Posts on the Andean Cosmovision

Tag: meditations (Page 5 of 9)

Connecting with the River

Two world views (both are valuable in the appropriate context): ask an engineer and a paqo to define pure water. The engineer may point at distilled water, a liquid that consists of nothing but H2O. The paqo may point at a spring where it bubbles out of the mountain slope; clear, cold, with dissolved minerals and perhaps bits of plants and insects.*

Go to a river, a river of pure water without industrial pollutants, flowing in its natural river bed. With intent greet your waiki (brother/sister) the river. Get in a comfortable position, for in this meditation being comfortable fits what we are about to do. Now, with your intent, open up your energy field and let your filaments commingle with the filaments of the river. Then just relax, let the flowing energy of the river cleanse your energy of any hucha you may have, and let the river teach you about the flow of energy.

When you are finished remember, not out of obligation but out of love, to complete the circle of ayni. Pour a little alcohol into the river, or toss three red and three white flowers into the river, and thank it for being your waiki. The first time I did this the sense I received back was, ‘Oh! Wow! Thanks, it’s been a long time since anyone has done that.’ and the river sparkled a little more brightly in the light of Tai Tai Inti.

All over the Andes, the people stretch out like lizards on the rocks next to the river, cleaning their energy.

* From a story told to me by don Americo.

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Cleaning Hucha (From Others)

As a reminder, hucha is the Quechua term for heavy or chaotic energy. Hucha is a natural byproduct of living in a society where we sometimes need to act in ways that don’t fit our own true nature. So far I have shared a couple of meditations for getting rid of hucha in yourself (see the chapters ‘Releasing Hucha‘ and ‘Shedding Hucha‘). Now I would like to share a process for cleaning the hucha from others. As we move to processes that involve working with other people we seem to stray particularly far from the normal use of the term meditation but all of the meditative-processes in the Andean Cosmovision ultimately involve working with energy through intent and meditation is simply the closest term I can come up with in the English language.

Cleaning the hucha from someone is one of the functions of a paqo in Andean society. There are many ways to clean hucha from another person, some involve the use of quyas (special stones), others involve mesas, the process I would like to share now is simply accomplished with your intent and your hands and your relationship with Nature and the Cosmos.

In Preparation. Before cleaning the hucha from another person I first like to get rid of my own hucha using one of the meditations mentioned above. I do this before I work with anyone else’s energy to make sure I don’t pass any hucha I may have on to them.

This process can be done with your waiki (friend) lying on the Pachamama but I will describe it in the context of your waiki standing while you do this.

As you begin invite your waiki to use their intent to connect with the Pachamama through their feet and with the energy of the Cosmos through the top of their head.

Step 1: Ponqos

  1. First prepare your energy. While standing raise both your arms above your head with the palms of your hands facing the sky. With intent connect to the energy of the Cosmos with your right hand and let that energy flow into and accumulate in your right hand. When you feel that energy gathered into your right hand slowly bring your two palms together (still over your head) and when they touch let the energy flow through your right hand into your left hand. From your left hand let the energy flow down your left arm and into your heart (munay). When the energy flows into your munay transform that energy into love and let it radiate out from your munay into the rest of your body.
  2. Starting at the top of your waiki’s head, using both your hands, lightly tap their body by drumming all of your finger tips. Do it as if you are simulating a light rain shower on their body. Your intent, and this is an important piece, is to have each tap create a whirlpool (ponqo) in their energy body. This loosens up their energy field making it easier for them to release their hucha. Work your way down the front of their body, keeping your taps rapid and light, and raising your fingers so they don’t quite touch the body when you are over areas of the body that you waiki may not want to have touched. When you get down to their toes repeat the process top to bottom on the back of their body.

Step 2: Cleaning the Physical Body:

  1. Again prepare your energy. While standing raise both your arms above your head with the palms of your hands facing the sky. With intent connect to the energy of the Cosmos with your right hand and let that energy flow into and accumulate in your right hand. When you feel that energy gathered into your right hand slowly bring your two palms together (still over your head) and when they touch let the energy flow through your right hand into your left hand. From your left hand let the energy flow down your left arm and into your heart (munay). When the energy flows into your heart transform that energy into love and let it radiate out from your munay into the rest of your body.
  2. Starting at the top of your waiki’s head, using both your hands, slowly draw your fingers down the front of their body, gently touching their body with your finger tips Your intent, and again this is important, is to gather or collect all of the hucha from their physical body with your hands. Keep this intent during this whole process. Do this slowly enough to maintain a clear intent. Work your way down the front of their body, raising your fingers so they don’t quite touch the body when you are over areas of the body that you waiki may not want to have touched.
  3. When you get down to their toes place your hands on the Pachamama and with your intent ask her to take all of the hucha you have gathered in your hands. You may notice that she takes the hucha as you begin to form the intent to give it to her.
  4. Repeat the process, this time working down the back of their body.
  5. When you get down to their toes place your hands on the Pachamama and with your intent ask her to take all of the hucha you have gathered in your hands.

