~~Yep, Kundalini rises in 3 nadis (subtle threads) up the spine area (not the actual spine - well, i know you know that, but just in case) Bigee in the middle, two less bigee's on either side (Sushumna, Ida and Pigala).

But, these are not the only nadis K "uses" - there are over 70,000 nadis throughout the body through which K has a jolly good time cleaning out ego gook (and of course, chakras have biggest piles.).

That is why each person's K experiences are different, because the flavor of the experience depends on what personal gook is being cleaned out. One may have visions, one may jump like a frog - this is not surprising however when one is small and green, one may see lights, one may feel depressed, and so on. These are just manifestations of the blockages in the nadis (and chakras) that dear K is working on.

~~K also "descends" - teachers and K experiencers have described the rising (from the base of spine) "and" the descending (from crown area)
of K. "Descending as a shower" is a common expression.

K will go up and fool around with lover (Shiva) but not "do" it many times (then she goes back down and rises again - the tease!) "Having drunk, having drunk, having again drunk," (Tantra), or she will whisper sweet nothings "I'm comin' darlin'" and this foreplay touches the pleasure buttons in our brains. We have an "experience" of insight, bliss, a glimpse of non-duality, and we think "Wow! i am realized!!
Better run and post on the NDS list."

But these "enightenments" will happen often before the big O, best to not take them so seriously, putting ego labels on them and all - maybe just sit back and enjoy. Besides, K not too happy with kinky threesomes, and has to go work then on getting rid of "I am realized" blockage in Nadi #53,467 - takes more time then 'til Precious Union.

"I was swept up to Thee by Thy beauty, and torn away from Thee by my own weight." St. Augustine

~~Don't think there could be more than one "life force," eh? K, chi, whatever, perhaps they are all the same energy, just different traditions naming them and working with them. Perhaps there is life force and it is called chi or it is called K or it is called Great Kangaroo - this is not surprising when one is large and brown, but when it is "awakened" to an intensity that begins to clean out all the chakras/nadis (beyond our control), than it is more commonly called K as in a Kundalini Awakening. However, some traditions "do" mention the Great Kangaroo awakening - there you go.

K has been described (Avalon's Serpent Power) as having two forms of energy at the same time: static (coiled potential energy at the base of spine), and dynamic (providing life's forces.) The energy expended in the life's forces does not take away energy from the coiled serpent - H.H. the Great Pair o' Docs.

"The whole is subtracted from the whole and yet the whole remains." (Upanishad).

When she's awakened, K as the life force is still doing her thing (albeit diminished proportionally as the lovemaking gets heated up), but the driving force is to unite with Her Lover above the crown (at that point life force is diminished so much body becomes very cold, corpse-like.).

"With his gentle hand he wounded my neck, And caused all my senses to be suspended."

~~When a being has their K running around very strongly or she's already up there smoking a cigarette, you touch their hand or even just get near them, or touch something they have touched, or look into their eyes, or see their picture, or even read their words on the net! (yep, happens a lot) your own K is aroused (In some people gets aroused very easily - horny little dickens.)

"I was as if the fire in the tree burned the tree as if the sweet smells of the winds of space took over the nostrils as if the doll of wax went up in flames. I saw Her Eyes and lost the world." Prabhu

~~Even though we may feel like it is coming from "outside," the only K we "feel" is inside us. Course it doesn't belong to us - formless, changeless, no boundaries/limitations, but you know all that stuff.

"The Spirit is playing, The Spirit is longing, The Spirit with fancy creating all, Surrenders himself to the bliss of love..Amid the flowers of His creation, He lingers in a kiss.. Blinded by their beauty, He rushes, He frolics, He dances, He whirls, He is all rapture, all bliss, in this play Free, Divine, in this love struggle."
Skryabin

Well, that's all - just some notes about K from garbage pile (maybe right, maybe wrong, maybe up, maybe down, maybe only H.H. the Great Jumper knows for sure) to do with what thou wilt.

love you all, oh

"I remained, lost in oblivion; My face I reclined on the Beloved. All ceased and I abandoned myself, Leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies." St.John

Gene: There is a way to understand what is going on with this question that you are dealing with, to wit: Thought, content, thought-form, core wound, and what is 'really going on' on a level of phenomenology. See below:

Marcia: Perhaps a thought form. The habitual form our thoughts take. In other words the form behind the content. The content continually comes through forms specific to each of us and laid down before language.

