Alexander Filmer-Lorch - Inside Meditation: 2013

Sunday 1 December 2013

Putting things into Action

‘Anchoring Sense of Self’ Meditation’

The ‘Self’ cannot be objectified, which is not merely an idealistic philosophical idea. It is a fact. Hence the main focus in the initial stages of meditation practice is to develop a greater sense of ‘Self’, which ultimately leads to a more permanent sense of self that forms the foundations towards a deeper state of meditation.

But before we can do that we have to become someone in life, which is our first task, called the life task. That is, we must be able to excel in something and thrive to know something definite in life, before anything else can be done or become possible.

The manifestation of a greater sense of self means that we have come to a turning point in our personal development, at which we want to take full responsibility for our own life. Here we have arrived at a stage where we really understand the difference between order and chaos, recognising the principles of opposite attraction, as well as fully acknowledging and seeing that certain things must be done regardless of how we feel personally right now.

The ‘Anchoring Sense of Self Meditation’ is a simple, yet very powerful practice that is based on ‘conscious effort’, which forms part of our second task, the ‘work task’. Without the ‘work task’, the life task is very difficult to accomplish. However, it is only through the continuous application of conscious effort, generated by oneself that the possibility of lasting change exists, which in very simple words means practice…practice…practice. The life task and the work task have to be executed simultaneously, and the ‘Anchoring Sense of Self Meditation’ can be seen as the binding element (fascia) between the life and the work task.

During the ‘Anchoring Sense of Self Meditation’, we are utilising our physical body as a reference point to the ‘now’, where a greater sense of self can be felt (proprioceptive sense) by being fully present to the moment to moment experience of the almost infinite spacious aliveness beneath the surface experience of our physical body.

In time, and through regular practice, we will accumulate a sufficient amount of living memory of greater sense of self that has enough gravitas to gradually counterbalance all the manifestations of pictures we have developed of ourselves and take as ourselves. This is how the mind turns the ‘Self’ that cannot be objectified into an object, which only exists as pictures in our minds eye we take as ourselves. Hence, this is the true meaning behind the famous philosophical teachings of ‘piercing through the veil of illusion’ and ‘transcending Maya’.

Close your eyes, and whilst keeping your eyes soft you take your attention to the tip of your nose. Become aware of the rising and falling away of your breath, without imposing anything on your breathing. Whilst your eyes disengage rest your awareness with the appearing screen in front of you.

There your attention follows your most gentle inhalation through the very tip of the nose up to the crown of the head

stay for only a second within the pause after the inhalation

Gently Exhale taking your attention down to your coccyx & pause for a second

Inhale up along the back of the spine through your third eye

Exhale down the front into your solar plexus

Inhale mentally saying the word “I” during the inhalation, allowing the solar plexus and the whole body to fill and expand whilst feeling the resonance and reverberation of the silent sound of ‘I’

Let go into the Exhalation by mentally saying ‘AM’

Feel and merge with the formless state of ‘AM” during the pause after the exhalation.

Take your attention back to the tip of the nose and repeat the above steps for a total of seven rounds.

Then let go of all breathing and stay absorbed within the formless state of the ‘I AM’.

After six to seven month of practicing this meditation, you might experience more prolonged times in which you won’t habitually place your sense of ‘I’ into what you do, or what you have achieved, and what you want to be.

Thus a healthy state of separation between the formless ‘I AM’ state and the world of manifestations is established, in which you might gain access to greater possibilities and more conscious and creative ways of thinking, as well as experiencing life without constantly loosing your sense of self.

This meditation does not require more than 10 to 15 minutes to practice. Best four to five times a week, and always remember it is not the quantity that counts it is the regularity and quality that gradually will lead to results.

Saturday 2 November 2013

Thoughts on Self-Perception

Simply stop for a moment, and picture yourself the way you usually perceive yourself as a person. Then ask yourself, “to whom does this image arise”?... stay with wherever this question takes you.

Many people derive their sense of self through others. That is, by means of identification with someone they look up to or would like to become. This can be a momentary idol or an actual role model people aspire to.

