Mind Movies

A closer look at the imagination and how we are constantly watching movies in the Mind Movie Theater, believing that the character on the screen is ME.

Deep Looking Testimonial

Here is a beautiful email I received after just one session of Deep Looking. Receiving such messages makes me even more inspired to do my work. I love seeing the transformation and witnessing your process of awakening to reality. Each session we go deeper and open up more. Whatever comes to be seen is welcomed and honored. I love to sit with you and share this Deep Looking tool. 

“Hi Ilona,

Thank you for the meeting yesterday, it was a very special experience, and so far the change in perception of reality is sticking and is similar to coming out of long Vipassana retreats.

Truly amazing how simply and beautifully this works, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I will try to keep this brief but from the heart of the exact experience as good as I can.

Yesterday evening after our meeting I felt very present in the body, and movements of hands and body were more coordinated than usual, and there was no feeling of having to rush anything, I moved slowly and elegantly with easy in mind and body. It seems like the before omnipresent stress sensation of always having to be somewhere else than here and now is somewhat diminished. I laid in bed before sleeping and felt the bedding and cushions wrap around me like never before, really noticing the sensations, the thoughts had less of a grip on "me" and I slept very well.

I woke up with a tiny smile this morning for the first time in a long time, and instead of my meditation routine, I decided to just be aware of sensations and try to communicate internally with anything that needed to be seen and noticed, loved and accepted.

I have been able to keep that awareness very much all day, and have had moments of butterfly feelings by just watching my daughter, and even just sitting quietly and looking at objects has at times today brought some interesting sensations that I have never noticed before.

Anger, irritability, and confusion has arisen in the belly today, has been acknowledged and loved and have disappeared again before sticking around as usual for long periods.

Everything in life seems now less urgent and has less meaning and tension around it, like the attachment to outcome is less. I went through my facebook feed and unfollowed a bunch of pages with "answers" to some of all my searching and had a feeling I really don't need that clutter anymore.

I also had feelings of more energy, and some restlessness came along with that, I sat with it and accepted that as well.

It feels like everything is the same everywhere around me, but the awareness has grown, and tension in the mind-body connections is less.. There is a growing joy in my being of feeling things and emotions more strongly, and feeling like being a part of life once again.

Tonight I will try some more Deep Looking and ask mind and heart of they are at peace, and see what answers come up - during my day today there has been more focus on raw sensations most of the day, not much inquiry about the messages the sensations bring with them.

I am trained in many modalities, healing, coaching, Chi-Kung etc etc (like most seekers probably) but I never felt the urge or interest in helping people with any of the techniques I have learned, it just seemed a little useless, like a band-aid on a big wound. I feel what I got from Deep Looking is completely different, and the only thing I would offer to anyone in the search for freedom.

I will be all ears and mentally noting how we go about with the process, and would love to learn more, and be able to guide people the way you have done with me, if that is okay with you of course?

Have a beautiful day

With heartfelt thanks and love”

Unfolding Contractions

Last Sunday I held a group Deep Looking event in google hangouts. It was a powerful session where we sat with sensations and invited contractions to come up and gently unfold. Here is something I wanted to share with you after the session:

Sometimes we feel stuck in an uncomfortable feeling and nothing seems to work. Or, it works temporarily until the next treatment, the next attempt to resolve something that keeps coming up again and again. What if I told you there is a hack to that, that is very simple and effective. 

Imagine you fold an origami. It was once a flat paper and now it is a 3D form, it has volume, it's like a container, a new form that holds space in. Contraction is like the origami form, it's folded in and it holds something. What we can do is unfold it and by doing that, it returns to its natural form--which is spacious formlessness.

How does this look in practice?

The contraction/ tension that is felt, is a sensation. That sensation feels like it's intense, unpleasant, unwanted and the repulsion to the sensation is called resistance. (It's actually a protection) Let's rename contraction to protection, there's a lighter feeling already and an invitation to welcome it.

Just look from this angle: Some time ago some hurt happened and there was an unconscious decision to guard yourself from something like that in the future. This is normal human behavior (avoiding the unpleasant and seeking the pleasant). It's like the mind's computer wrote a program that if 'this' happens then it must activate protection. So every time 'this' happens, there is a sensation that arises, the protection is activated and it kicks in automatically and we notice a reaction happening. By focusing on the sensations of protection we have no more access to the sensation that the protection is covering up. We also call this mechanism--fear.

The protection is felt, but what is it about?

Try this exercise:

When feeling protection, ask it- who are you? What are you? What are you protecting?
And just wait. The answer may come up or not. Notice what happens. This way you can look into a feeling of tightness and see what is behind it--what is it that needs or wants protection.

Some other questions you can ask are:

What do you want the most?
What wisdom do you have for me?
Are you helping?
Do you want to relax?

Don't try to fight protections, they are here to help. Only not all old programs are still useful, helpful or necessary. Some programs are very old and no longer needed so they can be seen and let go. When protection comes up, welcome it as it comes up to be reviewed and adjusted. Those that are still needed can stay, but those that are only creating unnecessary tension can drop. It is safe. All it takes is seeing them. By that I mean - really feeling into sensations, giving the sensations 100 percent of your attention, simply allowing them to be fully felt.

This is the unfolding. Forms of protection can dissolve and go back to rest.

Once protection is released, there is a sense of openness, spaciousness, boundlessness, no borders.

You can ask for protections to come up and then watch where they show up in the body and talk to them. Sounds unusual? Try it. Asking direct questions in a friendly way will create an allowing space for those protections to be as they are. This is surrender, letting go, the end of resisting. Try this for yourself.

If you would like to join the next online event on the 4th of February, there are still places available. You can register by email here.


Happy Unfolding!
Much love

An Open Letter To The Mind

By itself. 

    Dearest Mind,

    Firstly thank you very much for your presence. You are amazing, intelligent, caring and lovable. Thank you for all your hard work and never ceasing attention to things that matter most. I love you dearly. 

    I appreciate how you make me feel, literally, I can feel feelings that can be quite strong and intense, only by noticing thoughts and images. I can see how you tirelessly go out into the future scenarios making sure that all the problems have ready made solutions. I can see how inventive and creative you are with the images. You can pick any topic and create something out of nothing. I bow in respect to your ability to throw me out of balance and give me sensations that something is wrong, can be wrong, was wrong and will be wrong and so on. I applaud your tireless aiming to control what is about to happen, protecting me from making old mistakes. You are a genius in manipulating how I feel. 

    Thank you for all your work that you have done to protect the heart from being hurt, from being open and vulnerable. Even if the heart was hurt by your limitations, it was still better than feeling those scary feelings, right? Numbing of the heart is a big work and you, dear Mind, have done it so well. You deserve a crown and a throne. Or at least a diamond tiara. 

    Here's the thing. As much as I enjoy your created world and drama, all I really want is peace. I have been watching your mind movies all this time and I see that nothing new is there-- same old patterns, same characters, same problems, same hopelessness. It's no longer needed for me. I am writing to ask you, dearest Mind, to stop creating illusions. 

    Please stop luring me into imaginary conversations with imaginary friends about imaginary scenarios. Please stop giving me solutions to imaginary problems and stories of the past that made me feel hateful, shameful, grieving, small and not enough. Please stop showing me possible futures where I'm stuck in fear. Please just be here and now, and watch, observe, notice, what is actually happening-- right in the moment. You don't even need to comment. You don't need to try to fix anything or protect me from imaginary dangers. 

     I'd like to ask you to drop your unnecessary tasks, impractical patterns, addictions to thinking and image making, daydreaming about a happy tomorrow and the like. And just really relax; be. Be caring, loving, creative, illumined, playful in the now. Be receptive and questioning. Be open to receive wisdom. Stop knowing everything about everything. It's not your job. I'd like to invite you to be silent and aware. This is your job. 

     All I want is peace.

     So, enough of building your sand castles of illusions. Rest deeply. Be at peace. 

     All I want is peace-- so the heart can come alive again and open up without being restricted by what you think.

     It's okay to feel. 

     All I want is peace.

     You can be still and quiet and still hear, see, smell, taste, sense and feel. 

     All I want is peace. 

