The Power of Emotions, the Veil, and a Map of Transformation
Just three days ago, I put out a sincere prayer to be able to more fully access any emotions I have suppressed or denied in my life. Today in the Bikram yoga class, I was given powerful information that I have no doubt will help lead me there. The inspirations I received also for the first time give me a beautiful, expansive map which naturally guides towards personal and universal transformation. Way cool!!!
The realizations I received focus on three powerful practices: deep breathing, connecting beyond the veil, and co-creating a map of transformation beyond the veil. And underlying these three, I saw the power of embracing all emotions as gifts of this dimension. When my emotions are suppressed or denied, I deny myself full, authentic expression of who I am in this world, and in so doing, stray from the path towards growth and transformation. Shutting down my emotions creates blocks or stuck energy in my energetic field which serves to further disconnect me from my divine essence.
When instead, I allow and invite myself to experience all of my emotions fully as they arise, I can better learn to surf these rich waves and integrate the experiences which brought about the emotions much more easily. One helpful way I've found to do this is to recognize when I am triggered and to accept and even welcome the emotions that have arisen as much as possible. How much can I actually embrace my anger and/or sadness? Can I find empowering ways to feel and express these emotions fully while respecting all around me?
Pain and pleasure are not emotions, but rather feelings which serve as powerful motivators. Both pain and pleasure are equally valid teachers which give me signs of how I'm doing in life. As my consciousness aligns ever more with my divine essence, I find I tend to need less intensity on either end of the pain/pleasure scale. By listening to these motivators and opening to the lessons they have to give, I'm gradually move ever more towards a state of deep, ever-present joy which naturally arises from being more comfortable with who I am and from an ever growing feeling of interconnectedness with all around me.
Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is one way to open to these rich emotions and allow them fuller expression. By breathing into the emotions, rather than suppressing them, I can allow them to run their natural course and better learn whatever they are there to teach me. By engaging fully even with scary and unpredictable emotions which naturally arise in the course of life in this world, I invite these powerful energies to dance with my consciousness and eventually lead me ever further into to incredibly rich beauty and fullness of all that life has to offer.
Even when I'm not dealing with intense emotions, deep, full breathing can open me energetically so that it becomes easier to reach expanded states of awareness. The more I breathe deeply and fully, the easier it is to feel my connection with all parts of myself and all around me, and the easier it is to actually connect and transform. I've found that the more I focus on deep, full breaths for any expanded period, the more alert and awake I feel, and the more connected I feel with myself and all around me. Its like deep breathing thins the veil so that I can see more clearly, even while my consciousness resides in this world. Take a few deep breaths with me now!
I've come to understand that a thick veil over consciousness has been co-created in this world by all of us, so that as individuated fragments of the Divine, we can all assist the Divine in having a richer and ever more expanded experience of itself and all existence. This veil causes us humans to forget our shared divine heritage for the purpose of exploring what it's like to feel separate and disconnected, and to play the games that arise from this. The veil creates the illusion that because physically we are separate, spiritually we are disconnected as well. Life on Earth can actually be a great game for exploring consciousness for those who see the veil for what it is and understand that even as we are physically separate here, spiritually we are all intimately interconnected in this divine cosmic dance.
The veil obscures our consciousness from awareness of the absolute sacredness and divinity of all life, so that we often doubt that we are divine at our core or that the universe is a divine and loving presence. This doubt can engender intense emotions and great drama which provide the stage upon which we explore life with all of its intense richness here.
Most souls on Earth are deeply mired in the veil, so much so that they have great difficulty seeing or even believing that there is a veil or that there might exist expanded dimensions beyond this veil. They are steeped in the drama of life on Earth. And they tend to believe that this three-dimensional, five-sensory world is all we've got.
Yet a small, ever growing number of souls here now are awakening to and exploring the veil and what lies beyond it. These souls are increasingly connecting with each other so that they can shine their individual and collective light ever more brightly as the invite any who are open and interested to join in their dance towards ever greater love and harmony.
Conscious, deep breathing is a key to connecting ever more fully beyond the veil. Deep breathing seems to open the energetic channels, allowing us to pierce the veil and embrace the absolute divinity that we are.
Connecting Beyond the Veil
Prolonged deep breathing is but one key way I can thin or dissipate layers of the veil. Yet there are many other ways of doing this - meditation, dance and trance states, sacred medicines, eye gazing, sacred sexuality, near-death experiences, and more.
These various methods thin the layers of the veil by stimulating our conscious awareness either to dive deep inward or to expand far outward. The inner divine Self (our individuated soul) is the dimension deep within us where all parts of ourselves are integrated and dance in harmony, not only with ourselves but with All That Is. The outer universal soul (All That Is) is the collective of all beings and all consciousness that dances with each individuated consciousness to create life as we know it. By finding ways both internal and external to access realms beyond the veil, we can enter states where we not only know, but fully feel our deep interconnectedness with all.
Breathing can be a powerful metaphor for accessing both the internal and external states of divine interconnectedness. Most of us only use a small portion of our lungs' capacity as we breathe throughout the day. How often do you take a deep breath filling your lungs to their full capacity? And how often do you exhale, emptying your lungs completely?
