Would you like to become more resilient? Relieve chronic stress? Or refresh yourself on the go? Or face your challenges with more serenity? Who wouldn't?

Top-Down Yoga is a self-help technique for everyone who wants to manage stress and find more balance in life. You don't need to be athletic or spiritual to benefit from these simple psychophysical exercises. Anyone can do it! And you can learn it easily and apply it anywhere you are, immediately. There are no convoluted positions to master and no theory necessary for its application. You CAN do it at any fitness level, well or sick! and gain immediate benefits. You perform it on yourself, by yourself. Take back control of your mindbody and experience the joy of being pro-active in your self care management. Mobilize your Inner Healer.

Contact Lorin Kiely at 805 252 0244,
topdownyoga@gmail.com
http://topdownyoga.50megs.com and 
http://harmoniccontinuum.50megs.com

VIDEO ONLINE:
 http://www.remyc.com/Deepak/coalition_for_onevoice.html

TDY VIDEO Link
 http://www.remyc.com/Deepak/coalition_for_onevoice.html 

Emergent Evolution and the Somatic Continuum
Integration of the Social Engagement System

The spirit-based science of Energy Medicine is at the epi-center of the long anticipated evolutionary shift in human consciousness. In his seminal text, Stalking the Wild Pendulum, Itzak Bentov provided the key insight that, the next phase in the evolution of the nervous system involved uniting the cerebro-spinal and autonomic systems. The term emergent evolution is defined as an “evolution conceived as characterized by the appearance of different levels of wholly new and unpredictable characters or qualities, (as life and consciousness), through a rearrangement of pre-existing entities”, or component parts.

TOP-DOWN YOGA is a new approach to embodied self-regulation which integrates the cerebro-spinal system, with practical applications of the recent, new understanding of a 3rd branch in the autonomic nervous system, the Social Engagement System. The Social Engagement is a manifestation of the synergistic functioning of the five cranial nerves, organizing, integrating and coordinating looking, listening, vocal communication, turning the head and regulating cardiac output. As the newest and most evolutionary advanced component of the somatic continuum, the Social Engagement System embodies the emergent expression of love and social bonding. “Social bonds” are scientifically described as a powerful form of learning regulated by long-lasting changes in the endocrine system and brain. http://www.stressrelease.info/polyvagal_eng.html and,
http://www.nexuspub.com/articles/2006/interview_ma.htmThe spirit-based science of Energy Medicine is at the epi-center of the long anticipated evolutionary shift in human consciousness. In his seminal text, Stalking the Wild Pendulum, Itzak Bentov provided the key insight that, the next phase in the evolution of the nervous system involved uniting the cerebro-spinal and autonomic systems. The term emergent evolution is defined as an “evolution conceived as characterized by the appearance of different levels of wholly new and unpredictable characters or qualities, (as life and consciousness), through a rearrangement of pre-existing entities”, or component parts.

TOP-DOWN YOGA is a new approach to embodied self-regulation which integrates the cerebro-spinal system, with practical applications of the recent, new understanding of a 3rd branch in the autonomic nervous system, the Social Engagement System. The Social Engagement is a manifestation of the synergistic functioning of the five cranial nerves, organizing, integrating and coordinating looking, listening, vocal communication, turning the head and regulating cardiac output. As the newest and most evolutionary advanced component of the somatic continuum, the Social Engagement System embodies the emergent expression of love and social bonding. “Social bonds” are scientifically described as a powerful form of learning regulated by long-lasting changes in the endocrine system and brain. http://www.stressrelease.info/polyvagal_eng.html and,
http://www.nexuspub.com/articles/2006/interview_ma.htm

TOP-DOWN YOGA is a sequence of simple motor behaviors, which are easy to learn, and can be performed sitting in a chair, standing or lying down. TOP-DOWN YOGA catalyzes an instantaneous functional shift in neuroanatomical continuity which gently awakens the innate wisdom of the body. After performing a simple posture for one minute, the participant takes a little nap in order to let the body incorporate the learning that is potential in the exercise. Without this little respite, you have stress without learning. With napping, you learn faster, deeper, more stably. This procedure of doing a bit and resting, doing and resting, and so on, is the process by which we stimulate transference of what was learned, to long term memory. In other words, simply resting and doing nothing is how we participate in evolutionary learning.

These simple processes transform stress, anxiety, depression and PTSD at the root-level of formative causation. The same practices also generate the optimal somatic conditions for resting in meditative equipoise, and provide new social applications embodying collective wisdom. The efficacy of these processes must be experienced to be believed!

Please bring a blanket to lie on for the napping phases, and a meditation cushion if it is your pleasure to experience TOP-DOWN YOGA in the posture of meditation. Suggested donation $20

Lorin Kiely has been a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism and independent researcher in the field of Energy Medicine since 1975. He is developing educational protocol and ceremonial events for the species-level integration of the Social Engagement System. Lorin is also available for individual sessions as well as evolutionary salons in your home. Cell phone, 805-252-0244, http://topdownyoga.50megs.com and http://harmoniccontinuum.50megs.com


TOP-DOWN YOGA draws from many established systems, both ancient and modern for its unique synthesis. It is practical and nearly effortless in its simplicity, making it useful for children, adults and seniors, alike. It can be performed by anyone, despite their position on the wellness spectrum, with or without comprehending its treatment philosophy and scientific basis.