Xan: Can you show me this form our thoughts take with no content?

Marcia: I may be just connecting things that don't connect but I was thinking about the core wound and how it might mold our thoughts. No matter what was coming in or going out would be molded by these forms. In the Gurdjieff work it is called chief feature. The central axis around which our personality rotates. Like is sieve with holes structured a certain way.

Xan: Yes, the ongoing impact of core wound/chief feature. I've also heard it called the core belief and the personal law. Does that exist without thought?

Marcia: I am not saying I think this is true but that might be an example of a thought form. That belief behind individual thoughts gives shape to the resulting thought.

Xan: Is there belief without thought?

Marcia: This is how I look at it. Thought is structured by words or has it's basis in language. At least ordinary or one-centered thought. Our beliefs we got before language and they form our thoughts. Or are the forms through which the energy of our existence take form in thoughts. Our beliefs are unexamined. Thoughts we introspect all the time.

In myself, for example, I might have all sorts of thoughts about how someone doesn't like me or even the dog may not like me for some reason. Behind that is the sense that if I do not approach someone in the right way then he/she will not like me. But behind that is a belief that somehow I am worthless and that I have to earn love. So I spend my life taking care of everyone never examining the motivating belief that shapes all my thoughts that I am somehow worthless and unworthy of being loved.

Now don't get me wrong. Taking care of people and nurturing is great if the focus is not on me, me, me trying to fill this "worthless hole" in my psyche. My greatest weakness is also my greatest strength and the behavior may not externally change much at all.

Xan: So you are saying, Marcia, that belief is thought at an unconscious level of mind?

Unconscious as well as conscious mind functions as sounds and words, images and body sensations. Even as pre-verbal memory, a sense of worthlessness is an evaluation, an interpretation, an identity. These are thoughts, are they not?

Gene: I have discovered that the information which remains with us, as the result of wounding (most especially when we are children) is indeed in the forms that Xan and Marcia point out; sounds, words, images, and body sensations. However (and this is a big however!), this residual information of wound, is stored in a _compressed format_.

Non-wound information is stored in uncompressed format; we have the ability to easily access and endlessly ruminate this non-compressed information. Most of what is shared here, is in non-compressed format.

It is useful to know something about data-compression; the easiest examples to know, are the common data-compression formats used to convert large files into smaller files, for transmission over electronic networks, like the internet.

Filenames which have the suffix of [.zip, .tar] for PCs, or [.sit, .bin, .hqx] for Mac, indicate that such files are compressed; they have been rendered into smaller size by the rearranging of certain bits of data. Such files can be uploaded/downloaded much faster than their uncompressed versions. Each file must be uncompressed before it can be used; but sometimes, such files are made simply for the reason that they take up less disk space than their uncompressed versions.

* IDENTITY THREATENED BY INFORMATION

Psyche reacts by stuffing (archiving) information which threatens identity.

The chief characteristic of these stuffed archives of wound-data, is that *although* they are available for our access, they 'play back' at such a tremendous speed, that they are literally incomprehensible to the conscious mind. As they play back in us (usually experienced as an undesired event in itself), the speed of the playback induces a physical vertigo; this is often experienced as a 'veritable blow' to oneself.

* "FLASHBACKS" PLAGUE USERS OF DISINHIBITING DRUGS

Exposure to this instant/incomprehensible information _again_ threatens identity; shockingly instantaneous feelings of _depersonalization_ occur, along with a cascade of emotions and the concurrent physiological flooding of the brain with the neurohormonal byproducts of psychological association.

During high-speed playback, compressed data-files deposit or inject certain _subliminal_ cues; these cues prompt emotional reaction of _desire_ and _aversion_. Although the specifics of the information of wound are still unseen, the consequence of triggering the instant yet incomprehensible playback of this compressed data, may be experienced as _violence_.

The skilled psychotherapist can actuate the 'algorithm of decompression', to allow the real-time playback of the information of wound. A human system which is capable of compressing and archiving information, is also capable of uncompressing that information. Uncompressed, the information of wound is available for real-time rumination.

