Pure consciousness, what Patanjali called “stilling the mind”, is quite easy to experience for a short time by practicing this exercise. It causes the sense of self to pause – when this happens what remains is pure consciousness.
With practice this spiritual enquiry exercise need only take about 30 seconds. Do it in a quiet and private place.
The Exercise
(The first part of this exercise uses the tennis visualization from the previous page, but any sport that requires a few seconds of intense concentration while standing can be used)
1) Physically adopt the tennis stance, leaning forward with knees bent. Keep your eyes open and use the visualization from the previous page to enter the “in the zone” state. The Sense of Self will pause and the mind clear of thoughts as the body becomes tensed and primed for instant instinctive reaction. Hold this visualization for a few seconds…
2) Although the sense of self has paused, being “in the zone” is a sports experience. An extra step is required to turn this into a spiritual exercise and to experience pure consciousness: Gently release the visualization and relax the physical tension while sense of self is still paused.
By dropping the visualization and tension what remains is the state of pure consciousness. Quietly look around and and enjoy this glimpse of reality beyond the sense of self!
This exercise may appear extremely simple, but the switch from “in the zone” to pure consciousness is very subtle. It requires careful practice because the sense of self will spring back into action at any moment!
Once you get the knack you’ll find that switching into pure consciousness is really quite effortless and can be maintained for several minutes. It’s a spiritually uplifting high that you’ll want to repeat!
I discovered that short experiences of pure consciousness have a cumulative effect – an organic sense of inner peace and happiness.
Spiritual enquiry
Stumbling into it
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