?? THE THREADS OF CONNECTION ??

Hello, my friends!

Today I’m reflecting on one of the most powerful meditative practices I’ve encountered.

Now, there are so many beautiful traditions and practices out there, and I love to explore all that I can.

But some of the really incredible stuff has never been taught to me. It’s just dropped in in the process of being in that space and doing the work.

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One of the most profound and transformative experiences I’ve had came from an open-eyed meditation.

I was working with perception, opening to each and every thing that I was seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting. Without focusing on any one of them.

There is a curious feature of human perception: everything is nothing.

If you want to focus on absolutely everything, it’s important to take it all in without focusing on any one detail in particular.

In other words, focusing on nothing. Which is a challenge.

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So, practicing this, I sat in a comfortable position, back neutral and aligned, breathing smoothly and evenly, as relaxed as possible.

I placed my gaze forward, softly, and allowed myself to see everything in my visual field, expanding little by little until my focal point included everything available to my eyes.

And then I stayed with this, breathing and letting this way of perceiving anchor in.

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Then, when it became more natural, I began noticing all the subtle sounds around me, without shifting away from the full visual field.

Bird sounds, distant traffic, the crash of the waves, the sough of the wind through the leaves.

Again, opening and allowing, rather than trying to focus on any one bit.

And then, once that was solid, the sensations of my body, the feeling of the seat beneath me, sun and wind on my skin, subtle internal feelings of the body, just opening and allowing.

Opening to all the smells that came, all the subtle tastes.

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It was at this point in the meditation that I noticed something interesting.

When I could hear a bird, it’s almost as if I could envision a line of connection between the bird and the center of my consciousness.

It’s like a thread of energy linking me with the bird, and with every single focal point of my perception.

All I see is my sight, all I hear is my sound, all that I experience is me.

And all potential focal points for this experience were like threads of energy linking me with that focal point.

And, upon each thread there was a vibration, a quality of emotion, a sense of memory or story.

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And it didn’t stop at things that I was perceiving in the outer world.

The same thing happened with things I perceived in the inner world.

A person could cross my mind when I was in this space, and I could envision the thread.

The connection running from the center of my consciousness to my representation of this individual in my inner world.

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So let’s say that you have someone who you always find yourself in conflict with.

It may be difficult to renegotiate your dynamic with this person by speaking to them or coming to an understanding.

But, no matter where the other person is on the issue, we can get still, and tune in to the thread of connection that we carry around this individual.

We can tune in to the vibration, the feeling we carry on this thread, with its attendant story.

And we can process that feeling, letting it come into the body, allowing it, breathing through, and holding space for the feeling to shift in its own time and way.

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The really beautiful thing about this, is that every time, it has created a profound difference in my interactions with that individual.

Just by clearing the charge and story that I had connected to them in my inner world, my interactions in the outer world shifted almost as if by magic.

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This is a bit more abstract than much of what I share.

That said, I’ve found this to be one of the most practical insights I’ve encountered, and it lets me address and work through things much more deeply and directly than before.

I am incredibly grateful for the human ability to go deep, to go within, and to bring forth time-honored wisdom in ways that are completely unique and new.

I am grateful for the ability that we each have to go within, to discover, and to bring what we find forth to share with the world.

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I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!

What beautiful and powerful practices and insight have come to you from within, rather than from books or teachers?