Intro To The Science Of Consciousness

The science of consciousness reveals a field of self-interaction where consciousness has a deep desire to know itself. This talk discusses the field of consciousness and how you can use meditation techniques to develop higher states of awareness. The talk is 20 minutes with a 14-minute guided mantra-based meditation practice. Clarity of mind leads to inspired thoughts and to the unique specific expression of awareness available inside every person.

Enjoy!

Transcript

Hi, My name is Sunny Lane and I am here with you today to give a little talk about consciousness and how it interacts with your own personal power. I am a certified yoga and meditation coach. I have practiced many different types of meditation over the years. I have been doing this Vipassana Transcendental Meditation as a teacher. I have gone through Eckhart Tolle's Teacher of Presence, Google Search Inside Yourself, And most recently Deepak Chopra's Primordial Sound instruction teacher certification. So today when we talk about consciousness, We want to begin by taking a look at first of all what is consciousness. What is consciousness to you and how is the science of consciousness helping us move toward more objective scientific thought. The world of quantum mechanics has opened the door to validating the science of consciousness as a space, A space that is not only in the world that we live in, In existence, But it is also a space inside each one of us. The unified field theory is beginning to unfold some answers that are definitely all still in the theoretical space, But when we start taking a look at the subjective world of consciousness, Which is my own personal experience with it, Your own personal experience, And how this space of existence not only exists in us individually, But it is also a collective space where pure potentiality exists. And that's where personal power comes in. Your personal power with consciousness is this space of pure potentiality inside of you. And to begin to see it as not just some airy-fairy place that only meditators go when they zen out and who knows if they're coming back, But it is a space that is available to each one of us, To everyday people, To help you achieve the things in your life that you're moving toward, The things in your life that you know that you want to be a part of your life experience. We have been conditioned to stay in this surface level of effort and activity and pushing and pushing and moving toward the things that we want when ancient teachings that taught about enlightenment all really were directing us to this unique, Specific expression of awareness that is inside of each of you. So how do we, First of all, Define consciousness? You know, On the surface level, We might think of conscious versus unconscious. Okay, We can kind of get an idea of what we're talking about there. Conscious, I'm awake, I'm aware, I'm unconscious, Medically speaking, I'm unconscious, I'm not aware. If we take a look at it from a different angle, We have our consciousness or we have our subconsciousness where our, You know, Kind of a deeper beliefs or biases reside. But that's still not what we're talking about here. When we talk about the science of consciousness, We are talking about a space of deep, Pure awareness, Pure potentiality, This deep stillness where I'm certain that each of you have already experienced at some point in your life, Maybe you just weren't aware, But this deeper space where you sort of bump into yourself. When we, First of all, Define what that space is for us, And then we cultivate access to this space, And then we experience it through meditation, What we are doing is spending time in that space of pure potentiality that can then rise out into our daily awareness. When we spend time in pure consciousness, What begins to happen is physiologically, We are using nature's technology to saturate our physiology with this field of pure consciousness that exists not only in me, But in you, But in him, Her, Them, In the universe, In the world, In existence, This field of consciousness. We move into that space within ourselves, And then when we come out of that space, We take more and more of that pure potentiality out with us. So if we take a look at higher levels of consciousness, The ancient Vedas taught about higher states of consciousness, And they defined seven. So if we take a look at just the first four, The first three are waking, Sleeping, And dreaming. And in these three states, They are pretty basic. We all experience them automatically and naturally. The fourth state of consciousness is pure consciousness that now can be measured through EEG machinery, FMRI, And newer equipment, The MEG, Where we are measuring primarily brain activity, What happens to the brain when you move into a space of pure consciousness. When we're in waking, Sleeping, And dreaming state, They not only have different awareness markers, But they all have different brain markers. And so for today, Let's just keep our attention on the awareness piece. Let's think about waking state. In waking state, I'm self-aware and I'm having thoughts. It's kind of a, You know, I know that I'm having thought. I'm here and I'm having thought. When I'm sleeping, Deep sleep, I'm not aware and I'm not having thought. I am in deep sleep. When I am in dreaming state, I am not aware, But I'm having thought. My dreams are my thought. When I move into the fourth state, Pure consciousness, I am aware, But I'm not having thought. There is no mental activity happening as marked through the EEG and the FMRI. No mental activity, No thoughts, No images, Mental images, No emotions. There's no mental activity occurring, But