NATURE  
THE LAST OF THE BLOGS ON SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

Dave Cumes (Inner Passages Outer Journeys)

Because of the multiples polarities Nature and more especially wild places are rooms with many doors and windows to spirit that can facilitate an active form of sensory meditation.  The Buddha confirmed that spiritual transformation was about finding the middle way - the balancing of polarities and the forces around us - light and dark, positive and negative. 

 Nature has all of these; sun and moon, hot and cold, hungry and satisfied, thirsty and quenched,  invigorated and exhausted, terrified and tranquil.

And

The Ancestors

It is in the balancing of these forces that the magic exists.

Nature can meditate us by its sounds, sights, sunsets, sunrises, smells and rhythms of the moon cycles and seasons. Its with these and the "mantra" of the bush that we can entrain ourselves to the language of Gaia. 

However, many of us use nature as a platform for working out, excitement or performing; jogging, cycling, windsurfing, canyoneering, rock climbing, kite sailing etc. Although this can be stress busting and will sometimes lead to transcendent experiences this is more easily found with an inner intention - preferably alone or in silence. 

Even our language often has a militaristic or a macho tone to it. We bag peaks, run rivers, master our skills and conquer mountains... 

Connecting with the Earth Mother by default must be more of a feminine, intuitive experience.

A Oneness Experience occurs when 

The Knower, The Known and the process of Knowing

fuse into one thing - so called Unity Consciousness which could also be described as Maslow's Peak Experience or even as a mini-Samadhi. For instance this mystical encounter with Yosemite Valley described by Bunnell, one of the first non-natives to have ever seen it.

These experiences are common in nature.

Anyone interested in the concept of Wilderness Rapture and using nature as spiritual practice can download the summary pdf of Inner Passages Outer Journeys from my web site (now out of print) or borrow it from our office or even find it on Amazon. Nature is a powerful catalyst for spiritual transformation if entered with inner intent. My experience is that by going into wild places and being "Inward Bound" transcendent experiences are common - the longer one is out there the better - five days is ideal.

 We can also find the "Magic of the Ordinary" in nature that is all around us, walking on the beach, in a park or gardening but done 

for its own sake 

and not to look good or achieve anything at all.

This rapture is...

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It certainly helps to have awesome vistas

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Nature is the Creator's masterpiece and it is easy to find harmony, peace and equanimity in the Garden of Eden archetype.

Wilderness an amazing template for change.

So for the more adventurous among you; a backpacking experience, a cabin in the woods or anything that allows as little between you and nature or wilderness as possible is likely to have the greatest impact even if not necessarily being the most comfortable.

Click to highlight and the play

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ACTIVE MEDITATIONS ARE VERY MUCH ENDORSED BY THE ANCESTORS 
BUT WITH THE USE OF THE SENSES

The Ancestors 

Anything sensory goes with this type of meditation; reading poetry, eating a piece of chocolate and being in the moment with the taste or watching a lighted candle or a fire and maybe while listening to an inwardly directed musical vibration of your choice.

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 Equanimity can be ongoing in our day to day lives if we recognize the Creator in everything and are able to see the "Magic of the  Ordinary." We can have awe, reverence, gratitude and joy for the smallest things such as a spiders web or the structure in a leaf.

In other words an exquisite awareness is also a form of active meditation bound more to the sensory (often in nature) rather than the "noticing" in Vipassana or Mindfulness meditation which is also active.

There are also active physical inner practices such as Chi Gong, Yoga etc. but the focus is on the activity and not contemplation.

"Active meditation animates and intensifies inner thoughts to help concentration, reflection and contemplation. It engages metal faculties to a directed focus."
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Imagination is a form of active meditation and the songs below describe the qualities and benefits.

In the words of the Ancestors.

"We must conjour our thought with care both carefully and care-ingly.

Imagination allows the vision. Intent sustains its potential. Acting with trust manifest it. To think like God is to imagine. As you think it so it can be. As you imagine it also it can be. As you believe it so it will be! Imagination greatly affects our lives."

Poetic license had been used in order to fit their words to their song. The original prose is more beautiful but the tune makes up for it.

Click on the link to highlight then play

_-_MP3s/13_Imagination.mp3

"You create your reality. You are as you imagine and believe yourself to be. 

Soul's intention is empowered with imagination. Whatever the heart yearns can be imagined. It is only for the will to activate. Imagination allows the vision. Intent sustains its potential. Acting with trust and surrender actualizes with faith, belief and love. Words and imaging are essential for the subconscious to act and are most effective around sleep. Imagination is dormant unless activated by love (feeling.) Intent is made real by imagining in detail. What is not imagined cannot be fulfilled. 

