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To awaken, ascend, and/or be empowered from within, keep: Breathing |
Nine Elements of Empowerment
THRIVING WITHOUT STRIVING
Can there be any human thriving of a deep and lasting nature without ’empowerment from within’?
Some speak of empowering others.
No one can really empower another. All true empowerment comes from within.
In the vast storehouse of human knowledge regarding the general subject of thriving, there must be a metaphorical mountain of information. Can that often complicated ‘data’ be distilled to make its essence more accessible? If so, what would a distillation look like?
In other words, what are the fewest words which would convey what is needed for an individual to grow in essential empowerment?
For example, many traditions and teachings put emphasis on techniques of breathing. Are complicated systems really needed? Or is the point simply to bring attention to the breath throughout the day, to be more present?
Specific breathing disciplines may bring additional benefits or have other desired effects, but in the basics of ’empowerment from within’ it is enough to bring awareness to the breathing and be with it in the moment.
In the Whole Human version, ‘Keep Breathing’ is one of nine elements of empowerment from within.
Scientific evidence shows the benefits of conscious and deep breathing, relaxing, letting go, being grateful, and so on. Anyone with initiative who chooses to be empowered from within will readily find resources to assist on the journey. The nine elements point the direction as companions.
This way does require some adventurous spirit for experimentation and discovery. Consider please, which is more empowering — reading or listening to the words of another, or writing your own story of personal transformation, from the elements of empowerment?
There can be collective empowerment in co-creation and networking, and from this page other contributors are quotes and linked.
Keep Breathing
‘Keep Breathing’ is a reminder to be in the body, in the Present Moment. Breathing is in itself a complex subject which can be taken in many different directions.
AUDIBLE PRANA
CONSCIOUS BREATHING
RELAXATION EXERCISES
THE CURRENT
8 COMPONENTS OF HEART BREATHING
AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM – FUNCTION AND BREATHING
Keep Relaxing
Tension in the mind and body is constricting and prevents flow.
To experience greater flow, simply relax and allow,
especially when triggered to constrict.
YOUTUBE 432 HZ MUSIC FOR STRESS RELIEF
FREE MUSIC FOR RELAXATION, MEDITATION AND SLEEP
FREE MEDITATION MUSIC & SOUND HEALING – GAIA
RELAXATION EXERCISES
Keep Letting Go |
Letting go of what?
Achieving
Attachments
Competing (against others – win-win instead)
Contraction
Controlling (others)
Converting (others)
Expectations
Forcing
Guilt
Judgment
Old Beliefs
Old Habits
Old Paradigms
Possessions (own without possessing)
Reaction
Resentment
Resistance
Shielding (be appropriately vulnerable)
Wanting (of the ego, rather follow longing of the heart)
Keep Being Grateful
Gratefulness is an inherent quality of the Heart. Being grateful for ‘what is’ engages Heart Intelligence.
When I am grateful for what is, in that moment I have no ‘wants.’ There is no ‘I am grateful, but…’
Here is an excerpt from ‘The Giveaway’ tarot card in the ‘Mystical Shaman Oracle’ deck:
THE ESSENCE
‘The Giveaway is the gift you offer to life, without attachment, without expecting anything back. You can only give what is truly yours: a smile, a nod of encouragement, a gentle touch, and a kind word.
‘This is not giving to others what you no longer want, like the sweater that no longer fits, but gifting that which is most precious — your authentic love and genuine feelings.
THE INVITATION
‘Make a list of 10 people and things for which you are grateful. Connect with the feeling of gratitude. The giveaway comes to ask you to feel the same gratitude without needing anything or anyone to inspire it, and to share this gratitude with those you meet.
‘As you offer thanks, your heart opens and you start realizing how much life has given you. You heal your feelings of scarcity and open yourself to the abundance that surrounds you. The giveaway invites you to be in the flow of life, as you give freely and receive freely.’
