Of church steeples ...
Have you ever focused on the top of a church steeple, trying to capture the highest point in your gaze?
Some churches have very pointed towers, prominent spires that draw the eye, the gaze, upward. This architecture expresses a spiritual desire for transcendence.
Ekagrata
These spires remind me of the term "ekagrata," which in Sanskrit describes a form of mental concentration that is completely focused on one point. A state of mind in which nothing, no movement of thought, has a place apart from the focus on the One.
How powerful such a mind must be, how clear and sharp, almost like a laser (sword) that cuts through the curtain of illusion and opens the view to the true. In the yogic and Buddhist scriptures, the mind focused on 'one-pointedness' (ekagrata) is described as a precursor to enlightenment.
For us, caught up in everyday thoughts and worldly concerns, this seems like a distant goal. Perhaps even unattainable, and some people wonder if it is even worth striving for
I don't want to philosophize about this today, but I would like to tell you a story. Before I dedicated myself to the study and practice of Yoga (and Ayurveda), I wandered through other worlds. I always wanted to understand 'what holds the world together inside'.
Heaven and Earth
My search began with the heavens, the firmament, and I spent several years researching western astrology, of course with a desire to better understand myself as a confused young person and to be able to categorize events. In the scriptures I came into contact with the idea that there is something that holds "everything" together, a kind of "energy". That there are so-called qualities of time that can be "captured" at special moments.
I got to know this "capturing" better when I became involved with Feng Shui. The qualities of heaven and earth come together here, and being able to describe and even use this interplay was a fascinating learning experience. Feng Shui led me to geomancy and I met Hans-Jörg Müller, one of the greatest and most gifted geomancers in Germany. This is where the real story begins. It's a story about how to feel the energy, the power of the earth.
Power Places
All over the world there are "places of power", places where we can actually feel powerful things coming from the earth. After studying Feng Shui for a few years, I attended my first seminar with Hans-Jörg near Kitzingen, Germany. Over 3-4 days he took us to different places and taught us to listen.
Churches often play an important role as places of power, as they are usually located on ancient ritual sites, and in the Middle Ages the stonemasons had a good sense of how to use the energy of the place when building the church and arranging it in the nave to promote certain psychic states.
I have never experienced such a seminar before or since. The force with which I suddenly perceived the energy of some places was unexpected. I have always been a bit skeptical and afraid of presenting potential fantasies as absolute truth. And that is exactly why Hans-Jörg did an experiment with us. He took us to a hill where there had once been a chapel that had also been used in pre-Christian times. Now there was only a big stone slab on which we (about 20 people) stood randomly. The task was to close our eyes and feel into the place, into the moment. After a while we were asked to change our posture to express what we were feeling. Anything was allowed except opening our eyes.
What do you think happened? After a while, everyone slowly raised their arms and stretched upward. Afterwards, we all agreed that we felt a kind of "energy" flowing from the bottom to the top, with an opening, joyful quality. Most people were touched, and I was deeply impressed that a) I could feel it, and b) that the feeling was reproducible, so to speak.
This was my introduction to the fact that there are energy flows. Those of such a huge body as the Earth are strong, but even smaller bodies are not just made of matter, they "radiate" something else.
Prana
In yoga we talk about Prana. Our exercises are aimed at keeping Prana in the body, allowing it to flow freely through all the channels, and later concentrating Prana. Working with Prana (especially in Hatha Yoga) and working with the mind go hand in hand. Even if we cannot directly feel prana in introspection, we can directly feel its effects. When we hold the energy in the body and the mind calms down, there is a feeling of lightness and clarity: the heaviness and fatigue disappear and there is a feeling of calm and clarity. This is a good feeling and it is worth going to the mat regularly.
What I want to say with this (and this endlessly long post) is that transcendence can happen in any yoga or other practice. We consciously step out of our everyday lives and practice calming our wandering minds and focusing our attention on one point.
Every millisecond we manage to do this has an effect. Our nervous system is very sensitive and responds to these moments with a sense of well-being.
And sometimes it just feels good to look at the top of the steeple, along the line up, and imagine that the connections are just bigger than what we can see now.
Om Shanti