These Spontaneous Reflections offer a light hearted exploration into the forest of and maize of meanings relating to our Existential edges around what it means to be Human with a curiosity for life and its Mystery.  What is your experience of this 'edge'?  Do you have a sense of this 'Mystery'?  What resources and creative responses might help in this Human enigma?

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Human Dilemmas, The Mystery, Insight Curiosities and the Fresh Edge

Exploring the theme of uncertainty, inviting a space of awareness, a grounded Presence, just sensing contact of your feet on the ground, noticing how it is for the body to connect through the ground and the seat? You are being held and supported by the earth. Connecting with the theme ‘Uncertainty’ not knowing, maybe ambiguity, checking in with yourself how that lands, the meaning for you, what images, feelings, stories – noticing what that is like to entertain uncertainty, at least in this very moment. Right now, we are in a place of not knowing, there is no particular direction to this meditation… in a way right now, we are in a place uncertainty, of not knowing.  And if you explore, you might find uncertainty is more about a mental projection… and if you explore, uncertainty is more of a case of mental projection…. It’s; What are we doing… Where are we going…. I’m not quite sure where we are going….’ It’s how we respond to the stories based on projection. Some of us might really enjoy not knowing, there is not one response, we could respond tin different ways at different times.  Meeting uncertainty is about meeting parts of us, some of which could be really happy, and some really anxious, depending on the time and place.  Maybe were never going to find certainty, that is the nature of uncertainty.  Maybe there is a middle way between uncertainty and certainty, perhaps there’s some kind of refuge that brings us into relationship where we can hold things in Presence and not be overwhelmed, and enjoy some kind of equanimity, equipoise however rough the seas maybe, we can navigate our boat skilfully.  Hoe might we do that?  Well. Let’s look at the stories, is it really what story is here, in other words we are looking at the seas, is it really rough or calm, and just sense into the feeling tone, some nervousness, some excitement, curiosity, anxiety?  Our first port of call is to create some grounded safety in the sensing, always available at all times.  Inviting a sense of contact with the ground feeling mother earth supporting you, from which you were born, stardust, sensing contact and resting briefly with these sensations where the body meets the earth, resting with these sensations, letting them rest in themselves. Inviting the whole body to begin to rest in its whole self, whole body breathing and grounding, savouring contact and sensation. And you body can sense the space around you, beyond the room up into the stars, sitting beneath a canopy of stars above you, and the sharedness of the community also breathing. And now from the whole of this, something in you is like it is, excited, trepidation, excited? And we could put our hand on our chest or tummy, bringing kindness and care to whatever is there.  Its being held by the sensing, held by the stars, being held by the body and if you like you can just say a little ‘Hello’ to the part in you, whether happy, sad, afraid or neutral, I celebrate you. You have needs that you are wishing to connect me with, your intention is to look after me. Thank you! Keeping it company in this way, Grounded, spacious, whole body, kindly breathing, welcoming.  Perhaps you have a need for safety and reassurance, security and in this present moment you have the creativity, resourcefulness, the resilience, the humanity to meet any situation in a way that is enriching and supportive. And now just take time for the body to rest in the body, it maybe you would like to rest in the breathing or where the feet mee the ground, keeping yourself and being kept company for a period of time.  In the broad expanse of existence, there is neither not knowing or knowing, there is just a clear open space that is carefree, always available at all times. Resting Here.

Meet Uncertainty and Fear with Safety Resilience Resourcefulness Creativity

Embark on a transformative journey with Embodied Relational Presence resources tailored for Extinction Rebellion advocates. Discover and foster inner resilience and focus through guided practices, aligning mind and purpose. These resources offer a sanctuary for XR activists, fostering mental well-being amidst the challenges of environmental advocacy. Elevate your commitment to the planet by grounding yourself in the power of these Presence related practices.

Extinction Rebellion Meditations & Reflections - Support, Resource & Renew

As John Kabat-Zinn  has said 'Don't be stitching to complete your parachute as you jump out of the plane.   Avoid or work through Burn out, develop positive qualities to serve you in work and home life to increasingly be the best version of you . This collection of Mindfulness guided meditations and mindfulness sessions will inspire, renew, refresh and support you at work and in life.

