A Space Practice

The following is a “space” practice from Judith Blackstone's Realization Process (a nondual form of psychotherapy).  I transcribed it from her book, The Empathic Ground: Intersubjectivity and Nonduality in the Psychotherapeutic Process.

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Sit with your back straight, either on a chair or cross-legged on a pillow.  Close your eyes. Begin by focusing on your breath.  Watch how the breath comes in and out of your nostrils. 

Bring the breath smoothly and evenly in and out of your nostrils. Now bring your inhale inward through your head (without strain) so that you use your inhale to make deep inward contact with yourself.  The exhale is a release from deep inside your head. 

Continuing this inward breath, bring your attention down to your feet and feel that you are inside your feet, that you inhabit our feet.  Attune to the quality of your self (not an idea but a particular quality that feels like your self), inside your feet. 

Feel that you are inside your ankles and your lower legs.  Attune to the quality of your self inside your ankles and lower legs. 

Feel that you are inside your knees.  Balance your awareness of the space inside your knees, find both of these internal areas at the same time.  Experience the stillness of the balanced mind. 

Feel that you are inside your thighs.  Attune to the quality of your self inside your thighs. 

Feel that you are inside your hip sockets, with a very subtle mind.  From the inside of your hip sockets, you can feel the internal space of your upper thighs and the internal space of your pelvis, at the same time.  Balance your awareness of the space inside your hip sockets, find the inside of both hip sockets at the same time.  Experience the stillness of your balanced mind and the movement of your breath at the same time.  These are two different aspects of yourself: the mind is still and balanced; the breath is moving. 

Feel that you are inside your pelvis.  Attune to the quality of your gender inside your pelvis (not an idea, but a quality; what your gender feels like to you).  Bring your breath down into your pelvis and let it pass through the quality of your gender, inside your pelvis. 

Feel that you are inside your midsection, between your ribs and your pelvis, including the solar plexus area under the ribs.  Attune to the quality of your power, your persona strength, inside your midsection.  Bring your breath down into your midsection and let it pass through the quality of power inside your midsection. 

Feel that you are inside your chest.  Attune to the quality of your love inside your chest.  Bring your breath down into your chest and let it pass through the quality of love inside your chest. 

Feel that you are inside your shoulders.  Attune to the quality of yourself inside your shoulders. 

Feel that you are inside your shoulder socket, with a very subtle mind.  From the inside of your shoulder sockets, you can feel the internal space of your upper arms and the internal space of your chest at the same time.  You inhabit the transition between your arms and your chest.  Balance your awareness of the space inside your shoulder sockets; find the inside of both shoulder sockets at the same time.  Experience the absolute stillness of your balanced mind and the movement of your breath at the same time.  The breath moves through the stillness of the balanced mind, without disturbing it. 

Feel that you are inside your arms, wrists, and hands, all the way to the fingertips.  Attune to the quality of your self inside your arms, wrists, and hands. 

Feel that you are inside your neck.  Attune to the quality of your voice, your potential to speak, inside your neck.  Bring your breath down into your neck and let it pass through the quality of your voice inside your neck. 

Feel that you are inside your head and behind your whole forehead, all the way around to the temples.  Find a point in the center of your forehead (not between the brows, but a little above the brows, in the center of your forehead).  Keep that point steady as you breathe. Now get back behind that point so that you are seeing it from behind it, from deep inside your head.  With practice, you may see a point or a sphere of light there. 

Feel that you are inside your eyes.  Let your eyes soften so that they feel continuous with the rest of your face.  Gently balance your awareness of the space inside both eyes. Feel that you are behind your cheekbones and inside your nose, all the way to the tip of your nose.  Feel that you are inside your jaw, your mouth, your lips, and your chin.  Feel that you are inside your ears. 

Now feel that you are inside both sides of your brain, all the way to the back of your brain, the bottom of your brain, and the top of your brain.  Attune to the quality of your understanding inside your whole brain.  Bring your breath through your head and let it pass through the quality of understanding inside your brain.  The breath has to be very subtle to pass through your brain. Now feel you are inside your whole body all at once.  If we say that the body is the temple, you are sitting inside the temple.  Attune to the quality of your self inside your whole body.  Let yourself feel that you are one self inside your body. 

Keeping your eyes closed, mentally find the space outside your body, the space in the room. Experience that the space inside your body and the space outside your body is the same, continuous space; it pervades you.  You are still inside your body, but you are permeable – your body is pervaded by space. 

Now open your eyes.  Again feel that you are inside your whole body all at once.  Attune to the quality of your self inside your body.  Mentally find the space outside your body.  Feel that the space inside and outside of your body is the same, continuous space; it pervades you.  Let your breath pass through space. 

Experience that the space pervading your body also pervades the other people in the room.  But you are still inside your whole body as you experience this.  Do not project yourself through the other people.  Attune to the space that seems to already be there, pervading you and the other people. Experience that the space pervading your body also pervades the walls of the room.  Remain inside your body while you experience the space pervading you and the walls of the room.

Re: A Space Practice

Here's another of Blackstone's practices, this one to be practiced with a partner:

Exercise Six

Sit facing each other, with our eyes open.  (Both partners follow the instructions at the same time.)  Feel that you are inside your whole body at once.  Find the space outside of you.  Experience the space inside and outside your body is the same, continuous space.  It pervades you.

