Bhumi Up - Bhumi Down

This meditation is an extension of our central channel practice,

Inspired by a text by Asanga called the Bodhisattva Bhumi,

And a map of the Bhumis in a text called What's Next by Amrita Baba.

Bhumis are energy centers located along the central channel,

Which runs through the core of your body and extends above your head and below your perineum.

There are 13 upper Bhumis extending from the center of your brain upwards about five to six meters above your head,

And 13 lower Bhumis extending from the center of your lower abdomen downwards about five to six meters below your perineum.

As we move through them,

You can intuitively go to the locations you sense for each one.

Don't worry about getting the locations exactly right.

These energy centers are already there.

You were just tuning into them,

Sensing them.

A deeper part of you knows where they are.

The importance of these energy centers and the central channel is that feeling the energy here connects you with the flow of universal energy within you,

Which in turn connects you with the deeper essence of who you are,

As vast,

Boundless,

Compassionate awareness.

In this way you realize your essential being and find your flow in service to the whole,

The one life we all share.

As you enter this practice,

Adopt an attitude of compassionate mindfulness by paying attention,

On purpose,

In the present moment,

Non-judgmentally,

Maintaining a curious,

Gentle,

And kind presence with whatever happens.

It can take time to acclimate your nervous system and calibrate to the high-frequency energy of this practice.

At first you might feel tired or overly energized.

That's natural.

Whatever you experience or don't experience is fine.

See if you can just allow yourself to be open to how the practice arises for you,

Knowing that your experience will shift and deepen as you practice this form again and again.

Let's begin by sitting comfortably upright,

With the soles of your feet firmly on the ground.

Rest your hands cupped in your lap,

With the tips of your thumbs touching,

Lightly,

In an open,

Receptive posture.

Lightly close your eyes.

As you settle in your seat,

Notice how you feel right now.

Allow yourself to be just as you are,

And settle into being here,

Now.

Tune into the feeling of your environment,

And feel it as a sacred space,

A safe space that embraces you.

Consider your intention for this practice.

Why is this important to you?

Consider that this practice is not only for you,

That the effect of this practice extends to your loved ones,

To everyone you interact with,

And even more widely,

And invisibly,

To all beings,

And the whole planet,

And throughout our collective consciousness.

You are part of the one life we all share,

And your practice,

Your state of consciousness,

Matters to the whole.

So,

Consider dedicating this practice to the awakening of all beings,

To our essential nature.

Now,

Focus down into the sensations of contact,

Of the soles of your feet on the ground.

Awaken sensory awareness here,

In the soles of your feet,

And really feel the sensations of contact with the ground underneath you.

Soften and relax your feet and your toes,

As if they are melting deep down into the peaceful,

Still presence of the earth.

Thank Mother Earth for supporting your life.

Feel the peaceful,

Grounded,

Nurturing presence of Mother Earth.

Allow this feeling of grounded presence to flow up through your feet,

Up through your shins and calves,

Your knees,

Your hips and pelvic bowl.

Feel the weight of your body resting down in your pelvic bowl,

Resting down in your seat,

Resting down on the grounding presence of the earth.

Focus into the sensations of your palms and fingers,

Resting cupped in your lap.

Awaken sensory awareness here,

In your hands.

Allow your hands to soften and relax,

As if they are melting down into your legs.

Really feel the soft openness in your hands.

As your hands soften and relax,

Allow your arms and shoulders to relax down,

Releasing any tension in your hands,

Arms,

Shoulders,

Neck,

And your head.

Feel the soft openness of your hands,

Arms,

Your torso,

Shoulders,

Neck,

And head.

Feel this soft,

Open space,

Resting down in your pelvic bowl,

Resting down on the earth.

Imagine and feel as if a string is attached to the top of your head,

Drawing your spine gently upright,

Like a string of luminous pearls.

Feel your spine gently stretched from the weighted groundedness in your pelvic bowl and tailbone,

Up through the top of your head.

Feel your spine like a channel of light flowing upward from your tailbone,

Up through the core of your body,

To the top of your head.

Feel the openness and tingling aliveness at the top of your head,

Opening to the light of the vast sky above.

Tuck your chin just slightly to gently lengthen the back of your neck.

Lightly close your lips and breathe softly,

In and out,

Through your nose.

