Yoke

Observe

‘Observe’ means to watch over. The observer is the over-mind — that which is before the mental processing of the sensory information. A stillness and detachedness of the mind, disengaged from mental dialogue and judgement.

The over-mind is usually pseudo located above the head where one can be detached from what is happening and be an over-seer. But it can be just as easily be situated in the under-belly, as it is not constricted by a gravity induced hierarchy. In this place the over-mind is positioned at a place of body centre to effect greater integration and stability within the physical realm. This is the location for the Observer, at the very centre of the physical being, the place marked out for observation and contemplation. This is the ‘O’, the start of the ORBIT below the navel, where if one presses in deeply one can discern where the spinal column disappears from view. This is the eye of the observer — the place to listen to silence and let the world fill itself in without any reaction.

Observing allows an aligning of oneself, to align centre and flow with the universe. The location of the bladder below this area allows for the association of the kidneys and bladder in the Taoist water concept of alignment, to represent an overview of the journey ahead and fundamental preparation. Breathing into this area — the feeling of which is the sensation of the intestines being pressed down and outward from the movement of the diaphragm, causing the lower belly to seemingly inflate — produces a somatic awareness to our centre of gravity and centre of self.

This area is the absolute centre of the human body, and in Chinese medicine is called the Sea of Qi, and is known as an ‘energy centre’ due to it being where the ‘centre’ of gravity is for the body, and all our ‘energy’ (in work), comes from the functioning of the body within the gravity field pivoting around this point. This is the centre of the physical being. The focusing here can be associated with any other yoking practices and because of its centring aspect it is linked with original essence (Yuan qi), and foundational practices. Our original essence is not us, it is the prime mover, the divine path from which all is created. It is the ultimate alignment.

Still in this area but a little lower, is what is known as the Gate of Qi, and is the meeting place of the 3 inner leg meridians. Keeping with the Daoist associations, trust, alignment and integration result from this intersection. It is an important point from a tensegrity perspective and can have a calming and grounding effect on the mind and a centring of the physical body due to this.

It is the place of power and where we can harness that power because of the alignment that comes from a strong foundation. This is the area of the Dantien, Hara or Svadhisthana, and is a good place where we can seat our consciousness and observe from.

•••

The massaging of this area should be done with a clockwise circular motion which makes sure that the colon on the left side is massaged with its flow. This dextral direction is important to maintain throughout the performance of the outer orbit, as the colon needs to be treated with this respect as counter-flow is not desired.

•••

The Observer sigil below, is also a symbol for "consider" because the word ‘consider’ literally means "with star", and the circle below the star (the Aster of ego dissolution), is the ‘O’ of ‘Observe’, and ‘consider’ has the meaning of ‘to observe’. The Observer sigil is also similar to an Earth symbol and so may represent the grounding that this area associates with, and also, the Aster is centred upon the navel which is an Earth point in Chinese medicine. This Observer sigil is reminiscent of the cruciger mundus in Christianity, but here the cross is represented by a pentagram. This 'cross' is located on the body at the position of the First Self, the holy self.

The circle is the central circle of the Lower Mirror and the place to consider and ground ourselves, to Observe the thoughts and their arising and the little triggers that precede them. Observing initiates the cessation of the mundane flow with the control that allows our detachment from the proceedings and the accompanying emotions that can ensnare us. This cultivates the alpha brainwave state and allows the next step of relaxed breathing to be cultivated.

The massaging of this area starts at the caecum (midway between the navel and the top of the pelvis at the front), and massages the colon up the right side of the abdomen, continuing with the clockwise circular technique which can have a perpendicular motion (Whyzed), or lateral (Exwhy).

The previous area was to do with observing the present, while this one is about releasing the past.

The colon can be associated with the past due to its releasing nature and is the underlying current that flows throughout and behind all the organs along this path in the abdominal region — releasing everything. The colon's circle (bent back at the sides and folded forward at the top), roughly follows the outer circle that circumnavigates the orbit, and so its mental associations can be combined with all the other organs due to their being adjacent to them. This means the aspects of relaxation and releasing can be conjoined with any of the other organs together with the story that accompanies their massage. The paired organ of the Lungs in Chinese medicine means breathing is accompanying all of this too, and shows how relaxed breathing is fundamental to both the ORB and the ORBIT. Everything requires this accompaniment. Releasing is relaxation and produces the soft breathing that is intrinsic to this and which accompanies the yoking.

