ϟ The Microcosmic Orbit
The microcosmic orbit is a classic Taoist practice for conducting energy using the breath. The practice awakens, circulates, and directs energy through the orbit formed by breathing down the front line of your body from the top of your head to the perineum (the functional channel) and breathing up the back line from the perineum to the top of the head (the Governing Channel)
Follow the instructions below.
1.Sit in a comfortable position, relax your body, calm your mind, and regulate your breath. Notice your bodily sensations. Feel the weight of your body in your seat and the contact of your feet on the ground. Bring your attention to the present moment.
2. Turn your attention inward and lower your gaze. As you breathe through the nose, feel, open to, and commune with all pervading energy within and surrounding you, especially above your head.
3. Visualize an especially intense concentration of energy above your head. Imagine that the top of your head is a blooming lotus flower, soaking up the light that’s always falling upon you.
4. As you inhale, bring your energy and focus down to the area between (and behind) your eyebrows and draw energy forward toward this “third eye.”
5. Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth behind your front teeth to enable more energy to circulate and let your energy sink down through the palate and tongue into your throat to the heart.
6.Move your breath down further and deeper within the body, about two finger widths below the navel until you feel a concentrated pocket of energy glowing there-a point of golden light-clear, bright, warm, and pure. Allow your breath to naturally become lighter and subtler.
7. When the feeling of energy in your navel is stable and full, use your mind to guide this energy down into the genitals, the perineum, and then back toward your tailbone. Steadily visualize this energy as a small snake gradually passing through the tailbone.
8. Now complete the second half of the orbit by exhaling and visualizing the energy moving up the back of your body to where the ribs meet the spine, then right on up the spine to the back of the head. Imagine energy traveling up your spine to the center of your head and even above the head.
9. Begin another cycle, breathing in as the energy moves down the front channel from the top of your head to your perineum and breathing out as the energy moves up the back channel from the perineum to the back of your head.
ϟ In this World, but not of it
“I am in this world, but I am not of this world.”
This of course is one of Jesus’ most famous statements. But what did he mean? “What does it mean to be “in” the world but not “of” it? Let’s look at the first part, “In the world.” You are in the world. That’s a fact. All you have to do is look around you to know, with some certainty that you are in the world. But, as the saying goes, you are not “of” it. So you did not come from here in other words.
So…Where did you come from? You mean maybe?
Wait.
Maybe I didn’t come from what happened between my mom and dad 42 years ago or whatever?
Wow. That really changes the game doesn’t it! So where then are you from?
“Show me your original face. The face you had before your parents were born.“
Zen masters will ask their student this question (Also known as a Koan)to test their degree of enlightenment.
So where? Where is this “not of this world” place. Apparently that’s my home but I can’t remember. I cant quite recal this place, but you know something…now that you mention it, it feels as if there is a memory, ever so faint within me, of this other place. This place of wholeness. This place of spaciousness and freedom. This place of boundless expression. This place called home.
You know your Self in that moment. You realize that you are the One Cosmic Being. You are the sunrise and the sunset, or as the saying goes,
“the sun rises and sets with you.”
Or as they say in Zen, “You could drink the pacific Ocean in a single drop.”
So yes, you most certainly are in this world but in the moment of Awakening you know with Absolute Certainty that you are not of it. You know exactly What you Are of, or what you are made of, so to speak.
You know Where you came from. You know what ship you came in on. You know your original face.
ϟ Storytelling
When we allow ourselves to truly observe the infinite majesty of the universe, we stand speechless and story-less. We recognize the futility of our attempts to contain the limitless and the infinite within our conceptual reference points. We stand in a state of momentary humility and awe.
So what is storytelling? In Byron Katie’s book Who Would You Be Without Your Story? the author discusses storytelling as a way in which the mind keeps itself occupied and sustained by dictating the nature of reality. Our stores are like blankets we use to cover what is, instead of experiencing it directly as it is.