     Do you hear me, dearest Mind? Can we let the monkey mind go back to the natural habitat with all the drums and whistles? It was fun to have a mind-monkey active, but it's no longer wanted. It can go. I'm sure it won't be missed. 

     All I want is peace. 

     And as you see, peace is here, now, underneath all the noise of words and images. 

     Be still.

     Be quiet. 

     There is nothing in the way of peace once you, beloved Mind, stop producing illusions. It's okay to rest, it is safe. Nothing is going to happen if you stop imagining yourself in charge of the universe. Can you see this, dear Mind, that you can be empty and relaxed, yet everything is still happening? 

     All I want is peace. 

     Can we end the internal war with what is? Can we refocus on what really matters?

     I bow to you and I love you. Let us celebrate life.

     Let's try this, okay? 

With love. 

I now retire.

Meeting Divine Eye to Eye

Warning! this article is controversial. Some ideas may trigger resistance, frustration, resentment and other intense emotions. In such a case, you get something to work with within. You do not have to agree with my views or choices, and I'm free to live life as it comes.

There is a kind of taboo in the awakening marketplace about using psychedelic substances. If this is something that you are attracted to, by all means, find some and explore. Of course, Shamanic medicines are not for everyone and I'm not here to say what is right for you. It is right for me, as I am a fearless space captain and I am curious about consciousness itself. I don't stick to any traditions but rather test and ride various ways.

I wrote back in September last year, about my journey to Mexico to find magic. I found magic then and received a message that this was only a beginning. The message was strong and I got back to Mexico as soon as my husband and I could do that to see what happens next.

Here we are in a beautiful Caribbean beach village, enjoying life, meeting people, sharing Ajna Light and having lots of treatments. My favorite is Sand-Sea-Sun treatment that discharges, recharges and washes away all tension. The natural technology of release.

Ever since I came to this place, it feels that I have entered some trip. By trip, I mean that there is a sense of surrender and something taking over. If you've never had a psychedelic experience, the word trip means nothing to you. Days change, but the sense of being taken by life and magic remains. The energy is very strong here. I love how the body feels, the heat and how gently the sun is received. It feels that this place is breathing and waving. If I sit on a sofa and body relaxes I can feel the waves of the ocean passing through. There is music in the ears, playing all the time, one wavy melody. It's so audible that sometimes I have to check that the player is off. The player is off, but the music still remains.

There is a sense of grace and wonder, of being led to people and events. We made friends with a couple of healers here and some magic mushrooms arrived; the trip got even trippier. These ones, called San Juan are the most amazing mushrooms I've ever had. I tasted different kinds back in the UK at the time when I could buy them in funky shops. These mushrooms are called Golden Healers and they were named correctly. The trip was very light, fun, and with eyes closed, I could see golden light, patterns and visions. That was the most beautiful, lighthearted healing experience. It felt that golden light was filling the space within. There was an expanded awareness of spaciousness, a beautiful impermanent state, a moment of melting into light. Then back to normal but somehow different, refreshed.

Our friends introduced us to someone that was organizing a Shamanic healing event and we signed up for it. This was another chance for me to taste Bufo medicine, or as locals call it Sapito.
Basically, the smoking secretion of the Bufo Alvarius toad gives a hit of pure 5-meo-dmt which creates an explosion in the system, which only happens twice in life naturally, when you are born and when you die. This natural substance is in all of us, in plants and animals, it even has a name of the God molecule. If you would like to read more about it, please do your own research, there is plenty of material now on the internet.

So here we are, going into the jungle, meeting with Shamans and going for it. We met a nice group of people, some came from far, some tried before, and a few that this was the first time. The group was multi-national, the ones that spoke English turned out to be various artists. Locals were setting up sweat lodges while we were chatting with people. A woman started singing, I noticed the Shaman coming in with his bag of tools. The energy of the place changed. I could notice little nibble of fear showing up, like- -are you sure? This is it.. am I ready?..

The shamans came from a different part of Mexico, they get the medicine from the Sonora desert toads. They did not speak English. The first part was a treatment with tobacco ash that is blown into the nose and clears whatever is stuck there. I watched a friend receive it, it did not look bad so I went for it too. It's called Rapè. (not rape) it feels like a shot of intense sensation, then I felt that the whole body became more alive and vibrating with energy, like something was opened up. A nice sensation after. Colors got brighter and it was easy to breathe. They said it cleans the pineal gland.

The sweat lodge followed next. That was an interesting experience. We sat in a very hot tent in the middle of the hot jungle! There were hot stones in the middle of a circle taken from the fire and the Shaman was pouring water over them, creating steam and more heat. He was putting something on the stones that filled the tent with a delightful smell. His woman was leading songs. The whole tent, 15 people, were sweating out toxins and singing along. It was so much sweating that I could not open my eyes, the salt was making them hurt. It was really hot! But it was part of the preparation for the journey ahead.

After the sweat lodge, the jungle heat was just lovely. Next, we all went to the lake to clean ourselves. The beautiful water felt so refreshing and soft. I could stay there for hours, but we all were called to start the ceremony.

Before I get into describing what it was like for me, I just want to say this: If you are called to do this, take it extremely seriously. This is not a joke. This is not a drug to get high. This is the most powerful medicine, it is very strong and integration after receiving it can take some time and be intense. There are a few testimonials that something went wrong. So the most important is to know what you are up for, research your Shamans and have time and environment to integrate. Best is done in a safe environment with someone that has been working with this medicine for years.

So here it was, a pipe in front of me. There was no thought, no fear, just flowing with the moment. I inhaled slowly, a thick brown smoke. At some point, I got that the pipe looks different as if pixels on a screen have mutated. I remember nodding slightly and falling backwards on the ground.

Whoa, there was a sense of direction, with little disturbances, as if I was going through waves of frequency closer and closer to .... God..... there was melting in, ceasing of turbulence... release so gentle that it felt like last hair that was held on to ripped. Then OMG WOoooooooo incredible sense of gold space of love, peace, divinity, oneness. This was IT, so-called Death, so beautiful and spacious. There was only this. There was totality, absolute, consciousness in fully opened glory. The feeling of golden love, love of God, is indescribable.. mmmmmm wooooooo!

Slowly I was coming back into awareness of the body and surroundings. The body felt like every tension had left, mind came back stunned and silent, taken away by what became known. It took a while to come out and be able to stand up.

Interestingly, I had no sense and no memory of the body or mind at all, but while consciousness was 'traveling', the body was making some movements, kriyas and making sound aaaaaaa..

I came back, looked Shamans in the eye and thanked them both. Now, I KNOW. Now, I KNOW.

The spaciousness came back with me into this realm. I can still feel it days after.

Other people had their unique journeys. One girl was crying so much after seeing the vastness of love and beauty she could never imagine. This was deeply touching. One guy was shouting that we humans can do it! And we have to do it! The change is already happening! (he does not remember that) someone else was throwing up and clearing what seemed black stuff to him, out of the system. Others laughed. Everyone that went for that experience came back changed. So did I. I had only one intention and that was to meet the creation. I got what I came for. I saw what I could never imagine.

I remember thinking why something as beautiful as this is feared, why death is perceived with grief? It's strange, at least.

One way I can describe it is that if you are living in a deep ocean, and time to time get to experience the sun in the water and you don't have a clue about the sun above the ocean. Then one day you go up and take a look... then when you get back you perceive the sun in the water differently. The sun in the water would be love that we are able to feel.

It took a few days to get back to normal. Three days rolled into one. We took more magic mushrooms to assist the energies and to finish healing. The expansion ripped through all the cells of being, the spacious feeling was still here. Even in sleep, it no longer feels dark, deep sleep feels like golden light. Mmmm

God is.

Total Peace, Love is.

Knowing this experientially is IT.

I would not call this enlightenment. It's more an experience of illumination. It came as it was called for. It can come in any package. All one needs is a pure intention to meet God. Toad medicine was a one-way ticket for me to meet the divine, eye to eye. It does not mean you need it. It only means this was the way that the experience showed up for me. If there is judgement about this, then you are missing the point, that a wrapper is more more important that the candy.