Soul imaging is best heard with the senses."

≈

Click on the link to highlight then play

_-_MP3s/07_Imaging.mp3

 SOUND AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

The vibration of the music is key. Music can be used for light of dark purpose. Soldiers have walked into battle to kill or be killed under the influence of a particular vibration of music. Other genres of music such as heavy metal and Rap can be violent. 
Sacred sound may reflect an essence of the so called
Music of the Spheres and also the Celtic Oran Mor - the sacred tune of the universe.
We will say more about this in a future blog regarding nature as meditative practice and especially in Africa - the mantra of the bush.

The Ancestors

The Ancestors teach that sensory driven inner practices can be extremely powerful - "the way to God is through the senses."

Sound can be a powerful form of meditation such as chanting the Ohm or sacred mantras. The words carry more power to the sound. Music enhances guided imagery and other forms of imaginary contemplations or imaginations used to achieve an objective, especially healing. Chanting in the form of a mantra or something simple and repetitive is more powerful than songs with lyrics which can divert our meditative focus. 
Research has shown that guided imagery of one's gymnastic routine is almost as effective as the physical practice in obtaining results and may be a way of assisting the athlete in getting into the "zone" - a meditative and profoundly functional state during performance. 

David the Psalmist once sang;

"from the sound of my sighing has my essence (my soul) cleaved onto my flesh (my body.)"

(No doubt his psalms were also sung rather than spoken.)

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With inner practice body and soul can be at one with one another - "... from the sound of my sighing ..."
The soul is pure and with "sex, drugs and rock and roll''  or the irresponsible immersion in sentient pleasures the soul separates from the body. If this is ongoing it causes soul sickness or worse still even soul loss. The soul which is pure and made in the image of the Divine - checks out and "leaves." Sacred sound is a way of bringing the soul back into one's body. This can be a horn (the shofar is especially piercing and shattering), a didgeridoo, Tibetan and crystal bowls, gongs, chanting, rattling, singing, drumming, whatever, as long as the intention is to connect with spirit and the vibration of the sound suits that intention.

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Click on the links to highlight and then play to see if these Chassidic chant vibrations suits you. Ohm and other Eastern chants can be sampled on line. Each of us to our own. You may prefer classical music or Gregorian chants.

_MP3s/16_Tzahal_Hashem.mp3

-_MP3s/13_Kodoshim_Tihiyu_-_Holiness.mp3

 BREATH MEDITATION OR PRANAYAMA

REVISITED 

#3

One of the most profound and easiest form of Active Meditation is using the breath. In many forms of meditation one is told to follow the breath. Thich Nhat Hanh the Vietnamese Buddhist monk teaches;
"Breathing in I am following my in breath to the end. Breathing out I am following my out breath to the end."
However, this is really a passive form of breath meditation with a mantra. One can make it active with Yoga Ujjayi pranayama by actively creating sound. This form is commonly used in Yoga asana practice to fortify the movements. In expansion one usually breaths in and with contraction one breaths out in the poses. 
It can also be used at any time to invoke a relaxation or parasympathetic response and its effects can be immediate in times of stress. The active expression of making an "ocean" sound can be profound. Having practiced Asana Yoga for many years I have found this to be the easiest form of active meditation for me, especially when performing yoga postures and in stressful situations. The ocean or "Darth Vedar" sound is created during diaphragmatic breathing by constricting the glottis as air passes in and out. In the beginning it is easily done with the exhalation but with time can with time be managed during the inhalation as well. The calming and spiritual effects occur no matter how unskilled you are at first. It can be better explained by searching You Tube. Check it out and after 5-10 minutes of practice stop, open your eyes and see how the world looks? 
Eventually length and speed are controlled - longer is better and inhalation should be more or less equal to exhalation. It should be effortless without straining. Lamaze breathing used so commonly in childbirth more than likely is based on this ancient Yoga practice. Both also work during any surgical or medical procedures.

It is useful to look at some of the abnormal ways we breath at times which create tension and a sympathetic stress rather than a parasympathetic meditative relaxation response.

Reverse or Chest Breathing occurs when the abdomen moves in on the inhale and out on the exhale. With Diaphragmatic breathing which is more meditative the reverse should occur. By relaxing, lying on a flat surface and putting one's hand on the abdomen one can feel the hand rise on the inhale if one is using the diaphragm and fall on the exhale. Reverse or chest breathing occurs with restrictive clothing and when we are trying to look good with our posture by pulling in our abdominal muscles.