Every culture, profession, religion, majority, minority, or field of expertise has developed their own unique role models, and usually try to encourage as many people as possible to model themselves into this respective role.

So the perception of oneself will be more or less in alignment with a particular model we have at our disposal. Each role has been re-modelled throughout the different centuries by its respective society, to meet the requirements of its particular time, as well as to give us a strong sense of self and belonging in our social environment and personal lives.

This does not only count for ourselves, it is true for many people around us that are trying to aspire to become the same role model as we do.

From a universal teaching point of view this is recognised as a psychological state called ‘external sense of self’, and many people live their whole life through it, without ever realising or acknowledging its external centre of gravitas and illusionary nature.

As we can observe in life, lots of people go to great lengths to become someone else. They gradually mould themselves into their role model or idol, which is not always conducive to their very own physical and psychological wellbeing.

This might give rise to the question, how far ‘external sense of self’ has been removed from the truth of what we are in essence?

Only your ‘self’ can answer this question.

Pause once more for a moment and be attentive to what kind of sound and image the constant voice in your head is projecting. Then ask yourself “to whom does this inner voice arise”?... Stay with wherever this question takes you.

Countless systems of philosophy and their underlying applied psychology had been developed to teach us how to tame this on-going inner chatter, this inner voice which is one, out of many ways, by which this mind finds its expression.

This inner voice derives its momentum from the influx of uninterrupted external impressions and events that enter our body/mind unit by means of our five senses, as well as from their accompanying feelings, thoughts and emotions that are automatically activated somewhere within our psychological body.

Unlike ‘external sense of self’ that springs into life by means of identification with an external object or human being, the sense of self that is derived from our inner voice, is based on mechanical responses to external impressions. To most recurring impressions and events that take place throughout our life, we respond with a matching inner song, without even realising what has triggered the on/off button to the respective tape.

That is, by continuously responding to specific situations in the same way again and again, we accumulate a countless series of response patterns that randomly alternate with each other. Each response pattern is accompanied by an inner voice that, due to its repetitive nature has such a hypnotising effect on us that it makes us fall asleep.

And of course, we are not talking about that kind of falling asleep that takes place when we are mentally and physically tired, this kind of falling asleep takes place whilst we interact with life.

We are so used to listening to this inner voice that we start believing that it is us who is talking, which is magnified by the fact that this continuous inner voice sounds exactly like our physical voice when we communicate with others.

From here it does not take very long until we start associating an image with this inner voice that has taken on the same form and shape as our physical body. Hence from then onwards we derive our full sense of self through our inner voice and inner songs.

From a universal teaching point of view this is recognised as a psychological state called ‘mechanical sense of self’ we take as real self and rarely question. Many people live their whole life through it, without ever realising or acknowledging its hypnotic and sleep producing nature.

Now take your attention towards the rising and falling away of your natural breath for a moment, and let yourself be absorbed within the spaciousness of the pause after the exhalation, accompanied by a sigh like sense of relief. Then ask yourself “out of whom does this spacious stillness arise”?... Stay with wherever this stillness will take you.

The one that has realised the illusionary nature of ‘external sense of self’, as well as the sleep producing nature of ‘mechanical sense of self’, will repeatedly channel their focus by means of conscious effort towards the objectless nature of stillness-memory within, that has been accumulated by means of self-remembering and meditative practice.

This in due course can be consciously accessed, and will manifest as a more prolonged state of ‘true sense of self’ that only very few people recognise as the truth of what they are in essence.

Thursday 3 October 2013

A matter of Mind and Being

If we look into the idea of the expansion of consciousness, the closest thing we can relate it to, particularly on the physical level, is the rising and falling away of our breath. As we can find scale within our breath cycles, similarly we can find almost infinite scale in consciousness. Both work within an ascending and descending motion, if we look at it from a vertical scale point of view.

The less external stimulus effects our breath, the more contained and relaxed the breath becomes. All of a sudden our breath cycles start fusing…and then the empty pause… as well as the full pause… and whatever is in between those pauses... becomes one.