The past runs behind it all, and everything to be released has come from the past. The memory, influences and habits, the releasing of resentment by forgiveness and the forgetting of the self.

When all reasonable avenues of trying to share your philosophy and revelations have been exhausted, it is time to stop trying to force the horse to drink. Release the egoic baggage and absolve yourself of any thoughts of others, and rise above the petty egoism, independent of any good or bad opinions from them. Their opinions have no bearing upon your life and their judgements are irrelevant — that is them, not you. Forgive and forget them; a necessary forsaking of them because they live in their own parallel world and you cannot save them from what you can see as their wrong beliefs. A trying to help them or just the wanting to, can cause all the misery, and the only resolution is to let it all go. A true holy man has no desire to share his understanding anyway; that is society and isn't even really possible. This is absolution, the exoneration and freeing from the philosopher's burden. Free from care and therefore secure, cleansed and released from the entrapment of ego.

At the transition from the colon to the liver (Releasing to Believing), there is the acupoint of Liver 13 at the tip of the free floating rib (the 11th rib), which is used for the emotional letting go of things.

The placement of the 5 circles of the ORBIT is a basic guideline only. To perform a comprehensive massage of the middle area it is necessary to depart from this rigid structure.

This extension of the ORBIT massage follows the bony edge of the abdominal area along the spine of the pelvis to the spinal column where the bladder meridians are on either side, and then up to the kidneys under the rib cage. The kidneys, along with the bladder, are associated with aligning and so this orbital detour round the back and into the kidney area will be part of the Observer. This is the province of the divine and that which is decoupled from society. The triangulation that occurs between the two kidneys and the actual bladder below it, is a sign of alignment and finding your true way. Surrounded on all 3 sides by the void — the third state of presence.

At this point we are empowered by the resolving of the past and abandonment to the divine, fortified and divinely justified as we move to massaging the liver from the rear, under the rib cage, and turn our thoughts to trusting the divine flow and the love we are cocooned in.

Believe

The ‘Observe’ is the present, the ‘Release’ is about the past and the 'Believe' is the future. The trusting that your way is true and that you are following your true path and by being true to yourself, you are believing in yourself and being love.

Being with faith is literally being confident and allows us to ‘shh’ ourselves and relax into the knowing that everything is as it should be and happening for our greatest good. Where everything that we need to know is revealed to us and every stepping stone of our way is presented right beneath our feet as we tread our true path. Love is this true acceptance and abandonment to the beatification of nature as the innocent children of it that we still are.

Believing is being love, having faith that everything is good, trusting and knowing that you are good. There are no thoughts or justification, it is a pure acceptance of the universe and a release from society ego.

The silencing of the mind from ‘observing’, and the relaxation and soft breathing from ‘releasing’, leads inexorably to the ‘believing’ state of ‘being love’.

This concludes the first half of the first orbit — ORB.

•••

The area between the liver and stomach (where the Solar Plexus Aster is), should be massaged with sinistral circles (anti-clockwise) instead of the usual dextral (clockwise), as we are above the colon now and need to maintain its correct directional flow. It is also necessary to massage under the rib cage to access the organs of the liver and stomach with an Exwhy and Zedex motion.

This cross-over point combines faith with connection, the acceptance that comes from the fact that you know you are a child of nature, trusting the way, confident and self assured; a part of it all and meant to be this way. Everything coming together in its right time and sequence, and forming into a coordinated whole. To be one with nature.

Integrate

The stomach area which touches the top of this circle, is associated with connecting, and other than our physical and spiritual rehabilitation, it is the mind that connects things together, and so it is the thoughts and thinking of the self that are in this domain and the need to constrain them.

The foundation of the word ‘integrate’ is integer, meaning ‘one’. To integrate is to make whole and complete, becoming one with your life. Connecting all of your parts into a whole. Collecting yourself together, composing oneself, assembling the parts into a pattern which is your identity, and consolidating yourself; self-contained.  The integration of your philosophy and understanding into a vehicle capable of interacting with the world and society harmoniously. This is the creation of ego where we integrate our belief of who we are.

