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Understanding Meditation and Mindfulness Equals Presence

Herb Stevenson • May 12, 2020

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The Healing Den constantly advocates being mindful and taking the time to meditate for your well-being while strengthening your healing presence. An interesting further development is that as this practice evolves, it develops and supports a deeper sense of understanding oneself and others appears. A frequent comment is “I feel more me, more present to myself.” 


The cultivation of mindfulness has roots in Buddhism, but most religions include some type of prayer or meditation technique that helps shift your thoughts away from your usual preoccupations toward an appreciation of the moment and a larger perspective on life. Rituals and liturgies are often used to sway the mind into silence and the person into a sense of the sacred. 


Ellen Langer, a Harvard professor defined mindfulness as "the simple act of noticing new things." More specifically, mindfulness is a type of meditation that focuses on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress[1].

 

Mindfulness and Well-being. Meditation can help you experience thoughts and emotions with greater balance and acceptance. It has been shown to improve attention. 

 

Increasing your capacity for mindfulness supports many attitudes that contribute to a satisfied life. Being mindful makes it easier to savor the pleasures in life as they occur, helps you become fully engaged in activities, and creates a greater capacity to deal with adverse events. By focusing on the here and now, many people who practice mindfulness find that they are less likely to get caught up in worries about the future or regrets over the past, are less preoccupied with concerns about success and self-esteem, and are better able to form deep connections with others.

 

Mindfulness and Physical health. If greater well-being isn’t enough of an incentive, scientists have discovered that mindfulness techniques help improve physical health in several ways. Mindfulness can: help relieve stress, treat heart disease, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, improve sleep, and alleviate gastrointestinal difficulties.

 

Mindfulness and Mental health. In recent years, psychotherapists have turned to mindfulness meditation as an important element in the treatment of several problems, including depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, couples’ conflicts, anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

How does mindfulness work?

Some experts believe that mindfulness works, in part, by helping people to accept their experiences—including painful emotions—rather than react to them with aversion and avoidance. This acceptance tends to come from the dissolution of tightly held beliefs that constrict perceptions into binary perceptions of good-bad, right, wrong, etc. The expanded awareness occurs during meditation (mindfulness) in a transforming process where the either/or paradigm expands into a both/and perception until it crescendos into a more than awareness of what is or could bethe reality one is experiencing. Judgments against oneself and other persons are revealed as antiquated and not applicable to the present moment. The binary rules of reality dissolve. 


In addition, it tends to reduce irrational, maladaptive, and self-defeating thoughts by revealing their emotional charge fixed by past events that are no longer true. In other words, it is like a perfect recording of the past is spliced into the present perceptions as if the past event is happening in this present moment. Suddenly, a surreal recognition of what has been perceived as real is now understood as a self-created perception of reality. One has been living in a world of Memorex; that is unfinished critical and unexpected events including trauma, biases, beliefs and misbehavior, cultural and family values, dynamics, and misbehaviors, and life experiences that have been constructed as meaning making for self-protection that often is frozen in a moment in time.


Mindfulness Techniques

There is more than one way to practice mindfulness, but the goal of any mindfulness technique is to achieve a state of alert, focused relaxation by deliberately paying attention to thoughts and sensations without judgment. This allows the mind to refocus on the present moment. All mindfulness techniques are a form of meditation. All mindfulness and mediation require a disciplined structure to grant oneself permission at the deepest level to invest time into your own personal development and growth.


General Techniques


Basic mindfulness meditation. Sit quietly and focus on your natural breathing or on a word or “mantra” that you repeat silently. Allow thoughts to come and go without judgment and return to your focus on breath or mantra. The most well-known mantra is focusing on feeling and vocalizing OM.

 

Live in the moment. Try to intentionally bring an open, accepting and discerning attention to everything you do. Find joy in simple pleasures. This requires the mindfulness to remember to be mindful Another way to describe this process is to learn to participate and witness oneself by shifting your focus and attention between acting or doing and observing. 

 

Accept yourself. Treat yourself the way you would treat a good friend. Suspension of the monkey mind, Council of lunatics, Voices in the background,and whatever else distracts you is imperative. Mindfulness is being able to acknowledge the voices, watch them and let them go…a first step in regaining control of your thoughts.

 

Focus on your breathing. When you have negative thoughts, try to sit down, take a deep breath and close your eyes. Focus on your breath as it moves in and out of your body. Sitting and breathing for even just a minute can help. Recognize the voices in your head are only recordings that once served now prevent your being your full self.

 

Body sensations. Notice subtle body sensations such as an itch or tingling without judgment and let them pass. Notice each part of your body in succession from head to toe. Reframe from fixing any discomfort and assume it is simply energy frozen in the cellular tissues that are seeking release[2]. See sample mediations later in this article.

 

Sensory. Notice sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. Name them “sight,” “sound,” “smell,” “taste,” or “touch” without judgment and let them go. This ties directly to the prior paragraph. Much of life has taught us to numb our senses except in very specific situation. Senses have memories just as much as cellular tissue and our mind. The difference between the mind and the sensory memories is the latter release energy and restore full body sensations. As a child, these full body sensations could be overwhelming or discouraged and therefore become frozen. Mindfulness sees each of the irritating or unaccepted sensations as opportunities for reclaiming one’s right to a full experience of life.

