Salka Wind Blog

Posts on the Andean Cosmovision

Year: 2017 (page 2 of 4)

The Path of the Poet

On my journeys down the path of heart into the Andean Cosmovision my intellect cannot lead, it cannot even follow.  It can, however, let me go and it can welcome me back.

Prose cannot guide me, but at times poetry can be a window to that place that blossoms, and even give hints on how to journey there .  The poems of Rumi, in particular,  and I have quoted Rumi in this blog.  Recently a friend of mine suggested that I read Letters to a Young Poet, a collection of letters written by Rainer Maria Rilke, during the years 1903-1908, to a young poet with whom he was in correspondence.

“Here, where an immense country lies about me, over which the winds pass coming from the seas, here I feel that no human being anywhere can answer for you those questions and feelings that deep within them have a life of their own; for even the best err in words when they are meant to mean most delicate and almost inexpressible things. But I believe nevertheless that you will not have to remain without a solution if you will hold to objects that are similar to those from which my eyes now draw refreshment. If you will cling to Nature, to the simple in Nature, to the little things that hardly anyone sees, and that can so unexpectedly become big and beyond measuring; if you have this love of inconsiderable things and seek quite simply, as one who serves, to win the confidence of what seems poor: then everything will become easier, more coherent and somehow more conciliatory for you, not in your intellect, perhaps, which lags marveling behind, but in your inmost consciousness, waking and cognizance. You are so young, so before all beginning, and I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”  Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke. Translated by M. D. Herter Norton. Revised edition, 1954. W. W. Norton & Company. pp 34-35

The post The Creature and It’s Creations also address’s the poetical nature of the path of heart.  If you enjoyed this post you might enjoy it as well.

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Presentation and Workshop in the United Kingdom

Hi, I will be giving a Friday evening presentation and a Saturday workshop in the United Kingdom on August 11th and 12th, 2017.  More information, including how to purchase tickets, is available through the links below:

Evening presentation (August 11th), “The Andean Cosmovision”,  in Manchester.

Workshop (August 12th), “Reconnecting with the Wild”, in The Gathering Fields (Lancaster).

I am very excited to have this chance to connect in salka with the people of Europe!  Thank you Neil Brocklehurst and Debra Delglyn.

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Cuti…cuti…cuti!! Disconnecting from Other People’s Filaments

This is an Andean meditation that can only be done as a group.

There are times when either on purpose, or as the result of emotional and energetic interactions, other people’s filaments get connected to our own energetic body. The intent of this meditation is to disconnect any such connections from other people, leaving us free to blossom into the beauty and essence of who we each uniquely are. We are still connected to everything else through our filaments but the boundary of our own energy is clear. When our boundaries are clear we can dance in harmony with others in such a way that the whole of the relationship becomes greater than the sum of its parts (us). This concept harkens back to the posts Yin/Yang of the Andes, Warmi-Qhari (Woman-Man), and Tinku–Confirming the Rules of Life.

I have heard from friends who have trained with the Four Winds that this same process is taught there but with a different intent. In retrospect it doesn’t surprise me that the same process can have two different intents. The process is the vehicle and the intent is the trajectory. I’m struggling for a good metaphor here, but I’m afraid the one that has come to my mind is that the same tuba can be used to play many different melodies. Anyway, I am going to share the meditation as I learned it from don Américo Yábar and as I have I have practiced it for many years.

For a small group, one person stands in the center and the rest of the people form a circle around him or her, standing about 10 feet from the person in the center. For a larger group, three people stand close together in the center, facing outwards. One person in the surrounding circle is the leader, initiating the action and everyone else follows along. Here is what we do.

A) The people in the center simply use their intent (sincere pretending) to connect to the Pachamama through their feet and to the Cosmos through the top of their heads. They get all the benefit, everyone else gets all the fun.

B1) We all start moving together toward the person/people in the center. Our intent as we move is to scoop up the filaments of the Pachamama as we proceed. The posture that facilitates this intent is to have our hands to our sides, and our fingers pointing to the ground, with our palms facing the people in the center. It helps to bend forward a bit as we move to really get the sense of scooping up the filaments of the Pachamama.

As we move forward we chant “cuti cuti cuti…” (pronounced “cooty”), this flavors our intent. “Cuti” is a quechua term that means “change” or “a turning of the energy”. Thus our intent as we scoop up the filaments of the Pachamama is to activate or initiate change.

There is something inherently silly about chanting “cuti cuti cuti…” as you approach someone. This whole meditation/process is best done with a good deal of panache. Get into it. Enjoy it.

B2) As we get closer to the person in the middle we bend a little more so that we can pull the filaments of the Pachamama up through their feet, and then we straighten up as we pull the filaments up through their body, and then up through the top of their head. We don’t actually touch the person, our hands are a couple of inches from their body. While we are doing that we chant “ninikiriri ninikiriri ninikiriri…” (pronounced “neeneekeereeree”). The literal meaning of this ancient term has been lost in antiquity but the flavor it adds to our intent is to disconnect and bring along any filaments from the outside that are connected to the person’s body.

