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Sahasrara
Sahasrara is the realm of destiny, of Godliness, of life, the universe and the individual all being in tune. If you have consciously conceived your baby or know that his arrival in the world is in tune with destiny, then there should never be any doubt about his Godliness. Some people say that children are born of God, that they are little angels, etc. What happens?!?!? Why do so many lose that as they grow?
As parents we must be careful not to breed out their Godliness and we must take time to remind them that they are part of our maternal, paternal, familial, social, human destiny.
So many children these days feel unwanted, and unconnected with any cosmic purpose. Whether through parental neglect or circum-stance, they lose out on this area of self realisation - that they are products of a woman's and a man's divinity and love, and not just a product of their lust or desire. A new parent usually sees this, a miracle, a gift of God, a perfect being, a little angel on that first cuddle. We must remember to keep alive that seventh sense of being in our children by reflecting on it regularly and communicating that to them, so that they too will grow up with that awareness and appreciation of their existence.
Postural development in humans comprises two main physiological elements: (i) muscular-skeletal ability, and (ii) development of the nervous system. In most cases, parents rightly leave this to nature and the child's unique spontaneous developmental unfoldment. In some cases though, delayed development needs a hand along. This, however, is different to the approach of pushing a child to walk early, read early, play the violin early, start school early than would otherwise have been.
On one hand a baby's physical development needs times of unfettered energy expression. Right from day one, it is important that they have several periods each day of "kick time" - partly to air the pelvic region, and partly for the good of their postural development and energy exploration. Lack of physical exercise for a baby will have the same effects as for an adult, namely: poor digestion, constipation, laziness, poor circulation, excessive mental expression, emotional agitation (expressed in a baby as crying), delayed development.
On the other hand, you want them to | |
have times of peaceful stillness. Since an infant does not yet have the nervous stability or the willpower to lie still and relaxed, the traditional way to suppress spontaneous nervous tendencies when they sleep is by swaddling. (See Chapter 5, The First 48 Hours - "Swaddling", on age 328.
In biological terms, in just 18 months or so, a baby must grow from the pre-reptilian phase, through the reptilian phase and the quadruped phase, up to the biped phase - that stage of evolution which signifies the highest potential intelligence. In tandem with this postural growth, the baby's mind evolves from insect mind, through reptilian mind, to quadruped mind and then biped mind.
The evolution of the human spine from horizontal to vertical, and the nervous system from unconscious-spontaneous to conscious-wilful, closely parallels the beginners' series of asanas we teach in the Integral Yoga system, right through from Shavasana (the Corpse Pose) to Tadasana (the Heavenly Stretch Pose). It also parallels the ascending journey of the spiritual seeker through the chakras from Mooladhara (the lowest of human instincts) to Ajna, where human transcendence can be attained. In fact, the way in which the yogis codified the progress of spinal development would have come from watching the growth of children in combination with the different levels of consciousness within the animal kingdom. This is why so many postures have animal names. They represent postures, gestures and attributes we humans have inherited from our animal ancestors. Let us follow the evolution of the baby's posture over the first 12 - 18 months until walking, and I will outline the yoga postures it explores as it grows. The Pre-Reptilian Phase
For the first 4 - 6 weeks after release from the womb, if one lies a naked baby down on their back, they will automatically roll onto one side like a helpless little grub in what is called the foetal position (Figure 31a) - with the legs curled up, knees into the body and arms folded with hands clasped at the chest. The spine is not yet straight enough and their centre of gravity is too high to sustain Shavasana (the Corpse Pose, Figure 31b). Having spent 9 months (usually) upside down, they literally don't know which way is up! This foetal pose shows us the ultimate in human vulnerability and insecurity. It is also the pose renowned for sufferers of extreme psycho-emotional breakdown, someone who regresses "into the womb".
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