Subtle Energies
There was a little card in one of the Ashram classrooms that had an image of Krishna playing the flute, his body gently curved. The text said “Keep thy Mind fixed on Me.” That little card has been on my mind for years, almost decades. I have wondered: what does it mean to keep my mind fixed on the Divine? And how do I do it?
Every time I come to the Ashram, I receive some kind of message or something to work on from the Divine. This summer, I received a clear message: Attune to higher frequencies.
I love looking up the definition of words.
Attune means: to make receptive or aware of
Receptive means: able and willing to receive
To Attune is to become aware of; and to become able to receive.
I went further: the verb tune means to calibrate your instrument or to set your receiver to the desired signal. That makes me think: What signal do I want my instrument calibrated to?
I initially was thinking that putting my attention on higher frequencies was putting my attention on the good, the beautiful, the “better states” of being.
I began to see how that creates a dichotomy of good/bad, preferred/not preferred and sets up resistance. Everything, everyone and every state of being is Divine energy, is frequency. Some states of being feel heavier and more dense than others and have less flow. Some states of being are lighter and have more flow.
What if I just put my attention on the flow of energy, on the unmanifested form, on the subtle?
Later, during satsang I practiced becoming aware of energy, the energy of the Temple itself, the energy of the community joined in song. It is beyond feeling or sensation, it is a subtle sense, an awareness. The subtle energy that flows beneath, around and within. I felt it pick me up in its current and swirl me around in its waves.
It reminded me of my favorite quote from Kundalini Yoga for the West.
“When you see the life-giving rays even in the most desperate human tragedies, that is the moment when you become aware that you are a handmaiden of Divine Mother. You have set spiritual energy in motion.”
The spiritual energy that swirls beneath, within and beyond the gross, is constantly in a wave of creation and dissolution. It exists beyond and beneath the pairs of opposites – good bad, high low. It is ever cycling and recycling through the whole gamut. By putting my attention on it I activate it and it lets energy flow rather than stagnate.
The next day I was out with my friend Jo-Anna (a karma yogi) and my son Benny. The road at the far end of the garden was too steep for my comfort in my mobility scooter, so we had to push it up the hill. Without words, the three of us worked together like a single unit. Normally, I would be ashamed and embarrassed. I really hate that scooter and that I have to use it. I would have been berating myself for getting into this mess and making apologies and excuses, feeling bad that I had inconvenienced my companions. But I didn’t. The thoughts didn’t even cross my mind. As we got to the top of the hill the clear blue sky seemed more expansive than normal. A wave of energy came from the sky and opened my heart wide where I felt an enormous surge of love and appreciation for all of us.
Deep Gratitude
Since I have this challenge with my body, I find I need to reach for the Divine even stronger, with more persistence and tenacity. I rely on practices to do so.
I have been doing this practice lately that I call deep gratitude where I take a fairly mundane thing like a spoon, or something you wouldn’t normally think to be grateful for like the sewer system and dig deep into appreciation for it, like keep following the line further and further, digging and digging, polishing and polishing, until it is no longer a mundane or forgotten thing but it is glowing with life-giving rays, with Divine Light.
For example – a vase on the altar, maybe it’s from the dollar store, a mundane ordinary thing but I think about the person who lovingly filled this with flowers and water and I think about the person who made sure this whole shape was symmetrical or programmed a computer to do so. And I go all the way back to the sand that was gathered to create this glass and the people who discovered that you could burn sand and make glass and whoever made the calculations to determine the strength of this vessel to make sure it didn’t break too easily but remains light and dainty.
This was probably mass produced far away, and I think about the people working the factory who may think they just work in a mundane factory but they have made or pressed a button to make this vase that now adorns our altar and forms part of a portal to Divine energy. And now this vase becomes special as we think about all that has been put into it being here and all the people who have contributed to it. It’s no longer a vase but a marvel of human ingenuity and cooperation that evokes a feeling of awe and wonder.
And now doesn’t it have a new meaning? Isn’t it kind of shiny? You can do this with anything – socks, book cover illustrations, your feet, the water system that you rely on.
That’s how I line my path with glowing gems. As I look at things with Light, then everything shines Light back at me.
It is so shiny at the Ashram. I can barely let in the gratitude and appreciation for this place, for this community, for my husband and son who support me. When I open myself up to the deep appreciation and gratitude for all the magnificent things about this place, it is so big that if I were to let it all in, it would drop me to my knees.
Practice:
We can practice sensing the subtle energy. Close your eyes for a moment. start with feeling sensation – clothing on your skin, air on your face; now move beyond your body and the immediate space around it. Can you feel the energy of this room? Become aware of the energy of this room vs outside of this room. Become aware of the energy of a garden. Can you sense, feel or imagine the energy that is moving within the plants causing their stems to push through the earth leaves to unfurl and reach up? Can you sense, feel or imagine the energy within a butterfly that moves its wings as it flutters gracefully in the air? Can you feel sense or imagine that same energy within you? This is the flow of energy that animates your body. It is the same as the energy that makes the wind blow, the garden grow and the wings of a butterfly move. Become aware of it.
When you can see the life-giving rays… you have set spiritual energy in motion.
Practice:
Choose something mundane. Something within your current field of vision, in this room and follow the thread of appreciation until you feel awe and wonder.
Nicole St. Arnaud has been visiting the Ashram since 2006 and completed the Yoga Development Course in 2015. When at the Ashram, she can always be found in the Beach Prayer Room before dawn which is her favorite place on earth. She has certificated in Iyengar Yoga, Yasodhara Yoga, Heartmath, Reiki and Conscious Parenting. She also has Master’s degree in Environmental Design and worked as a professional urban planner.