Massages ~ Yogi’s Method
For inSelf Yoga™ the students should self-massage. There are many different methods of doing this but yoga has the asana postures for the physical part and the breath infusion process for the physio-psychological part.
We are aware of feelings in the body, of both pleasurable and undesirable feelings. These should be moved here and there using the pranayama breath infusion process. Asana postures are mostly for physical self-massage but when it is combined with pranayama breath-infusion, we get inner discoveries of how the feelings are connected into the physical system and of how the operation of the physical body affects the feelings. This is self-discovery with the word self meaning psyche.
The word self in English is very confusing in its usage from sentence to sentence of the same writer and even more confusing in usage from writer to writer. Initially in meditation a student is confused about what the self is just as children are usually thinking themselves to be only the material body and its feeling content. This is okay because it is a nature-bestowed confusion. It is nothing to be embarrassed about. And yet, it would add something for clarity if one were to realize that nature bestowed a minimum start-up confusion so that we could start as the infant body and proceed from there.
Do I believe in massages?
I sure do!
Many Indians Swamis take massages on a daily basis as a matter of course and tradition. However the message I swear by is the self-massage which is done while dong asana posture and pranayama breath-infusion. These are massages for sure even though there is no one there to help the yogi with his body and feelings. The yogi himself has to rub his joints, squeeze his ligaments, stimulate blood flow in through his joints and physically affect the stupor in his consciousness.
Do I think that getting massages from others is satisfactory?
I do not think they are. Here is my reason:
No matter how good a masseur is, he or she cannot replace the core-self itself because that masseur is another person who is not connected with the kundalini life force the way the core-self is.
It is the core-self itself which is required to do the work of helping and reforming the kundalini life force, not another person. The issue here is not the massage but who does it. Does the person administering the massage cause the person who is getting the massage to have a better relationship with the subject’s kundalini?
If that is happening then I would sign on for students to use massage by others and to forgo doing asana postures and breath-infusion.
My experience denies that a person can develop a better relationship with the kundalini in his psyche, through massages given by other persons. Hence I officially say that for the inSelf Yoga™ massages by others are out. Do self-massage using asana postures, breath infusion and inner pulling, squeezing and pushing of sensations which are released during posture/breath-infusion practices!
