Impact of sex on the Muladhara Chakra

Dear All,

This is difficult one for me. In my morning class today, one of the male students, who has told me a while ago that he is gay, asked me about the impact of anal sex and penetration on the Muladhara Chakra and the Kundalini energy.

I am at a lost for an explanation or any thoughts on this subject as it has never even occured to me. To date I have never even read anything about this in my yoga literature.

Any thoughts and ideas would be appreciated as this stretches a bit beyond my own knowledge.

Hello Pandara,
My first hit on this is that it is not an issue of the Muladhara Chakra, but of the second, the Svadisthana Chakra. The anus is not the seat of the Muladhara Chakra for men, but rather it is centered in/on the perneium. What occurs as most useful to me is the discussion of the possible implications and contraindications with Svadisthana (2nd CH) due to the stimulation of the prostate gland during anal sex.

My training has taught me to gather as much information about a student or client before looking elsewhere. You know yourself better than someone outside you. This clarity also creates an evolution within us.
What did he share with you?
What are his own concerns?
What raised his concerns or curiosity?
Has something arisen during or after anal penetration or prostate stimulation?
What is the quality of their physical intimacy?
Is he in a healthy, mutually-loving relationship?

He may need help to be clear himself about what he asking for and why. Stimulating his mind, and hopefully his higher wisdom, by asking these types of questions will help get him closer to what he looking for. This clarity around his own needs will likely be simple when you get to the root of it, for example, “I am concerned about causing harm to myself.” or “I have felt something that I don’t understand.” or “My mind as become curious and I feel like I need to prepare for something that is in my future.” or “I am curious how the unique me fits into this world of Yoga.” or the like. It is best to use care around sexuality. That means using our own guidance and not over-sharing what we might see unless they ask specifically for it (meaning they are already are seeing it themselves and are ready to do something with the information. It also means that we and our students and clients are synced up and doing Mother’s work rather than acting out own agendas.)

My thinking is going to the Tantrik practices that Mukunda shares though his 18 Tantrik lessons. He shares these with anyone who asks for them. It maybe different than what you are asking for when you speak of Kundalini, perhaps not. Lesson 10 works with massaging and working with certain energies laid down in the prostate gland. It is an energetic technique and not a sexual technique. I am offering that to you now for discussion here only; this might be too early or not right for your specific student.

Looking forward to more discussion on this.

Kind wishes,

Hi Nichole,

I agree with you on the first thought that you raised that this has more to do with the Svaddistana than Muladhara. I picked up some emotional patterns from previous incarnations, but can’t bring it in relation to his question though.

I will try to best explain what he has told me. He is in a stable relationship with the same person now for I think about 12-13 years. As far as I now it is monogamous. He has recently developed an enlarged prostrate (he is only 34 years old), which made intercourse for him painful. He had a PSI (prostrate test) done but all was negative. His concern has more to do with the energy of his partner (he is piano player and teacher) which is ejaculated inside him. He feels that it is the seminal fluids (and in his words his partner’s energy) inside him which cause the reaction. Problem is I have never met the partner so I can’t really tell who or what this guy is. This student is really extremely aware and has a huge Light inside him which shines wide. He also told me that since he started with yoga (apart from one class a week with me, he does twice a week a programme at home, which I asked him to see, perhaps there is an answer in that, he will bring it next week) he experience severe hot flushes during and after intercourse (he explains it is not the normal sexual type), moments of an elevated state of consciousness during intercourse where he “feels out of it”, and a sort of tickling feeling which slowly progress from the prostrate area towards the navel. More than his I can’t tell you as I don’t know him that well. He only started yoga with me at the beginning of this year. He did Astanga yoga with another lady before he came to me for Hatha.

Why he asked this question, his higher reason, I am not sure. He once told me that his previous teacher wasn’t very approving of gay people and he mentioned once that she told them in a class that to be gay is due to some terrible karma you have accumulated in a past life. (I question this strongly and I told him I find her comments very un-yogic like).

This is as much as I can share with you, because that is what I know about him. I hope it helps.

I feel I also need to mention that he is physically not small, petite ot efeminate, but on the contrary he is muscular, large and very straight actually. He is excellent at his asanas and his discipline is astounding to me.

Dear Pandara,
Thank you for taking the time to share more information about your student. I feel compassion for people who are told such things and as you mentioned such un-Yogic thinking. It is an incomplete picture of karma and it is confused. I am grateful that he has found such a good teacher in you. He must trust you to come to you for assistance. When students like yours are thoughtful and reflective, and willing to share such intimate details with us, it means they are doing the work themselves. I think Mukunda could speak very efficiently to your student’s concerns and I am going to ask him to address your question. He is traveling quite a bit so I am unsure when he would be able to do this. I hope you will get more useful information offered here. I am also going to think on it too and also ask some of Mukunda’s senior teachers to speak to this (I am not one of these). We will offer you what we can.

Blessings,

Dear Friends in Yoga -

       There are many diverse views of the subtle body.  My view based on my spiritual teacher's presentations of Kashmir Shaivism. Tantra and Raja Yoga is that the chakras correspond to koshas 2-4 of our 5 dimensional body.  The physical body is kosha one.  the word kosha means a veil hiding the true nature of this body.  The first dimension of the subtle body (which is all aspects of the mind) includes chakras and nadis expressed as emotions and the confusing word energies.  The second dimension of the subtle body (kosha 3) is the mind composed of thoughts.  The subtlest aspect of the subtle body is kosha 4 wisdom that arises from being close to the True Self composes of divine consciousness.  To know the spiritual self is to know all these dimensions of consciousness are impermanent, impure, cause conflict, suffering, and pain see Yoga Sutras II, 5.  For a more thorough discussion on suffering and its removal read YS II, 2-18.  I have written an interpretation that many find comprehensible where other editions are confusing.  