Even when we are not consciously stressed or worried mentally, tensions in our bodies telegraph the mind below consciousness that we must prepare to fight or flee. Conversely, relaxing these physical tensions relaxes the mind more fully. It is a positive self-reinforcing improvement in our dynamic state. It frees our locked-up energies for growth and self-expression.


The work of many high-functioning and enlightened souls has been synthesized in TOP-DOWN YOGA. It bootstraps on the works of:

Gendlin's "Focusing"
Porges'Vagus Nerve research
Stanley Rosenberg
Buddhism
Sociology - social engagement system
Oschmann's Energy Medicine
Mark Comings' new physics
Mae Wan Ho's
and Robert O. Becker's biophysics,
Iona Miller's Nonlocal Healing
Francesco Varella's
consciousness studies
Qigong
etc, etc
(see LINKS Page for more)

HARMONIC CONTINUUM

http://harmoniccontinuum.50megs.com

Social Applications Embodying Collective Wisdom

“In a certain sense, we may let the process of evolution act within us in a holistic way, especially in meditative states of consciousness, and in the highest intensity of life, in love.” Erick Jantsch, The Self-Organizing Universe

“Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is most deep in themselves.” Teihard de Chardin

A New Beginning

A group of spirit-based somatic educators, action-research scientists, scholars and performing artists have formed a unique alliance with an evolutionary agent, Steve Bhaerman (our beloved Swami Beyondananda), who is also a political scientist and comedian. His website is, www.wakeuplaughing.com. We will come together, in ceremony, on Easter weekend, April 14-16, 2006 to originate a new synthesis which will be the foundation for a fully dynamic participatory educational process which is contemplative, pleasurable, entertaining, and evolutionary. We envision this project as an ongoing context of evolutionary learning, regeneration and celebration by which a new spirit-based, scientific participatory knowledge system will come into being.

Strategy

The Easter weekend ceremonial is being designed as an emergent synergistic process of discovery and engagement. Through a sequence of embodiment processes and theoretical presentations, Steve and Swami will be introduced to the underpinnings of The Harmonic Continuum participatory knowledge system. The overarching intention is to weave together the physical protocol, the language to describe it and make it come to life, and to find ways to add music, dance, art, comedy and laughter so we “en-joy” the evolutionary journey" and share our enjoyment in new and novel social engagement configurations.

The Harmonic Continuum events

The Harmonic Continuum ceremonials and learning modules will introduce a somatic evolutionary learning process that is fully participatory. This process, which engages the innate intelligence and wisdom governing the organism and psyche as a whole, provides a locus for exploring, in celebration, new social applications embodying collective wisdom.

Part of the “celebratory” nature of the Harmonic Continuum will be shared acknowledgement of efficacy of the actual practices, which are easy to learn and perform, and bring immediate positive benefit. It is our intention to design “edutainment” programs, utilizing technology and media that will radiate out and reach many people, transforming humans from the inside-out and top-down.

Initially, a traveling road show which can be replicated, will introduce the Harmonic Continuum. The ‘show’ will be a weekend experience, with ceremonies and learning modules. The Harmonic Continuum website will have streaming video, practice instructions, instructional dvd’s and books for sale, papers and links. One of those links will be to web TV.

The film, “What the Bleep do we know?*!!!”, was a clear indicator that many people are wanting to know more about the relationship between the process of embodiment, quantum physics, spirituality and sociocultural evolution. Film is definitely a major consideration.

As the Harmonic Continuum starts becoming popularized in the culture-at-large, simultaneous events will be held for collectively focusing our species’ morphic potentials in specific ways. There will also be an ongoing sense of radical altruism which brings to light the natural qualities of genuine care and concern embodied in the Social Engagement System’s nurturing wisdom.

Participants

Lorin Kiely
www.topdownyoga.50megs.com

Steve Bhaerman
www.wakeuplaughing.com

Julie Hendeson
http://www.zapchen.com/
http://www.michaelherman.com/cgi/wiki.cgi?action=browse&id=SomaticOrganization&revision=18

Will Johnson
www.embodiment.net

Teja Bell
www.puretimespace.com

Paul Levy
www.awakeninthedream.com

Mark Comings
http://www.zeropoint.ca/markcomings.htm

http://www.intelligentinfinity.org/phenomenologically.html

Iona Miller
http://people.tribe.net/ionamiller
http://ionatopia.50megs.com
http://photonichuman.50megs.com/

Michael O’Roarke
http://www.dimension7.com/company.htm

Stas Rotkowski
http://www.intelligentinfinity.org/phenomenologically.html
http://www.intelligentinfinity.org/purpose.html