Corporate Mindfulness Meditations for Resilience, Focus, Calm, Wellbeing & Enhanced Performance

Tired of being relentlessly stuck?  Overwhelmed and despairing about the stories and feelings you can't get out of?  Listen to this for inspiration ....... go to  Healing and Creativity Course to learn skills in deep freedom https://www.tickettailor.com/events/focusing

How does change REALLY happen? Find relief from STUCK Fear Anxiety Sadness Anger Hurt etc

Do we stand we stand on thin or thick Ice? Uncertainty Truth and Safety

Meet Uncertainty and Fear with Safety Resourcefulness Resilience Presence Meditation

This is a brief exploration of sleep in the context of mindfulness, there are classically many things you can do to set a context for better sleep.  However, when you are laying in bed, and there is a sense of not getting to sleep.  Often anxiety is a major factor in not sleeping coming from actually and paradoxically trying to get to sleep. It does not have to be like that, we can reframe how we get to sleep. We can instead focus on resting and not trying to get to sleep. Setting ourselves up for failure and further anxiety.   Resting all night will allow you to function the next day ok, rather than with anxiety generated through not sleeping by trying to get to sleep!  With resting we can just invite a sense of contact with the mattress, sensing contact with what ever is underneath you and letting the muscles soften. Being available to resting, perhaps working from the feet upwards etc.  The breathing inviting a natural rhythm, which becomes more prolonged and becomes longer on the out breath. And if you like placing your hand on your tummy or chest if anything is agitated in you.   And if it helps you can invite a pleasant scenario, somewhere in nature, or somewhere you can remember that is very very comforting. Maybe hearing the sounds that you herd maybe it was a sunrise or sunset, maybe it was the sound of rain, something inviting comforting, some lazy day or lazy night, some realm, someplace that s safe and comfortable. Allowing the body to rest in each ion and out breath, If the body wants to fall asleep or drop off to sleep in its own time, it will in its own time.

Sleepy Resting Comforting into Sleep Guided Invitation

'Becoming alike a deep still, cool ocean, bathing in the magic of the cool waters; sapphire blues, turquoise, deep greens, deep healing waters of being'.

Time to find a bit of ease, comfort and relaxation.  Space for you, you time! Mindfulness offers a portal into innate resources, an innate pool of creativity and okayness.  Not necessarily apparent when we are overwhelmed or disconnected, or under pressure or in a narrative that does not serve us but there is a certain quality within us that knows the way forward, an alchemy, just how do we become available to that quiet magic, it knows its own flow, it knows how to heal and untangle.  The conscious mind is not so good at that, its good at other things.  Of course, the matrix for this magic is Embodied relational presence.
So, inviting ourselves through the portal into this bigger nourishing space begins with the pause, it’s as simple as that really. Nothing necessarily stops, but we are taking a wider perspective, kind of suspending and hovering in it all. Just becoming available as we settle. Inviting a more sensory quality. Perhaps the body can hear different sounds, near or far background sounds, just tuning in gently, listening without judging, just hearing.  Hearing beyond the room, beyond the four walls, hearing outside sounds.  We are taken into a real of spaciousness, beyond the sounds, beyond the clouds, into the big blue, or even night sky, space extends infinitely. Its as if we are being breathed by it even, as we breathe out sensing up into the stars, the milky ways, beyond the beyond, that holds us together. Inviting a quality of resting here in this spaciousness, it kind of rests in itself, no effort requited, suspended in rest. Suspended in restful spaciousness, clear and open. This visceral earth body can sense the ground, contact, earthing and grounding. Becoming like a mountain, immoveable, strong, yet spacious and open. Resting in this spaciousness. Maybe parts of the body would like to soften…….  Whole-body softening, soothing, comforting with each in and out breath.  
Taking a little time to make space for what is alive in the body……. Inviting a kindness and care to whatever is here. Perhaps breathing in a quality of care and warmth, breathing in a particular perfume or care, or energetic. Breathing in a magic position into every cell, tissue and organ in the body. Becoming alike a deep still, cool ocean, bathing in the magic of the cool waters; sapphire blues, turquoise, deep greens, deep healing waters of being. Continuing to rest in the breathing, flowing in and flowing out. Inviting a magic and sensitive awareness in Presence. Sensing a quality of kindness and care in your heart, like a blooming flower, radiant soft petals, emanating colourful light from the body, radiating kindness and care to all beings around you, wishing happiness and wellbeing, outwards into the world, to your colleagues, your friends, all beings, all creatures and animals.  And further out around the globe, a magical radiance or energetic, or just intention. May all beings be well and happy. Resting in this spacious and ground quality of kindness.  It’s a kind of Magic.

