Mid-Spring Meditation: The Breath & Our Senses

[one_third][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0% 0 0 0″]Mindfulness Expert, John Kesler of Integral Polarity Practice Institute (IPPI), offers us a simple polarity meditation to get in touch with our senses this Taurus Season. Feel physically centered and accepting throughout May’s lively spring days.

 

When we are fully present to our physical selves we are most awake to our senses. The most basic physical dynamic, which we share with all living things, is the expansion and contraction of our many physical systems. The example of this expansion/contraction polarity that most of us can access most readily is the in breath and the out breath.

By slowing down and deepening our breathing and being fully present, we can settle into relaxed stillness, a deep calm, and experience more fully the luscious qualities of our touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight, and the beauty of the world. This meditative experience helps us appreciate the value of slowing down life a bit generally and enjoying the richness of our physical and sensory presence in the world.

In addition if we can be fully accepting of this moment – and the next and the next – we can attain a level of physical stillness and centeredness that we can sense more deeply our own life essence, which is the life force that is in and through all things. As we tap into this cosmic force, it flows through each of us in support of our own strong and utterly unique voices.[/two_third_last]

[one_third padding=”1% 0 0 0″]AN IPP MEDITATIVE PRACTICE

Accessing the Still Point of these polarities and the virtues that flow from them:

• Get comfortable in a chair or seated floor position, somewhere without distraction.

• Breathe in a relaxed manner and settle into a state of relaxation, calm and tranquility, a deep quality of physical stillness.

• Be present in the moment and notice one at a time the rich quality of your senses of touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight. Spend some time with each one of them, what is arising moment to moment. Then be open to and feel the richness, pleasure and beauty of your entire sensory world.[/one_third][two_third_last][/two_third_last]

[full_width]• In this moment of physical stillness bring forth a deep sense of acceptance of this moment – and the next and the next – and touch into that life force within you. Open your awareness to how there is no limit to the presence of this life force in the world and the cosmos. Feel it within you and through it, feel your connection to a oneness with all being and all things.

• As you step into your daily life allow that life force to give power and authenticity to your voice in the world.

Photography: Dustin Couch | Model: Brooke Musat
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Desire & Aversion: An Aries Season Meditation

[one_third][/one_third][two_third_last]We asked John Kesler, founder of Integral Polarity Practice Institute (IPPI), to share a polarity meditation with us that fit the themes of Aries Season. With purpose and clarity, his take on the polarity of Desire & Aversion is one that can be of great use for us as we define new passions with the rebirth of spring and our first astrological season of Aries.

 

At this time of the year we can feel connected to the earth and the rebirth of life. Out of this earthy, physical sensibility, our instincts for passion and creation arise with purpose and power.

Although the source of this energy arises from our primal life force, it nevertheless courses through the full spectrum of our beings including our highest spiritual quests, ultimately seeking clarity and simplicity on the other side of chaos and complexity.

One basic polarity which we share with all living things is foundational to such Aries related dynamics: desire and aversion. Together they comprise the energy of seeking. In its most primal manifestation one moves towards food and safety and away from dangers of all sorts. We use these polar dynamics hundreds of times a day, naturally and without much thought. Yet it is this very polar dynamic, when brought forward and empowered, generates such important Aries qualities.[/two_third_last]

[two_third]A pathology results when one is caught up in either pole. When we are stuck in desire, we suffer addiction. When aversion takes over we are experiencing conditions such as anorexia or any number of phobias. In addition to having desire/aversion well integrated with one another, the key is to be centered and present, so that there is an inner stillness and clarity regarding what is important at any given moment.

From this still center we can access a concrete sense of Deep Satisfaction, a more subtle sense of Deep Contentment and an even more spiritual sense of Transcendent Abundance and possibility. Also a deep Gratitude emanates from this Abundance as well as a spirit of Generosity. All of this results from tapping into this power at the core of our beings.

On the other hand if we are always seeking and striving from a place of deficit rather than Abundance, we are driven, endlessly dissatisfied, leading to exhaustion and confusion rather than empowerment, clarity and flow.

It is important then to learn to hold desire and aversion as two complementary freely flowing aspects of the same awareness and energy and to be centered in a sense of Satisfaction, Contentment and Abundance. This connects us to the limitless source of the life force, to our deepest wisdom, clarity, purpose, compassion, inspiration and creativity as we fully awaken to the energy of Aries.[/two_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last]

[full_width]An IPP Meditative Practice:
Accessing the Still Point of these polarities and the virtues that flow from them

o Get comfortable in a chair or seated floor position, somewhere without distraction.

o Breathing in a relaxed manner, settle into a state of relaxation, calm and tranquility.

o Allow the energy of purposeful activity of seeking – of desire/aversion – to slow down and become still.

o In this place of stillness bring forth a sense of Deep Satisfaction, Deep Contentment and Transcendent Abundance in this moment, a place of Stillness outside of place and time. Settle into this experience.

o Out of this Stillness and Abundance feel the opening to a deeper Purpose, to a source of Passion, Clarity, Inspiration and Creativity.

o From this experience, feel the qualities of Gratitude and Generosity emerge and accompany you during your day.[/full_width]

Mindfulness & Polarities: Creative Possibilities

[one_third][/one_third][two_third_last]Dive into the life activating forces of polarity work as John Kesler, renowned mindfulness expert, guides us through the pole of clarity & confusion, and how holding both of these can give rise to creative and experimental possibility.


CREATIVE POSSIBILITY

If we are present in the moment it can create new possibilities.

A primary polarity for holding this sense of abundance is “clarity/confusion” If we are present to what is arising we can be clearer about the reality before us instead of being immersed in a narrative based on our biases grounded in experiences of the past and/or in fears of the future. Related to this is that we have greater clarity by not being in denial and accepting what is before us.

We should also face the reality that any mental framing we have of what is arising has to some extent inevitably been constructed by our minds. If we realize this we may be thrown into confusion. Or on occasion we experience confusion in any event because we have no sense of what is going on. Such confusion is a gift, though, because we are freed from the unconscious limitations of our own faculties.[/two_third_last]

[two_third]The challenge is learning not to swing dramatically from clarity to confusion and back again. It is optimal when we can lightly hold the interplay of perceiving with our latest framing capacities as things arise from moment to moment and also noticing that any act of framing is limited in its grasp. In this way we live in an endless series of moments of clarity/confusion.
Buddhists call this “beginner’s mind”. Having beginner’s mind implies the courage to look at everything with fresh eyes with minimum bias, to have the integrity to be responsible for what is arising but humble enough to realize that we must stay open to the possibilities of every moment. This can gives each moment an element of surprise and delight.

When our awareness can access a stillness underlying this free flowing dance of clarity/confusion, another phenomenon happens. That stillness is an opening to our deepest wisdom and compassion, which transcends the thinking mind. This is also a place of abundance giving rise to hope, possibility and experimentation.

Because of this opening to something deeper beyond the everyday conceptual mind, we are also more prone to be open to inspiration. In this moment there is an opportunity for the emergence of creativity and with others, co-creativity.

All this depends on being present and being aware of these basic universal dynamics of consciousness. [/two_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last]