Microcosmic Orbit Experience: Exercise #2

I did exercise 2, Harvesting Yang, of the Microcosmic Orbit class last night. It lasts only 20 minutes and should be practiced when the foundational exercise (#1) is mastered. 

I probably should have just listened to this exercise rather than trying it for myself since I have not yet mastered exercise #1. Thankfully, the exercise was easy and I didn’t have any issues. I was unable to feel much energy in the perineum and the part about pulling energy up in little bits did not seem to be working at first. Then, I noticed that, when I breathed in and pulled up ever so slightly, I could feel energy move up over the front of my pubic bone and into my erogenous zone. It was very slight as if teasing me. It didn’t get strong, thankfully, so I just noticed and it soon passed.

The facilitator of the exercise warned in exercise #1 that the energy of the root/perineum can sometimes create arousal and be highly erotic. He says the reason for this is conscious or unconscious intention over time. So, again, a conditioned response but one that can be corrected. I am happy that my response was not so sexual as to be distracting. I have felt the erotic feeling in the past and it is difficult to ignore!

Eventually, I could feel energy trickling up into my heart which wasn’t suppose to happen so I had to stop, focus on breathing deeper, root the breath, and begin again. 

When it was over, I did a regular meditation for about 15 minutes and went to bed.

About two hours after going to sleep I was awakened by a pressure at the base of my spine. It was highly uncomfortable! Ouch!! Not only did it feel similar to needing to have a bowel movement, it was painful to the point that it was concerning me. The only other time I’ve felt pressure and discomfort in this area was after a strenuous run where I became overly dehydrated. I imagine the feeling might be similar to what someone would feel after being violated via the anus! 

After a few minutes of discomfort and trying, unsuccessfully, to extinguish it, I asked my guidance for help. I immediately received back a visual of myself on the floor in bridge pose. Wasting no time, I got out of bed and got down on the floor. Before getting into bridge pose, I pulled one knee into my chest and then the other, breathing deeply. Afterward, I got into bridge pose and held it for a few breaths. Almost immediately the pressure went away! When the feeling was completely gone, I got back into bed. Unfortunately, the feeling returned but with less intensity, so I resume bridge pose while in bed and it went away again. I fell asleep soon after and when I awoke there was no discomfort in the area. 

Though I can’t be certain, the pain at the base of my spine may have been brought on by doing exercise #2 before I was ready. IDK for sure, though.

I researched bridge pose to see if it was helpful in balancing the root chakra. It came up as the #1 yoga pose for releasing excess energy from the root chakra! Ha! The next pose on the list was the one I did before bridge – pulling each knee into the chest. 🙂

So, the next night (last night) I repeated exercise #1. This time the energy was much less obvious in the areas of focus, especially in the abdominal area. Again, keeping my attention on the areas was a struggle. I kept losing attention and would have to self-correct whenever this happened. It was less than the first time, which is good, but I still have a ways to go. I was able to focus attention on the perineum and feel the energy there, which was almost imperceptible. The cool thing was that I was able to feel all of the areas together as one mass of subtle energy. I plan to keep practicing exercise #1 until I can maintain consistent attention without drifting off and feel the warmth of the perineum.

The ideal times to practice these exercises are: 1. Around sunrise (5-7am), 2. Around sunset (5-7pm), and 3. at midnight on the full moon. This is impractical for me because of my schedule. My kids are up and making noise at sunrise and sunset (dinner time is at sunset). Midnight is doable but being it is so late I will probably fall asleep. lol Thankfully, these exercises can be done at any time, but if done during one of the recommended times the environment will assist.

Microcosmic Orbit Exercises

Yesterday, while searching Kundalini forums, I found a link to a free Microcosmic Orbit online class. I immediately checked it out since I it was something that I was previously led to try.

At first I thought the whole thing was free, but turns out the only links that work are the ones to the videos. So, I searched more of the website and found the published books, selecting one specifically for women. I have yet to purchase it but probably will as it interests me.

This is an article that gives a synopsis of what is in the book,  Women’s Nei Gong

It is recommended to practice each of the videos in order. So, last night I listened to the first video as part of my nightly meditation, Anchoring the Breath

My experience was quite unexpected, indicating, to me at least, a readiness for it. 

It took me about an hour to complete the Anchoring the Breath exercise. I sat upright in bed and followed the instructions. It was easy for me to get into the exercise, most likely because of my recent, consistent Pranayama meditation practice. 

1. It was quite energetically obvious when I focused on the areas of my body as instructed in the video. The areas became energetically stimulated, subtly vibrating. As I settled my awareness on more areas, the vibrating area expanded. I began to feel the “energy helmet” sensation I’ve experienced numerous times in my life but it expanded downward as my attention went to other areas of my body. 

2. Attention versus intention is discussed in the video. Intention directs the energy in a certain way and can create negative effects (the teacher says “always” creates negative results) because it is directed by the mind. Attention is passive, allowing the energy to do what is needed for the body, which is always positive. If you have too little attention, however, you can end up going into the imagination and on into the dream state, which is what happened to me numerous times. I would find myself startled back to attention by my body slumping forward or sideways. In fact, I completely missed the final body part focus (the perineum) because my mind wandered. I only came out of my reverie about 15 minutes after the exercise concluded. So, it may be helpful for me to do this exercise at an earlier time, rather than at bedtime! lol

3. I found some of the information provided quite interesting, specifically the part about recognizing restriction in breathing, tightness in the chest, or dryness in the throat among other “symptoms” during the exercise. The teacher indicated that these irregularities exist as the result of subconscious intention in the past. To me, this translated as “blocks” created by thought patterns or habits. In other words, conditioning. I noticed a very slight tightness in my chest area and some breathing irregularities. I don’t recall any other indicators elsewhere but then my mind kept wandering!

4. The area that was the most energetic was my stomach area (the 2nd and 3rd chakra areas). I could not, no matter how I focused, get the energy to be consistent between all areas of focus. My stomach area would distract me because of how much energy was there compared to the other areas – massive amounts! I am not sure if I’m suppose to feel a consistent line from head to perineum, but if so, that was not evident because of how strong the energy was in my stomach region. Interestingly, this area is known as the lower Dan Tien, and from my limited research, my experience of strong energy there indicates that I am storing the majority of my energy in this area, which is exactly how it should be. What is the Dan Tien?

Overall, I am thrilled by the results of this exercise and will most definitely be doing the next practice tonight, but earlier so that I can keep attention and not drift off into other realms. 

Presently, we are having all the windows in our house replaced over the next three weekdays. In preparation, we have to remove furniture from around the windows. My husband has a huge desk that he wants to get rid of which is located directly in front of one of the windows. He wants to replace it with another desk. I am going to give him mine, which is newer and smaller. I will not be replacing it with another desk but using the space for meditation and yoga (and maybe Qigong). My 12+ year old computer is going into retirement.

With the new space I will be able to meditate seated on the floor rather than in my bed, so I will be less likely to fall asleep. I’m looking forward to completing my sacred space and settling into the energy it provides. I will periodically post updates about my experiences with the Microcosmic Orbit exercises.

~Namaste