Talk: The Yogic Tradition Of Somatic Meditation

In this talk on the roots of somatic meditation, Reggie asks us to relinquish pre-existing ideas, concepts, and assumptions about our bodies. He invites us to consider an alternative understanding of the body that was experientially uncovered by meditators practicing in the yogic traditions of ancient India and Tibet. In this approach, the body is not experienced as a solid entity, but rather as an energetic expression of awareness.

Transcript

Good evening everyone.

Good late afternoon.

We're going to do some further breathing today.

And I thought it would be helpful for me to explain a little bit of the background of this kind of practice.

The practice that we have been doing so far is based on Tibetan yoga.

And I haven't been using technical terminology.

I've simply been doing the work with you.

But from some conversations I've had over the last couple of days,

I see that it would be actually beneficial for you to understand the view of the human body that this is coming from.

I think it would clarify for people what the practices are.

And some of what I'm going to say may seem rather remote from any kind of Western conception.

And I invite you simply to listen and take it in.

And try not to engage in a debate with it if you can help it.

You know,

There are a lot of different,

Very good Western models.

And if I say something,

Someone could jump up and start debating with me about whether it's true or not.

And I want you to consider this like a,

It's almost like a style of dance.

I'm teaching you,

For example,

A certain type of dancing.

And the main job that we have here is for you to learn that,

To understand what the style is,

What the point of view is,

What the techniques are.

And then later we can compare it,

Like if I teach you ballet,

We can compare it with modern dance and African dance and classical Indian dancing and so on.

And that's all very valuable.

But first I want you to understand and learn it,

At least on a preliminary level.

So don't worry too much if this doesn't fit in with models that you're familiar with.

We're simply trying to become familiar with the Buddhist approach right now.

So the most challenging point is the first one,

Which is that the nature of our body is actually awareness.

That's the fundamental nature of the human body,

Is awareness.

Which means that it's not solid in its essence.

It's energetic.

It has a certain structure to it.

But it's not the materiality that we feel in our bodies and that we think we experience is actually a projection of the human ego,

The human mind.

In fact,

Our bodies are not solid.

They're made out of awareness.

And what we do is we project onto that awareness the idea of solidity,

Materiality,

Impenetrability and so on.

So we could say that the nature of the human body is awareness that is filled with energy.

And again,

This energy is beyond thought.

You can't conceptualize it.

You can't put it into language or concepts because it's literally ineffable.

It's beyond thought.

And yet it appears and it can be experienced.

So when we work with our physical body,

Because we are obviously beginning with a sense that we have a body,

The body has a certain history in it.

We have certain parts of our bodies that are healthy and certain parts that are not healthy.

We have certain areas we're aware of,

Areas we're not aware of.

All of this is the web of karma that we have created over endless lifetimes.

We have come up with this apparent body through activity that's generated karma.

So when we do the breathing,

We are doing the breathing into our karmic body,

Our apparent body,

The body that we think exists.

But it doesn't really exist.

When I ask you to breathe into the perineum,

Or when I ask you to breathe into the head,

Which we haven't really done,

But we're going to,

In other words,

I'm going to be eventually asking you to breathe into every part of your body,

From the top of your head to the bottom of your feet.

And each place in your body corresponds to a level of awareness,

And a kind of awareness.

And even if you don't have legs,

You can still breathe into the bottom of your feet.

Why?

Because the body itself is actually a visualized thing.

It's something that we create moment by moment because of what we think,

And that is based in turn on our karmic history.

So we're using the apparent body as a vehicle to make contact with our own awareness.

And it doesn't matter what your body image is,

Actually.

You can be a Mr.

Or Mrs.

America or Miss America or whatever your version of Mr.

America is.

And by that I mean you could have the most perfect body that you can ever imagine.

And that's really not any better or worse than someone who has a very damaged body.

Because according to Tibetan yoga,

Your energetic body is neutral and it's whole always.

No matter what traumas you've suffered,

Your energetic body is actually whole.

We,

Of course,

Don't have contact with that wholeness because of our karma.

I mean,

That's the interesting point,

That the body that we think we have has all kinds of problems in it.

And those problems are actually where we can't see the wholeness of our body.

So what we do is we breathe into different parts of the body.

And we're working to move from the appearance of disease and injury to the appearance of health and wholeness.

And the thing is that the health and the wholeness actually is already there.

And it's the appearance of injury that is getting in the way of that because of our history,

Because of what we've been through.

And what we've been through has had a huge impact on our awareness.

So I'm going to ask you to breathe into different parts of your body.

And,

You know,

For example,

If you have been through childbirth and your perineum has been sliced and injured and damaged,

That may not be a place that you really feel you can breathe into right now.

So in that kind of situation,

You could breathe into your sits bones.

You could breathe.

Basically,

What we're trying to do is get into that level of the body.

So we're looking at the pelvic floor.

