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HE WAS IN NO OTHER PLACE

Cross and Christians, end to end, I examined. He was not on the Cross. I went to the
Hindu temple, to the ancient pagoda. In none of them was there any sign. To the uplands
of Herat I went, and to Kandahar. I looked. He was not on the heights or in the lowlands.
Resolutely, I went to the summit of the fabulous mountain of Kaf. There only was the
dwelling of the legendary Anqu bird. I went to the Kaaba of Mecca. He was not there. I
asked about him from Avicenna the philosopher. He was beyond the range of
Avicenna…I looked into my own heart. In that, his place, I saw him. He was in no other
place.

by Jalaludin Rumi
From The Way of the Sufi by Idries Shah

Now what it means to look into your own heart might be a little ambiguous and my take on it is that we aren’t just talking metaphorically. The heart can be a real gauge to our emotions, measuring how disturbed or how much at peace we are. My meditations sometimes lead there and the direction I want to go in is towards greater ease and peace. In tantric yoga there is a center at the heart called the Bliss Root (ananda kanda). Open it and know God (bliss is another name for God). I assume this God does not reside in heaven nor listens to prayers nor rewards the virtuous nor punishes the sinful. I always assumed this God is fully retired from such tasks and glad to be rid of them.

I like to use props, particularly a roller, in my yoga practice and lately I have been using a very light weight foam roller. They can be purchased at very reasonable prices from a number of companies that have websites. I purchased a batch of them over a year ago, cut them to a convenient size, and use a number of different sizes myself and give some away to my clients if I think they can understand and get something out of their use. These foam rollers are very light weight which can be an advantage in moving them around with ease. They are also quite firm and strong and do a good job stretching, massaging, and manipulating the spine and back.

Using a prop, like a roller, in yoga is perhaps most advisable for those of us over 40 years old. A good size roller delivers a very effective stretch and manipulation but also gives support and allows for that sense of surrender and release we seek in our more mature practice. We learn to surrender to the tool, to the position, to gravity, and let our own body weight work for us . Use a minimum of strength and force. Sense the ease and flow in this process. Press, roll, stretch, lengthen, relax, surrender. This is much more than an exercise; this is better than exercise. This is therapy, natural, pleasurable, easy, and giving yourself what you really need. This is using your body wisely, maturely, and promoting health and well-being. This is better and smarter than exercise.

Eighteen inches in length of foam roller and almost 6 inches in daimeter and weights only 9 ounces. You can hold it with a finger.

This is one way I massage and manipulate around the heart and upper chest. This is heart massage or so it feels.

Roller under the hips. Let your body and spine sink towards the floor. Release. Relax. This is an inversion and spinal traction technique. it gently opens the spaces between the spinal vertebrae. Rock from side to side to enhance the traction along different areas of the spine.

Knees to chest. Let gravity do the work and be the force. Feel some stretch and lengthening in the pelvis and into the lower back. Gravity and your own body weight provide the necessary effect. Surrender to these forces as the roller gives support underneath.

Legs are held up with a roller supporting the hips. Like a shoulder stand without the strain on the neck and without exertion of your muscles. Reverses circulation in the legs and increases blood flow into the abdomen. Little effort is expended. Much benefit is gained. What more could you want?

Allow the legs to spread apart and feel the stretch in the inside of the thighs and into the pelvis.

Drape your body over the roller placed at the hips. Let go. Feel the hip flexors get a very nice, deep stretch. These muscles have a major role to play in creating posture and, to a large extent, affect the health of the organs in your lower abdomen. Hip flexors too often get tight and short, and this is a good remedy for that condition.

Press and roll the lower ribs in back. The diaphragm attaches around this area and the diaphragm muscle gets tight and short. Roll any ache and stiffness out of the lower rib cage and notice how the breathing opens, deepens, becomes freer and easier.

Support the head with the foam roller and then stretch into your groin and pelvis as shown. Or massage between the neck vertebrae with the roller. Nerves centers that stress the heart are located in the neck and opening those cervical vertebral spaces helps relax and release the heart.

