'Why the Strange Salutation?'
3 Big Tantric Secrets
Similar questions from two readers:
"my dear TAO SEMKO, it is nice and excellent to find you in my
life. i was looking for the same. keep in touch and please tell how
to keep my tongue up ? are you talking about NABHO MUDRA? i am an
adept student of yoga from lucknow city of india.
--SADGURU DHYANAGYE
"Please explain ' KEEP YOUR TONGUE UP '
-- Rae Pic
Our answers:
Anyone subscribed to these tips knows that they frequently end
in the words 'Smile, breathe right, and keep your tongue up!'
Longtime subscribers know why, as do all of our correspondence course members, and our seminar attendees.
My traditional email sign-off refers to three yogic meditation secrets, which among those taught at the very beginning of all our courses:
1) The inner, or secret smile.
2) The complete, healthy, or baby's breath
3) Nabho Mudra and Kechari Mudra, performed with the tongue.
1) The Inner/Secret Smile:
In both Hindu Raja Yoga, Buddhist Tantra,
and Taoism, the practice of secretly smiling inwardly during
meditation accomplishes three things:
a) It causes the thymus gland to release beneficial hormones that
alleviate the damaging cortisol released by the adrenals during
periods of stress, including when kundalini begins to rise.
b) It allows for the realization of bliss (ananda) and the full
opening of both the crown and heart centers in meditation.
c) Through resonance, it attracts good experiences in meditation and
in daily life...
Now, this is not a forced "social smile" we're talking about! This is
genuine happiness, which can be brought about through recalling good
memories, previous experiences in meditation, goals, dreams, or any
form of previous compassion, laughter, joy, bliss, even security, or
comfort, and then keeping the feeling while releasing the memory or
image.
What is fascinating, is that in the Hindu tradition, many 'gurus' keep the knowledge and simple power of the "Secret Smile" from their students to slow down the students' path to realization. This is both selfish, and potentially dangerous for the student! Without the Inner Smile, any student doing concentration practices (dharana) can over-stimulate his/her kidneys, becoming increasingly agitated, narrow-minded, and paranoid, not to mention overly 'sharp' to their friends and family - the opposite of enlightenment!
2) The Complete Breath:
The Complete Breath means breathing like a
baby does... As you inhale, the pelvic floor opens, then the abdomen,
then the rib cage, then the collarbones... all while completely
relaxed! Then you exhale from the pelvic floor first. If this seems
hard, then you're holding in so much stress and tension that you've
"forgotten" how to breathe!
Watch a baby in its crib... Baby's chest barely moves, but its "buddha
belly," even its lower back, move with the breath. Among adults,
shallow chest breathing correlates to high levels of cortisol in the
blood serum, and heart failure, in study after study. It also
correlates to lower orgasmic potential in men and women, and to
premature ejaculation in men. If you are a shallow chest breather, do
something about it!
So breathe right! First for a few minutes, and eventually, all the
time! Start by practicing in bed for a few minutes when you first wake
up... Gently fill your pelvis, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and release
all the way. Repeat! Your whole day will feel better for it. In
meditation, this breathing should be maintained until, through
steadily developing one-pointed, relaxed mental focus your body
naturally suspends breathing in samadhi... without thinking about
it... until it needs more oxygen...
3) Nabho Mudra:
Nabho Mudra is touching your tongue to the roof of your mouth,
either with the tongue tip, or folded back on itself. Anybody can do
Nabho mudra. Kechari mudra is a more extreme version, requiring
special practice. Depending on the point of contact (the alveolar
groove, the hard palate, the soft palate, the epiglottis, the nares,
etc...) the tongue connects to various nadis (acupuncture meridians)
by touching nerve points. Just by putting your tongue up, you can use
Nabho mudra to connect the front and back channels of your body,
serving as a switch/ safety device to prevent too much heat from
accumulating in the brain during yoga, qigong, and meditation.
Nabho
mudra can also be used to passively conduct energy flow to various of
the upper centers and marmas (bindu, sahasrara, ajna, sthapani,
simanta, etc.). When doing practices that arouse kundalini, it is one of
three safety factors that prevent "burn out" in the skull region,
while still allowing cooler energy through the crown, the third eye,
and all of the associated bindus... The other two safety factors are a fully relaxed
jaw release, and a suspended head position (what the taoists call opening the
"jade gates," or releasing 'krikatika' in ayurveda and yoga)
If you want to learn these life-enhancing techniques, and many more,
get
Santiago Dobles's 'Secrets the Guru's Will Never Show You...',
or subscribe to the Tantric Inner Circle to learn new secrets each month!
Smile, Breathe Right, and Keep Your Tongue Up!
Tao Semko