| | Life's Greatest Adventure!
| | | | | | Hi Friend,
I write a lot about direct perception and how important it is for your journey of spiritual awakening to be able to recognize and experience the energy of your own horoscope. Your horoscope is simply a symbol of your own energy field - your own personal mandala.
To be able to experience our energy, our Self, directly, we usually begin with some kind of technique, and those techniques or exercises that are designed to support us in direct experience are collectively known as 'meditation'. Irrespective of the particular tradition or school of thought in which they arise, every meditative technique* has a single underlying purpose: to bring the you into a deeper awareness and experience of yourself and your own true nature.
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| | So this week I thought I'd share my most favorite meditation. This is the one I practice every day and it can be done by everybody - even people who "can't meditate". The reason "can't meditate" is in quotes, is because in truth everyone can meditate. When some people think or say that they can't, they probably don't realize what meditation is, and don't recognize those times when they actually are meditating. In it's simplest sense meditation is simply about being aware.
The Four Chozhag
This practice comes from the Tibetan tradition and is known as the four 'chozhag' or 'let be''s. As the name suggests , it is a practice of 'letting be'.
To practice this meditation you follow the four 'chozhags':
1. Your body is left as it is.
2. Your eyes are left seeing whatever.
3. Let mental events be.
4. Leave your entire sensory and inner experience as it is.
That's it.
It can be practiced anywhere, at any time. Walking, sitting, standing, working, resting. You will notice it is a simple practice of bringing deeper awareness to yourself.
It might be best to practice this while sitting for 10-20 minutes once each day, until you become familiar with the process. Then you will be able to practice it anywhere and everywhere and, it is highly recommended that you do! In other words, practice all day, throughout the day, no matter what you are doing.
Too Simple?
The reason many people don't practice this technique is because it actually seems too simple! We think there has to be some more complicated practice to do, chanting mantras or something. You can do those kinds of practices and each has a slightly different effect, but if your goal is to simply experience your Self directly, then all you need to do is rest in pure awareness, remain very alert, and practice the four 'let be's'.
Relaxed and Alert
Once you begin you may actually fall asleep. This is because many of us are only familiar with two states of consciousness: awake and busy or relaxed and asleep. As soon as we begin to relax, we can just fall asleep out of habit. Basically we have our system wired up (conditioned) so that as soon as we relax we fall asleep, because that's what we do when we get into bed at the end of the day. With practice you will soon learn to relax and remain awake.
The Control of The Mind
As you begin practicing the four let be's you will start to notice how your mind tries to control everything. The purpose of the practice is to experience ourselves directly, so we want to gently release the control of the mind. The four 'let be's' are a way of gently yet persistently, releasing the control of your conditioned mind so that you can be aware of your experience directly, as it is happening.
1. Your body is left as it is. You may notice your mind thinking things like, Am I in the right position? Should I sit cross legged? Am I sitting straight enough? Your mind might be staying in control by constantly trying to re-adjust your body position. Just notice, and leave your body as it is.
2. Your eyes are left seeing whatever. This is a tricky one for many of us because we can be quite distracted by visual objects. Most meditation techniques involve closing your eyes to shut out distractions, but this practice is about learning to relax your eyes and leave visual objects alone. Try gazing softly just in front of you, resting your eyes, without focusing or 'grabbing' at anything in your visual field. Just let gentle 'seeing' happen.
3. Let mental events be. One of the biggest myths about meditation is that we are trying to make the mind be quiet, or trying to 'stop thinking'. We can become very active in our minds by trying to make ourselves stop thinking! The mind does become quieter, but not by doing anything. The trick is to notice thoughts, visions, fantasies, etc. all manner of 'mental events', and simply let them be. Let them rise and fall without following them.
Here's what that looks like:
Thought: "I wonder what we'll have for dinner tonight." At that point, notice a thought just happened, and just let it be. Rest.
Engaging it looks like: "I wonder what we'll have for dinner tonight... maybe that leftover pasta... but it's a bit dried out... maybe I'll make some sauce to go with it.. but no, I don't fancy that... perhaps I'll do something else instead.. what might that be..."
That is our normal pattern of following thought. One thought leads to the next, then the next, and so on. When we simply let mental events be, we just notice each thought as it arises, then let it fall without wrestling with it or following it to the next one. Simply let it be.
4. Leave your entire sensory and inner experience as it is. Our normal tendency is to think about our experience. So while sitting you might get pins and needles in your foot. First you experience it, then you might think "I'm getting pins and needles in my foot. Should I move? What will happen if I don't?" The practice is to simply be aware of sensations as they arise, and let them be. Practice letting them be without thinking about them or analyzing them.
You may want to analyze your experience: "Oh my mind is so busy today, I wonder if that's because transiting Mercury in Gemini is conjunct my natal mercury in Gemini". Your experience and your observations are very valuable and you would be wise to keep a journal, but practice tending to your journal and your analysis at a later time, so that it doesn't interfere with your direct experience of YOU in the moment.
When you become skilled at the four 'let be's' you can rest for longer and longer periods in pure awareness. When that happens, you are experiencing your horoscope, your own energy field, directly.
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That's all for now! See you next week and, in the meantime... happy exploring!
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Learn To Meditate
A Quick Start Guide for Beginners
by Ruth Hadikin
Written in a very clear simple and
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Available on Kindle or as a .pdf download click here
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| | Ruth Hadikin, B.Sc. specializes in the science of Soul Astrology, as applied to living our Soul Path and Life Purpose. She is dedicated to supporting people to live from the Soul in 'Life's Greatest Adventure'.
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