* ORIGINAL WOUND-INFORMATION "IN-FORMS" WAY OF BEING

Yet, it remains unaccessible to the conscious mind. Searching the memory for significant points of attachment may trigger high-speed playback; the vertigo, the 'blow' to oneself, and the concurrent feelings of aversion and desire, serve as a punishing conditioning to keep us OUT of our own information-archives.

Although the information of wound is indeed composed of the same comprehensible 'thought-forms' as any other datum of thought, it is 'a lot in a small space'; it is kept compressed and in pressurized format. Consider that this entire post could be reduced to the size of a single period (.), but also that considerable energy would have to be continually expended to keep it compressed.

* COMPRESSED 'ISSUES' GOBBLE LIBIDO, DIMINISH IMMUNITY

The energy required to keep information hidden from ourselves, is subtracted form the pool of energy available for us. This effect is noticed as fatigue and diminished immunity; the other more obvious effect is that of being 'on-edge', irritable, and defensive.

* WHAT IS REPRESSED, IS PROJECTED

The unconscious activity of repression (compressing unwanted data) creates pressure which results in the spontaneous and automatic phenomenon of _projection_. In this way, we surround ourselves with a 'virtual reality field' of our own making; it is composed of the very factors which we least want to confront. Fear, resentment and blame are the most common reactions to our own projections. It is very common for a person to see themselves as perpetually suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, while the entire time remaining unaware that they are interacting with a reality of their own making.

* ALGORITHM OF NONDUALITY, SELF-INQUIRY, DESIGNED TO MAKE ALL DATA ACCESSIBLE

It is possible to _learn_ to allow the uncompression of repressed information of wound; it is possible to adopt the practice of _abiding_ the storm of effects which occur during this decompression process. It is possible to learn to let go of the reactions of aversion and desire which inevitably are triggered during either high-speed or real-time playback of memory-contents; it is possible to categorize every reaction as either aversion or desire, and thus to become aware of _attachment_ as it exists as a primary mechanism of the human Being.

'Attachment to outcome' is what underlies every strategy; to let go of attachment to outcome, allows the falling away of strategizing as a way of Being. Releasing strategy sets us up to free-fall into Self, with no 'escape route' or 'back door' retained 'just in case'. This _radical_ release of attachment is without penalty, yet, it is the most difficult of all acts to perform. To perform this act, requires practice of abiding, carried out as a 'walking meditation' 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. It is when we finally realize that our reality is our own, that we are able to own our reality; it is at this point, that resentment, blame, and revenge lose their powerful grip on our selves.

* YOU ARE THE ONLY REALITY; YOU CREATE THE APPARENT UNIVERSE

There is only SELF; there is nothing to contrast with Self. Therefore, there is nothing for Self to be 'like'; thus, Self is 'like nothing'.

* IDENTITY IS ONLY A VERSION OF SELF

All versions of self are Self. Self has the power to forget about Self, and to remember Self. Identity is a defacto hypostasis, a crystalization of information, a hardness comprised of compressed nuggets of wound-information. Reaction is to projected contents of memory. All of what is known, is what has been known. All of what is known, is not Self, it is a version of Self known as identity. All of what can be known, is Self, but Self masquerades as the Unknown, and the future is the unknown; thus, we are "all going to meet ourselves" as Self 'in the future'. Anticipating this event, which is felt to to be release from suffering, we are impatient and thus do not abide. Nonabiding Beings do not abide Beings abiding...

Summary: Compressed information of wound, informs, guides and shapes our world; the violent flashback-effect of high-speed playback of compressed data, calls for that data to be uncompressed and experienced in real-time. Avoidance of unwanted information is the primary strategy which supports the continuance of identity. To abide, is to slow the playback of compressed data, and to tolerate the effects of our own attachments as they are activated as either aversion or desire.

* ABIDING, EQUANIMITY KEY FEATURES OF MATURITY, SUCCESS

Upon the dawning of the realization that we create our own reality, the fight comes to an end. Projections are withdrawn, and resentment is no longer used as fuel for action. We acquire a deep understanding of our own nature, and see that compassion is the highest power; we appreciate that we are designed in such a way as to punish ourselves for nonabiding, and that the key to abiding is compassion for oneself.

