Karma Yoga is a more subtle study
of the laws of cause and effect as they apply to our
personal life.
In essence it is a study of how we have created the
situation we are in now and subsequently look at what
we would like to create in our upcoming years and lifetimes.
Techniques involve self-analysis of thoughts, emotions
and feelings, leading to insights about where it all
comes from, and how to change the undesirable aspects.
In practice it comes down to being helpful and compassionate
with everyone, thereby creating positive karma.
Karma Yoga unfolds
the 4th Chakra: Anahata.
The element of Air. That's the stuff that fills your
lungs. The reason your lungs remain inflated when they
are full is because air molecules push each other apart
with the energy that is the fundamental force of this
chakra. The force of expansion.
This force can be found at many levels of life from
the expanding universe to the growth of your own body.
If you take the two north poles of a couple of magnets
and try to push them together you will feel this energy.
It is more subtle than fire and invisible, yet a very
powerful creative force in the scheme of life in the
material world.
Lungs and heart both are connected to this energy and
utilize it with every beat, with every breath; expansion
and contraction. The endocrine gland plugged into it
is the thymus. This gland is the center of the body's
immune response system; the energy spreading out from
here sends out the white blood cells that sweep through
the body looking for foreign invaders. If any are found
they are systematically pushed out of the body, after
being neutralized through whatever it takes. This system
in itself is amazing and somewhat miraculous when it
is functioning. Developing the fourth chakra will bring
the system to peak performance.
Touch and feeling is the sense related to this level
of our being and this can become a very large arena
when you consider all of the feelings we are capable
of perceiving. When energy moves we can feel it. Energy
in motion (E-motion). Any of these motions which we
deem unpleasant and do not want to feel can be suppressed
with the reaction of also suppressing the breath. at
an unconscious level.
Green is the color of this energy while a six pointed
star lies in its center. This star is made of two triangles,
representing two powers which come together in this
center, with every heartbeat and with every breath.
Physically this realm produces many of our feelings,
from the most physical to the most sensual to the most
subtle. All of those feelings which lie under the threshold
of consciousness are also contained here.- from your
heartbeat to cellular metabolism. etc.
Mentally we are still focused on feelings and also
enter the realm of the subconscious where we may have
stored years of unresolved events with all of the emotions
involved. However, just as the breath is a subconscious
process in the beginning, so also the whole realm of
the unconscious opens up when we begin to take over
the control of breathing. Be aware of what comes up
for you.
West is the direction of this particular energy and
introspection is its nature. By going in depth here
it is possible to go beyond the normal bulk of one's
own stuff and to the level of intuition. Another chakra
lies in this beyond, one called GURU HARIDYA MANAS ,
which translates as the "teacher within one's own
mind". It is here that you can establish a direct
link with the wisdom of the universe.
