It's a cold and wintry day here,
And I have a fire going in the wood-burning stove,
And so you may hear that in the background as the stove metal expands and contracts.
For today's class,
I would like to talk about the body and the mind as being vehicles for the development of consciousness.
When I say the mind,
I'm referring to the intellect,
The discerning aspect of mind,
As differentiated from consciousness,
The light of consciousness that is all-pervading.
In this sense,
The mind is something that can be developed,
And if we aren't careful,
It can take charge.
This is when we discuss the egoic aspect of mind and the importance of disciplining the mind,
Because when every aspect of our multidimensional being is in harmony,
The rightful place of the mind is as a servant of consciousness.
And this takes practice.
It takes discipline and training.
And yet,
When we learn to work with the mind in this way,
We begin to realize how the mind and the body both are potential vehicles for consciousness to experience the world through,
For consciousness in its undifferentiated state is unable to experience the material manifest world of duality and form.
It is only when consciousness becomes embodied in this individuated form of self that is able to experience through the senses of the body all of manifest reality.
So consciousness is able to see,
To hear,
To taste,
To touch,
To smell.
All these ways of experiencing the manifest reality can only occur when consciousness is embodied in this way.
Often,
Many of our struggles occur because we get attached to the body and the mind or intellect as being me.
We self-identify with these vehicles,
Not realizing that they are just simply vehicles.
And that is where suffering starts and expands from.
When we begin to realize that we are not this body or this mind with all of its thoughts and judgments and opinions,
But instead that we are the light of consciousness that is experiencing through the mind and all of its prejudices and traumas,
And that we are experiencing through the body that also has its traumas and its past and history,
Then we have the ability to begin to work with the body and the mind as vehicles of consciousness.
We begin to realize that we are not the body or the mind,
And that the body and the mind have the ability to continuously change and grow and transform when we think we are the body or the mind.
Part of what occurs with that misconception is also the belief that it is concretized,
That it is always this way,
That I am always this person,
Not realizing how dynamic we truly are in our core.
This idea of the body and the mind as vehicles of consciousness is often seen when we look at it from the lens of Chinese medicine.
In the foundations and philosophy of Chinese medicine,
The acupuncture channels are seen as connecting us as individuated beings with earth below and heaven above,
With the inside and the outside.
These can be thought of as the vertical and horizontal axes upon which all of manifest reality is experienced.
And so when the qi is flowing freely through the channels,
And there are no blockages or distortions in the energetic flow,
In that moment,
Consciousness thoroughly interpenetrates every aspect of the body.
Yin and yang are unified as one.
In this moment,
When this occurs,
There is help and healing and freedom,
And one experientially exists in the natural state,
Completely connected within oneself and to others in the world around oneself,
In a state of undifferentiated oneness.
I sometimes refer to this state as the art of being human,
Of existing as individualized beings and experiencing that duality of self and other,
Simultaneous with the experience of unity,
Of experientially realizing that we are all always connected to everything and everyone around us,
And that this illusion of separation only occurs because of the vehicles of the body and the mind through which consciousness experiences.
However,
Most of us,
Most of the time,
Are not in that state where the qi is flowing freely through the channels and we are fully connected.
Rather,
Part of the journey of consciousness,
As it embodies in form,
Is to have these setbacks,
To have traumatic events,
Difficult experiences,
To not get what we think we want,
And all that is an opportunity for consciousness to grow.
And so when we have these experiences where the smooth flow of qi is impeded,
That not only affects the physical body,
And we might feel it as a little bit of an ache or a pain or a limitation in mobility,
But such blockages also affect the emotions and the mind and the spirit.
It's these blockages in the channel system that create what are often termed the obscurations in Buddhism,
Attachment,
Aversion,
Ignorance.
And there's an interesting thing that occurs.
When we are out of balance in this way,
When the qi is not flowing freely through the channels,
And it manifests with these obscurations that leads to judgments in the mind of right and wrong and good and bad and how things should be or how we want things to be.
When those imbalances give rise to these thoughts,
These deluded,
Imbalanced thoughts,
And we act upon them by speaking or acting from that place,
We actually reinforce those tendencies to view the world and ourselves in that way.
And this is what can be termed one aspect of karma.
Because when we think or act from this negative place,
It generates the seeds for future negative thoughts and actions.
And that is something that we always experience within.
You know,
It's like anger.
Even if we direct anger at someone else,
It's the person who's angry who suffers the most.
Because that anger is destructive to the soul,
As well as to the body and mind.
And so when we have disharmony within that energetic flow in the channel system,
When the vehicles of our bodies and minds are out of balance,
Then they filter the experience of reality in such a way that more disturbance is created.
