Blue Heron Circle | January 19, 2025 | This week, Megan "soft launched" one of the core issues we will be dealing with in the coming practice intensive - how do we sort through the different techniques and entry points to presence and uncover what is most natural, beneficial and expedient for our system at any given time? The dilemmas we encounter in this inquiry broadly evoke what Megan labeled "the prescriptive/descriptive problem." That is, a huge amount of the information we receive in psychological and contemplative instructions is a description of the way experience unfolded for a specific individual inhabiting a specific body/mind. It is not accurate to say that this makes such information useless, but we really, really need to watch the leaps that get made to universalize such experience into one-size-fits-all prescriptions. The talk focuses on the centrality of developing a relationship with inner intelligence through uninhibited, raw and authentic contact with our lived experience (not someone else's) as the primary method for determining what is actually true (and what tools are actually working for us).

Blue Heron Circle

[Blue Heron Circle] January 19, 2025 | Learning to Find Your Unique Entry Point

One of the deepening understandings on the path is the understanding that the body is the vehicle for awakening. We are so accustomed to giving the mind and its activities almost unlimited attention. And we are unaccustomed to giving our body ruthless awareness. Do you have confidence yet that the body holds wisdom? Do you have confidence yet that the neutral body is a deep protection? Do you have confidence yet that the mind is actually revealed and healed through contact with the body?

Sometimes there is balance and we can look at the mind's activities and unwind them, but we want to know when our thinking or emotional mind is interfering with our well-being. And when it is interfering, we want to naturally move to contact with the body as a protector and alchemizer.

Don't underestimate the simple sensations in the inner body, feet, hands, or rhythm of the breath. Enough sincere moments contacting this mundane sphere will naturally and automatically "walk us into" a deeper understanding, and a clearer seeing. See if this is true.

The Practice Mandala | Session 13 | The Body Is The Doorway To Contact

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