Its a Kind of Magic Mindfulness Meditation

Inviting a spaciousness, a softening, a place of ease, just being available to whatever is here especially a quality of sensation maybe your body can sense the fabric of clothing on your skin here and there, inviting comfort and safety, a sense of wholeness as the body is invited to sense itself more fully. Especially this time of year, Autumn, when the sky is blue and crisp, the air is clear, often cool, there is a vividity a clarity in the seeing. Vivid colours, beginning to shift, the leaves beginning to change towards, yellows, golds and oranges, there is an aliveness, something more vital.  And you can sense outwards noticing any sounds… if you are lucky, a sound of a bird. And through the sound, an awareness of spaciousness along with this clarity of Autumn, clear, open spacious, up into the blue sky, up into the stars beyond. Resting in this quality of clear spaciousness, being breathed by it, all that clarity flowing in and flowing out, clear vitality into each cell of the body, bringing spaciousness and healing with each in and out breath, Breathing in that blue sky, perfuming the whole body, a quality of clear light.

Autumn Clarity Vitality Vivid Colours Meditation

This is an invitation into a quality of presence, mindfulness, kind awareness, compassionate holding. We always begin with where we are, there is nowhere else to begin and its in the pause and invitation into some self-awareness.  Its very gentle, there is not smash and grab, more like a bud gently opening into the flower.  You might have a favourite flower or remembering a particular flower and recollecting what the bud might be like for that particular flower.  Just being available to this gentle opening, flowering, blossoming even. The flower draws from the earth, the nutrients the richness from the soil, the sun, the ambient temperature eh atmosphere. The flower is an emergent, cocreated process, so too is Presence. We too can draw from the earth sensing contact, touch, pressure.  Just resting here with these sensations, just being available to the sensing of the body and invitation into a heightened aware ess that is natural and easy.  Something in you can sense contact with the chair or earth, contact of the clothing around the body, bringing warmth and safety, soothing and comfort maybe. Resting with these sensations on the skin, warmth, softness, a sense of being held, wrapped around. And your body can sense the space around it, the office, the room, extending out above the tree tops into the sky, spreading infinitely in all directions including that sea of stars, as if being breathed by his infinite space, flowing in and out of the lugs as you sensing air, calming and soothing. Inviting a warm awareness with every breath. A perfumed awareness even, of the blossoming of the flower, permeating every ell of your body perhaps with a beautiful breath permeating scent or colour, or texture, just like a soft petal, touching the whole body. Resting in the invitation into a deeper calming and comforting, a softening.  Also being available to a sea of sounds, keeping us company. Grounded, whole-body, kindly aware breathing. Maybe parts of the body might like to soften, further relaxing, inviting a deeper ease.  The shoulders, the neck muscles, and the jaw dropping down slightly, inviting a deeper rest and ease in the body and also inviting a quality of deeper ease and care and kindness.  As this bud opens, the light of its petals shining through the whole body maybe through the heart area, opening up, warming, healing, calming every cell of the body, every limb. Pausing in the richness of warm and kindly awareness, a colourful, a perfumed awareness maybe, flooding the whole body. Continuing to rest in whole body breathing. Grounded aware, spacious, perfumed breathing.   Perhaps something within is calling for some support, care, healing, or even some celebration for something joyful and open, or maybe both, contracted as well. Connecting that something within, as not who you are but as an element withing passing through. Perfuming it with the flower of kindness, a soft holding, a soft coming alongside, companioning.  Whole-body breathing and keeping company whatever is here.  Continuing to rest in the whole body breathing as perhaps like a bud continues to blossom in its own time, in its own fulness. And we can allow the bud to keep transforming into the flower, into a fuller opening throughout the day or night, The ground always available, as it’s the space and the ability to say hello to anything that arises and keep it company in compassion, the ability to rest with it all. As it is. Always available at all times.