We meet divine in every moment, no need for toads or mushrooms to participate. The depth of conscious recognition is what determines our sense of connectedness with the whole and perception of reality. We have a personal, intimate relationship with what is, we are what is expressing as us, as all life. I am that which is expressing as me.

The mind can not get it because mind too is a form, an expression of existence as the mind.

When everything calms down to stillness there is an opening to being. When all vibrations and turbulence cease there is pure light and lightness. Delightful.

Love divine is nothing to do with a person, it's what is left where there is no more I, me, no other. Just a field of infinite peace.

A few days after, I still feel the spaciousness that was not here before, it feels like old patterns collapsed, like a huge clearing happened, that affected all areas of my life as an individual. There is wonder and curiosity of what happens next and an openness to whatever comes. 

Peace.

The Attunement Process, by Roger Calverley

This article is written by Roger Calverley, I found it inspiring and so I am sharing it with you. I met Roger in Mexico and he experienced the Ajna Light and PEMF mat. He loved the experience and immediately saw the benefits and potential of using such technology. Roger has got these tools for himself with the intent to use and share it too. Here are his thoughts about how this technology can be helpful on personal attunement journey.

Overview

The Attunement Process is a way of rapidly shifting into optimal health and expanded awareness. It uses bio-electrical energy fields which balance all parts of the etheric body, resulting in optimal health at the level of the physical body. This re-sets the acid-alkaline balance, eliminates inflammation, rejuvenates the cells, eliminates stress, heals injuries and induces a general sense of relaxed wellbeing. A second aspect of the Attunement Process is light. Specially programmed frequencies of light are directed to the region of the forehead where the brow chakra receives and transmits them to the neural network. This has the effect of shifting awareness into an expanded state of alignment to Source. The immediate effect is entry into an experience of heightened consciousness. Long-term results include the elimination of limiting beliefs, integral balancing of the physical, etheric, astral and mental bodies, balancing of all the chakras and alignment of various parts of the being with causal body and the core life program. A third modality is the use of sound through earphones. Isochronic tones entrain the mind to enter the delta and theta brainwave states which correspond to meditation or contemplation. A facilitator is present to answer questions, discuss the resulting experiences and set the optimal energies for each individual as required.

Introduction

There are certain terms which have accumulated a lot of baggage, and the word “truth” is one such. For the purpose at hand, we are going to use the word this way: “truth is that which opens the heart”.

We all have a heart of human emotions and feelings which encompasses our likes, aversions and sensitivities. But we also have a deeper level of the heart which recognizes and alerts us to what is true. This non-physical energy-center which recognizes and opens up to what is true is often called the “spiritual heart”. It is the seat of awareness in the center of the chest which has a special connection to unconditional love, compassion, bliss and the sense of oneness beyond separation. We will be using the term “heart” in this sense rather than the physical muscle which pumps blood.

Anything that connects you to more truth opens the spiritual heart. In any experience that is bringing you more truth, there will be a sense of opening rather than contraction, softening rather than hardening, a feeling of “yes” rather than “no”, and an impression of expansion rather than contraction.

Although the spiritual heart is experienced energetically at the center of the chest, it is actually something that transcends the physical limits of the body. The spiritual heart is active and the etheric, astral, mental levels and beyond. It is our most direct link to Source.

When you experience something that is true, your sense of self lets go, opens up, relaxes, becomes receptive, and permits you to identify more fully with your experience. Because the boundaries of your egoic mind ten to loosen and dissolve when the heart opens, any sense of insecurity, deficiency or limitation decreases, and conversely the sense of relatedness or intimacy grows.

When you are in touch with more of the truth, the mind tends to become quiet. Thinking activity gears down. A deep and universal truth brings you to an even more profound condition of stillness, at times tinged with reverence or mystical longing to be re-united with Source.

Conversely, when you find yourself face to face with something that does not feel right, the heart contracts and the sense of self tightens. At such times, the heart seems to harden and there can even be a feeling of alienation. There can also be feelings of insecurity, unease, diminished self-esteem or fear.

When the energy of the spiritual heart contracts, the mind experiences the presence of a problem, or dilemma and it gets busy trying to think of a way out of the situation. At this point, the agitation of the mind constricts life energy still further and adds to the stress. Sometimes, this reactive thinking becomes compulsive and habitual, and in such cases it can even lead to health problems.

As a guide to what is true for you in the present moment, your own heart is unparalleled. It is a flawless source of guidance in the matter of what is true or good for you at any given moment. If you take a little time to observe the opening up and the closing down of the heart in reaction to various situations, you can easily see that you are fully equipped to recognize what is true for you all the time. Moreover, this inner guidance is not something you have to acquire from elsewhere or learn by studying books or attending lectures. It is your birthright.

The heart is continuously adapting as it reflects every thought, feeling, wish and incident that arises in your awareness. The degree of openness or contraction which the heart manifests at any moment is an exact measure of how true an experience or thought is for you. Where there is more of what feels true for you, you will feel it. Learning to recognize and follow your intuitive feelings is the path to Wisdom.

There is no right or wrong way for the heart to respond as it shows you the relative truth of any given moment. However, for many who have been educated into a primarily intellectual point of view, recognizing the language of the heart may take a bit of unlearning. What is “good” or “bad” or “right” or “wrong” in any situation depends on many factors and cannot be known in advance by some handy rule of thumb. If your mind has all the questions, your heart has all the answers, because it is a sure barometer of what is true for you at any given moment.

The crux of the matter is this: the degree of our heart’s openness which shows us how much truth is present in our lives. This is why opening up is so important. In the light of what is felt to be true or good, the heart opens up like a lotus and spreads its petals wide to receive the sunlight of truth.

Why, then, do people fail so consistently to follow the heart’s guidance?

In large measure, this seems to happen because people think that listening to the heart is inappropriate or disapproved by their peers or superiors. Someone else’s voice is louder, in the minds of many or most people than the surety of their heart’s guidance. People who live in this state of dissociation may feel that principles of moral rectitude are an adequate guide, or it may be the opinions of friends, or family, or the boss or the preacher or the guru. However, when we replace the heart’s guidance with opinions from the outer world, there can be only one result: spiritual confusion.

Paradigms have been planted in our minds since we were young with striking results for our whole society. We value knowledge over wisdom; we prefer earning money over living from a perspective of abundance, and we believe that only hard work can legitimize leisurely recreation. We have been fed stories which underscore the idea that it’s necessary to suffer and struggle before we could ever be worthy of success and happiness. In many cases, we exaggerate the importance of sheer good luck, and we are inclined to put up with things that make us unhappy until we have no other choice but to change.

In order to discover your heart’s sure guidance, you have to decide that you really and truly want to align with your heart’s discernment. This is the first step toward ultimate and full alignment with Source. And although the point is simple to state, very few people ever take the step of deciding that this will be the case, for we have been educated to place head before heart. This leaves us open to manipulation from all sides, a situation which suits the powers that be very well indeed.

Our heart’s guidance comes from the deepest and truest part of our being, something so profound that it can never be corrupted or led astray. True satisfaction in life, as well as abundance, love, and peace arise from listening to our heart and following its indications.

This brings many blessings, for when we say “yes” to our heart, we also open our lives to its qualities of creativity, courage, harmony, wisdom, mystical attunement and unconditional love.

There are many reasons to find and follow our spiritual heart’s guidance, however the most significant of them is this: there is no other way to be who we truly are. Unless and until we accept our heart’s guidance there will be greater or lesser confusion and incomplete alignment to Source. But from the moment we formulate a new agreement to honor the guidance that we receive from within, everything begins to change.

A New Agreement

Life is full of possibilities. The call and the challenge is to actualize your full potential and realize the ultimate fullness of what your life can be when lived in alignment with Source.

Up to now, your experience of life has been based on a set of agreements you worked out with those who came before you. You have been bound to a set of thoughts and definitions and prescriptions in which you had no say at all. The way you understand yourself and your life has in many ways been decided by others in ways you do not clearly recognize.

By the time we graduate from school, our identity has been bound up in our stories and experiences and conclusions regarding what life is all about. We mistakenly think that we are identical to our story about the things that made us the way we are. We have come to believe in a set of shared agreements about what things should mean and be with identities constructed by common understandings, for example, of what it means to be a man or a woman, or a teacher or student and so on.

