"The Work" and Deep Meditation

[emc]

"I get a pain in the gut and as I sit with it the pain travels to different locations in my body as the silence eats through it.
It seems to be very deep however because I have to revisit it over and over - is this normal?"

I'd say yes to that! Deep emotional wounds takes many rounds to clear. The blockages needs massaging for quite a while even by the powerful silence. You'll know it's gone when you are challenged by life with a situation that would usually trigger that wound again, and there is no emotional REACTION to it. Then the blockage is gone.  

[Etherfish]

The pain moving is also a sign that you are getting rid of it. It happens often when you put your full awareness on pain. I wonder if what emc is saying would indicate that emotional pain could be stored in more than one place in the body.

[Sparkle]

Andrew said:

quote:Just to clarify, I have never had (that I am aware of) self-pacing issues from doing "the work" and I do it a lot! The self-pacing I was referring to was in reference to any time spent sitting and contemplating at the end of meditation. I agree AYP practices aren't the time to be asking if it's true, if I felt the need to do this, I would only do it at the end of practices.

That's good to know Andrew, it has been my limited experience also.
Last night I added on "dissapontment" as a sutra, and boy was it powerful. The feelings around it have been very strong so as a sutra just letting it go into the silence was amazing.
This morning I did the same but it seems it has diminished already . I will contine for another few days and see what happens.

It appears to me then that doing the work outside of AYP practice time is the way to go. Then, for me in any case, if the issue is deep and difficult I can bring it into a more focussed samyama at the end of meditation.

It is good to know this, I noticed in the last couple of meditations that I didn't bother with the thoughts arising, just let them go and resumed the mantra, because I knew I would be dealing with them in the other way.

emc said:

quote:I'd say yes to that! Deep emotional wounds takes many rounds to clear. The blockages needs massaging for quite a while even by the powerful silence. You'll know it's gone when you are challenged by life with a situation that would usually trigger that wound again, and there is no emotional REACTION to it. Then the blockage is gone.

Amen to that.

Ether: Yes agreed the pain moving is a sign of things being processed. I havn't had these kind of pains for so long I was beginning to think there was none left
So maybe this Katie stuff is digging the dirt for me.

Yogani said:

quote:PS: I am hoping to have the AYP Self Inquiry book out in the Autumn. It is aptly called: "Self Inquiry - Dawn of the Witness and the End of Suffering."

I will need to order another batch of books from you soon Yogani. When you say Autumn, is this September or later?

[yogani]

quote:Originally posted by Sparkle

Yogani said:

quote:PS: I am hoping to have the AYP Self Inquiry book out in the Autumn. It is aptly called: "Self Inquiry - Dawn of the Witness and the End of Suffering."

I will need to order another batch of books from you soon Yogani. When you say Autumn, is this September or later?

Hi Louis:

September would be the earliest on Self Inquiry, and unlikely at this point. There are more simultaneous AYP projects going on these days, so whipping out new books is taking longer than before. Diet, Shatkarmas and Amaroli is just about done (finally), and I am very much looking forward to Self Inquiry. The practical integration of inner silence and self inquiry is coming together nicely, as is well evidenced in this topic discussion.

The guru is in you.

[emc]

I just have to report on my latest come-back-to-sanity-scenery, since it was so powerful:

I have attended some satsangs with Bernie Prior lately. He talked about hate being much purer than love when you are at this "flip flop-stage" on the path. In hate - there's noone hating! The hate is just there, and you don't know where it comes from. It is PURE, it is real and you can easily dive into it without selfish motives. It's more difficult with love, since we are so full of mind stuff around attachment (mistaken for love) so there is very seldom PURE LOVE in our lives. So I dove into that hate, I just let myself hate as much as I could. And it dissolved through stillness and turned to laughter. And then I had the most wonderful conversation with my mind. It was like we were sitting at a cinema together, watching the scenery that occured after the cleaing, in stillness. My mind was silent and had sort of given up trying to disturb me. This was the conversation between the mind and perhaps some other part of the mind, or the mind and the self. Don't know. It was beautiful anyway.
 
