Stillness, Awakening and ACISTE conference
I just completed a weekend retreat called Presence at the
Center, a gathering of women committed to spiritual awakening. If we wish to discover the innate happiness
within us it is important to take time out of our lives to rest in our center –
the deep stillness available within our hearts, but often clouded over by the
demands, distractions and worries of modern
life. Meditation retreats,
especially those held with the added dimension of silence, offer a return to
our Self.
I become very busy in those days when I have a retreat
planned, especially if I am doing other events such as webinars or consulting
with those who contact me with concerns related to their spiritual process.
It is like riding a fast moving train for several weeks, and then skidding
to a halt at the retreat center, where I need to find my own deep silence if I
am to invite others into it. Finding our
Self is about Stopping!
Mental activity,
emotional upheavals, multiple engagements in our lives, the many voices
surrounding us with expectations – all of these can fall away if we STOP, leaving us in the pure sweet awareness that has always been waiting in the
center of the cyclone of our lives.
There is a place within each of us already still, accepting, and open to
the quiet joy of being.
You may find when you are first silent there is an upheaval
of mental activity, and even of unconscious material that arises. Both meditation and energy work (such as yoga
or Qigong) open us to that which needs
to be seen in order to be released, so that our subtle energy field can become more free. Release and insight bring growth and widen
our access to inner harmony and relaxation.
Be patient with what arises as it is your own consciousness inviting you
to meet, release and move toward awakening.
Suffering unwinds itself from our systems as we learn to meet our life
experiences with equanimity and to meet ourselves with love.
Spiritual awakening has no religious preference and is open
to all. It is not about a belief, or embracing a system or tradition, although
these may offer some initiating practices that will bring an invitation to know
Yourself. Awakening is an intimate
touching of our natural state of spirit embodied, a direct inner knowing of our
connection with the All. It cannot be
languaged clearly, although poets and sages have found ways to offer
pointers. Unusual phenomena may
arise when we follow our longing to know
our true nature, but ultimately the outcome is an awareness that consciousness
is vast and unbounded, and a return into a form that knows a deep relaxation into life.
I will be speaking at the ACISTE conference in Palm Springs
the weekend of Oct. -20 -22 on Identifying and Supporting Spiritual
Transformation.
Go to www.aciste.com for
information about this event, designed to support people who are a spiritual
awakening process. ACISTE is the Assn for the Integration of Spiritually
Transformative Experiences.
I hope to
offer a one-day workshop on Living with
Kundalini the Monday following for people who are having kundalini experiences and want to better understand the
kundalini process.. Please drop me a
note at kundinfo@mindspring.com if
you would like more information.