Deborah Stucker
Charles Stein
Diane DeTerra,
Alan Sternik
Eden Clearbrook


Inspiration

Harmonic Convergence was one of the greatest collective spiritual events in modern history. It was a ceremony binding “Aboriginal continuity” and “civilization advance” within the evolutionary vision of co-evolutionary symbiosis with our host-body, the planetary entity. Millions of people from every walk of life participated in the ceremonies world-wide and many more were aware of it. It galvanized the spirit, heart and imagination of many, to evolve in the direction of collective potentiality and responsibility. http://www.experiencefestival.com/harmonic_convergence

The vision of The Harmonic Continuum arose out of an intense desire on the part of Lorin Kiely to nurture a context which would popularize the recent new understanding of the Social Engagement System and accelerate its embodied integration within the naturally occurring field-like intelligence that is the collective wisdom  - Social Engagement System - body of our humanity.
http://www.collectivewisdominitiative.org/papers/levi_exec_summary.htm
http://www.collectivewisdominitiative.org/papers/lachapelle_exploring.htm

Lorin has developed a user-friendly system of self-regulation which yogically awakens the Social Engagement System toward optimal functioning. www.topdownyoga.50megs.com   Beyond this, he recognized the need for integrating these natural laws of ‘governance’ with other correlative embodiment practices, and within the larger context of scientific, spiritual and sociocultural evolution. These notions are the cornerstone of the envisioned new participatory knowledge system.

Background

The term emergent evolution is defined as an “evolution conceived as characterized by the appearance of different levels of wholly new and unpredictable characters or qualities (as life and consciousness) through a rearrangement of pre-existing entities (or component parts).
http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/oi/emerge.shtml
http://www.entropylaw.com/global.html

“As early as the 19th Century, the French naturalist, Jean Baptiste de Lamark postulated a ‘natural tendency’ toward developmental progress in nature, energized by what he called the “power of life.” It involved the idea that living matter has an inherent developmental energy. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/lamarck

Beginning with the very origins of the universe, synergy has played a key role at every level of living organization and evolution.” Co-operative interactions among various component ‘parts’ are essential for autocatalytic evolutionary development in living systems. “Synergistic functional effects have been of decisive importance as causal agents in evolution. It is of interest to note that, Manfred Eigen and Peter Schuster and associates developed a case for the proposition that autocatalysis (self-regulation in embodiment) and self-organization (evolutionary learning) were prior to mutations (indeed, prior to genes) and were therefore more fundamental sources of innovation in the formative stages of evolution.” -Peter Corning
http://www.complexsystems.org/abstracts/synorg.html

“The New Physics is more mystical then what you will hear in any Sunday sermon. Science is on as mush of a spiritual journey as we in the monastery.” -Fr Thomas Keating at a Mind and Life Dialogue with HH The Dalai Lama
http://www.snowlionpub.com/pages/N73_1.php

Recent new understandings in the frontiers of Energy medicine point to the synergistic potentiality and functional neuroanatomical continuity between the ancient ‘body’ consciousness, which predates the brain and nervous system, and the newest, most evolutionary advanced component of the autonomic nervous system, the Social Engagement System. This interrelationship is a natural pattern of synergy in the self-organization dynamics of ‘open’ (dissipative) living (autopoeitic or self-creating) systems. From atom, to molecule, to cell and so on, up to the human, and now, the species-typical, component ‘parts’ form into new, more complex functional wholes. These wholes have novel qualities that could not be predicted by analyzing the sum of the parts. But the leap, from individual, to species-level intelligence, is a meta-evolutionary leap, similar in scope to the leap from single cell to multi-cellular organisms, for it is a leap beyond the physical eye and the mind that is our nervous system, into love.

“The ‘mind’ as revealed by neurochemistry is a whole-body phenomenon”. -Candace Pert
http://www.scimednet.org/library/reviewsN66+/N68Emotion.htm

Instantaneous, whole-body ‘communication’ in the primordial system of the living matrix is regulated by ‘peptide’ information “messenger molecules.” This ancient ‘body’ consciousness is the original mode of communication in multi-cellular organisms. The ‘brain’ consciousness functions differently. Neural operations are sequential and linear in their organization of perception and meaning. In the newest and most evolutionary advanced component of the autonomic nervous system, the Social Engagement System, “communication” is regulated by another ‘family’ of information “messenger molecules”, neuropeptides. Thus, the ancient, primary and the newest, most evolutionary advanced components of the somatic continuum form a seamless intercommunication network embodying new synergistic properties.

