The “Axial Age” of Somatics as a Means of Attaining Mystical Experience in

Oriental and Western Esoteric Traditions of the 12-14 centuries AD.

Dmitry Danilov
danilov.dmitry.an@gmail.com

December 9, 2014

From the 12th to 14th century AD esoteric traditions in different regions of

Europe and Asia enriched their practices with a set of body-oriented techniques
leading to mystical experience. It should be noted that esoterics had been
constantly experimenting with the body earlier, but it was at that period that there
came individuals who systematized the accumulated body-oriented knowledge.
Somatics in spiritual practices became the “know-how” of those times. Advanced
work with the body has been the hallmark of esotericism since that period. We
can no longer imagine yoga without asanas, pranayamas and bandhas. We can not
imagine Sufism without whirling and zikrs, Hesychasm - without mystical
practice known as “Jesus prayer”. It is interesting to note that this transition took
place almost simultaneously in different traditions. In yoga, for instance, two
texts appeared in the 13th – 14th centuries – Dattātreyayogaśāstra and
Gorakṣaśasataka. They contained information about asanas (“āsana” - body
poses), various bandhas (“bandha” – contractions of certain body parts), and
kumbhakas (“kumbhaka” – techniques of breath control). Around the same time
on the territory of the present-day Turkey, in the town of Konya, Rumi
established the Mevlevi Order and introduced its “know-how” to Sufism –
whirling and rhythmic breathing that the dervish used to leave his body and
merge with God. Greeks, such as Nicephorus the Hesychast (Italy), Gregory
Palamas and Gregory of Sinai (the Holy Mount Athos, Greece) described a whole
list of Somatic techniques. They systematized Hesychasts’ practice and promoted
it as a method of “sober-minded vigilance (nepsis)”. At the same time (the second
half of the 13th century, Spain) Abraham Abulafia, a Kabbalist, developed a
complex system of practices with emphasis placed on mystical physiology – body
movements and control of breathing.
 Esoteric doctrines hadn't been so accurate in using bodily practices before.
Prior to this period, the vector of the practitioners’ attention had been directed
outwards, to God. The role of human body in spiritual quests was minor.
Moreover, physiology was viewed as a kind of obstacle on one’s way to God. For
a long time - with a few exceptions – the body had been subjugated and sacrificed
in the name of austerity. Yet it was in the said period that the idea of body
involvement in the process of “deification” [1] came about. From India to Spain,
esoterics almost simultaneously started to use breathing and physical exercises as
a tool to attain mystical insights. Three constituents of mystical physiology of that
period can be singled out:
1) Recommended bodily postures. There were “postures for praying” in
Hesychasm. It is worth noting that until the 13th century it was believed that
praying should be done in a standing position, so innovations introduced by
Nicephorus and Gregory of Sinai – praying in a seated position – were rather
drastic. In Yoga the Gorakṣaśasataka (the earliest text attributed to the line of
Gorakṣa, 13-14 century) introduces two canonical asanas and three bandhas.
Abulafia introduces three “shin” movements. Rumi suggests “sema” – a dynamic
exercise performed standing on the left leg, so that a dervish rotates on his axis.
2) Breath control. Gorakṣaśasataka tells us about four types of breath
control: Sūryā, Ujjāyī, Śītalī and Bhastrī Kumbhakas. Explanations given by the
Hesychasts are less detailed; nevertheless they agree that breathing should
become slower and give instructions on which part of the Jesus Prayer should be
said while inhaling and which part - while exhaling. This technique is also used
by “whirling dervishes”. Abraham Abulafia introduces the “Full breath” method
that involves the abdomen, the diaphragm and the clavicles, its rhythm being
accurate – 18 sets per minute.
3) Concentration on certain parts of the body. Pseudo-Symeon
suggests that the practitioner should set his chin against the chest and take a look
at “the middle of the belly, i.e. the navel” [2]. Pseudo-Symeon, Nicephorus and
both Gregories also recommend turning one’s mind to searching for the “place
where the heart is”. Gorakṣaśasataka gives a detailed description of the numerous
parts on which a yogi should concentrate his attention during the Kuṇḍalini
awakening practice. Abulafia mentions the head and the heart. The Mevlevi
dervishes fix their eyes on the left hand while concentrating their sensation on the
heart.
Thus at this period there emerged a new, complex system of practices
based on using the body as a sophisticated instrument of influencing the mind.
This time came as a significant stage of the world esotericism for the following
reasons:
1) from this period on, due to the unified system of body practices
more practitioners have had the opportunity to get in touch with the Supreme
through specific physical exercises;
2) prior to this time esoteric practice involved mainly the mind of a
Mystic himself. That made this process invisible to outsiders. Physical exercises
(asanas, whirlings, unusual breathing practices) became an outward attribute of
belonging to a certain tradition; they also gave a rather implicit idea of the
essence of the practice to common people.
3) external physical exercises became symbols of identification for mystic
communities. This contributed to the formation of “closer” ties within the
communities as well as to their active promotion among common people [3];
4) comprehensible on the surface, physical exercises helped esoteric
systems to hide and disguise more complicated mystical practices that were
generally not revealed;
5) physical exercises made esotericism more intelligible to a greater
number of people because body language is understood better than any oral
instructions. On the other hand, not all practitioners were the carriers of the
“spiritual potential”, and by repeating exercises after those who had this
“potential” they stood a better chance of attaining mystical experiences;
6) the Mentor, who was not always the Supreme teacher, played a more
significant role in the spiritual development of beginners at that time;
7) it was the first time that mystical practices were given a systematic
description in texts; thus more people could get access to them.
This period (12th – 14th century) can be referred to as the “Axial Age”
[Achsenzeit] of somatics in esotericism that gave origin to the traditions in the
very form we know them today.
 [1] - There are indeed blessed passions and common activities of body and soul,
which, far from nailing the spirit to the flesh, serve to draw the flesh to a dignity
close to that of the spirit, and persuade it too to tend towards what is above. Such
spiritual activities, as we said above, do not enter the mind from the body, but
descend into the body from the mind, in order to transform the body into something
better and to deify it by these actions and passions. For just as the divinity of the
Word of God incarnate is common to soul and body, since He has deified the flesh
through the mediation of the soul to make it also accomplish the works of God; so
similarly, in spiritual man, the grace of the Spirit, transmitted to the body through
the soul, grants to the body also the experience of things divine, and allows it the
same blessed experiences as the soul undergoes [1, pg.80].

[2] – this practice is used in modern schools of yoga, namely, in the tradition of Sri
Krishnamacharya and in that of his son, Desikachar.

[3] – In 2005 UNESCO proclaimed “sema” [the dervish whirling dances] as a

masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage of humanity
(www.unesco.org/culture/intangible-heritage/39eur_uk.htm)

LIST OF REFERENCES

1. Palamas G. The Triads for the Defense of Those Who Practice Sacred Quietude /
St. Gregory Palamas. – M.: Canon, 1995. – 380 p., il.
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Our Days (monograph). – Kharkov: PPB Kovalenko A.V., 2008. – 288 p.
3. A. G. Safronov. Yoga: Physiology, Psychosomatics, Bioenergetics. – Kharkov:
PPB Kovalenko A.V., 2011. – 244 p.
4. Praying with the Body: The Hesychast Method and Non-Christian Parallels.
Kallistos (Timothy Ware), the Bishop of Diokleia – Access mode
http://www.bogoslov.ru/text/3013197.html.
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Christianity and Islam, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, 1993, К.–М.: "Sofia", 2004
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