I am aware. It is here in this space of pure consciousness that you meet yourself and you spend time in this space of pure potentiality where you don't have to define what you want in your life. You don't have to make your lists. You don't have to worry because everything that you want is already in this space. Every, That you have defined through a lifetime of experiences, Experiences that have left impressions on your nervous system, Little imprints of experiences. Some experiences have defined on your nervous system that that was a great experience and I want more of that. Some experiences have left the impression of trauma that I don't want that. And through those experiences, You know more and more of what you do want. So in this space of pure potentiality, Your only job really is to go into that space and let your pure potentiality come out with you into your life. And it is here that you begin to come across what innovators would be called spontaneous right action. We may call them coincidences, Thinking of a person, All of a sudden they call you. Finding an idea of something and then person after person meeting people that can help make things happen or that are moving you in the direction that you know can lead to what you want. Spontaneous right action is letting go of the reins and letting your deeper intuitive awareness guide you to this big broader potential pool of possibility. Whereas if we stay in the front of what we call personal power where we know what needs to be done because we know where we're headed and we're going to make sure that it happens. That really narrowly allows because we have this narrow possibility now of what we think needs to happen and the ability to make it happen. When we can move into the space of pure potentiality, Pure consciousness, We release resistance to everything that we want. When we take that out with us into our daily experiences, The world is wide open. The field of possibility is wide open. And so you will have inspired thoughts that lead to inspired actions. And you begin to have this really incredible, You begin to realize the value of this really incredible technology that exists within you because what is happening is you are simply purifying your system, You're saturating your system with pure consciousness where pure potentiality exists. And as you continue to do that again and again through a daily meditation practice, You then begin to let that pure consciousness purify your nervous system so that old imprints that need to be released can be released and your parasympathetic nervous system can truly begin to come online and create that kind of sense of calmness, Deepen your awareness and your sympathetic nervous system, Which is our fight or flight mode, Can relax a little knowing that it can be activated when it's needed, But it doesn't have to drive your everyday efforts. So spending time in pure consciousness is a worthwhile protocol as part of your daily activity as part of your everyday routine. This is why so many people, You read more and more about meditation today and it's really wonderful because there are so many different styles, There are apps, There are tools that can help you with your practice. And what happens a lot with us is we begin to meditate or we try meditation and it's awful. It is just an awful experience. It's not easy. It is, It's just not comfortable. You have so much activity in your mind and you cannot imagine that you will possibly be able to quiet your mind and then you become frustrated and then it is not a good experience. It's just uncomfortable. So what I encourage everyone to do is to just be open, Be open to finding, Just be open to the fact that it could work and then understand that there are many different styles. So just like in yoga, You know, There's ashtanga, There's ayangar, There's vipassana, There are different styles that attract different people and meditation is the same. There are three main styles and these are the three main styles that have, You know, The majority of the research around them. I'm sure hopefully there will be more and more that are uncovered in the future. But the first, The main three right now are open monitoring. So this is your mindfulness based meditation. This is when you're, You just monitor, You know, Presence awareness. I'm mindful of each moment, Mindful of what thoughts are coming up with each moment and that is kind of what I use to keep me in the practice is each present moment. There are, There is focused attention. Focused attention are guided meditations. It can be, You know, Vipassana, Focusing on breath work, Compassion, Exercises, Meditations. Focused attention are concentration practices, Whereas open monitoring are contemplation. So just, You know, Contemplating what comes up, Concentration practices of focused attention. Those are going to be, You know, Just kind of following a guided meditation to keep your concentration moving along. Your concentration practices are going to bring your gamma waves online. Contraction practices are going to bring your theta brain waves online. And the third style is transcending. So this is typically called automatic self transcending. And it has a lot of research around, You know, What happens to the brain whenever the alpha one brain waves come online. And that's what happens whenever you transcend. I've been practicing meditation for about 13 years now, 14 years now. I've done them all. I have practiced vipassana, Mindfulness, Transcendental meditation, Google search inside yourself, Which is Google's meditation practice. A kartoli teacher of presence, I've gone through that certification. And just recently I completed Deepak Chopra's