Good Day to all from my Skycastle in Germany where the weather is absolutely georgous and I need an assistant. I am busy, busy busy and It's better than being board.
I have been thinking about this aspect of being focused to achieve balance and it's all coming together. Like I said on the last article to maintain balance in Yoga poses you must keep your focus on a point, if you let your mind wander you will loose your balance. It is the same for the Gymist or Ballet dancer who needs to Spot or they loose their balance and become dizzy. The runner focuses on a point to acheive a steady focused rhythm, the tennis player focuses on a point (the ball) to hit it. The Photographer needs to focus the lens, lest she take a photo that is out of focus. And focusing on your central message when writing.
Which brings me to my central message; staying focused on one thing at a time brings balance thus making visualizing much easier.
The following are six steps to the process of focusing for you to practice. We must learn to focus, to gain balance, thus to visualize with greater focus and clarity.
Clearing a Space
What I will ask you to do will be silent, just to yourself. Take a moment just to relax . . . All right – now, inside you, I would like you to pay attention inwardly, in your body, perhaps in your stomach or chest. Now see what comes there when you ask, "What do I want? What is the main thing for me right now?" Sense within your body. Let the answers come slowly from this sensing. When some concern comes, DO NOT GO INSIDE IT. Stand back, say "Yes, that’s there. I can feel that, there." Let there be a little space between you and that. Then ask what else you feel. Wait again, and sense. Usually there are several things.
Felt Sense
From among what came, select one personal desire to focus on. DO NOT GO INSIDE IT. Stand back from it. Of course, there are many parts to that one thing you are thinking about – too many to think of each one alone. But you can feel all of these things together. Pay attention there where you usually feel things, and in there you can get a sense of what all of the desire feels like. Let yourself feel the unclear sense of all of that.
Handle
What is the quality of this unclear felt sense? Let a word, a phrase, or an image come up from the felt sense itself. It might be a quality-word, like light, joyous, scary, exciting, magical, fulfilling or a phrase, or an image. Stay with the quality of the felt sense till something fits it just right.
Resonating
Go back and forth between the felt sense and the word (phrase, or image). Check how they resonate with each other. See if there is a little bodily signal that lets you know there is a fit. To do it, you have to have the felt sense there again, as well as the word. Let the felt sense change, if it does, and also the word or picture, until they feel just right in capturing the quality of the felt sense.
Asking
Now ask: what is it, about this whole desire, that makes it something you want. Make sure the quality is sensed again, freshly, vividly (not just remembered from before). When it is here again, tap it, touch it, be with it, asking, "What makes the whole desire so ______?" Or you ask, "What is in this sense?"
If you get a quick answer without a shift in the felt sense, just let that kind of answer go by. Return your attention to your body and freshly find the felt sense again. Then ask it again.
Be with the felt sense till something comes along with a shift, a slight "give" or release.
Receiving
Receive whatever comes with a shift in a friendly way. Stay with it a while, even if it is only a slight release. Whatever comes, this is only one shift; there will be others. You will probably continue after a little while, but stay here for a few moments.
Practice these steps to help you get in touch with the desire with the most priority; to discover what is most important to you, right now, to focus on. Then begin visualizing it.
Be Well
Love Michelle
What follows is a largely edited excerpt from The Focusing Manual, chapter four of Focusing.
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