I am here at our yoga, or as I like to call it, embodied awareness, and listening to Michael Singer's podcast called "Doing the real work to free yourself."

​https://youtu.be/SDp9I9qwjrQ

I love his opening line, which says, "Spiritual growth and personal growth are exactly the same thing."

He goes on to say that we are naturally spiritual, and the only thing in the way of our spiritual development are (in AA terms here) our character defects.   He says that working out these things is the path to enlightenment.  He compares it to the flow of a river or stream, when there is no resistance, or nothing in the path, the water flows smoothly.  When there are rocks, and boulders and all sorts of obstacles, the water is rough.  If we want life to flow smoothly we must remove the boulders.  Uugh.

What struck me here was the comparison between this and the insights I had been receiving from the Wim Hoff breathing.  Each time I found that still space, I was shown something that prevented the flow.  I learned what I was doing that was blocking me from peace and oneness.  What a beautiful parallel from my experience as it is described by Dr. Singer in this podcast.

I hope you too find ways to keep growing and removing those blocks, so that you may live your best life. 

Here we have CoDA to help working out those kinks in our emotional lives and relationship, to live a more grace-filled life.  We can also help you work out the kinks in our bodies too.

Join us for Embodied Awareness as we continue to listen to Michael Singer's brilliant teachings. Come stretch and release the resistance and tension, and breathe in healing prana together with us.
 
Monday and Wednesday 11:11 to 12:12.

I have worked a bit with Betty Edward's book "Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain".  It is a great way for those who think they are not creative to start to open up to the type of perceptual awareness used by artists everyday.  I was surprised to find out that the military used this book in their 20 year remote viewing program.  

This interview was recorded by Jeffrey Mishlove with Lyn Buchanan, MA, who participated in the Army's remote viewing program based at Fort Meade, Maryland.  He now teaches ways in which we can all develop these senses.  The power of opening up our senses expands our intelligence.  For highly creative people, this can be a validation of all they are naturally inclined to see.  For those who haven't yet tapped their inner creativity, this can improve the quality of someone's life.  

The Buddhist's 8-fold path is founded most significantly on it's first two pillars:  Accurate Perception and Correct Expression.  Accurate Perception is number one!  Most of us see through a limited lens of our past experiences.  Instead of drawing the tree in front of us, we draw a symbol of a tree.  Learning to see what is actually in front of us when drawing, seems to allow us to open our awareness to all aspects of what is truly in front of us.

So check out the book, and check out the video.  Give the exercises a try and see how your life improves.

Exercises to Cultivate Remote Viewing with Lyn Buchananfrom Jeffrey Mishlove's New Thinking Allowed
​Posted: Aug 11, 2018

youtu.be/wDO8CdJV_kc

Not far off from "Don't Rush" is the awareness that worry ruins the life experience.

I don't think I could find many folks who would disagree with this one.  Constant worry moves me out of my experience and into a state of discomfort.  Perhaps your worry is mixed with anxiety or the feeling of impending doom.  That tends to dampen the day.

I can worry about pretty much anything. 

One of my big ones is that "I am not doing it right."  That one can certainly come up when trying to do my best.  What if I couldn't do it wrong?  What if just showing up was enough?  The more I worry about not doing it right, the less I allow myself to experience just what is happening to and through me.

Life unfolds on its own.  I get to participate in that unfolding.  Worrying that things are not going right, is like worrying about the way a wave lands on the sand.  My worrying won't change it.

So why not just let go of worry and follow the inspired moments one after another.  Live your best life by being present to it.

youtu.be/d-diB65scQU

​

From the Wim Hoff experience, came the divine wisdom of "Don't Rush".

It seem like a privilege when we can be at ease and not in a rush these days, but it is also a choice.  It is important that I set aside the time I need to be present in the moments of the day.  When I am rushing to the end of my day or my life, I am missing the beauty and opportunities to truly live.  

So just for today, breathe deeply and slowly.  Enjoy the moments. Listen to the wind.  Watch the clouds go by.  This is the secret to serenity and the good life.

This insight came when I was trying to break the 2 minute mark.  What I had noticed was that I would take the in-breath without even noticing it, and although it was blissful and I benefited from the breathing, I started to get frustrated.  I wanted to get to that 2:30 time.  I started to  focus on the time, pushing myself to get to it.  I was directing my energy towards the time, and not being in the moment.  I lost the experience, and wasted my energy.