A reply to an email:

Maharishi died on Tuesday, did you hear? — J

Yes. I saw it mentioned on the internet. He was a great and benevolent influence. You learned meditation from his system of Transcendental meditation didn’t you? I started a formal meditation program while in college and it was a Zen method by Phillip Kapleau (author of “Three Pillars of Zen”) and my initial instructor was a student of his. I think my instructor might have also been a philosophy teacher at Uconn, but I can’t really remember anymore. Meditations can evolve and I guess they all begin with an attempt to rein in the mind and learn to focus and concentrate. I remember reading an interesting book by Christmas Humphries way back then (40 years ago) entitled Concentration and Meditation that described these initial stages. Eventually I was able to tap into, and focus on, my kinesthetic sense (inner body sense of muscles, joints, organs) and my meditations have been along those lines ever since. My focus is the bioenergy and mainly where it is blocked (tension, stiffness, strain, distortion). There isn’t a great distinction anymore between my meditations and my yoga. It is largely about untying knots and unblocking. And where that might lead is anyone’s guess. I am hoping towards greater freedom, spontaneity, maybe even enlightenment.

~ Allan Saltzman

THE GANGLIA

From the base of our skull to the bottom of our spine lies a paired chain of nerve clumps or bulbs called ganglia. These bulbs-like structures or ganglia lie outside the spine and on either side of the vertebrae. These two chains of nerve bulbs (ganglia) that lie alongside the spine are called the gangliated cord of the sympathetic nervous system. Our sympathetic nervous system is responsible for delivering a certain specific message to the rest of the body. This message is to mobilize and prepare for action. It tells the body that there may be a need to fight or flee and that physical exertion may be called for. It is a message that tones, excites and braces the body for action. This is the bodily response commonly called stress.

THE SYMPATHETIC (STRESS) RESPONSE

These nerve bulbs or ganglia have connections with the spinal nerves and affect the voluntary muscles of our body. They increase tension and our ability to quickly respond to demanding situations. When our sympathetic nerves are active, the heart is stimulated, breathing quickens, digestion is inhibited, and blood pressure rises as blood is squeezed out of the abdominal organs and redirected into our brains and muscles. Adrenaline is discharged into our blood system, reinforcing (by its action on all the cells of the body) the whole complex of responses that go to make up the sympathetic (stress) response.

SYMPATHETICOTONIA

The sympathetic response may have been quite appropriate for creatures living in the wild and facing daily dangers or the need to hunt for a living. Yet for modern men and women this dramatic mobilization of muscle, heart and lung is more often a disability than a blessing. Unable to discharge through vigorous action the energy created, the response cannot run its course. The natural flow of events (running, fighting, even killing) is not usually available to the civilized man and woman. The response is activated and the body is ready to go with no place to go. The process gets stuck and eventually the individual suffers from a condition known as sympatheticotonia, being stuck and trapped in the sympathetic response.

CHRONIC SYMPATHETIC RESPONSE

Muscles tighten and joints become stiff in the chronic sympathetic (stress) response. The heart is continually stimulated and aroused in this condition. Digestion becomes weak, the adrenal glands either keep the body constantly overcharged or else (because of adrenal exhaustion) the body becomes weak, tired and susceptible to inflammation and disease. Anxiety and distress become our constant companions.

Sympatheticotonia (chronic sympathetic stimulation) suggests that those ganglia alongside our spine have been activated and are staying that way. Overcoming stress and its effects must then include an understanding of the structure of the sympathetic nervous system and a way to shut off (or at least greatly diminish) the action of the gangliated cord of nerves that lie next to our spine. Any approach to stress reduction and relaxation should take into account the action and structure of the sympathetic nervous system and some possible way of toning it down.

TONING DOWN THE SYMPATHETIC NERVES

Let us look at one example of a more natural approach to quieting the sympathetic ganglia. Perhaps some of the more important and active of all the ganglia are a pair called the superior cervical ganglia. These are the top pair of ganglia lying in close proximity to the second and third cervical vertebrae at the top of the neck. (See fig. 76) These ganglia have nerve branches accompanying blood vessels into the head and brain. Other branches go to the eyes and to the mucous membranes of the nose and mouth. Still more nerve branches emerge from these ganglia and go to the throat and heart. Disturbances in any of these areas can be traced back to the activity of the superior cervical ganglia. The continual action of this one pair of ganglion precludes the possibility of the head, throat and heart of ever getting sufficient rest and relaxation for their proper and healthy functioning. Also because these ganglia lie at the very top of the gangliated cord, they play a large role in turning on the rest of the sympathetic system and thereby stressing the entire body.

