21-Day Dhyana Sadhana - Day 14 - The Subtle Knots of Limitation

Day 14 for the 21-Day Dhyana Sadhana, 21-Day Meditation Practice daily online retreat as we approach Divali 2024. 

In this practice I share about a yogic concept of knots in the subtle energy body called Granthis. These three Granthis are called Brahma granthi - located at the root, Vishnu granthi - located at the heart, and Rudra granthi - located at the brow, deep inside the head. 

This meditation invites you to explore the locations of these granthis and to feel deep into your nervous system. 

---

---

Meditation Transcript

All right, so let's get ready for our meditation. Thank you very much.

Please close your eyes. Align your posture. Relax the different parts of the body while keeping your spine aligned.

Bring your awareness into your breathing, seeking to balance the inhale and exhale.

But please stimulate your lungs. Breathe deeply, activating the physical body. As you breathe, open up your awareness, noticing the different levels of your experience.

The physical experience, the vital, the emotional, the mental, and the subtle energy. Become highly observant, highly sensitive, highly curious.

Wat is happening within you? 

And to center deeply in awareness, in consciousness, affirm the sense of "I," I am experiencing and move gently away from experiencing and move deeper into sense of "I," that I is rooted in the source, in your divinity.

Can you feel the beingness? Being means you are the container that's holding all these experiences, body, heart, mind and energy.

And that container that's holding the experiences, that's the consciousness and that's you.

Let's come into the central energy channel, becoming focused there, guiding the flow of energy. Slowly upwards with the inhale, slowly downwards with the exhale it.

Let's take our awareness to the root chakra, strengthening there using gentle muscular action there to identify the location and open up your awareness to feel the grunty, to search for that knot, that point, that bundle of nerves.

And use your breathing there to guide the flow of energy.

And you can hold a gentle intention to open up that space, to loosen the knot, to open it. But don't use too much will. Use relaxed will, allowing space for your own inner power to support you.

You don't need to make it happen, you are allowing it to happen.

And take a very wide view as you breathe there with the focus at the root of how does the body feel.

Now on the inhale, encourage the flow of energy up towards your heart along the central channel.

Use a few deep breaths, lifting the energy from the root to your heart.

And open up the chest, expanding the chest as you breathe and sit for that point, the grant, Vishnu, granti and the hearth. And then stabilize your attention, focusing at the heart.

Breathe gently through that point naturally, increasing the flow of energy into the nerve plexus and observing the effect.

Remember that you can't make anything happen, but you can enable and allow the process open up to allowing the inner energy to work at that point.


Now join me in drawing the energy upwards into the head. But as you do this, please keep an awareness of the root. And if you feel that headspace is not stable, is not strong, use some abdominal breathing.

There shouldn't be any lightheadedness. If there is, you need to do more grounding, more rooting in the body.

Breathe through the point of the brow and draw your attention deeper, as if the brow is moving into the head, searching for that point called Rudra Granthi.

And you will see by breathing into the head naturally, the airflow becomes a little constricted. Using ujjayi, that technique, ocean sounding breath comes naturally when you focus inside the head.

Breathe there and stay open to the process.

Now, as you breathe out, allow the flow of energy back down to your heart.

Let's center in the heart. From that heart space, open up to your body and use the whole body breathing, energizing the body with the higher vibrations of your heart, and staying centered in the heart, you can open up to the preparation for engaging with the world.

Let's learn to meet the world in our hearts.

Finally, I invite you to tune into our group of meditators.

Please acknowledge them in the inner space. You can just say, Namaskar. Mentally, my soul bows to you. I honor you.

All of our meditators together create a strong energy field that supports each individual coming to that spirit of gratitude towards them for their support, their presence.

Now, as we come close to the end of our meditation, let's strongly affirm in the mind:

I stay centered in the source of my being, that divine sense of I sense of self.

I meet and engage with my world from that place, place of infinite vitality, infinite love, infinite focus.

Thank you very much. Now take a deep breath and pull yourself all the way back to the body, back to the senses. Anchor yourself fully.

​Make sure you feel alert. Observe how the condition of the body has changed from your meditation. And when the moment is right for you, with a few gentle blinks, you can open the eyes.

---

Reflection

1. Describe and reflect on your experience at each of the three Granthis - root, heart and brow. 
2. What do you think you need to do to work on your readiness for the knot to open?