Commitment to Presence..

How would your life change if you were able to remain boundlessly open to and fully present with whatever was going on—not only around you but inside of you as well?

Spiritual awakening, explains Gangaji, involves a commitment to turning toward our experience and the willingness to be with what is there. When we are able to face whatever arises, we break our habitual tendency to turn away from our experience and to cut ourselves off from life.

It seems so natural and normal, we are drawn to what feels good, comfortable, safe, familiar.. and we avoid what feels bad, that which evokes our deepest fears. The invitation is to notice what arises internally when we get triggered, activated. Make noticing what is here now, as a sensation in the body the most important thing. Notice movement in the body, or the opposite, holding, contraction, heaviness, density.

As we begin to notice the way these feelings show up in the body we can also ask ourselves, "Is this ok that this is here, just as it is? Is it entirely ok, or not entirely ok, is there resistance?" Most often there is some resistance, it's natural, it's how we are wired, to avoid what we think is painful. So we can practice noticing the sensations that are present, the resistance, the thoughts that arises with commentary and stories, we can notice all of this and yet not follow the thoughts back into the mind, allowing awareness to rest in the body.

Usually after a period of allowing what is here to be here, there comes a deeper breath, some small amount of relaxation, so we notice that, and soon things seem to lighten a bit, the contraction lessens, we drop deeper into awareness of ourselves, things become still, calm and there is a feeling that all is well, all is exceedingly well.

This is where it really begins, the dropping, the deepening, coming back to the natural state, resting in our true nature. The invitation is to surrender deeply into this, melt, let yourself feel as if you are resting on a raft and the mighty river is taking you. Taking you where ever it will, the river knows where it is going, you are completely at rest, actually you are the river, feel the current moving beneath you, around you, you are the current.

You are one with life, all of life, open, allowing, fully present, awake ... enjoy!