When paradigms like this are shared by large groups, they are experienced by individuals within the group as real, unchangeable and true. If you invest yourself in such agreements, you will be bound by them, and they are for all intents and purposes immutable. But in fact, no matter how many people buy into them, none of these constructs are real. They are all cooked up by conceptual designations, sustained by belief and spun by collaborative narrative.

What you are is much greater than any of these fabrications. And yet, if you abide within the scope of what you were taught, and what you agreed to, you will live in a state of radical self-limitation.

For among other things you have been taught that you have no right to claim true independence and be fully your own person. You have been taught that the world will no longer support you if you go beyond the agreements you were forced into before you even had a say. Fear was used to keep you conformable to the conventions of society. You have been taught that social isolation is something greatly to be feared, and that conformity at all costs is worth the price.

As they exist, these social conventions hold you in a sense of separation. They re-enforce the idea that you are without access to a higher reality such as the Divine, and that you must submit to the people who are in charge, the leaders who tell you what you can and cannot be.

You will be kept in a state of smallness and conformity until you decide to go beyond the conventions of the human mind in order to see and know who you really are in all your fullness.

The challenge you face is to claim your true identity and assume the freedom to realize your full potential. This means letting go of past programs and coming into alignment with your own divinity. If you wish to stand freely in your own space, it is necessary to let go of this, open up to all you really are, and come home to your inner sources of power and direction.

Your true Self has no limiting notions at all about who you are. It is infinite in awareness, not bound by notions of how things are or must be. Moreover, it cannot be compromised, programmed or limited in any way.

You are an aspect of Source manifested in form. But you have agreed to deny who you really are and live in separation from your True Self.

You have quite a lot invested in keeping up an identity which conforms to the expectations of others. This helps you to fit in, and to suffer less rejection and alienation. On the other hand, when you recognize who you really are, above and beyond the lies and stories you agreed to believe, everything changes.

Here is the really good news: When you formulate and declare a New Agreement with your true Self, the world around you will to conform to your new vision and understanding. It could not be any other way. Why? The outer world is a manifestation of consciousness and you are consciousness. Nothing is real except for the fact that you have made it real for yourself in your own mind by the power of belief.

When you choose to believe in what the intelligence of the heart shows you to be true, an alignment to your real identity develops. This connects you to Source more powerfully and consistently. This in turn summon up a new energetic landscape which grows and widens to conform to your new understanding..

The choice is simple and clear – either to live in denial of who you really are, or to recognize and live your fullness. Either free yourself from the identity which you took on from your culture, family and society or live in conformity to their dictates.

Up to now, it has been your choice and agreement that you would deny your true nature and pretend to be separate, small and conformist. And yet your true Self is ready attract into your life all the experiences and lessons you require to actualize your full potential. You may currently believe that the small self protects and preserves you. But when you trust your connection to Source, you will see that it has much more to give you, much more to show you, and much greater capacity to illumine you about who you are and what is possible. The Divine knows who you are, knows your potential for new learning, inspiration and growth. It will be with you supportively every step of the way.

And so you have a fundamental choice to make. From this choice will come a New Agreement.

In your New Agreement, you declare to yourself that you have the right to know yourself as you are, to decide for yourself what path you will walk, and to choose for yourself what experiences you need in order to learn in your own way and embrace your own truth.

This means that you choose to stand in your own authority, knowing that you innately empowered to make this fundamental choice. In your new agreement, you have the freedom and the power to say “Yes!” to your full potential and live life on your own terms. You thus take a decisive step beyond what you have imagined or actualized so far in your life and you open a portal into a vastly expanded future.

On the basis of your New Agreement, it becomes possible for you to encounter yourself in the fullness of your true worth and to experience the your boundless capacity for love, wisdom and creativity. Moreover, you can call in all that you require for the full manifestation of what you have decided to create.

When you come to declare your New Agreement, you are ready to re-align your mind and your heart so that your heart can be your guide. It will inspire you, teach you and energize you to realize and embody the best that can be.

Here are the four statements that constitute your New Agreement:

I choose to align all aspects of my life to the fullness of my potential.

I choose to let go of all the limitations I have taken on, contrary to the truth of my being.

I choose to open up to Source as I invite it to manifest through my thoughts, words and actions.

I choose to live in accord with my heart’s true guidance, inwardly, outwardly and continuously.

When you repeat these words, you declare that it is your choice to leave behind your investment in the small self and its conformity to all kinds of limitations and falsities, including your beliefs about how and whether you need to conform to the various authority figures who have shaped your life to this point.

This means that you will enter a new phase of experience, and as a consequence life will present itself in a new form. When the words of the new agreement are sincerely declared, a process of change comes into play, bringing new insights and experiences, at first intermittently, then more frequently, and in the end continuously. Your new agreement opens you to these transformational energies and frequencies which will draw you to new insights, realizations and experiences beyond what you have known up to this point in your life.

The Attunement Process is most effective when placed at the service of your New Agreement. It acts as a powerful tool to amplify and intensify the clear intent you have expressed for growth and change.

The Attunement Process

Everything that really matters is found in the spaciousness of your awareness, not in the externals of your life. Although in essence you are made of spacious awareness, it is something more than mere empty space. Everything that really matters in life is to be found in this spacious awareness. Examples include love, wisdom, creativity, peace, clarity, inner harmony, strength, joy and power. These are the life-enhancing energies that spacious awareness has to enrich your existence. Anything that opens you to experience this spaciousness can deepen your experience of life and bring you closer to the fountainhead of your own unlimited potential.

When you allow your awareness to open up and flow more freely, you will experience a special kind of fulfillment. Life naturally becomes richer and deeper as you identify with the spacious awareness that is your essence. In the process of alignment to Source, you relax. In that relaxed state, awareness expands. Then, within that expanded awareness there arises an experience of fulfillment, like the feeling of truly “coming home.”

It is fair to say that any time you have felt something truly meaningful in your life, you have been in contact with this spacious awareness which is your essence and its limitless qualities of wisdom, love and fulfillment.

The point of attunement to Source is to show you your essence so completely that you can rest as that aware space and be who you truly are.

You can learn to rest in the essential space of your pristine nature no matter what is happening around you or how you are feeling. Cognizant, pristine spaciousness is your very nature, your divine nature. You are that. You are divine.

Even when you are frustrated or confused, you are still divine. Everything you experience as outside and around you is made only of what you are in your essence, and so it also is divine. That is all there is. That is what you are. You have always been what you have sought.

What matters is what you really are, not the contents which arise in the space of your awareness.

You can only be what you really are, and nothing else. So there is no dilemma, no crisis, and no problem. You have only to relax and be as you are to discover that this is true. This is the whole point of attunement to Source. It’s that simple.:

In the attunement process, several supportive factors are brought into play

The subject relaxes on a mat which generates healing fields of bio-electric energy. A light shines on the forehead where the “third eye” is located. This light is configured into various mandalas in a range of specially selected colours. The light acts as a reminder for you to let go, open up and come home to the truth of your being. You do not have to do anything. You just relax, let go and come home to an experience of oneness with Source.

Helpful Questions

At certain points, it may help to invite your mind to enter more fully into the experience of letting go, opening up and coming home. For this purpose, a series of questions has been developed. A facilitator may ask the questions or you may have them pre-recorded. Listen to the questions one at a time and hold each question in your awareness as you sink more deeply into peace and relaxation.

You do not need to be concerned about finding an answer or remembering any of the thoughts provoked by the questions, for they are meant more to show you who you really are than to provoke some form of verbal response.

These questions will help you to experience your essential nature more deeply and completely. There is no right or wrong answer. You cannot go wrong because wherever you start and wherever you end up is always what you really are: spacious awareness.