Fit into the world; the perfect fit due to relaxed breathing. Integrated like a key fitting into the universe, unlocking the person you are supposed to be, in your rightful place; justified, whole and complete.

Vindication and self-justification has to be done from you, to you; it isn't something somebody else gives you. You are incomparable. Integer, whole; there is only you.

Associated with the spiritual element of Earth — of which the main experience of is gravity — which is affecting of the body and hence leading to the need for correction of posture. Posture is at the core of physical integration which also effects the mental responses and emotional composure. The tensegrity that is at the root of all physical composure is the epitome of the integrity of being one.

The full integration of ones self creates the divinely inspired story that is the true philosophy of your potential and place in the world, unhindered by others opinions and the restrictions that society will impose upon you. The colon runs alongside this massage and encourages the freedom that is necessary to escape the indoctrination of servility and be who you really are, connected to the Earth, connected to Gaia; a child of nature.

•••

The outer orbit can be extended between the Integration and Transcending by following the rib cage to the kidney area (as shown in the Extended Orbit above), and use the connecting aspect of the stomach with the divine alignment aspect of the kidneys. All integration is ultimately to the divine, to become holy, to be whole and complete. Divinely connected with the strength to drop the ego and be secure, free from care, fortified and self-assured, knowing that you are meant to be here and are justified and vindicated.

Transcend

This is the continuing of Release on the other side of the body, with the massaging of the large intestine. The lower colon needs to be pulled away from the left side of the pelvis during the massage, using an Exwhy dextral circular motion and with a Whyzed perpendicular attitude where needed. This is where during the palpation of the colon it is most easily discerned.

When continuing from the extended orbit of the left kidney, the releasing can carry with it the security gained from that area of strength, allowing a freedom from care and mundane attachment, continuing the journey in the divine. Transcending to forgiving grace.

The previous area of Integration was concerned with self-justification, but here we go a further step and now stop making the ego right. All ego is ultimately wrong; it is either making you too little or too much and needs to be transcended to the true self. Integration of self is making the ego one; the one ego that is true — the true self.

You do not transcend to a new place, you transcend to the place you came from, the place that preceded the place you now want to egress. Your original self is your destination, a returning to non-dichotomy, to purity and wholeness, to your holy self, your First Self. But first, the completion of the orbit is a return to the Observer and the place of quiet strength where we are centred and grounded in our alignment, and to do this we must release the insufficiencies of our societal selves. Moving aside and letting go of our ego, decoupled from our society habits, cleansed and ego restrained — transcended. Forgive ourselves by stop giving to our ego, and become released from the ego and its domain of the mundane.

There is a paradox that you cannot look at it; you cannot see yourself walking the precipice of godhood. To be the observer you have to not see where or who you are. If you do, you tempt losing faith or being crucified. The observer has to be blind. The god has to be hidden.

•••

The first transcending is to the Observer, to the bodies centre of gravity, where we transcend to absolution and the absolute centre of us — a divine alignment. The kidneys and bladder are the aligning of the true observer. Some strength of Earth grounding comes from the Water, the aligning with mother nature and a centring with that power.

Singers sing with power from the lower belly; the Hara or Dantien is fundamental to martial arts also, and dancers move from this centred position too. It is the root, it is where the observer can reside with stability and the strength and power of focused grounding. This aligning centre is where the silent kidney sound appears before it moves down to the bladder. The root of the physical being and therefore also of the observer. Fear is banished here. Strength sits comfortably here.

Diaphragm breathing pushes the lower belly out and the focus upon this sensation encourages good deep breathing. This can be linked/yoked into the  Observer to ease any suffering and strengthen any affirmation. Transcending to the over-mind in the under-belly, where there are no thoughts, only awareness. Transcending to the place of power.

The Inner ORBIT

This second orbit continues and is parallel to the first, running within its circle, still using dextral circles in its massaging of the small intestine. Whereas the outer ORBIT massaged the organs by mostly following the colon, touching upon the bladder, and the liver and stomach (under the ribcage) on its way, the inner ORBIT is primarily the small intestine only, but done also in conjunction with the outer orbits adjacent organs. The small intestine is associated in Taoist practices with opening and accepting, and it is these attributes which are combined with the inner orbit.

