Tag Archives: consciousness

Shared Wisdom

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I went to hear Hank Wesselman speak recently on his new book, Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation, that he co-wrote with Sandra Ingerman, one of my heroes in the world of modern shamanism.

I often tell my clients, “It doesn’t matter to me what you believe in, I’m interested in what you experience.”

Wesselman clarified this idea when he talked about how “direct experience is above belief, beyond faith.  Direct experience equals personal transformation.”

He spoke about the role of the shaman as one who restores power to those who have lost it.  In some ways, this is how I approach coaching, except I don’t think of it as restoring power, so much as reminding people of their own power and offering a re-connection with what may have been forgotten:  the strength within, a source of personal power.  It’s the essence of all that is beyond your physical self, yet accessible by your physical self.

He also touched on how nature mysticism is the doorway to authentic deity mysticism.  It begins “out of doors, where the juice is,” in nature.  And it’s not like this is new.  Everyone who’s had anything to say about the evolution of consciousness “got it”… that nature is one of the truest references of that power – that life force – that energy – that flows through us.  It is our blood, and cells and aura and vibrational being that is, and emits, this stuff…

I have yet to read their book, but based on his talk, I’m looking forward to learning more from him.  It was refreshing to see the reverence for such an ancient tradition, as Wesselman, Ingerman, and their colleague Michael Harner all maintain.

Stephen LaBerge on Lucid Dreaming and the Concept of Reality

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A bit of background:  When Stephen LaBerge wanted to study consciousness at Stanford in the late 70′s, no one was all that interested in committing to his dissertation team.  He garnered support from Karl Pribram, of Holographic Mind Theory fame, and settled on the topic of lucid dreaming–that is, proving in the laboratory that one can become conscious in dream time.  Since then he has gone on to provide not only empirical evidence of lucid dreaming, but he has become the foremost authority on the subject.

Yesterday he took the stage here in Dana Point to share some of his research and wisdom.  His dark suit accentuated his California tan and flyaway gray hair.  He paced the stage, obviously thrilled to talk about the topic he’s studied for thirty years, and his small frame seemed to bounce around with enthusiastic energy.

“We do not experience reality,” he said, “but our interpretation of reality.”  That is, we do not experience the world, but our mental model of the world.  And everyone’s mental model is unique.

“Dreaming is perception unconstrained by sensory input.  Perception is dreaming constrained by sensory input.”  Think on that one a few minutes.

He mentioned that in near-death experiences, there often occurs a notable disturbance in the temporal lobe.  The same type of disturbance has been reported in lucid dream studies.  As near death experiences have been known to open doors to different layers of consciousness, the potential then, for awakened consciousness is heightened with the practice of lucid dreaming.

Although I have had lucid dreams in the past, they have not come from conscious intention.  Last night I was able to recognize that I was dreaming while in dream time, but I woke up so soon afterward that I did not have time to try anything extraordinary.  My goal is to fly after I have “woken up” within the dream.  As LaBerge noted, it’s easier to recognize dreams when something is truly extraordinary–an event or context that wouldn’t exist in waking life.  In his book, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, he catagorizes different types of dream signs which have been helpful in recognizing when I am dreaming.

Trouble Staying Focused?

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Ok, so if you happen to read this blog occasionally, or if we’re connected on Twitter or Facebook, you probably know that I talk about procrastination a lot.  Here’s a technique I use when I need to center and focus my thoughts:

Alternate Nostril Breathing

Sounds complicated right? In reality, it’s an easy way to become more focused and alert, also to relieve stress or anxiety.

I first learned about alternate nostril breathing from a Conscious Breathing course I took. A year or so later, I came across it again in my yoga practice, this time called Nadi Shodhana.

Gay Hendricks, author of the book Conscious Breathing, points out that “the left side of the nose is connected to the right side of the brain, and vice versa. Breathing alternately through each nostril causes a shift from one hemisphere of the brain to the other.” This can create balance and quickly change your state of consciousness.

Alternate nostril breathing is performed by closing off one nostril at a time. You’ll want to begin on the out-breath. Close off one nostril, say the left, and breathe out, then back in through the right. Then close the right nostril and breath out and back in on the left, switching nostrils after each inhalation.

Hendricks suggests using your thumb and middle finger to close off each nostril while resting your index finger on your forehead. In Nadi Shodhana, a variation on the same concept, you curl your index and middle fingers toward your palm and use your thumb and ring finger to alternately close off each nostril.

Try it for two to five minutes and notice how you feel.