 

Emotions. Allow emotions to be present without judgment. Practice a steady and relaxed naming of emotions: “joy,” “anger,” “frustration.” Accept the presence of the emotions without judgment and let them go. For example, if we look at emotions as water that can freeze, flow, turn to vapor, we understand all the variants are still simply expressions of water. In the human experience, all emotional variants are expressions of internal experiences. When we dispense with judgements of “good or bad”, and “pleasant and unpleasant” we derive an entirely new awareness of satisfying expressions that simply need to become mature expressions of each emotion.

 

Urge surfing. Cope with cravings (for addictive substances or behaviors) and allow them to pass. Notice how your body feels as the craving enters. Replace the wish for the craving to go away with the certain knowledge that it will subside. Addictions in the forms of drugs, sugar, alcohol, sex, violence, are like 3 dimensional memories that take control of one’s sense of self and replaces it with a creative adjustment to survive some overwhelming deficiency in one’s experience, often to survive the power of the moment. A concerted effort is needed to re-establish self-control and therefore self-efficacy to be able to subordinate one’s self to the addiction or to create a life without the need to not exist[3]. Mindfulness and meditation can support re-establish control over these traumatic and addictive impulses.


Mindfulness Meditation and Other Practices

Mindfulness can be cultivated through mindfulness meditation, a systematic method of focusing your attention. You can learn to meditate on your own, following instructions in books or on tape. However, you may benefit from the support of an instructor or group to answer questions and help you stay motivated. Look for someone using meditation in a way compatible with your beliefs and goals. 

Getting Started On Your Own

Some types of meditation primarily involve concentration—repeating a phrase or focusing on the sensation of breathing, allowing the parade of thoughts that inevitably arise to come and go. Concentration meditation techniques, as well as other activities such as tai chi or yoga, can induce the well-known relaxation response, which is very valuable in reducing the body’s response to stress.

 

You can also try more structured mindfulness exercises, such as:


Body scan meditation. Lie on your back with your legs extended and arms at your sides, palms facing up. Focus your attention slowly and deliberately on each part of your body, in order, from toe to head or head to toe. Be aware of any sensations, emotions or thoughts associated with each part of your body. From a healing presence, perspective, it is supportive to linger at every area of the body until you notice a shift of energy or change in temperature. This is awakening consciousness in the cellular memory and/or bringing more life force to that area. 

 

Sitting meditation. Sit comfortably with your back straight, feet flat on the floor and hands in your lap. Breathing through your nose, focus on your breath moving in and out of your body. If physical sensations or thoughts interrupt your meditation, note the experience and then return your focus to your breath. Similar to the body scan, the focus is on your experience of breathing. Often, you will quickly drift to a series of thoughts that distract the process. Regain control of your mind and continue to breath.

 

Walking meditation. Einstein was known for walking meditations in his office and amongst nature. Similarly, labyrinths and medicine wheels were walking forms of medications that preoccupied the mind with focus on the ritualistic structure. Therein the mind quiets and a  window opens for a new knowing.

 

Find a quiet place 10 to 20 feet in length and begin to walk slowly. Focus on the experience of walking, being aware of the sensations of standing and the subtle movements that keep your balance. When you reach the end of your path, turn and continue walking, maintaining awareness of your sensations. Focus on the walk, step by step. 

 

For example, years ago, a Cheyenne elder, we will call Chief Joseph, and I met at a Sundance in South Dakota. He had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. He asked if I would perform a healing ceremony on his behalf. I agreed.  The Sundance was deep in a narrow valley on the Rose Bud reservation. On one side of the rising hills there was a medicine wheel that was quite old. We met at the bottom of the hill. Joseph told he me could not climb the hill to the medicine wheel because of his limited breathing capacity. I looked at him and said we were not going to climb the hill; we were going to pray ourselves to the top by putting one foot in front of the other in gratitude. Our heads were focused on our feet. We scaled the hill without hesitation focused on walking. 


Concentration

Mindfulness meditation builds upon concentration practices. Here’s how it works:

 

Go with the flow. In mindfulness meditation, once you establish concentration, you observe the flow of inner thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations without judging them as good or bad. Easier said than done as most know. This requires disciplined awareness to not became a captive of your thoughts and to simply observe them. I often use humor and laugh at myself for falling into my self-created thought trap; then I start over.

 

Pay attention and Know You are in Control of Your Experience. As noted in the prior paragraph, you will  notice external sensations such as sounds, sights, and touch that make up your moment-to-moment experience. The challenge is not to latch onto a particular or familiar idea, emotion, or sensation, or to get caught in thinking about the past or the future. Instead, you watch what comes and goes in your mind and discover which mental habits produce a feeling of well-being or suffering.

 

Stay with it. At times, this process may not seem relaxing at all, in fact, may find it irritating and so uncomfortable they immediately stop. Repatterning oneself requires commitment and discipline and  over time it will lead to  greater happiness and self-awareness as you become comfortable with a wider and wider range of your experiences.


Practice Acceptance

Above all, mindfulness practice involves accepting whatever arises in your awareness at each moment. It involves being open to the experience without judgement, like being kind and forgiving toward yourself.

 

Some tips to keep in mind:

 

Gently redirect. If your mind wanders into planning, daydreaming, or criticism, notice where it has gone and gently redirect it to sensations in the present.

 

Try and try again. If you miss your intended meditation session, simply start again.


By practicing accepting your experience during meditation, it becomes easier to accept whatever comes your way during the rest of your day.


