The Intermediate Series as a tool to Enlightenment

I think that Kino MacGregor's introduction to the Intermediate Series (in her DVD) should be mandatory listening to all practitioners in, beyond, or flirting with, Nadi Shodhana (2nd series)

I like the practical, down to earth way in which she approaches the rising of kundalini,  a subject that can so easily raise eyebrows.  Yet, she invites people who have cleansed themselves through the long time practice of primary series to embark in the intermediate journey in search of these goals:

• The goal of all yoga is a state of inner peace
• One of the more esoteric goals is to awaken the energy at the base of the spine known as kundalini shakti and allowing it to travel through the chakras till it reaches the crown chakra.

She then goes on to split the practice into its three main sections, and the part they play in our kundalini reaching the top chakra, and the experiencing of sublime peace, as in Samadhi.

She mentions that we need to "be patient and allow time" 3 times throughout the introduction.

This made me chuckle, as today I asked Iose to help me with Mari -D.  I don't really need help, I bind, I twist, I sweat, I am working it, but I wanted to go deeper, grab the wrist, turn more, "type A" impulse, you see?.  I love his attitude towards practice "beautiful", he said, "stop thinking that you have to go much further".  He did not adjust me. I am grateful.

The three sections ?

• Deep Backbending and relatively light twists
• Outer rotation of the hip joint to extend the energy into the spine with the leg behind the head section
• Inversions

But most importantly, how do they relate to the arising of kundalini?

Deep Backbending:  Creating Space and lengthening

The back bending is very challenging... brings up doubt pain and increased levels of energy....Give yourself time...The postures work by teaching you to lengthen through the spine...  Once you extend and create space in between the vertebrae you literary lift the energy from the base of the spine and allow it to move up.

Leg Behind the Head: Upward thrusting the energy

  The weight in the upper back is a sort of pressure that literary forces your spine to upwardly thrust into the leg cause if you don't it simply won't stay... when the leg is removed the energy continues in the same direction of inertia.

Inversions: the fastest way to open the Shushunma (top of the head) chakra

The last sequence is a dynamic group of strength postures that ask you to not only be strong but control whole range of strenght in your back.... being able to take the spine from extension to flexion with absolute control... one of the quickest ways to get the energy to travel from the base of the spine through each center and awaken the top of the head is to turn your body upside down.

If you have access to it, I highly recommend listening to it, it certainly has inspired me.