Practices

Spacious freedom can be yours when you learn to free your mind of thought. The further you are in your practice and development, the easier this becomes. Eventually the mind is open, wide, spacious. Through spacious awareness, you are less easily upset or thrown off balance because you see more clearly the arbitrary construction of meaning making. Here is a simple practice to begin developing this capacity for expanded awareness.

Find a quiet place where you can sit quietly for five or ten minutes. Bring your attention to your abdomen, about three inches below your belly button. Imagine breathing in and out of that place. Let your belly relax and protrude. Let go of any muscle tension or holding there. Continue to breathe in and out, focusing all of your attention there. As you breathe and focus, empty your head of thoughts. Simply perceive or notice the breathing in…

Bring Your Attention to the Base of Your Spine. Let your attention rest there for a moment. Do your best to stop all other thoughts from entering your awareness. Imagine breathing in and out of your tailbone. Relax the muscles down through your legs as you rest your awareness on the base of your spine.

Now imagine a hollow tube about 2 inches in diameter rising up through the middle of your body. And then imagine inhaling from the base of your spine, up through the middle of your body, through your abdomen, your diaphragm, your chest, throat and head, all the way out of the top of your head. Feel the sensations through your body as you inhale. Notice where the breath gets caught or stuck. That is an area for you to tend to later.

As you exhale, simply relax and let go, back down through your body.…

Western culture in general does not acknowledge the presence and awareness of subtle energy. Yet when we pay attention, subtle energy and awareness are part of who we are. Just entering a certain home, sacred temple or special place in nature, we often sense a particular presence or feeling. When we see a stranger walking toward us on the street, we often have a sense of their demeanor before we are close enough to see the details of who they are. Flirting and emotional relating convey a lot of subtle energy, which we can choose to return or not. Becoming aware of these energies and setting boundaries bring greater feelings of safety, well-being, self-trust and wise discernment about who, when and how to engage in various situations. These choices ripple out into all aspects of ones life.

Practice: Begin to notice the shift in your felt sense when you encounter…