Experience the space that pervades your body also pervades your partner.  Remain in your own body as you experience this.

Let your breath pass through your own body, so that you are breathing your own location in space.

Relax your visual field so that it becomes one with nondual consciousness.  Experience that the space sees both you and your partner (you do not have to make any effort to see).  Let the space receive both you and your partner, just as you are.

Feel that you are inside your brain.  Attune to the quality of understanding inside your brain.  Attune to your own quality of understanding and your partner’s quality of understanding at the same time.

Feel that you are inside your neck.  Attune to the quality of your voice, your potential to speak, inside your neck.  Attune to your own quality of voice and your partner’s quality of voice at the same time.

Feel that you are inside your chest.  Attune to the quality of love inside your chest.  Attune to your own quality of love and your partner’s quality of love at the same time.

Feel that you are inside your midsection, between your ribs and your pelvis.  Attune to the quality of power and personal strength inside your midsection.  Attune to your own quality of power and your partner’s quality of power at the same time.

Feel that you are inside your pelvis.  Attune to the quality of your gender inside your pelvis.  Attune to your own quality of gender and your partner’s quality of gender at the same time.

Feel that you are inside of your whole body at once.  Attune to the quality of your self in your whole body.  Attune to your own quality of self and your partner’s quality of self at the same time.

Find the space outside of your body, the space in the room.  Feel that the space inside and outside your body is the same continuous space.  Feel that the space that pervades your body also pervades your partner.

Re: A Space Practice

This may be a kind of space practice if we use the word 'space' VERY broadly.  However, I don't find it close at all to exercises in the TSK books.  In general, compared to those exercises, it more easily evokes a self trying and doing the exercise, sets up dualities such as inside-outside, self-other, and rigidifies ordinary things presumed to exist and occupy space.  It makes a BIG difference how exercises are worded, prerequisites, and the audience for whom they're intended.  
 And some other short, indicative comments: References to inconsequential particulars:   “in and out of your nostrils,” References to effort:  “Bring the breath,” “bring the inhale” (strange 'word'),  use your inhale to make deep inward  contact with yourself – does this presume that 'you' have some 'deep' insides?   Or that 'you' are deep inside your body somewhere? The exhale is a release from deep inside your head. – a 'release' from your head?  What is this?  feel that you are inside your feet – like a tiny person inside a foot and ankle? “you inhabit [y]our feet” – we inhabit planets, countries and towns, but feet?   “Attune to the quality of your self inside your ankles and lower legs. ”   Is there ever ANY self inside?  This suggests there usually is.  “Feel that you are inside your hip sockets, with a very subtle mind.”  – Do we need to think this is a 'mind' of some kind? ” find the inside of both hip sockets at the same time.”  – very likely this is confusing, only useful if you'd like the student to have the dualistic, inside-outside thinking exploded.  Feel that you are inside your neck.  – instead of what? …  Now get back behind that point so that you are seeing it from behind it, from deep inside your head.  With practice, you may see a point or a sphere of light there.  – seems way too location-oriented. Now feel that you are inside both sides of your brain, all the way to the back of your brain, the bottom of your brain, and the top of your brain.  Attune to the quality of your understanding inside your whole brain.  – is understanding inside the brain?  Then isn't it very limited? Bring your breath through your head and let it pass through the quality of understanding inside your brain.  The breath has to be very subtle to pass through your brain.  – why? Now feel you are inside your whole body all at once.  If we say that the body is the temple, you are sitting inside the temple.  – then who am I?   Attune to the quality of your self inside your whole body.  Let yourself feel that you are one self inside your body. – what about outside? Now open your eyes.  Again feel that you are inside your whole body all at once.  Attune to the quality of your self inside your body.  – of what use is the concept of 'self' in this exercise? Steve R

Re: A Space Practice

Hi, Steve, nice to see you.  I didn't find these exercises as problematic as you did, but I agree that her descriptions of space do stick generally to (TSK) first-level presuppositions – where space is related to as a container, or a physical expanse. 

In my experience, not only with these exercises but in general, the 'sense of self' often can be found to have a location in the body – a particular area of identification, a subtle positioning, a point around which attention orients, etc.  This doesn't mean the 'self' is real in any metaphysical sense, of course; only that we often have this sort of habitual positioning.  As I read her exercises (which probably are better understood in the context of her book), she is working with this unconsciously 'given' sense of self, inviting clients first to experiment with moving it around, then expanding it and opening it up.  Once we find that it is subject to being moved around and transformed, it no longer can really serve as the unconscious anchor for a pre-given self; we become aware of the self's constitution, its emergence in the moment.  So, I do think this can be useful (in a TSK context), similar to the way that TSK invites you to notice the 'coming out' of a positioned observer after experiences of openness or unpositioned knowing. 

Regarding your critique of the apparent “effort” involved, I don't see her use of the word, “bring,” as any different from similar instructions in TSK to bring awareness to the throat center, or “trying to reverse” subject-object polarization.  I'm not sure why you're finding a problem with this.

All the best,

B.