And any place you want to breathe there,

To bring your energy down to that level,

That's what we're looking at.

When we breathe into the pelvic floor,

We're actually working with a very,

Very,

The most primordial level of awareness in our state of being.

The important thing isn't really whether it's the sits bones or the perineum or the genitals or the anus,

You know,

Which are all basically in that area.

The important point is the level of awareness that that technique opens up to us.

So as I said the other day when someone asked a question and was commenting that they were having a reverse experience in terms of the earth breathing,

The main thing is for you to explore how this how these techniques work for you and bring them into a kind of intelligent toolkit for working in the way that we are here and trying to tap into this very basic energy in our being.

We will also breathe into other areas when we breathe into the heart area.

That's another area that we're going to be contacting.

And that isn't that that level of awareness.

While it's still open,

It's not as primordial as the other kind.

It's a level where there's a different kind of energy that works and the same with the top of the chest,

With the head,

And actually the same with the feet,

The knees and so on.

So any place in your body where you're breathing in,

From one point of view,

We're simply becoming more aware of that part of the body.

And that's the way I've been presenting it.

But from another point of view,

We're actually making contact with a level of awareness in that part of the body.

So there's something else going on while we do this.

So don't get too fixated on your physical body and its immediate history,

Even though that is an important part of the practice.

I want you to understand that's a gateway to something else.

It's a gateway to the energetic body that is covered by the physical body.

And then the energetic body is a cover for awareness itself,

Which is our Buddha nature.

So basically,

Through these practices,

We're trying to actually work our way back to the basic awareness.

And out of that,

We emerge as,

If I may say so,

And I don't want to make this too romantic,

But once we have touched our basic awareness,

Then we can be reborn whole.

And that's the reason for working to get to the level of basic awareness.

Basic awareness is known as the Mother.

It's the Cosmic Mother.

It's the Universal Mother.

And this Universal Mother,

When we can surrender to her,

To our basic awareness,

Our awakened state,

Then we are in a very natural way reborn as whole.

In John Wellwood's book,

He makes this very interesting point that the way to heal trauma,

In order to truly heal trauma,

You need to go underneath the trauma to the indestructible and deathless and birthless Buddha nature within.

And when you do that,

Then all trauma is healed.

And that's really what I'm talking about here.

I'm talking about it in more of a yogic way,

Which is working with the body,

Breathing,

Putting our awareness in a certain place.

But it's really basically the same thing that I'm talking about.

So I realize this is maybe a little hard to get your mind around,

That the nature of our body is awareness,

And there is no physical body.

But I wanted you to have this point of view,

So when we do the practice,

You won't misunderstand it.

And I will make,

Now that I've said this to you,

When I describe the practice,

I can make reference to it and I can give a little bit more of an explanation.

To explore more Somatic teachings with Regi Ray,

Please visit his Insight Timer profile or the DharmaOcean website at dharmaocean.

Org.

Reviews

Thank you for explaining these deep concepts. I was looking forward to the breathing exercises. I will check out more of your listings on Insight

Excellent!!

Eye opening. I’m looking forward to exploring this more, thanks 😊🙏🏻

Very thought provoking. Totally new information. WOW !!!
I am grateful for your teachings. Thank you so much. 🙏🙏🙏

Thank you for an awesome introduction!! 😊

Fabulous explanation and guidance. Thank you. Namaste. ❤️

I have held the understanding that the nature of the body is awareness for about forty years. I enjoyed this talk, and am looking forward to exploring some of your practices. Thank you.
✨🙏🏽🌸💜☯️✨

So helpful. Thank you

Very well presented and easy to understand. Left me wanting even more information. 🙏

It's really interesting to see the Tibetan yogic side of somatic psychology

An outstanding mini-lecture/intro to Buddhist yoga. This all makes enormous sense and the language is quite accessible. (Warning: The opening couple of minutes may feel too slow and deliberate, but they are there for a reason. Your patience will be rewarded.)

In a way I wish I had gotten this theoretical (for lack of a better term) background years ago, because it explains the point behind lots of common instructions (“breathe into your _____”). On the other hand, it feels like I am coming across this info at exactly the right time in my own development.

Eager for more like this (as well as actual guided meditations and yoga sequences) from this top-notch instructor.

Super helpful in clarifying the somatic piece in meditation.

Interesting perspective to consider.

The physical body is a gateway to the energetic body which is a gateway to pure awareness or Buddha nature. It makes sense that breathing in through the pelvic floor would have a different level of energy than breathing in through the heart, and more primordial energy. Got it! Thanks Reggie.

Thank you. Deeply grateful for your insights and teachings 🙏🏽🙏🏽

Helpful! Thank you!

Physical body—>energetic body—>basic awareness = essence/true self 🙏❤️

Thank you for going deeper into the your explanation of the Tibetan Buddhist practice. It’s an important thing to recognize “we are awareness itself”. 🙏💫✨