The Sutra
"Consider your essence as light rays rising from center to center up the vertebrae, and so rises livingness in you."
Paul Reps translation, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (1957)
Understanding
Your spine contains energy centers (chakras) arranged vertically from base to crown. This technique asks you to consider your deepest essence not as a fixed thing but as light rays that travel upward from one center to the next. As the light rises through each vertebral center, livingness itself rises in you. This is not visualization alone - it is a felt experience of ascending vitality. Each center awakened adds a new dimension of aliveness until the entire spine becomes a column of living light.
Original Sanskrit
इन्द्रियद्वारकं सर्वं सुखदुःखादिसंगमम् ।
indriyadvaaarankam sarvam sukhaduhkhaadisanggamam |
Vijnanabhairava Verse 124 (Technique 101 of 112)
How to Practice
Sit with a straight spine. Bring attention to the base of the spine, the lowest center.
Feel your essence there as light - not imagined light, but the felt luminosity of awareness itself.
Let this light begin to rise, moving from the base center to the next center above it, in the lower belly.
From belly center to navel center, from navel to heart, from heart to throat, from throat to the point between the eyebrows, and finally to the crown.
At each center, feel the livingness increase. Each center adds more aliveness, more presence, more light.
When the light reaches the crown, feel the entire spine as a single column of radiant livingness. Rest here.
Duration
20-30 minutes
Best Time
Early morning or evening meditation
Related Techniques
Begin Your Meditation Journey
Receive a 7-day dharana practice guide and weekly meditation teachings
Free 7-day practice guide delivered to your inbox
Discover Which Bhairava Guides Your Path
Take the free 2-minute Ashta Bhairava Quiz to find your guiding form
Take the Quiz