In deep meditation one might experience that there is no longer a distinction between the inhalation, exhalation, empty pause or full pause, because they have coalesced into one.

There might be no longer a perception of influx of air, because the physical body, as well as the whole network of our nadis, no longer offer any resistance. That resistance, which is known to the ancient yogis as ‘rubbish’ contained in the physical body, has to some extent been cleared out, in order to bring in a more refined level of consciousness. This extends even down to this physical plain of our existence on earth, which is subject to so many more 'laws'.

Once the breath is one, what happens?

Just think of your own meditation practice – specifically of that particular moment when the breath becomes one. At a certain point within the process of meditation this transition is usually experienced by an increase of separation, as well as a deeper letting go of the physical body. It’s like everything becomes incredibly comfortable, like sudden ‘peace of body’.

Here, we are talking about the actual experience of the expansion of consciousness. So, if we take all these great ideas we have explored in the last few years, and just think how that applies to pure ‘Being’ - then the only possible conclusion we will come to is – that ‘Being’ is something that simply exists or just ‘is’. This will always be the case, regardless from whichever perspective or initial idea we started our enquiry.

So what separates us from the pure state of ‘Being’?

It is what the individual idea of ‘self’ has created around it, which envelopes your ‘Being’ and is separating us from it. That is, we perceive ourselves as me or I - in the way we feel emotionally, intellectually and physically about ourselves. These three functions create or manifest an image of sense of self. This image or picture we are always identified with, forms the imaginary shape around our ‘Being’, which is known to us as personality.

Unfortunately, we have forgotten that ‘Being’ is somewhere in there, due to the fact that we started believing that we are the shape… that we are a combination of this emotional, physical, intellectual manifestation… because it is this shape we use in our interactions with others and the world around us. This is indeed very fascinating, because without that shape or form, no interaction or communication would be possible.

So we are faced with a paradox that renders itself as something unfathomable to our mind. But, if we pause and listen to this paradox for a moment, we might get a glimpse of possibilities that take us out of multiplicity into unity.

In meditation, ‘Being’ separates from mind, and as a consequence mind starts moving into the background.

Allegorically speaking, if you get a flash of perception of your mind in a complete state of meditation, what you will perceive is a rotating disc-like unit forming part of the outer orbit within the infinite space of your increasing awareness. In other words, your mind is being absorbed or enveloped by pure awareness, and with the absence of our general domineering sense of I, the shift of spaciousness, which is induced by the sudden diminishment of thought activity, enables the spaciousness between thoughts to expand quite profoundly. Hence, due to the outweighing existence of spaciousness, ‘Being’ envelopes mind instead of mind enveloping ‘Being’. That is, we have raised our level of consciousness onto a plane, which lies beyond the workings of the mind, in which the mind has found its place and initial purpose and functions as a dedicated servant.

This pure state of consciousness, with its highly refined sense of direct perception is able to perceive mind as it is. Here we realise that the mind is a profoundly useful hybrid, which connects ‘that’, which is completely inactive and without shape, to ‘that’ which is active and bound by shape, i.e. our physical body.

The proper functioning of our mind is the most important thing we possess as human beings in life.

This gives rise to the question of what is usually inhibiting the proper functioning of the mind?

Those inhibitions are usually comprised of an accumulation of many things and manifestations we can find within the vastness of our psychological structure. That is for example: ‘Padding’, which is separating the different features and little ‘Me’s’ we have acquired from each other. In addition we will come across our many ‘contradictions’ that spring into life as a consequence of our ‘padding’, as well as our identification with negative thinking and negative emotions that are completely useless for any further inner growth and development. Mechanical manifestations are even less useful when it comes to our actual change of being and our work on increasing consciousness.

Why do contradictions interfere with the proper functioning of the mind?

They keep us back from seeing the bigger picture, based on the fact, that contradictions (and we carry many of them around) compartmentalize and strengthen the divided nature of our ‘Self’.

