Level 2 Cobra Breath The second level of the Cobra Breath opens a rarely used energy channel along

the spine and helps to more deeply activate the roots of the Chakras, balance your polarities, activate and transmute karmic patterning, and begin to connect your spiritual pole with your earthly pole. It is best that a student practice Cobra Breath 1 on a daily basis for at least a year before being initiated into Level 2 Cobra Breath. Some Western teachers push students into Level 2 Cobra Breath with only 40 days of Level 1 practice, often with much drama. This does a disservice to the student as there is inadequate preparation and follow-up support on a daily basis. Merely energetically activating ones karmic patterns is no guarantee that they will be transmuted. Chakra Activation Like the central nervous system, the chakras have their roots in the spine. The second level Cobra Breath stimulates these chakric roots and therefore activates the domains of awareness, emotion, and actions governed by these chakras. Cobra Breath Level 2 can help clear the karma of the chakras, releasing repressed emotions / inner child issues to be Witnessed and processed. It is imperative that a practitioner of Cobra Breath 2 have a well defined Witness consciousness and be able to be self-responsible. If not, the Level 2 Cobra Breath will merely exacerbate these karmic patterns, creating more misery and drama in ones life. Muscular Armoring Bioenergetic holding patterns or armoring are the somatic aspect of our repressed emotional karma. We repress or hold back our emotional responses to avoid external reaction to negative emotional triggers. This energy is stored as tension in the body, but is not quiescent. On the contrary, these held patterns will run in the background of our consciousness, affecting our perceptions, mental / emotional states, and behaviors. This results in our patterns being recreated continuously, often creating a victim consciousness which will tend to make us more emotionally reactive and defensive. Cobra Breath will not necessarily clear these patterns without Witness and processing. Some somatic work such as Tai Chi, Qigong, yoga, Rolfing, and Somatic Release along with Presencing, Conscious BreathWork, or Bioenergetic Analysis, etc. can be helpful in rooting out these patterns thus releasing the stored emotional energy to be acknowledged and understood. Balance The 2nd Level Cobra Breath allows solar / cosmic energy to descend into the body through a specific channel, awakening the chakras, and balancing the male and female energies. There are 5 major energy channels or nadis in the spinal region. Four of these are polar channels (male and female, or yang and yin) and these must be cleared and kept in balance to provide a strong, safe containment vessel for true Kundalini to arise. If not, unresolved emotional history can be activated, causing disruptive emotional crises and sometimes physical discomfort or injury. Contraindications As in Cobra Breath 1, there are definite prerequisites and contraindication associated with being truly eligible to integrate the power of the Second Level Cobra Breath practice. Some signs that you need to dig deeper before accepting this initiation are: -Blaming others -Taking things personally -Depression

-Rage / Anger -Anxiety / Neurosis / Obsession Compulsion Prerequisites / Guidelines for Sadhus Some good guidelines to assess your readiness to incorporate Second Level Cobra Breath into your sadhana include: -Knowing how and beginning to transmute your Karmic patterning -Accepting Self-Responsibility for your thoughts, emotions, and actions -Being able to be Present with a well developed Witness Consciousness 2012 Keith E. Hall and www.inner-tranquility.com. All rights reserved.