(The Star Exercise can generate tremendous amounts of Universal Life Energy, or “Chi”/“Ki”. If you choose to do this exercise, you do so at your own risk, and we take no responsibility for what may happen to you. I have done it for many years, and I have never known anyone hurt by it, but it is powerful. Like a circuit breaker that trips and shuts off the power when more energy than the circuits can handle attempts to pass, sometimes if your body is not yet strong enough to handle the energy flowing through it when you do the star exercise, it will knock you down. If it happens, don’t worry about it, you’ll get stronger. But when doing this exercise, make sure that the area around you is free from anything that could damage your body if it were to fall. Do not do this exercise if you are subject to epileptic seizures.)
The star exercise meditation is much more than a yoga exercise, yet we considered it to be the ultimate yoga exercise. Some feel it is the only yoga exercise a person needs to do. It is also the most powerful Reiki excercise, or healing method. In fact, it is the source of the modern Reiki teachings which are charged for. Here, you can have it free, and you don’t need any attunements! In any case, it is an incredibly powerful means of stimulating the Kundalini, and storing, generating, and transmitting, Universal Life Energy (this energy has many names: prana, bio-cosmic energy, ki, Reiki, etc.). When you do the star exercise, it not only permeates your own body with energy, but it flows in and out of you, allowing you to use it to give energy to others, to heal, and to flow energy with a group of people.
Universal Life Energy is very high frequency, etheric, having some attributes that could be described as spiritual and physical, yet the energy can be affected & directed by the mind and emotions. Universal Life Energy permeates everything. It can be seen as an “aura”, or projected energy beams. It can be photographed by means of “Kirilian” electrophotography. In all your yoga exercises, and meditations, you should be conscious of, and working with, this energy. Its supply is limitless, only your separate self can inhibit it.
When you do the star exercise, it is best to remove shoes and socks if possible. To do the star exercise, stand with your feet about a yard apart, arms straight out to your side like this:
Turn your left palm up, right palm down. Begin breathing intensely, and deeply. Sometimes you may want to do this breathing rapidly, as hard as you can. Other times you may want to do it slowly, yet still deeply and intensely. The purpose of this breathing is to draw Universal Life Energy from the air into your Solar Plexus Chakra (One of the functions of the Solar Plexus Chakra is to store up a charge of this energy, kind of like a Life Energy battery). It is not so different from rubbing a balloon to make static electricity.
While you see & feel the energy entering your Solar Plexus and building there, also see & feel the energy distribute from your Solar Plexus, throughout your whole being. At the same time, visualize the energy flowing into your left hand, through you, and out of your right hand. Continue doing this. Depending on the circumstances, it may take anywhere from a few breaths, to 144, to get the desired energy effect from the star exercise (which is a feeling of transcension and well being, and a “rush” of energy that you can feel and sometimes see). However, you won’t experience this intense energy rush until after you finish your breathing and go on to the next step. Next, inhale, hold the breath, and while you continue the visualization, silently say to yourself this affirmation:
“I am one with Universal Life Energy, it is flowing through me now, I feel it.”
At this point, if you have done it correctly, you should start feeling the energy rush. Only hold your breath and enjoy the energy for as long as is comfortable to you. Exhale, continue the visualization and affirmation.
If you wish, the energy pouring out of your right hand can be given to someone or something. We also use it as a healing light. This is the same energy that’s associated with pyramid phenomenon (the word pyramid means “fire in the middle”).
Some people will tell you that the rush you get is from getting too much oxygen via hyperventilation. But ask yourself, if that is so, why doesn’t a person breathing pure oxygen get the same effect? And how does it sometimes work with as little as one breath?
As I said earlier, the Star Exercise is great to do with others. The first time I did it was in a circle with a hundred people. The amount of energy that spun around and around through us in that circle was phenomenal. It was like a whirlwind of cosmic energy. It was the first time my “third eye” chakra opened up, and I saw the life energy that vibrates within and around all things. As you read earlier, when I told my teacher about this experience, he strongly admonished me to ignore the phenomenon.
If done with just one other person, it can be done in two ways: 1) Stand facing each other and grasp each other’s hands (making a mini-circle for the energy). 2) Stand side-by-side, and join just the hands that are between you, leaving one person’s hand open and up for receiving energy from the heavens, and the other person’s hand open and downward for sending the energy to the Earth. It looks something like this:
If doing it with a group of people, form a circle with all joining hands. Besides the same visualizations you do when you are doing it alone, also visualize the energy going around the entire circle, and gaining strength as it gets a boost from each person in the circle. It has been my experience that no one should be left outside the circle when you do this, due to the tremendous power that “flies off” the circle.
), but it’s not urgent: would you think that what the Whirling Dervishes do is a kind of Star exercise put in motion?
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