Flower Power Mindfulness Meditition

Precious time set aside for you... Perhaps something from home or work is with you. We're marking a space, a boundary, maybe even something sacred, being available to the universe, both inner and outer. In today's world, preoccupied with shopping and the internet, this space is an opportunity for something more real. It's an invitation to the clear light of reality, offering healing, growth, wellbeing, and creativity—all here in the relational field of being.

We pause, being available to the soothing ocean of being. Perhaps you sense the earth beneath your feet or body—through the chair, settee, or ground. This point of contact is always available, grounding you in balance and solidity, whether walking, sitting, or lying. Coming home to a foundation of balance, terra firma, and briefly resting with these sensations. From here, sense more broadly—the relational field of the body, the sensations offered: touch, taste, pleasure, pain, neutrality, pulsing, and breathing.

This relational field extends beyond—into the space around you, above the treetops, through clouds into the clear open skies, and beyond, into the star-studded infinity we sit in. Grounded yet spacious and open, as if being breathed by the stars themselves. Perhaps breathing into those parts of you that need extra care, permeating every cell, cleansing, healing, vitalizing, connecting with each in-and-out breath. The starlight floods through the body, inviting kindness, gentleness, comfort, and peace.

If there's anything less than peaceful, that's okay too. We welcome these parts, supported by the whole relational field of being. The connection with others and all life sits with us, offering safety, power, and care. As we rest in the whole-body breathing—grounded, kindly, starlight breathing, flowing in and out. Resting. If there are thoughts, that's okay—giving them the space they need, while also inviting the body to sense the earth, sensing its whole self in the infinite space it inhabits. There's plenty of room for everything here, even thoughts—just letting them be, letting them find their place. Returning to the visceral sense of beingness in the relational field, which supports itself in its own balance and wellbeing.

Perhaps you notice a warm awareness in the body, a slight glow, an ember, or a spark—like a bud opening in the chest. Soft, warm petals of kindness emanate outward, or perhaps a sun rising in the chest, flooding warmth and care through your body. This light extends beyond you, touching the hearts of those near you, wishing them well. Quietly, this light radiates out, further into the world, wishing harmony and peace to all beings—plants, animals, and humans alike. Beyond the planet, into the great sea of diamonds, who knows what's out there? May all life find peace and happiness in its own way.

We sit here in this relational field of peace and care. Each cell in your body holds within it a thousand suns, radiating outwards. Letting everything be as it wants to be, from this grounded, warm sense of self—or whatever sense of self feels true. Honoring its truth, inviting a deepening sense of joy, peace, freedom, naturalness, playfulness, and abundance. And we rest here.

Starlight Breathing Healing Relational Field Mindfulness Meditation

"Certainly, Focusing and the Dharma are not separate in this world. They are like the ocean and the horizon, and the great sky above—not separate, breathing itself, living itself, reveling in the majesty of things."
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"The fullness of itself rests in the fullness of itself. In this way, there is no polarity, but neither would one call it non-duality, so no duality and no non-duality."

"Presence rests in Presence. So, I guess my language for the Great Liberation, you could say, is Presence: Pre-Sence, that which comes before sense, that Mystery."

"Focusing is not about focusing. When something becomes about something, Buddhism becomes about Buddhism, or Nonviolent Communication becomes about NVC, it’s as if we go to a revolving door and we keep revolving around inside it."

"The function of a revolving door is to act as a portal into the very space or different space that you are wanting to get to."

"Hopefully what is happening is I am entering my Humanity more deeply. It’s a natural expression of my Humanity, Focusing, NVC, Mindfulness, Buddhism, they are not about themselves, they are pointing beyond themselves in a way."

"All true liberation teachings, according to her, always point to direct experience. If they are pointing to ‘Talking about’ Enlightenment, the great freedom etc, then they are not the true teaching, they are merely a dichotomy promoting and reinforcing itself."

"She mentions this term ‘Being Perception’—becoming perception, entering the realm of perception, as if we drop into the realm of perception rather than talking about it, in this way becoming awareness itself."

"The felt sense is the heart of Gene Gendlin’s Focusing, not feeling, but the felt sense, which is more than a feeling, it’s the inclusive whole to an experience that is alive."