For example: Imagine a mansion in which there are all these different wings, landings, halls and rooms being separated by very thick and solid walls. We constantly move from one favourite room to another. All the rooms and spaces in that mansion are representing different parts of ‘us’, we take as ‘self’… as ‘personality’. Once we shut the door to one room, we forget that we have just spent some time there. We truly forget that this particular room actually exists, because now we have entered another room. This new room feels great and is full of different exciting attractions that are all asking for our attention. We are so absorbed by its different impressions that we haven’t even recognised that we entered a room that forms part of another wing, which is the residence of countless negative emotions. But what the universal teachings have to say about negative thinking and negative emotions, will be part of a whole new lecture and discussion.

Today, it is far more important for us to know that e usually can observe this shift from one little ‘me’ to the next much better in other people. Especially when the present ‘me’ in the other person contradicts what the previous ‘me’ has said.

Suddenly a shift takes place, and without any obvious reason the conversation takes a different route, and we wonder why. Work on oneself helps one to develop a better sense and feeling, of those things.....

Extract of a recorded interactive lecture at Treehouse Yoga South London on Saturday the 14^th April 2013

Monday 2 September 2013

Silence

"In silence there is eloquence, stop weaving, and watch how the pattern improves" - Rumi

Brief notes on Divan-e Shams by Shahriari

Divan-e Shams is a masterpiece of wisdom and eloquence. It is often said that Rumi had attained the level of a "Perfect Master" and as such, he often dwelled in the spiritual realms that were rarely visited by others of this world. He attained heights that were attained by only a few before him or since.

In Divan-e Shams, he has used many images from the mundane world. Images such as the wine and the wine bearer, the pearl and the ocean, the sun and the moon, the night and day, the caravan, pilgrimage and many more. However, he has always expressed spiritual wisdom of the highest level through this imagery.

While many other poets have a mystical vision and then try to express it in a graspable language, Rumi has never attempted to bring his visions to the level of the mundane. He has always expected, nay, demanded the reader to reach higher and higher in his or her own spiritual understanding, and then perhaps be able to appreciate what Rumi was saying.

Perhaps this is why there are many layers to his poetry… not so much because of his writing, but because of our understanding. As we transcend in our understanding, we grasp more and more of what he conveyed to us.

Yet there is more. While many of the translations of Rumi’s poetry have tried to convey the immense wisdom contained therein, often they overlook the musical and artistic beauty that they contain. Particularly in Divan-e Shams, Rumi has created such level of beauty through the use and mastery of musical rhythm and rhyme, that the reader not only can appreciate its wisdom, but also reach levels of ecstasy and mystical energy that is seldom found in other poems or any translations of his poetry.

The mastery of rhyme and rhythm is such that he often creates a new vocabulary, using the same old words, yet creating new feelings that are associated with them. Furthermore, often he has such mastery of play on words and puns, or at other times he uses the same word with a different accent or vowel twice or even thrice in the same verse, with a different meaning each time. One cannot help but marvel at the linguistic mastery he displays.

In any case, the end result is the same… the experience of artistic beauty, musical genius, rhythm and ecstatic energy, all in conjunction with the mental understanding of the wisdom conveyed. This is as close as one can get to the mystical experience itself, without actually being there with Rumi. In other words, His presence pervades his poetry, and one cannot help but be touched by such powerful and loving presence.

In translation from Farsi to English, it is inevitable that much of the intricacies are lost. However, the present translations have attempted to retain some of the rhythm and rhyme as well as the imagery and the core message of each poem, though often in feeble ways, only to attempt to present a glimpse of his mastery.

The translations are far from creating the ecstasy that Rumi creates and communicates, but it is hoped that they will point the reader in the same direction. And perhaps by using his or her imagination, the reader can have a glimpse of how Rumi would provide glimpses of ecstasy and mystical experience. And hopefully this will pave the way for the reader to connect with Rumi’s all and ever-pervasive presence, and with time, be touched by that spirit.

http://www.rumionfire.com

My next extensive post will be published in October. I have been working on different editorials the last two month, and had to take a break from my blog. Thank you for your patience.

