excretes waste enters inside the central nerve channel, eliminating negative emotions: (click on the symbols to learn more about the elements)
- When broadening ones shoulders and sitting upright the
  [I assume earth] wind enters and gets rid of anger and ignorance.
  The reason for that is probably best illustrated by displaying the opposite posture: hunched forward and uptight shoulders:
- When your neck is slightly bend downwards at an angle,and the tip of your tongue touches the palate,then fire-related wind enters and dissipates desire.
  Two postures also call for a slightly downward bend neck: The yoga posture Jalandahara Bandha and Omphaloskepsis , which is actually a western method of looking at your navel, but by doing that one also has to bend ones neck.
  Think about the humble bowing which surrenders own desire to the divine:
  
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- When you lower your eye a bit, so you almost see the tip of your nose, the space-related wind enters and gets rid of egocentric pride.
  Imagine the opposite of pride when being ashamed:
- When you sit crossed-legged and remain in single-pointed concentration, then water-related wind enters and helps to get rid of jealousy.
  Jealousy is the frustration not to stand in wide macho stance and to fulfil ones ambitions, like climbing the career-ladder (often at the expense of others).
  Hence the crosslegged contained legs contain ones egotistical desires.
  Whilst cross-legged sitting surely was born out of being practical, this now explains why in the East where the is an emphasis of subduing the ego, spiritual practices emphasise in the Lotus seat, whilst in the West where the I first is supposedly be built up (as Rudolf Steiner said), people resort to the more comfortable chairs.
  Inventions like chairs are also a manifestation of a more intellectual and materialistically approach versus the intuitive one of the east. This is why I think that the North-west of the globe reflects the intellect, whilst the south-east the intuition. In this aquarian age both now become intermingled.
  By the way: If you can not sit crossed-legged for as long as you would like to, do it as I do and sit on a bed, so that you can put the legs down when it becomes unbearable, without having to stop your practice.