The Embodied 'We" - Coming Out Of Aloneness

When we live in our heads, we feel that we are separate from the world around us: it's 'out there,' and I am 'in here'. When we come home to the body, we arrive in the companionship of the world and find nourishment in the present.

That is what this practice explores.

Transcript

I would like to share a practice this morning That above all Gives you the simplest way that I know of To determine whether you are In your head or in your body that you know It's like two different states of being and I really think of being in my head like the state of ice it you know it Loves concepts,

And it creates these static ideas that it manipulates and does it brilliantly And then there's that other state of being that feels fluid that recognizes We're not surrounded by things we are part of a process in which everything participates And for me the easiest way To check in with yourself on that What State of being are you in at the moment is to look at your experience of the self And it will either be an experience of Me in here and the world out there Or it will be an experience of We this seamless union with the life that surrounds you and your participation in it and its participation in your life and and this communal sense of of we and I'd like to I'd like to explore those As a means of Giving you something really tangible to lean on As you deepen into this work So let's begin By Committing briefly to the state of being in which our culture has Conditioned us so allow your center of awareness To reside in the head and this is a Familiar state to most of us And feel yourself centered there and for me it feels like the way I might sit in a car and I look at the world as though through the windshield it is out there and I am in here And I can notice many things about the world around me and There may be delight in what I notice or interest but but it is undergirded by the sense that I am in here and the world is out there and Explore that for yourself see what comes up for you see how The world around you looks Within that state of being how you experience your thinking Within that state of being How you feel how the world feels just Gently notice all of that And Understand this is The state of being in which we've all been relentlessly instructed And then I would invite you into the phase shift That carries you into a union with the body's intelligence And begin with a letting go And I you know,

I have this image of a tree Shedding its leaves in the fall and and those habitual patterns of tension that Hold us In that state of who we know ourselves to be They just allow them to soften And fall away The body softens And the boundary Separating you from the world Becomes more permeable as That clenching of Who you are?

Softens And begins to let go And take a moment to notice your body's energy You know that fuzzball of anticipation what next when next how next just to feel it to feel your emotions where they may be a little stuck a little reactive to feel the driver of the thinking in your head to feel Anywhere the energy of your body is a little stuck a little caught a little held just to Open your eyes on that field Of the body's energies.

You might open your eyes on a star field at night And acknowledge it all Welcome it all Allow it all to be felt and seen And then gently gently give it permission to begin to melt and you give it the warmth of your love and you feel it phase shift And turn to fluid And that fluid begins to descend through the body It trickles down the way water might trickle down through stones and it is Washing down through your body down through your legs to the soles of your feet it pools there and those pools grow as that fluid energy descends and They rise inside the legs like a tide And still you're giving the remnants of that star field your love and feeling them release and descend and cascade down through the body and that fluid energy rises eventually to the pelvic floor and Still the spaciousness of the body above is being reclaimed The Last stars are Releasing and melting and Trickling down and that fluid energy rises up eventually to the top of the pelvic bowl And feel the Undiminished spaciousness of the body above You Wide open to the world And bring your awareness to that fluid energy below And give it permission to come completely to rest And as it You Rests more deeply you feel the weight of it that rest on the soles of your feet And it rests more deeply still And you feel that energy join the earth And it settles and settles And Rests more deeply still And you feel yourself join the present Bring your awareness as clearly as you can To the pelvic floor Within that fluidity And Feel the gentle waves it generates as it releases to the in breath And releases to the out breath And feel at the very center of the pelvic floor the perineum Like An acorn Floating on a pond The breath waves gently lifting it and lowering it And bring your awareness up through the spaciousness of the body Up to the head And in the head Gather any remnants of your conscious thinking of your Disembodied thinking And gather them and gather them into a sort of Gravitational center And Bring that gravitational center into relationship with the perineum across the spaciousness of the body And it's as though each feels the presence of the other They are a unity As lovers are Despite the distance between them And you may feel the pull of a longing between them A gravity And allow that center in your head to give in to that And it Surrenders it lets go it releases itself and begins the descent through the body And you feel it dropping the way a stone thrown into the ocean drops and seeks the bottom And it descends smoothly gently continuously Coming home And you'll feel it enter the realm of the pelvic bowl at a certain point and still it descends And you will feel the moment When it arrives on the perineum And just gently check with the perineum To Ensure that you're not hovering above it somewhere that That last little bit of the descent is transformative And discover for yourself how deeply You can allow that Energy to rest on the perineum What is the risk at this moment?

In giving it permission to completely come to rest there And as it Comes to rest there Understand that your core is activated Your thinking and your being Merge they become one Neither exists Without the other And allow yourself to be aware from that center of Your body To feel the body in its wholeness And As you feel the body in its wholeness you may notice that its Shape is somewhat indistinct.

You're feeling it more as Energy than as machine And its Boundary with the world is Similarly indistinct And through the body Allow your awareness to move Into this place in which you find yourself at this moment And receive the sounds of this place into your core And feel it attuning to them You It feels those sounds without needing to Identify or Reach conclusions about And when you feel ready Allow your eyes to open And just notice The particulars of the space around you from your core Settle on one and Receive its presence into your core And as you do that notice your Relationship with it It's more likely to Be revealed as we Than as I and it Everything around you Is affected by your presence as your presence is affected by it and you share This moment this place And let your gaze wander where it will and feel the communion That takes place as you give the presence of anything Your full attention And you may discover The sense of Being known As much as you have the sense of knowing There is shared history there is shared moment And as you open to your relationships with what is around you You may feel yourself being revealed a new And then allow your awareness to gently dilate Maybe beyond this space into the world around And as your awareness Rests Rests on the world in that way You may feel held by it You may feel known by it And there is no Straining or effort there is just this ability to rest Within the flux of being and attuned to it And play in your own way Without awakening sense of we We are here We share this moment We illuminate each other And nothing in the realm of the world around you Seems inanimate or dead There is life everywhere And as you feel that life as you feel that manifest we We Gather that sense of we Into the pelvic bowl That felt experience And allow it to gently drop through the pelvic bowl Towards the perineum You Allow to merge with your core And allow yourself to be with that And understand that you have joined what the body most deeply understands Is that it belongs To The life of the world it is fully participant in it and Dependent on it And there is only we And allow yourself if you can To come to rest in that And Deepen your trust in it That brings this practice to a formal close,

But I would invite you To carry it forward To cherish Whatever it's brought to you