Inner Work

For the week of December 17, 2007

Opening to Wholeness

(Part 5 of 9 in the Inner Work Series The Stages of Presence)

Because our body is always now, sensing gives us a base in the present, a base for presence. Keeping to this present moment through sensation, we live our real life and leave our daydreams and other inner distractions aside. By practicing persistently, we reach the point of being able to sense our entire body, able to have a relaxed, organic awareness of our whole body. We do not try to sense specific organs in our torso so as not to interfere with their functioning. Rather we establish general, overall, vibrant, all-embracing sensation throughout our body.

Full body sensation gives presence more stability in time than does sensing parts of the body. This is because in sensing parts there tends to be a split in us between our attention/intention and the part we are sensing. Then when our attention is drawn elsewhere, we lose the sensing. In whole body sensation, however, we can act and live from our sensation body, just as we do now from our physical body. Our attention and intention emanate from within our wholeness. Thus whole body sensation brings a more natural, inner unity than partial sensation.

Sensing the entire body is not just an incremental step forward from sensing parts of the body. Whole body sensation is a qualitative leap in our practice, a leap toward developing our sensation body. That wholeness, that sensation body serves as our container and stable platform for the conscious energy. This matters dearly to us because the conscious energy is the gateway to the higher and truly spiritual levels of our being.

The three primary qualities of the conscious energy are cognizance, stillness, and wholeness. In deep meditation we can open to the conscious energy through stillness, as the background of spaciousness shifts into the foreground of experience. But in the midst of life, it is whole body sensation that gives us a pathway into consciousness. The cognizing quality of consciousness then gives us presence.

For this week, practice awareness of your body as a whole, sensing the entire body at once, being in and living from your wholeness.

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