Tag: stories

A story about the solar plexus centre ( Native American Indian)

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A STORY FROM CALLING HORSE TO ILLUSTRATE THE SOLAR PLEXUS CENTRE

The solar plexus is below the ribs and above the naval.  It is the main energy distributor in the body, it helps in the thinking processes (gut feelings) and it connects us to others.

White Owl and the Bear

In times when men and women lived in teepees on the plains and in the forests of North America, there was a young warrior, we shall call him White Owl. He was a brave young man, never afraid to get others out of trouble, whether he had to fight off adversaries or wild animals. One day this young man and his friend Grey Wolf were deep in the forest. They were hunting for the wild bears who roamed freely in those days. These are very fierce animals. They were required for their coats for the winter bedding especially for young children. Winters were very cold indeed and the animals had to be sacrificed to keep us humans alive.

On this occasion Grey wolf was climbing a tree having disturbed a bear, thinking that the bear would not dare to climb as high as he could. He hoped the bear would use his solar centre –  his mind centre, and realise that he would not be safe on the fine, high branches. However the bear continued up and up and Grey wolf began to think that he would soon run out of tree!

The bear looked down and saw White Owl

The bear looked down and saw White Owl

Now White Owl his friend saw the dilemma and decided to act as a decoy for Grey Wolf.  He shouted and threw sticks at the bear who looked down and saw a second adversary at the base of the tree.  The bear had been starting to get a gut feeling that it was about time to turn round and go down again.  Now he had even more reason to do exactly that.  With a huge bellowing roar he reversed down the tree.  This was a slightly slower process than climbing up. White Owl looked at his weapons, he had a tomahawk and a bow and arrows. He and Grey Wolf had spent many a long evening practising their tomahawk throwing by the light of the moon, and he was very accurate. He decided to risk throwing the small axe, which is what it was, planning the throw to coincide with a difficult part of the descent of the bear. He did not have time to think of any other solutions. That he would leave to the Great Spirit.
The tomahawk made a direct hit, straight through the skull of the enraged bear which fell like a stone to the base of the tree trunk. Grey Wolf descended carefully, trembling somewhat and surveyed the dead animal. He clutched his belly and said:

“Well, I think one bear is quite enough for one day, don’t you? Probably enough for one year for me. It’s going to take me a while to recover from this!”

The young men skinned the bear on the spot, leaving the carcass for the wild beasts which would surely find it. They carried the skin home to their families, proudly presenting it to be shared by their mothers for the youngest children in each family. They had been happy to risk their lives in this way for those with whom they had close ties, another solar plexus connection.

For a fuller description of the functions of the solar plexus energy centre you will find more information online.

Throat Centre Story (The Young Brave Chants to the Great Spirit)

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This is one of a series of 7 stories on the human energy centres, given to me in meditation by Calling Horse, an American Indian Chief of days gone by. This one illustrates the use of the ‘Throat centre’

The Young Brave Chants to the Great Spirit by CALLING HORSE

In the days when men hunted for food and women harvested leaves to add to the value of the flesh, sometimes it was difficult to find enough wild plants. This was certainly the case if the season was poor or the weather inclement. At these times we would appreciate the stores of dried plants which had been gathered and preserved for the winter by the older women in the tribe. On one occasion I remember times were particularly hard. I was a small boy and I was very hungry; we all were. The winter had only just started and the elders knew that they must eke out their stores for several months to come. The men had not had a lot of luck with the hunting. They had only managed to catch a few small animals; the buffalo were nowhere to be found.

The chief was on the point of deciding to move camp. He wanted to consult the Great Spirit and he wanted us all to pray to make sure we got the right answer about whether and where to go. The adults all sat in a circle around the camp fire. The chief stood by the totem pole holding his staff in his hand. It was very impressive to me as a small child. This staff had great plumed feathers tied to it in several places and a bunch of eagle feathers was attached to the top. The chief would stamp the ground with his feet and then pound the staff onto the earth.

In response we would chant “Aa ee ee ohh” again and again. Now I was disturbed by the urgency of these cries to God. I recognised that we all felt that we were in trouble and I started to cry. My mother held me to her breast and smoothed my head. She said I should not waste my voice in selfish pity, but I should use it to ask for Gods help which would be for all of us. I joined in with the chanting. The chief stamped around the circle facing each member in turn. When he came to me he almost smiled and he lowered the eagle’s feathers to the level of my head. He touched me with them to encourage my efforts at chanting. I felt very proud. My father called me his good brave and I chanted louder and louder. At the end of the ceremony the chief announced that we would move on the next day. The gods had shown him where to find the buffalo. Indeed after two days travelling we found traces of them and set up camp.

My brother was the first to find and kill a buffalo on that occasion. There was much celebration and again we gathered round the camp fire to chant, this time in joyful thanks. The sound was different, it had a happier quality and every one was smiling, even the chief. This time he had a different staff. It had the horns of a buffalo attached to it. Again he brought it round the circle as we chanted. When he came to me I was sure I saw him wink at me. He was certainly smiling and we all felt very proud of my brother ‘Fleet of foot’ who had lived up to his name yet again.

