The Natural Bliss of Being
Essential Basics of Practice
The most primary practice is the non-practice of just being awareness,
your default condition.
This would be practiced in a formal meditation session,
sitting with no agenda,
yet fully present without mental or conceptual engagement.
This practice is actually the fruit of practice,
yet it appears as our current condition in each moment.
There is no sense of self or conceptualized objects in this non-dual state of presence.
When as this naked awareness,
one just continues as this vivid and alert awareness
in all the twenty-four hours of the day and night in total relaxation.
On successful development,
the chakras are fully open and the subtle energies flow in the central channel.
The body feels transparent to your inner perception,
and the mind is utterly clear with blissful feelings
circulating within your inner channels.
If your condition is not as described above,
it is advisable to practice calming meditation for at least a half-hour daily,
just sitting with your spine straight, eyes focused on a point either on the wall
or on the floor, with no moving of the eyes, no mental agenda,
and just observing your breathing.
If thoughts, emotions, or sensations arise,
just notice them but do not judge or engage them.
They dissolve on their own.
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You can break this up into two sitting sessions per day if necessary.
Here is another practice that can be quite helpful
when you’re in an uncomfortable or unclear state of mind:
The Self-Liberation of All Conditions
Notice your current state of mind.
What is in your mind in this moment, exactly as it is?
Whether it is a story, thoughts, self, or an emotional state,
just observe the condition.
See if you can find any solidity to it,
anything that is stable and permanent.
After looking at the condition in this way,
notice that it is an empty appearance that your attention sustains and energizes.
Notice the empty, transparent aspect of the condition.
Next, notice the awareness that is present in that noticing.
Observe the quality of that aware noticing.
Is there anything solid about it? Color? Shape?
Is it just an aware emptiness?
Having resolved that the noticing empty awareness is completely transparent,
now notice the original condition again.
Has it vanished? Has it lessened?
Has it been transformed into empty awareness?
If not,
repeat the steps above until the condition “self-liberates.”
It will anyway because all appearances and conditions are
impermanent, empty, and unborn.
Exploring the Blueprint of the Subtle Body
You could imagine the central channel to be approximately as wide as your thumb,
pale blue on the outside and pinkish red on the inside.
The general appearance is one of semi-transparency,
as though glowing from within.
The side channel of the right side is luminous red
and the left channel is luminous white.
For females the channel colors are reversed.
They are both approximately as wide as your little finger.
This is good information to know,
but we won’t be doing any specific practices with the side channels per se.
By focusing on the chakras and central channel alone,
the side channels respond automatically.
When you are able to direct your prana or inner energy into the central channel,
the side channels become inactive.
Likewise,
when your mind is engaged in dualistic thought
along with negative emotional energies,
the side channels are active and the central channel is closed and inactive.
Again,
the goal of the energy practice is to bring the prana into the central channel
to open and activate your chakras fully.
To the degree that you succeed in this effort,
you experience states of consciousness that are otherwise
inaccessible to most human experience.
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Our ultimate goal is to bring the energy into the central channel upward
from the base of the spine into the crown chakra.
You can experience complete enlightenment from this method alone.
The Main Subtle Body Practice Sequence
For some,
the energy practices may be too intense because they tend to
release contracted energies and reveal buried emotional blockages.
This can be uncomfortable and disorienting.
The practices I have shared here should be done gently
with no effort to force the inner energies.
You should not exert yourself through intense breathing exercises
or breath retention while engaging in these exercises.
Go slowly and learn to feel your limits gently.
But you do not know how you will do
until you experiment with your own energy a bit.
If you start to feel uncomfortable, cease the practice.
Take a walk in nature, do some physical exercise,
or engage in some pleasant activity.
It is certainly enough to stay with the basic clear awareness resting practices,
like sky gazing and the calming meditation.
First,
sit in an upright position.
You can do this while sitting a bit forward on a chair
so as to get the spine as straight as possible.
I (Jackson) prefer sitting on a cushion on the floor yoga style.
How you arrange your legs is not so important; just be in a stable position.
Rest your hands comfortably on your legs as you like.
Your spine must be straight.
Close your eyes and notice your breathing.
Feel the breath as it passes in out and out of your nose,
and feel how your lungs expand and relax with each breath.
Next,
sense the central channel running from the bottom of your spine to the fontanel.
You don’t have to visualize it clearly,
just sense that there is an energy channel running within the spinal column
from bottom to top.
Focus on the topmost point of your head,
which is slightly behind the center of the skull.
You can locate the fontanel with your finger.
It may feel like a small indentation or soft spot on the skull.
Imagine there is an energy center there that vibrates subtly
just below the surface of the skull at the fontanel, perhaps an inch or two below,
within the brain.
At some point your attention settles on this correct location naturally,
so don’t worry about getting it just right.
Focus on the general area.
Once you sense some sort of energy movement that holds your attention,
you have located the crown chakra.
Focus on that energy point for at least five minutes or so.
Remember,
you don’t have to visualize or imagine anything;
just focus your attention on the general location.
The crown chakra is present in all people; you just have to notice it.
It should feel like a slight vibration or energy pulsing.
Keep that as your point of reference.
Try to keep your attention on that point
as often as possible throughout the day and evening,
especially when about to fall asleep.
Try to do twenty minutes of sitting meditation every day with only this practice.
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Once you have success in locating the crown chakra,
your meditation should bring about a relaxed and calm state of consciousness.
