Sphere of Protection and Eastern Exercises

[ecosophia]

A project that I'm currently working on for publication is a manual of occult theory and practice for the beginning and intermediate student. This isn't a book about magic -- it's occultism in the sense found in Manly P. Hall and The Kybalion, the quest for wisdom and revelation through study of occult lore and practice of meditation and certain other related disciplines. The one ritual that plays a central role in it is the Sphere of Protection -- and thereby hangs a tale. 

One of the things that was just beginning to happen back in the waning years of classical American occultism's golden age was that certain  Asian exercises were beginning to find a home in the occult repertory. That's a process that deserves to be restarted, because (for complex historical reasons) Europe and the European diaspora lost their subtle-body exercises a long time ago, while Asia kept the traditions going. Since occult training (as distinct from magical training) doesn't involve circulating energy through subtle centers in the body -- the thing that can produce messy results when you mix it with Asian ways of doing the same thing -- it should be possible to combine occult training with practice of some of the more widely available Eastern exercise systems. 

"Should be possible" is a shaky reed to lean on, though. Thus I'd like to ask for some help from my readers. 

I know a fair number of readers of mine have taken up the Sphere of Protection as a regular practice, using either The Druid Magic Handbook or my posts here on Dreamwidth as a guide. I know that some of you also practice eastern exercises or physical disciplines such as yoga. What I want to know is whether you've noticed any interaction at all between regular practice of the SoP and regular practice of Eastern movement arts, including but not limited to: 

• Aikido
• Hatha yoga
• Karate
• Shintaido
• Tai Chi Chih
• Taijiquan

I've been able to experiment with Shintaido and Tai Chi Chih myself. (For those who aren't familiar with these, Shintaido is a movement art derived from martial arts, which was devised by Hiroyuki Aoki in the 1960s -- link here -- and Tai Chi Chih is a set of energy exercises created by taijiquan teacher Justin Stone in the US in the 1970s -- link here. I ended up exploring both of these after my magical practices and my practice of one of the old, very qigong-heavy taijiquan styles interacted badly and messed up my health; Tai Chi Chih is my current daily movement exercise.)  Your experience may be different from mine, though, so if you've worked with either of these and the SoP, I'd be grateful for your comments -- and if you've done something else along with the SoP, please consider telling me all about it!

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Good evening JMG, This is SundaraYogaShala and I wrote in awhile back about combining various yoga practices with the polytheistic LBRP and the MP. All continues to work out very well and like some of the other commentators I always practice the two with a space of several hours in between and usually something hearty to eat.

A couple of weeks ago on MM someone recommended the book “Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha” by Swami Satyananda Saraswati teaching the Bihar method of yoga. I would like to strongly second that recommendation as an irreplaceable treasure trove of actually useful information. For years I have taught absolute beginners yoga and this is my go-to source. One of the things I like to teach my beginners is to feel and really wrap their heads around the presence of their energy body. The Pawanmuktasana series of mindfulness exercises at the beginning of the book excel at this. They are simple, powerful, easy to remember and anyone can do them. It’s all about linking the breath with the movement and paying attention. For example “padanguli naman” is toe bending...inhale and bend your toes toward you, exhale and bend them away. Fairly quickly they are understanding how our energy body is responsible for the twinkle in our eyes and what feels so good after a good laugh. And from there of course , it’s endless how we can work with the energy body, make it healthier and perhaps move onto to more specific energy work 😉

Also before I had mentioned bringing focused energy into other parts of the body than only the heart center (especially in my ashtanga class!) slowly over time. At the end of every practice I “namaste” and make eye contact with each student and then thank them. Lately after I “namaste” they have begun to spontaneously “namaste” and thank each other 😀. Nice to see some egos coming down and being replaced with a little comraderie.

Your project is very exciting and I look forward to learning more as it progresses Namaste to you fine teacher!

[ecosophia]

Many thanks for this! I'm glad to hear you're continuing to have good results with the fusion of yoga and Western magic -- and with teaching beginners to experience their vital bodies. That's crucial these days, especially.

[(Anonymous)]

I was the person that submitted that, probably longer than it should've been post recommending the BHY publications trust. As someone currently increasing his yoga training and with increasing interest in occultism as well but with not enough divination skills yet to know if what I do will blow up in my face; if it is ok with JMG to ask this on his journal, would you mind if I contact you to know more about your experience with both? I've been wanting so badly to incorporate a banishing ritual into my daily practice!

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