Cultivate Mindfulness Informally

In addition to formal meditation, you can also cultivate mindfulness informally by focusing your attention on your moment-to-moment sensations during everyday activities. This is done by single-tasking—doing one thing at a time and giving it your full attention. As you shower, brush your teeth, pet the dog, drive to work or eat an apple, slow down the process and be fully present as it unfolds and involves all of your senses. Notice the scent of the shampoo or soap instead of the random thoughts in your mind. Notice the taste of breakfast instead of chomping and reading the paper. Notice your experience throughout the day.

Mindfulness Exercises

If mindfulness meditation appeals to you, going to a class or listening to a meditation tape can be a good way to start. In the meantime, here are two mindfulness exercises you can try on your own.


Basic Mindfulness Meditation. This exercise teaches basic mindfulness meditation.

  • Sit on a straight-backed chair or cross-legged on the floor.
  • Focus on an aspect of your breathing, such as the sensations of air flowing into your nostrils and out of your mouth, or your belly rising and falling as you inhale and exhale.
  • Once you’ve narrowed your concentration in this way, begin to widen your focus. Become aware of sounds, sensations, and your ideas.
  • Embrace and consider each thought or sensation without judging it good or bad. If your mind starts to race, return your focus to your breathing. Then expand your awareness again.


Learning to Stay in the Present. A less formal approach to mindfulness can also help you to stay in the present and fully participate in your life. You can choose any task or moment to practice informal mindfulness, whether you are eating, showering, walking, touching a partner, or playing with a child or grandchild. Attending to these points will help:

  • Start by bringing your attention to the sensations in your body
  • Breathe in through your nose, allowing the air downward into your lower belly. Let your abdomen expand fully.
  • Now breathe out through your mouth
  • Notice the sensations of each inhalation and exhalation
  • Proceed with the task at hand slowly and with full deliberation
  • Engage your senses fully. Notice each sight, touch, and sound so that you savor every sensation.
  • When you notice that your mind has wandered from the task at hand, gently bring your attention back to the sensations of the moment.


Invest in Yourself. Aim to practice mindfulness every day for about six months. Over time, you might find that mindfulness becomes effortless. Think of it as a commitment to reconnecting with and nurturing yourself

 

The effects of mindfulness meditation tend to be dose-related — the more you do, the more effect it usually has. Most people find that it takes at least 20 minutes for the mind to begin to settle, so this is a reasonable way to start. If you’re ready for a more serious commitment, Jon Kabat-Zinn recommends 45 minutes of meditation at least six days a week. But you can get started by practicing the techniques described here for shorter periods.

 

Guided Meditations. Some people find it easier to start with guided meditations and brain frequency entrainment, support the brain through sound to move to a deeper state of consciousness. Below are several links to guided meditations and my shamanic drumming recording for those that meditate with drums. 

 

iAwake. For those that seek more advanced support, iAwake provides excellent products. There is a discount for all Healing Den affiliates. Go to iAwake.com to see catalog and get  25% Discount for All Purchases. Use Promo Code: CLEVELAND-IAWAKE-25

 

Samadhi Guided Mediations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZGqaDSOYxI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7WCK5DK4sw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ded5S6ETePw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZBJJrOJOKY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0pTRLaDpgU

 

Healing Tones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go99WqXWGgk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY4MVNO74y4

 

Shamanic Drumming

https://vimeo.com/414605290/1d91eab3d0

http://www.onewhitehorsestanding.com/resources/audio/herb-drumming.mp3


Footnotes

[1]Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder and former director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, demonstrated that practicing mindfulness can bring improvements in both physical and psychological symptoms as well as positive changes in health, attitudes, and behaviors.

[2]Peter Levine in Taming the Tiger suggested that we freeze moments in time in our cellular tissueshttps://traumahealing.org/ 

[3]Addictions and trauma are a form of dissociation that makes the day-to-day person become invisible while the creative adjustment, an illusory sense of self takes control. This is not to diminish the power of trauma or addiction, however it is to say that to overcome them, requires disciplined mindfulness often found in meditation.



Sources

· Positive Psychology: Harnessing the Power of Happiness, Personal Strength, and Mindfulness, a special health report published by Harvard Health Publishing.

· https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/benefits-of-mindfulness.htm

· https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/in-depth/mindfulness-exercises/art-20046356


References


Jon Kabat-Zinn.

  • Mindfulness Meditation for Everyday Life. Piatkus, 1994. ISBN 0-7499-1422-X.
  • Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life. Hyperion Books, 1994. ISBN 1-4013-0778-7.
  • Full catastrophe living: how to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation. Piatkus, 1996. ISBN 0-7499-1585-4.
  • The Power of Meditation and Prayer, with Sogyal Rinpoche, Larry Dossey, Michael Toms. Hay House, 1997. ISBN 1-56170-423-7.
  • Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness. Hyperion, 2006. ISBN 0-7868-8654-4.
  • The mindful way through depression: freeing yourself from chronic unhappiness, by J. Mark G. Williams, John D. Teasdale, Zindel V. Segal, Jon Kabat-Zinn. Guilford Press, 2007. ISBN 1593851286.
  • Arriving at Your Own Door. Piatkus Books, 2008. ISBN 0-7499-2861-1.
  • Letting Everything Become Your Teacher: 100 Lessons in Mindfulness. Dell Publishing Company, 2009. ISBN 0-385-34323-X.
  • The Mind's Own Physician: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama on the Healing Power of Meditation, co-authored with Richard Davidson (New Harbinger, 2012) (based on the 13th Mind and Life Institute Dialogue in 2005).
  • Mindfulness for Beginners: reclaiming the present moment - and your life. Sounds True, Inc., 2012. ISBN 978-1-60407-753-7.

