If we sit quietly for a moment, we may well notice the noisy mind blabbing on about something. We then have a few choices. We can pay attention to what’s around us instead. We can listen to the mind. Or we can invest in the mind, take it seriously. Unfortunately, most people do the later. And then they share that with others, spreading it around.
The trouble is, a great deal of what comes out of the mind has nothing to do with the content. Hence “noise” or “monkey mind”.
The real dynamic is there is an activated, unresolved emotion(s) that we’re not noticing, behind the babble, looking for a way to express and resolve. If you’ve been following recent articles, you’ll know this is a Vasana, otherwise known as karma.
The energy of that activation is triggering the mind, which simply picks up some random recent thing. The emotion attaches itself to that and vents away, usually ineffectively.
So we rant about the post office line-up or what someone said and contemplate acting on our grievance when it actually has nothing to do with why we’re feeling like this.
This brings us to another choice. If you ignore (but don’t suppress) the babble and notice the feeling value behind the noise, you may find a little surprise. The feeling can lead you to itself. Simple, innocent attention can allow the energy to express and complete. You may notice a brief wave of feeling, then done.
If it’s a big one, it may lead you to a sensation in a specific place in the body where it’s stored. Just allow the attention to be there and you’ll notice sensations of release. Occasionally, it can be like dropping a bomb where the emotion explodes out in a brief flurry of release. This may kick up some dust. If so, it can be useful to lie down to rest for a few minutes. You want the process to complete rather than casting a shadow over your day.
Otherwise, just remain on the feeling. It won’t take long. It may separate into several emotions. Follow one. You may get impressions that come up associating it with past events. But these may just be times in the past when this was last activated. Some of this can go back a very long ways, well before we were born.
And then, it’s done. That old reactive glob that kept triggering you and adding to the noise is gone. Another step to peace.
You can also get quite a bit more sophisticated at this. Learning energetic literacy, for example, will allow you to perceive (see, feel, etc) these blocks more directly. Refined perception will add similar ability, although developing skills is superior. This allows you to use more specific techniques to clear more pernicious stuff.
It’s ironic to consider that most of our worries have nothing to do with what we’re fussing about. They just seem important because of the emotional weight attached. Most of it is just churning created by incomplete experiences. Give it an outlet and the worries will fade.
Davidya
Last Updated on December 13, 2019 by Davidya
That is basically 80% of the presence Process! 🙂
Actually the presence process repeats itself very often because it is very hard for people to do that what you have described here so precisly. It is really hard for most to put the focus of the mental story to the emotion below it….most just want to resolve the story by changing something in the external, trying everything not to feel the charge behind the story.
with love
Michael
Yes, the noise keeps us from looking behind the noise. But as we progress with it (and an effortless meditation really helps), then this becomes easier and easier.
Also, the ego doesn’t want to be seen. If it is seen clearly, it will be seen through. So it makes lots of distractions to this kind of process.
But closer to the shift and afterwards, this process becomes much more straightforward. Which just need the occasional reminder to process rather than the old habit of playing the story.
Hi David, great topic, as usual! I went through this spectrum recently – I was trimming some trees and managed to tweak my back pretty well, and there was a lot of discomfort sleeping last night, so I woke up this morning and my wife asked my how I was, and being overshadowed by the pain in my back, I suddenly became quite anxious about trimming the trees, and watched the entire garden in my mind’s eye, become overrun and overgrown, with me helpless to do anything. Later on, after a hot shower and some aspirin, my mental image of the garden returned to normal, which I confirmed by stepping outside. Quite a strange thing to watch – It was like wearing pain colored glasses, the distortion was nearly impossible to detect, yet unmistakable. “Knowledge is different, in different states of consciousness.” 🙂
Yes, effortless Meditation…..there is also something similiar in the presence process which is called conscsiously connected breathing. One connects in-breath with the out-breath with the aim to enter the Body more fully and becoming more present (there is also a mental Repetition to that)….but this is done in a very relaxed manner…nothing is forced. but the Goal is not Meditation but to start to unearth the emotionalpatterns by entering more fully into the Body.
have a wonderful day David!
Michael
Hi Jim
Yes, well described. We can so easily drop into a story and project it forward, stressing ourselves out. It’s a pattern encouraged by our media. But it just requires a bit of insight to take a step back and see through it. Then it looses all power.