So how do we go about addressing these imbalances?
There are many methods,
From meditation to herbal medications to pharmaceuticals.
To exercise and diet.
But first and foremost,
It is important to understand how absolutely everything that we do and say and ingest has an impact on the vehicles of the body and mind,
And therefore on the experience of consciousness.
Or I should say,
On the ability for consciousness to experience clearly reality as it is,
And ourselves as we are.
And it's because absolutely everything that we do and think and ingest has an impact on the vehicles of the body and mind,
That we can turn all of these things into practices.
Practices for refining and tuning the physical body and the mind in ways that consciousness can experience more clearly.
And in so doing,
They take their rightful place as the servants to the soul.
This is why it is so important to practice meditation,
To cultivate a degree of inner stillness,
So we can observe our thoughts,
So we can see clearly when these judgments and opinions arise.
And then so that we can have the strength and the fortitude and the willpower to not simply give in to them and let them be in charge,
But instead to subdue them,
To realize that they are obscurations and delusions that are not serving our growth and our happiness and our ability to bring fulfillment to others.
If we truly want to be compassionate and to be a benefit to others,
We must learn to be firm with certain aspects of ourselves.
To see those aspects for what they are.
An integral aspect of training the vehicle of the mind is concentration practices that bring discipline to the mind,
That teach it to focus instead of being distracted by the judgments and conditioned,
Habituated thought patterns that arise.
As we gain focus with the mind,
We gain a greater degree of peacefulness.
It is through focus and concentration that we are able to overcome the imbalances in the vehicle of the mind that arise from imbalances in the channel systems.
As we gain peacefulness with the mind,
The channel systems also become harmonized.
The winds and the channels become harmonized.
In this way,
The body affects the mind and the mind affects the body.
It works both ways.
When there are imbalances in the channel systems and imbalances in the body,
The mind becomes more diluted and struggles to maintain peace and clarity.
When the body is clear,
Healthy,
And the channels are harmonized,
The mind naturally is at rest and at peace with clarity,
Equanimity.
And so when those aspects arise,
And we observe them without acting on them,
And create space around them,
Without being hard on ourselves,
Because that's counterproductive,
But simply making space and observing these imbalanced thoughts as they arise,
Simply by being present to them and choosing not to let them be in control,
We bring forth a degree of virtue,
Of patience,
Of equanimity.
And as we do this on a regular basis,
In our sitting practice in the mornings or evenings,
Or better yet,
As we go about our day and interact with others,
As we observe without expressing outwardly,
Through our countenance,
Our posturing,
Our eyes,
Our facial expressions,
And certainly our words,
We become more peaceful.
And that peace itself is powerful.
It creates an atmosphere around us that has an influence on absolutely everyone we interact with.
And in this way,
We train the vehicle of the mind to become more virtuous and humble,
And to serve the soul the way that it's intended to.
Now,
It is through working with diet and exercise and other forms of physical practice,
That we train the vehicle of the body.
Things like yoga and qigong have the ability to intentionally work through any blockages in the channel systems.
This is what they were designed for.
Yoga asana was intended to open up the nadis,
The energetic channels,
So that we could then sit and meditate,
So that we can move closer to being in a state of health in our body,
Such that it allows consciousness to rest in a more peaceful and equanimous state.
But it takes time to train the body,
Especially if we haven't been training the body.
And so we need to have self-compassion and patience combined with discipline to commit to doing these practices,
Even though they may be difficult.
It enhances the ability of consciousness to experience reality as it is,
To clear out the obscurations so that the light is clear.
And when that light shines out from us,
It has an effect.
Personally,
I don't know of any more worthwhile endeavor of how to spend our time here on this earth than working with the vehicles of the body and the mind in such a way that we can allow consciousness to come through and experience reality as it is,
And thus enable us to be of benefit to others in the world,
To grow in compassion and wisdom and love,
To be blessings to those around us.
It's a continual practice in the art of being human.
And so for today's practice,
I would like to work with two of the primary energetic channels in Taoism and Chinese medicine.
The governing vessel,
Or Dumai,
That runs up through the center of the spine over the top of the head,
And the conception vessel that runs on the anterior midline.
This is known as the microcosmic orbit,
As the governing vessel is referred to as the sea of yang,
And the conception vessel,
The sea of yin.
And these two form the primary polarity of yin and yang within the body.
And so when we work with moving energy through these channels,
Through opening and clearing blockages,
It inherently balances all yin and yang aspects within ourselves,
Front and back,
Side to side,
Above and below,
And body and spirit.
This is why it is considered one of the foundational meditation practices in Taoism.
