Bonus Practice Episode, with Connirae Andreas

(soft music) We invite you to join us on Wednesday, September 23rd. The Pocket Project will be hosting a community call around neurodiversity. How can we create spaces where different ways of sensing, communicating, processing and participating are not only welcomed, but actively supported? To learn more and to register for this free community call, please follow the link in the show notes. (soft music) - Hi and welcome. I'm Connie Ray Andreas and I'd like to share with you a simple and effective way to transform and dissolve stress. We'll be using a simplified version of the wholeness work, which is an innovation and inner work that gives us a precise way to reset the nervous system and come to a state we could call peaceful presence. I'll guide you in using this as a simple meditation that can connect with you no matter what's happening for you in the moment, whether you start relaxed or tense, worried or calm or something else, this process can meet you where you are in the moment and from there allow you to experience a deeper kind of calm. I want to begin by acknowledging the current world events that are stressful for many people around the world. We'd especially like to offer this as a support to those who are directly impacted in some way. Perhaps even in the middle of a war zone or who have needed to relocate because of it, those who have friends and loved ones in the middle of this, yet all of us are connected to this in some way. When we find ourselves in such difficult circumstances, it can be especially useful to have a way to release stress, to relax, to get a good night's sleep. And this simple process can help us do that. The beginning of this process might sound like other meditations, but it's going to quickly take you to a different level of experience. We'll be accessing the deep structures of the psyche that hold stress responses in place. And it's these precision aspects that are built into the wholeness work meditation that make it possible for us to come to a deep relaxation and reset of the nervous system. If you want to understand more about this method and why it works, it's all in the book coming to wholeness. We're making this available free on our website right now and I'll mention the URL to you at the end. This audio program is intended to support you and actually using this method to dissolve stress. So let's get right to the process. Please do this sometime when you aren't driving a vehicle and when you have maybe 10 or 15 or 20 minutes of time. Once you're familiar with the method, you can do it in as little as five minutes. It may or may not click for you the first time through. And if you'd like to experience the full benefits possible, I encourage you to explore doing it a few times to get the feel of how it works. The more you do it, the easier it goes and the more benefit you experience. So here we go. Step one is to just find a comfortable position. You can take a deep breath and perhaps allow your eyes to close and just allow whatever easily relaxes to relax. And then turning your attention inward, just notice any sensation happening in your body in this moment. So when I do this now, I find immediately some sort of sensation right in my upper belly, right below my ribcage. It's a little bit of a sense of weight or water in us. And you might notice a sensation in your torso somewhere or you might notice a sensation in your head or your neck or your arms or legs, it could be anywhere. It might be a tingling, it could be a warmth or any other sensation. It really can be anything. So just notice whatever you notice. And if you notice more than one sensation, just pick one to use for this exploration. So whatever body sensation you've noticed, now register where it's located. So the sensation I noticed was below my ribcage in my abdomen. And where is yours? Is it in the body, is it in the torso somewhere? Is it in the head or neck? It could be in the arms or legs, it could be anywhere. And when you've noticed the location, take a moment to notice the size and shape of this sensation. It might seem a strange way to think about it, but these sensations do have a certain space they take up. It might be a large space, it might be small. It might be sort of round, it might be square. It could be oval shaped, it could be some other shape. So just take a moment to notice how much space does this sensation take up? And what's its approximate size and shape? So now I'm going to invite you to gently sense in and through this area to notice what I call the sensation quality. There might be a sense of warmth or coolness, for example, or movement or stillness. It could be a sense of heaviness or lightness or something you can't quite put words to, but you can sense it. It's the sensation itself. Now, as you notice this body sensation here in this location, you could say to yourself, I am aware of this sensation, right? And this would be true. I am aware of this sensation. So now, notice, where is the eye located? Where is the eye that's aware of this sensation? And just notice whatever location pops into mind. If you're not sure, you can just do it again. Start by noticing the body sensation. Ah, it's here. And then, notice, yes, I am aware of this sensation, this sensation right here. I am aware of this. And then without thought, ask, where is the eye that notices? Where is this eye? And just notice whatever location emerges. It might be outside the body somewhere. It could be in front of your head behind it above or through the right or left. It could be near the body. It could be far away. Or it might be inside the body somewhere. It could be in the head. It could be in the chest. It could really be anywhere. So there isn't a right or wrong answer. It's just a matter of noticing what comes into awareness. And if you're not sure, it's totally fine to just guess. So for me, as I sense here, this sensation in my abdomen, kind of watery feeling, and it go, I am aware of this sensation. And I go, where is the eye? Right away, my attention goes to this location in the front of my face. It's around my nose and it sort of halfway's in my head and halfway's out of my head. Now the next thing we're going to notice is the shape and size, the size and the shape of this eye. So for me, this place that's part in and part out of my head, it's sort of round like a ball. And it's kind of medium sized about the size of a grapefruit. So just notice what yours is. It might be small, it might be large. It might be shaped like a circle or a ball. Could be like an oval or a cloud, a column, a dome, a square. It could be anything, any shape at all. So just notice the size and shape of the eye that