Questions:
Can it be that you are not really your body? Not really your personality? Not really your mind?
Is it possible that these are experiences you have, but not what constitute your real nature?
Is it possible that you are space, conscious, open and allowing space in which the mind and body arise and appear?
Could it be possible that this space of awareness is what perceives and understand these words?
Is it possible that this space, your real nature, is limitless?
If the truth of your being is boundless, what does that mean?
Would this mean that there is infinite consciousness available to you at every moment?
Would you need to be so very careful about what you experience in life?
Is it really necessary to avoid some kinds of experiences and attach to others?
Or could you simply allow every experience that arises in this spaciousness to have some of the infinite space that you are?
What if this infinite space is one, not many, and you are it, and everyone and everything is also only it?
What if you already embody everything you could ever desire or wish to own or experience?
What if you already are everything you desire to grow into and become?
What if this spaciousness is alive? What if it is the aliveness you feel right now?
What if this spaciousness is full of love, tranquility, bliss and clarity?
What if this spaciousness is rich and full and fulfilling in ways that worldly experiences have never been?
What if this spacious fullness is who you really are?
Can you feel that it is here in each breath, and in the stillness between breaths?
Can you feel that it is flowing as the mind and its thoughts and its rest?
Can you feel that spacious awareness is here and therefore all is well, all is always well, and there is no need for any kind of doing to make anything well because all things are always well in that space of pure being?
Can you feel that there is no need to search?
Can you see that spacious awareness alone is real, and you are that?
Can you feel it? Can you feel that it is here, now, always, never to be lost or found?
Can you rest in the experience of being only and always that?

Attunement To Source

Modern technology has made it possible to achieve levels of healing and expanded consciousness to a degree never before thought possible. The essential modality is vibration. Sound, light, colour, number and geometry create various permutations of vibration. Our physical, etheric and astral bodies are essentially tissues of light of differing vibratory rates. When these are in harmony, good health and a sound mind result. But sometimes disharmony may arise. In the process of attunement, light speaks to light and brings in a reminder of the fundamental harmony that is the basis of sound health and awakened awareness. The body accepts this message through the neural network and adjust accordingly.

During an attunement session, the subject rests on a mat which generates bio-magnetic fields at various frequencies which are set to balance and align every aspect of the etheric and physical bodies. Earphones bring in audio-tones that support the process of deep relaxation into theta or delta mind-wave states characteristic of profound contemplation. The geometries of light and colour which play on the forehead (where the brow chakra is located) have been designed to make it easy to enter a non-dual state of awareness and rest in a state of expanded and deepened awareness.

A facilitator may or may not be present with helpful questions as part of the experience, either before, during or after the attunement. This is optional, but not necessary.

It can be helpful to spend some quiet time after the session is over, and to dialogue about the experience. There may also be times when it feels best to follow through in silence and forgo discussion.

The language of light communicates priordially to the human psyche. Colour, number, geometry and mandala all speak to the ancient light codes in our human DNA, reminding us of who and what we really are beyond the beliefs, stories, and notions we have fantasized in our minds.

This is not only enlightening in a spiritual sense but deeply healing at many levels.

Attunement to Source is an integral alignment of all parts of the being to their original harmony and wholeness.

Hello, Pressence

"Truth will set you free," we know these words. I've had that as a signature in the LU forum since the beginning. Only recently did I change it to "Truth recognized will set you free". And here is why: Truth can not do anything if it is not consciously recognized and lived. If one is not receptive to it, no words of truth can do anything. You can be bombarded with truth all day long and it will not touch anything in you if there is no openness and no fertile ground for it to land.

So what is this truth that has the power to set you free? It's Presence.

We are aware, we are conscious, we can feel that we know. We can be still and feel that there is this spacious sense of presence. Here now, always available to be noticed, recognized consciously. This presence has a tone, a flavor; it's rich and full of aliveness.

The problem that one may have is how to still the mind to the point of being able to rest in a thoughtless space. There are many ways to practice that, meditation being the main exercise. You can also use technology, or whatever that works for you. The mind filled with fears and anxieties, shame, guilt and regret can not be still. It keeps working on trying to resolve and explain, protect a person. The mind can not relax until it thinks that it is its job to keep everything in control and in a certain way. It can not just sit still if it thinks that it needs to perform tasks and figure a way out of problems. But the only real function of the mind is to be aware! To be aware. The end. Let this sink.

The mind is doing work that is really not its work. Creating and solving problems is tension in itself, especially when problems seem to have no solutions. The tension builds up to the point of collapse or explosion. Neither are joyful experiences. Only calm, peaceful mind can get to stillness. Only when it's no longer pressuring itself into performing tasks that are not of its responsibility can the mind let go and be still.

Stillness is found inside. This is where we go silently, secretly and preciously. This is where the outside world is no longer relevant. Nothing from outside can give us peace. Changing the world outside is not of our power. It's only inside that we can find the home. And it's always here now. It is the Presence.

There are many words to point to the same Presence. Whatever word resonates, be it Self, Love, God, Life, Source, Buddha Mind, Christ Consciousness, Tao, Zen, The Great Spirit, Divine Presence, Consciousness, Aliveness, Being... You can call it whatever you like, even make up a word, as long as you consciously know what it means. I call IT Wooo, as that how it feels when the connection is made. Find your own word that hits the bulls-eye in your experience. Then find that which The Word points to in your experience. Here now, there is a sense of something being within- a sweetness, a silent joy of Being that feels like a flow of blissful lightness through the chest. Hello, Divine Presence. This is where we rest in the silent space of truth of Being. This is what the sages and gurus and wise men and women point to. The sacred place within, that Self-love, that Spiritual Heart that resides underneath all waves of thoughts and emotions.

Hello, Presence.

We rest in that presence and listen to what is there. Simply being open to it, being receptive. Listening rather than talking. Consciously recognizing it for what it is. (again use your own word here)

Bringing focused aware attention to just being, allows the system to re-calibrate, realign, refresh, erase all that no longer serves. Then there is a deep sense of peace and a delicious, calm feeling of completeness.

There is only one Presence. We can all tune into that and make a conscious connection with it. The silence that is felt, even for a few seconds--three to four times a day is the home. We don't need to solve problems and be concerned about the future- this activity won't give you a lasting sense of peace with what is. Take time to just sit in silence, dropping all pressure from the head, releasing all wants, shoulds, desires, desire for power and security, all trying to fix or change what is apparently not working and all expectations about what this experience could be like. Be there just for the sake of being connected.

This is IT. Rest in the silent aware space. What is that? What does it have to tell you? What feeling wants to be felt? Go deeper and deeper. This is where assurance that all is well and completeness can be felt. This is how the worldly problems melt away. Fall in love with the Divine Presence and how it feels. Fall in love with Love itself. That is where the connection with the ..... (use your word) happens. And when it happens, you know! You found the golden center of Being... abide in that and that will set you free.

Inspired by The Infinite Way teaching

Deep Looking

Are you at peace right now? 

If so, nice. If not, then let me introduce you a very simple way to peace. I called this technique Deep Looking. It is a blend of different kinds of releasing techniques and is mainly based on Pamela Wilson's work and Sedona method.

It is very simple to use, but before I get to the details, I'd like you to notice how mind labels everything. Where focus goes, thinking follows. If you look to the left and notice what is there right now, watch what happens with thoughts- they label and describe the seen, naming shapes, colors, naming objects, those labels may trigger a memory, so little a story may come up. Words flow when focus touches what is there. (When you see it clearly, you can describe what is seen.)

Bring focus to how you feel right now. Describe it in a few words for yourself.
Notice, words that label feelings arise when attention goes to the feelings. Just have a little play and observe how it all works.

There is one thing to end seeking, it's quite another to end resisting what is.

It's like there are layers to awakening, one more subtle than other. Seeing that no one is here doing, thinking, living a life of separate entity does not automatically end all the resistance. It's not one hit and that's it: resistance-no-longer-arises-deal. All those little thoughts, beliefs, shoulds, emotional wounds, fears, habits, stories, the whole personality of the character did not form in a day, so it does not usually collapse in a day either. If you look back at your life, there is a story. Some stories are sticky, some are vague, some trigger deep emotional pain. The pain that paralyzes and keeps one stuck in the same patterns. If you could release all this sad stuff, what would be left is pure joy of being and peace.

When resistance ends, surrendering happens, it's actually the same movement, labeled from different ends. Every little resistance released is surrendering in action. Letting go, falling off old "parts of you", stuff that no longer serves and is no longer needed.

The first step is saying: Yes, so be it.