“It seems that all unitary experiences-ranging from mild aesthetic experiences such as watching a beautiful sunset to the most profound states that may occur only after years of meditation-may have their basis in neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and the flux of neurotransmitters.” Andrew Newberg
http://www.science-spirit.org/article_detail.php?article_id=205http://www.andrewnewberg.com/

The synergistic dynamic of the Social Engagement System is playing a decisive role in determining the destiny of the human species. http://www.citeulike.org/tag/neuropeptides
The evolutionary vision of “collectively” awakening to the coherent functional potentialities and co-operative properties of a superorganism, is not a fairy tale. http://134.184.131.111/Papers/GBconceptions.pdf   It is bioeconomically rational. www.complexsystems.org/ If the ‘economics’ - functional synergies - of the species-potential are aligned with the evolutionary mainstream, then the ‘political’ (cybernetic) mechanisms for governance will reflect that same level of consistency. http://www.collectivewisdominitiative.org/papers/glover_callingout.htm

As a Self-organizing system in its own “rite”, humanity stands at the threshold of an evolutionary leap as significant as the transition from single cell to multi-cellular organisms. There is an innate pattern of natural evolutionary process that is consistent at every level of life.

Evolutionary ‘wise’ thinking follows this pattern of co-operative synergy. Self-regulation (autocatalysis) is the process of optimizing participation in the actual evolutionary process. Self-regulation, which is autocatalytic, is how we participate in enhancing the co-operative synergy of the ancient primordial ‘body’ consciousness, with the most evolutionary advanced component of human embodiment. Rhythmic entrainment of simple motor behaviors performed sitting in a chair, standing or lying down, and mini naps for a few minutes at a time in between, generates a synergistic functional change in neuroanatomical continuity that is integrated into long-term memory. One does not have to be a scientist to understand how this works, nor a yogi to participate in bringing it to life.

ADDENDUM

The primordial ‘body’ consciousness

“There is a ‘consciousness’ residing in the cellular level and extracellular matrixes found throughout the human body. The “living matrix” is a continuous, global or whole-person system that outdates the nervous and hormonal systems in terms of evolutionary history. The relationship of the matrix to the nervous system is that the nervous system is actually composed of this primordial system. The matrix reaches every portion of the organism that is reached by the nerves, and the matrix also reaches places where nerves and capillaries do not reach.”

"The matrices within and between the cells in the human body, collectively called the living matrix, give rise to the primordial and evolutionarily ancient form of intelligence or consciousness that predates the nervous system. The living matrix is the molecular system that is the actual biophysical locus of the so-called subconscious, unconscious and intuitive processes described in the psychological literature."
Jim Oschman, Evolution of the Intelligent Body
http://www.energyresearch.bizland.com/id7.html
http://www.healtouch.com/csft/bodywork.html

The Social Engagement System

“Social bonds are scientifically described as a powerful form of learning regulated by long-lasting changes in the endocrine system and brain.” Dr Jim Oschman www.zerotothree.org/vol24-5ccx.pdf

“The Polyvagal Theory proposes that the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system provides the neurophysiological substrates for the emotional experiences and affective processes that are the major components of social behavior. The evolution of the nervous system determines the range of emotional expression, quality of communication and the ability to regulate bodily and behavioral states. The polyvagal theory links the evolution of the autonomic nervous system to affective experience, emotional expression, facial gestures, vocal communication and contingent social behavior. Thus, the theory provides a plausible explanation of social, emotional and communication behaviors and disorders. The theory also provides an explanation of stress-related responses.

The polyvagal construct was introduced to emphasize and document the neurophysiological and neuroanatomical distinction between two branches of the tenth cranial nerve (vagus) and to propose that each vagal branch is associated with a different adaptive behavioral strategy. The vagus nerve, a primary component of the autonomic nervous system, exits the brainstem and has branches that regulate the striated muscles of the head and face (e.g. facial muscles, eyelids, middle-ear muscles, larynx, pharynx, muscles of mastication) and in several visceral organs (e.g. heart and gut).

“The mammalian vagus, the Xth cranial nerve, is neuroanatomically linked to the cranial nerves that regulate social engagement via facial expression and vocalization. As the autonomic nervous system changed through the process of evolution, so did the interplay between the autonomic nervous system and the other physiological systems that respond to stressful challenges, including the cortex, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the neuropeptides of oxytocin and vasopressin, and the immune system. From this phylogenetic orientation, the polyvagal theory proposes a biological basis for social behavior and an intervention strategy to enhance positive social behavior.”

The heart determines the availability of the metabolic resources required for mobilization, as well as for growth and restoration. To regulate cardiac output, several efferent structures have evolved.” “The mammalian vagus, the Xth cranial nerve, is neuroanatomically linked to the cranial nerves that regulate social engagement via facial expression and vocalization. As the autonomic nervous system changed through the process of evolution, so did the interplay between the autonomic nervous system and the other physiological systems that respond to stressful challenges, including the cortex, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the neuropeptides of oxytocin and vasopressin, and the immune system. From this phylogenetic orientation, the polyvagal theory proposes a biological basis for social behavior and an intervention strategy to enhance positive social behavior.”

