Getting Started

Maybe there is decision you have been trying to make. Or perhaps, you have been slightly annoyed or bugged by something in your neighborhood or at work. Maybe you have been hesitant to talk to someone about a concern you have. Or maybe you are holding a criticism against yourself.

Whatever it is, you may be aware of pushing it aside or thinking it is not important, yet you continue to ponder it.

Take a moment, reflect on the last couple hours or days, and see what comes to mind.

If several options come to mind, jot them down briefly and then scan your list and ask yourself if one stands out or is mysterious or surprising in some way. Circle or highlight that one. This will help you come back to it later in the inner work exercise.

Choosing something that is not your biggest trouble or problem is fine. By keeping the stakes low, you give yourself a chance to be a bit more relaxed and detached. This is helpful when working with your awareness.

You can try it now. Is there a question or problem that has been on your mind lately?

Scan your body as if from the inside out. Notice your breath or any other movements or sensations. What do you feel in your body?

Notice what you are noticing in this moment and then, let yourself notice what you notice next.

Follow this process, until you return to the starting point or some other destination.

So, I developed this approach to walking to help me follow subtle signals and tendencies I might normally overlook or ignore.

Go outside as you would to take a walk. Or if you are unable to walk, imagine doing so. Once you are outside, take a moment before you begin to walk and go inside yourself. That is, shift from your automatic or ordinary way of starting to walk (if you have one) and turn your attention inward.

Notice your body and its energy or lack of energy. Where in your body do you sense movement or sensation? Allow that experience to be present in your awareness for a few moments.

Now, slowly with awareness, openness, and a bit of detachment, look out at the world in front of you. Instead of using your everyday mind to decide which way to go, ask yourself if you are you pulled in particular direction?

Try pivoting slowly, turning to face to the left and then to the right. Let yourself turn back and forth or around until you settle on a direction. If you can do so safely, close your eyes as you slowly pivot. Notice when you feel a direction is somehow right or you feel aligned or pulled in a particular way.

Now, take a couple steps in that direction and notice how it feels. Walk in this direction until you get to an intersection, a dead end, a fork in the road, or some other decision point. It might even be your own internal sense that you have walked far enough or no longer want to continue in a certain direction.

As you approach this decision point, use your awareness again (instead of your knowing mind) to notice which way you feel pulled, curious, or drawn. Sense which direction has energy for you, and then take a few steps in that direction. If it feels right for you in this moment, continue walking until you reach either your next internal or external decision point.

Follow this process, until you return to the starting point or some other destination.

Now, as you hold it in your gaze, notice what it is that you are drawn to…is it the shape, the color, a movement, or something else about it? What is it about what caught your attention that is most interesting, mysterious or disturbing?

I am sitting in my garden as I write this and what caught my attention is a bunch of new iris shoots coming up. They’re green and about 10 inches tall, quite delicate and thin. As I hold them in my gaze, what most stands out to me in this moment about them is the points of each green blade. It’s their points, the pointy-ness that is important to me in this moment.

Take a moment with what caught your attention and describe it to yourself a little and also notice what is standing out to you. If you like, you can make a quick drawing of what is catching your attention. I’m drawing the pointy tips of the leaves with a few strokes, to capture the part that stands out to me.

If you would like to go farther with this experiment, listen to Adding Channels.

Amplifying means following the tendency you notice and doing something more, or letting it get bigger, or louder, or softer, or slower, or faster.

Here’s an example of amplifying.

If I go a bit further with my experience of the green shoots from Adding Channels, and I Iet my hand gesture expand into my arms and stretch by arms out straight in front of me almost as if flying like Superman. I notice that Superman has emerged without my intention.

Now, I use this flying gesture and take a pose to let myself imagine actually being Superman. For me, I like to close my eyes sometimes when I shapeshift into a figure. So, I close my eyes and I imagine Superman flying and then let myself become him flying. What I feel is the strength and the forward propulsion as I course thru the sky. And I find myself making a sound that feels like the sound of flying fast thru air – a kind of Whoosh!

I stay with this experience and use my awareness, body posture, movement and sound to become Superman flying. That’s an example of amplifying and shapeshifting.

If you would like now, try going a bit further with your experience from the Adding Channels recording. Go back to your drawing and your multi-channeled experience – that means experience that you created using a hand movement and adding sound.

Let yourself bring that experience back into your awareness. Use your hand gesture or body movement, if you had one, and make sounds that go along with it. As you do, use your awareness to see if there is a tendency or impulse to amplify the sound or movement. If there is, try that now.

Amplifying means following the tendency you notice and doing something more, or letting it get bigger, or louder, or softer, or slower, or faster. If it is hard to amplify or do something more, just imagine doing so. Try this a couple times until you get a sense of how to amplify your experience.

As you do this, ask yourself what kind of figure makes these sounds and moves like this? Take your time. Keep making the sounds and movements. Hold a visual image in your mind of what this movement and sound combination might look like and see if a figure emerges or comes to mind spontaneously.

A figure can be a person, real or imaginary, dead or alive, a machine of some kind (like a pulley or race car), an object that moves a particular way (like a leaf blowing or the page of a book being blown by the wind). Notice what comes up for you. You don’t need to figure this out with your mind, just focus on what you are doing and see if a figure emerges.

If a figure spontaneously emerges – great. Let yourself become it a bit.

Ask yourself how is this essence experience related to the problem you noted at the beginning? How does it help you with the problem or question you had?
If you did not note a problem or question to begin with, ask yourself where in your life this essence experience might be of help to you?

This is a place to allow or take note of whatever message comes up for you. It might or might not make sense immediately.

I often like to write down the message or wisdom and where it might apply, so I can imagine using it or even refer back to it later and reflect on it the days ahead.