Kriyas, Herbal Helpers, and Developing Ekaggatā

Some insight into why and how I use hemp, how I learned to work with the kriyas, and some speculation about one-pointed awareness.

(this post is related to the kriya series)

The Hemp

Why do I use hemp in my practice? GOOD QUESTION. It took me a while to get comfortable with this, but have found it to be a beautiful helper. 

I've never been a "drug user" and I am wary of the hype around psychedelics. I believe in their power, but I think it's being turned into just another consumerist machine papered over with some health claims and a tad of "fast travel" too.

These plants and their "medicines" are not, in my humble opinion, to be gobbled at. They are, just like everyone else, relational entities with their own rights, perspectives, intents, and feelings. When we consume them, we are integrating all of that into our systems. If our systems lack the relational framework for that integration...we are 1) missing out, and 2) potentially doing ourselves and the planet damage.

That said, I'd begun working with hemp and CBD prior to my big kundalini event in 2022, but put it down and backed away for a long time after. I was so far in over my head with the stuff that was happening to me that I wasn't adding any other factors to the mix. I had to let things stabilize. And I recommend that as a general rule for anyone going through K stuff. Stabilize first to stay safe.

Bringing it back to my life was complicated. But it called me...quiet and gentle. This type of calling is nothing like the commands of an addiction. And is different too from the thrill seeker's song. This is more like how a gentle older sibling may give advice to the younger one about how it went for them, and how/why they would do it just a little different this time. The listener has full freedom to integrate that perspective or go their own way. There will be no "I told you so". It's just ...sharing stories.

I knew from past experience with CBD how it helped with anxiety and sleep. And I'd noticed that when I was involved with it, I was more creative. I could "free associate" or "flow" in a way that was otherwise unavailable to me.

Learning to be with the Kriyas

When the kriyas started coming in a big way, which was some time in late 2022, I was as uninvolved as feasible. I didn't fight them, but also didn't know how to connect with them. They just sorta happened and I'd follow the movements it brought, just letting it do its thing... but it felt sorta like a distraction. I didn't know how to be curious about them without forcing it...which I could not sustain for the many hours that the kriyas would last.

A quick clarification: here I'm speaking of the spontaneous, involuntary kriyas associated with Kundalini activation. This is different than the Kriya Yoga system that Paramahansa Yogananda brought to the states in the mid-1900s. They are certainly related, but not the same thing...that's a whole other post.

Anyway, the Hemp called with memories of the creative connection I'd felt. It told me, "I could help". I didn't think I needed "help"...help with what? But finally about 6 months ago, I started giving it a go.

It took a time or two to learn to move the energy, which became WAY more tactile with the hemp in the system, down into the body, out of the head where it was naturally drawn as if by gravity.

I had to give up the productive creativity, the thing I'd know it for before, and learn this new thing hemp could teach me. That is, I had to let our relationship mature. This is why it's not "just a tool" but an entity. It and I interact in complex ways, and Hemp can do more than "just one thing".

Developing One-Pointed Awareness

With practice, I found its influence supported moving the awareness from my head (known as Shiva in some hindu traditions) down into the body. There, it witnesses. It does not direct, plan, or decide. It "just" watches. This curious observer seems to triangulage between where the energy (Shakti) is and where it wants / needs to go. The presence seems to bridge gaps, open gates, and melt blocks more efficiently than when my mind is just off wandering. Shakti, I think, appreciates the audience, and flipping the tired "feminine as passivity" paradigm.

I do not have to force this awareness. It is natural and relaxed, while also very present and alert. This turns the kriyas into a very deep moving meditation.

This is, I believe, related to the Hindu concepts of "one-pointed awareness" or Ekaggatā. With practice, this integration of the energy and witnessing within the body is reuniting the two at a neuro-physiological level. You know, the whole thing "yoga" claims to do - "yoking" the mind and body.

Each week this internal witnessing (interoception) is getting easier without the hemp. It's sorta like pool floaties or training wheels in that way. Perhaps one day I will not "need" it at all. And then our relationship will change again.

This phenomenon of collaboration without deepening dependency is another key relational aspect. I use it to help guard against addiction which I believe could be a danger if not kept in awareness.

FWIW I hear that some folks use marijuana to the same effect. It is not currently legal in my state so I cannot comment on its effect, but chemically it seems like it should be similar in effect. Hemp and CBD are legal here, thus I stick with those.