* EQUANIMITY EQUALS EQUAL ANIMITY (MOVEMENT) IN ALL SITUATIONS

Life is momentum and momentum is movement. As long as we live, we move. As long as we live, we will either be reacting to our unwanted/projected 'contents', or we will be in understanding of our human nature, and abiding it in all of its complexity and simplicity. Such abiding of oneself, is compassion for oneself. Compassion can inform the inevitable movement of life.

The past is dead, the future is imaginary, the one and only abode of the truly sacred is the eternal now moment. The recurring cry of the charlatan and the hoodwinked is "wait and see."

The fact is that the future is intrinsically unknown, and it is the nature of thought to attempt to predict it -- but what does thought have to work with in its attempt to forecast the coming years, months, days, hours, or even minutes? The answer is that thought can only imagine the future from knowledge, which is information acquired in the past, and therefore, in the words of the sentencing jurist, "dead, dead, dead."

Thought, manifesting as ego, is a survival tool by nature and thus fears its own extinction. Because the future is inherently unknown, the thought-full consciousness cannot face that which contains the very real possiblity of that dreaded ego-death. It marshals all its resources, comprising knowledge, and replaces the fearful unknown with the resulting concocted "future."

Thus does ego imagine its way into the illusion of psychological security, and in the process preclude the exclusively in-the-moment advent of the truly sacred, which theists call "God." That is also why people like Benjamin Creme, who encourage future-fixated consciousness aka "wishful thinking," are, by their actions and announced intentions, clearly opposed to the living, actual "God!"

*****

Into meditative silence, there is an indescribable occurence, a movement that is nonetheless utter stillness. It is revelation, it is utterly transformational and not of thought or of the senses. All we can do is muster all our commitment, our personal integrity, our sincerity, and invest it in silent perceptual clarity. The rest is out of human control, a matter of grace, the mystery of what you call "Holy Spirit" and I call "the truly sacred." It is done, but human intention is not the doer.

*****

Feeling "I am" is itself a spontaneous occurrence, any accompanying behavior may therefore also appear to be spontaneous, that is, without detectable cause or motive.

The action of "I am" is intrinsic to state and circumstance, it is choiceless -- a kiss or a kick, at love's behest! The washing of feet, the overturning of tables -- love, all of it....

*****

There are times, beloved companion, that I see violence as a cruel, serrated blade driven though the heart of our species, century after century, by the ambitions of (wo)men bereft of love. This violence is more than war and the shed blood of armed combatants, it is also in the "non-violent" politics of "economic" sanctions that starve and sicken innocents for the transgressions of the tyrants who rule them, and in the fear of ordinary folk who never know where or when a terrorist "martyr" will strike, armed with Torah or Koran verses assuring the righteousness of the murderous deed. Bodhisattva can only weep.

*****

"Christ" is an anglicized variant of a Greek word with the literal meaning of "anointed." It originated as the closest koine approximation for the Hebrew term "moshiach" -- the promised Messiah of Old Testament prophecy, the "anointed of G-d."

As often happens when ones modus operandi is experiential rather than formally philosophical or religious, "The Christ" has taken on a different meaning and function here. "The Christ" is really a perceptual mode that encompasses the collapse of the dualistic paradigm, it is Ruben Feldman's "unitary perception," J. Krishnamurti's "great meditation," Saumen Sengupta's "what is," the in-the-moment revelation that theistic language diminishes to "G-d," it is rightful embodiment of the truly sacred -- it is bodhisattva. It is emphatically not a particular human being, dead or otherwise, but rather an "anointing" that is the birthright and original state of human consciousness.

It is also a symbol worthy of shattering -- and that shattering is also "The Christ," in action rather than as static symbol. So, let us by all means kick the symbolic Christ off the shelf and sweep up what shards remain -- the actual, historical Jesus would surely have done the same. In that shattering moment, let there be the actual Christ, the great revelational perceptual unity that renders all symbols and images moot, spent catalysts at best.

The anointer and the anointed are surely one, and let no (wo)man put asunder! Amen.

*****

Ultimately, the only truly indispensible yoga and "path" is life itself, which I suppose is karma yoga whether we call it that or not.