But as you note, sometimes while a release is being processed, we do fall into it for a bit. The insight isn’t there. This is normal. The key is when we become conscious it means it’s completing and we have a choice. Feed it further or let it go.
Hi Micheal
In my practice, pranayama is used as a preparation for meditation rather than the practice itself. But yes, some do blends and such.
I would also note that body awareness practices are very useful if there is a strong release taking place. If we give our attention to it, it will go to the place in the body where the issue is stored and attention will help facilitate it’s release.
However, it’s not recommended as an ongoing practice as it tends to dull the mind. A practice that leads to samadhi, on the other hand, will naturally clear the emotional baggage as a side effect.
It rather depends on what a person most needs though. Some people need more grounding and a focus on right activity.
I’ll add that energy healing facilitated by higher levels of energetic literacy may be helpful as this can be more directly target specific issues that are causing trouble.
We’re not always able to become conscious of what the issue is.
Hi Jim!
really nice lived through example that shows that Emotion is more causal in our experience than thought. If we want to really let go, changing our thoughts will not do….but releasing the stuck energy in Motion will bring the Resolution.
All the best to you
Michael
Hi Michael
Just a point about causal. While I agree with the general point, it’s useful to note that while unresolved emotion creates a lot of mental noise, it’s not in itself causal. It too is created by a deeper grasping created by our core sense of identity.
When that is resolved, then the emotional drama stops being created, etc. Then it’s just winding down whats left.
What surprised me though is that this core identity is not (usually) resolved with awakening. Awakening resolves the concept of a me but not it’s core driver. The refinement process then resolves the emotional drivers behind the concepts. But it’s not until the approach to Unity that the core identity is seen. When that falls, the sense of separation between inside and outside ends and the Unity shift can happen.
Unity is a bigger change in sense of self than Self Realization. It’s also progressive, in that it grows over time.
I have some older articles where I talk about the 3 am-ego’s in this regard. 🙂
Hi David!
Ohh so much information 🙂
I meant causal from a very human standpoint. You are totally right with the drivers below the “me” but that is not the field for most people at this time…i wanted to keep it simple 😉
That the unity is a bigger shift is really interesting!!!
Have read our articles about the 3 egos.
In Neidan Gong (taoist inner alchemy) they have even more aspects which make up our “inner family”…..their concepts seem a little more complex in the beginning but can have very deep healing effects in the psyche and the physical body.
Yes energy healing can sometimes be very helpful, but if we are “trained” in looking at the felt aspect when we are triggered (even though still the “best” of us get sometimes lost in the story) we can use another way:
Using intention with a physical procedure. (before doing a short breathing session stating that we want to resolve that certain issue). Things will start to come up in our lives in the days after the breathing as triggering events best suited for us. While doing it this way can take a few weeks to resolve things, if we are skilled in energetic resolution and willing to face the stuff that comes up it will bring the final resolution.
Have seen this work with different issues like diseases etc. That works mostly like peeling and onion as the symptoms get better and better and more insight comes.
M
Hi Michael
Yes, the initial awakening requires only a moments surrender. By the time you get further along it becomes what Lorne calls a “perpetual surrender”.
The Brahman shift requires surrendering the entirety of the prior enlightenment so is still bigger. It’s known in the Vedas as the Great Awakening.
While I agree with your general points it’s useful to note that we can’t heal what we’re not conscious of. We don’t have to be directly or in detailed awareness of it, but we have to be aware of it enough to feel or intend with it. To bring the attention to it.
Sometimes, it can be useful to get an “outside” opinion from an uninvolved observer who has high energetic literacy.
Hi David!
Of course, an outside source is sometimes essential, but sometimes they see things and “causes” which we ourselves are not yet ready to face.
In my example with disease..the “issue” is obvious.
I would disagree here with you…..we do not need to be conscious of issues (but of course got to have an interested in exploring ourselves), but we need to be deeply “trained” in the arts of releasing (going out of the story into the felt-aspect of the experience).
I often had no awareness of issues yet intented “that the next layer that is best for my growth can come up”.
And was often suprised in what ways i was triggered. The key here is to work with the “outside” world (persons and situations) as messengers and this itself then also has to become more of a perpetual surrender (nice wording!) or it will not work.
The brahman shift……surrendering enlightenment itself….that seems like a BIG surrender 😉
When i experienced brahman in meditation it felt relativly normal like ok here “ends” conscsiousness and i “fell” out of it…..it felt a little suprising but like a natural “evolution”.