So be it. Let all the stuff that no longer serves get de-constructed, un-created, released, dissolved, melted away, gone. Who needs those fearful patterns, right? So be it. Whatever happens in the process of releasing is OK.

If fear comes up it's only here to show you that you are entering unexplored areas, it signals that something that feels protected does not want to be seen. Let that be OK as well.

The second step- Welcoming.

This is very important and it may feel silly or even funny, but welcoming everything that comes up is The Key. Kindness, openness, gentleness, compassion, softness, honesty, love are the door openers. When pushing stops, allowing begins. It's not a weakness, but most powerful, underrated tool on the mission of clearing stuckness. But what good is the tool if it's not being used.

Thank you is the magic word.

Thanking whatever shows up turns the feeling about it around. Resistance turns into acceptance. It's the alchemy of feeling. This is the main principle of Deep Looking- welcoming, thanking, giving space for the feeling to enfold you and to pass. You can bow in honor, hug and kiss the feeling, mind and the heart. The response is one of opening, feeling of appreciation, compassion, love. You may try this now, before reading further.

Thank the heart and the mind, literally, for being such a beautiful, gorgeous heart and mind. Give them both a warm hug and a smile. Tell them that you love them SO MUCH. Bow in honor and in appreciation. Say, thank you.

That's it. If there is resistance to that, it's fine. Thank the resistance for doing such a great job of protecting whatever needs to be protected. Give a hug to resistance. Even if it sounds a bit crazy. Accepting resistance is a step closer to releasing it. After all, resistance is a friend.

Listening deeply to what the mind and the heart have to say.

When we listen to how mind and heart responds, we can take the next step. That is asking another question that rises up from the previous answer. Whatever shows up in the answer is showing the way to go deeper.

The deep Looking process is a conversation with whatever structure comes up to talk. When the focus is turned inside, notice, there is a voice talking, it's labels everything. Using this function of mind, we can have a chat with mind, heart, body, see what they want, what is in the way of having it now, what is there that needs to be protected. Talking to the mind may sound weird, but it's not any weirder than talking to other imaginary characters in the head, like your partner or parent. It's imagined role play, a game, don't take it too seriously. It does not mean that there is this entity called Mind or Heart that live inside the entity called Body. It only means that if you ask a question of the structure directly you get a direct answer. Simple.

So ask the mind if it's at peace. Literally. - Mind, are you at peace?
Wait for the answer.
............


It's either yes or no. If yes, thank the mind for the answer and ask the heart the same question.
Wait for the answer and if it comes as yes then thank the heart too and enjoy the rest of the day :)

If NO comes up, ask the mind/heart what does it want the most.
You may write the answers down, as it helps to keep focus.
..........
After each answer give thanks and honor the heart and the mind, or whatever you are talking to at that moment.
...........
Next question would be- What is in the way of feeling relaxed now?

When the answer comes welcome that feeling, let it be here for a minute and just allow it to be as it is. Then you may ask the feeling what does it want the most, and see what comes up after that...
...........

When the answer comes that feeling, mind, heart wants to relax, you ask:

Are you ready to relax?
Are you ready to relax now?

If both answers are yes, then just close your eyes and feel. Feel fully, without putting labels on what is felt. Just letting the raw sensations enfold you, play out and pass. Take your time with this one and when it feels that all has passed, bring in some more, and feel it out and then some more. And even more. Keep at it- welcoming, bringing up, feeling out, keep at the process as long as it feels right. You may imagine that there is an open door in the area of the feeling and see how the feeling is moving through that door. Alternatively, just feel. In the end, it may feel like exhaustion, tiredness. It's ok. This work requires a bit of concentration.

When feelings like fear, resistance come up, talk to them and ask, what are they protecting. When you get an answer ask the mind to LOOK if it still needs to protect that, or protection is no longer needed. If it's no longer needed you may ask if the feeling wants to leave. If it says yes, then feel it out as described above. If the answer is no, then ask what this feeling wants to tell you. Listen. Whatever the answer is, thank the feeling for the answer and focus on that which comes up in the answer. It all may sound bit complicated, but when you are there, in conversation, the questions and answers just play out by themselves. 

The only thing to keep an eye on is the focus.

The tricky thing is, that if you are coming close to some strongly protected area, mind jumps at defense and either builds a wall or creates a distraction, or even both. The wall can be a sudden boredom, laziness to carry on, sleepiness, dismissal, blankness.

Distraction can come in many forms. Suddenly you may feel that you got something else to do or focus goes to something completely unrelated, something that appears to be much more interesting. It's the trick that mind plays when something feels threatened. If you notice that this happened, bring the focus back gently. Tell the mind that this is safe and you are here only to help it to get what it wants the most. Keep looking, keep welcoming and focus on what else is there that wants to speak up.

Often some scenes from childhood come up. A little kid, you, that may be feeling unloved, abandoned, and wants to be heard. Something may have happened, that the hurt is still there, something unresolved that still needs attention, processing, and acceptance. Give a hug to that child and tell her, how precious she is and how beautiful and that you love her very much. Ask the child what she wants the most and assure that she is safe and loved, stay with her till she feels lighter. 

It's a mystery how this works, but it sure does. The Deep Looking process allows you to go right to the root of stuck energy, lets you examine the beliefs and feelings around it and release happens. A deep release, that clears the space around the issue. It fills space with love and appreciation instead of tightness and unease.

When mind and heart are content and at peace, you may ask the mind, if it knows that the heart is it's home. Ask if it's already at home and if no, ask if it wants to join with the heart. Make sure both sides agree and then just close your eyes for a bit and feel the heart, feel the energy moving and simply be with it. As long as it feels right. It feels as it feels, descriptions fail at this point, no need to name the feeling either.

After this release, the opening continues. There may be some more left to release so it will keep unfolding through next few days. This is an energetic shift, a change how you relate to what is, how you feel most of the time, a new default frequency.

If you use this by yourself, it may take patience and some time. Each time you use it, there is a little release, in a few days, weeks, there will be a noticeable difference. But if you use this technique with a partner, somebody that helps you hold the focus, the release can be really big and sudden. The whole point of a partner is to keep you at it, all the way through.

I have used this technique for about a six years now, at the beginning on myself, then with friends and people that I never met. It is amazing to see how mind mechanisms work from inside. Mind protects the heart and in this noble task it has got confused and suffering was created. Instead of looking for the root cause and releasing it, the mind creates more and more security structures to protect the heart from suffering and that only creates more suffering. In the end, the heart may feel so small, wounded and helpless. And all it wants is to love. It can love freely, but the mind keeps it "safe" from the possible hurt. Sometimes, just in case, without examining if that protection works for the good or for more tension.

The heart is at peace when it's expanded, limitless, condition-less when it loves what it loves and enjoys the feeling of it.

It is not so easy to drop suffering. But if you listen to what your mind and heart want, if you start to communicate with those two, eventually the knot will loosen and the tightness will melt away. Instead, there will be openness and acceptance. Peace with what is.

You can communicate with the body too. I find that body does not speak, it may have no voice. Instead, you can ask yes and no questions and watch what reaction appears- opening sensations, expansion- yes, closing, tightness, contraction- no. Very simple. Deep Looking works with physical symptoms too. Behind the physical symptoms is the mind, resisting something, doing its job of protection.

Protection is good and needed when it makes sense.

A lot of times, when you look inside and ask the question- what is here that needs to be protected right now?- the answer that comes may be a surprise. You may see that mind creates and protects images. What is the worst that can happen to an image?

Images do not need to be protected, as there is nothing that can harm images in any way, but a protection mechanism would still be starting up. So you can simply ask, is it true, does this still need to be protected. If the answer is yes, then find out, what is really feeling in danger. Keep looking deeper and look behind the fear. What is there?

When you see that nothing is there that needs to be protected, when you really see that, the structure collapses. It becomes obvious, that this protection is only guarding an idea, not something that is there, real. Nothing can be harmed in any way, it's nothing. Emptiness.

I had many sessions with many people and only in very few cases, the big release did not happen, which means that more patience was needed to unlock the old rusty locks. Many sessions ended up with people getting light and blissful or falling asleep, sometimes I did fall asleep too, as it does take a lot of concentration to go all the way through. But what I noticed is that when my client releases, release happens here too, it is quite interesting to be part of this process as deepening of peace happens on both sides of the conversation.

