That has been my awareness also in my 80s. Thank you for posting Michael. I am finding it is an interesting life journey "Those Years of the 80s; Then and Now"
Oh Cynthia! In medical school, early 1970’s, I lived with a friend who had this Cantata on a record and we played it over and over, interspersed with Gordon Lightfoot!
As a zen practitioner and trainer, I am fairly certain that the Buddha never taught or recommended permanent enlightenment. He taught continual paying attention to all parts of the body and environment, feelings, breathing awareness, awakening, opening and harmony. However, it’s good to have all the models in front of us. Also mu never grabbed me either…
Cynthia, hello. Thank you. Can you teach more on how to “entrain with another vibrational field”. I have some understanding and could use more teachings on this. Thanks. Great thanks.
If you've ever fallen in love or cared for a child, a goldfish, or a houseplant, you already know how to do this. It's simply a matter of paying conscious attention to what you've already been doing instinctively so as to be able to wield what you know more consciously/voluntarily.
The gist of it is:"Energy flows where attention goes." You bring your attention to the "object" of your entrainment, ensuring that your attention is quiet, warm, receptive, non-judging. The rest will unfold naturally, as the two receptive energetic fields begin to come into synchrony. Soon subject and object pole begin to exchange places fluidly back and forth so that the whole subject/object dichotomy which regulates our usual perception relaxes its grip, and you simply perceive holographically from the wholeness of the field itself. Praying with icons under an experienced teacher is also a good way to practice this.
I would add there is a wonderful 2-for-1 deal here. The more I work on feeling my own feet, hands, and so forth, ….the more capacity I ‘reclaim’ in myself to “entrain with another vibrational field”
Thoughts arising: When I first began dancing, there were moments when the music carried me... no counting, no measuring, only flow. A quiet noticing. These moments came by accident, before I knew the steps, before the mind whispered, “Let me…”
Later, as lessons multiplied, I chased the flow by trying to perform correctly, and the experience vanished. Until one night, weary and forgetting myself, the dance remembered me. The steps and rhythm had always been in the music; I only needed to step aside. And then, of course, the mind returned: “Let me…”
The dance becomes a circle of remembering, notching, and forgetting… until perhaps forgetting itself feels like arrival.... We work for that which no work is required.
I hear the value of quantification, yet I’m drawn to the moment when it dissolves into fulfillment - when love is the ground and the steps remember themselves.
I wonder if what feels like a secret teaching is simply the mind insisting there must be a secret, forgetting it does not know the subtle truth: that one must step off the raft before reaching the shore. The Dharma carries us across, yet clinging to it keeps our feet from touching the ground. The secret is not hidden; it is only hard for self to trust.
Perhaps the rhythm of awakening is not a straight path, but a dance. One step forward, one step back, sometimes spinning in circles. We hear stories of sudden enlightenment and imagine lightning bolts, but most of the time it’s quieter than breath, a noticing, nothing gained, yet everything changed. For a moment, the seeker dissolves, law fulfilled, and life itself becomes the dance. Then the mind returns, whispering, let me… And so the music begins again.
My deep and humble thanks to you Cynthia for helping to further give confidence to my heart as it continues to open, face and come through the dark night of the soul and rejoice in the light.
Several years back, you generously shared this impactful three-centered awareness model in the first of your Wisdom Schools that I was fortunate to attend. And I am grateful.
I hope it’s ok for me to put the following out here. I’m currently searching and wishing to join an interactive online group or community of wisdom school souls who meet regularly via zoom, or other face-to-face platforms - to draw and build on the extraordinary foundations, knowledge, teachings, insights and contemplative practices that you so generously share in person, through your live and recorded courses, books and articles.
Should any natural fits emerge, then I’d be most grateful. Thanking you, Richard (richardwrm@hotmail.co.uk)
Thank you so much, Richard. You could start by checking out Wisdomwaypoints.org, my "home" organization that so beautifully nests and supports me and fellow seekers on the path I am helping to bushwhack. You'll find a whole bunch of meditation groups, book circles, online courses—even some online Gurdjieff movements and exercises, skillfully coordinated by some of the most truly generous and mature seekers I've ever met. Have at it!
Thank you Cynthia, for not only your teachings/sharings but also this link. It has been several years since I was honored to be with you in person in WV, an amazing and moving life experience.
What is so nourishing about this post is the reality of being fully awake is for many more of a melting process as the three centres come online at the same time. For me, the practices of T'ai Chi and yoga enhance the movement strand.
I’m a therapist and the company I work for has a library of mental health content they create, including a video on mindful awareness that asks viewers to practice the “three point check: what am I thinking? What am I feeling? What am I doing?”
Obstruye levels of information; that’s precisely where I disconnect from Gurdijef.I can resonate with balancing the three centers, but can do away with the intellectual map, his Cosmology, metaphysics., ray of creation,etc. Thank you for your description, Cynthia.
Thank you for this Advent gift! As I prepare to sing the first mass of the season, I pray that your reflection, and the Bach music, help me to remain fully three centered and awake. Keeping the candle in my heart burning, as not to miss the awaited one when it once more arrives. Blessings!
Saturday morning, here in snowy Ontario and my heart is bursting with joy as I crank up the volume and fill the house with Bach - amazing, love it!!!!! I have always appreciated you as my spiritual teacher Cynthia, but wow - your musical heart speaks to me!
