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Inner Leo - Embracing the Unknown

by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. - Issue #108 - July 27th, 2005

The number 108 is special number. We are instructed to do a Kundalini Yoga exercise 108 times or to chant a mantra for 108 repetitions to achieve transformative effects. I wanted Issue 108 of the New Millennium Being to be special, and was momentarily disappointed that my birthday issue was just #107. :+) However, I have discovered that indeed this issue could prove to be very special, as it initiates a series which will guide our journey for the next two years.

Saturn moved into Leo July 16th, and will remain in Leo through September 2nd, 2007. With conscious participation during this two-year period, we can open our hearts and move through the dimension of fear into the arena of love. Without active efforts to encounter our primal energy, the grinding ax of Saturn may provoke depression and loneliness. Actually, it will be our own lack of conscious awareness (not Saturn which simply supplies the energy that confronts us to grow), that allows these negative expressions to appear to be real. Saturn both tests us and delivers our gifts. Our active involvement is both required and also insures, that we will achieve satisfaction from our commitment to personal evolution.

Planetary Alignments
Gateway to Our Heart

The astrological influences favor cultivating a deep connection with our emotions in order to move from ego to soul consciousness. Our emotions are the gateway to our heart and our soul. Mercury retrograde in Leo from July 22nd through August 15th invites us to connect with our inner party, and not just seek outer-directed entertainment.

Saturn moved into Leo July 16th, and will monitor our authenticity with a strict hand through September 2nd 2007. Saturn does not allow superficiality to cover up the truth. Saturn demands an honest and substantial connection with our inner guide and personal will. We have to focus deeply within ourselves to experience the energy that directs and drives our actions, enlivens our passion, and motivates us to courageously embrace the unknown.

Saturn in Leo is going to oblige us to get real. So we might as well get with the program early in the game. The ultimate goal of Saturn in Leo is to help us open our hearts to ourselves. Our inner journey is what makes self-love possible. We will, of course, witness our projections play out in our outer world. As we deepen our inner connection, it will be beneficial to monitor our outer reality, and the relationship between the two. The sooner we recognize outer events and relationships as reflections of our projections, the more we will be driven to bring our inner reality into alignment with what we wish to create in our lives.

Journey to the Heart

We all want to be able to live in our heart, and to experience life through the eyes of love instead of through the grip of fear. We always hear that we are at choice to live from love or from fear. Most of the literature makes it sound so simple. My personal experience indicates that simplistic advice does not create long-term transformation. Like everyone else, I wish repeating affirmations, or setting lofty intentions, would miraculously transform my mental conversations, but somehow, these mental manipulations seldom seem to penetrate into our gut where we hold cellular fear.

Saturn in Leo is giving us an opportunity to connect with our deep imprints of fear, so that we can transmute this visceral energy into higher frequencies and expressions, i.e. love. If we do our inner work, we have a chance to experience what love really is.

We all experience some form of stress and anxiety. The root cause of stress is fear. Fear also manifests as anger and sadness. Anger and sadness are two reactions to the fear of not getting what we want, and not getting our needs met. Whatever our predominant emotional mode, the core energy is fear.

The Unknown Factor

One of the basic causes of fear is our reaction to our human predicament - we are obliged to live in the unknown. The unknown is the base line of physical reality. We actually cannot know, from one moment to another, exactly what will happen. Despite the fact that uncertainty and unpredictability are inherent qualities of the Universe in which we live, we attempt to operate from a mindset that, if we are clever enough, we can control events and our world.

We can of course impact it. The fact that we do impact our reality, and that we do participate in co-creating our lives, does not imply that we can supersede the uncertainty principle. Participation reflects the evolutionary nature of the Universe and our human experience. The result is still largely unknown.

The Evolutionary Factor

Our human journey is starkly evolutionary. We are confronted at every moment with challenges that oblige us to grow, change and evolve. Change is the water of our ocean. Every day of our life we have to try out new things. The results are made known only through experimentation; and yes, what we do and the choices we make, determine the outcomes in the laboratory of life.

Coming to terms with the implications of the evolutionary nature of the Universe, and of our lives, is critical in our quest to navigate our human journey with less stress. A certain level of dynamic tension will always exist, but we can certainly reduce it to a more reasonable level.

Sounds good, but to achieve this worthy goal of living, more connected with the evolutionary flow of our soul and the Universe, we have to experience how energy manifests in our own body. Saturn requires physical connection, not just good ideas.

Solar Plexus - Unknown Territory

Our solar plexus is simultaneously a convenient repository of stress and also territory of the unknown. If we are serious about getting real with Saturn in Leo, we are going to have to cultivate a direct experience with our solar plexus during the next two years. Our inner program includes:

  1. feeling the energies that reside in this area of the body,
  2. getting to know them through listening, feeling and attention,
  3. being with what we experience without judgment, interpretation or meddling, and
  4. finally allowing and loving the energy exactly as it is.

This is a tall order, but Saturn lessons are never served to us on a silver platter, and we never truly get our gifts without the wise, grounding counsel of the sage Saturn, master of the laws of physical reality. To try to skip over our Saturn lessons is tantamount to depriving ourselves of the rewards of life.

Kundalini Yoga - Meditation at the Solar Plexus

So let's get started. We are going to focus on and contemplate our solar plexus. Our initial goals are:

  1. to bring our attention to our solar plexus,
  2. to feel the energy at the solar plexus and stay with it.

We may initially feel numbness or emptiness. We will certainly feel some form of anxiety, churning or discomfort. We must simply be present to what we experience, without judgment or analysis. Fortunately the energy at the solar plexus is often experienced non-verbally. This is good. We must move beyond mental interference to experiencing feeling awareness. We have to avoid mental stories. Our quest is to experience the primal energies of our emotions, which will eventually lead us to encounter the energy body of our soul.

I. Exercises for the Heart and Solar Plexus

Before the following meditation, it is most beneficial to practice at least a few Kundalini Yoga exercises. Heart twists should be done at a minimum. Place your hands on your shoulders, fingers in front and thumbs in back. Inhale as you twist left. Exhale as you twist right. Continue for 1-2 minutes. Really feel the opening in the chest and solar plexus.

Then make your hands into fists with the thumbs inside, hands at the level of the shoulders. Twist side to side, inhaling as you twist left, exhaling as you twist right. You may notice that this second twist takes you wider and deeper.

After the above exercises, inhale deeply, exhale deeply, hold the breath out and pull in the navel and pull the diaphragm up and in. Performing this diaphragm lock will further stimulate and release the energy at the solar plexus.

During your practice of Kundalini Yoga, perform the locks, including the diaphragm lock on the exhale after each exercise. The diaphragm lock can only be done while holding out the exhale.

II. Meditation at the Solar Plexus

This meditation gets us in touch with the deep soul energies that reside at the solar plexus. It also helps us develop psychic skills related to profound inner knowing.

Touch the fingertips together with the fingers slightly apart, thumbs touching and pointing towards the heart. Hold this teepee-like position at the solar plexus. Inhale 8 counts for one breath through the mouth. Exhale for 8 counts through the mouth. Continue for 11 minutes. Pull in the navel, lower diaphragm and solar plexus with each pump of the breath. Deeply and gently move the solar plexus. Feel the power and energy of the breath.

At the end, inhale, exhale, hold the breath out and pull the navel and the diaphragm toward the spine. Really pull in and up. Do this 2 or 3 times. Then let go, relax, bring the hands to your knees and simply be present to, and contemplate what, you are experiencing at the solar plexus. Make sure to feel the front and back of the body and in between.

During the meditation and afterwards, apply the principles listed above, including non-judgment, non-evaluation and allowing.

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