Personal Power Through Consciousness

Enhance well-being, emotional intelligence, and leadership skills, critical for personal and professional development today. By exploring advanced levels of human consciousness and development, you can improve clarity and emotional capacity.

Transcript

Hi,

And welcome to the Harnessing Your Personal Power Through Consciousness.

My name is Sunny Lane and I'm thrilled to work with you on deepening your understanding of consciousness and how it plays a role in our daily actions and interactions.

So what does this mean for you?

By learning about our own personal experience of consciousness and developing ourselves through higher states,

We begin to let go of limiting conditioned beliefs and tap into your hidden potential,

Releasing blocks including fear,

Depression,

And worry,

Shedding layers of accumulated stress that keep you from experiencing true fulfillment and joy,

Tuning into the voice of your unique specific expression of awareness to gain a clear sense of your life's purpose.

Let's dive in.

So what is consciousness and how does it relate to your personal power?

As we work on ourselves and personal development or self-help or even through meditation and looking to find that space of self-awareness,

We're often guided to find the inner quiet,

Check in with yourself,

But sometimes the concept of self is we don't even know who that is.

We are so covered up with this external view,

Having to navigate and respond to what is happening outside of us that our inner self is often quite lost.

For me personally,

This is exactly why I do this work,

Helping others simplify the idea of enlightenment or elevated awareness and offer easy tools and markers to find the true experience of quiet being.

I've spent over 20 years learning from both theta wisdom and neuroscience,

Yet I needed more.

I needed a framework to understand what that meant for me and how I could move myself toward my inner self when I got too far out here in the world.

So our state of consciousness is our experience of our self.

The objective definition of consciousness is the state of being and being aware of one's surroundings or the awareness or perception of something by a person.

Today we want to take a different look at this.

We want to also see the subjective version of consciousness beyond this awareness of our surroundings and our connection to the surroundings,

But us as the individual observer of our own life experience,

Where we bring our self into the experience of consciousness.

There's a unique specific expression of awareness that is inside each of us.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi describes the pure experience of self in this beautiful quote,

Underneath the subtlest layer of all that exists in the relative field is the abstract absolute field of pure being,

Which is unmanifested and transcendental.

It is neither matter nor energy.

It is pure being,

The state of pure existence.

Today in modern science and neuroscience,

There's now more crossover from the objective view of science,

Where we see consciousness as the awareness of surroundings and the subjective view of consciousness as the unique specific expression of awareness that is inside each of us.

We each bring our own version of consciousness into the world.

And this version directly impacts not only who you are,

But also guides your actions,

Interactions and can be directly measured by what is happening around you and how you are feeling inside.

Let's stop for a moment and take a look at the goal of enlightenment.

In the past enlightenment was seen as something to attain self realization,

Something that occurs after or through life events that can help us realize our true self.

With the help of science,

We now see that this space of self realization is an actual state of consciousness that is different from our day to day surface understanding.

By learning through knowledge and experience,

We can demystify enlightenment and understand it is really just a learning to access our optimal brain functioning,

The truest state of who we are to support our life's desires.

Knowledge and direct experience is key in understanding how consciousness affects your daily activities.

We can learn a definition,

But it is the experience that helps it to fully realize.

Through this discussion here today,

We want to talk more about how the technical understanding of consciousness and higher states of consciousness support that reality of our everyday experiences.

Enlightenment is not meant to be this mystical unattainable place.

It is our true nature,

Who we are underneath layers and layers of conditioning.

In yoga,

There's a term samadhi where the self is released from the self.

However,

Many teachings have been skewed as this was a place to be moving toward when actually it is a place to begin.

Begin with samadhi,

Who we truly are,

The state of pure being,

Pure existence,

A state that every person has experienced.

And we can use each other's experiences to help us understand our own moments of clarity,

Moments of intuition,

Moments of alignment,

And also those moments of ignoring those cues.

Accessing our true nature of silent awareness holds the space of everything we know and everything that we want.

It also holds the space of things that we don't even know that we want.

So the space of silent awareness holds everything manifest and unmanifest.

So let's take a look at the seven states of consciousness.

I'm going to talk through the seven states of consciousness.

And as I do,

Think of your own personal experiences.

Even if it seems like,

I'm not sure,

I'm not sure if that's a sixth state experience or not,

It's okay.

Like,

We're just laying a framework for what these states are.

Because again,

This is not meant to be some mystical,

Unattainable space of gaining that higher awareness and consciousness.

