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January 11, 2007 at 6:41 am #20396
Would you say the practice of inner Smile which cultivates the neutral force in the form of self acceptance on the heart/soul level is the same as waht is called developing witness consciousness? Barry
January 11, 2007 at 4:18 pm #20397“Would you say the practice of inner Smile which cultivates the neutral force in the form of self acceptance on the heart/soul level is the same as waht is called developing witness consciousness?”
Not me. I wouldn’t say that.
But it all depends on what “witnessing” means to you. This is almost a trick question because if your definition of inner smile matches your definition of witnessing then the answer is yes. -A
January 12, 2007 at 4:17 am #20399Good point A. I patched that defintion together culling Michael’s POV on the Inner Smile. I like the words but here is my experience.
I spent mucho years in the yoga trenches of the 80’s where witness conscioiusnesss was the be all end all of meditation. We did it via chanting, asana, devotion, service. Life developed around and was strengthened by this cultivation of inner self.
Much of this practice was focus on the the third eye as the center or seat of this. I got this. It is not too difficult to open this center with time and focus. I attribute much of my abilities to observe, hold difficult space and teach to this cultivation.
This space though is cold. There isn’t feeling here and as such it also supports a certain dissociation pattern that comes with modern life. Or at least my life. In this example, discomfort in daily life is met with distant witnessing. I am not saying this is how it was taught but we all do the same practices and each has our own unique response and application based on individual intention.
Now, the inner smile practice feels warm. I am engaged and separate at the same time. It is a harder practice because the areas I am smiling into are harder. Belly, chest, back, organs.
I did a practice earlier this year going to sleep with Michael’s leading of his version of the Smile with the idea my application of it consciously would be easier. That experiment is still in progress. I listened to the tape again sitting up recently and found it very overwhelming.
Perhaps it is as simple that the early practices I did were at a time when I believed I needed to remain distant from body for various ‘safety’ reasons. Now that has changed and a fuller embodiment is what I intend. Barry- still interested in your sense of these two practices.
January 12, 2007 at 5:10 pm #20401Yeah I would say it comes down to your definition. I find the word acceptance to be very appropriate for me and the culture I grow up in. In fact getting clear on individuals definitions on these loaded words has helped me understand where people are coming from. Often assumptions that the same word means the same thing for every one gets you in trouble. As I get better at listening I pick up on more on the intention, mine and others. I find we never lie we just do not listen. Sending a warm smile your way.
With this post I am not trying to answer your question as I am just sharing.
May everything be right with your soul.
January 12, 2007 at 10:51 pm #20403Hey there,
Now that I’ve read your last post I am certain about what you mean about witnessing and what is going on with you.
Yogic stuff in general is very one-sided. Few actually resolve the earth/sexual/psychological energies which are at the root of everything we’re doing here with standard yogic practices because they are designed to sublimate the “lower” energies of the body rather than to integrate them in an effort to “get off the ground.”
Michael has written extensively about this (see his article “In Search of Spiritual Orgasm”.
Observing is effete and cold and pretends to make one spiritual when what it really does is separate you from your self. It does not work on the principle of loving acceptance and nurturing of whoever you are and pushes the “po” and “hun” in you apart.
Po is your earthly, yin self. Hun is your heavenly, yang self. Alchemical practices are designed to let the two get together in harmony so you are a wholeness. Most yogic stuff is designed to move your energy up the spine into the head/heart so you do not fall prey to the pull of your earthly nature. Unfortunately, the results are bad.
I clearly remember my yoga teacher in the early 70s saying to me, “Never meditate on anything below your heart.” What a mistake that was! It’s like having a three floor home and being afraid of using the bottom floor.
The inner smile and orbit circulate the water and fire energies which naturally mix and replenish each other when we sleep. (That is the predominant function of sleep.)
You are not really “separate” when you practice the inner smile. What you are is larger. You have created space in which to embrace what is happening inside you rather than to separate from it. So it gives you the feeling of having room to move while simultaneously embracing everything that’s going on inside you (rather than trying to control it or get away from it).
If you are feeling overwhelmed, sometimes it is because you are not relaxed and rooted, trusting comes from this. You are getting into a level of acceptance of yourself and your energies which you have kept at bey previously. Relax. Breathe. Feel. And smile to it all. Let it all in and let it all out.
If you are not doing standing practices, I recommend that you start now.
In the spirt of “full embodiment!”
Smiles,
AlexanderJanuary 13, 2007 at 5:10 pm #20405Thanks A. Yes, I am not only utilizing mucho standing practices but have moved to a side of the world whose earth energies feel safe to me. A deep embracing quiet running charged under my feet.
It isn’t easy. I tend towards a pattern of self oppression and explosion which makes my trip a little less graceful than your words imagine, however the intention remains simiar. To become larger and in the process of integration. Barry
January 13, 2007 at 6:29 pm #20407Barry, you might try playing with the dynamic part of you that oppresses and explodes. That has a lot of good energy in it. Make it an ally.
Something I’ve said a lot on this forum is that all our aspects have ultimate good intentions. Your oppressor/exploder has a job to do and you gave it to him. Find out what it is. Help him do it. Find out what he is really trying to accomplish and assist him instead of trying to control him or whatever you’re doing.