Rest your tongue upon the roof of your mouth,

With the tip of your tongue touching the gum line behind your upper front teeth.

Soften and relax your tongue here.

Softening your tongue sends a relaxation signal through your vagus nerve network,

From your brain stem,

Down through your heart,

Your abdomen,

And out through your whole body.

As you feel this relaxation,

Smile,

A subtle smile of calm happiness,

Of appreciation and gratitude for this opportunity to tune into your core energy,

And realize the deeper essence of who you are,

As boundless,

Compassionate awareness.

Smile through your eyes and release any tension from your eyebrows and your forehead.

Focus to the top of your head and allow this relaxed lightness of smiling to pour in through the top of your head,

And wash down over your face,

Down through your brain,

Down the back of your head,

Down through your neck,

Your shoulders,

Arms,

And hands,

Down through your chest,

Heart,

And upper back,

Your abdomen,

And lower back,

Your hips,

Your legs and feet,

And down into the peaceful,

Nurturing,

Grounded presence of the earth.

Feel your body as a whole from the inside.

Feel the entire space inside your skin.

Feel every cell smiling and radiating pure,

Positive energy.

Now,

Focus down into your lower abdomen,

The lower dantian,

And imagine and feel a radiant sphere of energy here,

The lower dantian sphere.

Imagine and feel this sphere is breathing,

So that as you breathe in,

The sphere expands from the center outwards in all directions,

Filling up,

And as you breathe out,

The sphere relaxes into the center,

And the energy concentrates in a pearl of energy in the center of this sphere,

About three finger widths below your navel,

In the center of your lower abdomen.

Breathing in,

The sphere expands from the center outward in all directions.

Breathing out,

The sphere relaxes inward,

And the energy concentrates in a pearl of energy in the center of this sphere.

Imagine and feel that your breath is feeding this pearl of energy in the center,

So it glows warmer and brighter and feels present and alive.

Feel the warmth and vitality of this energetic pearl in your lower abdomen.

Now,

Allow this pearl of energy to sink down to your perineum.

Breathe in and out through the pearl of energy here at the perineum,

So it glows warmer and brighter and feels vibrantly alive.

Now,

Feel your spine gently stretched from your perineum and tailbone like a string of luminous pearls all the way up to the center of your brain.

Feel a path like a channel of light from your perineum up through your spine to the center of your brain.

Feel this path of light.

We're going to breathe to enhance the sensation of energy flow through this part of the central channel from the perineum up through your spine into the center of your brain.

As you breathe in,

Gently contract your perineum.

Tuck your chin and draw your breath from the perineum up through your spine,

Up through the back of your throat,

Up into the center of your brain.

Breathe out through the center of your brain to enhance the sensation of energy here.

Continue breathing in this way.

Breathe in.

Gently contract your perineum.

Tuck your chin and draw your breath from your perineum up through your spine,

Up the back of your throat,

Up into the center of your brain.

Breathe out through the center of your brain to concentrate and focus the energy here.

Now feel the energy glowing here in the center of your brain,

The first bhumi.

There are six energy centers,

Six bhumis,

From here to the top of your head.

Let's begin with the first,

Here in the center of your brain.

Center your attention right here in the center of your brain,

The first bhumi.

Feel the quality of energy here.

Just notice how it feels in this first bhumi,

In the center of your brain.

Breathe in and out through this first bhumi,

This energy center,

To enhance your focus here,

To activate,

Open,

And clear it.

Now,

Raise your attention up very slightly,

Just above the first bhumi,

To the second bhumi.

Center your attention in the second bhumi,

And feel the quality of energy here.

Breathe in and out through the second bhumi,

To activate,

Open,

And clear the energy here.

Now raise your attention just above that,

To the third bhumi.

Center your attention in the third bhumi,

And feel the quality of energy here.

Breathe in and out through the third bhumi,

To activate,

Open,

And clear the energy here.

Now move your attention up just slightly,

Into the fourth bhumi.

Feeling the sensations,

The quality of energy here.

Breathe in and out through the fourth bhumi,

To activate,

Open,

And clear the energy here.

Now move up one more small step,

To bhumi five.

Sensing here,

Just below the crown,

Feel the quality of energy here.

Breathe in and out through the fifth bhumi,

To activate,

Open,

And clear the energy here.