It is who we truly are.

It is our birthright to access this space,

This gentle,

Easy space.

And by understanding the framework of the seven states of consciousness,

Hopefully you can begin to identify your own experiences.

So in the first,

Second,

And third states of consciousness,

These are states that we experience every day since the minute we were born and probably before we were born when we were in utero,

Waking,

Sleeping,

And dreaming.

Waking state,

Our everyday experiences out in the world,

Deep sleep,

Where we don't have any remembrances of what happens when we sleep,

And dreaming,

Where we are still actively interacting with the brain activity and where our brain is restoring itself through this process of deep sleep and dream state.

These are all experienced routinely and automatically.

There's nothing that we have to do to experience the waking state level of consciousness.

It is what we are born into.

The fourth state of consciousness is pure,

Silent awareness.

As we move into the fourth state of consciousness,

There is awareness without thinking,

Awareness without distraction,

Awareness without mental images popping up.

The awareness can be something as simple as painting,

Painting a picture and losing yourself in the practice of that.

The experience can be that's close to that.

The experience can be close when you're exercising,

You're running and you have that runner's high or as an athlete where you're in the zone,

Where you are performing from your highest level of awareness.

So it's not just athletes or painters or runners.

We all have glimpses of this space of pure awareness,

But oftentimes we just,

Quite frankly,

We don't even believe it's there because we're so distracted in our mind.

We are bombarded with thoughts,

Mental images,

And then factor in all of the outside distractions,

Everything that comes at us throughout our daily lives.

But the space of pure awareness is an actual fourth state of consciousness.

It is not an altered state while you can get there through psychedelics or other inputs that can create this altered state of consciousness.

True pure silent awareness is a state of consciousness in its own right.

It is verifiable through different physiological markers,

Such as changes in the breath rate,

Heart rate,

Skin conductivity,

And then more most exciting really is what happens to the brain activity and things that come online in the brain that only come online when you're in this fourth state.

The fifth state of consciousness is the state experiencing duality.

This understanding or the experience of pure awareness,

Yet also being engaging with the diversity of life,

What's happening in your life.

Yet there's this kind of separation where you can see what is happening in life,

Yet you still feel a quiet,

Deep connection to who you are,

This quiet space.

One of the markers of having this type of an experience is having things happen in your life,

Yet there's a feels like a separation.

So even if it is bad news,

It doesn't mean that the bad news doesn't make you sad or upset,

But there's still this foundation of security,

Of knowing,

Of being.

This foundation within you that is not shaken by the diversity of life.

It's also known as the witness perspective.

So it's almost as if you are witnessing your life.

And again,

It doesn't mean that you're not interacting with life.

It doesn't mean that you hole up and you become a hermit so that everything stays steady.

It is seeing and experiencing that deep sense of peace in the midst of diversity.

The sixth state is when you begin to experience finer and finer levels of perception.

And all of these,

The fourth,

Fifth,

Sixth,

And seventh,

Those physiological markers persist.

You can measure them through neuroscience equipment,

Whether that's EEG or fMRI.

But for the everyday person,

The thing that we can use to measure is what's happening inside of us and what's happening in the world around us and how we are responding to that world.

And emotions play an incredible role here,

The magic of emotions and how they can help us not only find solutions for what's happening,

But also can be used as a guidepost for how our state of consciousness is handling or where it's going.

Is it moving in that waking state?

Is it stuck in that waking state where it's just reacting and you're feeling the physiological adrenaline push you throughout the day where you stay amped up?

Or sleeping where the body's recovering,

Dreaming,

Crunching all of those memories and allowing the body to restore.

But in the sixth state,

You begin to experience these finer and finer levels of perception that the division that you experience in the fifth state,

When duality really began to make itself present to you,

Where you began to feel kind of that separation with who you are and what's going on around you.

In the sixth state,

There's less of a boundary between you and what you are experiencing,

Yet that foundation of peace is still solid.

It is still a solid presence.

In the seventh state,

This is where that union that when we talked about Samadhi earlier,

Where we begin with the self releasing itself,

That union persists.

There's deep,

Deep appreciation.

There's no longer a boundary between you and everything around you.

And as a matter of fact,

Everything around you is an extension of you.

And that sense of oneness persists.

It's often said that in the fifth state,

You begin to notice miracles.

So again,

Not only what's happening within you,

The fifth state is when you begin to experience duality,

That kind of separateness,

Witness perspective,

Noticing that you're not as shaken by things around you.