Ego: "It's quite cool scenery."
I: Yes. But you can't follow the whole way, you know. But you are welcome to watch as much as you like.
Ego: And you know I'm gonna try to get you disturbed so you fall out of it, right?
I: Yes, love, I know.
Ego: That's my job. That's the only thing I can do. That's why I'm here.
I: I know and you do a brilliant job! You got me all hateful this latest week, and I thank you for that!
Ego: I'm pretty darn good, am I not?
I: Yes.
Ego: What would you like to have now that disturbes you? Something from the past perhaps? *images of painful past coming* Or some worry about the future? *images of painful future passing by*
I: *laughing and loving so much* Wow, you are so good at what you're doing, having those archives to pick from! *kissing the mind on the forehead*

Then I suddenly found myself lost in some pictures of sensual meetings with old boyfriends and I started to feel very needy, missing someone to cuddle with... I was lost for some minutes, then I started to investigate - what's the feeling? I am feeling lonely and sad suddenly. What is ego doing? AH! Sending me pictures that would awake my longing... I allowed myself again to do the process all over again, of saying YES to that feeling, that longing. I dove into it as I had gone into the hate, and I felt so small and miserable and lonely. And the same type of cleansing occured, then I flipped back to conversation mode:
 
I:*turning to Ego* You are a smart one! Now you pushed the loneliness button. Wow! =) Thank you!
Ego: I do my best!
I: You know, I love to have you as my mind! We are really good together! *holding my arm around my mind and loving it even more* Hey, do you know who you really are? *smile*
Ego: *neutral, totally neutral, but with the knowledge of being devastated, standing with its pants down* No.
 
Ahh.... that was awesome!!!!! Turning toward my mind, totally facing it in it's illusory state.
 
Ego: No. I just do my job. *Getting frustrated and a bit nosy* Do you know who YOU are?
I: *smiling, being intense love* Yes. I know.
 
And it was all gone, the mind evaporated, it was all joy, and all my irritation and negativity from the last week was gone. I hope I will build this habit into my system: TO FACE whatever comes up and question the thought images sent to me by the ego-machine and see what emotions it tries to give me in all its generousity! I love when I get friends with my mind!

[Shanti]

That was really good EMC.
I do that a lot..  have conversations with myself and fully feel a feeling arising till it dissolves... It really works when you have got the concept of being able to watch your mind (ego) and not be your mind (ego). You are right about how crafty the mind(ego) can be.. it is amusing to watch it.
Awesome.
Thanks for sharing that.

[Sparkle]

quote:EMC said: And it was all gone, the mind evaporated, it was all joy, and all my irritation and negativity from the last week was gone. I hope I will build this habit into my system: TO FACE whatever comes up and question the thought images sent to me by the ego-machine and see what emotions it tries to give me in all its generousity! I love when I get friends with my mind!

That's so cool emc, delighted you have found this great process.

Louis

[jonesboy]

Old thread but amazing.

I really need to get this book.

[jonesboy]

I would like to say that for some reason I was shocked at how good this book is. I watched a lot of videos and they don't do it justice until after you read the book. At least that was the case for me.

Amazing in it's simplicity and effectivness.

Non of my friends or family meditate or get into any of this stuff. I was able to give an older friend (old as in Yogani old ) this book. She had just lost her mother and has been angry at her brother and husband for almost a year. She is not finished with the book but has already told me that she is no longer mad at her brother or husband.  Pretty amazing so thank you

[NoDogma]

what's the name of the book being referred here ? On amazon, 4+ pop up and non of them have 'The Work' as title.

thanks

[jonesboy]

Loving What Is, is the book I started out with.

[Sparkle]

Thanks for bringing this up again jonesboy, it seems like a lifetime ago

[jonesboy]

[NoDogma]

thanks, I'll read it soon.

[emc]

Wow, jonesboy! You woke up an old topic and I found one of my most powerful awakening experiences! Thanks for this! And yes, reading the book is IMHO essential. Then doing the work with a facilitator is crucial. If you have none to work with - call the help line! Always someone there, for free! It's lovely!

http://www.instituteforthework.com/itw/content/helpline