"When there is a whole perception of itself, it is an invitation into full sensory awareness from its own terms as it drops into itself, so to speak, there is neither a duality nor a non-duality, and it just rests in itself."

"As this body here is listening to these sounds, so to speak, it can also notice the earth, the body can sense the whole shape of itself even as these sounds manifest and the spaciousness from the skin’s perspective, as it were, radiating out beyond these four walls up into the blue or dark night sky with a trillion shimmering diamonds."

"It’s the pregnant empathic pause from the whole sense of itself, and as this does so, and as the words and labels and interpretations, as it were, are just offered to space in the totality of things, they no longer have dominion over creating a split."

"The whole of this that owns itself, that, as it were, is hearing back from itself, or even as it were, is pausing in the hearing, the availability of the hearing back from itself, the whole of itself, the whole of itself hears back from the whole of itself."

"The map is not the territory, the finger pointing to the moon is the finger pointing to the moon, this is invariably an invitation for the moon and the light of the moon to inhabit itself. It just bathes itself in its own light."

"Focusing has been a portal for me personally into the mystery of the whole of this, playing itself out. Focusing, which of course, is not about focusing!"

Focusing Insight Duality Non-duality & the Wisdom of The Felt Sense

So I was asking you—how do you know when you're moving into a healing mode? And how do you know when you're not?
What's happening inside of you? What's going on in there?
How do you know?
Do you know? 
Because sometimes I say to myself, when there's an edge, when it's a bit challenging: Where's the healing edge in all of this? Is it in the whole thing? All of it? Because I'm not quite sure where it is. So I just ask: Where's the healing edge in all of this?
And I wait, you know.
Sometimes, it comes back and gives me something—maybe a certain shape in the body.
Sometimes, it doesn’t. But it's like—oh, it's like that.
It’s like that in there.
That’s the healing edge. Oh, okay. And then I can say hello to that, right?
So it's an open curiosity rather than an interrogative, pointed question. See what I’m saying?
For me, the question is: Where does the felt sense begin? And where does it end?
And I'm asking you with curiosity—where does the felt sense begin, and where does it end?
Just drop into that. Ask your whole body—what does that mean to it?
Does it begin in the heart area? The tummy? The throat? The face?
And where does it end? Around the shape of the heart? In the torso?
Does it begin in the sternum? Or is it more intense there?
Wherever it might be—does it radiate outward?
Does it end where the feet meet the ground?
Where the body meets the chair, or the bed?
Does it end at the skin, with the sensation of clothing?
Or does it extend to the shape of the room, or even beyond?
Where is it alive?
And if there’s something going on—say, a bird chirping or sunlight on your face—is that part of the felt sense? Or not?
What do you mean by the felt sense?
This is really important when it comes to healing.
Because—what’s the point of it?
I mean, maybe it’s heresy to ask—why do we have a felt sense?
I mean, it’s so mechanistic. But if you did ask, it’d be interesting to see what answer comes back—if anything comes back.
And if it did, it wouldn’t be a definitive answer.
I don’t think it would be. It would probably be quite complex.
Or maybe the answer would come through a gesture, or a sound, a symbol or metaphor
So—is the felt sense static? Or dynamic?
Is it in one place? Or many places?
Can you sense it in the whole experience? Or just in a part of it?
All these curiosities—along with many others—are questions.
And they all relate to the meaning of healing.
Because—well, what is healing?
And how does something know how to offer freshness from the old?
How does it know how to do that—especially with something that’s been stuck for 10 or 20 years?
And then, suddenly—there’s a surprise when you feel that melting into something genuinely different.
There’s a freshness appearing.
Where does that appear in a felt sense?
So—those curiosities.
Yeah. I’m wondering how that lands with you—without coming so much from your head.

.

Tsunami Surfing, Healing, Liberation and the Thrill of the Felt Sense Reflection

Identity and the Mystery of Language
I want to come back to this word: identity.
It seems to me to be the crux of so many issues in the world — and in our own worlds, too.
It’s not just the world — it's the bounding off, the compartmentalization, the fixing.
Healthy on a certain level, yes. But in Focusing, there’s an invitation:
Who am I?
What am I?
Am I a man? A woman? Neither, or both?
Am I defined by the group, by another individual, by something in me?
Would a rose be just as sweet if it were called something else?
How does the label define the identity, and how does the identity define the label?
Language and experience — it’s a very curious mystery.
"Terrorist" or "freedom fighter" — what is this?
There are no true "nounings" — there are some, but predominantly, experience is verbing.
A sense of this-isness rather than "I am," "you are," "we are going to do."
Fixed identity — the "I Am" — creates a rigid duality. Then the problems start:
My nation, your nation. My goods, your goods. What's yours is negotiable; what's mine is mine.