Anyway, the theory is one thing, reading or listening to someone else's process is another and it's not the same as diving right in and experiencing this simple method for yourself. You can do it anywhere anytime. In the middle of a busy day or while meditating. Just asking and acknowledging how the mind and heart feel right now creates a direct intimate connection.
Directness, immediacy, intimacy is right here, in asking a direct question.

It may feel strange to talk to heart and mind in the beginning, especially if you see that mind and heart are just labels. But give it a try, explore this and see for yourself. It may get you into deeper peace and there is nothing at all to fear or to loose using this method. If it is not working for you, never mind.

If you find this useful, share this with a friend, pass this on, try it with someone.

If you like to book a one on one Skype session with me follow this link.

Please join Deep Looking group on Facebook

Here is a recording of a live Deep Looking session. 

http://www.liberationunleashed.com/LU_Audio/LU_Deep_Looking_Worthing_July_13th.mp3

And here are a few links to some older posts on this blog:

http://markedeternal.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/going-home.html
http://markedeternal.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/deep-looking-with-christiane.html
http://markedeternal.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/deep-looking-session-with-k.html
http://markedeternal.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/looking-inside-with-n.html
http://markedeternal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/deep-looking-session-with-d.html

Peace. 

Thinking

I talk to a lot of people about thinking and feel like sharing some ideas with you. Of course all this is subjective.

When we communicate, we share experiences using language and words. Thoughts are units of data, and when you look at thinking process it's expressed in words, as if someone sitting in your head talking. It is generally assumed that this voice comes from a me, it is me that is thinking these thoughts and acting upon them. This me is the centre thought around which my story revolves. That is what the voice says.

People hear that if you can only stop thinking, all would be experienced more deeply and vividly and they would be more aware. I get questions asking how to stop the labelling, the never ending stream of thoughts. People try many things- meditation, will power and generally hating the voice in the head, because it talks so much.

But there is nothing wrong with thinking. 

Thoughts are not a problem. Thinking that thoughts are the problem is the problem. See? This gets locked up in a loop.

Thinking is innocent and great tool in practical sense as well as artistic expression and entertainment. It is part of experience, part of the whole, no need to try to get rid of it. And you couldn't get rid of, try just sit for half an hour without thinking and see how that goes.

Believing in truthfulness of thoughts and taking them seriously is in the way of peace most of the time. Belief is thoughts agreeing with repetitive thoughts, it's a self reinforcing feed back loop that stays in the system until properly examined. What happens when examined properly? See for yourself..

Thoughts are labels, they form descriptions and interpretations of experience and thoughts believed create tensions and resistances, as well as clinging and attachments.

I thought claims doership of thinking and action. But I is just a thought, like any other thought, it is not I that is thinking. Thinking is not what is done by you, it happens. Like rain is not rained, it rains.

Thought does not create experience, it describes it. It wraps experience and colours it. It is a misunderstanding that it is I that thinks and I/ me that makes things happen.

If instead watching clouds passing by you decided that this cloud should not be here and try to direct it's movement it would be pointless waste of energy. I have experienced once or twice moving clouds around in the sky and bringing in sunshine, that is a nice story that I like to tell myself. But is it true?

So rather than fighting thoughts, rather then hating this labelling process that goes on on automatic, thank it.

Seriously, thank the thoughts for coming, literally say, mind, I love you, you have been such great mind, working so much for me. I really appreciate you. You are gorgeous, beautiful, innocent mind!

Instead of going against what is happening, turn the angle 180 degrees and see what happens. I'm not going to tell you, have a look how this works for yourself. One thing for sure- the mind will respond. And you can talk to it as you would to a child. You don't have to believe me here, test if it works for you.

When you notice thoughts that say what should and should not happen, these thoughts are weeds in your thought garden, stop right there, make a mental note, see if the opposite of should is true too. These thoughts create more thoughts about what is wrong, notice them.

When shoulds are cleared, look up for wants. These are noticed mostly in certain areas- security, control and acceptance. The wants are weeds too, but somehow they are more difficult to let go, so with these spend a day or a few, take your time, catch that word WANT every time it is said or thought. Just make a mental note of when it shows up and in what situation. No need to follow those thought, just recognise it happening. And also thank the wants for coming. It is ok to want what you want. You don't have to do anything about it.

I called shoulds and wants weeds as these kind of thoughts have a great expansion potential, if attention is given to them, they grow into more thoughts very quickly and they are connected to 'me' thought. These are the thoughts that are basis for clinging and attachments. These thoughts trigger feelings. Shoulds are connected to expectations and expectations are in the way of plain looking. Wants are connected to feelings of lack and distorts the view.

It's not that these thoughts should not be coming up, they will be coming up until they drop or are inspected. These thoughts can be welcomed as they can show limitations and restrictions that are still in the system. Releasing shoulds and wants opens the mind to seeing what is and being at ease.

So to sum up, instead of trying to get rid of thoughts, welcome them. Instead of holding on to shoulds, let them go, notice wants and honour the mind. 


Clarity comes when description of experienced is not taken for all experience. Thinking is not all experience, there is also perception through senses and feeling. If you give thinking all focus, then the rest of experience is missed. And you live in your head, lost in thoughts, analysing and endlessly trying something MENTAL. It is hard.

Imagine you get a gift, wrapped up in a nice gift paper and all you pay attention to is that wrapper. The gift is ignored, the wrapper is taking whole focus and you are so attached to that piece of paper with the bow, that don't even notice the gift. Then you get another gift and another, and still the wrapper is all you see.

Clear mind is that which does not confuse description with a real experience, words for things, map for territory. The fog, the veil that seems to be in the way of seeing is descriptions, labels taken as the main experience. The silent experiencing through feeling and senses is left in the background, unnoticed, ignored. So life lived is not experienced fully and richly as one is living a story about present moment rather then living the present moment so full and rich in perceptions. And trying to stay in the present moment takes a huge amount of energy. Noticing though is effortless.

The simplest test: just take something from your immediate environment and smell it, whatever is right here right now, inhale the scent. Hold it, feel it, experience it. Smell that thing for 2 minutes, take your time with experiencing, don't pay attention to labels, experience the sensed.

Then for the next 2 minutes, describe it fully with words. And that is the difference between experience and description. But wait, describing experience is also experience.

Experiencing thinking is real. Same like experiencing smelling and other senses. Confusion sets in when attention goes to content of thoughts and away from direct experiencing.

So if you pay attention here and look deeply, thinking is happening, it is about experiences and that in itself is experience. The wrapper is also part of the gift.

Vision, hearing, tasting, touching and smelling are 5 separate channels through which data is coming in, thinking is what makes sense of the data, interprets it and describes what is going on, putting all into a STORY. Useful and practical. Some thoughts triggers feelings which is another channel of perception. The channel of the heart. When mind and heart work in balance there is joy and peace, there is openness and expansion. When heart is closed or hurt, the mind is "in charge", working hard to protect that which needs to be protected with help of loyal friend fear. There is a lot to do for the mind, a lot to keep track of and it gets very busy. Exhausting itself till it shuts down.

Mind thinks that it has to understand and control everything. Because it thinks that it is it's job. It thinks. But is it true? Is mind really in charge of life?

When mind is relaxed, it's great, it's like a joyful puppy, curious, innocent, playful and fun, or silent and peaceful. Only mind is afraid to loose it's job- micromanaging the universe. As if it's really doing that.

It's such a mysterious expression... One may say- twisted..

The misunderstanding that mind is primary and most important channel of perception is here till it's seen, that nothing controls what is. It happens. Life is going on by itself, just because, including thinking. Including thinking about how this me is in charge. There is no thinker and no doer, so there is no one in control.

Be kind to the mind. Let it know you appreciate it. And let it slowly retire from the assumed position of manager of universe. Then it will come back to innocent mind which is creative, curious and joyful. And you won't need to try to shut it up.

Love the mind and be kind to it. Just for one day appreciate it, and say yes to the voice in the head. Kindness is soothing and leads to opening. See if that makes a difference for you. 

If you try this and it helps, share this with a friend..

