Lição 1
Adrift On The Surface
We begin Day 1 by understanding what it means to live on the surface of life – and how to quietly dip down within ourselves when the demands and expectations of our insatiable external world overwhelm us. We shall learn to kindly and compassionately return to the inner sanctuary of our core being, where we have all we need for joy, validation, and guidance.
Today's takeaway tool is to write on the palms of your hands two statements as a remembrance of what we have uncovered today:
On the dominant hand, the words 'Power through breath', and on the other 'Surrender control.'
Lição 2
Submerging Into Emptiness
On Day 2, we will look at how our perspectives have been conditioned by our external environment and how emptiness is the key to understanding who we really are.
By acknowledging what the surface level of life is, we have already sunk a little deeper into ourselves. Today's practice takes us on an introspective journey to "emptiness", so we may connect to our inner universe and remember what is most important in life.
Today's takeaway tool is to write two words on your palms. On the dominant hand, write the words 'Emptiness' and on the other, 'Universe' as a reminder of our revelation today.
Lição 3
Freediving Into Seeking
Over the last two days we have descended from living on the top layer of our physical world and dipped ourselves deeper into to the emptiness of mind matter. Now, we will end our residence in the shallows by untying ourselves from the restriction of our seeking habit.
Today's experiential practice is a journey inwards to meet ourselves. We will ask our inner being for the answers we seek externally and remember the power we have to guide our own life.
Today's tool is to simply notice when youyourself seeking and to ask yourself first what it is that you might be able to offer yourself instead.
Lição 4
Equalizing Through Creation
Today, we will learn how to create what we are looking for. Instead of participating in the 'wild goose chase' we find ourselves in when trying to find what we need to make our lives more meaningful.
We treat Spirit like that of our earthly ocean: we know very little of what inhabits the deepest part of our water world and yet, we know what lies on the surface of the moo. We know its composition and its qualities, even though it lies beyond our atmosphere. This is our humanness - our tendency to seek out there rather than dig deep into discovering what we already have.
Through the beat of shamanic drums, we will meditate on connecting to our own universal creative powers.
Today's takeaway tool is to create a piece of art, to journal, cook, or express yourself in any way that makes you feel most alive after the practice.
Lição 5
Descending Into The Sacred
Now that we have sunk a little deeper into ourselves, it is my wish to help you realize that without our surface - the life we live in every day, the challenges we face, the hurt we experience – we would never truly know our depths and we would never fully reach the expanse within. Human life is divine, so today we will remember how to make what is good in life sacred.
Today's practice takes you on a visual journey into the wild woods. Here we will create a ritual towards the North, East, South and West, and recognize the accompanying elements that support our life. Through this mediation, we are able to see in ourselves all that is also created in nature.
Today's takeaway tool is to create a mindful ritual to an otherwise unconscious habit, bringing sacred awareness into the moment.
Lição 6
The Aqualung Of Self-Healing
The deeper we move within ourselves, the more profoundly we are able to start healing ourselves. Today, we have reached that restorative layer.
Sometimes we are simply engulfed by our pasts and the uncertainty of the future. And pain can provide some relief in the sense that we know we can rely on it. We all suffer. We all tend to our wounds in the best ways we can, and it’s not to say we consciously choose to hurt but to know that some part of us longs to depend on something we at least know.
Sometimes we wake up to a fully committed relationship with our own suffering and have little awareness of how it got this deep or how we can pull out the pain without it taking a piece of us with it.
Today, we will remember our wholeness through a mindful awareness practice and become present in our emotions, without escaping anywhere.
Today's takeaway tool is to contemplate the person you would be without pain and suffering.
Lição 7
Immersion Into Belonging
Today we will immerse ourselves into the deep and find belonging within our very essence.
Living deeply is to know that you will constantly be called to the surface again, so to stay in your depths is neither purposeful nor meaningful for Spirit, who wishes to experience all that your surface life has to offer, with you as its the conduit for universal love to express itself through.
Today we will learn that to find true belonging to yourself is to never have to seek validation from the external world again. To truly accept yourself is to never place your worth in the hands of others again. To find that you belong to every moment that is offered to you during the day is to be at home wherever you are.
We will reflect on a poem today with mindful presence.
Today's takeaway tool is to remember to be kind to both surface and soul because to live life to its fullest, we need to belong to both.
Lição 8
Anchorage Into Silence
We are close to the core of living within our being now. Yesterday we found a sense of belonging within ourselves and to all things, which helps us balance our inner and outer worlds. It is this ability to self-cultivate within what we seek without that allows us to come home to a profound way of being in the world.
What we are gradually discovering is that through depth comes simplicity, and through simplicity comes silence. Today we will discover that silence lives close to the core of our innermost being – a sherpa to Spirit.
We will remember the undercurrent of silence that is always available to us and tap into it through an experiential practice that ends the silence with a bell.
Today's takeaway tool is to dip into the undercurrent of silence throughout the coming day, as a place of refuge in the sometimes chaotic surface life.
Lição 9
Sunk Into The Spiritual Heart
Today, we have finally entered the central point of our being: the Heart of hearts. When fully present to and guided by heart, we no longer exist as a superficial wave, but ocean herself.
When we sink into our heart space, we become our greatest point of depth and touch the inked dot of our mandala, the central point to where all of life and Spirit expands.
Today is an emotional, meditative journey into the green flame of our heart center, where we burn all that keeps us reactive, unconscious, and feeling lost in the surface life.
The final tool is to deeply reflect on the following statement from the Upanishads:
“When all the knots of the heart are unloosened, then even here in this human birth, the mortal becomes immortal.”
Lição 10
Daily Depth
Welcome to making Surface to Soul practical in everyday life. I hope you will leave today feeling like you have the more pragmatic steps into living a little more deeply and find yourself looking within more for guidance, comfort, and unconditional love.
Today, you will be reminded of what keeps us on the surface and disconnected in life, as well as a recap on the vital tools needed for daily depth. It ends with what it feels like to sustainably live a more meaningful life.