At times you feel like you could remain focused on the crown chakra for hours
because it’s so pleasant.
By all means, continue as long as it’s comfortable.
A key aspect of practice is to release all tension
and to find oneself in a state of total relaxation of body and mind.
By relaxing completely while remaining vividly alert,
the inner channels and chakras open fully
allowing a very pleasant sensation to pervade the entire body.
Your state of mind will be expansive and serene.
By engaging in the practice,
the entire inner subtle energy body becomes toned and activated.
When you are competent with this practice routine,
you may use this expanded version that I use:
I focus on the base of my spine.
I try to sense a warm energy or tingling sensation at the base of the spine
or slightly higher.
I relax my breathing, making deep and slow breaths.
I relax completely without thought, with my eyes closed.
As I breathe in slowly,
I draw the sensation from the bottom of my spine upward.
As I breathe out,
I mentally hold the inner energy where it is, then breathing in,
I continue to bring it upward.
Sometimes it enters the heart chakra on the way
and produces a sense of joyousness.
I keep it at the heart for as long as it lingers there.
When ready,
I continue bringing it upward with each in-breath, not letting it go lower.
As the blissful sensations develop after several minutes,
I bring the energy to the top of my crown at the fontanel.
A strong sense of spaciousness grows along with bliss sensations.
I hold my breath gently and look straight up with my eyes closed,
focusing my eyes upward as though to see the top of my head from inside.
I fixate on that and focus on an imagined point of light at the crown,
yet within the skull.
A sensation begins to grow that pulsates at the third-eye and base of the spine.
I stay with that for as long as I can.
I relax and just witness.
With my eyes closed,
I look out forward into space through the third-eye chakra.
I integrate my awareness into that vast spatial depth.
Recognize your awareness that is experiencing what’s occurring.
Notice that you are the empty, aware context
in which all phenomena occur as content.
Rest as that recognition, with no agenda.
If you feel an uncomfortable pressure in your head,
visualize an opening at the fontanel
and your prana flowing upward into the space above your head.
That should relieve the discomfort.
If at any time you are uncomfortable while doing any of these practices,
take a break and go for a walk or engage in some activity
to take your mind off the practice.
Always use your intelligence and never push yourself in any way.
Relaxation and gentleness are always key.
Sky Gazing
When your mind is relatively calm and clear,
then you should practice sky gazing or space gazing,
in which you focus on the sky without moving your eyes, or
space gazing,
in which you gaze into the space of a room
but not at any physical object.
Bring your sense of awareness to the eyes
and sense that it is merged with the outer space of the sky
or the empty space of the room between your eyes and the wall.
Rest like this free of all deliberate thinking for ten minutes, and eventually
extend the session as long as it’s comfortable.
Keep your eyes free of all movement, but blinking is fine.
Breathe slowly and quietly through the mouth, with the mouth just slightly open.
The longer you practice,
the more your mind and awareness become transparent and clear.
Notice the resulting empty, clear awareness to be your essential nature.
You are not the body, your mind, or your thoughts.
You actually do not need any other practice besides this one.
It incorporates many benefits that would accrue from engaging in many other practices.
Inner Light Practice –
Close your eyes and notice the light from an exterior light source
on the inside of your translucent eyelids.
Notice where the light is and where your sense of awareness is centered.
Perceive sounds
and notice how the sounds appear to be inseparable from your awareness.
Rest in that sense of inseparability for as long as comfortable.
Notice your empty awareness from time to time.
Notice the light at your eyes on the inside of your closed eyelids again.
Sense that the light fills your skull, which seems empty, without brains,
just filled with light and awareness.
Rest in that spacious condition for as long as is comfortable.
Slowly open your eyes, but only slightly.
Notice the space of the room without focusing on any objects.
Observe how your awareness seems inseparable from that space of the room,
and rest in that spacious awareness.
Then notice how your skull seems transparent,
with no limitation to your awareness,
and rest in that transparency of awareness.
Close your eyes again,
and from inside your skull, imagine looking upward to the crown of your head.
Notice if there is any pulsing or vibration at the crown.
If so
just rest in that moment of sensation for several minutes.
Next
notice if there is any pulsing or vibrating sensation at the tail bone
or in the area at the bottom of the spine,
and if so, again
rest in that sensation for several minutes.
Next
notice the crown point again for several minutes.
Now notice the point at the third-eye to see if there is any pulsing or vibrating,
and if so, rest in that condition for several minutes.
Alternate between noticing the crown point, the third eye,
and the tailbone for several minutes again and again
until sensations appear at all three points and remain stable,
as this brings the subtle energies into the central channel.
Then
notice the light at the eyes again.
Notice the clear empty spaciousness within your hollow skull and its transparency.
Rest in this clarity for several minutes.
Open your eyes slightly and rest in that clear awareness for as long as comfortable. Without any agenda,
be clear and present without intentional thinking.
End your session,
but do not engage again in deliberate thinking or conceptualizing.
To do so collapses the quality of open spaciousness.
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Practice like this as often as possible.
The results may appear gradually or suddenly.
An extremely clear state of transparency that is full of wisdom and insight
arises in the area of your forehead.
When fully opened,
you realize the nature of reality and your true nature .
That’s why this eye is called the wisdom eye.
Clairvoyance and other extrasensory perceptions may also arise.
The wisdom eye is recognized in
Kabbalah, Sufism, Tibetan Buddhism, Kundalini Yoga, and Shamanism.