Ellen J. Langer

Daniel J Siegel, MD

  • The Developing Mind: Toward a Neurobiology of Interpersonal Experience (New York: Guilford Press, 1999)
  • Healing Trauma: Attachment, Mind, Body and Brain (New York: WW Norton & Company, 2003). Co-edited with Marion Solomon.
  • The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being (New York: WW Norton & Company, 2007)
  • The Mindful Therapist: A Clinician's Guide to Mindsight and Neural Integration (New York: WW Norton & Company, 2010)
  • Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation (New York: Bantam, 2010)
  • The Developing Mind, Second Edition: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are (New York: Guilford Press, 2012). ISBN 978-1-4625-0390-2.
  • Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human (New York: WW Norton & Company, 2016)
  • Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence (New York: Tarcher Perigee, 2018).

Point of Power

By Herb Stevenson • February 19, 2024
I have been asked to clarify the principle that the point of power is in the present moment. In basic terms, there is only the present moment even though it would be experienced as an infinite sense of present moments. The critical implication is that reality exists, experientially, moment to moment. It also is experienced sequentially as a sense for what we call time. This creates a sense of a past and a future which then enables us to create a sense of having memories and dreams. Another way to understand the present is to suggest that time is actually a series of places or moments in our many experiences. As such, memories are experienced as a place in time of a moment in prior lived experiences. When we visit these places in time, there is a tendency to energetically, emotionally, physically, and mentally relive the experience as if it were now. When this occurs, our presence is moved to that place in time, fully encapsulated, often, with little awareness of this moment as we are reliving that moment in the past. For example, trauma, when relived, recreates the original experience sufficiently for it to have been described as a trauma trance. Nothing but the original trauma exists while in this trance. In these instances, where we focus all attention, and therefore our sense of presence in the moment to that place in the past, a memory, we do not exist in the here and now. We are locked in that prior lived experience, often retraumatizing ourselves. Examples of this recurrence of trauma trance experiences are triggered either by the sense of energies, emotions, meaning making, or physical incidents that seem to snatch our sense of self, and therefore our presence from this moment. The sense of presence in this moment beyond the trauma recurrence through trance is minimal to none. We are seeing and therefore experiencing through the lens of a prior unfinished incident instead of experiencing the here and now. To release or dissolve the triggering or reflexive energies to leave the present moment and move to the place in time of the prior lived trauma, we need to consider time crystals, moments frozen in a place in time. Time crystals are self-sealed highly charged emotional, physical, mental, and energetic moments in our energy fields, that we are carrying with us…that are frozen. Often, time crystals are the experiential impact of traumas. When time crystals are engaged by a triggering energy, the reflexive act of the time crystal is to release some of the highly charged energies. If a significant amount is released, then the individual is pulled from the present moment into the place and time of the time crystal, potentially triggering a trauma trance. Instead of being pulled into the time crystal, if the individual has developed or is supported by another to stay fully present in this moment, the release of the highly charged time crystal energy does not trigger re-traumatization. Rather, by remaining fully present to the here and now, this moment, the highly charged energy begins to release. In effect, this means that the frozen moment prior lived and unintegrated is magnetically pulled into the present moment, thereby enacting a healing moment and demonstrating that the point of power is in the present moment. This process releases the frozen energy sealing the time crystal and increases the life force often experienced as a sense of aliveness. In our practice, the capacity of the facilitator to remain fully present to the moment and to stay connected energetically to the client is imperative. This is done by constantly engaging the client to focus on their felt sense of their body while making eye contact. Often, a strong sense of anxiety will arise in the client if approaching a time crystal. Staying engaged energetically is critical as it is how the client remains grounded in their body or connected to this present moment.

A Personal Note

By Herb Stevenson • January 28, 2024
Hi folks, It is snowing here on the farm with temperatures often below Zero Fahrenheit. It has been nice to sit with the wood burning stove as I watch the snow. It is also a good time to experience the silence of snow by walking in the woods. Both activities nurture one’s spirit. I encourage you to not become lost in the sofa monster and miss the balancing aspects of nature by seeing the beauty of the season and the desire of the soft animal within you to move. Publishing in Journals I decided to publish an article on presence in the Gestalt Journal in Europe. It can be accessed at this open source link that once registered you can access the journal https://www.ceeol.com/search/journal-detail?id=2485 . Because presence is a core aspect of gestalt it seemed like an opportunity to expand the concepts of healing presence to other countries. Podcast I have also begun the process of developing a Podcast that will initially air twice a month starting in February. We are considering the title Living on the Third Side of the Coin or Living on the Edge of Life. The promotional materials will be some variation of the following: In a whimsical ongoing conversation, Sahadeo & Herb will explore the evolving spiritual dynamics of the modern world through asking the obvious questions never asked. The core of the conversations is that life is to be lived and not judged. Therein lively discussions will evolve concerning the power of presence and the ability to be a participating witness to oneself and the rest of the world. Sahadeo is an Indian-American spiritual wanderer that supports honoring human dignity wherever he goes. He lives in New York City working in the health care industry. Known for his insatiable curiosity he has the capacity to ask the most piercing questions often considered undiscussable. Herb is a biracial, multinational semi-sane individual living on an 80 acre horse farm. He is the author of the spiritual series, Thoughts, that reveal the adventures and misadventures of an individual’s spiritual journey. His day job is owner of the Cleveland Consulting Group, Inc. a global coaching and consulting practice. He is the founder of a men’s program celebrating 20 years called Natural Passages for Men and the Healing Den, a program that supports spiritual awakening. The podcast will be listed on all platforms. For those that review my YouTube channel , the videos are being enhanced and will be reposted soon Thoughts I have completed 13 manuscripts for the Thoughts series . Four have been published and 9 are in various stages of editing and formatting for publishing. I anticipate 2 more issues before ending the series at 15. What is significant is that the first book was written 28 years ago and published last Spring. Since then, over 1000 pages have been written. The significance is the saying “yes” to writing the long ago planned series. Might you consider something inside you yearning to hear “YES”. Maintaining Your Sanity Through Presence This is the year of political insanity as more lies, half truths and inane beliefs will be spewed as facts. Such is the State of the USA and many parts of the World. A daily practice of meditation, sitting, standing, lying, or walking, will support staying out of the energetic fray. Your energies will become frenetic , caustic, and eventually feel toxic if you do not maintain your sense of self through being fully present to the moment.  If you remain present and simply witness and not engage in the energies, you will see two powerful thoughtforms evolving to create the tension needed for a transcendental shift in awareness. As it stands, the fear-laden energies suffer from their self-righteousness that they project onto the other side. The awakening of human dignity is creating a sense of determination that will continue to form through the November election in the USA. These energies will create a tension that will be sufficient for a lot of people to become active if through nothing more than voting. Human dignity has been the one missing energy of democracy, and it seems it has a good chance to become a reality in the coming years. Power is presence. Presence overcomes fear as fear only works through force. I trust we will all walk together to create the presence needed to bring harmony and the honoring of human dignity to every part of this world.