It made me think of a reading from the book the "Zen Mind, Beginners Mind"

“But as long as you think, "I am doing this," or "I have to do this," or "I must attain something special," you are actually not doing anything... when you do not try to do anything special, then you do something. When there is no gaining idea in what you do, then you do something.”
― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

This is the problem, when I bring my effort or trying into it, I actually ruin the experience.

So much of this book speaks of this:

“Our effort in our practice should be directed from achievement to non-achievement.”

or

“If you think you will get something from practicing zazen, already you are involved in impure practice.”

So just practice, without adding anything to it.  The addition only weighs down the experience.  This is the key to peace and serenity.  

I have been doing Wim Hoff Breathing now for about a year on and off.  Most recently, I have begun to work with the space of stillness that comes during the breath hold as there is a great deal of knowing and insight that comes through the stillness.

For those of you who have never done Wim Hoff breathing, the process is a bit like this.  You breathe heavily (focusing on the inhale) for 40 breaths, and then exhale and hold for 1, 2 and even 3 minutes or more.  If you listen to Wim himself, he has a very encouraging voice to guide you through.  Here is the first recording I used, and I even go back to it when I have less time.

​https://youtu.be/tybOi4hjZFQ

Insights have actually come from the very beginning of the process, as I worked with stilling my mind.  At first, every time I came to the breath hold, I would feel this tremendous wave of fear.  I felt the compulsion to get up and see what was going on.  I always thought someone was at the door, or coming into the house.  It was weird.  As I let the feeling pass, it got less and less, and eventually went away.  After this, I started to experience other "mental bad habits".  I would worry about am I doing it right, or what are others thinking.  All of this blocked me from being in that state of pure being.  These habits of mind were basically ruining the peace of my life experience.  

What I have come to believe, is that during the stillness I am able to clearly see my mind in action, and have enough distance to separate myself from it.  This is not unlike the goals in most meditative practices where you seek to dis-identify from the ego, or form, and learn to just be, present with self, or the I AM presence.

Because these insights have felt so powerful, I have decided to start sharing them here as blog posts.

This first one, is: Discipline Is Its Own Reward.

Personally, I am a rather undisciplined person.  I tend to follow my impulses.  I tend to hesitate and lay around, and look at what I need to do rather than to do it.  I tend to hit the snooze button, or not set the alarm at all.  The insight from this session of Wim Hoff was so clear that it has started the type of routine that someone like me can follow.  It is simply "4-7".  What this represents is a block of time I commit to getting lingering projects finished.  It can be AM or PM, depending on my schedule.  All those little lingering things.  Instead of walking by the clutter, I pick it up for 10 minutes.  For those three hours I am actively working on completing things.

So far it seems to be working.  I am seeing the rewards.  So give it a try.  Maybe your discipline routine will be different.  Maybe you just start meditating, or going to the gym every day.  Or maybe you even start doing Wim Hoff breathing every day.

The rewards it bring will be worth the effort.

I have been attending a course through the Transformative Learning Foundation led by Ba and Josette Luvmour.  It has sparked several new trains of thought within me, and has opened me up to a different way of being with those around me.  It is almost like I am just now becoming aware of the person in a true sense, connecting intentionally to their field of consciousness energy.  I can only explain it as a deepening of my awareness of the other.  The course itself is on Natural Learning Relationships, a curricular model of education based in large part on attending to the emerging consciousness of children.  

From our readings:
Consciousness of the Developing Child
Is the Future of Humanity

On the Nature of Consciousness

 Consciousness is that which knows—(the knowing faculty)
 A developmental stage is a Field of Knowing
 The Field of Knowing—a knowledge domain
 A knowledge domain—the region in which the child’s consciousness accesses
specific capacities and capabilities
 Like Buddhist meditation, states of consciousness transform through fields of
knowing (similar to Bardo states) in mutual dependence upon content and
context.
Consciousness is primarily evidenced in changes in perception, which determines
behavior, identity construction, ego development, relationship, knowledge formation,
and emotional connection (Gebser, 1984). Child development is the emergence of
different fields of knowing from birth through age 23 (Luvmour & Luvmour, 2006).

It has been a fascinating course to participate in, and each week we begin with an exercise exploring our own consciousness.  As we started this week with examining the consciousness phase of Reasonable Being, we engaged in an exercise to place ourselves within time.  The exercise was designed to create a feeling of the expansiveness of time.  We got comfortable and closed our eyes and then were asked  to think of what we might consider a "long" time.  I may have messed up the exercise a bit since my first amount of time I thought of was the infinite expanse of eternity.  So as our instructor asked us to keep doubling that amount and tripling it, all I could come up with is that time doesn't even exist, or it is an echo of some sort.