You'll want to make sure that the tongue is touching the upper palate in the roof of the mouth,
As this connects the end of the governing vessel,
That ends on the upper palate,
With the conception vessel.
So if you will,
Please find a comfortable and stable posture for meditation.
Ensure that your knees are lower than your hips,
So that the hip flexors can relax and open,
Allowing circulation between the legs and the lower abdomen.
From the stable base,
Allow the spine to rise with its natural curves up towards heaven.
Allow the shoulders to relax back and down,
Softening and opening the front of the chest.
Allow the chin to tilt slightly down,
And then pull back just a little bit for most of us,
To bring the head over the shoulders,
In line with the spine.
Begin abdominal breathing,
With every inhalation,
Allowing the abdomen to gently expand.
With every exhalation,
Allowing it to gently contract,
Allowing the shoulders and chest to remain relaxed and still.
As you continue abdominal breathing,
Focus your awareness in the lower dantian,
The energetic center,
Two to three inches below the umbilicus,
In the center of the lower abdomen.
You can imagine it as a ball of light.
Now,
Imagine this ball of light descending to the perineum,
And then moving posteriorly to enter the tip of the coccyx,
The tailbone.
You can imagine it moving up through the tailbone and the sacrum.
You can imagine it moving up through the thoracic spine,
Into the lumbar vertebrae.
You can imagine it moving up through the thoracic spine,
Into the cervical spine,
Up to the crown of the head,
Forward to the top of the forehead,
Begins descending,
Passing the third eye,
The bridge of the nose,
The tip of the nose,
Reaching the philtrum,
Entering through the philtrum,
To the tongue that is touching the roof of the mouth,
The tongue down to the front of the throat,
Onto the sternum,
Down,
Moving into the abdomen,
Passing the umbilicus,
Passing the front of the lower dantian,
Down to the pubic symphysis,
And returning to the perineum.
It returns to the perineum,
And it begins the cycle again,
Entering the tip of the coccyx,
Moving up through the spine,
Continue visualizing the movement of this ball of energy,
Up through the governing vessel in the spine,
Over the top of the head,
Then down the conception vessel on the anterior midline.
If it helps,
You can imagine the energy moving up the back on the inhalation,
And down the front on the exhalation.
And when you next arrive at the perineum,
Allow the energy to ascend to the lower dantian,
And rest your awareness concentrated at the lower dantian.
Now allow the energy to move up and down through the central channel that runs between the governing and the conception vessels,
Through the center of the body,
From the midline,
Front and back,
And side to side.
Feel the ball of energy move up from the lower dantian towards the level of the navel,
Up to the level of the heart,
To the throat,
To the center of the brain,
And then it descends,
Passing the throat,
The heart,
Level of the navel,
Down to the lower dantian.
Continue moving it up and down through the central channel,
As though energetically flossing this channel,
Clearing out any obstructions.
If it is helpful,
You can imagine the ball of energy rising on the exhalation,
As we breathe out,
And descending with the inhalation,
As we breathe in.
Now,
The next time the ball of energy reaches the center of the brain,
Allow it to remain there.
Imagine the crown of the head energetically opening,
And this ball of energy ascends to connect with the Tao,
The undifferentiated unity of consciousness.
Rest in this connection to that undifferentiated unity,
The divine unity.
Realize that this is your true nature.
You are unlimited consciousness.
It simply experiences through these limited vehicles of the body and mind.
Now,
Bring the awareness back to the center of the brain.
Allow the crown to energetically close,
Returning to the state of individuated being.
Allow the ball of energy to descend through the central channel,
The energy pouring like a waterfall down past the throat,
The heart,
All the way down to the lower dantian,
Collecting in the lower dantian like the pool at the base of a waterfall.
Become aware of the felt sense of the body as a whole.
Feel this vehicle of the physical body.
Allow your consciousness to permeate it,
Knowing that you are not it,
But it is a vehicle of the body.
It is a vehicle for you to use,
To experience.
Become aware of the solidity beneath you,
Supporting you and holding you up,
And the air around you in which you are immersed like a fish in water.
When you are ready,
Begin to slowly open your eyes,
Perceiving through the vehicle of your mind and the vehicle of your body,
All that surrounds you.
When we begin to realize that the physical body and the mind are vehicles for consciousness to experience through,
And that we are not those vehicles,
But something much greater,
It provides a degree of freedom.
It allows us to take things a little less personally,
And it opens the door for us to choose to cultivate the vehicles of the body and the mind in ways that allow consciousness to experience more clearly ourselves as we are,
And reality as it is.
Thank you all for joining me today.
