Yogic Twisting: Twisted Myths and Awakening The Snakes
The Twisting Snakes of Comparative Mythology
Spinning. The earth does it. Nature does it. The first time I noticed the spin of a tree was in Glacier National Park. Seeing forest-fire-charred trees standing naked without their bark you could see the grain of the wood spinning all in the same pattern. The spin seemed like hidden inner heliotropism, that happened so slowly it was impossible to see even without the lense of hundreds of years and the revelation offered by fire.
For anything thing to spin a middle is needed, an axis to turn on. The axis of the earth, the hub of a wheel. Rooted spinning is twisting and the point of the exercise of looking at the power of spin in physical practice as it relates to mystical and natural symbolism.
You probably know the symbol for the American Medical Association a staff with two snakes climbing to the pinnacle that is topped with wings. Broken up into parts we find three distinct characters portrayed. The staff (axis), snakes (the spin and counter spin) and the wings (the view from above).
Snakes and Eagles. In mythology, snakes have historically represented the power and energy of the moon. The snake sheds its skin, just as the moon sheds and regains its light. It is the symbol of change, rising and falling, death and rebirth often feminine. Eagles (the wings of the symbol) are often represented as the energy of the sun, powerful, unchanging, often masculine. Many stories throughout history have the snake and the eagle at battle, often ending with both realizing that neither will vanquish the other. The eagle tries to use force, the snake uses wisdom and cunning. In early Gnostic Christian, the snake is represented as wisdom of the divine feminine protecting Adam and Eve from an angry jealous God. In the garden of Eden, there were two trees THE TREE OF LIFE and THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. The masculine jealous God said don’t eat from the knowledge of good and evil or you will be banished and you will suffer death an not have eternal life. The divine feminine represented by the snake offered another take. It’s no way to live on earth if you don’t know good and evil, the ups and downs, and to be truly alive know joy and know suffering, but also know that part of you belongs to THE TREE OF LIFE and is untouchable by death and suffering. This is represented by the Buddha as the Immovable Spot, in Native American mythology as Harney Peak, by Lao Tzu as the Tao. For the caduceus the untouchable immovable center is the scepter or staff. The snakes are the fluctuations of life, the pairs of opposites. The wings represent the birds eye view offered by balancing the pairs of opposites the changes of life, with the unchanging middle of ourselves. This creates a quantum possibility. If we identify only with the immovable middle then we have become a renunciate. If we only identify with the fluctuations of life we are ruled by our emotions, often favoring only the positive which is inherently unbalanced, but also what most laws are based on.
Sumerian Agriculture / Fertility, Hermes and Mercury the awakener.
The symbol for the power of twisting snakes first appeared about 6,000 years ago in Sumer. The god Ningishzida represented vegetation, the death of vegetation is traveling to the underworld. (Consider the Lilies). For Greek god Hermes and Roman god Mercury, the caduceus had two important representations for consideration negotiation balance and awakening. Statues of Hermes holding the winged scepter show the length of the scepter equal to the length of his spine, which we will see reflected in Indian Yogic Mythology. Seen for its elemental properties mercury is, well, mercurial, it is all about change, it’s shifty, and never the same. The wand of caduceus had the power to awaken the sleeping and give life to the dead and vice versa.
In astrology, the caduceus is the symbol for Mercury and rules Gemini the sign of duality. Mercury also represents mental function, the mediator of duality. Mercury rules business reminding us to balance our competing emotions with our intellect and get our Mercurial ducks in a row. Mercury in retrograde reminds us that things aren’t always what they seem and the mind can play tricks on us, and sometimes measure helps where feeling lacks.
Kundalini Energy, Awakening The Sleeping Serpents
In Indian Yogic Mythology, the two snakes are represented by Ida and Pingala slumbering snakes at the bottom of the spine or the sushumna. Balancing the energies of Ida and Pingala bring about an awakening of the Kundalini energy that rises up the sushumna. As Ida (clockwise) and Pingala (counterclockwise) twist up the spine, they pass each other at each chakra or energy center. These chakras each carry their own interpreted positive and negative aspects and are related to the organs nearby. Ida and Pingala remind us to bring these aspects into transcendent balance. The bottom three chakras relate to our animal nature, fears and desires relating to the body, and lunar energy. The middle fourth chakra is like a bridge, the awakening of heart and human compassion. (The story of the Buddha has him born out of his mother's side at the level of the heart). The top three chakras relate to the divine, fears and desires relating to the transcendent, and solar energy.
In physical yogic practice, twists help us balance out our energies right and left, but if we become unrooted in our twist then we risk being, well, spun out. Maha Yogi Gokulacandra taught me something as powerful as it is simple. RESIST YOUR TWIST. That is to say if you move clockwise in a twist make sure part of you balances twisting the counterclockwise at the same time. His genius instruction move your navel the opposite way from the way the torso is turning. I added a bit of personal spin for me since I have a bit of a tendency to become unrooted. I move my navel the opposite way of the twist AND down towards the root. If I am twisting clockwise my navel is moving towards my left foot or sit bone and vice versa. This not only gives me the effect, like wringing out a wet towel, but also helps me stay grounded and it helps me locate the middle.
(A spherical version of twist and counter twist can be achieved by combining the chinese Lo Shu and the Katonah Yoga Magic Square as envisioned by Nevine Michaan. I will go into detail about these in separate writing as both techniques deserve detail and attention on their own).
Using a simultaneous twist and counter twist helps you discover the middle. It will help your shoulders in down dog. It will help you find your feet in balancing. All of these are corporeal metaphors for the motifs we have seen for thousands of years. We are coaxed by the entwined snakes to integrate the pairs of opposites within our lives. Fear and Optimism, Creation and Destruction, Hoarding and Generosity, Love and Hate, Song and Solitude, Intellect and Experience, Heavenly and Bodily. The snakes aren’t asking us to choose between good and evil. They are asking for us to decide what works for each moment, a decision that considers the center and the whole for which that center represents. Just as the stars will be in a different place tomorrow, to shine like them we move with time and the moment to let our timeless light shine. Twisting is just another way to catch a glimpse and play with the ephemeral middle.