Scalar Waves

By Herb Stevenson • December 3, 2023
Recently I came across information on scalar energy or more often called scalar waves. As a concept, they add a dimension to presence that might be insightful. Scalar Energy is a subtle energy that produces healing energy frequencies that can be harnessed through presence. Conventional methods can’t measure it because they don’t stay in a measurable form. They tend to move out of the third dimension and when given a direction move through the fourth dimension as in distance healing and healing prayers. Scalar Energy can carry information and doesn’t decay over space and time. Scalar Energy doesn’t flow like transverse and normal electromagnetic waves, but instead increases in spatial mass as it occupies space. This space occupied is not a vacuum but alive with balanced and checked energies. Scalar Energy, also, is known as zero point energy and Tesla waves that move through liminal space. When we see the waves are like a pebble in water, the most common perception is the ripple of the waves up and down and not that the original energy is echoing outward in ongoing circles as is surrounding clients with healing presence. Another wave (way) to perceive the scalar waves are in the center of the diagram below where we can see that the waves can be focused and directional, such as through prayers or distance healing.

The Pain Body

By Herb Stevenson • October 26, 2023
The chaos of the world continues as the disparate energies are creating more and more tensions, made evident by the events in Israel and that continue in the Ukraine, as well as the immobility for Congress to function as a governing body instead of political factions. It is likely these tensions will continue throughout the next two years as the criminal indictments and elections will raise the tension into a crescendo that leads to an emerging and new reality of how the people want to be governed. The tensions will continue in other aspects as the world experiences climate changes and other natural disasters that will continue to affect our sensibilities. Similarly, the social definitions are clashing over women’s rights and all the various forms of discrimination that will shift the sense of power by increasing the number of voters that are expressing themselves. This form of rising power will begin a true sense of democracy. 

Intention is Imperative

By Herb Stevenson • September 5, 2023
Recently I have been experimenting with active imagination or if you prefer focused intention during meditation. For those of the shamanic interest, this is the same as journeying for a specific purpose. Over the course of many traditions, medication and other forms of spiritual practices have become less focused on the purpose for mediating or journeying. This has often resulted in amazing images, but none that resonate deep within oneself except to be fun or entertaining. I discovered that when we have a specific intention for journeying or meditation, the results tend to be more impactful. For example, the images or insights tend to be more specific and applicable to our intention. In addition, if we are witnessing the images, it tends to provide insights that will be interesting and will not likely change us. However, if we are actively participating in the images or insights, then we are resonating with the energies, like in liminal (sacred) space and literally will shift our internal sense of self. I suggest you consider using more specific intention during meditation, active imagination and journey works as this example reveals. (Note that this example is an application of the dream exercise which you can find on the resources page .)

Stones for Unstable Times

By Herb Stevenson • August 7, 2023
Hi Folks, If you pay attention to energy, you may have noticed we are in a period of confusing and often unstable energies. It is reflected in the daily interactions regardless of internal to ourselves or external and in the world. Many have increased their meditations in length or frequency. Others have begun to use stones such as galena, hematite, and pyrite. Years ago, I discovered an interesting stone called Cerrusite. Cerussite is a carbonate mineral. It is a widely distributed and common ore of lead. It is formed by the action of carbonated solutions on galena in the upper, oxidized zones of lead veins. Cerussite forms white or tinted tabular, pyramidal, or prismatic crystals (orthorhombic system) and crystal aggregates, as well as compact or granular masses. Luster is adamantine to vitreous. The color of cerussite ranges from: Colorless, yellow, green, brown, red to black The black crystals are filled with inclusions of galena. A green color is is due to inclusions of malachite. Gray is formed by Galena inclusions. The finest Cerussite are the colorless sharp edged ones found at Tsumeb.