you've noticed. And now gently sense in and through the space where the eye is located to notice what's the sensation quality in and through the space. It might be area, it might be dense. It might be warm or it could be cool. It could be heavy or light. It might be moving, it might be still. It might be vibrating, it might be fizzy. It could be anything. It might be something you can't really put into words. And that's fine too. Just notice the sensation itself that's here. So for me, it's very difficult for me to put this in words what I'm getting today. There might be a slight heaviness and as if there's a slight pulling inward. So you can notice whatever you notice, the sensation itself. And if you find an emotional quality comes up first, something like it's sad or it's a little scared or angry or if an emotional quality emerges, just notice that. And then letting go of the emotional word, let there be a sensing in and through to notice the sensation itself. So is it area or dense? Is it heavier, light? Is it moving or still and so on? So now we're going to go back to that sentence we started with. We've already explored the eye and the sensation. We know what each of these means in our experience. We've found the location of the eye. We've since didn't through for the sensation. quality. We did the same thing with our starting sensation in the body. But we haven't explored yet that middle word awareness. So let's take that middle word awareness. What is awareness? And as I've guided many people through this, I've noticed that many people have many different meanings for that word. So I'm going to guide you in experiencing awareness in the way that works well for this process. So right now in this moment, it's probably easy to notice that awareness is present throughout your physical body. A few moments ago, you were able to notice a body sensation. And this was because awareness is already present in and through your physical body. And right now, if something were to lightly bump you on the knee, you'd automatically notice this. You'd be aware of it. If something were to touch you on the shoulder, you'd automatically notice this. And that's because awareness or the capacity to experience is already present in and throughout the physical body. So it's this capacity to experience this awareness that allows us to easily notice body sensations. The same is true for the space all around us. Awareness is already present in and through the space that's all around as well. So if you were to snap your fingers on your left side, there'd be an automatic receiving of the sound. And if you were to snap your fingers on the right, there'd be an automatic receiving of the sound. And the same thing if you snapped your fingers in front or behind or above or in any direction. And the same thing is true of visual space. With your eyes open or closed, it's easy to be aware of the space that's all around in every direction. And in our subjective experience, there isn't really any edge or border to this space, even though we might know intellectually that if the sound were to happen on the other side of the world, we wouldn't hear it. There isn't any line that we could draw where we could say, if the sound happens on this side of the line, I'll hear it. But if it's on the other side, I wouldn't. So in our subjective experience, there isn't any border to this experience of space, this experience of spaciousness that's easy to notice that simultaneously all around us and throughout our bodies. So you can take a moment to experience this now to just experience this capacity to be aware that's present in and through the physical body and simultaneously in and through the space all around. And it tends to be a little relaxing, just to experience this awareness that is in fact always, always present. So now let's return to the eye that you found earlier. Notice again where it's located. Notice its size and shape and the sensation quality in and through the space of it. And now we're going to do an experiment. Sensing in and through the space, notice what happens when the sensation here, in and through the eye, is gently invited to open and relax in and as the fullness of awareness that's all around and throughout. And now just let whatever happens naturally happen. Yeah, it may feel significant. It might feel like nothing or nothing much and either is totally fine. Just let whatever happens naturally happen until things settle. And what happened for you? If there was an easy dissolving and melting, you can just enjoy that. However, if the eye didn't dissolve and melt, that is totally fine too. With wholeness work, meditation, we don't need to push or force or try at anything. Sometimes the first eye that we find really isn't in a position to dissolve and melt. This isn't a problem. It just tells us what to do next. It means that we need to find and include a second eye. And I'll tell you a little bit about this before we do it. The eyes that we find are our experience of self on the inside. These eyes are actually what tends to hold a stress response in place. Sometimes there's just one eye and sometimes there are two or even more. With the wholeness work, we just continue finding the next eye until we come to one that is easily able to dissolve into awareness. And that's what changes everything. So again, if your first eye didn't easily open and relax, it just means there's a second eye that we need to also find and include. And here's how we do it. Check in the location of that first eye that you found. You just noticed it didn't want to open and relax, right? So you're just notice this first eye that doesn't want to open and relax. And now we ask, where's the eye that notices this? Another way to ask this question is, where is the perceiving happening from? It's the same question. So if my first eye is here, partly inside, partly outside of my head, I can notice this and I can ask inside, okay, where's the eye that's noticing this? Or where's the noticing of this happening from? So now I get a place that's located to the left of my head and a little farther out and behind me. So wherever you find your second eye, just notice the size and shape of what you find. Notice the location. Notice how big it is and notice approximately the shape. Then sensing in and through, notice the sensation qualities. And so for me, sensing in and through the second eye, it's sort of like a gray cloud, light fuzziness. And whatever you find, just notice what you notice. So now we're going to check if this second eye welcomes dissolving into the fullness of awareness. And here's how we do this. Just sensing in and through the space of this of the second eye, check. Does the sensation here