Revisit the 'bees' knees'

Increasingly, people inquire about joint issues and how they relate to life. Here, we address the knees from different viewpoins to invite you to reflect on what feels relevant for your body right now.

As an idiom, 'The bee's knees' implies something 'excellent, of the highest quality.' Your favorite food or favorite expeirence, for instance. The phrase 'the bee's knees' came from the 18th century. In some circles, it was a fanciful phrase that referred to something that didn't exist (like its all in your head or imagination- not real) .

When we explore energy anatomy, knee chakras are minor points that can have major significance in our life.  How our chi (life force energy) is flowing upward and downward (or not) indicates what is going on inside. We can reflect on what is going on for us physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually and on other levels.

Consider knee chakras are felt above the knee and  below the knee cap. They are also complex metaphor for life change and how we respond.   The health of our knees can echo messages about how flexible we are physically and metaphorically. Rigidity, pride and stuobbornness may also come up to be addressed.

In another way, knees bridge realities- the physical and spiritual realities. The state of your knees may offer messages about whether you are actualizing your spiritual (soul) path while enhancing your physical life, or holding yourself back in some ways.  Knees are the physical joint point of interchanging energy between upper and lower leg areas. Your knees echo why you may feel stressed.

Knees also invite us to ponder life balance. If you continually live a physically-focused life, or if you overdo things (over extend yourself) the knee will let you know.  Knee issues often relate to life direction, how fluid or resistant we are to options. Knees absorb our thoughts.  Each physical step is a metaphor for your movement and life direction. If moving forward, taking steps elicits physical emotional or mental pain and suffering, this invites you to meditate on the nature of your resistance.  Notice your heart is residing in the spiritual domain. Your head may choose a differet path than what your soul wants.  The heart chakra must develop in order to ground the energy of your soul and align with soul purpose.

Recall that the left side of the body (feminine) is influenced by the right side of the brain and right side of the body (masculine) is influenced by left side of the brain. Left knee is guiding you toward or deeper into your spirtual path.  Look at it physically: are you turned inward, are you flexible and allowing about your spiritual path? Or are you rigid or resistant? Listening to intuition helps you release tension in the left side.

Perhaps fear arising points to the results of what you need to change.

As an aside, which foot do you step forward first? Left foot leading right reflects being grounded in the spiritual world.  Right foot leading as you walk imples you are more grounded in the physical.

Issues with right knee suggest a lack of trust in our physical path, maybe a block in our physical path, over-controlling,a fraid of not knowing the outcome of your choices. You may feel bombarded.

How can we step into the place of service and surrender? Prostrating, kneeling down in reverence to mother Earth can put us in a state of relaxation. Yet, the state of your knees may be better suited to other practices. Consult us about tailored yoga options and working with the earth elements.

Contact ius about sound healing, tuning fork therapy and yoga sessions for meridian and chakras and marma -www.liaracovert.com

Drop into Kundalini meditation

The Kundalini Meditation is a dynamic form of meditation created by the famous Indian spiritual master Osho. He developed a series of meditations that involve music and movement, especially for the modern world in which we live where many people have difficulties to sit still and reach the depths of meditation. The Kundalini meditation is a 60 minutes practice with four different stages of 15 minutes each, accompanied by music which was originally composed for this meditation. The stages are shaking, dancing, standing or sitting in stillness and relaxing.  You can adjust it based on your body and individual situation.

The four stages of the Kundalini Meditation

First Stage – Shaking

In this first stage you stand and shake your body for 15 minutes. Why is shaking so beneficial? Animals shake their bodies as a natural response to release any stress from their bodies. Have you ever seen ducks fighting on a lake? They fight and quack loudly, but after a while they swim in opposite directions, shake their feathers and move on. We as humans tend to hold on to stress and this can cause physical, energetic or emotional blocks. When we learn again to shake, this can free up stuck energy and feel like a big relief! You let your body shake and become loose again. In Osho’s words anything that has become frozen or hard can be fluid again. Shaking for an extended time can really feel exhilarating as soon as you allow the shaking to happen naturally and feel energy moving within your body. It trains you to be more in your body and less up in your head.

Stage 2 – Dancing

The second stage is to dance just the way you like to move. Let yourself be inspired by the upbeat music and allow self-expression through movement. You don’t have to worry what other people may think. It is your own journey of feeling the body, the energy and celebrating it with a dance. You can keep your eyes open or closed during this stage.