It was quite interesting. 

At the end we were asked two questions.  First,
            "In this framework of time, what is the most important thing?"
Almost everyone came up with Love, and Self in various forms.

The second question was,
              "In this framework of time, what is the purpose of it all?"

 There were many more variations here.  Family, Unity, Connection.  Mine was to eliminate the illusion of separateness.  So those all seemed connected.  But there was one person who said, there is no meaning or purpose.  I had a hard time with that response because I believe this is the core of the problems we face.  When we cannot find our purpose or meaning, then nothing we do matters.  But we matter.  What we think and do matters.

What we are experiencing here on Earth is the product of all of our choices.  We have a choice now as to what direction we will go and where we will end up.  This is a critical choice in this moment as we are facing new nanotechnology that will create physical immortality, and a prison for our spiritual being.  This is the choice between humanity and something pseudo-human.  

One of my first courses in graduate school was neuroimmunology.  Our consciousness can help direct our immune system, it was designed that way.  But can our consciousness direct nanotech?  It was not designed to do so.  We have hardly scratched the surface of the potential of human consciousness and we would choose to destroy that potential by clogging it up with microscopic robots?  I hope not.

I have been listening to Lars Muhl and his wisdom teachings from the perspective of the Essenes.  Please check him out for inspiration https://youtu.be/CVUAeVn3NqI
 
He gives wisdom and practical knowledge on how to work with our higher cognitive faculties to help us live more heart centered lives and light with our true purpose.  In his book "The Gate of Light", he speaks about the difference between brain intelligence and heart intelligence.

"In the Western world we are led to believe that the highest level a person can aspire to is the intellectual, the mental.  We try to solve all mankind's problems through methodical, pragmatic thinking.  But we are forced to admit, time and again, that this way of thinking only produces more problems than we had in the first place.
"Not before we admit that it is only through the intelligence of the heart that we can seriously widen our horizons and deepen our insights will mankind move toward brighter times.
"The intelligence of the heart works on a completely different frequency from that of the brain.  Whereas the intelligence of the brain is connected to the electrical system of the body, the intelligence of the heart connects with the Heavenly Essence and the Plane of Unity, God."

This is a beautiful description of how desire and emotions play such a powerful role in creation.  These are the source of our connection to the Quantum Consciousness Field.  Lars Muhl rightly points out that the Essenes model of reality very much aligns with that of those now studying the quantum nature of reality and the way consciousness participates in this.  

The point is that we are not passive observers of our lives and the world around us.  We are active co-creators of our own reality.  Until we start to make those choices that will lead us towards a more beautiful life, that much longer will we prolong our own suffering.  So pick up the pieces of your life, let go of the limiting habits of thought and feeling, and help to co-create the world of tomorrow, today.

I have attended so many workshops on healing and spiritual practices and those that are often most attended are ones devoted to increasing prosperity and abundance.  I received a handout at one that included 31 affirmations for prosperity.  It somewhat surprised me that the affirmations weren't all about having positive thoughts around money, most of them related to tuning into my purpose, living my truth, and following my path.  

For example,  "My energy is focused and directed toward my goals."
Or, "I find my life's work by looking within rather than without."

There are a few also, trying to remove some of the blocks or emotional pitfalls that block me from trusting my path.

"I send love to my fears and hold them up to the light of my soul."
"I let go easily, trusting that nothing leaves my life unless something better is coming."

I am trying to remain in this state of faith and trust as I am participating in the emergence of this vision with much trepidation.  Even though I am constantly working on my inner-thought life, and lately in particular have been focused on fearing nothing, it is very difficult to believe the vision at times when I am not seeing it in front of me.

What I know to be true is that starting from the beginning takes time.  All of these learning experiences are here to help me grow and evolve.  People show up when they are needed, and all of the help needed always arrives just on time.

So, if you are wanting more abundance in your life, don't be afraid of taking that step, no matter how small, towards your hearts desire.  Each journey begins with a tiny step.  Every step, no matter how wobbly is part of the learning process, and is moving you towards something greater.

Living your best life is what you were meant to do.  Opening up to this, creates a flow of divine presence.  

Most importantly, Don't Fear Failure!

From the book by Robert A. Russell "The Way of Mastery."