The heart determines the availability of the metabolic resources required for mobilization, as well as for growth and restoration. To regulate cardiac output, several efferent structures have evolved.” Dr. Stephen Porges
http://www.stressrelease.info/polyvagal_eng.html

The Vagal Brake Mudra

One of the crown jewels of the Social Engagement System is its capacity to regulate cardiac output, to biologically and psychically de-couple from engagement with phenomena, and neurochemically modulate self-soothing behavior and calm behavioral states. This intuitive procedure is performed by regulating the muscles involved with eye movement. It awakens the master switch for autonomic self-regulation, for mood stabilization and reconfiguration, restoration and regeneration. The vagal brake mudra empowers the individual to modulate their autonomic state and transform stress, anxiety, depression and PTSD at the root level of formative causation. This exercise can be performed sitting in a chair, or standing.

“The vagal brake provides a neural mechanism to rapidly change visceral state by slowing or speeding the heart rate". Neurophysiologically, the vagal brake provides a mechanism to support the metabolic requirements for mobilization and communication behaviors. By functionally modulating the visceral state. The vagal brake, enables the individual to rapidly engage and disengage objects and other individuals and to promote (regulate) self-soothing behaviors and calm behavioral states. ” -Dr.StephenPorges http://www.education.umd.edu/Depts/.Porges/.index/spinner/polyvag/polyvag2.htm

“The term Polyvagal is used to emphasize the neurophysiological and neuroanatomical distinction between two branches of the vagus nerve. The vagus, a primary component of the autonomic nervous system, exits the brainstem and has branches that regulate structures in the head (e.g., larynx) and in several visceral organs (e.g., heart, gut). The Theory proposes that the different branches are related to unique adaptive behavioral strategies. The Theory articulates three documented phylogenetic stages in the development of our autonomic nervous system. These stages reflect the emergence of three distinct subsystems, which are phylogenetically ordered and behaviorally linked to communication (e.g., facial expression, vocalization, listening), mobilization (e.g., fight-flight behaviors), and immobilization (e.g., behavioral shutdown, fainting). The most phylogenetically recent component, the communication system, is dependent upon the functioning of the "new" mammalian vagus. The mobilization system is dependent upon the functioning of the sympathetic nervous system. The most phylogenetically primitive component, the immobilization system, is dependent upon the unmyelinated vagus, which is shared with most vertebrates.” -Dr. Stephen Porges http://www.stressrelease.info/artikler_eng.html

Biophysicst and leading proponent of the theory of quantum coherence in living organization, Dr. Mae Wan Ho, postulates that, "a pure coherent state for the entire system would be a many-mode quantum electrodynamical field with a collective phase over all modes. It may be attainable only under very exceptional circumstances, as during an aesthetic or religious experience when the ‘pure duration’ of the here and now becomes completely delocalized in the realm of no-time and no-space.” -Mae Wan Ho,
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/brainde.php
http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/MaeWanHo/natbein.html

Based on his own direct experience and observing others, Kiely suggests that the vagal brake mudra activates the ‘master’ switch by which the autonomic intelligence of the organism as a whole de-couples from its time and space binding modes of operation and enters into the quintessential resting phase of pure duration and restoration.

PULSATION, The language of the body

“Now I need to bring your attention to just how important pulsation is to being alive. When you use pulsation to talk to a body, you are using its own language. There is no distance between touch and response. Pulsation-and its effects on form-is the basic sign of life. No pulsation, no life. Moreover, pulsation is the means by which we make the body in the first place. If you haven’t had the opportunity before, take the time to watch a videotape of a zygote pulsing itself dynamically from one cell into two, two cells into four, and so on to the ten trillion cells that make up the body as an adult. This pulsation tells us that life is there (or was there, even after death, by its effects on form). As the body grows and matures, pulsations continue to be the main engine of change in form and, by changing form, creating changes in function.” Julie Henderson http://www.zapchen.com/

Evolutionary learning, or Time for a Nap

“Whenever we have done an exercise-any exercise at all-we need to take a little nap afterwards in order to let the body incorporate the learning that is potential in the exercise. Without this little respite, you have stress without learning. With napping, you learn faster, deeper, more stably, no matter what the activity.

This procedure of doing a bit and resting, doing and resting, and so on, turns out to be the process by which we stimulate transference of what we learn into long term memory. The shift to long term memory is mediated by a protein molecule called CREB (cyclic AMP response element binding protein) and what provokes it to do its job is the very doing and resting and doing and resting that we have emphasized.

We encourage learning that is associated with pleasurable states, teaching well-being from well-being, by induction, support and stabilization of progressive states of well-being. This style of learning we hope will draw you back into it and deeper into it over time.” “Whenever we have done an exercise-any exercise at all-we need to take a little nap afterwards in order to let the body incorporate the learning that is potential in the exercise. Without this little respite, you have stress without learning. With napping, you learn faster, deeper, more stably, no matter what the activity.

This procedure of doing a bit and resting, doing and resting, and so on, turns out to be the process by which we stimulate transference of what we learn into long term memory. The shift to long term memory is mediated by a protein molecule called CREB (cyclic AMP response element binding protein) and what provokes it to do its job is the very doing and resting and doing and resting that we have emphasized.