Toning down these sympathetic nerve ganglia requires awareness of the tension and stiffness in the neck. Recurring areas of tension and stiffness in the neck and back suggest sympathetic ganglia are active and resist becoming quiet. Manipulation and adjustment of the upper neck and the muscles, ligaments and tendons near the upper portion of the cervical spine sets the process of relaxation and release into motion. Applying pressure and stretching the area around the superior cervical ganglia has a relaxing and restorative effect on the head, throat and heart. As this important nerve center releases, the effects may radiate throughout the body.

“Belly in, chest up, shoulders back.” This, we are told, represents good posture and good looks. America wants to “tighten its gut” because the flat, hard stomach is considered one of the cornerstones of physical fitness. To have any sign of a belly protruding makes us fat and lazy, in need of doing sit-ups and leg raisers to “tone” those lazy stomach muscles. The man with the fifty-inch chest and thirty inch waist becomes Mr. America and represents the body beautiful. With a round, full belly we are considered to be either pregnant or heavy beer drinkers. How many articles in magazines and books have we seen with the title “How to Flatten Your Stomach”?

Yet much of the world disagrees. The Japanese word hara literally means belly. Hara Kiri means belly splitting, the warrior’s style of suicide where the abdomen is cut and the viscera spill out. To the Japanese, cutting the hara is attacking life at its source, the belly.

Karlfried Durkheim’s book Hara, The Vital Centre of Man is a serious and scholarly look at the whole range of the hara concept in the culture of Japan. “Hara”, he writes, “implies for the Japanese all that he considers essential to man’s character and destiny. Hara is the centre of the human body. lt is at the same time the centre in a spiritual sense or, to be more accurate, a nature given spiritual sense.” 1

The man with belly is centered, tranquil, balanced. He is “large minded, one who is magnanimous and warm hearted.” 2

Conversely, the man without a belly lacks calm judgement. He reacts haphazardly and capriciously.

He is easily startled and nervous … he lacks that inner axis which would prevent his being thrown off center. “The man with no belly is in every respect a picture of immaturity.” 3

Traditionally then for the Japanese, hara, the belly, has meant strength, maturity and a tranquil mind.

BELLY POWER

With our prejudice against the belly we tend to see strength in big arms and broad shoulders. We feel a belly detracts from this image of strength. Mental power derives from our head, our brain specifically. We locate physical and mental power well above our navels.

AI Huang in the book Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain describes the difference between the Oriental and the Western man:

“The Oriental man is very empty and light up here in the head and very heavy down here in the belly and he feels very secure. The Western man is light in the belly and very heavy up here in the head, so he topples over.” 4

In T’ai Chi and other eastern martial arts the center of gravity is located in the lower belly and the reservoir of Life Energy or Breath Energy is also in the lower belly. From this “single spot in the lower abdomen” 5 movement begins and energy is made. This spot is revered as the source of life in man. In Chinese yoga it is pictured as a burning cauldron producing the energy needed to open up and liberate the rest of the body.

BREATHING

The anatomical facts give support to the Oriental viewpoint. The diaphragm is a broad, flat, dome shaped muscle that separates the thoracic (chest) cavity from the abdominal cavity. The diaphragm is our principle breathing muscle; its use is crucial for breathing deeply. Unfortunately, in the majority of people, tension in and around the abdominal region, and in the diaphragm itself, so restricts diaphragmatic breathing that the resulting capacity to breathe is possibly one-third to one-quarter of what it should be.

When used, this dome-shaped muscle contracts and flattens out, pushing down upon the contents of the abdomen. With this pressure exerted from above by the action of the diaphragm, the abdominal region, particularly the soft front wall, expands. This ability to expand or blow up the belly with an inhalation is the outward sign that the diaphragm is functioning.

Very simply, the body must be able to expand and contract to breathe. Limitations on our ability to do this restricts our capacity to breathe. Using the belly is not in itself a full breath. The flexibility and action available in the rib cage further increases the breath capacity. The total and complete breath first appears to fill up the abdomen; the belly noticeably expands like a balloon. Finally the expanding impulse moves through the entire rib cage to the top of the chest. The action is fluid and wave-like, beginning low in the belly and rising to the top of the chest. In the process, the entire trunk of the body expands. A full exhalation involves the lowering of the chest and a contraction of the belly.