primordial sound teacher instruction. So all of that to say, I have practiced, I have tried them all because I needed to find the one that worked for me. I spent about three years going to silent retreat weekends for about every three months is where I really discovered meditation as a tool that would change my life. And through that is really kind of what began me searching and searching and searching for a technique that was going to work for me and that was going to be the most impactful and effective as again, We want it to be effortless and easy. Meditation should be easy. And if it's not, And if you're kind of struggling with the experience of meditation, Go find another one, Go find a different one. Keep in mind those three main styles and try a different style. And if you have any question about any of them, I'm happy to answer any questions. You can reach me at the Sunny Soul NWA on Instagram. But also just Google, Just look it up. You can find these three main styles and then there will be different types of techniques that you can try under each style. Today we're going to do a little bit of everything just to help you, I'm going to introduce the styles that work the best for me and let's just see where we can get. A couple of things to keep in mind. So let's move now into our meditation practice. Go ahead and find your comfortable position. You can be sitting on your meditation cushion. You can be sitting in a chair or you can even be just waking up and sit up in bed, Tuck some pillows behind your back and your head and give yourself this time to just let this experience be an easy, Gentle movement inward. So wherever you are, Feel free to close your eyes or if that's not comfortable, Just you can keep the eyes open or you can just kind of gaze down. Whatever is comfortable for you. Let your gaze be down or eyes closed. Draw your gentle awareness to your breath, Noticing your body, Your body that does the breathing for you. You can bring in some attention here or even some intention to regulate your breath, But by and large your body breathes. Your body breathes for you all day. It has its own rhythm, Its association with each thought. And so let's bring in some breathing exercise here. Just begin to count, A four count as you inhale and then a six count as you exhale. Repeat that again. As you're bringing your intention to focus on your breath, Regulating your breath through your awareness. Your awareness begins to guide your breath. And as your awareness drifts off, You just bring it back to that four count inhale and six count exhale. And now let's introduce four questions. The first question is, Who am I? Just ask yourself that question and let any answer rise up. Just one or two words. Who am I? And release those answers. Find yourself an awareness. Second question, What do I want? Nice and easy. It doesn't have to be everything that you want. Just write down one or two words that describe what you want. Third question, What is my purpose? It doesn't have to be your big purpose in life. Just write down what is your purpose? One or two words. And fourth question, What am I grateful for? What can you appreciate in this moment? Nice and easy. It doesn't have to be everything you're grateful for. Just a couple of things that you appreciate in your life right now in this moment. And now begin to repeat silently. I am, And then your first and your last name. And release your last name and just continue to repeat. I am and your first name. And now release your first name and just repeat, I am. And now introduce the vibration of the words I am, Which is a-hum, A-hum, A-hum. And now release a-hum and we'll introduce the mantra a-hum brahmasmi, A-hum brahmasmi, A-hum brahmasmi. Repeating the mantra silently, Easily, Gently, A-hum brahmasmi, A-hum brahmasmi. If the mantra begins to change or you lose it during your meditation, Just bring yourself back to the faint idea of the mantra. Just gently repeating a-hum brahmasmi, A-hum brahmasmi. Don't worry too much about the pronunciation. It's just a faint idea. A-hum brahmasmi, A-hum brahmasmi. We'll sit in silence together. A-hum brahmasmi, A-hum brahmasmi. A-hum brahmasmi, A-hum brahmasmi. A-hum brahmasmi, A-hum brahmasmi. A-hum brahmasmi, A-hum brahmasmi. And now release the mantra. Resting here in existence, In awareness, In being. Existence, Awareness, Being, Sat-chirananda. We'll introduce our sankopa, Joyful, Energetic body, Loving, Compassionate heart. Reflective, Alert mind. Lightness of being. If you have your eyes closed, You can begin just to open the eyes a little, Till you see a little bit of the floor and then close the eyes. And one more time, A little bit and close the eyes. You can begin to move the body, Bringing your awareness back. And when you're ready, Just nice and slowly begin to open the eyes. I hope that was comfortable for you. Meditation is, Again, It's a practice, It's a cumulative practice. And so the more you practice moving into that space of pure stillness, Pure potentiality, The more that space becomes available to you. And what actually begins to happen and we'll talk about in future sessions is you're cultivating higher states. Your consciousness is the fourth state of consciousness. As you begin to cultivate that direct access to that space and then bring it out with you, You are then cultivating the fifth state, Sixth state and seventh state, Deeper states of awareness that all have their own unique markers and benefits in your daily life. And with that continued cultivation of your personal power. And I hope it was comfortable. Thank you for sharing this time with me. And I look forward to spending time with you again in future sessions. Namaste.