GUITAR YOGA

By David Cherubim.
Copyright © 2008.
All rights reserved.

Guitar Yoga is the mystical art of becoming one with the guitar. Yoga means Union, so Guitar Yoga is
the experience of uniting with your guitar. It is not my invention nor the invention of anyone else. It is
a process rather than a system. It is a form of active meditation and a concentration of one’s attention
on playing the guitar to the point that one becomes the guitar itself, letting go of the illusive ego or
sense of self. You become the guitar itself and the body and mind become extensions of the guitar to
make music.

Guitar Yoga is the spiritual side of playing guitar. It is the Spiritual Path of the guitarist, if you Will, but
the guitarist does not have to be interested in spiritual things to do it. The most mundane of guitarists,
without a trace of spiritual interest, can do Guitar Yoga and, in fact, does Guitar Yoga when he or she
is one with his or her guitar and making music.

The guitar is more than just a material instrument. It is a living symbol of the Divine. (I refer you to
The Spiritual Guitar Guide for more information in this regard.) By becoming one with the guitar, you
become one with the Divine. Any guitarist can do Guitar Yoga and be united and made one with the
Divine (or, if you prefer, God, Spirit, Christ, Krishna, Buddha, Horus, the Tao, Zen, ad infinitum), since
the Divine is already one with all. It is the inner energy, the natural flow and true Nature of our being.
It is the True Self of everyone, so any guitar player, no matter what his or her beliefs may be, can
experience it.

It is a spiritual experience, not a form of relative knowledge, not something you think about in the
process, but rather something mystical, intuitive and creative that comes about through intense
concentration of the Will on the guitar to make music. This is also the experience of the artist or poet
when completely absorbed in his or her art or poetry. The artist becomes his or her brush to make art
and the poet becomes his or her pen to make poetry. It is selfless concentration, a focusing of the Will
(symbolized by the instrument in hand) to the point of creative un-self-consciousness.

Guitar Yoga is what every guitarist does when he or she is fully concentrated on playing the guitar,
when there is only the act of playing the guitar and making music. It is when the guitarist is beyond
him or herself, existing in a creative world without thought of self, with only the pure Will to play the
guitar. It is the act of playing the guitar that counts, not the person playing the guitar. In the act itself
is the fulfillment of the Will of the guitarist, and in the act there is no person, only the divine source of
the music.

When you are playing guitar (not merely practicing), all self-consciousness must go. Watch an
experienced and "mindful" guitarist, and you will see that he or she is completely absorbed in his or
her guitar playing. Self-consciousness is annihilated in the pure act of playing the guitar and making
music. But to do this properly, one must first know what one is doing. Before you can properly play
the guitar, you must know how to play the guitar through learning and practicing. If you do not learn
and practice, you cannot do Guitar Yoga.
Now playing the guitar demands posture (called Asana in Yoga) which helps one to better concentrate
and use the arms, hands and fingers with greater dexterity and ease. There are postures for playing
classical, acoustic and electric guitar. The guitarist should learn the basic postures from an informed
source to find the posture or postures suitable to his or her body, instrument and method of playing
(sitting or standing). Of course the experienced guitarist can and should come to know his or her own
"natural" postures after learning the basics. It is then a process of natural body adjustment.

Guitar Yoga gives us a creative way to arouse the Kundalini (Serpent Power of Yoga) and open the
Chakras (Wheels) or Padmas (Lotuses) of Yoga through posture and sound. The Chakras or Padmas
(Internal Centers of Energy) are seven in all if we include the metaphorical Crown Chakra. The
planetary and elemental energies of these seven Chakras are awakened through the seven Natural
Tones (C, D, E, F, G, A and B).

In a way we can view the guitar as symbolic of the Kundalini or Serpent Power within. When we play
the Natural Tones on the guitar, with enlightened understanding and spiritual attunement, it is similar to
the Kundalini striking upon the Chakras, activating them into motion for creative application. Every
guitarist must experiment and discover for him or herself which note awakens which Chakra in their
Spiritual Body. There is no fixed system in this regard, nor should there ever be.

Guitar Yoga is a creative process by which the guitarist can become enlightened. Enlightenment is
when there is no personal self, only the Creative Self, which is universal and impersonal in nature. It
is when the personal self or personality is no longer the point of reference, but rather it becomes a tool
to realize the True Self and to do it's Creative Will. The True Self is the Divine in Yoga. Yoga aims at
uniting the illusive personal self (ego) with the Eternal Divine (also called the Universal Self).

The union and enlightenment experienced in Guitar Yoga will find natural expression in the music.
Such music will be in accord with the Musick of the Spheres, the fruit and flower and fragrance of the
divine harmony of existence. The music will come from the heart, the soul, the very core of one's
being. It will be the creative and sublime sound of the Gods, something from the beautiful Beyond,
illuminating and inspiring, majestic and mystical.

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