We encourage learning that is associated with pleasurable states, teaching well-being from well-being, by induction, support and stabilization of progressive states of well-being. This style of learning we hope will draw you back into it and deeper into it over time.” -Julie Henderson, Embodying Well-Being, or, How to Feel Good as You Can In Spite of Everything

Humming

“Humming touches us at every level of scale, from big, obvious structures like muscle and bone to structures so tiny we can only see them with a microscope. Humming is one of the few ways available to us of touching the very tiny structures deep inside and throughout any living body where information is produced and transmitted. Humming provides a subtle push and pull, a pulsatory tugging, on all bodily structures, even at very tiny levels of scale. By humming we can touch, stroke, vibrate, massage, re-arrange those structures where the information molecules are produced. All by ourselves, without any outside assistance or mechanical intervention, we can touch our own neurochemistry itself.

If we can touch our neurotransmitters appropriately and effectively with sound, we can alter their architecture slightly. Because they convey information by how they are shaped, if we alter their architecture, even slightly-and slightly is all that is necessary or helpful-we alter the information they transmit. Change the form and you change the information. Change the information and you change what you are telling yourself about how you are, how things are, what your experience is-inside and out. With practice, humming becomes the simplest, most direct and effective way we know of to change our neurochemistry and, therefore, our feelings and our familiar life stories about being. As tiny as they seem, these unseeable inner changes do bubble up into larger physical, emotional, and social changes. Those changes touch others and come back to you.” “Humming touches us at every level of scale, from big, obvious structures like muscle and bone to structures so tiny we can only see them with a microscope. Humming is one of the few ways available to us of touching the very tiny structures deep inside and throughout any living body where information is produced and transmitted. Humming provides a subtle push and pull, a pulsatory tugging, on all bodily structures, even at very tiny levels of scale. By humming we can touch, stroke, vibrate, massage, re-arrange those structures where the information molecules are produced. All by ourselves, without any outside assistance or mechanical intervention, we can touch our own neurochemistry itself.

If we can touch our neurotransmitters appropriately and effectively with sound, we can alter their architecture slightly. Because they convey information by how they are shaped, if we alter their architecture, even slightly-and slightly is all that is necessary or helpful-we alter the information they transmit. Change the form and you change the information. Change the information and you change what you are telling yourself about how you are, how things are, what your experience is-inside and out. With practice, humming becomes the simplest, most direct and effective way we know of to change our neurochemistry and, therefore, our feelings and our familiar life stories about being. As tiny as they seem, these unseeable inner changes do bubble up into larger physical, emotional, and social changes. Those changes touch others and come back to you.” -Julie Henderson, The Hum Book

This site is currently in construction, so check back often for news of Top-Down Yoga and future speaking engagements.

We are not machines, nor are we computers in a clockwork universe. We live in a Universe undergird by embedded, nested fields, the source of all. Our mindbodies are seamlessly welded together and function holistically. They can also heal in a holistic way, even when so-called cures remain elusive. Chronic tension is the root of many maladies. Often distress shows up in the subtle fields of the body before manifesting more overtly. Degeneration can also be stopped at the field level.

Wherever we find ourselves in our dynamic healing arc we can benefit from the simple application of Top-Down Yoga. All we need to remember is to JUST DO IT!

There are no beliefs: only what you do and what you love. You can love yourself healthier. If you want to see if the system works, it is simple to make this perfectly safe experiment yourself, on yourself.

__________________

PRAISE FOR TOP DOWN YOGA

The quiet little movements of Top-Down Yoga automatically shift a person’s primary method of support from thinking to feeling.  There’s nothing wrong with thinking but feeling is better for assessing physical safety and balance. Moreover, a mind relieved of these  preoccupations becomes clearer and more still.  I believe that this shift is one of the goals of most meditative practices, much of martial arts, yoga and even religion, since it entails the practical application of relying on a higher  power.  The good thing is that such reliance does not really require faith as it makes itself palpably manifest almost from the get-go.

What is does require is the looking for it. Top-Down Yoga is a pretty damned good place to start.  Not-coincidentally, a sense of unshakeable strength opens the heart.  There’s nothing wrong with the world that loving it can’t cure, especially that interior world where we’re stuck with our hurts and diminishments. Choosing invincible receptivity changes everything.

From the Rolfing® perspective of Deborah Stucker,
Advanced Certified Rolfer, originator of a Direct Electromagnetic Approach.
___________________

COMING SOON: BOOK AND CD
Don't let stress wind you up. Break that cycle of stress and tension, using TOP-DOWN YOGA.

Do you need a simple stress relief program you can use at your computer, or in the office, on a long journey, or virtually any situation? Top-Down Yoga meets your need.

Lorin Kiely is in the process of collecting Top-Down Yoga exercises and philosophy into a wonderful new book you will be sure to want in your own library and healing repertoire.

Kiely is available for PHONE and EMAIL CONSULTATIONS.

