Too often I hear someone talk about an “out-of-body” experience as if it was the greatest thing since, I don’t know, the invention of peanut butter. Astral projection is another feat persons speak of in hushed tones as if their trip from one place to another meant everything in the world.
Well, I’m here to tell you there ain’t nothing like the good old fashioned “In-Body” experience to get the blood rushing and the ecstasy flowing. “It’s your body now, stupid.” You don’t have to go chasing some Holy Grail to find the answer “out there.” It’s here and it’s now.
I was reminded of this when I suggested to a novice of the *Middle Way to try the “body scan” method of guided meditation. She sat for 25 minutes in a group, and grappled with one thought after another. It was tough, she told me, but this dear child had taken her first steps toward enlightenment. They were baby steps. With a little guidance, she made it through a sitting meditation. A brief walking meditation followed, and if her experience was anything like my first walk, she probably felt awkward, unbalanced and out-of-shape. (See: Why must this path hurt so much?)
The body scan can help with the concentration needed in meditation, I realized when I was giving advice to her several hours after our one-on-one talk. Find an instructor or a CD where someone could “guide” you through a scan, I suggested. Follow the guide’s instructions and focus on that part of the body the scan takes you.
The scan is nothing more than an attempt by a meditator to be acutely aware of one’s sensation of touch as it relates to, let’s say, your right foot. Upon hearing “right foot,” you make the foot the single-minded object of your attention. Feel the toes, focus on the big toe, now try to “sense” the toe next to it, and then the group of toes. Can you feel the pinky? The tip of the pinky?
It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out where the guide will take you next. Choose another part of the foot, say the in sole, the ankle, or the heel, and allow your mind to hover there, being aware of each chosen part. Eventually, you’ll touch on all the parts and be amazed at how much easier it was to nudge thoughts out of your way!
This, ladies and gentlemen, is what I call an “In-Body” experience. But don’t take my word for it. Try it yourself. If you’re like my new novice friend (is that a redundancy? A “new novice friend”?), you’ll probably need a little help from a friend, or at least, a friendly voice. That is, until you’re able to gently move your meandering and invasive thoughts “out of the picture,” and become one with your body.
I experience a tingling sensation, an effervescent feeling while “in focus.” It’s generated by some low-level motor-like engine running constantly throughout the body. A warmth blankets me, while providing a coolness at the same time.
All needs and desires are gone, save one. A wish to stay where I am – as I am – for as long as the peace and calm will effortlessly carry me. Amazingly, I am totally aware of everything around me. I am much more than this body “chilling out” in this space, this time. There is no past, no future, and the present stretches from beginingless time to endless time. My consciousness feeds off some Mother Entity that is all around me and in me.
I bow to this power, this divine energy. Make me your water bearer, O Divine Mother. Let me be the instrument to share your unconditional love with others. Let them sip from your wisdom and the body of knowledge that’s stored inside their empty vessels. Be still, I will tell them. Be still and know that we are God, that small part of the Creation within the body. Now rejoice in that moment!
(*The Middle Way is the path of moderation, between the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification.)
Contoveros 
Entasy, is what you describe, here. It’s Glorious.
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Wow!
I had to Google the meaning of “Entasy.” It is from the Greek, meaning “standing into . . .” and relates to abolishing outside experiences or experiences outside of oneself. That would include the “awareness of the self.”
In Buddhism, the wise ones speak about “emptiness.”It can also refer to “Nirvana” which, if I remember correctly, is kinda like someone extinguishing the light of a candle. Or extinguishing all suffering.
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“It’s your body now, stupid.” The body being this material manifest which is the temple where God may roam upon choosing so to do. I really love this idea of using the manner of intent to make the body conscious too because it can teach us so much and open up those “karmic” doors. We need to get into our bodies to launch and have a wonderful picnic lunch here on Mother Earth. Yes, I have been interested in all things “Eastern exotic” and esoteric since the 60’s, but mainly the 70’s when our public library did have weekly TM meetings. There our souls did expand to enter into communion with the Divine Love the greatest healer, provisioner, and lover of my soul.
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I am spell-bound by your mysticism. Let me know where and when to picnic and this humble Greek will try to serve you. It’s the least one can do in the presence of . . . a true goddess.
wow, I feel as if a “karmic” door opened and I stepped into an ancient temple of love and compassion provided by another being who understands the madness of the divine, and the “crazy wisdom” that one can impart to such a fool who wants to be holy.
Join me if you want your consciousness expanded!
michael j,
Conshohocken, PA 19428
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We leave our bodies every night … Return every morning …
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I see some things more vivid in dreams than I do in my waking hours. If I can earn good merit while there I might be able to whittle away at some of my bad karma, so I hear.
Now all I have to do is remember the dream when my body returns from its nightly journey!
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They fade quickly, I keep a pen and journal on my nitestand. A red LED is good too so the light doesn’t wake me too much … 😉
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I am a transcendental mediator but I have also practiced mindfulness meditation. I particularly like the meditation for loving kindness and compassion. I like transcendental meditation because it allows for normal thought process which sometimes enter in. I simply go back to the mantra when I am ready. I don’t think I have ever astral projected. But one can reach a very beautiful state of consciousness where there is a deep feeling of being at one with the world. I like mindfulness meditation too and I have focused on areas of the body through guided meditation. I’m not sure if it is the same as you’re talking about but I liked it and found it beneficial.
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Thank God for TM (Transcendental Meditation). I also want to thank Her for gifting us with the Beatles who made it “cool” to look closer at something so exotic from the East. It allowed me to purchase the Tibetan Book of the Dead and explore that higher consciousness talked about in the 1960s.
While I’m thanking the Divine Mother, let me throw in a grateful thanks for Ram Dass and followers like you Noelle, who are making it easy to see, hear and contemplate his message for the ages. It’s universal.
Michael j
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I like this! I had a singing teacher also touch on this method in order to help his students become vibrant and aware of their selves.
I think the preoccupation with astral projection and out of body experiences and even meditation has to do with our inherent drive for curiosity: never quite quelled, and pushing us forward. Or maybe I’m just projecting my own need to learn more and discover more. Not sure.
Anyway, my daughter also mediates and is thinking hard about visiting India: there are some interesting Yogis over there.
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The most interesting yogi you can find rests within.
That yogi is you, Wolfshades, and I discover that every time we meet. Your a mystic, you know. And you seem to be having a lot of fun discovering your “vibrant” self. I know I am!
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Thank you for saying so! It really is so much fun isn’t it?
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