       Actions of the physical body naturally involve all the other koshas to the degree that we are conscious.  Lacking self awareness does not mean karma is not there merely that karma (or action) produces a reaction (samskara) that will be removed via a similar but subtler action (vasana).  The yogic view of the mind is explained in detail in the Yoga Sutras expounded by one who has studied this teachings and lives it.  To learn yoga my teacher recommended 3 aspects - self study of scriptures, insights into those texts via a teacher, and persistent loving devotion to know the Self.  Without any one of these components we are handicapped in our capacity to comprehend the Self and experience its true nature.    

   in the case of sexual activity where there is love; there is no karma but love.  in contrast sex for the sake of fulfilling desire produces more desire.  Persisting in this vein creates craving and so on until it becomes lust.  This in turn causes suffering to yourself and others (see Yoga Sutras II, 33-35 on ahimsa, non violence).  When there is sex without love there is more possibility for harm for this affects all the dimensions of the subtle body.  We can say that each of the subtle bodies dimensions has a different form of memory, physical, emotional, mental, and subtle impression.  The worst we can do is not the action but the reaction to that action.  Criticizing  is more harmful than the deed to the mind.  The damage to the body is potential illness.  The damage to karma is only in the subtle body.  All karma is ended by a careful study and practice of the Yoga Sutras cited above when aided by a teacher authorized by their teacher to present Raja Yoga and coupled with comitted self effort to be free of suffering.  

       Let us encourage ourselves and others to Love each other in a sattvic manner.  

Lokah samastaha sukhino bhavantu
May all the beings in all the worlds (the mind) be happy

      blessings.    

mukunda stiles
Yogatherapycenter.org : : Welcome

Dear Mukunda,

Thank you for the reply and the wisdom expressed therein.

I hope I understood and interpret your reply correctly in the sense that it is not as much the action, but the intention behind the action which is the important aspect of all our dealings with people? Is my assumption correct?

If above is correct I think I can offer my student a good answer to his question.

Pandara -

     While our actions create karma one must realize that this is a multi-dimensional experience.  What we see as a problem is indeed our suffering, it is indeed our causing harm to ourself and others.  Intention is not enough.  The actions which spring from love, true love not a desire for love or a fantasy of love, but a profoundly experienced love out of which arises devotion; this is what is pure.  Purity and harmlessness must come from reflections and insights into how we cause pain to others by thought, word, not just deed.  

  So let us consider yogic practice for the problems he describes.  For enlarged prostate, he could sign up for my tantra lessons offered free on my website and move to lesson 8 which has a method of massaging the prostate to reduce its size.  The teacher who claimed this came from some past life karma is not helping so i would recommend either practice of dispassion from this teachers attitude or find a better more loving teacher.  In the case of this student the pain appears to be more a concern for negative energy coming into his body by the sex act with his partner; he could also learn from the tantra lessons how to heal himself by development of prana.  Heat flashes during intercourse can be lessened with learning Ayurvedic Yoga therapy to balance his pitta.  An individual session with a Classical Yoga teacher trained in Tantra could be of benefit for all these topics.  

namaste

mukunda stiles

Dear Mukunda,

Thank you, will try to best relate this to my student. This has been an important learning curve for me as well. I am amazed and also grateful how I learn more about yoga from my students everyday.

Hi Pandara,

One thing that I always find healing when it comes to genitals, and the anal part of the body, is if the 2 partners could massage each others in a non sexual behaviors. I do practice genital and anal massage with close friends of mine and it has the most healing effect. We, as human, tend to only use our genital and anal for copulation and excretion, but these organs needs care and attention. To be able to massage this area without sexual energy is really healing for a couple…

light

Dear All,

Thank you for each and every reply. My student brought his partner to class this past Monday and afterwards we had a good discussion about this topic. But first my observations about them (with their permission): What I can see is that it is a loving relationship, there is great care for each other and they are very affectionate towards each other. So I feel their connection is deep and I feel it is not just pure lust or a question of sex for the sake of sex, but a question of deep love for each other, they are already 12 years together. They also got married under the new same sex laws in South Africa, which demonstrates their committment to me.

What came out of the discussion was the following: they both feel that there must be something more to their sex than to just satisfy a physical need. Another aspect which transpired was that they seek a deep spiritual understanding and fulfilment of their union together and this is on all levels. I suggested tantra and a few good books. I also refered them to Mukunda’s website for his free tantrik lessons, so I trust that they will find what they are seeking eventually.

I look forward to his development, because he has a good grasp and understanding of the mystical part of our life here on earth.

I love that you are such a good teacher and friend and for that matter, fellow human being. Thank you for sharing this update about your student as we can all learn so much from each other.

Kind wishes for your day,

Pandara,

I thank you for your insight full reply to one of my threads. This thread was very helpful to me as well. You are a great & loving teacher. Your students are fortunate to have your guidance.

Thank you again!

Much Love & Light