"Failure isn't even remotely possible...why?  If you plant a garden and the seed does not turn into a beautiful flower but withers and dies, that experience is a creation and you have done it, and because all events in space and time, everything you experience are completely neutral, there is no failure.

The only failure seems to occur within your own consciousness.  When you believe it is not acceptable to receive and own and embrace your  creation with love and with innocence. Instead you can choose to look upon it and to experience it, and recognize your perfect safety in doing so.  For it is from there that you can decide whether to continue in that form of creation, or whether to think differently and approach things differently."  

When I let myself view all of the forms of the creation of this project as beautiful in their own way, I let go of the fear.  I can create from love, instead of trying to manipulate outcome out of fear.  I can enjoy the process.  I can connect to God's vision of my life and feel the flow of abundance.

It is amazing what we have access to in today's digital world.  A few years back I signed up for the PA (Parapsychological Association) newsletter, and I have watched as their conventions went from physical to virtual.  This latest offer I couldn't resist.  Anthony Peake was speaking on the topic of Egregores.  

This is not unlike what Napoleon Hill was referring to as Cosmic Habit Force, or what Rupert Sheldrake calls the Morphic Field.  There is an energetic that serves as a powerful force repeating habits and patterns.  The Egregore is special in that it seems to have something of a personality.  

So I signed up.  It was a mere 25$ and worth ten times the price.  One of the women spoke about how people's OBE *out of body experiences, or astral travel, is starting to involve more VR reality.  Another spoke on the connection between UFOs and owls.  And another spoke on the Way of the Wyrd.  So cool!

At the end we got to have round table discussions.  It was so inspiring to hear people speak about using our awareness of the metaphysical to help address some of the intractable problems we are facing today.  I have always felt that any solution to our issues in all the major institutions would necessitate a spiritual aspect.  

The very practical element of Anthony Peake's talk was to be consciously aware of the energies behind the formation of any endeavor, or institution.  That gave me pause to consider what the energies have been around the creation of the Community House.  First and foremost, it was a response to the issues I saw in my neighborhood, but also in response to the failings of the major institutions of education.  The intention was to break the mold and show that we CAN DO things differently.

The intention was, and still is, to hold space for people to share their gifts.  The intention is to be collaborative and cooperative.  The intention is to be welcoming, and to create avenues for people to meet in loving community.  

Now that I say the intention, is the enactment of this vision unfolding as I would hope?

For one thing, I can say there have been some false starts.  I am naïve, as green as they come, and I am at times grasping at straws.  I have had to pull back from more than one attempt to push forward into the vision before things were ready, but what is the energy this creates?  One of flexibility?  One of indecision?  One of responsiveness?  One of letting go of that which does not serve?  One of perseverance?

One of willingness to grow and make mistakes?

Given my understanding of how these energies create the foundation of an organization and tend to be repeated, it is important to be aware of what the energy behind the enterprise really is.

I was feeling rather unmotivated this morning, and when I get in this state of mind I find myself seeking inspiration.  I started watching a Napoleon Hill original recording on Cosmic Habit Force.  He had such a way with words, I must say.  He goes over so much information in this short lecture my notes started going off the page.  So I decided to look up some of the concepts he mentioned and came across his approach to strengthening goals through the Master Mind group. 

I have written before on the Power of 8, a group visioning process developed by Lynne McTaggert designed to help with healing.  This has been a dream of mine to create such a group.  
So, I was excited to happen upon Napoleon Hill's Master Mind group, in which a group of people would help energize each others goals.   Check out the blog link here.

This felt particularly relevant this month as we are working together to remove blocks and develop habits of envisioning our own success.  The power of the group cannot be estimated.  So find a supportive group to help you achieve health and wealth through learning to envision what you want instead of what you don't want.

Join us tonight as we share in some practices to Remove Blocks and Envision Success.
Bring your goals so we can energize them together.

​Abigail Larrison is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Removing Blocks_H2Bcr3@tiv32
Time: Apr 12, 2022 05:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85622335801?pwd=MjlaWHUyRHd0V2F5Qnhkd09aMWJ4Zz09

Meeting ID: 856 2233 5801
Passcode: 159588
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,85622335801#,,,,*159588# US (Chicago)
+16468769923,,85622335801#,,,,*159588# US (New York)

Dial by your location
        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
        +1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
        +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
        +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 856 2233 5801
Passcode: 159588
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kZByFkT2O

​