Email Lorin with your questions

EVOLUTIONARY BODY

The Evolutionary 'Body' of our Humanity

Introduction

In his seminal text, The Self-Organizing Universe, Erick Jantsch refers to a metafluctuation in the 1960's that "rocked the world."  It was a time of grass roots movements: the awakening of awareness and concern in relation to the environment, rejection of the war in Vietnam and advocacy for domestic and international human rights. It was also a time of novelty. People felt free to explore alternative lifestyles, live in communes, do mind-expanding drugs and dance to rapidly evolving music that borrowed tone-scales and rhythms from around the world.  Eastern spirituality and the beginning of the Human Potential movement provided powerful new guiding images and social norms.

Jantsch saw several basic themes in those dynamic times: "self-determination, self-organization and self-renewal… the recognition of a systemic connectedness over space and time of all natural dynamics…. the logical supremacy of processes over spatial structures… the role of fluctuation that renders the law of large
numbers invalid and gives a chance to the individual and its creative imagination."

Looking back, it is easy to understand why the metafluctuation, which changed the world in some fairly radical ways, was dampened back into the existing paradigm. It simply did not have the coherence or necessary information to carry humanity over the threshold of the seemingly immutable values and beliefs of the Cartesian paradigm. Now, almost a half century later, we face differing trajectories for our future.  Indeterminacy reigns, the delicate balance of life on planet earth has been severely disrupted, our choices are unclear, our fate is uncertain.

If we are to find our way, we must go beyond the hydra-headed manifestations of our misconceptions, to tap into the common root of our environmental, spiritual, social, educational, economic, and political crises.  We must see our "seeing" to envision a viable future.

Human perception has evolved to disregard the flux of experience and the essential interconnectedness of all being in order to stabilize change and assign meaning to an objectified world from a subjective perspective.  Pascal observed that "the heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing." In order for evolution to continue, we must fend off our fear and mistrust of our inner experience and embrace our heart-centric neuroanatomical organization -- what the Tantrics saw as the seat of human consciousness.

What follows is the beginnings of a strategy for every one of us to make this shift individually in the hope that, heart-by-human-heart, our collective evolution will save our planet from destruction and our lives from divisiveness and meaningless strife.

The Social Engagement System
And Top-Down Yoga

Recent understanding of a third branch of intelligence in the autonomic nervous system, by Dr. Stephen Porges and others, has led to the confirmation of a neurological basis for what Porges has termed "The Social Engagement System."  This framework and other developments in the understanding of the biological underpinnings of human consciousness have led to the development of a user-friendly and precise method of beneficial self-regulation called Top-Down Yoga. This innovative tool for strengthening the Social Engagement System provides a means whereby people across social and political divides can overcome the many impediments they face to peace, economic and ecological viability and personal and cultural fulfillment.

The gentle movements of Top-Down Yoga release constriction at key anatomical points to free the meuroanatomical structures of the Social Engagement System to operate at their best.  The ensuing chemical changes translate into a positive and dynamic state of consciousness. Easy to learn and simple to perform, Top-Down Yoga can be used by anyone almost anywhere, sitting in a chair, standing or lying down.

Here's how it works:  the cranial nerves, identified as a part of the Social Engagement System, emerge from the brain stem.  If the deep muscles of the neck are chronically tense, they become irritated and their function lacks adequate coherence to provide an alternative experience to separation and conflict. By gently releasing these structures, changes in the the tissues and fluids of the body foster a felt sense of security and openness within the flux of the dynamically emerging universe.

The Social Engagement System is a synergistic functioning of five cranial nerves that coordinates and integrates head-turning, looking, listening, vocal communication and facial expression with cardiac output. Freed to function optimally, the SES works to ground the human experience and expression in love and social bonding. Dr. Jim Oschman states, "Social bonds" are scientifically described as a powerful form of learning regulated by long-lasting changes in the brain and endocrine system.  Regulation of cardiac output induces a positive state of stasis [immobilization] that conserves precious life energy and establishes the primacy of the warm-blooded current of heart 'consciousness' as the bodymind's central organizing mechanism.

Top-Down Yoga works to unify the most primitive neurological organizations of the brainstem with the most evolutionarily advanced organization of the Social Engagement System.  It is an embodiment practice that encourages the optimal flow of cerebrospinal fluid while activating the potent neuropeptide "messenger molecules" that coordinate almost all physiological and emotional processes of the body at the cellular level.

When the cranial nerves of the Social Engagement System are not functioning optimally, the nervous system becomes overloaded with messages from the structures of the reptilian brain, driving the whole toward dualistic thinking and mood collapse.  A large majority of humanity suffers from chronic stress, anxiety or depression.

The upward shift of neurological organization fostered by Top-Down Yoga transforms these conditions at their root level, generating an instantaneous shift towards the perception of wholeness and freedom from the chatter of lower brain dominance.  Most people feel immediately soothed and calmed.  Practiced with regularity, these
feeling states become habitual and self-renewing.