Yes, Brahman is a big surrender. The Vedas speak of some choosing not to make that step, especially women. In my own case, I was actually warned but took the step anyway.
Just consider stepping from a profound intimacy with all things and being the container of everything to being nothing. It was pretty devastating for one friend. But just at first. Then the advantages of the shift flower over time.
Hi David!
Wow could you do a little deeper with that?
You were warned to take the step? (because of the potential devastating effect?)
You seem to imply in all your writing that when brahman “comes” one looses the intimacy, bliss, love etc. But after some time it “integrates” and the good stuff comes back.
I had to make surrenders in my life that literally shocked my psyche for some days but the flow allways was with me (as you state so beautifully in your new article).
I mean to really surrender something is can be brutal at first but when things settle ones sees the new flowers. Maybe you could write an article about that? (about both sides of it, what happened with your friend etc. as more and more people will sooner or later be faced with that possible shift)
M
Hi Michael
Agreed.
To be clear, I don’t mean we have to be totally conscious of an issue but we have to be aware of something to bring it our attention. That said, there are also techniques like parts of RES that allow you to call on the divine to help. And of course there is healers. And forms of deep meditation that heal as an effect. I was meaning in this context/ this process.
For me though, it was usually what I became aware of. While I’ve taken a bit of basic healing stuff, I’ve not studied it much.
Hi Michael
No, it wasn’t devastating for me, although things went a little flat for a time. I was simply meditating and a process began. My form of “personal God” (I talk about this elsewhere) stepped in and warned me that if I continued, our relationship would end. This was rather a surprise but the impulse to continue was there, so I did.
This shift was not as clear as prior ones and took more time to process. But the relationship certainly ended. Where with God Realization we become God (in so far as we can in a body), with Brahman we transcend God.
I don’t know anyone else who has had that wrinkle in their shift. So thats not a typical step. But the change is the same for all.
It now appears that a relationship with the divine is restored further along, in this new context, much as what we loose in prior stages returns. But that hasn’t fully flowered yet so I can’t speak to it well.
Wow! I was riveted to this dialogue! Thank you David and Michael for sharing this interaction so intimately. Eddie
Hi Eddie
Thanks for the feedback. I am gradually sharing that more directly rather than just what I learned from it. Rick’s interview should be a nice big stretch on that account. (laughs)
See you tomorrow!
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May I humbly comment about “with Brahman, we transcend God”? Isn’t God an even more subtle concept that we transcend? Everyone’s concept about God is different, as you suggest “my form of ‘personal God'”. Just asking.
Hi MJ
Well – theres a few layers to this.
On one level we have our beliefs about things like God.
A little deeper we have our concepts of God, how we frame those beliefs.
The direct experience is a whole different thing that will often blow out our concepts and beliefs.
The style of the direct experience has 2 aspects – the impersonal and the personal. The Personal form is partly driven by our culture, expectations, etc but also by the divine itself. We might say concepts have an influence here – but we’re only talking about form or appearance. The divine itself and our relationship with that is much deeper.
Quite a bit further along in Unity, there is a progressive merging with all we experience. At a certain point, when consciousness is known both globally and at every point within itself (it’s totality), then we’re in a position to merge with God too. This shift is known as God Realization, in the sense I use the terms here.
At that point we subjectively transcend God and discover Brahman. As that develops into refined Brahman, we again discover the divine in this new, very different context.
There are various articles around the blog that explore aspects of this. Thanks for commenting.
Hi David,
Working as a Rolfer, we have a lot of stories about what it is that we are actually doing, this has been a struggle for me. There are purely physical descriptions about changing the tissue with force applied/ changing the body by changing the nervous systems relationship to it and the mental body image stored in the brain./ and Changing the body by changing it’s relationship to pure awareness/. The last one isn’t really taught to us but overall feels the most complete because it takes us all the way through the layers back to source or awareness ie. Something stable.
I often tell people feeling the feelings is what completes the processing and what ultimately resolves the problem.
I resonate with this description most, but the problem is….is it Rolfing?? Lol what does it have to do with structure, tissue, and alignment to gravity?
The other struggle is that most people don’t carry a concept of themselves that goes beyond the physical, I don’t want to push a worldview onto someone else.
Anyway it’s an ongoing inquiry and one that is quite rich in new experience and new learning. Trying to respect and honour where people are and how I understand the process myself.