Looking Inside With N.

I have been working with people using this "Deep Looking" technique. It is talking to mind, heart and whatever comes up directly and listening to the answers as they come up. Being kind and showing appreciation to whatever comes up allows a deep release and expansion followed by re-connection of broken links and deep peace. Here is my conversation with N. He was skeptical and open at the same time. It was amazing what came up to the surface. Hope this is can be useful for you in looking inside by yourself.

A lot can be released if you only listen to what your mind and heart is trying to say. 

I:

i'm here is you here..

N:

yes

howdy!

I:

cool. i'm great. you?

N:

I'm feeling good, been watching some SIG retreat stuff. I came across when I first posted on LU.

I:

are you ready to start?

N:

yes

I:

ok, good. what you do is ask questions that i suggest and listen to answers, then write them to me.

ask your mind, literally: mind, are you at peace.

N:

okay, lets do it.

the first question is no.

I:

ok good. thank the mind and ask it if it would like to relax more.

N:

yes and tears.

I:

oh... give the mind a hug and a kiss.

tell it that you appreciate it very much.

N:

that calmed it down, breathing spiked for a brief moment in that sadness.

I:

Ok, ask the mind if it's ready to relax.

N:

there’s tension in the head, faint no.

I:

Ok, thank your mind. Ask it what does it want so it can relax

N:

the mind wants resolution.

throat is tense.

I:

Beautiful. Tell the mind that you are very grateful and that this desire is very welcome.

It's ok, let whatever comes up be welcome.

Ask the mind if it's ready for resolution.

N:

the mind says yes.

I:

Beautiful. Ask it if it's ready now.

N:

it says it doesn't know what to do.

I:

It's ok, tell it it's safe not to know.

Ask it what it wants to resolve.

N:

its asking if its still going to be here after the resolve.

I:

Of course! Tell it that you appreciate it very much and that it's not going anywhere. You love it and want it to keep working for you.

N:

it said okay and an image of a smile happened.

I:

Smile to the mind and give it a kiss.

Tell it now that it's safe to resolve and ask what does it want to resolve.

N:

there’s nothing there.

just fan blowing

I:

Ok, great. Ask it now if it's ready to relax more.

N:

it says yes i would like to.

I:

Beautiful. Ask it of its ready now.

N:

resistance.

its saying, you can't make me.

I:

Great! This is good. Welcome the resistance.

Tell it, thank you for showing up.

Ask the resistance what it is protecting.

N:

its protecting itself.

I:

Thank the resistance for doing such beautiful job.

Say to it how much you appreciate it working for you. Give it a hug.

Ask the resistance what is it protecting itself from.

N:

hate.

hating others.

I:

Oh, say to resistance, sorry, it's a misunderstanding. You are my friend.

N:

it doesn't want to hate others.

and tears welled up

I:

It's ok. Ask the resistance if it would like to love others instead.

N:

it says yes.

I:

Give the resistance a kiss.

Beautiful. Let's talk to the heart now.

N:

okay.

I:

Ask the heart if it can accept the resistance as a friend.

N:

it says yes!

of course.

I:

Gorgeous.

Ok, ask the mind now if it accepts resistance as a friend.

N:

it says yes i love resistance.

and its asking if that’s normal.

haha.

I:

Beautiful. Thank the mind, the heart and the resistance.

Say that yes, it's normal.

Ask the mind if it can see that resistance is love.

N:

yes i can

I:

It is working to protect the innocence.

N:

its only trying to protect.

I:

Yes.

N:

something curious

about my past

I:

Good. What is coming up?

N:

its curious in depression right now, depression isn't coming up

I:

Good stuff. Let's move on. Ask if mind is ready now to relax more.

N:

but more so about the mood swings

okay.

yes

heart moving up.

that was a sensation that was felt

I:

Great! So feel the opening, take a deep breath in and let whatever feeling is here to pass freely. Feel it fully.

Release. And then more. And more.

N:

there is blankness and one tear out of the right eye is happening.

I:

Nice. Let it all out. Feel it. Feel it fully

N:

i don't know if i can feel it fully is what its saying.

I:

No need for words. Focus on sensation in the body.

N:

small prickling on the scalp

I:

Thank the mind. Hive it a huge hug.

And a smile.

N:

mm!

I:

Cool, ask the heart to show how much it loves the mind.

N:

expansion is happening.

I:

Awesome.

Thank the heart and ask it if it's ready to expand even more.

N:

no.

no. no. no.

I:

Ask it what is in the way.

N:

hurt, abandonment.

I:

Of course! Thank it for bringing this up and give it a warm long hug.

N:

and then i get the image of me when i was younger.

tears at the image.

I:

Tell the mind that it's safe to feel.

Ask the feeling from the past to come closer.

N:

its showing me as a little child, I was at yosemite and I was in a convenient store. My parents couldn't be found. I thought they left me

so I started crying.

tears welling up again.

I hated that feeling, being disconnected

I:

Oh... Say how much you are sorry about that.

Give it a kiss like you would to that small child

Tell the heart that you love it very much.

N:

a smile.

it says it loves me back.

I:

Beautiful. Ask the heart if it's ready to release this hurt.

N:

yes.

it wants to.

I:

Is it ready now?

N:

yes.

I:

Great. Feel it open and take deep breath. Let the feeling come up and feel it. See it pass.

Release all, then more and then even more.

Feel the feeling fully. Don't interrupt. All it wants is to leave.

N:

i got the image of a flower blooming.

and safe

I:

Beautiful. Thank you heart. Bow to it with honour.

Ask the mind if it's ready to relax more.

N:

its saying yes.

I:

Gorgeous. Thank the mind, give it a smile and ask if it's ready to go down to the heart.

N:

it says it wants to but no.

I:

Ok, that's fine, tell it that. Ask it if it knows that it's home is at the heart.

N:

it said it didn't know that.

no one told it that.

I:

Ask it to check if it's true.

N:

it's not sure, it doesn't know how to go about checking, it just always assumed it had its job to do and the heart had its job to do.

I:

Yes, of course. Tell it that it can do its job perfectly while feeling at one with the heart.

N:

it says it makes sense though, because some of the best decisions have been made when it and the heart work together.

I:

Yes! Tell it it's great observation. And thank it.

Ask the heart if it accepts the mind fully and loves it with no limits.

Unconditionally.

N:

the image of the flower is still blooming

no feeling of resistance

I:

Beautiful. Now ask the mind if it made a decision, would it like to feel at home.

N:

it absolutely wants to feel at home with the heart.

it wants the marriage.

it says its actually longed for it.

I:

Beautiful!! Give both the heart and the mind a kiss

Ask the mind and the heart if they are both ready.

N:

they both say yes.

I:

Awesome!

Ask if they are ready now.

N:

yes and i got a quick glimpse of holding hands.

I:

Great. Now switch of the computer, just sit quietly , breath, and feel it joining, keep sending hugs and appreciation to both and just feel it for like 20 min. Let it happen.

N:

i told them they make a good couple.

kk

I:

I'll be here when you come back. Feel whatever comes openly with love.

See you in a bit!

N:

okie thanks be back!

N:

the first feeling that comes to mind is a very still calmness.

I:

Beautiful.

This was very moving for me too, I had tears too and deep appreciation for you showing me this.

I:

Thank you.

How you feeling, enough work or there is something else that came up.

N:

thank you Ilona, i bow to you. I needed that I I see now that just because you know that everything is self abiding, that there can still be feelings of separation at the same time

hmm. at the time there was a small movement but I welcomed it and it passed.

I don't even remember what it was anymore.

I:

Nice. Now you know what to do when mind or heart feels alone. Show them love and remind of each other.

Be very kind to both. They are here for you. All is one feeling of love.

N:

oh that's what it was, in my experience of 20 minutes, I had the image of a little child coming back to its parents

and being loved by both.

thank you!

I:

big smile!

Great work.

N:

I have so much gratitude and appreciation for your work, and thank you.

I:

Can we share this in unleashed? I think it can be very helpful for someone else.

N:

yes, I give you my permission to do so.

I:

Oh, could I put it on my blog? I can use just N if you like.

N:

of course, do whatever feels right.

I:

Thank you!