Rising Up: Spiritual Awakening / Kundalini Awakening

By Herb Stevenson • June 6, 2023
Rising Up I’ve noticed an increase in requests from people who have believe they have experienced a spiritual awakening. It comes in meditation or a shamanic journey or while standing in the woods. A common aspect of the experience is complete ungrounding and a desire to stay in the spiritual realms. This desire seems to originate in an ecstatic moment that sparks a movement towards engaging multiple other spiritual practices simultaneously. This might be somatic in nature coupled with psychedelics and shamanic/breathwork journeys or other practices. Interestingly, in some cases, it seems to be as if the people are in a trance-like state, possibly disconnecting from themselves. Occasionally, such events can lead to the discovery and surfacing of a traumatic event that was lost, forgotten, buried, or forbidden. In such cases, the escalated efforts and focus on more spiritual practices seems to lead to a shift toward healing that is focused on some deep belief to get rid of the traumatic event so all will be better. From a healing presence perspective, the goal is to support the person to get grounded in their body through body sensation and direct eye contact. Oddly, it is common for them to say they do not want to feel the sensations of their body or do not want anyone to see into them via eye contact or our preferred response, “I have never felt being in my body”. Recently, I worked with a person who was a self-proclaimed shaman after a few workshops and an ecstatic experience. As I listened to her and encouraged eye contact, it was clear she was waffling between trying to stay out of her body and in the ecstatic energies. I asked her to feel her body, the beautiful life force moving through her, and as best she could remain in eye contact. I handed her hematite anklets and asked if she would wear them. Immediately, upon putting on the anklets her ungroundedness cleared, she maintained eye contact and her story became more vivid. She realized that she felt much better as a presence inside her body. As she described her experience, she realized that her spiritual experiences needed to be grounded inside her instead of taking her out of her body. Frequently, these experiences can occur when the spiritual practice ignites a kundalini rising. When the mind/body are not prepared, this can be a very difficult experience as the body is unable to comfortably enable the energies to flow, become full of burning sensations. What causes a Kundalini awakening? [1] No one knows for sure. For some, a Kundalini awakening can happen after years of cultivating a spiritual practice, doing Kundalini yoga , meditating, etc. But just as well, it can happen spontaneously, with no prior training. The Kundalini rising is an automatic thing that happens—and it can happen under any type of spiritual discipline, any style of yoga." The truth is, there's no one answer to this question. When I have encountered such situations, it feels like the person is caught between energies. The reason for this is the person may have an ecstatic moment, however, if their chakra, energy centers, are blocked with unresolved life issues, it is more likely that the experience becomes quite uncomfortable such as body shaking, heat in the spine or surrounding different energy centers, and unable to sleep due to feeling supercharged. Kundalini awakenings will be different for everyone, and some say it can feel like a bad drug trip or psychosis. Working with Kundalini rising, especially unexpectedly, is difficult for the person as it can feel crazy making and there is no medical diagnosis. Too many spiritual hopefuls suggest kundalini rising is a gift without understanding that this is not a goal or something to be suffered through in hopes to attain enlightenment. My suggestion is to reframe the situation into something that they can understand and can feel they are able to work through in small steps. Step one is to learn how to get grounded and to practice it often every day. Surprisingly wiggling one’s toes often helps this process. Grounding stones like hematite, galena, and pyrite often calms the person and is useful when needing to just sit and breathe. Occasionally, herbal support can be used through different calming teas. Kava Kava calms the nervous systems and can be quite helpful Step two is to focus attention on the difficult sensation with the intent to calm the energies and restore flow. Often, this will feel scary as the block might be due to a traumatic event or an unwillingness to make a life changing decision. The goal is never to get rid of or to blow through but to sit with and see what emerges. It might be emotional however it is often insightful and the block melts away restoring flow. Step three is to support the person to use three principles in any spiritual or healing practice. 1. Slow is fast: Cognitively it seems logical to go fast, however slow allows the person to develop safety within themselves. 2. Less is more: most efforts succeed when the urge to do more or the desire to chase whatever is blocking the energy is negated. No marathon efforts to get rid of something. The key to healing is to integrate 3. Small is big: Often restoring flow is sought with a six inch fire hose. In truth, the blockage might be a series of fragmented moments or a massive trauma that will respond and build confidence by going small. Flow and wholeness often come to those with the mindfulness to respect the blockages and to slowly integrate. As a healing presence, the focus is to support the person by witnessing and support the three principles. Presence begets presence so being with the person will invite them to be more present and enable them to heal themselves in the moment, the only true point of power.

