The Practice of Recapitulation (part I)

There is perhaps no more profound practice for a warrior of the unknown than that of recapitulation. I can't describe the full scope of this practice in its totality, but I will try for the sake of spirit that brought me to this, and for the sake of those who are starting off on this as well  as real friends on the Toltec Path.

The recapitulation consists of 3 main prerequisites. The crate, the list, and the breath. The crate is the place where you do it. The list is the list of all the people you have known throughout your live. It can be written down. And finally the fan breath which includes rotating your head from right to left and then back while breathing in and out consequently with the turning of the head. It is assumed that you have a good posture, which involves a pretty straight spine, but the book describes a comfortable cave setting, not a perfectly straight wall for a support but somewhat convex, so let's keep that in mind too.

When one first hears about recapitulation, it is like a clap of thunder. What?! The list of ALL people in life? That's impossible! And indeed it is at first. The recommendation that we receive from Carlos is that one should start from about now and gradually go back in time. Or else we hear that one should first recapitulate all the sexual and romantic encounters, and then everything else.

It doesn't matter where you start as long as you do, but I have come to believe that it does make sense to pay very meticulous attention to all the sexual and romantic encounters that you have had in your life. This brings us to the question of energy, and its dispersion throughout our lifetime.

Energy comes in many forms in Carlos' books, but for our conversation we just need to know that the sexual energy is a very valued commodity because it is used as a fuel in the motor of consciousness in order to propel 1st the consciousness and later the assemblage point to where it needs to go. We shouldn't underestimate how important it is to understand that if you have enough energy, some of the fits of power outlined in the books will not seem so outrageous and far out, as nothing is, and it is a matter of having the energy and moving into that space where the understanding occurs.

Gathering of precious energetic nuggets is a long and sometime painful process, but if you know what is at stake you will most likely aim for control of the inevitable loss of energy that comes from daily living and from not being aware of its existence and the repercussions of such losses. In other words, no matter how loud is the thunder clap, we still think its only a summer rain. It is a continuous process, one that requires quite a stupendous effort on the part of an adept. Not everyone wants to get it and not everyone does as no one is guaranteed success in this endless endeavor. What saves is the understanding of the benefits and poetry that becomes an inevitable juice out of the juice maker. It makes the practice so alive that sometimes one wonders if there are others involved.

Everyone can have a shot at recapitulation. You don't need a royal permission. Just sit down and start breathing together with the turning of your head. Soon you will realize that you can't remember anything, but gradually with some effort your assemblage point will shift and you will remember, sometimes in great detail things that you didn't think would be possible to remember. The more you do it, the better you become at it.