Step 3: Clearning the Energetic Body

This is performed exactly like Step 2 but this time you keep your fingers an inch or two away from their physical body and you hold the intent of cleaning the energetic body that emanates from the physical body.

  1. Again prepare your energy. While standing raise both your arms above your head with the palms of your hands facing the sky. With intent connect to the energy of the Cosmos with your right hand and let that energy flow into and accumulate in your right hand. When you feel that energy gathered into your right hand slowly bring your two palms together (still over your head) and when they touch let the energy flow through your right hand into your left hand. From your left hand let the energy flow down your left arm and into your heart (munay). When the energy flows into your heart transform that energy into love and let it radiate out from your munay into the rest of your body.
  2. Starting at the top of your waiki’s head, using both your hands, gently draw your fingers down the front of their body, keeping your finger tips an inch or two from their body. Your intent, and again this is important, is to gather or collect all of the hucha from their energetic body (which emanates from their physical body) with your hands. Do this slowly enough to maintain a clear intent
  3. When you get down to their toes place your hands on the Pachamama and with your intent ask her to take all of the hucha you have gathered in your hands.
  4. Repeat the process this time working down the back of their body.
  5. When you get down to their toes place your hands on the Pachamama and with your intent ask her to take all of the hucha you have gathered in your hands.

Step 4: Welcome (Optional)

Give your waiki a hug and welcome him or her to their new state of being.

Step 5: Take Care of Yourself

In general it is a good idea to take the time after you have worked with someone to rid yourself of any hucha you may have picked up from them. I always keep that in mind as a wise thing to consider. In this particular meditation, however, I have always found that the step of giving their hucha to the Pachamama has taken care of that for me. Still, check out your energy when you are finished.

Options: This can be fun do to in groups of three, one waiki being cleaned of hucha while one waiki works on the front of their body and the other on the back of their body. When finished switch roles.  This can also be done with the waiki laying on the ground and having them turn over as needed to work on their front and back. Actually, there are lots of other ways of doing this as well, some involve the use of quyas or mesas, but this is the one I wanted to share.

Ponqos. Ponqo is an interested term. Like the term apocheta it has several different interpretations. In this meditation ponqos refer to small whirlpools of energy that are set up in the waiki’s body as you tap. Another use of the term is as a name for that place behind large rocks in a creek where the water slowly eddies and provides a still point in the current. If you look you will often see fish taking refuge there, resting from the current. Those spots of stillness and refuge are called ponqos as well. One time when I was in Peru don Americo suggested that when we return to our homes that we serve as ponqos for our friends.

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Saiwachakuy (Upward)

This is one of my favorite meditations these days. It is related to the earlier meditation simply called Saiwachakuy which involves a downwards flow of energy.

For this meditation I begin by sitting on the Pachamama, and then I usually do the Touching Pachamama and Releasing Hucha meditations to prepare my energy.

The energy flowing into and out of the Pachamama loves to spiral. With your intent (sincere pretending) open up the energy center at the base of your spine and let the energy of the Pachamama spiral up through your spine and out of the top of your head. Experience the energy spiraling through your llankay (the energetic center of your physical body located just below your navel) and picking up the energy of the llankay, then spiraling through your munay (the energetic center of love located in your heart) and picking up its energy, and spiraling through your yachay (the energetic center of your intellect located in your head), and picking up its energy and then spiraling out through the top of your head and up into the Cosmos.

Follow the energy as it spirals up. If you are sitting in nature pause to honor the trees and animals and streams around you. Follow the spiraling energy further up to where it reaches the levels of the Apus (the great beings who are the majestic mountain peaks on the planet), pause to acknowledge and honor your favorite Apus, one by one, by name. Follow the energy as it continues to spiral higher, up to Mama Killa (the great being who is our moon) and ask her to connect with and bless your feminine energy. Follow the energy higher until it reaches Tai Tai Inti (the great being who is our sun) and ask him to connect with and bless your masculine energy. Now follow the column of spiraling energy all the way up to the stars.

We each have a star connected to our llankay, honor the star connected to your llankay and ask it to guide your physical body. We have a star connected to our munay, honor that star and ask it to guide your heart. We have a star connected to our yachay, honor that star and ask it to guide your intellect. We have a star connected to the right side of our body, honor that star and ask it to guide you in your everyday life. We have a star connected to the left side of our body, honor that waiki and ask it to help you keep in touch with the vast, ineffable, mystery and beauty of the Cosmos.

And finally, follow the spiral of energy all the way to Mama Tuta, the dark, the void, the night, who holds the stars in her embrace. You may ask her for assistance in walking your path.

Stay for as long as you would like, experiencing this spiraling column of energy, and letting it inform your experience of who you are in this incredible Cosmos.

Option One: after you have followed this flow of energy from the Pachamama all the way to Mama Tuta, follow the spiraling energy that flows in the opposite direction, back down from Mama Tuta, past the stars that hold the blueprints of our perfect being, past Tai Tai Inti, past Mama Killa, past the Apus, and down through your head and into your munay, where it picks up the vibrations of your love, and then down back into the Pachamama.  Savor that for as long as you want.

