The Shoulder Chakra Compression Asana is a delightfully mysterious experience for the receiver as well...
The Shoulder Chakra Compression Asana is a delightfully mysterious experience for the receiver as well as the giver. Remember that the longer we can sustain this compression, the more pleasurable and effective it becomes.
For anyone desiring perfect posture this procedure is indispensible. For anyone dealing with Kyphosis [round shoulders] or excessive ‘headiness’, migraines or anxiety this procedure is a must. Another benefit is the vertebral releases which occur so naturally and effortlessly in the thoracic and cervical spines.
There is also simply something so very therapeutic and valuable about being conscientiously held down in a deliberately supportive way.
Yet before describing how to offer this technique, I want to preface this asana procedure with the following interesting information about The Five Tibetan Wheels and their essential contribution to our excellent postural alignment. The Five Tibetan Wheels refer to a side view image of the human body including indications of The Ear Wheel, The Shoulder Wheel, The Hip Wheel, The Knee Wheel and lastly The Ankle Wheel. The Five Tibetan Wheels, when aligned correctly, one stacked over the other, will demonstrate an image of perfect posture: perfect physical, emotional and spiritual carriage and bearing.
These Wheels are Marma and Chakra articulations connecting the Kosha Bodies together. Depending on which Wheel we are prominently representing our consciousness in, our posture will naturally reflect this representation. For example, if we are mostly obsessing about sex, then our body will reflect this with a posture indicating a radiance from this area of our body. We see this frequently with the youth. Their belts are being worn below the gluteals and they are ‘pressing’ their mid section forward out of alignment.
If in fact we happen to be a person who is prominently involved in research and intellectualism, than we witness a person whose body reflects Kyphosis, where the cranium is so far forward that all kinds of problems are eminent.
A quote from a dear friend of us all, Dick Gregory: “the best exercise for all of us is to learn how to stand up straight”!
Chakras are etheric energy vortexes elemental to our pranic body. Our physical bodies are made up of the elements of earth, wood, water, metal, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and ego [from dust the body came and to dust the body shall return]. So it is true for our other subtle bodily sheathes [astral envelopes] being made up of radiating vibrational fields of energy. The physical body, though significant, is of least importance in the hierarchy of our 5 conceptual thought bodies. It is also the least complex.
Chakras, constituting makeup of our more primordial bodies, are reservoirs of circulating light and power. Vedic Massage has shown me that we are virtually covered in chakras. The pads of our fingers as well as the swirl of our hair formations reveal an astonishing reality of this fact.
Chakras are referred to by Paramahansa Yogananda as ‘Thoughtrons and Lightrons’. Chakras are sacred symmetrical life designs and dimensions created by influences such as our desires, our destinies and our karma.
One of the functions of a Chakra is quite similar to the converter boxes we see hanging on our telephone poles outside our homes. Electrical converter boxes receive a certain frequency of intense electricity from strong sources such as a nuclear power plant and then transmute this energy into a milder or lesser frequency for various practical uses such as operating our hot water heaters and our refrigerators.
The same is true for our bodily chakras. They possess the extremely vital life function of receiving intense and powerful cosmic energy which is passing across a universal field from different sources such as the galaxy, the moon, the planets and our solar orb. The chakras transmute this staggeringly-strong force of cosmic energy into functional energy.
Chakra Psychologists refer to these two energies as Cosmic [external] or Kundalini [internal]. These energies are consequently used to stimulate the ultra-complex bio-electrical systems within our body’s life lattice. For example, the 7 major endocrine glands include the pituitary, the thymus, the thyroid, the parathyroids, the adrenals, the pancreas, the testes and the ovaries. These are directly plugged into the 7 major chakras.
Yogarudha means a perfect equilibrium in body, mind and spirit. The Kevali Pranayama Sutra teaches us about understanding what is a chakra and how it is of our spirit. The cosmic energy and its 1000 vibrations/rays/waves etc. descend upon and into our craniums and permeate into our brains and bodies. According to Ayurvedic knowledge, this energy is then received by our medulla oblongata. In the Bible the medulla oblongata is known as God’s mouth or the Holy door/opening. This cosmic energy then travels to the cerebrum, where it becomes a stored and concentrated electro-magnetic current functioning as an adaptor. The medullary center condenses the positive and negative protons and electrons into our life force atoms and formlessness becomes form. Thought atoms vibrationally change to lifetrons which change to cells which become our various body parts.
The chakras are actually tissues of light which also supply us with intuitive portals to astrally see using our astral eye. One of the missions of Vedic Massage-Thai Yoga Bodywork is of course to have the recipient withdraw into deeper and deeper states of internal enlightenment [the kingdom of heaven lies within].
PROCEDURE:
We want begin with positioning the receiver on their back, and be comfortably situated in a respectful straddle across the receiver’s torso. In order to bring a sense of satisfaction to the receiver with The Shoulder Chakra Compression Asana, Place the palms onto the pectoral fossa, the basin-like indentations just below the clavicles.
This asana is to be held for a minimum of 45 seconds. Repeating the procedure a few additional times is recommended. Customarily, we want to ‘stir’ our palms as we sink into the compression. This will enhance the effect and the pleasure due to more precision.
It is recommended to imagine becoming ‘a human tourniquet’ and connecting with the energy of the brachial arteries. This technique accesses the spiritual reservoirs of bio-electrical shakti/chi/power. As we release from this compression, we are bringing this life-force to the surface like a volcanic eruption. This energy will then proceed to enter into the nadi channels to revitalize and refresh the receiver’s body and soul. Traditionally, we also want to allow the palms to rest gently on the chakras after each release. We want to savor the emerging heat. Remain in this position patiently until the heat subsides. Then repeat this procedure again if you are intuitively guided to.
In Tibetan Tantric medicine, perfect standing posture is achieved when the 5 Wheels are aligned one over the other. Due to improper breathing, heartbreak [disappointment with living] or poor posture, an individual’s ‘wheels’ come out of alignment. With the Shoulder Chakra Compression Asana, we have successfully corrected the receiver’s posture and aligned the shoulder wheels under the ear wheels. Cervical and thoracic vertebrae align themselves with this offering and we frequently hear the natural ‘popping’ sounds as a result.