This inner orbit is the opening of oneself, the orbiting of the original opening — the navel — at its centre. It starts with opening to your original self with silent observation. The First Self is the self that cannot be defined or recognised — if it is, it isn't your true self, it is an ego, a next self. The First Self is pure and uncompromised. This is not a self that is compared with others, for all others are this same self. In this divine place of infinity and silence there are no others, there is no one else. The observation that happens is one of dis-interest and divine acceptance. The true observer is at the station in the black void of consciousness which is but the curtain to the White Room and its infinite light and space, within a speck of light at the centre of the Omphalos Aster — the Cosmic Key. The focusing on this state of acute presence is your divine core, and the link between the physical and the divine. This is your origin.

The small intestine massage has the accompanying concepts of openness and acceptance, which in essence is love. Love is an absence of resistance to the divine process and as the circling massage runs up alongside the colon on the right side of the body, it is accompanied by fusing releasing with acceptance to produce absolution and forgiveness. The realisation that we are blessed and that there are no others to blame and we can forget any petty egoism that causes our suffering. By being open and free of our resistances and resentments we release our full selves.

When next to the liver we combine openness with trust to allow all the good to seep into our lives, and the abandonment that follows from knowing that we are true children of nature, blessed and full of love. Believing in our true selves and open to our bounty and accepting of the very best that we are worthy of and deserving, as we let go of our past and embrace the future.

The massage continues under the stomach and brings integration of the First Self. Integration of self is making the ego one; the one ego that is true — the true self. The acceptance and openness of your divine connection is your true self, and is what makes you whole and therefore a holy person. The innocence and probity that remains after any unworthiness has been released. The unassailable truth of just being who you are, with no apology, knowing that you are meant to be here; you are right, you are justified.

Massaging adjacent to the descending colon realises transcendence to the First Self and the transportation to the Original Opening itself and the void from whence we have come. Transcend to the First Self, the place of true acceptance. Opening to your true potential and the concepts produced by the unlimited potential of the First Self. This transcending abandons the egoism of our lower selves to our higher self, the pure self before it descended into society and had to compromise its godhood to fit in. Forget all others, forgive them and forsake them; think of no-one. There are no others in the infinity of the White Room, there are no others in the divine. Transcend to the First Self, absolved and independent.

After completing the Inner orbit and having returned to the Observer, we ascend to the original self, to who you were before you descended into the world. This is the destination of the journey; a return to the origin, a completion of our orbit and a return to the original observer and the centre of our being.

~

After the completion of the second orbit and the return to the Observer, we now ascend from the infinite void of the divine into the world; to the First Self at the Original Opening.

As a baby, I regarded my navel as being very important. When I discovered it, it was an epiphany and I somehow knew it was connected with my origin; I knew it to be a sacred thing, and indeed it is a portal to the void — the void from whence we have come and where we return to after our orbit. This is our original opening to our original self.

The matrix that we are within is our societal conditioning, and it is this that we have to transcend. One way of doing this is by accessing memories from before we were subsumed within it. These early memories of our First Self can allow us to transcend the social straitjacket of our ego and drift into the pure sensation of existence and return to our origin.

Keep it sacred. Do not allow thoughts of others while practicing. They are all ego rehearsals for society interaction, and have no place within the practice. It must be kept sacred. These mental overlays spoil the beauty. The overlays can make us think something else is happening. It is being in illusion. Other than conscious affirmations, the only accompanying scenario that is allowable, is the divine backdrop — absolutely nothing — the white room. All that we do, we also do in the white room, like with VR glasses on producing the world around us.

Transcend to the First Self and the consciousness which is before any comparative associations and identification; that is before the mind. The summoning of the First Self — the self that is under the mind (summon = sub-men) — is the arising of the self that is under the awareness of the conceptualising mechanism. This is who you truly are.

•••

I think the best place on our bodies that can be an associative link to our First Self is our navel, as it was the very life line to our manifestation in the first place, and we can focus upon this with the intention of re-accessing that state of being. Focusing on the navel and the sensation of it, can become a short-cut to the whole performance of ORBIT. The accessing of this and the experience of it, can be a little like going down the plughole. Abandoned and accepting to it all; being love and the bliss that that is; transcended to absolution. The navel can be the anchor to our voyage of self-centring and is considered an Earth point in Taoism and so is connecting and integrating of the self, and an access point to Gaia consciousness.

