k~Blog

Mr Semple:

In you last email you asked me: "By the way, is there any interest in this subject [Kundalini] in Australia?"

I cannot say whether there is more interest in Kundalini in Australia than there would be in the U.S. However, I have noticed over the past 30 years a growth in interest in, what one person called, "the New Dark Age" exotica (fairies, crystals, witchcraft, sorcery, amulets, divination, animism, prayer flags, extra terrestrials etc.). Since 1975 (the end of the Viet Nam war) and with the end of the White Australia Policy there has been a growth in Asian migration to Australia. This has resulted in an increase in the number of followers of Buddhism. The Dalai Lama is now here in Australia for a visit and has been met by our Prime Minister [much to the anger of the PRC (i.e. China)]. Tibetan Buddhism has grown in popularity here, probably because of the personal charisma of the Dalai Lama and the large number of publications in his name. Yes, from a critical thinking perspective, the “New Dark Age” is distressing, especially considering Gopi Krishna’s effort to put Kundalini into scientific perspective. The tide has certainly turned from rational investigation of spiritual phenomena. Sad, because the Dalai Lama suggests an empirical methodology for examining all religious precepts. See my recent blog entry.

During meditation practice, all physical actions like diaphragmatic breathing eventually produce reactions [cause & effect]. Are some of these reactions “spiritual?” I don’t know. I do concede that somewhere down the road a practitioner might experience an inexplicable reaction. For instance, a person who activates the Kundalini Life Force might spontaneously begin to speak a language he/she had never studied or been exposed to. Since there is no physical explanation for this phenomenon, I call it a metaphysical reaction. I’m reluctant to label an occurrence such as this “spiritual.” That’s because I’m working from a hypothesis that supposes that, if the proper Meditation method is used, it will produce the same physical, and eventually metaphysical reactions every time. With the help of people like yourself, I hope to eventually prove this. As for spiritual, I’m not sure we are capable of recognizing, classifying, or labeling reactions/effects as spiritual at this point in our evolution, because labeling of events as “spiritual” is so subjective and to my mind, gratuitous.

One thing I can say fairly confidently is that Australians seem to be less religious than Americans. I have heard on TV that an atheist could never be elected as President of the U.S. That is not true of Australia. For the most part, we are not interested in the religious affiliations (or lack of them) of our politicians. So far so good, but thanks to the simplistic answers people accept, fundamentalism is spreading worldwide.

Practice matters:
Sometimes I find it difficult to hold my gaze on the tip of my nose. I presume that I should literally focus both eyes on my nose in a cross-eyed fashion. I find that quite stressful for my eyes and some times I have had to quit after 10 minutes because I had uncontrollable tears flowing from both eyes. My tears were not emotional but were due to the physical stress on my eyes. Am I doing the right thing? You should not strain yourself in any way so that a particular muscle starts to twitch or tears start to flow. Definitely not by crossing the eyes. Try locking on the tip and then closing your eyes gradually, all the while retaining a visual image of the tip in your mind’s eye. If you can do this, it should relax you so that you can begin the diaphragmatic breathing, which you want to do at the same time. Make this a two-step process: 1) lock in the tip of the nose, close the eyes gradually, etc., then, 2) begin diaphragmatic breathing. After a while, open your eyes half-way. See if this works. Don’t worry about closing the eyes and then reopening them; the goal is to relax.

Is the diaphragmatic breathing a means of strengthening the constitution of the body in preparation for the arousal of the Kundalini? Or is it a technique for the actual arousal of the Kundalini itself? Both. Diaphragmatic breathing leads to the ability to control your heart rate (metabolism). When this occurs, you will be able to make your breathing inaudible. In other words, you will begin to focus on the sound of your breathing—exhaling/inhaling. You will modulate your breath until you are no longer able to hear it. Yet, at the same time, you will take in as much air as usual, only more slowly. By the time you are doing this, the diaphragm will be almost working automatically. This, in turn, will give you the ability to recognize the property of direction as the air enters your belly. Once you have learned to breathe silently, you will shift your attention to your lower belly. A series of actions on your part that provoke reactions in your body. Your job is to initiate them and then recognize when the reaction occurs, then take the next action.

I get the feeling that the gazing at the tip of the nose is similar to "third eye" gazing, which some say actually stimulates the pineal gland. Is that correct? Think of it as a “centering mechanism.” If this helps with the tip of the nose thing, go for it… Here’s what THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER has to say:

“What then is really meant by this? The expression "tip of the nose" is very cleverly chosen. The nose must serve the eyes as a guideline. If one is not guided by the nose, either one opens wide the eyes and looks into the distance, so that the nose is not seen, or the lids shut too much, so that the eyes close, and again the nose is not seen. But when the eyes are opened too wide, one makes the mistake of directing them outward, whereby one is easily distracted. If they are closed too much, one makes the mistake of letting them turn inward, whereby one easily sinks into a dreamy reverie. Only when the eyelids are lowered properly halfway is the tip of the nose seen in just the right way. Therefore it is taken as a guideline. The main thing is to lower the eyelids in the right way, and then to allow the light to streaming of itself; without effort, wanting the light to stream in concentratedly. Looking at the tip of the nose serves only as the beginning of the inner concentration, so that the eyes are brought into the right direction for looking, and then are held to the guideline: after that, one can let it be. That is the way a mason hangs up a plumb-line. As soon as he has hung it up, he guides his work by it without continually bothering himself to look at the plumb-line.”

From your descriptions of Kundalini I get the impression that the Kundalini is like the reset button. That is, the aroused Kundalini tries to reset our system to its "default" or "factory" setting, to use a computer metaphor. Wherever possible, I first try to look for a simple explanation for something, and one which does not involve the supernatural. The ancients had no choice but to describe the Kundalini in flowery terms but I believe we do not have to follow them. Rather a toggle switch than a reset button.

By the way, I love your approach to understanding. These things need to be explained simply. It’s not easy because they seem to exist outside our experience. But as you actually become familiar with the actions/reactions taking place in your body, it will be easier to understand them.

I jog for about 30 minutes most days to keep healthy and I have been doing so for a number of years. Lately I try to breathe diaphragmatically while jogging, but not to the 4 x 4 count. Will that help? Yes. Inhale while counting 1-2-3-4 over four strides as you jog. Then hold your breath and count for four. Exhale over four strides while counting to four. Hold four. Start over.

Is your Kundalini still active? Yes. It’s 24 hours day. Do you need to do anything special to keep it active? Restorative Meditation activates the Life Force permanently. Once activated by Restorative Meditation you’re on automatic pilot…

I now have The Secret of the Golden Flower, which I downloaded from the internet at: http://www.rexresearch.com/goldflwr/goldflwr.htm . Neither my local municipal library nor the State Library of Queensland had it.

Couple of questions for you:
    Have you experienced any reactions yet?
    Is there a Kundalini/Life Force group/organization in Australia?

Keep your questions flowing, Jonathan…

JJ Semple