You are a man who wants to deepen your presence, but you are new to embodiment practice and you need a foundational starting point.

This is a practice John originally led for virtual participants of his June 2020 Art of Spiritual Intimacy Online Weekend Immersion to cultivate meticulousness, endurance, and presence. It uses a foundational Kundalini yoga practice, which you can do daily.

If you’re seeking a launchpad for cultivating a deeper, more meticulous presence, start with this 9-minute practice.

You will begin by learning the Breath of Fire, which is a forced exhale through your nose using your navel to pump the breath. Then the inhale happens naturally.

After trying this for a few minutes, you will combine the breath with the Ego Eradicator pose: Your arms are up and out at 60 degrees; your elbows are straight, but not locked; your thumbs are cocked and the rest of your fingers are folded down into your palms; your eyes are softly open or closed; your chin is slightly tucked; and you are sitting tall. Think of your arms like huge wings, stretching and expanding out like you could take off and fly. At the same time, root down through the bottom of your heart, spine, sacrum, and hips.

Make this a practice of meticulous structure. Let your posture be solid. Let your breath be powerful. Feel the part of you that is absolutely still while at the same time feeling the part of you that is breathing, working hard, stretching, opening, and has sensation in your body.

As the sensation starts to turn up and you begin to feel pain and fatigue, practice relaxing. Relax your heart open, relax your shoulders down even though your arms are lifted, and relax your awareness. Lift your heart to whatever life is bringing you.

After about 5 minutes, bring your thumbs to touch over your head, point your fingers toward the sky, take a full inhale and hold your breath in. Squeeze your perineum, root lock, pelvic floor, genitals. Consolidate all of the life force energy you just generated into the center of your body. Get very still and feel the infinite emptiness within. After a minute, exhale, but hold the pose.  

Then inhale one more time. Hold and squeeze every muscle in your body for 10 seconds. Then exhale and very slowly wave your arms down. Close your eyes and let your hands rest on your upper thighs, palms open. Tuck your chin so it is parallel to the earth and sit with your spine long and strong. See if you can lift your heart a half an inch and relax your solar plexus open. Notice how that makes the center of you more available. Pull your navel in and tuck your sacrum down into the earth. This is the baseline for presence: rooting, opening your heart, sitting tall, and filling your body with breath.

If you bring this to the world, everyone around you will relax.

Music: "Clandestine" by Simrit

Disclaimer: Although anyone may find this practice to be useful, it is made available with the understanding that we are not engaged in presenting specific medical, psychological, emotional, sexual or spiritual advice. Nor is anything in this practice intended to be a diagnosis, prescription, recommendation or cure for any specific kind of medical, psychological, emotional, sexual or spiritual problem. Each individual has unique needs and this practice cannot take these individual differences into account. Each person should engage in a program of treatment, prevention, cure, or general health only in consultation with a licensed, qualified physician, therapist or other competent professional. Any person suffering from a sexually transmitted disease or any local illness of his or her sexual organs should consult a medical doctor and a qualified instructor of sexual yoga before practicing the sexual methods described in this practice.