Hyperventilation can be present when we are stressed and can be very subtle. If severe it can cause one to blow off too much carbon dioxide and when this occurs in the blood stream the active calcium level drops leading to muscle spams, commonly tetany in the hands. It is corrected by rebreathing into a paper bag to the normalize ones blood CO2 and calcium .

Frequently when we are unaware and stressed we have a Collapsed breathing pattern where we are hardly breathing at all. This is easily remedied by invoking Ujjai. A more extreme form occurs with Frozen breathing for instance when we jump into cold water and the breath is suppressed from the sudden change in temperature.

Which one "happens" to you when you are stressed or very focused on a project? 

Ujjai rapidly over rides and corrects all of these.

The Ancestors 

There are numerous forms of Pranayama best learned with an experienced teacher but the two I recommend for non Yogis are Ujjai (or Victorious breath) and Alternative Nostril breathing. 

It is useful, however, to realize that there are three phases of breathing;

Puraka, Inhalation

Rechaka, Exhalation.

 And when the normal brief plateau in between is turned into breath holding this is called Kumbhaka. This phase is key to the deeper forms of Pranayamic experience. 

Pranayama is said to balance the sun and moon energy channels which spiral up the spine encompassing the chakras and the central channel. When these energy channels are balanced perfectly the feminine, Shakti, Kundalini, serpent power which resides at the base of the spine is awakened and can move up the spinal column energizing the chakras and creating polarity balance. If there is perfect balance and it reaches the crown chakra where the Shiva male principle resides the 

Oneness experience or Unity Consciousness is induced where the "Knower, the Known and the process of Knowing"

fuse into one thing. 

Alternative nostril breathing especially is supposed to balance the sun and moon. Check it out on line - it is also simple to do.

Below is an example of a oneness experience or what Maslow might have called a Peak experience written by Bunnell one of the party of pioneers who first entered Yosemite valley. In this instance nature was the yoga.

 The diaphragm is key to moving energy from the lower three chakras (representing earth, water, fire) into the upper chakras of air and eventually "ether." It also opens the fourth or heart chakra.

See figures below; the first shows the Sun and Moon channels spiraling up the central channel and ending in the nostrils - the second one is schematic.

"What is God? The breath within the breath." Kabir

Click on the link to highlight then play and focus on the breath

-_MP3s/06_Cosmic_Meditation.mp3

ACTIVE VS. PASSIVE SPIRITUAL PRACTICE 

In the West we have become accustomed to Eastern forms of meditation which are usually more passive in nature. However, many of us do not have this kind of patience.
Moreover, for most, the ultimate attainment of Samadhi is a far out of reach, no matter how diligent we are with meditation.

  Although we could all learn to have this form of staying power and we are taught to always gently return to the practice with the help of a mantra, the breath or some other technique without judgment, many may find this challenging.

 The Ancestors urge; 

 you are to find the spiritual practice meant for you! 

The Ancestors

Active meditation is another way to obtain equanimity.

 Asana yoga which can be a form of active meditation has become very popular in the West. This is only one of the eight limbs of yoga discipline. It is said that the asanas were really designed to  strengthen one for meditation, pranayama, and the deeper form of sensory withdrawal and not for an end unto itself. Nevertheless for many of us asana yoga serves to inspire and also is an excellent way of stress busting.

In the West because of our busy lives we are in sympathetic nervous system over load which is ostensibly a chronic flight or fight response. It should be balanced by some kind of relaxation response or meditation that invokes the parasympathetic nervous system to calm us down. Asana yoga performs well here but may not take the practitioner very deep.

The Ancestors agree fully that 

 and they teach that

the soul's fulfillment is through the senses. 

The soul's conversation is not of the mind, 

it is best heard with the senses.

The Sufi whirling dervishes would agree with the Ancestors that connection with the Divine and equanimity can also reside in some form of embodied practice; Tai Chi, Chi Gong, drumming, dancing, solo hiking etc ... Africans say we pray by singing and dancing. Try visiting a gospel church or one in South Africa.

Mindful? or Mind Full! 

It may be easier to empty the mind when using inner directed bodily activities. 

There are other ways to stop thinking other than passive meditation that are worth exploring

.

Use the senses for this sound driven meditation in whatever way it is enhanced for you. Focus on a candle flame, light incense, savor your favorite sweet treat, dance to the sound, imagine walking through your favorite nature scene, try different music ...

