Can Meditation Help with Paraplegia?

[Awakened Queen]

I am posting this on behalf of somebody who is afflicted with this. He contacted me on the forum. He is curious if meditation can help him. He has a spinal cord injury.

[rajsun]

Hello to all my friends....and thank u very much queen for making ths thread.

I request all members that if any body have any idea on ths then please post something .....

[Shivani Devi]

Namaste.

I was kindly requested by rajsun via PM to post on this thread and share my experiences, so to honour this request, I can only try my best.

I experience both neuralgia and occasional paraplegia due to a functional neurological disorder and if I was a betting woman, I would place money on the assumption that meditation, or to be more precise, an uncontrolled kundalini event was the cause of it or at least set it off.

There are just insidious things an unplanned and forced shakti awakening can do to both the central and autonomic nervous system if one isn't fully prepared for it, however, as Samadhi was the result, I also know how to fix it/repair my damaged nervous system, now I am aware of how this malady came about.

First is to actually stop all meditation - for the time being anyway.

I was reminded of a saying of Jesus Christ in the Gnostic Gospels of St. Thomas '"If you bring forth what is within you, what is within you shall save you. If you don't bring forth what is within you, what is within you shall destroy you".

Neurological disorders spring from a psyche that is too afraid to 'be themselves' or bring forth what is within due to fear of the harsh criticisms or judgments from their loved ones or peers.

If they don't express their heart and soul according to who they believe themselves to be (even if that belief is 'tat tvam asi') or 'though art that', it slowly eats the whole mind and body up over time and that which is not brought forth will be their downfall on a neurological level, even though they are physically and mentally 'normal' otherwise.

By expressing who you are means to dress how you want, eat what you want, attend/do not attend what you want, talk to or associate with who you want, say what is on your mind with all due respect but also with assertion - show others the 'real' you (according to how 'real' you perceive yourself to be irrespective of others).

We still have to live in the 'real world' (a.k.a The Matrix) somehow and still manage to get done what we need to get done to exist here and learn our lesson. There are no 'cheats' and no 'short cuts'.

Maybe except for one...loving devotion to a God or Deity/Angel/Higher Being or whatever label one wishes to attach to a blissful peak state or experience.

Helping others and selfless service is another. As much as I dislike my afflictions being constantly compared to those less fortunate than myself, there are people 'worse off' out there...I mean, there are more people 'better off' too, so that argument is invalid...also realise that 'invalid' has two different meanings and me being an invalid renders this whole statement invalid.

That's just another label though in the grand schemata.

Meditation is not very helpful for those with neuralgia, I found out, but I wouldn't know about those with paraplegia due to a spinal cord injury.

All I know about that is - (and he wants it all in Hindi, but I can only parrot Sanskrit right now).

The Spinal Cord is located in the Annamaya Kosha or the 'gross/food body'. It has nothing to do with Kundalini Path really because the Nadis and Chakras are located in the Akasha Sharira or the 'etheric/subtle body'.

Even though they are interconnected (as I painfully found out), one really has no bearing otherwise upon the other. The etheric spinal cord comprising Ida Nadi (feminine), Pingala Nadi (Masculine) and Shushumna (both/neither, middle-way) still exists in tact, so meditation cannot harm at all, but everything has to be ready mentally and emotionally first before going into it.

If your associate is a well-adjusted person despite his disability and sees no limitation, then neither do I.

Aum Namah Shivaya

[rajsun]

Thanks for yr reply....still waiting for more details...

[Shivani Devi]

No problems at all and I hope you receive a more satisfactory response and preferably in your native language.

I can only remember a few words of it here and there now, like Spinal Cord is Meru Danda, nerves are Nadis, the names of the different Lokas for the Koshas according to Doshas and of all that Ayervedic stuff...

However, my system of Hinduism is very ancient and pre-dates all that, but enough from me and good luck, see you round SF and welcome to the forums,

Aum Namah Shivaya

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Awakened Queen

I am posting this on behalf of somebody who is afflicted with this. He contacted me on the forum. He is curious if meditation can help him. He has a spinal cord injury.

I think the basic issue in this regard is the meditation as a high spiritual path isn't effective in terms of a goal of healing particular health conditions.

The issue stems from the dynamic of aversion <> desire, which is antithetical to what meditation fundamentally is. It means aversion toward the body, sensations and the like, is what disrupts peace of mind, so one can't realistically go into depth while their mind is adverse to one facet of bodily life while being in craving for another.

That said, if the meditation is undertaken as a purity of truth, then psychological/physical benefits are consequential to it.

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by Gem

I think the basic issue in this regard is the meditation as a high spiritual path isn't effective in terms of a goal of healing particular health conditions.

The issue stems from the dynamic of aversion <> desire, which is antithetical to what meditation fundamentally is. It means aversion toward the body, sensations and the like, is what disrupts peace of mind, so one can't realistically go into depth while their mind is adverse to one facet of bodily life while being in craving for another.

That said, if the meditation is undertaken as a purity of truth, then psychological/physical benefits are consequential to it.

Thank you, Gem and that expliains it perfectly. I was trying to keep it simple for the benefit of an ESL person, I thought about going into the whole 'physicality is Maya' bit myself, but decided against it. You put it perfectly in better English than I could muster. lol

[rajsun]

Very very thanks from bottom of my heart...

I thinked that the maditation is the solutions of all roblems of life including phisical as welas mantaly....
I believes that when science and docters are stop to all things than the spirituality starts or maditation starts to work batter then science ,

I totally believes in spirituality but i wanted to know from some experianced holder or from masters about maditation,
I also trying to do maditation from last five - six months but still i have no any expriance about this...
But hope that one day it happen and i will be totally cured from this .

Please keep visiting this thread and share your expriances ,so that i can keep motivated by you all.

Thanks ones again.....

[Gem]

Originally Posted by rajsun

Very very thanks from bottom of my heart...

I thinked that the maditation is the solutions of all roblems of life including phisical as welas mantaly....
I believes that when science and docters are stop to all things than the spirituality starts or maditation starts to work batter then science ,

I totally believes in spirituality but i wanted to know from some experianced holder or from masters about maditation,
I also trying to do maditation from last five - six months but still i have no any expriance about this...
But hope that one day it happen and i will be totally cured from this .

Please keep visiting this thread and share your expriances ,so that i can keep motivated by you all.

Thanks ones again.....

What kind of meditation are you doing?

[rajsun]

I concerntrate on sound of silence + on breath and also Aum chanting.

Please give your opineon on this .