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Hi Dave
Yes, I’m also interested in receiving your pdf, and also the recording (if available)
thanks
Jonathan
I’m insured with BGi; I assume that others (Bram, Lucy) are covered by BWY insurance. It will be interesting to learn if the BWY have heard of Kum Nye. They were not aware of it years ago, so I joined the now sadly defunct Independent Yoga Network.
These are very interesting observations and questions, thank you for them.
In my (albeit limited) experience of practising HGT, I would say that the most relevant part of the exercise wrt: “Then you will be beyond pain, surrounded by an expressive quality which means you are no longer holding a quality of ‘here I am’ which can be observed and felt in every cell of your body. You feel a sense of union, a willingness to let feelings arise and expand and you are able to embrace experience directly, without hesitation” is when the pose is released: allowing the arms to come down very, very slowly, gradually relaxing the muscles and other tissues moment-by-moment, noticing the feelings and sensations, and paying particular attention to the ‘final’ release when the arms are fully down, allowing the whole body to sigh and relax, and ground. At that moment there may be the experience of: “ You feel a sense of union, a willingness to let feelings arise and expand and you are able to embrace experience directly, without hesitation.”
And in the pose itself, not holding the arms out with will-power, but by allowing the upper body to be very light—filled with light—and relaxed, while the lower body, from the hips down the legs to the feet, is grounded, rooted, earthed, solid, supporting. It is perhaps worth experimenting with feeling-imagining-visualising that the arms are supported (and surrounded) by invisible cushions of light.
Please let us know how your HGT practice develops.
I’ve read sKu (Kum) referred to as a ‘gestalt’, that is as a whole greater than the sum of its parts, and that it includes the ‘lu’ (the physical body) as one of its parts. The sKu then is our total embodiment, our presence in space, and it is this which we work with in Kum Nye, through massage (i.e. Nye) in its various ways and forms.
What Arnaud likes to quote in this context is from ‘Challenging Journey, Creative Journey’ by Tarthang Tulku: “Something shows up; something speaks itself forward, yet the flavor of stillness remains.” (p.320 in Chapter 49, ‘Perfect Stillness’). That short chapter is worth reading in the context of this question.
With regard to making better, wiser, and kinder choices and decisions as a result of our KN practice, I’m reminded of what Arnaud Maitland has often mentioned, which is that it can be helpful to pay attention to any insight or thought that has the quality of ‘newness’, ‘uniqueness’, or ‘novelty’ that comes up in our meditation when we sit after the exercise. These insights or thoughts are the ones that are not related to our habitual tendencies and patterns, to our usual ways or reacting or deciding, and so may present useful information for making wise choices.
Hello Adele; I think that you’re on the right track about sKu in your first comment.
With regard to your second comment, in the book ‘Tibetan Therapeutic Massage’, by Dr Lobsang Rapgay, the point is made that it is important to distinguish between two types of channel systems (nadi), or energetic pathways, in the body. One system relates to the medical pathways that are engaged with by Tibetan doctors (and presumably their equivalents in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine). These channels and their associated pressure points would be what we work with in the massage section of Tarthang Tulku’s Kum Nye book.
The other “system” of channels and chakras is, I think, what I was referring to in the Q&A part of the class you asked about: they’re latent and are activated by the yogic practitioner. I probably mentioned them as being “made” of light, but not light in the sense that is understood in science, but rather the “light of awareness,” such that we “construct” or “activate” the channels when we imagine or visualise them in the body with our Kum Nye yogic practice. Let me know if I’m going in the right direction here, and if you’d like any clarification.
Is there any way the retreat could be extended e.g. more time at RatnaLing; time at the Institute etc. to make it more worthwhile for people across the Atlantic to justify the travel and recover from jet lag etc.?
Other Kum Nye relaxation quotes that I used in the first class I taught are:
“As it leads to integration of body and mind in all our activities, this relaxation has a vital and lasting quality greater than the feeling of well-being experienced in physical exercise or even in disciplines such as yoga. When we learn to open our senses and touch our feelings directly, our bodies and minds make full contact with one another, and all experience becomes rich, healthy, and more beautiful. As we become deeply acquainted with ourselves and our self-understanding grows, we are also able to share more fully with others.” Preface, p.x-xi KNTY
The key to both our internal integration and a balanced relationship with the world lies within our feelings and sensations. We can nurture and heal both our bodies and minds by touching our feelings deeply and expanding the flowing rhythms they bring us, for they are linked to the vitality of the universe itself. p4 KNTY
“In learning to relax, we tend to think that there is a goal, and that something must be done to achieve it. The tendency to make an effort is always in the back of our minds, and may become an obstacle to relaxation. Notice whether you come to rely on certain preparations. Try not to arrange anything within yourself—just be natural. There is not any specific thing you must do to relax. When you realize this, you will relax more quickly. The way to develop relaxation is not to instruct yourself. When you become tied up in plans or explanations, you cannot find internal openness. The secret is just to be, without relying on instructions. This may not be easy. We are used to telling ourselves that there is a certain way to be or a certain way to do things. We may even attempt to manipulate ourselves into that mold. When we begin to relax without instructing ourselves, there is usually the feeling that ‘we do not know how to do it.’ As relaxation deepens, however, this feeling of unfamiliarity passes, and there is only allowing and continuing.” p24 KNTY
“The foundation of balance and the integration of body and mind is relaxation. Often we think of relaxation as a state of dreaminess, lacking in awareness and vitality; or a process of escaping from life; or a filling or a marking out of time. But true relaxation is actually balance. When we are relaxed, we open to new sensory fields and dimensions, expanding sensations and feelings that bring body and mind together. We learn to generate and accumulate energy, using it so both body and mind work together in a flowing, open way. Thoughts and sensations flow more smoothly as the mind is vibrant and clear and the body vital and energetic. When we truly relax, it is no longer the ‘self’ that is experiencing—we become the experience itself. We no longer ‘own’ our senses, bodies, and minds, for they all totally participate in the experience.” p210-11 KNTY
“Relaxation has many meanings in Buddhism. The Abhidharmikas, Yogacaras, and Madhyamikas all gave this term an important place in their theories, although they understood it in quite different ways. Even for the highest stage of the Vajrayana, the Ati-yoga, complete freedom from restless movements of awareness, complete relaxation, is the goal. For the Ati-yoga, relaxation has a connection with the idea of perfection. Perfection is usually thought of as excluding all sorts of things as being `imperfect’, but Ati-yoga uses it in the sense of embracing everything as being very fine, very positive. This understanding is far from the ego’s ideas of relaxation and perfection. Ego cannot be truly relaxed, and Kum Nye should not be turned to the ego’s tiring purposes. We do not have to fight the ego or make it our enemy, but it is important to take its special characteristics into account.” Tarthang Tulku in ‘Reflections of Mind’, p.11 (1975)
