Journal:2008june02 up late

It's nearly 2am, and I'm just about to go to bed. I've been thinking about the strangeness of the new job suddenly not being the new job necessarily. I'm not *worried* nor *upset*, but just curious... I wonder what happened with that?

So I'm just living in this moment and we'll see how it turns out.

I think I'm gonna meditate for a bit; it probably won't last very long before I zonk asleep.

Tomorrow night is meditation night, by the way, and I'm supposed to read something by then. Lemme look real quick to see if I can find what it is.

2:00am right now; wonder how long it'll take.

Okay 2:22am, and I read my homework (plus chatted with Aimee, who is in Ammann (sp) and will soon be in Jerusalem!)

In the ancient Sanskrit treatises of Hatha-yoga, several techniques 
of inner purification are described. A group of six of them are 
called the ṣat karman, or ‘six actions’, which are: 
– neti, a purification of the nasal cavity 
– dhauti, purification of the stomach 
– basti, a variation of an enema 
Apart from their local action, dhauti and basti are cleansers of the 
earth and water elements throughout the body. 
– trātṭaka, gazing at a candle or a minute object (see 5.6) 
– nauli, in which the two abdominal muscles recti abdominis are 
contracted one after the other, thereby giving an impression of 
rotation. Nauli is a strong stimulant of the abdominal fire, and of 
the fire of the body in general. 
– kapālabhāti, made of a short but intense hyperventilation. 
These techniques do not only purify the physical and subtle bodies, 
they also awaken the body of energy and its centres. Therefore 
they can all be recommended to a sincere seeker. 
Of these six techniques we will dwell on the first one, neti, for it 
has a direct and remarkable action on the awakening of the third 
eye. Apart from its effect on the frontal chakra, neti is also said 
to purify all the channels of energy in the neck and the head, 
thereby having a significant healing action on any disorder located 
in these areas. 
In the traditional way of Hatha-yoga, neti is performed with a 
long-beaked pot called a lota. The lota is filled with salt water. The 
yogis bend their head to one side, and the end of the beak is 
introduced in the nostril on the other side. The water is allowed to 
flow through one nostril and falls out through the other. The 
same operation is then repeated on the other side. 
For our purpose, there is a more efficient way of performing neti 
which does not require a lota (long-beaked pot): 
Take a mug, or even better, a vessel or small bowl that is shorter 
but wider than a mug. Fill it with lukewarm water, about the same 
temperature as inside your mouth. (Use clean, purified water.) Add 
half a teaspoon of rock salt or sea salt. But do not use fine grained 
table salt, which would irritate your nose. 
Put your nose in the water. Start ‘drinking’ the salt water through 
your nostrils: draw the water through the nose and let it spill out 
through the mouth. The water goes straight from the nasal cavity 
into the mouth and gets expelled from there. 
The whole operation is quick and not at all uncomfortable. It gives 
a very refreshing and awakening feeling. It generates inner 
clarity, and a sharp perception of energy in the nostrils. 

I'll be doing that tomorrow. Fun!