Option Two: I usually don’t combine other paths with the Andean one but I often like to incorporate the chakras into this meditation. As the energy flows up through my base chakra I have it pick up a band of red color, and through the second chakra a band of orange, and through the third a band of yellow, and through the fourth a band of green, and through the fifth a band of blue, and through the sixth a band of indigo, and through the seventh a band of violet, so that as the spiraling energy emerges through the top of my head it is a rainbow.  Then I proceed as described above.  My thanks to Karen Cottingham for suggesting this option.

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Energy Shield

In the meditation Inside/Outside I shared a way of disengaging from what is going on around us to retreat into a sanctuary within ourselves. This sanctuary is a place where we can rest from our dance with the world. In that post I said that this is not like putting up a siege barrier, it is more like entering a haven where you can recuperate. The meditative-like process I would like to cover in this post is like putting up a siege barrier, it can be used to protect yourself from unwelcome energy being directed at you from others. This process is meant to be completed before you actually need it.

Begin by picking up a stick or pebble, hold it in your right hand, and put that hand out straight in front of you as if holding a shield. Now, hold the intent that this stick or pebble radiates a barrier that other energy cannot cross. While holding that intent rotate your body in the following manner…keep your left foot where it is as if it is in the center of a circle, using your right foot turn you body all the way around in a counter-clockwise direction, your right foot will be defining the circumference of the circle. As you rotate 360 degrees keep your hand out with the impeccable intent of this stick or pebble serving as a shield to protect you from outside energy. Go all the way around seven times. This charges the stick or pebble with that intent, you then take it with you where you will need it and when the time comes activate the intent again and hold it out as a shield.

The first time I used this process was after I returned home from my second trip to Peru. Particularly for the first few trips to Peru, when I returned home I wanted to hide in the basement for a few days. One of the beautiful things about Peru is that my acceptance by the people there has been based upon my willingness to open my heart to them, they respond to that deeply, and I love that. When I come back to the U.S. everyone seems so cold, and particularly because I am a man, being openhearted is not really tolerated or all that safe. When I came home from Peru after my second trip I knew that the next day I had to attend what was going to be a very hostile faculty meeting. The faculty would be considering a topic that many felt very strongly about, I would be representing one side of the issue, and so some of the hostility would be directed at me. It was like a worse case scenario for an open-hearted person who has let down all of his barriers.

Before the meeting I went outside and found a pebble and did this process. I put the pebble into my pocket and went to the meeting. As it started I pulled the pebble out and held it in my fist resting on the table in front of me, and using my intent I turned it on. It was beautiful. I sat there with what was probably an annoyingly pleasant smile on my face while all the hostility just bounced off or flowed around me. I was able to give my contribution to the discussion without feeling hurt or threatened.

Upon reflection, you might ask, ‘when would you want to use a stick?’ For that I would like to relate the story that don Americo told when he taught us this process. When Americo was a young man his teacher sent him to spend the night in a cave in the Andes. It turns out that the cave was the home to a puma, and when it returned to find Americo there it wasn’t very happy about it. Americo grabbed a stick and went through this process and putting all of his intent into it was able to turn the puma away. When the puma left Americo tossed the stick aside in relief. A while later, however, the puma returned to have another say in the matter, and Americo found himself scrambling around in the cave before he found the same stick. It is hard to forget a story like that.

My right side is tapping me on the shoulder asking me to add that this was performed by a professional paqo and should not be attempted in a lion cave near your home.

This process is quite different from the others I have shared in that its purpose is to put a barrier between ourselves and some part of the Cosmos. This can be useful but when possible I prefer to step around rather then step into situations where I may need it. I have really only had to use it a few times in the almost twenty years since I learned it. The Andean Cosmovision is a way to develop a loving and mutually supportive relationship with ourselves and the rest of the Cosmos. It is not a path of power or domination, its underlying metaphor is not war. It is a path of heart, its underlying metaphors are to explore and to blossom. For all of that it is not a path for the timid it is a path for the brave, it is risky and scarey to open your heart to the world, for along with the uttermost joy we may find great pain. It calls for the courage and impeccability of a warrior, but we are warriors of the heart. The true confrontation is to stand naked in front of the incredible power and mystery of the Cosmos, and ask it if it would like to dance.

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Confessing to Nature

As I start wrapping up the book I am writing on the Andean Cosmovision I am spinning out a few topics that I haven’t addressed yet in this blog…

If you have something you need to confess, to get off your chest, go to nature and confess it out loud to a tree, or to a stream, or to a bird, or a cliff, or to Tai Tai Inti, or to Pachamama. By itself I don’t know if this would make a big difference, but as part of your changing relationship with Nature and the Cosmos it is a small but beautiful step. After many of these small steps you will begin to notice a change in yourself that arises from a change in the quality of your relationship with Nature.

By the way…when don Americo was suggesting this to us he also mentioned in passing that we are allowed to make the exact same mistake in our lives three times before we have to start feeling like an idiot. I hope you read this blog during the ‘cut yourself some slack’ week.

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