About ten years ago, I came across a book called Ecstatic Body Postures, by Belinda Gore. It’s about a method for achieving ecstatic trance and visionary experiences, and is based on the research of anthropologist Dr. Felecitas D. Goodman.
Since I’m a yoga teacher who attaches energy related to astrological signs to 12 series of yoga postures, the book caught my attention. It features illustrations of figurines and rock paintings from antiquity in which the subject is holding a particular posture. Writes Goodman: “If a specific posture represented in one of these artifacts is combined with rhythmic stimulation, be that by drum or rattle, the body temporarily undergoes dramatic neurophysiological changes, and visionary experiences arise that are specific to the particular posture in question.”
That’s the backdrop for what happened when our friend Nancy Pickard, a mystery writer, came to stay with us this week. Nancy arrived with a new book by Belinda Gore, called The Ecstatic Experience. Essentially, it is an updated and revised version of the older book, and this one includes a CD which contains drumming and rattling. The idea is to play the CD while holding one of the postures. After Nancy showed me the book, I dug out my older edition, opened it at random to a page that featured the Olmec Diviner Posture, a seated position with one knee up and hands on the legs.
So the next morning, again paging through the book, I came across a brochure for the Cuyamungue Institute of New Mexico, which is where workshops are held on these ecstatic postures. I showed it to Nancy and she immediately pointed to the illustration on the front. I hadn’t even noticed that the figure was very similar to the two others. They’re not identical, but as you can see from the illustrations they are very close to one another.
We decided to work with the diviner posture, play the CD, and see what happened. Since I often like to improvise, rather than follow precise directions, I suggested we try the version of the posture in my figurine. We worked our way into the posture, burned some sage, blew some tobacco, took several deep, cleansing breaths, then turned on the CD.
We held the posture for about 15 minutes while rhythmic rattling, one of four selections, played. When we emerged from it, we took turns describing our experiences. Amazingly, the three of us all found ourselves traveling downward through a tunnel. Nancy and I both saw it as a ribbed tunnel. Trish saw brilliant violet light and smooth gold burnished stone surfaces. As we exited the tunnel, we all saw trees. I found myself surrounded by hummingbirds. Nancy encountered tribal men, who were dancing and making the rattling. Trish experienced more colors. Trish and I both heard the number 10, in my case, 10 days. I also heard the month of May, and I heard the words, “Brazil, two.”
As the rhythm changed, we all saw ourselves moving back up the tunnel from the underworld. It was a very interesting experience and we decided to try it again, maybe every day while Nancy is here, working with different postures.
Rob
The group (or "foundation") mentioned in my previous comment has the official website http://www.worldforum.org. One can download from there a PDF document about meshworking. There is on the 5th page the word "synchronicity". How cute is that?
hmmmm…..i see – terribly interesting, the all of it! thanks so much!
I am active (with comments) in this group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=70481128967
My latest comment in the discussions has the word "yoga". Guess where was the first conference this year? In Brazil. The number ten could mean (e.g.) December 10 or 2010.
I'm not sure that the rattling and drumming are intended to have different effects, just the postures. We actually blew right through the first rattling segment on the CD and followed that with rattling and drumming. Our first session went 31 minutes, instead of the intended 15…and we didn't realized it until the next day when we did our second session.
Alekandar, the words I heard in the first session, that I didn't mention above, were s'tructual foundation'. Not sure what that meant.
the rhythmic rattling is separate from the drumming on the cd? i wonder if one would have the same experience with the same posture with both drumming and with rattling [if they are separate on the cd – or do i misunderstand?] – would the rhythmic rattling produce one experience with a posture, but drumming produce another experience with the same posture?
absolutely totally fascinating!!! what a wonderful experience! it would be fun to video it each time, i think – and i'm wondering if the number 10 and the words that you heard have any significance to you all? – another must have from amazon! such an intriguing post, you two!!!
Intriguing, Aleksander! That phrase – structural analysis of the ego – Rob got the word structural yesterday when we tried another posture. I'll have to ask him the exact context.
Your visions look like those "big dreams". I had these days some interesting dreams. Each of them had contained a message within the last minute before my alarm clock awoke me. The first dream contained a message about "structural analysis of ego" (I speak Serbian, but this message was in English). I thought it meant nothing, but then I found in Google that it means something in psychology (in transactional analysis- it's interesting that my father read these days two books about transactional analysis). I was still half-asleep after this first dream when I "felt" a CD spinning in my head. The next dream (a week ago) contained a very attractive lady (Anima?). I read later that day an article about her in a newspaper. Next days similar things happened with "Shadow" and "Self" (You know- archetypes.). This is where things look scary (not in a negative way, more like a big surprise), so I am not going to tell you the whole story. These dreams definitely wouldn't happen if I hadn't adjusted my brain for them. Pay attention to your visions and I'll pay to mine. Maybe they really mean something.
Shadow, the posture supposedly creates a particular format for the experience. For example, the book says that the Olmec Diviner Posture usually results in a journey down a tunnel to the underworld. And that's what we had experienced.
However, Nancy and I had both read about the posture before our experience. Next time I want to see if my experience relates to the format of the posture without knowing what it is beforehand.
very interesting and intriguing. you think the instrument you use affects the 'vision'? what you feel?
That's an interesting experience! It reminds me of something I heard on Mysteryquest a couple of weeks ago when they were investigating Stonehenge. They conjectured that drums played at Stonehenge could reverberate off the rocks in a certain way that could induce a trancelike state among ancient peoples performing ceremonies there. I don't recall posture being mentioned specifically (I was flipping between it and another show though), but I think they did mention something about being in certain positions within the stone circle to be able to get the best effect from the sound.