Consider that a full, deep breath which fills our lungs to the fullest capacity is like expanding outward into the universe to that place where we are all interconnected. The fully emptied lungs are then like that place deep within ourselves where we again reach that same state. These are like the yin and the yang of existence, the experience of knowing all, yet knowing nothing at the same time. In this metaphor, the normal breathing we do is like the in between state. It is where we spend the vast majority of our lives mired in the veil of the illusion of separateness. I can use this metaphor as I focus on breathing deeply to see myself expanding beyond the veil with each full in breath and dropping beneath the veil with each full exhalation.
I saw this metaphor clearly in Bikram today and look forward to using my breath more consciously in this way to connect beyond the veil. Whenever I'm feeling out of sorts or disconnected, I can focus on deep, slow breathing with a full inhale and exhale and open to that divine space of interconnectedness a part of me knows so well. Cool stuff!!!
Co-creating a Map of Transformation Beyond the Veil
The Multidimensional/Universal Transformation Map: When I'm fully experiencing the other side of the veil, as I was in Bikram class today, my interconnectedness with the universe is very clear and unquestioned. Yet I also saw other souls from this planet consciously exploring these realms. They, too, were finding ways to pierce the veil and enter a state of multidimensional interconnectedness. And we saw each other there and were excited to feel our conscious connection beyond the veil.
I could see an ever increasing number of us there consciously co-creating a web of love and interconnection which we could use even when our consciousness returns to the normal veiled existence on Earth. The more of us who join in doing this, the more that beautiful web crystallizes. And the more it crystallizes, the more it's brilliance and allure can reach those mired in the veil back home. It's as if we're weaving this web together to create a map of transformation that anyone can use to find their way to these expanded states of bliss.
Ever more souls are choosing to reach beyond the veil and experience interconnectedness on a soul level. We are creating and crystalizing a growing network of individuals who are present in this three-dimensional world yet fully conscious of our interdependence and interconnectedness. We are laying down paths that anyone can follow to journey beyond the veil and connect up with this awesome network of expanded consciousness. The is the map of transformation that we are co-creating. The paths are there, and all are invited. It's up to each one of us whether or not we accept the invitation, and how far down this path we want to travel. I invite you to come play with us in this beautiful and expanded state, where we fully know and experience our divine interconnectedness, and then to bring that state back into our normal lives. Let's bring heaven down here!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." ~~ Jalaluddin Rumi
Thanks a lot for describing that so well. I feel this when I do long form,,,or just standing exercises in qiqong which, after trying many things, still have yet to find anything more difficult. Being a tree! If I'm in the middle of a great open space,,,and doing long form, I become aware of every bird,squirrel, cloud movement, and person within that range. Sometimes it draws them to me, and other times it keeps them away, depending on what my practice is like that day ! I picture the torus that I am, which, like you said, is completely controlled by the breathing. The extremes are where it's at! i have always felt this is why people become addicted to adrenalin, and whatever pumps it up for them. It may not be exactly the same thing, but I believe the sensation stirs the memory in most, and keeps us searching for that "thing" that is most real.
Standing qiqong leaves you motionless externally, but inside you are raging! Just when you think you can't hold the position anymore, you "reset", and settle into it again. Eventually,you don't need to reset, and you just become a fully bloomed, pulsating bag of neurons!, like a jellyfish, the best example I can think of....
Deep breathing is different when achieved through sports,,,it is external,,,but it's fun, and does give a "high". I also think it is much easily acquired, making it more common...
Deep breathing through an internal practice is a who;e different animal to me, as you have to face yourself, not an oppnent, or a mountain,etc., and the rewards are much deeper than that "high"....
I won't try to explain my ideas of it any further, I don't find the words as easily, or eloqurntly as you,,,thanks for putting it so well.,,,,,l,,,,,,,,T
I actually had the image of a torus, too, as I was experiencing all this. And the image of an infinity sign came to mind, too. And yes, there is a big difference between the adrenalin high of deep breathing through exercise and that gained through deep breathing in stillness. I've very much enjoyed playing with both.
Whenever I want my mind to calm down, I find that if I just sit still and focus on nothing but deep, full breaths for a few minutes, I invariably move into a rich, more connected state. Very cool stuff!
Thanks for sharing your experience. If you lived closer, I'd love to join you in your practice. Take care and enjoy the day.
Beautiful post, thank you for sharing. Your description of reaching beyond the veil seems to me to be just another way of saying 'being present'...for in presentness are you aware of your interconnectedness with all around you...and I do find deep breathing to be the most easy way to bring myself to a state of present being where great peace is found. Often times it's easy to go about your whole day or even days or weeks without being fully present...it's certainly not easy to maintain as you get swept up with the currents of life. I get the sense that you think of this web or state of being as something higher or beyond, which is interesting because to me I see it at a base level and the core of life in the physical realm...the very essence of physical being that you are brought to when you focus on the physical and bring yourself fully into your body.