Anyone familiar with the experience of complete breathing knows that it is predominently a sensation of filling and blowing up the abdomen. Here in the soft and flexible abdominal wall, the body has its greatest potential to expand. The ribs themselves offer limited movement. The belly is really the bellows that fills us up.

Of course, air does not fill up the belly. The abdominal contents are merely responding to a downward physical pressure exerted by the diaphragm muscle. This creates a partial vacuum in the lungs which draws air in from the outside.

Now if the muscles of the body, particularly those surrounding the abdominal region, are held too tightly, a deep breath will be impossible, and yet, inelastic, hard muscles in the abdomen are the kind of muscles most stomach exercises are designed to create.

A healthy mid-section is surprisingly soft and flexible. It gives easily during breathing and allows the internal organs of digestion and elimination the space they need to function properly. Maintain a constriction in the abdominal muscles and not only do you choke off breathing but the vital internal organs are compressed and distorted. Life is literally strangled.

BREATH ENERGY

Little has been said or written on the energy and endurance produced by simply opening up the breathing. Much has appeared on how running or swimming eventually improves physical endurance but the real key to physical power is not how many miles you run in a day, but how well you breathe. Learn to breathe fully and endurance is yours forever, whenever you want it.

Beyond the endurance that comes with opened breathing is an impetus towards personal evolution. Though shrouded in mystery and myth, Chinese and Indian yoga point towards a real process that alters the basic structure of our bodies and our minds. In Indian yoga this evolutionary power or impulse is called prana; in China, chi; in Japan, ki. Here is an energy that streams though the body and on which our health depends. Block this energy and we become ill.

In every case this internal force is related to breathing. Open the breathing up, especially deep into the belly, and the body becomes charged with energy. This is an energy, that when free and unblocked, gives a greater sense of ease, power, health, and vitality. In a very real sense, an opened capacity to breathe is only one of the first steps in the evolution to which the various practices refer. Breathing fully helps create the awareness, the force, and the drive out of which comes the earnest practice of yoga.

LIFE FORCE

As the breathing deepens and the body learns to relax, the awareness is increasingly drawn to a point down in the pit of the belly. With relaxation consciousness spends less time in the head and more time just naturally attracted to the heart area or to the pit of the belly. This spot in the pit of the belly is not just some abstract point in space but the charged and energized center of the human being. Here lies the source of sexual energy and excitement but also a potential impulse towards health, openness and freedom.

Learn to let go and relax and the mind is drawn to the source of life. Consciousness and the Life Force are united in the pit of the belly.

THE NATURAL CHILD

In our midst are people who are living and shining examples of what a relaxed belly and a capacity to fully breathe can mean. These people are our children. The bellies of our two and three year olds are not flat or hard yet. The power of their naturalness has not been seriously restrained so their bellies bulge and they breathe well.

Young children glow and overflow with energy. They delight us with their spontaneity and playfulness. They usually seem happy or at least have a tremendous capacity for pleasure and enjoyment. We either ignore their curious physical condition (those ballooning bellies) or explain it as immature structure that will change.

Western civilization has pictured man as flat bellied for thousands of years. We have used our heads and our hands to create science, technology, and great material comfort and wealth. The time may be nearing when we will need to loosen our bellies, breathe easily again, and so enjoy what we have created.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. HARA, THE VITAL CENTRE OF MAN, Karlfried Durkheim, Samuel Weiser Inc., first English publication 1962.

2. IBID. 3. IBID. 4. EMBRACE TIGER RETURN TO MOUNTAIN, AI Huang, Real People Press, 1973.5. AIKIDO IN DAILY LIFE, Koichi Tohei, Rikugei Publishing House, 1966.

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING

1. BODYMIND, Ken Dychtwald, Pantheon, 1977.

2. THE BODY HAS ITS REASONS, Therese Bertherat and Carol Bernstein, Pantheon, 1977.

3. DO-IT-YOURSELF SHIATSU (section on Ampuku Therapy), Wataru Ohashi, E.P. Dutton and Co., 1976.

4. THE BODY REVEALS, Ron Kurtz and Hector Prestera M.D., Bantam Books, 1977.

5. THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER, (especially section: The Book of Consciousness and Life), Translated by Richard Wilhelm, Harvest Book, 1962.