With my best wishes

alexander filmer-lorch

Sunday 7 July 2013

"To be or not to be,..."

‘To be or not to be’…

…is not the question to be asked from man’s ordinary state of mind once the actual meaning and scale contained in the term ‘to be’ has been fully grasped and appreciated.

Discussing this subject with other people will soon take us to the conclusion that everyone will have acquired a personal take or philosophy on this particular word 'being'. That we are be able to communicate on the same level, as well as to avoid any misunderstanding, the term ‘being’ has got to be defined in the first place.

In Far Eastern philosophy terms, 'being' is something, which needs to be further developed, because our relative state of being is constantly and randomly fluctuating, depending on what we are identifying with internally or externally. So there is no gravitas or real substance or even something more permanent in our ordinary state of being.

That’s why from a philosophical perspective the pure state of 'being', that is 'being’ without any connotations attached to it, can't be recognised in our relative state of consciousness in the way we live our lives. This is based on the fact that there is too much other noise, which distracts us from something internal that is an intrinsic part of the actual 'Self'.

There is a saying that 'Our being attracts our life', hence if our state of being is negative our life will be experienced as negative and vice versa. If our state of being is governed by our personal likes and dislikes it is not free to rise up to higher levels of possible states of being.

The famous saying in Faust "To be or not to be" requires the exact understanding (experience) and definition of the term 'to be'. To truly grasp this famous saying, one needs to understand that first we have to evolve into this high state of 'to be', before we even can consider contemplating the other possibility of 'not to be'. We first have to develop a state of being that is much more permanent and reliable and as such, not that much subject to the divided nature of the 'self'.

Once this less divided state of 'to be' has manifested through conscious effort & continuous work on the mind & the self, work on the state 'not to be' can be implemented, in which all subject and object dynamics are transcended. This is accomplished by stilling the mind and being coalesced by the state of absence of thought.

Both lines of work take place simultaneously, which is an exciting undertaking that requires a lot of patience and the transformative force of meaning, as well as a bit of help and support from a source that is connected to higher knowledge.

So, we all have a lot of exciting work coming our way, which is an adventure worth embarking on. You will be surprised by how many things we regularly come across in our lives by which ‘being’ inconspicuously reveals itself. It can be met and experienced through so many different ways, whether it is through the arts, science, philosophy or literature.

And by the way, there is no need to rush things, because it takes as long as it takes - as the famous saying states “…the journey is the way”.

Alexander Filmer-Lorch

Monday 10 June 2013

Meditation - the revival of an ancient Star

‘Meditation’ is the new shooting star on the yoga horizon. It has been turning into the newest trend and it is set to become the number one interest of a very wide audience. No wonder the great popularity of this ancient modality has been picked up by the tabloids as the next ‘must do’ tip, as well as being extensively featured in many zeitgeist magazines. Globally recognised as a powerful self-help tool to counterbalance the ups and downs of life, meditation is scientifically validated as an immune system booster and a reliable manager of ‘Stress’. The Meditation Practice is now attracting attention on a universal scale. It is an interest ranging from the corporate world and health organisations down to the individual therapist and yoga teacher. All kinds of different fields of expertise are being inspired by its promising potentials. The aim is to become part of the “Peace & Stillness”; the new wave that raves: “It’s cool to meditate”.

Fast track meditation teacher trainings and complementary mini-workshops are already producing a significant number of so-called Meditation Teachers to meet the rapidly growing demand for the “ultimate meditation experience”. Meditation in various forms is in fact as old as mankind itself. It has undergone an evolutionary process of more than five millennia. It is somewhat surprising then that until recently, serious consideration has not been given to the questions of people’s personal safety. The standards of integrity or authenticity of the respective theory and practice remain relatively unchallenged. So does the larger issue of every meditation teacher’s responsibilities and duty of care regarding meditation techniques.