Byron Katie asks the question, “Who would you be without your story?” Which is, of course, is another form of Self Inquiry. A question that I like to ask is, “What might you see without your story?” If you look at the sunset on the water, what might you see without your story? If you looked at a flower, and allowed it to tell you what it is in its Beingness, what might you see? When looking up at the night sky, what if instead of assuming that you are the expert on which constellation is where, or if that object is a star, a satellite, or Pluto. What if instead you just allowed the night sky to tell you what it is?
I notice that when I watch a sunset without imposing my story, it has an absolute sincerity. Its beauty is unmoving and infinitely sustained. As long as you are absorbed in telling life what it is through your habitual mind-stories, you are robbed of the infinite complexity, and the awe-inspiring wonder of every moment.
There’s a Zen story that involves a master pouring water into a student’s cup until it starts overflowing. The student says anxiously, “Master, you’re overflowing my cup. The tea that you’re pouring is no longer going into the cup. It’s falling to the ground.” To which the Zen master replied, “You’re like this cup. You’re too full of ideas, beliefs, and concepts. Empty yourself of these,” he said as he emptied the cup, “and there will be room for you to be filled with more prajna.” which is the Buddhist term for or wisdom. It’s the same with storytelling. Our stories fill our perceptual cups. The nature of things has already been decided. It’s not up to you to determine reality. Practicing the wisdom of Zen means emptying yourself of your stories, and in doing so, enjoying the basic goodness and essential kindness which is the true nature of the universe.
I love the word projection because it reminds me of the old movie projectors. I see a guy turning a crank in order to give power to a device that creates an image on the screen. I like this analogy because I think it accurately represents the nature of the mind. A consistent theme that exists in the teachings of all awakened masters, is that what you see out there, is in fact the projection of your mind.
You might as well be at the movies, except you’re the director of this film. You’re also the screenwriter, the editor, and the entire production team. To quote the Buddha, “It’s all your mind.”
The issue is that we forget it’s a movie, that it’s temporary, and that ultimately it’s not real. We momentarily forget that we are in the director’s seat. We start to take the movie very seriously, and we lose ourselves in our projected screen images. You can lose the ‘You’ that is the invulnerable, silent, ground of Being, the ‘You’ that is whole and perfect forever. Thus, the once happy dream becomes more of a nightmare.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. You can deeply enjoy the beauty of your movie. You can even enjoy the drama and the excitement that comes with inhabiting a human body. There’s a reason that in Hinduism they use the term “lila” to describe the manifest world, which translates as, “God’s Play.” Or to quote Shakespeare, “All the world’s a stage.”
ϟ Gratitude and Thankfulness
Thankfulness is realizing that this is the Promise Land. This is the Garden of Eden. This is Heaven on Earth. Thankfulness is the automatic response to the realization of nirvana, not somewhere else, but rather, the reality that is seen from the awakened perspective.
Many people don’t think of gratitude as spiritual practice. But if you look at the essence of all spiritual practices, you’ll see some effort to come into the present moment. One thing about gratitude is that it acknowledges the present moment. It acknowledges what you already have in the present moment, rather than directing your attention at what you never had, or what you hope to have one day. So, when practiced properly gratitude is in itself a meditation.
Gratitude means coming into the moment, and into the awareness of the completeness of the moment. To quote Lao Tsu, “When you realize there’s nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” It then means receiving, on a deep and true level, the many gifts that the present moment contains. In other words, it’s the acceptance of the light that is within the present moment.
There’s always light. If you ever find it difficult to cultivate a state of gratitude, you can be sure that your mind is somehow in darkness, that there’s some light in the present moment that you are unable to see, or you are somehow attached to pain. Gratitude is the meditation of coming into the present moment and acknowledging the light that this moment forever contains.
Look at all you have right now and say, “Thank you.” Can you look at the things in your life and say thank you? How about starting with your last meal? Was it satisfying? Where did it come from? Did you buy it? What account did this money come from?
