PRANA-BINDU

~ My mind affects my reality ~

My reality affects my mind ~

Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety:

“A system can only regulate disturbances if its range of actions ≥ the variety of those disturbances.”

      Ross Ashby

Abstract

Prana-Bindu is an effort to blend modern neuroscience with lived practice to better manage physiological states, with an awareness of what those states are, how to recognise them, and how to shift between them in an efficient way.

It is an effort to provide increasing detail to self-help by highlighting achievable goals in physiological change, as well as distinguishing between the outcomes of techniques and triggers that are generally bundled together simply as ‘exercises’.

A significant part of the structure of this practice is rooted in the description of physiological profiles identified by Polyvagal Theory.

This theory identifies three main ‘activation profiles’ associated with feedback from the peripheral nervous system. These profiles are seen as ‘modes’ that describe organ and muscle function and how they change to achieve context-specific objectives.

Mobilization:              Fight-Flight                      Mainly Sympathetic Nervous System

Socialization:             Rest-Digest                     Mainly Parasympathetic Nervous System

Immobilization:          Freeze-Flop                     Mainly Dorsal Vagal System

These three modes imply a total of 6 1-directional pathways from one state to another, as well as 3 static pathways used to maintain a single state. In line with Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety, 9 control behaviours are necessary to fully ensure the ability to move between these states:

Mobilization    → Mobilization

Mobilization    → Socialization

Mobilization    → Immobilization

Socialization  → Immobilization

Socialization → Socialization

Socialization → Mobilization

Immobilization → Immobilization

Immobilization → Mobilization

Immobilization → Socialization


In general, when we are thinking about nerve feedback we think of regulatory exercises informally, as tools which may work for some people but not for others. We may apply ‘breathing exercises’ or ‘relaxation techniques’ without any conscious deliberation over what mode we are in, or which we are hoping to enter.

Appropriate control systems consider the:

1. Initial State,

and

2. End State

as critically important to selecting the type of technique that is likely to have the greatest positive effect.

We can cross-classify each path further by its channel, the targeted mechanism within the nervous system:

For maximum effectiveness, a technique may be further extended to a ‘form’, categorically aligning with five of the six channels (as technological biofeedback is difficult to acquire), giving exercises designed to transition from one state to another with a finer degree of success.

Systemic Continuum:

As a further consideration, the 3 modes or ‘profiles’ could be regarded as non-binary, involving a degree of categorical overlap that creates 4 more states:

Mobilization + Socialization                                         =             Integration

Mobilization + Immobilization                                     =             Agitation

Socialization + Immobilization                                    =             Tranquillity

Immobilization + Mobilization + Socialization          =             Ecstasy

This brings the total number of control pathways to 49, consisting of 7 base states, 42 one-way triggers to a different state, and 7 paths to maintain a current state:

Base:

Mobilization → Mobilization

Mobilization → Socialization

Mobilization → Immobilization

Socialization → Immobilization

Socialization → Socialization

Socialization → Mobilization

Immobilization → Immobilization

Immobilization → Mobilization

Immobilization → Socialization

Extended:

Mobilization → Integration

Mobilization → Agitation

Mobilization → Tranquillity

Mobilization → Ecstasy

Socialization → Integration

Socialization → Agitation

Socialization → Tranquillity

Socialization → Ecstasy

Immobilization → Integration

Immobilization → Agitation

Immobilization → Tranquillity

Immobilization → Ecstasy

Integration → Integration

Integration → Mobilization

Integration → Socialization

Integration → Immobilization

Integration → Agitation

Integration → Tranquillity

Integration → Ecstasy

Agitation → Integration

Agitation → Mobilization

Agitation → Socialization

Agitation → Immobilization

Agitation → Agitation

Agitation → Tranquillity

Agitation → Ecstasy

Tranquillity → Integration

Tranquillity → Mobilization

Tranquillity → Socialization

Tranquillity → Immobilization

Tranquillity → Agitation

Tranquillity → Tranquillity

Tranquillity → Ecstasy

Ecstasy → Integration

Ecstasy → Mobilization

Ecstasy → Socialization

Ecstasy → Immobilization

Ecstasy → Agitation

Ecstasy → Tranquillity

Ecstasy → Ecstasy

‍Weird-Ways

and

Prana Bindu Triggers

For a system that meets Ashby’s requirements of a system for sufficient control, 49 sensory triggers are required to appropriately match the needs for precise transition from one state to another. Enmeshed within the further 5 feedback channels (media), 245 atomic triggers can be calibrated, then woven into 49 5-channel forms.

It is the attempt of this document to provide the requisite variety of triggers and forms to establish a practice of nervous system control. This method, due to its similarity in description, is called Prana-Bindu, or The Weirding Way.

The association is poetic, but the techniques themselves aim to be established in neurological fact. Ritual aesthetic is used to address issues of mnemonic and memorization by giving an underlying orderliness to the exercises described.