Keep Straightening the Spine
‘Straightening the Spine’ herein means that and more.
A straight spine, correct posture, and appropriate movement, with body awareness, can help to integrate inner work.
The Significance of Your Spine on a Spiritual Journey
In a mother’s womb, the spine is the first thing that is formed and then the body, limbs etc takes root. From a physical point of view the spinal column is an important channel for all the bodily stimuli that are transferred via the nerves to the brain. It is part of our central nervous system along with the brain. But also on a spiritual …
The Spiritual Spine | The Basis of Individual Consciousness – Big Shakti
Cultivating the spiritual spine develops the energies within the chakras to heal, strengthen and balance ourselves. … It is also the basis of our individual consciousness as the spinal cord because the nerve cells within the spine carry all the nerve signals that are required to sustain our waking, dreaming…
The Sacred Spine: Our Axis Between Heaven and Earth
Harris writes “In body language, we can think of the potential to experience life as resting in the spinal column, itself the backbone of life”. … In Hatha yoga this lengthening and stretching of the spine was critical to spiritual development, opening the body to the free flow of life force energy (prana) stimulating …
WHERE THERE IS LOVE THERE IS LIFE
Spiritually, the pineal gland is associated with both the Crown & 3rd Eye Chakras. Some believe it to be like an antenna or satellite dish receiving cosmic energies through the Crown Chakra. The mid-brain is the highest part of the brain stem, which is an extension of the spinal cord.
The pineal gland is…
EARTHING & GROUNDING: LEGIT OR HYPE?
Earthing (or grounding) refers to the discovery of benefits—including better sleep and reduced pain—from walking barefoot outside…
Keep Centering in the Heart
I pledge allegiance to the Essence
LIVING FROM THE HEART
LIVING FROM CENTERPOINT
Gary’s Journal
May 3, 2018
The heart of the earth
beats in unison
with the One Heart.
Laying on the earth,
I feel her heartbeat
in my spine.
The One Heart beats
not in space and time
but in being and creating.
As the warmth of the sun
penetrates my body
and the heart of the earth
beats in mine,
my breathing softens,
muscles relax,
thoughts and emotions
release and
gratefulness arises.
The spine is straight,
the heart attuned,
intuition is actively
asking and listening.
My attention is on
my heart center.
Who am I?
How can I feel being?
Where is my service today?
In this moment,
I give of my will
in surrender,
and receive the warmth
of the sun and the
heartbeat of the earth.
I feel being.
That is my service.
Human is who I am.
Being is what I am.
When two or more people feel being in the same moment,
something deeper than emotional connection happens.
It can be called bliss, or unconditional love.
Keep Asking and Listening
Oracle cards can be a medium for listening within. From the Spiritsong Tarot, came this card today:
60.
Raccoon
Page of Feathers
Exploration and Discovery
(excerpt)
‘Awakening parts of yourself that need to be awakened in order to serve you and your path, while putting to rest those that don’t serve you.’
The following cards are examples from the Spiritsong Tarot.
ASKING INTUITIVELY
Discover Your True Nature: Self-Inquiry Meditation
by Stephen Bodian on Yoga Journal
Turning your light inward and embarking on the path of self-inquiry is a simple but powerful method of meditation.
…
Both koan study and the question “Who am I?” are traditional methods of peeling back the layers that hide the truth of our essential nature the way clouds obscure the sun. Called kleshas by Buddhists and vasanas or samskaras by Hindus and yogis, these obscurations are the familiar stories, emotions, self-images, beliefs, and reactive patterns that keep us identified with our limited, ego-based personality and seem to prevent us from opening to the nondual immensity of who we really are: the timeless, silent, ever-present place of being, which Hindus and yogis call Self and Zen masters call true nature.