Now move up to the crown point,

The top of your head,

The sixth bhumi.

Feel the quality of energy here.

You might sense a difference in the qualities of energy as we go upward.

Perhaps you feel a sense of openness at the crown,

To the sky above,

And to the central channel rising up like a column of light into the heavens above.

You might notice openness,

Tingling,

Aliveness.

Breathe in and out through this powerful opening,

At the top of your head.

Bhumis seven through thirteen are located between the top of your head,

And about five to six meters above your head.

Allow yourself to intuitively sense their spacing as we move up.

Begin moving through these by moving your attention up about six to eight inches above your head,

To the seventh bhumi.

Feel the quality of energy here.

Breathe in and out through the seventh bhumi,

Feeling,

Sensing the energy here.

Now move your attention up higher,

To the eighth bhumi.

Feel the quality of energy here.

Breathe in and out through the eighth bhumi,

To activate,

Open,

And clear the energy here.

Now move your attention up to the ninth bhumi.

Feel the quality of energy here.

Breathe in and out through the ninth bhumi.

Allow your attention to flow up to the tenth bhumi.

Feel the quality of energy here.

You might notice that the breath is quieter in these upper bhumis.

As you move up to the eleventh bhumi,

You may sense a qualitative shift.

Just see what you sense here.

Your breath may drop away.

You may sense silence.

Moving up to twelve,

You may feel a deepening of what was happening at eleven.

Feel the quality of energy here,

At the twelfth bhumi.

Now move attention upward to thirteen,

About five to six meters above your head.

Sense this placeless place.

How does it feel up here?

Perhaps deep silence,

Spaciousness.

It may feel almost like nothing at all.

Perhaps a sense of clear light,

A feeling of completeness,

Oneness,

Source,

Origin.

A placeless place you've always known.

Rest here,

Calibrating to source,

Pure awareness,

Pristine.

Now,

Tuck your chin as we begin the downward flow.

Allow your attention to flow down from thirteen to twelve,

Twelve to eleven,

Eleven to ten,

Ten to nine,

Eight to seven,

Seven to six at the top of your head.

Feel the light entering the top of your head and flowing down into your brain.

Feel the energy flowing down from thirteen to twelve,

Twelve to thirteen,

Breathe in,

Drawing the energy from thirteen down to one,

And breathe out through bumi one,

Charging the center of your brain with luminous energy,

Lighting up your whole brain.

From here,

Follow the energy as it flows down through the central channel to your heart.

Feel the connection from the center of your brain to the center of your heart.

Breathe in,

Drawing the energy down from the center of your brain to the center of your heart.

Breathe out through your heart to focus the energy here.

Now,

Breathe in and out through your heart to center your attention here and build the energy.

In your heart,

The luminous energy transforms into the purest unconditional love.

Feel the warm embrace of unconditional love radiating through your heart.

Allow the energy of love to warm and soften your heart.

Breathe in the feeling of all-embracing love into your heart,

And breathe this love out to all your cells.

Breathe this love out to all your loved ones.

Breathe this love out to all beings,

Our whole planet,

And the whole cosmos.

Feel your heart saturated with the warm embrace of unconditional love.

Now,

On your next in-breath,

Draw the energy from your heart down to the lower dantian,

Into that radiant pearl of energy about three finger widths below your navel,

In the center of your lower abdomen,

The first lower bhumi.

Breathe out through the first lower bhumi to focus the energy here.

Again,

Breathe in,

Drawing the energy from your heart down into the first lower bhumi,

Then breathe out through the first lower bhumi to concentrate the energy here.

There are six bhumis between here and your perineum.

Sense the quality of energy here in the first lower bhumi.

Breathe in and out through this first bhumi to activate,

Open,

And clear it.

Now,

Lower your attention just slightly below the first bhumi to the second bhumi.

Center your attention here and feel the quality of energy.

Breathe in and out through the second bhumi to activate,

Open,

And clear the energy here.

Now,

Lower your attention just below that to the third bhumi.

Center your attention here and feel the quality of energy.

Breathe in and out through the third bhumi to activate,

Open,

And clear the energy here.

Now,

Move your attention down just slightly into the fourth bhumi.

Feel the sensations,

The quality of energy here.