The Intimate Edge

By Herb Stevenson • May 3, 2023
In prior articles, I discussed types of presence. In this one, I discuss the impact of presence through the point of contact or the intimate edge. It is at this edge that presence with the client occurs, and healing can occur. The Intimate Edge Darlene Bregman Ehrenberg coined the phrase “intimate edge” in an article in 1974 and elaborated in her book in 1992. Her focus was on the psychoanalytic interaction between therapist and patient. In other words, it was focused on the interactive edge of the therapeutic relationship. We will draw on her insights to apply a deeper understanding of the intimate edge of presence. The "intimate edge" of being present ideally becomes the point of maximum and acknowledged contact at any given moment in a relationship without fusion, without violation of the separateness and integrity of each other. We are maintaining energetic sovereignty as individuals while connecting to one another. We are focused on creating a healing (therapeutic) presence. Attempting to be present at this point requires ceaseless sensitivity to inner (energetic) changes ( a felt sense) in oneself and in the other, as well as to changes at the interface of the interaction as these occur in the context of the subtle energetic connection with reciprocal impact. This kind of effort, in itself, tends to have existential impact on both participants like an awareness that something shifted energetically, and this in turn influences what then goes on between them dialectically and energetically. When contact is maintained, self-awareness expands within and between each other. When the lack of presence exists, there is an energetic absence to the moment, the person, the situation. There is no felt sense. The "intimate edge" is never static but becomes the trace of a constantly moving experience of energy. The constantly changing moment in time has the potential to create a “moment” of connectivity. This connectivity might be experienced as pleasant or unpleasant depending on the degree of presence to the moment. If comfortable in the presence of self and other, it can be a moment of being “touched” in a pleasant and deep innermost way. When working within the intimate edge, it is never your responsibility to figure things out. You do not have to use your mind to think about how to undo a negative situation. It is the presence of being in the intimate moment that reveals what has been frozen in time. If there is not adequate presence to the moment, the intimate edge can bump into memories of unfinished or incomplete experiences that originally overwhelmed the person, possibly traumatized. Suspended in time and space as an incomplete experience, surrounded by disruptive and painful emotions (energy in motion, it becomes unintegrated. All you need to do is remain present to dissolve the persistent energetic patterns holding everything in place. Energetically, we refer to these as time crystals, moments or unfinished experiences seeking contact and completion. When the underlying energies are freed up (thaw the time crystals), they return to that zero state of oneness, the zero point as noted in most spiritual traditions. Each time the time crystal is touched by the presence of another, it is changed, and as it is touched it either dissolves into an energetic shift of awareness or increases its size and self-sealed protection. The emphasis is on process, on engaging in live experience, and on generating a new kind of live experience by so doing, in an ever expanding way. Energetically, we refer to this as expanding self-awareness and one’s individual presence, as existentially (a felt sense) there is awareness that something shifted into an expanded or greater sense of oneself or disconnects into a form of dissociation. Presence, and therefore self-awareness, expands with acknowledgment and explicitness of the shift in energy. Therefore, the process of acknowledgment increases the moment's dimensions and changes the nature of one's experiences of it. What is achieved is not simply greater insight into what is or was, but a new kind of experience, such as a deeper sense of wholeness. A felt sense of wholeness. Working at the "intimate edge" requires safely sitting on the edge of vulnerability through a clear presence of holding a nonjudgmental energy that creates a unique context of safety and allows for maximum closeness precisely because it protects against the threat of intrusion or violation. Attending to the most elusive interactive subtleties and "opening the moment" actually becomes a way to clear the field for self-awareness. This makes it possible for both participants to engage in aspects of the experience that otherwise might be threatening, even dangerous. In other words, the moment unfolds the felt sense into an healing presence by and between each other. In effect, the "intimate edge" is not simply at the boundary between self and other, the point of developing interpersonal intimacy and awareness of interpersonal possibility in the relationship; it is also at the boundary of self-awareness. In Gestalt, it is referred to as the “point of contact”. It is an energetic point of expanding self-discovery, at which one can become more "intimate" with one's own experience through the evolving relationship with the other, and then more intimate with the other as one becomes more attuned to oneself. Because of this kind of dialectical interplay, the "intimate edge" becomes the "growing edge" or the “healing edge”of the individuals and potentially the relationship. The introduction of intimate edge (presence) to the frozen and neglected moments in time instantly restores peace to any situation, regardless of the underlying conditions. As moment-by-moment shifts in the energetic experience between the individuals are acknowledged, reflected upon, and integrated, self-awareness of individual patterns of reaction and particular sensitivities can be identified and explored. This allows for awareness of newfound choices or release of frozen constructs, often unknown till now, as well as deeper awareness of feeling more whole, as if energy has been released and integrated. Even when the "intimate edge" is missed or bumped into due to inadequate presence in the moment, often experienced as an energetic feeling of danger such as a sense of intrusion, acknowledging the bump begins to restore the necessary presence for the frozen moment in time to return at some other time when the level of presence can support the moment. The "intimate edge" is, therefore, not a given, but an interactive creation. It is always unique to the moment and to the sensibilities of the specific participants in relation to each other and reflects the participants' subjective and unconscious sense of what is safe at that moment. Focusing on the interactive nuances in this way often requires a shift in perspective as to what is figure and what is ground. Forcing on presence or being open to the presence of what is present, can create a safe field for the client to expand their personal energy field. In other words, the focus is to increase the ground of the energetic connection with the client rather than to seek to reveal a hidden figure. This shift in focus creates an energy of safety that invites more presence of the individual. For example, where an individual drifts into a fantasy that energetically takes him or her out of the room (energetically absent), the content and interactive meaning are not as important as the energetic shifts preceding the story telling .The focus becomes to support the re-membering the felt sense of the energetic buildup, often in the form of emotions and bodily sensations, that triggered the release of a story. Exploring what energetically triggered the fantasy by simply acknowledging the emotions as energy in motion, may reveal the subtler patterns of his or her own experience. As Ehrenberg noted, “it can facilitate a shift on the part of the individual from feeling victimized or helpless, stuck without any options, to freshly experiencing his or her own power and responsibility in relation to multiple choices.” Aiming for the "intimate edge" does not support healing presence. It is not our duty to seek the frozen moments or to determine the content. Our presence supports the client to safety experience the release of energy, which ultimately is empowering to the client. We can use our awareness of a shift in energy as a clue that something may need to be acknowledged to support the experience. Hence one’s energetic sensitivity is particularly key where the individual may not be fully in touch with this dimension of his or her own experience. If one locates and relays his or her own experience when the patient cannot, this can help to locate and possibly dissolve the time crystal frozen in time as a significant shift in energy. May Your Day be Filled with Presence.

