CoreSelf Isolation
(This post is from Saturday Morning and was posted in the Blogs.)
Isolating the coreSelf and remaining with it during meditation is quite a fete! I performed my pranayama practice intently focused inside the body (mainly the spinal column, navel, sex, and base chakra). I noted that I automatically started trying to move subtle energy to other areas of the body. I am not as advanced to feel the subtle energy the way one touches a physical object; however, I am noticing increasing ability to sense this energy with practice and I am confident that I will one day get there. I generally press the eyes with rapid breathing before ending my practice.
Today, I closed the ears and pressed the eyes and intensely focused on clearing the head while also focusing down into the body. As usual, stars started flickering brightly and after a few rounds and seeing various light emanating in the head, I ended my practice with my usual experience of the image on the front of Invision Series #6. I have grown accustomed to seeing this so I observed that the light was more intense and, when I sat to meditate, I saw light to my right peripheral for the first time. Generally the only light is towards the front of the head.
During meditation (I sit on a chair to meditate since playing basketball messed up my knees) naad was blasting as usual. I focused on naad but I noted my involvement with thoughts. Each time, I deliberately isolated the core from the thought energy which created silence. I did this repeatedly as I noticed that the core is automatically pulled into the intellects activities and it stays as if it is the same as the intellect—in fact I could not sense when this happened. After freeing it a few times it dawned on my that, “this is what Madhva is talking about—the core is a wimp and is not strong enough to withstand the influence of the intellect”. So, I became determined to remain with the core and monitor its activities. The thoughts came to an end, naad seemed to get louder, and I was on “cloud 9” lol—Sitting back keeping the core isolated with naad blasting came with a deep sense of awareness and calm. My goal is to deliberately do this every time I sit to meditate—I’ve experienced this on occasion before but it was never this pronounced or clear.
This is my beginning to this practice as I sense that I must master this step to strengthen the coreSelf so that it becomes confident to stand on its own without the adjuncts. This may take weeks, months, or years, but I will master it or lose this body in pursuit. I felt a blissful feeling that is still present while I write this practice note and I sense that this is a baby samadhi experience. As Madhva advised, we all have to get into our psyche and get it together. I hope you receive something positive from this note. All the best!