Stage 3 – Standing or Sitting

In this stage you have the choice to either stand or sit down. From movement you come back to stillness. Your eyes will be closed and you are simply listening and observing – listening to the music and observing whatever is present on the outside and the inside. Practice being your own witness without getting too involved in your sensations, thoughts or emotions.

Stage 4 – Relaxation

In this last stage you lie down on the floor like with eyes closed and the body in stillness. The fourth stage is without music and is an integration phase where you rest and relax.

The benefits of active meditations

Usually we thing that meditation is sitting down in stillness only, but you can also come to a meditative state with movement practices. Osho emphasized that it is not enough to work with our minds only, but we need to include the body in our practices, to come back to our hearts and feel the energy at our very core. In our modern world we are so used to think, plan, structure, rationalize and accumulate knowledge, so most people find it difficult to meditate in the traditional manner, which is to experience inner silence by sitting in stillness on a meditation cushion. When you start a traditional meditation practice, you probably feel that your mind is getting noisier and the chatter in the head gets even louder when you try to find inner calmness and peace. The body might feel restless and you might experience some sort of discomfort when you sit for an extended time.

The Osho active meditations start with at least one phase of activity. This allows you to loosen up your body and free the mind. Afterwards, it will be much easier to move naturally from tension or stress into a deep state of stillness and relaxation. The Kundalini meditation allows you to reconnect to yourself and to come back to the here and now.

Any activity can become a meditation when we allow to be fully present in the moment. When you ask dedicated surfers or runners, they will tell you that their sport feels like meditation and they find a deep sense of fulfillment from it.

What is the Kundalini?

Kundalini is a primordial, creative energy that is mostly dormant within us. In ancient texts this energy is depicted as a coiled-up snake and upon awakening, the energy can move up along the spine. There is no one-size-fits-all method for awakening the Kundalini and its unfolding is very individual in divine timing. With certain practices like this Kundalini meditation or Kundalini Yoga we can awaken this creative energy within us. For some it might happen gradually, for others it can be a transformational, life changing experience. For sure, practices to awaken the Kundalini should not be taken lightly and they are recommended to do with the guidance of an experienced teacher.

After the Kundalini meditation you feel may more alive, get tingling sensations in your limbs or feel that more energy is moving inside your body. Universal energy can flow uninhibited when we free ourselves from blocks and conditioning that limit the access and flow of life force. When energy is flowing, we will then be able to fulfill our true potential and live a more authentic and meaningful life.

Be Ordinary

Notice the moment is here or the busy mind hijacks attention. The mind is goal-oriented, oscillating between past and future. The mind is not here. Being present is the most ordinary state. The mind has no present tense and cannot grasp what is beyond its scope. When presence happens, it is unrelated to the individual. Purpose is a human created idea. Nature has no purpose. The sun, moon, stars, trees, vegetaion, creatures, flowing oceans, are no means to an end, but simply are. To be present is nothing special. No superior or inferior exist. Relax. Struggle falls away.  Being here now is all that is real.

Tune into Harmonic Resonance

Notice deep in DNA, it is known that to go against the harmonic resonance of the universe is a path to self- destruction. Unconscious and conscious paths exist to self- destruct. Through the ages, we may think we have met strangers on different paths. Yet, if we do not don’t know ourself, we get deja-vus or feel we have met others, even enlightened masters before. Enlightenment is true nature. Where one loves deeply enough, all experiences, which are momentary, even the shadows, the reflections, are revived because the energetic taste is the same. Only the filters change or dissolve to reveal what is and never changes.

Take another Quantum Leap

Notice a quantum leap is a relatively new term in modern physics. It invites us to recognize unique experiences of evolution. As it is, evolution is widely assumed to be a slow process. Yet, a quantum leap cannot even be called fast. Its instant. It is like we disappear from one point, stage or life situation and appear in another vibrational state, at a different point or a different stage. 

And yet, electrons disappear from one point and reappear at another. As one comes to understand energy flow and realizes matter can take instant jumps beyond space-time, it dawns that we are also energy and have unlimited potential. So, as one develops the will, the courage, regulates energy, vibration and consciousness, anything is possible. Options exist to deepen the journey.

Some humans move instantly from sleep to awakening with alarms. A similar experience can occur from spiritual sleep to spiritual awakening. Only, the device or means to allow this to occur may differ. Some may use a progressive path of meditation or spiritual practices or psychedelics as a springboard. The pace is relative to readiness. There is no better or worse way to rediscover true nature. The direct experience of energetic shifts changes with consciousness.