Mother Mayatitananda offers the following ceremony:
Facing in a southward direction, sit in a comfortable posture and recite the following mantra 108 times. Keep in mind your ancestors and the faces and/or names of anyone of them who calls to you. Use a japa-màlà (prayer beads with 108 beads, or rosary) to maintain the mantra count.
om namo vah pit s saumyah
(Pronunciation: oom nah-mow vaff pete-riss saum-yaha)
Light and I came into the field of Ayurveda and PK through our initiation and training in the metaphysical practice of kàyàkalpa. Dr. Chotai taught us the release of emotional holding and the thoughts underlying them, without naming the process or breaking down the connections between ancestors, past relationships, thoughts, emotions, and kàrmic entanglements therein. It was simply: do this breath, let the emotions flow, release the thoughts, and claim your divinity.
Five years post my kàyàkalpa training, I had undergone training in emotional release work, rebirthing, dabbled in the mind-body connection during bodywork and stumbled upon Dr. Svoboda’s book Prakruti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution regarding tarpana. After a failed, self-administered gall bladder flush, which left me with a bitter taste of refluxed olive oil/lemon juice in my mouth, I had the thought, “Where is my bitterness coming from?”
“What ancestor was bitter? Ah Ha, my maternal grandmother!” Small, crooked, nagging and vàta predominant, she was my least favorite ancestor and I was much like her, especially regarding anything I didn’t like or approve of. Could I ever complain and whine? Remembering Dr. Svoboda’s tarpana ceremony, I spoke my feelings to her, looked for her innocence, looked for her gifts and claimed my divinity. My gall bladder symptoms disappeared. Emotions released were bitterness and disgust. Relationship reappraisal: I appreciate my grandma’s vàta creativity in me and release the judgment about her. Life story rewrite: I am not a victim, I am creator in my life!
Soon thereafter, we began applying this ceremony systematically with our patients, guiding them to the releasing breath (in through the nose/out through the mouth with a sigh – aaahhhh). Advanced yogis could add a mula bandha or contraction of the root chakra (at the height of the inhale), visualize the energy rising to the third eye and place the tongue on the roof of the mouth. Speaking to each ancestor, our patients spoke their unspoken thoughts, screamed their unexpressed rage (sometimes preceded by primal-scream, breath of fire), cried their withheld tears, identified the patterns experienced, claimed the lessons learned, accepted the gifts bestowed, and declared their ultimate divinity. Sealing the deal with a ritual gift of the ancestor’s favorite food, they often found release from karmic entanglements.
One distraught mother of eight spoke out her pain about her missing son, released him to his path, blessed him to whatever he did, and found relief from months of insomnia, arthritis, and acid heartburn. Had we stumbled on a new cure to a myriad of symptomologies? Can the ancestral entanglements go both ways? One week later, she received a phone call from that son and a ticket to visit him in Europe. How did he know that she had let go? Are we all really that connected? Her symptoms had been caused by her attachment to his action (of disappearing).
We began to extend the tarpana ceremony to our patients’ other relationships… friends, enemies, rivals, business associates, lovers, and spouses (past and present). With the intention to create freedom from all earthly attachments, we found body associations to specific conditions: anger with dad locked in the right shoulder, molestation in the inguinal ligament and adductor muscle, fear of speaking in the throat muscles. We added balancing breath to the end of the ceremony (breathing through the nose quietly/six seconds in/six seconds out). We added affirmations (I am peace, I am love, etc.). We have taught this new tarpana to over 60 PK trainees and sent them out into the world.
This had become a PK, unlike any from traditional training or literature, and yet, we had found our niche.
Opening Caraka, I found discussions of how various conditions could arise from fear, anger, or grief, with each requiring a different curative approach. The lines between orthodox and innovative blur. In the “wow moment,” there is only God doing PK on God, being present, meeting a need, serving a tea, oil gliding across skin, breath matching breath, observed and observer one. We hope all possibilities open for you.
Namaste,
Light and Bryan Miller AP (ayurvedic practitioners)
- Endnotes
- R. Svoboda, Ayurveda: Life, Health and Longevity, Arkana, Penguin Books London, 1992.
- http://www.drsvoboda.com/ayurveda_life_health_longevity excerpt.pdf
- http://www.nisargopcharashram.org
- Video: http://www.colema.com/setup.html
- http://www.colenz.com
- http://www.annwigmore.org/about.html/wigmore
- Spring water can be found at www.mountainvalleyspring.com
- http://www.wisearth.org/bulletin.html, Oct. 2010.
- http://www.wi s e a r th.org/WE_Honoring Ancestors%20(1).pdf
- https://ayurvedichealers.com/kayakalpa.html
- R. Svoboda, Prakruti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution,GeoCom, Albuquerque, NM, 1989.
Drs. Light and Bryan Miller perform kàyàkalpa and panchakarma treatments in Hollywood, Florida, and in the world, where called. They are highly experienced for in-classroom and Gurukula training toward AP (ayurvedic practitioner) certification, hold Pancha Karma trainings for practitioners, are distributors of essential oils, doshic reduction packages, and are authors of Ayurveda and Aromatherapy, Ayurvedic Remedies for the Family, The Ayurvedic Home Study Course (900 pages/4 volumes) and Cooking with Light.
Contact at: ayurvedichealers.com
Phone: 954-923-4444