similar exercise for mastering of your axis is multiplied turning around the axis. This is the way of dancing Sufis and some African magicians. Moreover, we can find round movement in many temple rituals (bow down to all sides, walking around Stupa in Buddhism or around Altar in Hinduism) and technical practices (walking around in Ba-Gua, radiant steps with coming back to central point in Syn-Yi – both are the Taoist practices). Hatha-Yoga was developed in this aspect by a teacher whom I met in Nepal. He worked out surrounding space by set of Asanas composed in connection with central axis with turning to all possible directions. All these examples make the notion of rhythm very important, since it is not just a position (simple axis) but a particular movement during some time in limited space. Sure, it includes the energy factors which are reflected in emotional states. The emotional axis means equanimity. So, the techniques are useful for energy balancing which is required for spiritual stability in your chosen way. Finally, the spiritual axis is the most important thing. When you have the spiritual axis, you need not any techniques.
The Eastern practices including sitting meditation are well-known in the West nowadays. However, I saw often in different meditation centers some Western practitioners who were ready to break their knees in order to do wishful Lotus posture. So, I pay attention to this point. Lotus is an ideal foundation for central vertical axis in whole body. As all Yogis know, it is performed not bending knees but opening hips and turning of legs. The knee cannot be bent to aside even for a little without being broken or hurt, while the hip can never be broken by opening. Sitting on the floor and stretching legs with some distance in between, you can understand how much you need to turn your hips that, bending your leg naturally, you would find your foot on opposite hip. This is the working area. There are many additional Asanas in Yogic literature. After opening hips, you can also remove energy blocks from your abdomen developing your low chakras and healing emotional problems. Since Lotus stops to lose energy flowing down, when you open hips all freed energy will rise up into your vertical axis stretching your spine and full it with energy for keeping and balancing.
You can take care of your knees using standing poses like “column’. Long sitting meditation requires strong knees anyway, even if your Lotus is correct. You can improve your knees by walking meditation or other dynamic practices, but a stable standing works better for this purpose. Especially, when you are standing long time in the Taoist “column’ where your knees are bent little bit. Also, you can use Yogic Utkatasana for a stronger effect. Stand up closing your legs; bend your knees as much as possible, as if sitting on an invisible cheer. Close your forearms keeping elbows before chest and hands before face (or stretch your both arms up). This posture requires very strong legs because you must keep straight spine. Of course, this is far from being meditative Asana, but it is very useful for improvement of your body before meditation. If you are able to work out the axis doing this standing posture, it will help you also. In the same way, you can master Lotus posture using some additional Asanas where Lotus as an element is the part of complex structure. But we will not deepen Hatha-Yoga here (see my other books).
Spiritual Pillar
Technically, an axial meditation includes also spreading of your personal sphere up to Supreme Self (Atman=Brahman). You can do some preliminary practices in any centered position (standing, sitting, and lying) while standing is the best option. Here you already start to develop a “volume consciousness’ and the concept of a “volume path’ (see the last chapters). Try to keep axis not only by concentration on the axis itself, but spreading your attention and awareness to a bigger sphere. First, concentrate on the axis, then spread your attention as a circle around, absorbing space but not fixing on any particular objects, images or thoughts within this area. Feel everything equally in your presence. Next, come back to the axis, and again spread your attention to a bigger sphere. Try to move it as far as possible, where your concentration reaches including bigger volume into consciousness which is associated as your own “I”. Finally, you accept the whole universe as “I”. It must be not an idea only, but the real feeling and experience of global consciousness. There is nothing “individual’ in this Self till you come back to your central axis as an axis of the world.
Orientating to the final god-realization in prayer, we can remember a “pillar’, which is the strongest ascetic practice of Christian Fathers. Many years they were standing on a stone as if being its extension, constantly repeating the Jesus prayer and rising to God. Some of them became saints and were canonized by Christian church. Similar extremity was performed by Indian ascetics who were doing “standing sadhana’ many years. They still continue doing similar practices in modern times. For example, a mahant of the Naga-Baba ashram in Varanasi was standing above 10 years before he reached Samadhi and left his body. The case happened in the end of 20-th century. He was the patron of my yoga teacher, and I saw the photos in his home album. Even the image of that saint was still powerful spiritually. It was not only physical practice, while I do not know what type of mantra he used during standing sadhana. Anyway, we see a good example, how the lifelong practice can be done as keeping an axis for total self-realization. Building personal axis, you can reach all your personal goals. But if you surrender an individual axis to the universal axis, then you can keep concentration of holistic evolution in each movement and action.
III. Rhythm Tuning
During my long Asian research I always traveled alone. It was taking risk but getting important factor of self-investigation, namely, the strict attuning of personal rhythm without a need to “follow’ or “carry’ someone. So, any cooperation would force you to deviate from a central axis. Sooner or later, you will need to restore your central axis and attune your personal rhythm. While being disciple, you can simply follow somebody in order to learn some rhythms and feel how they influence your own style of life, slowly attuning your personal rhythm of the spiritual practice. Visiting some group seminars or following a guru is helpful for understanding of the rhythm itself (though it seems that you are studying something different like mantras or asanas). Namely the rhythm will help you in any traditional way as a guiding line to reconstruct your natural organism to the cultural structure. For example, if you choose Buddhism you have the only chance – to become recognized Lama or just stop your development at some ordinary level. In such case, you cannot realize any other structure available in Hinduism or Taoism. You will be fixed in this chosen tradition forever. You can become even Buddha, but you will never become Christ or anybody else. The final goals are different – not the ways only. There are rear cases, when people choose holistic experience, like Ramakrishna, who finally declared that all ways are leading to the same goal, has unique result. I call it Self-realization in comparison with traditional God-realization according to some religious image of particular “god’.
Obviously, second connection of these principles, namely “axis – rhythm’ creates third connection “rhythm – attention’. When we build the axis, we need simple attention as direct concentration. But when we attune our personal rhythm we need complex attention as all-embracive concentration. Such broad attention includes duration of holding complicated content. Next, coordination of the personal rhythm with external rhythms is not natural. They are separated due to description and comparison from each other for completing the whole picture. The holistic attention would be a hearing “music of spheres’ where all rhythms are harmonious, and the individual self is equal to a supreme Self. Usually, we are intended to reach the goal by starting needful changes in our structure. Sure, at the very beginning you cannot hear any “music of spheres’, not being able to coordinate a rhythm of your own actions in order to resonate with the whole universe. However, this setting itself changes the structure of your self-consciousness principally elevating your individual at the level of integrated activity (Karma-Yoga). Everything else is the question of developing attention, and we will discuss it later.
Personal Rhythm
The human life