Click on the link to highlight then play and meditate

_-_MP3s/04_Desert_Healing_Song.mp3

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE SHOULD BE HIGHLY INDIVIDUAL 
 WE EACH NEED TO FIND OUR OWN WAY TO ACCESS THE FIELD OF SPIRIT

The Ancestors confirm that...

 The heart of spiritual practice is that it should be done for its own sake, for the sake of going inward and not to perform or perfect. Its about essence not form.

There are so many choices on the "menu." We need to check them out and see which fits best. If it starts to get stale we may have to "choose another dish."

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The Creator does not want copy cat spirituality. We need "to taste the reality of our choice" and if it doesn't inspire move on.

The Ancestors

Eventually we may end up with more than one form of going inward and maybe especially for those of us with very busy minds thats appropriate.

The Ancestors

Ultimately we are all able to hear 
"the soft, silent, still voice of the Divine." 
This voice will come to each of us in different ways but it requires silence and subordination of the ego in order to hear it.

The Ancestors

God want to be loved and wants to co-create the planet with each of  us with our own uniquely Divine given gifts. Kabbalah says that God is playing hide and seek but few want to play ...

"Search for Me and you will find me, seek me with all your heart and I will let you find me."

The Ancestors

Click on the link to highlight and then play. Listening to music that turns us inward is a form of sensory meditation. We also need to find the type of music with the right vibration for our own particular vibration. These may not work for you. But try reading the blog again with the music.

_-_MP3s/04_Tanda.mp3

 02_Earth_Sea_Sky.mp3

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

In he last blog we discussed Gratitude as a form of spiritual practice. If we are going to be able to navigate the challenges of Karma we need to know much more about some of the methods of going inward that can help us on the journey.

Spiritual practice is the main ingredient for spiritual transformation. Without a regular, enjoyable, disciplined practice we will not be able to control our survival "Monkey" or Narrow mind and ego and subordinate them to "Big" or Spacious Mind. 

Narrow Mind comprises our habits, addictions, compulsions, lusts and desires. Narrow Mind is responsible  for our primitive survival response and most of the time in our daily lives we are in the sympathetic nervous system overload of a flight or fight response. Its the same response that hunter-gatherers had when a lion was circling their cave. This response that was meant for a short term true survival response is not healthful in the long term. In our stress filled lives it also leads to release of adrenal hormones and can cause high blood pressure, depression of our immune response and a propensity for diabetes. If for no other reason than for stress busting and health we should incorporate some form of meditation to offset these effects. Narrow Mind for most of us is our default mode and can be localized to the more primitive parts of our brains on Functional M.R.I.'s.

The Ancestors

Spacious Mind embraces our higher goals, aspirations, ideals, beliefs, notions, discernments and discriminations. It can be located in the prefrontal lobe of the brain on F.M.R.I. It is the default mode for advanced spiritual practitioners who even seem to have more "neuronal density" in this area. Meditation invokes a parasympathetic nervous system, relaxation response which is not only healthful but can be transpersonal. 
There are only two feelings, love and fear. There are a range of emotions arising from love and fear. Fear based emotions such as jealousy, anger, hate, vengeance arise out of Narrow Mind bolstered by ego and our shadow side. With skillful spiritual practice we can modulate these harmful fear based emotions and focus more on a Spacious Mind, love vibration.

It is clear that we all need some form of spiritual practice in order to cope better with life. Better still if we incorporate this for spiritual transformation as well. This can be difficult for many of us to find and may require experimentation to see what best suits us. Some may need more than one type of practice especially for those not on a defined spiritual path or others who get bored with the monotony of one form.
Its ok when...

For some of us it may be a little like Goldey Locks and the Three Bears. You try the one bed and its too hard, the next is too soft and then you seem to find the "bed" that feels just right. After a while, however, even that bed gets a bit lumpy and might be ok every now and again but it may be time to renew the practice and be more creative. Meditation is all about calming the mind but in our busy lives we may need to embrace more than one practice and the one which feels right for our mood and energy level. It may be that a solo walk on a beach is the best form for that present moment.

For me the essence of spiritual practice is to calm the mind with some method of going inward that is done for its own sake and no other agenda. I prefer an active physical meditation like yoga asanas or hiking.

The Ancestors

For many of us active meditations are easier to commit to than passive ones. Practices like asana yoga, playing an instrument, painting, dancing, drumming or tai chi which have form can make one driven to perfect the form rather than be in the moment with the movement or the flow. Having no goal other than being in the present moment can be a real challenge for many of us.


Dave Cumes


Click on the link to highlight then play

_MP3s/14_Hishtavut_-_Equanimity.mp3

Next week we will compare Active and Passive spiritual practices.