I've written before about exercises designed to help you re-connect with your senses and with nature, most notably in my review of David Abram's Spell of the Sensuous, which included this exercise:
I
locate myself in a relatively open space -- a low hill is particularly
good, or a wide field. I relax a bit, take a few breaths, gaze around.
Then I close my eyes, and let myself begin to feel the whole bulk of my
past -- the whole mass of events leading up to this very moment. And I
call into awareness as well my whole future -- all those projects and
possibilities that lie waiting to be realized. I imagine this past and
this future as two vast balloons of time, separated from each other
like the bulbs of an hourglass, yet linked together at the single
moment where I stand pondering them. And then, very slowly, I allow
both of these immense bulbs of time to begin leaking their substance
into this minute moment between them, into the present. Slowly,
imperceptibly at first, the present moment begins to grow. Nourished by
the leakage from the past and the future, the present moment swells in
proportion as those other dimensions shrink. Soon it is very large, and
the past and the future have dwindled down to mere knots on the edge of
this huge expanse. At this point, I let the past and the future
dissolve entirely. And I open my eyes...
When I commented that this exercise didn't work for me, several readers
were kind enough to send me exercises that had worked for them, or
exercises that they, as yoga, meditation or other professionals or
religious teachers, taught others. As anyone who has had the misfortune
to watch me dance or swim can tell you, I'm a slow learner of things
that require self-consciousness and coordination, and I'm also very
easily distracted, so I tried these without success.
I recently discovered the blog of
Canadian poet Feith Stuart, and the other day she published an exercise
that she calls 'sensualization'. Here's how it works (I've edited it
down a bit):
- Create sacred space. Sacred space is more a state of
mind than an actual physical place. Turn off the phones, television,
music. Make sure you won’t be interrupted. Light some incense if you
don’t find scent distracting. Light a candle, choosing a colour that
feels right to you.
- Relax. Crucial and not so easy. Find a position
that’s comfortable for you. Forget the instructions you’ve been taught.
Energy will flow as you will it, not in accordance to all the so-called
rules. If you’re comfortable lying down, lie down. If you’re
comfortable cross-legged or in lotus, so be it. Whatever feels best and
most appropriate for you is most appropriate for you. Once you find the
position you feel most comfortable in, let yourself remain in that
position for a while without doing anything more. Begin to focus on
your breathing. Don’t worry about slowing it down or causing it to be
more even. This will happen simply by virtue of the attention you pay
to it. Breathe in and out until you’re feeling quite calm.
- Set Your Will. I call this third step ‘grounding’
but you can call it whatever you like. When I say ‘grounding’ I mean
that I’m rooting myself in the head space I’ve chosen. I’m letting my
mind in on whatever I’m about to do and I’m anchoring myself to the
earth. You might call this ’stating your intent’. You might say a
prayer. However you wish to tell yourself that what it is you’re about
to do will work. Continue breathing.
- Sensualize. Let yourself experience your intention
in whatever way you can. Name it out loud if that helps. Don’t force
it. Be open to whatever way this intention wishes to come into your
mind - as a smell, a taste, a sound, an image, or simply as a knowing.
Keep breathing. Flesh it out. Make it louder or more intense. Pretend
it into something you have no doubt you are experiencing in the moment,
and when your inner nag tells you it’s all bullshit, acknowledge that
the inner nag thinks that, and keep going.
- Anchor The Intent: Use as many of your senses as you
possibly can in this step. Declare that this thing, whatever it might
be, is yours. It’s not on it’s way, it’s here. You aren’t waiting
because you already have it. Sensualize yourself as being in possession
of it. Feel what it feels like in your body to have it. Taste success.
Hear someone tell you that it’s yours.
- Release The Intent: Let it go in as physical a way
as you can. Blow it up into the heavens if you like, or send it through
your palms and into the earth (my favourite way). Think about all the
ways we make wishes - throwing pennies in wells, blowing out candles,
etc. Use that ingrained habit to your advantage by incorporating it
into your sensualization, surrendering your intention to a power bigger
than you are, and it is a necessary step, so if you have trouble
imagining a power bigger than you are, listen to thunder or gaze up at
a mountain. Powers bigger than you are everywhere.
- Be Silent: Don’t blather to everyone about what
you’re doing. Write it down in your journal, and keep working on it
until you see results, but keep hush.
- Make An Offering, an expression of gratitude, to
whatever/whoever works for you. To the Gods, to the Earth, to your
higher consciousness, to science, even. Offerings can be simple, or
something especially meaningful to you, Give something of yourself.
- Act In Accordance: This is the most difficult step.
You’re going to find yourself arguing with yourself like a loony. Fake
it until you make it in this case. Whenever you start doubting
yourself, shift your focus. Start thinking about something else
entirely. Remember what the little ritual releasing you did. Focus on
that. Focus on the fact that the process is already underway. And then
do something that will lead to your intention.
I confess I cheated in transcribing Feith's prescription, removing the
sections that struck me as a bit far-fetched, and trying to alter this
from an all-purpose realization-of-desires exercise to one more
specifically attuned to reconnecting with one's senses and with nature.
What I like about it is (a) it anticipates some of the problems most of
these exercises seem to produce for me, and tells me how to get past
them, and (b) it's simple and free of pretense and new-agey jargon, yet
very prescriptive, providing examples to clarify the instructions. I
can't say it has worked completely for me, but I've just tried it a
couple of times, and I can see it working. It helps me imagine.
The ninth step is an act of affirmation,
of confidence and optimism that what you are trying to achieve will
succeed, has already begun to succeed. This is, of course, wishful
thinking, but that doesn't invalidate it. I have learned that really
believing, really wanting something to happen brings about changes that
tend to increase the likelihood of them happening. I remember nearly
thirty years ago, having sent in 150 resumes trying for my first 'real'
job after graduating, and getting only one interview, which was
unsuccessful, I went directly and somewhat desperately from that
interview to the main floor of the building, looked at the directory of
other companies in that building, picked one, rode back up to the
floor, walked in cold and asked the receptionist if I could speak to
someone there about what it would take to get a job working for that
company. Whether it was out of pity or respect for my determination, I
got an interview with a senior partner who told me he liked my
aggressiveness and advised me what I would need to learn to work there,
and three months later I had six job offers in that industry. I picked
the company that had been good enough to grant me the unscheduled
interview, and worked there for 27 years.
Another believer in the power of wishful, positive thinking is Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams. In The Dilbert Future, Adams, one of the world's greatest skeptics, devotes a whole chapter to the power of affirmations.
Let me know if it works for you.
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MADE IN CANADA
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