At the End of the Map What then

Identity 'I Am' 'Something in Me' Who are you? Existential Focusing Reflection

Sitting with the Felt Sense
The felt sense comes alive when we sit alongside something and be with it just as it is. This is perhaps the most challenging thing a human can do. On one hand, you don’t want to be with it. On the other, how do you be with it? And what is it, anyway? Many things come up around that. Yet when one entertains it, I believe it can be incredibly inspiring. Something in you will catch it and go, “Right. Okay.” It’s like one’s whole universe potentially shifts. When one is entertained by the felt sense, it's like Lyra, Philip Pullman's character with the subtle knife. She cuts through the air and enters another reality. I think that’s exactly it. The Edge of the Map
There’s a deep sigh of recognition about what’s heard here. It’s continually reminding itself of that, because it’s not a habit. It can’t be. That’s the beauty. It’s on the borderline of habit and non-habit. It’s at the edge of the map. You come to the edge of the map, and then what? It’s freeform. It’s like finding a whole new map. But the map can be different every time. A whole new place. Multi-dimensional. And it can only be a map in retrospect. You can’t have the map to begin with—it’s not there. Map is linear. This is more multi-dimensional. The map runs out, and you look back and go, “Oh, now I have a new map.” You can’t look forward with that map. It’s a new kind of way of being.

Metaphor, Creativity, and the Limit of Language
It’s very nourishing just to chat about it. Something in me gets it. It’s like that. It can only ever be a “like that” from this perspective. In a way, it’s another map—a metaphor or symbol. Like a pair of wings, like a surfboard. I talk about surfing. But maybe you have your own metaphor that fits better. This is where true creativity happens. It’s the place of the artist, the creative to create. And if someone is creating from a map, they’re not truly creating.

Shifting Paradigms
It’s a different paradigm. It’s liberating. I was talking to a friend. I used the phrase "going south." We’re a bit far north—let’s go south. It’s tough. Then they talked about being below the waterline—what’s happening there? We recognize that from different traditions. In a sense, we’re coming to the same point. And then the whole conversation calmed. And it was like—that’s it.

All We Have Is Relationship
Relationship. That’s it. We’re not having a relationship—we are relationship. We are interaction. We’re not having an interaction. The relational field is always alive. When you stop thinking about people as fixable objects—relationship emerges. What brought me into this was wanting a better relationship with my wife. Then I realized I needed a better relationship with what’s going on in here. It turns out all we have is relationship. When you get there—it’s all relationship.

Felt Sense as Portal to Living
The felt sense is a portal into the “thisness” of direct living. You could say direct intuitive living, though intuition can be misunderstood. Korzybski, the Polish semanticist, said “the map is not the territory.” We need maps. But we don’t need to be fooled by them. The left brain is a map. People are fooled because they believe them. They believe dichotomous ways of seeing the world as absolutely true—when they are just maps. Language is a map. A belief is a map. But ultimately, it’s not true.

Perspective and the Limits of Knowing
There’s always another view. My teacher spoke of this: look at the Plough, your favorite constellation. It’s beautiful. But if you called someone on Mars and said, “The Plough’s out, can you see it?” they’d say, “What are you talking about?” From their view, it doesn’t exist. If you go toward it—after 30 billion light years—you’d be inside it, and it wouldn’t look constellated. What we take as real is relative. It’s only real from the perspective of the seer.

End of the Map and Felt Sensing Beyond  - Reflection

A lively discussion including contributions from Manvir Hansra and Raffi Campbell. 

The felt sense is a bit like a precious pearl in the ocean, and the narrative is a bit like—what could it be? It’s like a big trawler’s fishing net, you know, that’s really thrown out far and wide, pulling up all kinds of debris. But the real felt sense, that’s—the narrative is the trawler and the net. The felt sense is the pearl. And she sits quietly there. It’s like that. It’s a metaphor, right? But you get what I mean by the trawler.