The central pentagram (Aster), has at its centre the navel — the Original Opening — open and accepting of the past and the future by being present. The similarity of the pentagram to an ‘A’, and with that letter being able to represent ‘Acceptance’, we can allow this letter to be tacked onto the end of the orbit to make ORBITA, as it is an integral part of the Penter. This ‘A’ can also stand for ‘Access’, as this is the portal to the void of our core, and our return to the origin. Love and acceptance and complete integration is the culmination of this journey.

The hub of the ORBIT is the Omphalos Aster at its centre which ties it all together and is the combining of it that completes the whole process. The pentagram is the key to the Penter of ORBIT and the three dimensional performance of the Aster is the manifesting of this cosmic key, and it is  the turning of the key which brings entry into the portal of the Original Opening. This is the access point to the central core of your being — an intense point of white light — while the Dantien in the circle below it is the centre of the physical you.

The navel Aster is an infinite circulating that creates the opening to your First Self, hovering above the Observer at its base. Because the circular massaging technique of this area doesn't need to be clockwise only — due to the bi-directional flow within the small intestine — it is safe to perform a mental orbiting of this Inner Circle by using the stomach muscles and the imagination, or physically massaging along the lines.

The points of the pentagram are the joining boundaries of the 5 circles of the Penter of Orbit as well as the 5 circles composing the Aster, and can be used as merged synergistic compounds of the 2 Penter circles that are contiguous. The Orbit massage ends at the place of the left Tine (on the body, reversed on the map above), which Observes the Transcendence to the First Self before moving to the Spine of the Aster where Belief is Integrated, continuing to the right Tine Observing the Release, and to the left Quoin while Integrating the Transcendence, then to the right Quoin where there is a Releasing into Being Love.

The Original Opening is a return to the origin before our physical selves — the First Self, the heart of self acceptance and true love. This self has no goals, no responsibilities, no allegiances or preferences, no beliefs or belongings; this self is all about just being, where dying is of no consequence and living has no purpose. This self is not subject to the conceptualizing mechanism called the mind or its machinations anchored in survival. To just be, is enough and is everything.

Variations

The ORBIT can return to the beginning — to the Observer — or it can Transcend to the First Self — the Original Opening, the navel — from where it descends into the Sacral Aster and circulates or attaches the perineum sensation to a return to the start, to the Observer and a repeating of the ORBIT.

Breathing can accompany this orbit. Observe is the start of the ‘in’ breath at the beginning of the orbit, moving to the Release of relaxed breathing and then onto the Believing of being love and trusting; continuing with the Integration to becoming whole and complete, integer — one — and then Transcending all ego and mundane concerns while moving to the Original Opening. Then using the 'out' breath to perform an Inner Circle within the pelvic cavity using the Sacral Aster or an Inner Circle under the navel using the Omphalos Aster, before returning to the Observer and the start of the 'in' breath for another ORBIT.

Of course, the organs association with emotions is only as real as the story you write around it. The livers link with trust, the stomach with connecting, or the colon with releasing etc, are all just an expediency and not actually real. They can all be substituted with different emotions; whichever works best for you. They are only a useful neural trick — as all magick is; it is your belief that makes it real. I have kept to the traditional Taoist associations as it doesn't really matter and these are as good as any they could be replaced with.

•••

The way the Penters and Asters map themselves onto the body can be seen on the interactive map below:

There are more variations in The Somatic Maps of Megak.

•••

When the hands are put into the Oyster position, each finger can represent one of the parts of ORBIT. The pinky takes on the 'O', and can perform the movement of a circle separately at any time to instantiate the Observing aspect of its determination. The ring finger can represent the 'R' of release and relaxation, while the middle finger becomes the synchrony of trust and belief in the 'B' of the ORBIT. The index finger is the 'I' of integration, while the thumb represents the 'T' of Transcend.

With each finger of the left hand touching the corresponding tip of the right hand, and held in the shape of an orb, the sensation of each finger can be associated with its corresponding mapping and be used in the same way that a mudra is used. The blancmange technique can be a random reminder of each yoke, reinforcing the wholeness and producing the morphing sensation that echo's the incorporation of all, as one.