The Chief's staff had the horns of a buffalo

The Chief's staff had the horns of a buffalo

The Bamboo House, a story about respecting animals (children 6-10 years)

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The Bamboo House:

cockeral-lit

Susie lived in Malasia. When she was six years old something happened in the family which she would never forget.

Susie’s house was made of bamboo. Long poles of wood were used to hold up the roof, the walls and the floor.The house was built above the ground so that people did not get wet and a higher house was not so easy for the  wild creatures to get into.

There were three children in the family: Susie, her brother Sam and her sister Tali.

Their mother and father used to grow fruit for the family and to sell in the market.

One day, Father loaded up the baskets on his bicycle and set off to market. Mother stayed at home to look after the family. She was not feeling very well and she was tired.Mum fell asleep on the mat in the bedroom.

Sam was the eldest and he said he wanted to go and play in the garden. Susie didn’t think he ought to do that while their mum was asleep, because he should stay in the house and look after Tali who was only three years old. Tali could be a bit naughty sometimes.Sam went out to play and Susie looked after Tali while Mum as asleep.They played with their dolls made of palm leaves. They were very quiet so as not to wake Mum up.

After a while they heard some shouting. It was Sam and someone else.

“Stop. Come here,” said the voice.

“Go away!,” said Sam.

Mum woke up.“Whatever if the matter?” she asked. “What is Sam up to now?”

Sam appeared up the ladder and climbed in to the house. He was looking guilty.

“Whatever have you been up to, Sam?”

“I didn’t mean to frighten Mr. D’s chickens,” cried Sam.

Then Mr. D appeared below us, shaking his fist at Sam.

“That boy of yours, Mrs! He’s been shooting peas at my hens. They have all flown off into the jungle.  Wild animals may catch them and eat them if they are too frightened to come home.”

“Oh dear, oh dear!” said Mum.“This is the last thing I need today. Come on, all of you. We have to go and bring back Mr. D’s chickens. Sam, I am very cross with you.”

The houses were in a clearing in the jungle. The chickens had run away to hide in the trees. 

Cockerel in bushes

A cockerel was hiding in a bush.

It took a long time to find them and shoo them back.

Mum and Susie were very tired and cross when at last the chickens were all in their pen.

Sam felt bad. He had frightened the chickens and because of him everyone felt cross and tired, especially mum.

“I’m sorry, Mum. I won’t do it again. I didn’t mean to hurt the chickens. I was just practising my shooting.”

His mother sighed a big sigh.  “All right, Sam, but why don’t you hang some big leaves on the washing line and get your sister to pull it up and down. Then you’ll have a target that won’t get hurt.”

Susie enjoyed helping Sam with his target practice and he used his pea shooter to frighten away snakes and any other animals which were careless enough to climb up to the house.

  • What name might you give to the story?
  • How did Susie try to help her Mum at the start of the story?
  • Sam did several things which were not helpful and not good.  Can you remember what he did?
  • What did Sam do with his peashooter?
  • What might have happened to the chickens in the jungle?
  • What do you think about hurting or frightening animals?
  • Do you think Sam’s mum was kind or unkind? Why?
  • How did Susie help Sam at the end of the story?

Introducing Guptananda

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Welcome. I’m Teresa. I plan to put my stories on this blog. I hope you enjoy reading them. Although I started off writing Yogas Stories,  I write about other subjects too, and you will find different stories under the different categories in my blog. I’d love to hear any thoughts you may have. Click on the word ‘comment’ below each post to get in touch or share your thoughts. For the time being here is a short introduction to my background.

My General Background
I live in the UK with my husband where I worked as a special needs teacher in a college of Further Education (now retired). I’m also a mother of two grown sons, a grandmother, a qualified yoga teacher, psychotherapist and counsellor. I also embrace other forms of healing including energy healing, Bach Remedies, essential oils, and crystals. In my spare time I love to garden.

The Stories
In 1995 an amazing thing happened. A spirit guide, Guptananda, came to me during a meditation when I was asking for help to teach my yoga classes. I had met him once before in a meditation circle when I asked for help in understanding New Age writings. I was taken up into a blue sky and across to the continent of India. I travelled across the snowcapped Himalayan Mountains, to a cave, inside was a guru. He told me that I didn’t need to read New Age material, but told me instead to read the Vedas, Upanishads and the Bhagvad Gita, and that I would find all the answers I needed there. I had read them once before as part of my training to become a yoga teacher. In response to my request for help  He said “There’s no point in teaching people spiritual practices unless they are obeying the ‘laws of life’.” I couldn’t remember what they were myself and he sternly told me off! Then he told me not to worry, and said that he would help me. He gave me a story on greed, then another on chastity. Over weeks and months he gave me a set of  stories all about his own life. He told me he lived 400 years ago. The first yoga principles are the yamas and niyamas, the laws of life, similar to the 10 commandments. I’ve used these stories to help me to teach my students. The stories given via Guptananda offer the teachings of these principles in a very readable and acceptable format, suitable for both adults and children.


As time went on people began asking me to write stories. I discovered that other guides would also visit me to offer stories on other themes, for example therapeutic stories for my counselling clients and stories for Education In Human Values in schools and colleges I believe that these stories are wonderfully touching and relevant to today’s life. They have been a gift to me and I want to share them with other people. They are of particular relevance to those on the path of studying or teaching yoga, but are useful to people in all walks of life.