In the fifth state,

You begin to witness miracles.

In the sixth state,

When those levels of perception begin to kind of soften,

Those boundaries soften,

You create miracles.

And in the seventh state,

When there's no longer any boundaries,

You have there's a constant presence of deep appreciation of what is inside you and around you.

That in that state is when you see everything as miraculous.

I'd love to share more with you about higher states of consciousness and how it affects you on an everyday,

Every moment basis,

And how our emotions can be better utilized and understood to be guideposts and maps for fulfillment.

Let's close with just a short practice of experiencing that full true self.

So this will just be a brief micro practice.

And no worries if your mind is busy and you can't let go of anything,

Any thoughts or distractions.

But let's go ahead and just settle in for this short micro practice.

Moving toward that experience of being.

So wherever you are,

Of course,

Unless you're driving,

But just find a place to be safe and comfortable.

And close your eyes.

And then let's take a few deep breaths together.

Take a big inhale and exhale with mouth open.

Allowing the body to just kind of flush out here,

Get grounded,

Go ahead and take another deep breath in.

And exhale mouth open.

And one more time.

Big inhale in and exhale mouth open.

And as you sit here,

Eyes closed,

Or if it's more comfortable,

You can keep them slightly open.

But begin to just take a look at the backs of your eyelids,

Almost as if your backs of your eyelids are a movie screen.

So just hold your awareness on the backs of your closed eyelids or mostly closed.

And just allow whatever experience rises here.

I'm going to offer a few things,

Possibilities,

But again,

Just don't try to force any experience,

Allowing it to be whatever your experience in this moment is.

And again,

Even if you're distracted and you have thoughts and then you come back to listen to me,

It's all okay.

This is easy,

Easing into the experience of being.

You may again,

You just may have an experience of nothingness,

Maybe quite dark if your eyes are fully closed and you're looking at the backs of your eyelids,

You hold your awareness there.

Sometimes you may begin to see this little small pinpricks of light.

These are actually just naturally occurring phosphines that happen when our eyes close.

It's a mechanism of kind of repairing,

Repairing sight.

So it's a natural physiological response.

Some people can see them,

Some people cannot.

It's okay either way.

And just let your awareness hold with,

Again,

Whatever is showing up for you.

And as you begin to get distracted and thoughts come and go,

When you remember,

Just easily come back to either the experience of nothingness on the backs of your closed eyelids or the phosphines,

The little tiny pinpricks of light.

You might even be helpful to place,

Gently place your fingertips on your eyelids and gently push.

And you can be aware of any experience that rises here.

Again,

It may be more darkness or the phosphines may become more clear,

May be able to see them more clearly.

And these can be tiny pinpricks of light.

Maybe they're even just waves of light.

And I'm gonna hold here for about a minute without speaking so you can fully experience.

Oos And you can,

If you have your fingertips pressing your eyelids,

Go ahead and release.

And then gently,

Just barely open the eyes so you can see a little bit of light and then go ahead and close the eyes again.

And one more time,

Open the eyes and just close them again.

And then last time,

Go ahead and open the eyes.

Just reflect on any experience that you might have just had,

Again,

Could be nothing,

Could be distracted by thoughts,

Images,

Or again,

Experiencing floating colors or waves of light,

Little pinpricks of light.

As we begin to move toward pure consciousness,

We are taking the vertical axis in the mind.

So on the surface level of the mind,

It's just like the ocean.

This again is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's analogy.

The surface of the ocean is busy with waves and current.

And if you were to drop just below the surface of the ocean,

You could look up and you could see the activity.

That's what happens with the surface of the mind.

The surface of the mind is very busy and active.

And if we drop just below it,

We can see that activity.

We begin to create distance in between who we are,

Our experience of pure consciousness,

And the surface level of activity on the mind.

As our experience of that fourth state of consciousness deepens,

It's like moving from just being underneath the waves in the ocean to sitting at the bottom and experiencing pure stillness and quiet.

Yet on the surface of the mind,

There will always be activity.

There's always going to be a thought that's going to pull you out.

A mental image is going to pop up.

An emotion will rise.

And these are all actual just methods of the body as it's purifying itself.

And so if these things happen as you keep trying to move toward pure consciousness,

That fourth state,

That's okay.

It's doing its job.

So I'll share more about higher states of consciousness through this channel here on Insight Timer.

And would love to connect with any of you.

So please feel free to give me a message.

And thank you for stopping by today.

Have a wonderful day.

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