A new model for evolutionary advancement

The established model of the autonomic nervous system describes only two branches: the sympathetic and parasympathetic – a representation that has been shown to be incomplete.  A third branch of intelligence, appearing first in mammals, introduces an autonomic alternative beyond the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, one that sparks and maintains the higher-level social functions of mammalian – and human –
existence.

Humanity, expressed individually, as society or as a species – as chronically stuck in a less-than-optimal autonomic state that compels competition and divisiveness -- simply lacks the resources of energy, awareness and inspiration necessary to adapt to internal or external challenge.

Alternatively, we can come from a position of wholeness and connection.  We can merge without loss of individuality to collaborate creatively.  We are a field-like property of natural light that is the evolutionary body of humanity.

Top-Down Yoga directly activates the most potent, positive neurochemistry of human being. The simple movements and postures of the practice create a novel context from which to explore one's own experience.  The results are individual growth and evolution and the development of the collective wisdom.  Perhaps more invitingly, they also serve as an excellent aid to the rest and the equanimity of deep meditation.  Moreover, Top-Down Yoga offers the mind training necessary to embody dynamic wholeness. Perhaps, by using a practice that binds our primitive impulses together with our evolutionary potential, we may, in the words of Dane Rudhyar, "begin again together."

The Harmonic Continuum

The Harmonic Continuum or the source of all energy and matter is always here, always now -- always the same yet always pulsating with the force of creation. Stillness, not action, funds our very existence, the radiant source of all. We can access the primal lifeforce and our own healing with our own bodies, not from any distant outside operator.  The same energy that manifests and sustains the Cosmos can be found within us, in our own bodies. We are the void. We are dynamic creation.

The Harmonic Continuum was conceived as an ever-evolving, ongoing movement supporting new social applications springing from our emergent, collective wisdom. Perhaps "Harmonic Continuum" is a code name for reality-as-such. It can embody the ground, path and fruition of our evolutionary potential.  The initial inspiration for the idea of Harmonic Continuum is the promotion of simple practices of self-regulation that take advantage of our neurological organization for optimal human potential.

With any luck, conscious embodiment of the Social Engagement System will prompt people to expand their enjoyment of and intuitive commitment to the world around us.  Please explore www.climatecrisis.org, the website for the film "An Inconvenient Truth", and the link to www.lauriedavid.com, for an understanding of the expanded role this kind of consciousness can achieve.   Engaging the Social Engagement System at the level of the individual calls into play each person's response to the environment and may, lets us hope, translate into a concerted effort to save the world politically and ecologically.

In an effort to create the world we would like to (and can) inhabit, Harmonic Continuum ceremonies can be created and conducted that will introduce powerful and coherent messages for collective understanding and action.  There is no doubt that we must develop the strength and rigor to collectively address the challenges we face in order to carry humanity over the threshold into a new autopoeitic landscape.

Jim George's book, Asking For The Earth presents the view that ecological and spiritual crises are two sides of the same coin.  He equates global warming to spiritual crisis because the underlying cause for the neglect of the planet is the separation of "us and them" that has allowed us to stray from our own best interests.  Top-Down Yoga and Harmonic Continuum promise to bring the personal and extrapersonal dimensions of being together as a context for inspiring a global reinvention of social, educational, economic interaction.

The beauty of  the Top-Down Yoga practices is that each person, in the context of family, office, school, eldercare facility, prison or peace negotiation, can draw upon the its benefit to transcend stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome.  Let's start with our house and move towards the White House, to move ourselves collectively forward towards an ecologically viable future that offers maximum benefit to all.

Shift-in Action

A dream is a wish that your heart makes.

The success of the film, What the Bleep Do We Know demonstrates the passion of millions to understand the relationship between frontier science, spirituality and social dynamics.  We can use both Top-Down Yoga and the Harmonic Continuum to create participation. 

Let's celebrate our humanity through the acknowledgement of our own bodies to inspire action worldwide.  We can create events that can be broadcast in realtime and disseminated all over the globe to consist of the simple physical practices of Top-Down Yoga, music, dance and comedy to tap into our own unique social engagement neurology and bring its awakened power into dynamic, collective action.

We in the nascent Harmonic Continuum envision a present in which film, documentaries, dramas and comedies set fire to our collective imagination and encourage each person's active participation in new social, environmental, scientific, political and economic action.  The key is access to the openness, freedom and coherence of simply being. We must seek, as [Whosis says], "new order through fluctuation"

Erick Jantsch states, "Evolution is basically open. It determines its own dynamics and direction." If consciousness is left open to create itself dynamically as a form of poetry -- as opposed to a straight-forward narrative with its hierarchies and limitations -- it "not only restores strength, but also creates the possibility of recognizing and bringing into play ever new… developmental lines."

Embodied openness surely aligns us with our true nature.  We can use our rich, if potentially divisive, neurology to surmount our [you had a word for it but I deleted it] and imposed mechanizations and allow us to nurture ourselves and our environment.  Let us embrace the wisdom of fractal imagery.  Let us begin locally, to effect globally. Why not embrace the simple and scientifically validated techniques to do this now.