It's gonna feel very real. Yes. We've got all this stuff in the net. Oh, what have we got? Oh, we got an old dustbin. Oh, we caught a dolphin. Need to put that back, right? And—yeah—maybe I'm doing a disservice to the narrative. But maybe it has a place to do a bit of a disservice to it, that’s trying to run the show, is trying to steal from the ocean right in this kind of way. Maybe the ocean itself is sensing in its fullness.
The Call of the Heart and the North Star
• Focusing offers a vital path to authenticity — following “the North Star of your heart.”
• It invites openness where we’d typically close down, setting us apart with empathic presence and humility.
• Both focusing and meditation rest on the Mystery — not mechanical methods, but a living relationship with inner freedom.

Mindfulness: Dharma vs. Method
• Mindfulness is not meditation; it is Dharma — a liberating relationship with reality.
• Breath counting and body scans reduce mindfulness to mechanical practice, mistaking means for ends.
• The true heart of mindfulness points to dignity and inner freedom, not control.

The Pitfall of the Fixed Self
• Much mainstream mindfulness implies a fixed self that must control experience.
• Terms like “body scan” reduce us to machinery; “bring it back” creates an inner dualism.
• This model implies failure if thoughts stray, reinforcing judgment and tension.

The Organic Way: Focusing as Meditation
• Focusing is emergent, inclusive, and organic.
• No “bringing back” — just allowing what’s already here to unfold.
• The body senses itself. Stories are welcomed. There is no central controller.

Presence Instead of Meditation
• Presence carries fewer preconceptions than “meditation.”
• It can arise anywhere — at a bus stop or in bed.
• It’s about letting the body notice, not doing something to it.

Cosmic Context and Imaginal Sensing
• The body can sense the stars — not through sight, but through imaginal awareness.
• This cosmic felt sense brings vastness and belonging.
• There is something in us that quietly knows this larger context.

The Meaning Body
• Beneath emotion is the felt sense — a meaning-laden, pre-verbal sensation.
• It streams knowing not through thought but direct bodily experience.
• This “meaning body” is:
o Where intuitive knowing lives.
o A portal to wisdom and compassion.
o Life sensing itself in wholeness.

The Pearl and the Net
• The felt sense is a precious pearl in the ocean.
• The narrative is a trawler’s net — often pulling debris, sometimes treasure, but rarely the pearl.
• Mistaking the net for the ocean blinds us to the subtle truths within.

Focusing as Resting in Itself
• Focusing is the whole self resting in itself — not effort, but natural unfolding.
• There may be gentle intentionality, but even that fades.
• The process eventually looks after itself.

Sensing as Portal
• Sensing is not the end — it’s the portal to the "more" that knows its truth.
• It bypasses conceptual frameworks like duality or non-duality.
• The evaluating mind cares for labels; the body simply is.

Beyond Non-Duality
• Chasing “non-dual experiences” often leads to mental tangles.
• The body doesn’t care for duality or its absence — it just lives truthfully.
• Presence offers a refuge beyond all categories.

Focusing Meditation and The Dharma Discussion

Padmasambhava the Magician, Transformer and Fearless Friend.

Padmasambhava's Realm a short Invocation to Accompany you

XR activity can be demanding and stressful - often with times of anxiety, fear, overwhelm etc being a result. Here are some ready and available resources to meet needs for Resilience, Deep Rest, Grounding, Presence, Balance, Restoration, Sustainability, Connection, Respite, Ease, Peace, Resources for times of action and inaction.

XR Organic Body Grounded Awareness For Soothing

XR BREATHE Front Line Action Support

XR Brief Introduction to these Meditations and Resources

Check in with yourself rebels to sustain and nourish

XR Reflective Meditation Resourcing And Preparation For Protest Action

XR Comfort Meditation Safety Security From Anxiety Fear And Panic

Presence Deep Rest Meditations and Reflections inspired by Focusing, Mindfulness and Nonviolent communication Embodied Relational Presence training and personal coaching.  https://www.living-presence.co.uk/

Meet Uncertainty and Fear with Safety Resourcefulness Resilience Presence Meditation

Simon McKibbin Presence Meditations & Reflections