If you want more details on the process of how to do this let me know.
-A
January 14, 2007 at 4:25 am #20409Yes, I am now just making friends with this pattern, allowing it to emerge with less apology to whatever forces I have internalized as ‘normal’. I am doing this grounded in intimate relationship as well and not just therapy or workshops which is really the true edge I have been looking for. Space for reality.
I like the term ‘making this an ally’ for that is what is happening. We somehow get into our heads what growth in relationship to self and the other is supposed to look like and it usually isn’t what we look like. Funny thing.
Intuition tells me it is a process of uncovering repressed energies be they thoughts, emotions, bodily functioning or soul messages. After these energetic tsunamis, which do not involve harming another, space is cleared for reintegration through movements, standing and seated meditation, and writing- and then feeds realtionship in the world. Mostly time just allows for greater personal saturation.
I am interested in your skillful process. Please send along. Barry
January 15, 2007 at 3:15 am #20411Hiya,
You’ll have to let this evolve for you in an organic way but the basic process is called “Core Transformation” and is from a book of that name by Connie Rae Andreas.
Every behavior we have has within it a positive intention and is a part of us that is trying to get to a “core state.” A core state can be anything like oneness, wholeness, complete peace, completion…
The technique is a series of steps, all the same, up which you take that aspect of your personality.
Take a few minutes when you won’t be disturbed and go into a nice meditative state with the intention of communicating with that aspect and resolving the relationship.
When you’re ready ask the part if it’s willing to do the process with you.
If it is, you go on. If it’s not you have to interact with the part of you that is resisting. The process for this is the same.
Let’s assume you have no initial resistance. You can ask for the part’s name and for a visual/sensory on it to build contact. Whatever comes is right.
Let the part know you intend to help it fulfill its prime directive. That you want to help it get to where it has been trying to go all this time.
Since this is a heart process and since you are talking to yourself you must be honest and sensitive or it won’t work.
Connect with the part and its behavior and ask it what it wants. Just that. Find out what it wants by creating oppression.
This is where it becomes really interesting. You then say to the part: “Imagine and feel at the deepest level what it would be like to fully experience having that.”
So what you’re doing is giving that part permission to have it and telling it that it has the ability to create that experience on its own without you. Parts like this are trying to get us to give things to them. There is the deeply imbedded belief in their own powerlessness. You turn the power over to them for their own fulfillment while you guide them to it.
You sit back and don’t interfere with the process this aspect goes through. It will likely be very short but you don’t have to know what’s going on. Ask it to tell you when it’s done.
This is step one and it is repeated over and over through the levels until you get to the core state.
So if your part creates oppression and then explosion because, say, it wants “release,” you let it experience “release.” You probably will feel a shift when it goes there. Then you say, “Now that you’ve got release, and it’s yours fully and completely, what do you want that’s even more important? What comes after that?”
The answer might be “power.”
You then ask the part to completely experience that until it has it and feels fully satisfied.
Now that it has power it might want or be brought into a state of, say, “control.”
You see? You keep going like that getting closer to the core every time.
With each step you have to allow the part to fully experience the fulfillment of each thing its getting. Eventually, after several steps, the part will reach its ultimate state and there will be nothing else it wants after that.
So you may have a progression like this:
Oppression > release > power > freedom > peace > being loved > fulfillment > unity.
If there is nothing else the part wants after it hits unity (in this example) then its reached its core state.
Have it fully and truly experience that until it is totally satisfied and then ask it to see how having that state affects its desire to do the behaviors it started out with- to oppress and then explode. Because it now has its core state it will no longer be interested in doing those things.
Whatever depth you are able to reach in your subconsciousness at the time will determine how much psychic energy is freed by the process and how much change you will see from it. It is important that you confirm for the part that what it has achieved is real and lasting and belongs to it. It can access the state all the time now. It is likely that the part will be ecstatic about its new experience and reveal itself to you very differently then.
When you reach this point take the part back to the time when it was first born in you. You ask it when this was. It will tell you an age. Sometimes it is pre-birth. Whatever comes is right. Just go with it.
You instruct the part to take its core state back in time to when it was born and to jump into your timeline and go forward through all your life experiences together until it reaches the present.
Remember to breathe a lot through this whole thing so it integrates.
When that’s done send it back once more to the time of your conception and go down the timeline once again.
Then merge the part into your physical body down to the bones.
That will do it.
Giving ourselves what we really want produces alchemy.
Have fun, Alexander
January 15, 2007 at 7:26 am #20413Hey A.
Very similar to a technique I have been using this past week, pretty synchronistic. There is one big difference though that is crucial and part of what I am getting mirrored back from our exchanges.
The importance of rooting and trusting the body as alchemical cauldron. I noticed much movement in my formal practice and little standing still. Went for it and wow. You can fill in the blanks.
Anyway the difference in this journey and the other is immersion into a center or core in the body. My experience in brief:
Self destructive thoughts> safety> creativity> love> peace.
In time line the outer most experience of self destructive thoughts were held in the larger sphere of safety and then in the larger sphere of creativity, etc. I felt the larger the sphere the deeper the center from where it emerged in the psyche. That was powerful to feel and carry through the time line to now.
It also went hand in hand with the benefits of standing practice. I love when practices feed each other.
Thanks again, Barry
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