Moments Frozen in Time: Encountering Time Crystals in Healing Sessions

By Herb Stevenson • March 16, 2023
We are often curious about the healing presence process especially when trying to comprehend and relate to time crystals, moments frozen in time. In basic terms, healing presence is centered in the moment with the client, often experienced as an increased degree of energy(warmth) and a higher vibrational energy. Often the degree of energy begins a grounding process to increase the client’s sense of presence within oneself. This can create a sense of being within oneself, safely. The higher vibrational energy can trigger a sense of wobble internally as the client can experience a wobble or back and forth experience of anxiety and excitement especially if the client has not grounded within oneself (being present to oneself) During the experience of wobbling, often between feeling anxious and excited, unconscious original actions and verbal expression emerge from something "underneath" typical thinking in the form of a deep sense of awareness and bodily felt experiencing, often like a euphoric release of energy. From the healing presence perspective, this is the thawing of the time crystal and when the time crystal encounters adequate awareness and presence, what needs to be discovered occurs first from deep within as the frozen moment in time often experienced in the body is activated and begin to thaw. As the thawing or dissolving of the time crystal occurs, there can be a growing awareness of the shift starting with the body, then the emotional and finally the mental. The mental tends to occur as a deep sense of knowing and not thinking, like a remembrance of the original frozen moment in time no longer separated and inert and now integrated in the person. Hence, presence infiltrates the sense of being to allow the ‘awareness and felt sense’ of something lost or buried to surface. In the diagram, we can see that the time crystal is an inert, moment frozen in time that floats in the auric field of the person. In healing presence, we do not focus exclusively on the cellular energy that holds the felt sense and/or to the unconscious. We see the moment frozen in time having an implicit meaning of felt sense that permeates the auric field as well as the mental, emotional, and cellular energy fields inclusively being within the unconscious. As indicated in the diagram, the moment frozen in time is able to reconnect and be integrated in consciousness through the point of power, the present moment, by remaining fully present within themselves. The Healing presence process supports that presence like a connection to the core self that passes through the various energy fields insulated by the healing presence.

Types of Presence / Active Presence

By Herb Stevenson • February 28, 2023
We often refer to presence or healing presence without revisiting it. In the following article, I am integrating three forms of presence often referred to by Buddhist traditions, plus the deeper meaning in Buddhist and many other traditions. As you ponder the four aspects of presence, you will see that where you focus your attention creates a different for of presence. The last, pure presence, is akin to what we teach as healing presence. Types of Presence Active presence invites an open-ended engagement with experience like the spiritual dynamic of surrendering…the allowing-in of the moment without emotional reactions or mental restrictions…simply Being with oneself. Active presence includes the four forms of present-moment attention identified as: 1. In therapeutic presence, you actively choose where to focus your attention. 2. In joyful presence, you actively choose how you react to your experience. 3. In mindful presence, you actively choose how to make sense of your experience. 4. In pure presence, you exist in the oneness as a deep sense of being. Therapeutic Presence Therapeutic presence can fully witness and stay present to oneself and the client/other person. It maintains eye and vocal contact providing support through descriptive comments of what is noticed. One stays fully embodied, aware of energetic connections to the earth and the client energy field. Healing (therapeutic) presence: let go of the past and the future… the future is not here..the past is already over. We must deal with things as they are in the moment... healing and transformation are possible the moment we accept the actuality of things as they are in this moment. Joyful Presence Joyful presence attends to the present moment to cultivate full appreciation of the rich experience available in each moment. Joyful presence is filled with Gratitude in each moment. Epicureans insisted that only in the present moment is happiness possible. What is more, they said, happiness in this one moment is all the happiness one could ever want. Mindful Presence “Mindfulness” (in Sanskrit) means ‘remembering’. This is “mindful presence”—presence that remembers …..itself. “Remembering” here does not just mean remembering to be mindful: it refers instead to remembering what has value, what matters most…that you are pure presence. For example, when walking, standing, sitting, falling asleep, waking up, talking, and remaining silent, one remains fully alert to the moment while remembering to fully embrace each moment. With mindful presence, then, we move beyond immediate sensory experience and disregard for past and future, beyond joyful and healing (therapeutic) presence into aware presence. Pure Presence Pure Presence is often referred to as the zero-point or the still-point where ones experience of self and other become interwoven as a soothing and piercing experience of oneness or wholeness. Experience tends to shift one’s sense of self and sense of the world as if all perceptual limitations have been eliminated leaving a sense of awe, wonderment, and ease in being. A realization can occur that the self, as known prior to the experience was a series of creative adjustments to life’s experiences that were useful to navigate the social and cultural landmines, no longer exists. Some refer to this as embodying the Self or a full embodiment of our spirit. Active Presence We can only act in the present, not the past or the future. When we practice active presence, choosing how to act in this moment, we also choose who and what we will be. Active presence—choosing how to act in this moment—takes mindfulness out of the range of sitting meditation and inserts it into daily life. Active presence has the potential to go further, for it invites an open-ended engagement with experience. When I am actively present, I choose to fully be present to this moment. It is “Taking the plunge” means fearless presence, total involvement, holding nothing back. The courage to Be. Active presence offers a way into the deeper existential and universal understanding of presence to what is present. If it is difficult for the self to do this, if it (your created self) clings to and defends its own positions and wants, that only underscores the need to challenge the self and the conditions it imposes on experience.
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