by Alan McAllister, CCHt PhD-phys
published in Shakti Yogi Journal
Fevers often seem clearly to be healing processes. They come for a day, with few other symptoms, and then they pass. Occasionally they are part of a more serious process and last for several days. It can be hard to focus and stay present in the middle of a fever, but when I can, I can feel that they are burning through more than bacteria or viruses, they are helping to clear old emotions and stuck energy in my being.
Recently I had minor surgery on my abdomen. Lying in bed afterwards my attention was deeply focused into my body, pulled insistently there in order to track the messages that might indicate damaging stress in the muscles or the internal organs. Over the following days I noticed that the healing processes often generated a lot of heat. Heat that came from the formation of new cells and tissues, a creative process. As with the fire of lava, which can destroy but also produces new land, a new foundation for life, physical fire in the body is alchemical; it both clears and builds. Like the Kundalini, rising through the body to purify, but also to heal and recreate the tissues to handle higher frequencies of energy. [1]
Like all life, human beings exist as patterns in a flow of energy; like the eddies in a stream, through which water is constantly flowing, though the pattern remains essentially the same. Physically we need supplies of air, water and food flowing through us to sustain our form. Energetically we are nourished by the flow of life force from Source to Ground, whether we are aware of it or not. This is found in any tradition that works with energy; as the Chinese say, we live in the middle ground between Heaven and Earth, balancing their energies to create ourselves and live in the world around us. [2, something Chinese?]
In graduate school I did my thesis on the physics of a layer of fluid between vertical walls at different temperatures. The higher the difference the more complex the flow patterns of the fluid become. It self organizes to more efficiently transport heat between the boundary walls. Later I realized that this is a very simple model of life and evolution. On the manifest plane there are polarities everywhere, differences between hot and cold, positive and negative charge, light and darkness. The nature of energy is to flow from one to the other. Castaneda talks about the Eagle’s emanations, “fluid, forever in motion, and yet unchanged, eternal” which power the cosmos. [3] The Sun generates the flow of energy that powers the Earth, and we live in the resulting elemental whirls and eddies that flow on the surface of our mother Earth.
When energy flows through them, forms change as the system seeks to transport energy as efficiently as possible. Things that impede this flow are resistance and generate heat. On all levels there are then processes to clear the blocks and allow increased flow. This is evolution. This is what Kundalini does for us, or the fever that cleanses, so that there is more spaciousness for Spirit, for the Soul. The heat of the belly when food is being digested is probably the most common experience of fire in the body. When it is in balance it keeps us warm. When we eat too much, or things that don’t fit us the excess heat may make it hard to sleep.
Although the pattern in the stream is similar over time, it is always different too. Tomorrow, or next month it is likely to be quite different. In Hindu cosmology there are the three aspects of the Divine: Brahma, Visnu, Shiva, representing the three phases of the cycles of life: creation, preservation, destruction. [4] In this role Shiva is called Nataraj, the Lord of the Dance, dancing on the old limiting structures, creating space for new forms to emerge. This is not pure destruction, but the fire of creative transformation and alchemy, leading always to new creation.
In the flow of fluid the old pattern dissolves to be replaced by something new. The same with the stream. Our cells are born, maintained, and give way so that fresh cells can come into being. When we fear change and try to hold onto ourselves as a fixed form, we do not live, but frozen, begin to die. We strangle the natural flow that nurtures us. Without Nataraj clearing space with a Tandava dance (the dance destroying outmoded world views) [5], Brahma cannot create.
In the birth of new stars there is a phase called T-Tauri. [6] After a long accretion of gas and dust the growing star condenses to the point where it can ignite. Nuclear fire is born in its center and radiates outwards. This is the beginning of it’s stellar wind, which flushes all the loose gas and dust away from the star, into interstellar space. This allows the young star’s light to shine out unobscured, it becomes visible to the galaxy. The same way Kundalini turns on in the first chakra and rising upwards clears the body for Spirit to enter, to recreate our being on a higher level.
Whatever the consciousness of a star, it is also subject to the three phases of the material cycle. After the T-tauri phase, the nuclear processes in the heart of a star are the alchemy of creation, forging heavier atoms, the elements of life, including carbon and oxygen. And at the end of the star’s life, it may explode as a nova or super nova, seeding space with the atoms that will become the next generation of planets and be the building blocks of life. This is surely the dance of Tandava writ large.
In taking care of myself and giving attention to the natural processes in my body, I play the role of Vishnu, applying neutral awareness to nurture what is present. In giving my awareness I allow things to relax and open. Reducing any internal resistances, I create space for Spirit to enter in and help heal or create something new. Running Reiki on my abdomen continuously, I channeled extra life force energy to aid in the healing and regenerative processes. The fires of creation and transformation not only helped with physical healing, but also cleared some old energetic patterns, reworking my lower chakras, further opening my being. Some of that healing heat was certainly Kundalini Shakti at work.
When the fire of life comes to flow through us, we must release our fear. Fear is what generates destructive heat in a harmful sense, the product of resistance to the flow of life force that wants to sustain us, but as it increases also pushes us to open and evolve. [7] An electric circuit must reduce resistance to allow increased current, or it melts. Thus we personally experience the dance of Nataraj. All the spiritual arts teach that we must be present and aware, but let go and release our beliefs and patterns. Collectively, only by cultivating efficiency in our use of energy can we reduce the waste that is choking our planet. Only by attention to our food do we cultivate a smooth flow through our digestive system. The principles are fundamental and apply on all levels.
When Nataraj is dancing through your life or your body, be present with the heats of transformation and new creation. Hold them with gentle curiosity, relaxing to open and allow the flow to move through you as effortlessly as possible. Yield up any fear or resistance. This is the way small children and T’ai Chi masters live. Allowing life energy to flow through us does not deplete us, but gives us more to work with. Allowing the natural changes that increased flow provokes we can grow, evolve, creating what needs to come next, letting our full stellar power shine forth into the world.
1 Gopi Krishna, Living with Kundalini, Shambala, Boston, 1993.
2 A McAllister, Manifesting from Balance, May 2014, https://www.wholebeingexplorations.com/cms/archives/manifest/
3 C. Castaneda, The Wheel of Time, Eidolona Press, Los Angeles, 1998. p236
4 A McAllister, Life, Death, and Preservation, Nov 2014, https://www.wholebeingexplorations.com/cms/archives/ldp/
5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nataraja
6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_Tauri_star
7 A McAllister, Dreaming in the Fields of the Heart, SYJ Spring 2015, https://www.shaktiyogijournal.com/dreaming-in-the-fields-of-the-heart.html