Now ask yourself, do you spend more time in fear and worry about resources that aren’t there, or in gratitude for what is there? Ego has a hard time with gratitude. Again, gratitude is a problem-less, fearless, state of mind. Therefore, there’s not much room for ego in the world of gratitude. The general way the egoic mind operates is from concern regarding the possibility of the resources not being there, more often than focusing on what is there, and being thankful for what is there.
It’s true that we have this tendency of focusing on what we don’t have or fearing that there will not be enough. Why do you think we do this?
I’ve heard it said that the ego wants to want more than it wants to have. There’s this continual struggle for an identity that we see in the ego and the way it operates, that if it can keep you wanting, if it can keep you looking to the future for what you will have one day, it can hold your allegiance to it, that one day, in the future, it will deliver what you want. Eckhart Tolle calls this, “Seeking salvation in the future.”
It has been said that if the only prayer you say in your entire life is, “Thank You,” that would be sufficient! “Thank You,” when said from an authentic place of gratitude—from a place of deep understanding and sincerity, acknowledges the okayness of this moment. In fact, it acknowledges more than the okayness of this moment. It sees grace. It sees that all of its needs are met. The person in the state of gratitude is just delighted continuously in all that life has to offer, and is not concerned with, or questioning what isn’t available.
That’s part of why I like the term “thankfulness.” It is thanks in the acknowledgment of the prevailing fullness. In other words, the true nature of this and every moment is fullness. We talk a lot about emptiness and spaciousness, consciousness and awareness. But it is thankfulness that brings us into awareness this “great fullness” that is the manifest reality! Whether it’s the taste of a strawberry or the sound of a flute, whether it’s being intimate with your lover, or eating a bar of chocolate, viewing a beautiful sunset or sitting in your favorite chair, it’s fullness. There is a great fullness that is acknowledged with thankfulness. And thankfulness opens the heart to the light that fills our daily lives.
You’ve probably heard of the exercise of creating a gratitude list. This is where you make a list of the different aspects of life that you’re grateful for. Often it includes certain close relationships, material things, sometimes it’s just the clothes on your back and the food in your belly, and then sometimes it’s just gratitude for the opportunity to breathe air in this moment, to be alive in this moment.
As the list gets larger and larger, the fullness of our life comes into view. There’s so much that each of us have if we are open to see it. You have a body. What a gift. This vehicle to maneuver in. You have a mind and a brain, what a fun and interesting gadget this is when it doesn’t run your life. There’s also the million little gadgets that exist in our world today that make life potentially so much more fun, efficient, productive, and organized. The iPhone, for example, if you have one, you know it’s an amazing device. I guarantee that that would go on my list of things I’m grateful for.
You said that the ego wants to want, more than it wants to have. What do you mean?
It’s a peculiar thing, what the ego does, continually focusing on what isn’t there, on what you don’t have, rather than on what you do have. If you could just switch the two and be thankful for what you do have you could be in bliss right now. The ego has made it its job to want. Why? Because wanting denies the now and emphasizes both future and judgment. Judgment of this moment, that it’s not enough, and future, that one day, not today, there will be enough. But what the ego doesn’t tell you is that there will never be enough, because as soon as there’s enough, the ego is out of a job. And if the ego is out of a job, then the need for the ego, and the relevance of the ego is seen to be empty in truth.
So thankfulness is realizing that this is the Promise Land. This is the Garden of Eden. This is heaven on earth. Or in the words of Jesus, “The Kingdom of Heaven is in our midst.” Thankfulness is the automatic response to the realization of nirvana, not somewhere else, some enlightened state that only the Buddha can reach, but rather, the reality that is seen from the awakened perspective. This is heaven. This is God’s game. This is Awareness experiencing itself as form, which can be a lot of fun. It can be quite entertaining and heavenly when we don’t lose ourselves in it, or when the “I,” the one who decided to forget who it was for the sake of entertainment, doesn’t lose itself. Again, lila is the name used in Hinduism to describe God’s play.
Thankfulness as a spiritual practice means not letting the ever-so-tempting apple of what you don’t, have lead you out of the all-your-needs-met Garden of Eden. The nature of the universe is basic goodness. This basic goodness is your Garden of Eden before you start to label, judge, separate, and limit it..