There are some poignant questions that often remain unanswered. By raising them, a context can be provided that creates the essential foundation of safety for the student of meditation. It is a basis that applies to the many different types of practice. For example, did you know that;

the understanding of indications and contra-indications are vital to meditation teaching and guarantee safe practice?
people who suffer from certain health conditions like panic attacks or high blood pressure should not practice types of meditation that involve excessive breath control?
only specially trained facilitators should teach meditation to people suffering from depression?
the meditation technique your best friend is practicing might not be the right method for you and vice versa?

Did you ever ask yourself or your instructor, what you will meet and experience in your meditation practice? Meditation is actually a definitive process, during which everybody will in fact meet the same signposts and qualia at certain points in the process of their particular journey into a meditative practice. There are many meditation teachers whose training would not necessarily include the answers to the questions above.

This is because despite the fact that Yoga Teacher Trainings and Continuing Professional Development courses (CPD’s) are generally very well regulated by national and international accreditation bodies; very little has been done to implement appropriate standards (or accreditation requirements for teacher trainings) in this, the field of meditation. This situation has arisen partly due to the fact that a relatively small amount of true knowledge about how to teach meditation has filtered through to us from its source of origin in the Far East. There are particular and different ways to facilitate individual students towards their objectives and a gap in the understanding of the optimum and appropriate way to do so. Regardless of the growing demand, most qualified yoga teachers that would love to implement meditation practice into their classes, refrain from teaching it due to a lack of in-depth training opportunities that are genuinely based on a secular approach.

Accreditation requirements for yoga teacher trainings today focus mainly on safe ‘Asana Practice’ and ‘Teaching Methodology’. Additionally, registered yoga schools are obliged to include a percentage of hours in ‘Yoga Anatomy’, ‘Pranayama Practice’, ‘Philosophy’ and ‘Yoga History’ in their curriculums. Furthermore, schools have to abide by clearly defined assessment criteria. They are asked to adhere to theoretical and practical exam procedures, as well as codes of conduct and ethics, to safeguard the high teaching standards you undoubtedly expect from your own yoga teacher(s). However, this leaves relatively little room in a typical 200-hour yoga teacher training to implement in-depth meditation studies into the curriculum.

Of all the areas of yogic discipline that historically evolved out of the eight limbs of ‘Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras’, none is more prone to imagination and subjective interpretation than meditation. This also applies to its underlying philosophy, which is distinct from history and in practice is far more than a series of “nice ideas”. It can be said that some of the meditation systems we come across today, have gradually evolved into a rather intellectualised structure. From this point of view, meditation can be based upon philosophical objectives that are unachievable in practice. Even in our modern times, a number of schools of thought might expect or demand their new students to sign up to a specific belief system or undergo an initiation process, which might involve exceptional (and sometimes unnecessary) sacrifices on behalf of the novice.

There is another sensitive area to which many yoga and meditation enthusiasts turn a blind eye. There are some very charismatic teachers, particularly those that enjoy attracting a great following, which in itself may not be an issue. However it can, and does lead to a great co-dependency between teacher and student in the deeper aspects of learning meditation. This can result in unforeseeable consequences, due to the lack of understanding of transference and counter-transference on behalf of the teacher. These are important issues that form the basic and appropriate boundaries of honourable practice.

The Yoga Alliance UK is the first accreditation body in the world to have specifically established new standards for meditation teacher trainings. Based on expert advice, they have created a code of practice to meet the requirements of our modern age. As a practitioner, adept and teacher of yogic disciplines, meditation and Eastern psychology for over thirty years, I trust that this will be of great benefit to ensure a safe exploration of this fine art and science. That is to the profound advantage of meditation schools and future meditation teachers, as well as to the individuals who genuinely wish to pursue such a rich and valuable practice.

These parameters of practice are now emerging as the foundation for teaching meditation, as part of a yoga teacher’s repertoire or a personal practice. While these are important developments, the main objective of meditation standards established by the Yoga Alliance UK, is to honour, sustain and maintain the timeless nature and endless value of the ancient teachings throughout, despite the contemporary demands of this exciting new millennium.

Edited by Joanne Sarah Avison director of AOCY