When we recognize the dream state images as illusory and subtly blend with them, judiciously redirecting and managing the dream plot, we can become one with the complex and intricately patterned weave that is on the back side of the tapestry of our existence.
The transformative changes in our waking lives from this are subtle but they manifest at a very deep level.
the bardo that is our daily lives…
…the weave behind the tapestry.
…the wondrous manifested images presented on the tapestry front.
They are inseparable.
Life is in slow motion now, which has made it easier for me to practice illusory form. I had an insight the other day. How am I so sure at this moment that I’m not already in the death bardo? And the more I absorb this, the more I reflect back to the Book of the Dead. FOLLOW THE WHITE LIGHT! DO NOT GO DOWN THOSE STAIRS! DANGER WILL ROBINSON!
All of the preliminary practices ramping up to Bardo Yoga eventually show us that it’s all the same continuum. Still, the conventional end of a human body is the juncture where you better get on the right train, else we re-enlist for another gazillion eons of chewing our karmic cud. In the meantime, every breath is either taken on the right train or the wrong train. Most people live like they’re a pilot who thinks he can pull out of a nose dive at the last minute – even though he’s never piloted a plane before.
I love that! and…
Last night curtains of white light flowed down as I watched the insides of my eyelids during WBTB. Still pondering that.
I’m not sure about that. Having trained in the martial arts I have learned that much can be done in the moment if one trains for it. 
I have been thinking about that a lot. I was at bedside when each parent died. Neither all that well prepared, but my step-father was a prayerful man while my mother was quite another story. I don’t want to be either of them. During spells in my life I have experienced incredible physical suffering. At this time, I feel great and while much of my good condition is helped along by pharms and docs, I’ve been working at meditation for 15 years, however flappy slappy. Have I loosened my grasping at my body? Or am I just having a good spell right now? I’ll tell you, I do not want to suffer from illness like I have in the past. I’ve had it (ha ha ha ) . But I’ve also purified a whole lot and know what I need to work at in the way of acceptance. We gotta know where the fire exit is out of the effing bardo, right? But not just recognize it – be able to stay focused on it when maras are flashing all sorts of bling. Cookies, virgins, swimming pools, movie stars, Gilligan’s Island re-runs! DANGER WILL ROBINSON!
I think that all we really have to work with in this life is these bodies. It seems to me that they are all we really have any semblance of control over…as limited as that sometimes seems.
The ancient texts give us a map to that fire exit.
We can use the body to develop the energy that becomes the light that dissolves the body into even more light. And…if I understand Powa correctly, the fire exit may be right there at the top of my head where I feel that insistent tingling when I am having a super strong Tummo session.
Andrew Holececk has an upcoming online retreat with Bob Thurman about Pure Lands, where we can go from the Bardo. And Garchen Rinpoche has this coming up in March. Both could be useful for your quest.
I don’t want to miss that. I’ve been meaning to ask, who is Andrew’s Vajrayana teacher?
I have just recently been taking a refresher on mystic traditions, and I have an insight, the validity of which I am completely unable to defend: Here in our utterly perfected civilization in which everyone’s happiness has been fulfilled by the philosophy and execution of total material reductionism—
AZAAHGHH
(I hate it when Vajrapani slaps the crap out of me like that).
For the sake of exercise, let me take a swing at this from a slightly different angle.
The dichotomy in the west historically was between flesh and spirit. Mortify the flesh and reveal the spirit. Plus, you might get thin enough to be a fashion model. Anyway, spinal consciousness practices (is there a generic term for these?) from Mahamudra to Kundalini yoga teach us to connect our actual electrical nervous system to the subtle energy body – this sets up a two way current that clears all our messed up conditioned responses.
Does that sound like a valid summation?
I can only speak from my experiences…
I would say that Inner Heat Yoga (Tummo) qualifies as a spinal consciousness practice. Not sure about a generic term.
From a purely physical perspective (coarse body) I think that one thing Tummo is doing is energizing the microbiome which, in turn, is sending energy through the vagus nerve and firing up the “gut/brain” axis.
From a vajra body (subtle body) perspective, again in my experience, this energy opens up the main chakras. For me this clearing of the central channel begins to dissolve my samsaric tendencies. Clearing my messed up conditioned responses takes a bit more work throughout my day/night practice.
As far as my experience with my very subtle body (light body)…it feels as if the energy flow created by the activation of my vajra body is creating light as it relaxes into the heart chakra at the end of my Tummo sessions. From a physicalist perspective that is actually how photons are created…from subsiding energy flow…so I don’t mind making the leap to imagining actual biophotons being created in my central channel and radiating out as a light body.
Holy goat, I’ve worked in biotech and that tummo/microbiome connection completely escaped me. My attempt to express it was kind of a hack job, but I think I’m conceptually in alignment with you. I posted a separate post about re-focusing my practice, which is way all over the place and going around in circles about which chakra to prioritize. I am way messed up down around the second/third, so maybe tummo is what I ought to be doing. I have HYT.
Tsa Lung Trulkhor also works to open the chakras and is an excellent prelude to Tummo. Practicing the two in sequence has been a strong protocol for me.