ϟ Silence is that Place Where…
Silence is that place where everything is O.K. It’s that deeply comforting space, where all of the problems, worries, and stresses of the world melt into insignificance. Where doing is secondary and Being is primary. Where manifest reality is more like a ripple on the surface of an ocean of infinite depth. Stillness is another world that points to this absolute state. Most of us, most of the time, hold our world of thoughts and stories to be The Truth about the way things are. We live our everyday lives in our heads, accepting our mind stories as “the way things are.” But silence reveals another dimension of potential meaning. From here, the purity of life, independent from our mental dictation, emerges as more real than the previous projection. There’s no doubt that it takes a certain humility to enter this fully, and that one must be open to the possibility that they are wrong, not wrong in who they are, this is actually the first step toward the revelation of all that’s right about who you are, but wrong in the sense of who you thought you were, and the way you have thought things to be. Things are not as you thought, and that is really good news! In fact, if you have been telling yourself a sad or depressing story about the way things are, that’s great news.This is not to say that a person cannot posses wisdom, or deep knowing, also known in the Buddhist tradition as Prajna… or to invalidate the core truths that support and sustain you on your path, but the problem making mind chatter, the incessant worry, and so on, are based more in fear and projection, and are therefore empty of any inherent truth or value.
From the awakened point of view, things begin to be seen in a particular way. For example, the world begins to take on characteristics of transparency, luminosity, and perfection. It’s a viewpoint that tends to see the One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death. It sees what is not only beyond, but also deep within every from as its innermost indestructible essence. What is the path to this view point? Meditation. Pure and simple.
Love,
Adam
ϟ The Golden Whistle
I saw a man wearing a silver whistle around his neck. I was immediately reminded of a dream I had had the night before that also involved a whistle. I never would have remembered this dream if I hadn’t seen a whistle that was the exact same shape the next day. Even more, the dream was no ordinary dream and the whistle was no ordinary whistle. In fact, in the dream, the whistle contained infinite creative power. You could literally blow this whistle and create a world if you wanted. It also felt as if I had had the whistle before, but had lost it a long long time ago. Also in the dream, was my life long teacher and mentor. I asked him, “Greg, do you know about the whistle?” His reply, “Oh yes!”
Two weeks later (No longer dreaming) I was sitting with Greg in his office and asked him, “Does the image of a sacred golden whistle have any meaning to you?” Without hesitation he stands up, walks to the corner of his office and opens a little cabinet, out of which he pulls a golden whistle on a chain. He lays it on the table and says, “Did it look like that?” !!!
It turns out that there have only been two items in his life that he felt he absolutely had to have and this whistle was one of them.
This miracle has been such a powerful reminder to me of the great and perfect order of things. It has helped renew a deep sense of purpose and direction. This whistle now represents a calling that I believe many of us are beginning to hear and greater and greater volume. I like to think of it as a call home.
This experience has also reminded me of a poem by Hafiz,
” I am the hole in the flute through which the Christ’s breath flows through. Listen to the music.”
Love,
Adam
ϟ Four Steps to Owning Your Greatness
First go to one of Charlie Sheen’s seminars. If that doesn’t work try this…
1. Admittance - This is not an easy confession to make. “Ok Yes, I am the light of the world.” Playing small, not wanting to sound arrogant, and a whole slew of other things prevent us from admitting the greatness of who we truly are.
2. Embrace - Embrace is short for “Embrace the energy in every form.” This means that whatever thought or situation life is manifesting as, there’s energy in it for you. We sometimes misinterpret energy by labeling it and then cut ourselves off from it.
3. Center - Your heart is the infinite center of your being. This is the one place that you can hold the infinite nature of who you are. Fully human and fully divine.
4. Rest - Spend time resting in the fullness of who you are. Abide in the Self. Do nothing and be everything, often.
The ego would tell you that to say that you’re The One, would be the most arrogant thing you could say. In truth, its the least… its the only statement that doesn’t involve pretending.
Love,
Adam
