The Meditation At The Heart Of The Tribe

A Very Personal Guided Meditation Each member of a Tribe of Awakening Through Relating accepts that although everything is connected, and we are all part of everything - they all live within their Own, Unique Experience. None of them, therefore, claims to know the objective truth about anything. And all of them, therefore, are learning to relate humbly, respectfully and lovingly with each other – in an atmosphere of total equality. The word “learning” in the previous paragraph is important. Because as a Tribe of Awakening Through Relating we are all aware that, although we understand theoretically that each of us lives within their own, unique experience of any given moment – we are often not “in the moment”, we are often out-of-ourselves, caught up in mental meanderings, emotional blockages, and habitual absence and avoidance. We therefore agree, as a Tribe, to support each other in becoming present-to our Unique Experience, and in relating-from our Unique Experience. Although some of us might be into Sufism, others into Tai Chi, others into Goddess Worship, and so on – the one practice we all share is the Practice of Awakening Through Relating, which supports us on our shared journey of learning to live-in and relate-from our Unique Experience. The practice of Conscious Relating is divided into three parts: 1. practising self-awareness as a Unique Individual who is nevertheless a Part of The Great Mystery 2. practising awareness of both self and other as Unique Parts of, or Expressions of, The Great Mystery. 3. practising relating to each other as Unique Expressions of The Great Mystery. The first part is foundational – because I will only be able to meet you as another, indefinable Expression of The Great Mystery (in the second part of the practice) to the extent that I experience myself as a Unique Expression of The Great Mystery (in the first part). But this first part can also be practised separately, alone. (The Practice of Awakening Through Relating is always with one other, or with the Tribe.) It can be practised as a private, personal meditation. And the essence of it is this: You alternate (a) breathing in though the heart and then exhaing out, downwards, into the Earth with (b) breathing in through the heart and then exhaling out, upwards, into the Space that surrounds us. The felt-sense we nurture as we breath downwards is of our Unique Individuality. The felt-sense we nurture as we breath upwards is of our Belonging. As we continue to breath in this way - returning our attention continuously (as with any meditation) from distractions to our actual breathing – these two felt-senses become one, and we experience ourselves as both Unique and Belonging – as Unique Expressions of The Great Mystery. (It´s also possible to stop from time to time during one´s busy day, and breath in this way – and return to self awareness. Some people like to use the alarm on their mobile/cell phone to remind them to stop!) There are, of course, endless possible textures within this meditation – and in the recording I am going to share with you, you´ll feel the textures that I, personally, have entered at this stage of my journey. As I have practiced returning to my Own Unique Experience of the Moment – my physical, emotional, mental and energetic/spiritual/existential experience of the moment – I have noticed, over the years, that the world around me has become less definable, more mysterious, more sacred – and that I too, and everyone else, and every living creature, have also become less definable, more of a mystery, and more sacred! I feel this is reflected in the recording. Something else that I feel is also relfected in the recording is my sense that Everything is Alive – that each Unique Expression of the Great Mystery is alive, and can feel and be-felt – and that The Great Mystery Itself is alive, and can feel, and be-felt. The other aspect of this recording that stands out for me is the pleasure I enjoy as I let myself Bathe in my Belonging – a pleasure that I experience as deeper than the ´happinesses and sadnessess´ of my everyday life. I invite you to breathe with me (inhaling through the heart and exhaling down, inhaling through the heart and exhaling up and around), and enjoy this recording – not of ´the right way´ to do the first part of The Practice of Awakening Through Relating, but of the way I enter it, and celebrate it.

Meditation_Uniqueness_Belonging.7z

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Mark Josephs Aragon, Spain, Spring 2024 * The practice of Conscous Relating is explained in detail in the short, free "Tribes of Awakening Through Relating Manual: Concept & Method", which you can request here