B3) Still all moving together, as we get to the top of the person’s head we then energetically toss the energy up into the Cosmos shouting “lloqse lloqse lloqse…” (pronounced “yoksay”). Lloqse essentially means “return to sender”. This is not a violent turning of the energy back on the other person, it is simply an act of “this energy is yours not mine, it belongs to you not me”.

After this, rather remarkable, procedure everyone scurries back to their original position and repeats the process two more times. At that point the people in the center join the circle and others take their place until everyone has had a chance to be in the center.

Describing each step in detail makes the whole thing seem more complicated than it is. Essentially, with a good sense of flair and panache:

  • Walk toward the person chanting “cuti cuti cuti…”, scooping up the filaments of the Pachamama.
  • Pull those filaments up the person’s Being from feet to head, chanting “nidikiridi nidikiridi nidikiridi…”
  • When you reach their head toss the energy up into the Cosmos shouting “lloqse lloqse lloqse…”

Repeat two more times.

The only real meaning of the salka meditations I have been sharing is the effect they have on you, and you are the only authority on who you are and how you want to be. Notice how you feel after the process is over, and decide if you want to add it to your repertoire of tools for navigating through the great mystery that is the Cosmos and our existence within it.

End note: as I write this I remember that Américo (when he taught us this process long ago) said that this meditation/process is from a different Andean tradition than most of the ones he teaches. My memory is that he said it is from the layqas (on the path of power) rather than from the paq’os (on the path of heart)…please see the post Paths to the Other Side of Reality.

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Workshops this Summer in Europe

In the post Wildflower Seeds I expressed my interest in arranging to do some salka presentations and short experiential workshops in Europe while my wife and I are there this August on vacation.  In the subsequent post Workshop Details I described the content and format of the types of presentations and workshops on the Andean Cosmovision that I like to give.   So I have this one more post on this topic.   Some waikis in England and I are arranging for me to give an evening presentation and a one-day workshop in northern England.  I would very much like to dedicate one more evening of our trip to  giving a presentation or short workshop.  If you know anyone in one of the following areas that might want to sponsor such an event I would greatly appreciate you helping us to connect.  My email address is info@salkawind.com.   Buttons for sharing this post are provided below. Thank you.  Oakley

Itinerary:
  • Montepulciano, Italy (Tuscany region)
  • Murten, Switzerland (near Bern)
  • Beuane, France (Burgundy region)
  • Manchester, England (presentation and workshop being arranged)
  • Oban, Scotland
  • Edinburgh, Scotland
More information on the presentations and workshops.

The Andean Cosmovision is a way of perceiving and interacting with reality that comes from the indigenous culture of the high Andes. The Cosmovision is not a set of concepts or beliefs. It cannot be described or encompassed by words. It can, however, be experienced and explored through simple meditations that serve as portals to another way of experiencing reality. The meditations bring new and profound aspects of ourselves and the Cosmos into our awareness. These meditations also nourish a more loving and mutually supportive relationship between ourselves and nature. Within this relationship we begin to blossom into the beauty of who we each uniquely are. The relationship may also be what our species needs to head toward a future of greater beauty and health on this planet.

Presentation: Introduction to the Andean Cosmovision. (60 or 90 minutes) An interesting lecture on the Andean Cosmovision, how it differs from the Western worldview, what if offers us as individuals and as a society, and how it can be explored experientially. The group will be led through two or three meditations that give a taste of the nature of this path and that can serve as a way to continue to explore this territory on your own.

Experiential Workshop: Connecting to the Heart of Nature (2 or 2 1/2 hours) The workshop consists of an introduction to the Andean Cosmovision interwoven with several Andean meditations. Each meditation serves as a portal for exploring the Andean Cosmovision on your own. After each meditation you decide whether to add it to your repertoire of ways for dancing with the great mystery that is the Cosmos and our existence within it. Guidance will also be given on how to integrate these experiences into our lives here in Western society.

Oakley Gordon earned his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology. For the past twenty-three years he has been exploring the Andean Cosmovision under the tutelage of his mentors and friends, the Peruvian paq’os (mystics) don Américo Yábar and don Gayle Yábar. In his trips to Peru, Oakley has also worked with many other Andean paq’os and healers. He has shared this knowledge with Westerners through presentations at academic workshops, published articles, a blog, his recent book (The Andean Cosmovision), and in several hundred Andean meditation classes and workshops. For more information about Oakley Gordon, don Américo Yábar, don Gayle Yábar, and the Andean Cosmovision, please visit www.SalkaWind.com.

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Interview

Hi, I was recently interviewed over the phone by people who run the website FuturePrimitive.com.   I’m always a little nervous about such things but I thought it went very well.  Joanne was a great interviewer.  The interview is available at: http://www.futureprimitive.org/…/the-magic-of-the-pachamama/

 

 

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