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Beyond Biofeedback – Drs Elmer and Alyce Green

Rajalakshmi did not want to be a research subject at that time. Some other time, she said, perhaps in the U.S. in a full-fledged investigation, but now she would provide for us only a demonstration of shaktipat with two of her Yoga students.

Shaktipat is the Sanskrit word for "power touch" and seems to be related to the demonstration reported by Castaneda in which don Genaro put his hand on Castaneda's shoulder and a seemingly heavy weight forced him to the ground. A similar effect was often induced by the eye, according to Castaneda. It is reasonable to hypothesize that if the demonstration that Swami Rama gave, using his eyes in the needle-moving experiment, involved the transmission of energy, then that effect might well be felt by a human being……………..

Twice Rajalakshmi demonstrated shaktipat, energization of one or another chakra, but she did not feel that the first session was satisfactory. She felt that there was no significant energy flow. She had been seated on a chair in lotus posture, with her hand on the subject's head. Several times he jerked suddenly, but she felt that these were artifacts. The record showed no particular autonomic changes.

The second subject (who appears with Rajalakshmi in the Hartley movie, Biofeedback: The Yoga of the West) was one of her best students, she said. We were very much impressed by him. He seemed a real yogi, in the sense that a powerful kind of tranquillity surrounded him. Perhaps because of this presence of tranquillity, we came to have a special feeling of affection for him, though we could not communicate a word.

I noticed that when Rajalakshmi touched the top of his head, his heart rate decreased several beats per minute.