…
Most basic meditation techniques, such as following the breath or reciting a mantra, aim to relax the body, quiet the mind, and cultivate mindful awareness of the present moment. But these techniques don’t encourage “the backward step” described by the celebrated Zen teacher Master Dogen, the one “that turns your light inwardly to illuminate” your true nature. In terms of a traditional metaphor, they calm the pool of the mind and allow the sediment to settle, but they don’t take us to the bottom where the dragon of truth resides. For this we need what the great 20th-century Advaita sage Ramana Maharshi called atma vichara, or “self-inquiry,” whether in the form of probing questions like “Who am I?” or provocative Zen koans that plumb the depths of our being.
…
Ask and Receive
To begin the practice of self-inquiry, sit for meditation as usual. If you don’t already have a regular practice, just sit quietly and allow the mind to settle naturally. Don’t attempt to focus your mind or manipulate your experience, just rest as awareness itself. (Your mind won’t know what I’m talking about, but your being will.) After 10 or 15 minutes, when the mind is relatively open and present, introduce the question “Who am I?” The point of this question is not to engage the mind, because the mind inevitably gnaws on questions endlessly like a dog on a bone, with little nutritional benefit. Instead, drop the question into the stillness of your being like a pebble into a still forest pool. Let it send ripples through your meditation, but don’t attempt to figure it out!
When the pond is tranquil again, drop in another pebble and see what happens. Set aside any conceptual answers, such as “I am a child of God” or “I am consciousness” or “I am a spiritual being of light,” and come back to the question. Though true at a certain level, these answers will not satisfy your hunger for spiritual sustenance. As you continue your self-inquiry, you may notice that the question begins to permeate your consciousness—you may find yourself asking it not only during meditation but at unexpected times throughout the day.
Instead of “Who am I?” you may prefer asking, “Who is thinking this thought? Who is seeing through these eyes right now?” These questions direct your awareness inward, away from the external world and toward the source from which all experiences arise. Indeed, anything you can perceive, no matter how intimate—including the cluster of images, memories, feelings, and beliefs you take to be you—is merely an object of perception. But who is the experiencer, the perceiver, the ultimate subject of all of those objects? This is the real question at the heart of “Who am I?”
LISTENING INTUITIVELY
Listening within is a skill which can be cultivated. The inner voice becomes a trusted guide. Signs and symbols become more significant.
Keep Giving and Receiving
THE GIFT OF GIVING AND RECEIVING
THE NATURE OF GIVING AND RECEIVING
Like the symbol for infinity, giving and receiving are actually one thing with polarized or dualistic aspects.
When you look at the symbol for infinity, and imagine energy flowing through it from one side to the other and back again, which side can you say is the giver? Which side is the receiver?
The answer is – they both are!
Giving cannot occur without a receiver.
Receiving, therefore, is actually an act of giving.
Receiving gives the act of giving someplace to go….
The need for exchange is created by the mind
which believes the illusion of separation.
In nature we do not observe exchange, only giving.
The sun shines, the plants grow and make flowers and fruits, the animals eat the plants and make more creatures. It is all giving….
― Metaphysics for Life
Keep Feeling Being
Feeling being is in the present moment.
Feeling being relaxes the body-mind.
Feeling being releases old conditioned patterns.
When feeling being, there is no wanting.
All qualities of unconditional love are felt in Being.
Feeling being straightens the spine.
Feeling being emanates from the heart center.
Feeling being listens actively within.
Feeling being is a medium for giving and receiving freely.
…
Being is. Being observes. Being emanates.
Being acts in the service of the One Being.
Feeling being is a direct connection.
Feeling being activates in the fine balance between will and surrender.
The heart longs to feel Being.
The heart opens when Being is felt.
I adjust within to feel being.
I follow the longing of the heart.
I surrender to feel being.
…
I ask myself over the day:
Is this a longing of the heart, or a wanting?
Am I feeling being in this moment?
…
Feel being.
Actively listen within.
Act in the flow.
…
This silent two minute video gives a quick navigating overview of the Home – New Earth page on the Whole Human site:
Originally published at www.wholehuman.emanatepresence.com