I really enjoyed your series of articles on the strucure of the Energy body which I found recently as well.
Thanks
Hi Pete
I can’t tell you whats Rolfing or not. But broadly, the physiology stores unresolved mental and emotional baggage as a contraction. Because mind, emotions and body are so closely connected, we can take any of those paths to help resolve those contractions. For example, Yoga recommends light asana or postures prior to meditation, partly to loosen things up. Various forms of massage like Rolfing can have similar benefits.
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Meditation and emotional awareness are other approaches for those levels. It may be that advice on emotional awareness is not “Rolfing” but can be good general advice.
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For example, if we have an unresolved emotional trauma, a Rolfing session may help us loosen it up. But if the habit is there to recontract emotionally, the client won’t easily resolve the contraction. If they add some emotional awareness they can instead recognize the dynamic and complete the process.
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I would not say you’re changing the relationship with awareness unless that’s actually taking place. But yes, if you have some sense of source or presence and bring it back there, it can be helpful. And yes, more complete. But is that present for them?
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You don’t want to push a worldview, I agree. But making supplementary suggestions can be helpful. Then it’s up to them if they follow through.
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In case you’ve not seen it yet, a more recent exploration that references source is here:
https://davidya.ca/2018/10/13/the-healing-algorithm/
Thanks for the reply Davidya!
It seems to me that although the work focuses on the physical body, the level of the work can go deeper based on the clients level of awareness and willingness to open and receive whatever arises. Helping the client relax and connect in to sensation deepens the connection.
If there is awareness of sensation, and the sensation is being received by the client, isn’t that working on the level of awareness? If these tensions are being processed and released, isn’t that creating a clearer and deeper access to awareness?
I suppose it is a question of layers, where the tension can resolve at the physical level, but come back if the beliefs that are causing it havn’t been resolved or if the emotional drivers havn’t been looked at. I can continue to invite people to feel more deeply, to be aware, to allow, and to trust and just see what is ready to be let go of.
It does seem to me that people sometimes slip into deeper states of consciousness while receiving work, deep relaxation, slowed down breathing, sometimes in that state between wakefulness and sleep that I have thought of as Samadhi/ transcendence even if they are not clearly aware of it. The difficulty can be communicating the value of it.
They also sometimes report going into states where memories and images spontaneously play through awareness. Perhaps relating to the emotional or mental bodies. Somewhat like a dream state while still awake.
All this to say that although it is completely out of my control it does seem like the deeper layers of consciousness come into play during sessions at times.
Thanks for your thoughts,
I appreciate your insight 🙂
Hi Pete
Yes. Some people are more somatically oriented as well.
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On awareness, it depends on what is aware. Sometimes, it’s a quality of mind awareness that is noticing sensations. An identified mind is still wanting to control, so there can be some letting go as long as it’s not being touched/ the control isn’t being threatened. Conditional, we could say.
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More deeply, there can be pure awareness noticing. This is more of a detached observer and able to go deeper and bypass the mind.
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But yes, clearing tensions does increase sattva or clarity. That can allow deeper access to awareness itself. But all too often, people don’t know the difference between mind and awareness itself.
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And yes, that is a type of samadhi. Yoga describes degrees of it.
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Deep rest and release can certainly bring associated memories, images, and moods up. This is another aspect of purification. Just note that mind doesn’t like to have emotions without a reason. It will tend to associate emotions with those passing thoughts, etc, even if to unrelated things. For example, we have a wave of anger arise and a thought comes about breakfast. Rather than just letting the anger go, anger gets associated with breakfast. This is one of the ways the contractions grow.
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Yes, what you describe is deeper levels indeed. But awareness itself arises from beyond mind and intellect and is neutral. Mind isn’t neutral. 🙂
Thank you! That brings a lot of clarity.
I have had an opportunity to work with people who are further in to the process of spiritual unfolding, and the clarity and ease with which things resolve themselves is on a completely different level. The work feels effortless, like being a helper/ teammate of the innate intelligence within the person, working with the wisdom rather than constantly navigating the ego resistances.
Right, Pete. It’s like going from a conditional space to infinite space & freedom. Ideally, things simply arise through life and they’re seen and processed rather than avoided and resisted.
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Of course, there can still be some tougher nuts in there. But they’re much more easily dealt with then.
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The relationship with life as a whole does similar things. Rather than struggling, life seems to support us more and more and things get progressively smoother.