Living the Dream
Back to the anecdote type format this month. What follows is the experience of one of our students and yet more validation of how remarkable and challenging the practices we engage in are. Moreover, an almost identical story has been independently recounted to us by multiple individuals with no prior discussion between them, so we are tending towards validation via the scientific method.
Given that it is demon battling season, at the end we treat you to a very powerful self-protection technique.
‘I was going through a period of relatively intensive qigong training, or as much as would allow with my work and family schedule. Given this schedule it was generally not until fairly late at night that I would do my practice which was generally between one and two hours starting around 9pm. My discipline was pretty good and I hadn’t taken an evening off for a long time, although sometimes I would practice with the TV on in the background.
I started to have the same dream regularly (which at first I interpreted as a nightmare), for a while I think it was every night and I was dreading going to sleep. I was dreaming about snakes being in my house, it was multiple small snakes and they were biting around my ankles. It was slightly painful and slightly scary but not as much as it could have been given that I am one of the many that have that innate fear of snakes. Over time, whilst still being scared, I had this sense that when I was bitten there was some kind of transmission going on.
There was no cultural prompt for this to occur, I hadn’t ever heard about the connection between snakes and kundalini energy for example of which I now know. For unrelated reasons my training schedule became less intense and tended towards more training in the morning and the dreams stopped occurring regularly, I just had the odd one over a period of months before them stopping altogether. What would have happened if I had pushed through I don’t know.’
It is interesting that this only bordered being an intensely scary experience, as whilst it was unpleasant, there was still a sense that a lesson was being taught or some kind of direct energetic transmission was going on. Transmuting emotion is a very useful skill, ask about our Fear Control lesson to learn to do exactly that. For others that have experienced the same thing (including some of our instructors) they passed through this stage without any adjustment to their practice. But one thing is for sure, this spiritual stuff is not necessarily rainbows and unicorns, you enter at your own risk and once your intuition is open you really do have to continue and pass through the gate. There maybe is a route back by stopping practice if you haven’t gone too deep, if you take this decision focus on intense physical exercise.
As promised, we’ll finish with a highly effective self-protection technique for you to try which leans into this serpent energy. This works as well in the boardroom as it does in the boxing ring. You’ll want to try it in benign situations to check it’s working and gauge people’s reactions. Obviously be careful not to overdo it and spoil somebody’s day.
When in a situation where you feel the need for protection (practice this in advance), visualise a cobra rising up your spine with its hood opening such that it sits over your shoulders and slightly above your head like a living serpentine talisman. As it rises you could add in a slow spinal wave that you may have worked with before to power a chopping motion, finishing with just a slight sense (more intent than physical, there are times you want this to be invisible) of a rounded back like a boxer with their chin tucked. Fully dynamic spinal waves are an excellent mobility exercise and form of shen fa. Observe how this effects the person/people around you whether this is in the office or a physical confrontation.
The cover photo for this post is of The Cobra Throne found in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is designed for sitting under the cobra’s hood and meditating which is a powerful experience and adds another very tangible level to the energy we are working with here. Unfortunately it seems this spiritual/contemplation garden of Indian sculptures appears to now be closed to the public.
The above exercise is kind of a reverse engineering of an inner vision phenomenon that sometimes naturally manifests as part of a kundalini awakening. Does that mean that doing this exercise alone could lead to kundalini rising and the benefits and risks that come with that? Possibly, hasn’t been tested enough but it does tend in that direction. So you should proceed with caution and of course read our disclaimer. As Blavaksy, Levi and Mathers warned; don’t play around with this stuff because the twin serpents of the astral light will kill you if you are not made of strong stuff. A bit dramatic but the point stands. However, dangerous stuff is cool so….. But maybe don’t practice right before bedtime, or eat cheese! Sweet dreams.