welcome being invited to open and relax as the fullness of awareness that's all around and throughout? And if so, we can just invite this to happen. However, it happens. So again, we can notice what happens when the sensation here in the area of the eye is invited to open, relax, dissolve, melt, in and as the fullness of awareness that's all around and throughout. And if this is happening easily and comfortably, you can just let go into the experience of this, letting it happen. However, it happens with no need to keep track and know what is exactly is occurring. And whenever things settle, then you can return to the location of the first eye, the one that wasn't ready to dissolve earlier. First, notice if it's the same or if it's a little different. Okay, for me, it's a little different now. It's almost become more transparent. There's less there. It's not as substantial. However, it is for you. Notice the sensation quality here now in the location of the first eye. And notice what happens when the sensation here now is invited to dissolve and melt into and as the full field of awareness that's all around and throughout. And then just let it happen. However, it happens. And now we return to the original body sensation that you started with. We turn to the location of that body sensation and we first notice what's present there now. It might be the same as before or it might be a little different. Sometimes it's even not there at all. However, it is now as fine. When I check in in my now is as if there's less there, it's smaller and the wateriness has become somehow more transparent. It's less substantial. But there's still something there. So whatever it's there for you, if anything, just notice the sensation here now in the same location now. What's the sensation here now? And let this be invited to dissolve and melt into the fullness of awareness that's all throughout the body and all around. And you can just take all the time you like to just experience this. Now in this guided meditation, I took you through the possibility of having one eye and the possibility of having two eyes. I want you to know that sometimes we need to find a third or even a fourth eye before we get to one that wholeheartedly welcomes dissolving and melting into awareness. You can also find someone trained to guide you, someone who knows how to adapt the guiding to exactly what you need. I'd like to add a few closing comments and tips so that you can get the most benefits from this meditation. First, if you'd like, you can use this meditation on a daily basis. You can use it to help meet and transform whatever stress may be left over in the body from the day. Anytime we rest and tune into our body, these body sensations that we find are often residual stresses and the wholeness meditation gives us a way to meet and dissolve these stresses in a deeper way. And this is because we're finding the eye structures. So if you use this meditation daily, it starts becoming increasingly easy and you get deeper and more significant results. So whether or not you felt something a little bit or even not at all this first time through, I hope you continue and give it a go again because it's pretty universal that if someone sticks with it a little while, it's pretty universal that people experience not just results but some pretty profound results. So it's not necessarily a straight line of progress. You might find that some days you'll get stronger results and others not so much, but in general, the more you use it, the more you get deep, more powerful results. I'd also like you to know that the most universal response to the wholeness work is that people find it deeply relaxing and restorative to the nervous system. It feels like a nourishment that's beyond most kinds of nourishment. So I hope you've begun to get a glimpse of that and if not, I do hope you try it again. So the meditation I've guided you through here is a simplified wholeness meditation format. Even in the simplified form, this does more than just help us relax. What we're doing is transforming a structure in our consciousness and this means that if we use it on a daily basis, it gradually helps us increase our resilience. It increases our ability to problem solve. It allows us to sleep better, to have more clarity and there's actually a much longer list of typical benefits because of this way that we're changing the structure of our psyche, not just relaxing. It's a way that we can nourish ourselves even in challenging situations. So to be clear, doing this kind of meditation helps us on a very practical level. It's not something that we go to to get away from current events. It's something that helps us integrate and feel a kind of deep calm even when going through a crisis situation. And this is again because we're working at this deeper level. We're finding the eyes, we're getting to this deeper level of change and it really does add to our ability to see things clearly and find solutions as best we can in whatever circumstances we're facing. So it helps us be better able to meet our practical needs also. If you're able to get the results I'm describing just from this audio program, that's totally fantastic. However, if you need more support to experience the results, you can visit our website and find out what other support is available for you right now. Go to AndreasNLP.com/worldeventsresources. That's AndreasNLP.com/worldeventspluralresources. Right now, you'll find at that website a free copy of the wholeness book. You can download it. It's called Coming to wholeness. This book will teach the complete meditation format, not just this simplified version that I'm guiding you through here. And if you want to understand why this method work, the book goes into that. It's easy to read and you can read it in pieces anytime you have a moment. Each bit you read will deepen your understanding and experience of the wholeness work. Also, the book has examples and these examples will go a long way to help you get the full results. We expect to be adding more resources for you soon, more guided meditations and other resources. You can visit AndreasNLP.com/worldeventsresources to learn what's there. Thank you so much for participating in this audio program and I wish you well. What is collective healing is brought to you by an organization called The Pocket Project. The Pocket Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to growing a culture of trauma-informed care. We develop training, consulting, and social impact projects that contribute to the global restoration movement. To learn more about our global trauma relief work, register to participate in a free global social witnessing call head over to pocketproject.org.