Breathe in and out through the fourth bhumi to activate,

Open,

And clear the energy here.

Now,

Move down one more small step to bhumi five,

Sensing here just above the perineum.

Feel the quality of energy here.

Breathe in and out through the fifth bhumi.

Now,

Move your attention down to the perineum,

The sixth lower bhumi.

Feel the quality of energy here.

Perhaps you feel a sense of openness to Mother Earth below and to the central channel descending down into the peaceful grounding presence of the Earth.

Breathe in and out through this powerful opening at the perineum.

Lower bhumis seven through thirteen are located between the perineum and about five to six meters below your perineum.

Allow yourself to intuitively sense their spacing as you go down through them.

Begin moving through these by moving your attention down about six to eight inches below your perineum to the seventh lower bhumi.

Feel the quality of energy here.

Breathe in and out through the seventh bhumi to activate,

Open,

And clear the energy here.

Now,

Move your attention down to the eighth bhumi.

Feel the quality of energy here.

Breathe in and out through the eighth bhumi to activate,

Open,

And clear the energy here.

Now,

Move your attention down to the ninth bhumi.

Feel the quality of energy here.

Breathe in and out through the ninth bhumi.

Allow your attention to flow down to the tenth bhumi.

Feel the quality of energy here.

You might notice that the breath and the energy become even more subtle here.

As you move down to the eleventh bhumi,

You may sense a qualitative shift.

Just feel what you sense here.

Your breath may drop away.

You may sense stillness and silence here.

Moving down to twelve,

You may notice a deepening of what was happening at eleven.

Just notice the quality here.

Perhaps deeper silence and stillness.

Now,

Move your attention down to thirteen,

About five to six meters below your perineum.

Sense this placeless place.

How does it feel here?

Perhaps deep silence.

Deep stillness.

Perhaps a feeling of deep,

Peaceful presence.

The warm,

Grounding presence of Mother Earth.

Go and rest here,

Calibrating with the energy of the Earth.

Now,

Feel the connection from the thirteenth bhumi below up through the central channel to the thirteenth bhumi above.

Feel this whole channel of light,

This energy flow running through the core of your being.

Now,

Let go of that.

Sink down,

Rest back,

And feel out infinitely in all directions.

Feel out to the edges of this space and beyond that.

Feel the stillness underneath all movement in this vast,

Open space.

Listen to the silence underneath all sound in this vast,

Open space.

Let go and rest in deep stillness,

Silence,

And spaciousness.

Notice how stillness,

Silence,

And spaciousness have no edges,

No limits,

No boundaries.

They are boundless.

Notice how stillness,

Silence,

And spaciousness have no beginning and no end.

They are timeless.

Now,

Let go of stillness,

Silence,

And spaciousness.

And,

Rest in a felt sense of being,

Simply being.

Here,

Now,

Beyond space and time.

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now,

Now and free you are all-embracing awareness rest as all-embracing aware space time the cosmos thoughts feelings sensations memories your body all beings and all events appear abide and dissolve within awareness as expressions of awareness inseparably one with the boundless compassionate awareness that gives rise to and embraces them all rest ass all-embracing awareness now feel the open space of your body within this vast openness of awareness as an open space of experience through which awareness itself has an infinite diversity of experiences and embraces them all feel this open space of experience that you are soak in and saturate your body with awareness what would it be like to live as this realization of awareness itself and feel the flow of universal energy through the core of your being prompting you with inspiration for each next step in service to the whole of life now feel the tingling aliveness at the top of your head opening to the heavens above feel the soft openness in your hands and feel your feet firmly on the earth notice how you feel if you could sum up your feeling in a word phrase or image what would this be record this feeling together with your word phrase or image deep in your consciousness so you remember it bring it with you share it with others and can return to it anytime repeat this meditation often to cultivate a deeply felt sense of the flow of universal energy through the core of your being feeling your connection with all that is and knowing your deeper essence as boundless timeless compassionate awareness slowly open your eyes and take in the feeling of the space all around together with the feeling of the space inside as one space of awareness no inside no outside simply being aware here now take a few moments to allow this meditative experience to integrate and take notes on any poignant moments or insights move through life as the boundless compassionate awareness that you are sensing the flow of inspiration through the core of your being and seeing everyone and everything in the loving light of awareness