Well, I guess there is no time like the present to notice my 80 year old feet
That has been my awareness also in my 80s. Thank you for posting Michael. I am finding it is an interesting life journey "Those Years of the 80s; Then and Now"
How lovely to find other octagenarian feet among Work folk. I can't imagine these later years without the knowledge and help of the Work.
We just need to keep arriving on the ever opening threshold of wonder and devotion that is waiting to teach us.
Thank you Cynthia
Oh Cynthia! In medical school, early 1970’s, I lived with a friend who had this Cantata on a record and we played it over and over, interspersed with Gordon Lightfoot!
As a zen practitioner and trainer, I am fairly certain that the Buddha never taught or recommended permanent enlightenment. He taught continual paying attention to all parts of the body and environment, feelings, breathing awareness, awakening, opening and harmony. However, it’s good to have all the models in front of us. Also mu never grabbed me either…
Cynthia, hello. Thank you. Can you teach more on how to “entrain with another vibrational field”. I have some understanding and could use more teachings on this. Thanks. Great thanks.
If you've ever fallen in love or cared for a child, a goldfish, or a houseplant, you already know how to do this. It's simply a matter of paying conscious attention to what you've already been doing instinctively so as to be able to wield what you know more consciously/voluntarily.
The gist of it is:"Energy flows where attention goes." You bring your attention to the "object" of your entrainment, ensuring that your attention is quiet, warm, receptive, non-judging. The rest will unfold naturally, as the two receptive energetic fields begin to come into synchrony. Soon subject and object pole begin to exchange places fluidly back and forth so that the whole subject/object dichotomy which regulates our usual perception relaxes its grip, and you simply perceive holographically from the wholeness of the field itself. Praying with icons under an experienced teacher is also a good way to practice this.
I would add there is a wonderful 2-for-1 deal here. The more I work on feeling my own feet, hands, and so forth, ….the more capacity I ‘reclaim’ in myself to “entrain with another vibrational field”
Thoughts arising: When I first began dancing, there were moments when the music carried me... no counting, no measuring, only flow. A quiet noticing. These moments came by accident, before I knew the steps, before the mind whispered, “Let me…”
Later, as lessons multiplied, I chased the flow by trying to perform correctly, and the experience vanished. Until one night, weary and forgetting myself, the dance remembered me. The steps and rhythm had always been in the music; I only needed to step aside. And then, of course, the mind returned: “Let me…”
The dance becomes a circle of remembering, notching, and forgetting… until perhaps forgetting itself feels like arrival.... We work for that which no work is required.
I hear the value of quantification, yet I’m drawn to the moment when it dissolves into fulfillment - when love is the ground and the steps remember themselves.
I wonder if what feels like a secret teaching is simply the mind insisting there must be a secret, forgetting it does not know the subtle truth: that one must step off the raft before reaching the shore. The Dharma carries us across, yet clinging to it keeps our feet from touching the ground. The secret is not hidden; it is only hard for self to trust.
Perhaps the rhythm of awakening is not a straight path, but a dance. One step forward, one step back, sometimes spinning in circles. We hear stories of sudden enlightenment and imagine lightning bolts, but most of the time it’s quieter than breath, a noticing, nothing gained, yet everything changed. For a moment, the seeker dissolves, law fulfilled, and life itself becomes the dance. Then the mind returns, whispering, let me… And so the music begins again.
A monk asked the master, “From where does the path arise?”
The master replied, “From the source, like a river from the mountain.”
The monk pressed further, “Then may I walk back to the mountain?”
The master shook his head: “When the river flows, it does not climb. The mountain is not behind you, It is beneath your every step.
My deep and humble thanks to you Cynthia for helping to further give confidence to my heart as it continues to open, face and come through the dark night of the soul and rejoice in the light.
Several years back, you generously shared this impactful three-centered awareness model in the first of your Wisdom Schools that I was fortunate to attend. And I am grateful.
I hope it’s ok for me to put the following out here. I’m currently searching and wishing to join an interactive online group or community of wisdom school souls who meet regularly via zoom, or other face-to-face platforms - to draw and build on the extraordinary foundations, knowledge, teachings, insights and contemplative practices that you so generously share in person, through your live and recorded courses, books and articles.
Should any natural fits emerge, then I’d be most grateful. Thanking you, Richard (richardwrm@hotmail.co.uk)
Thank you so much, Richard. You could start by checking out Wisdomwaypoints.org, my "home" organization that so beautifully nests and supports me and fellow seekers on the path I am helping to bushwhack. You'll find a whole bunch of meditation groups, book circles, online courses—even some online Gurdjieff movements and exercises, skillfully coordinated by some of the most truly generous and mature seekers I've ever met. Have at it!
Thank you Cynthia, for not only your teachings/sharings but also this link. It has been several years since I was honored to be with you in person in WV, an amazing and moving life experience.
"The duck could not yet “mu,” but it could at least begin to quack like a real duck, not a bovine wannabee." What a marvel of a duck is Bach!
Thank you for punctuating this msg with Bach's expression of the soul's longing and the Beloved's response...
What is so nourishing about this post is the reality of being fully awake is for many more of a melting process as the three centres come online at the same time. For me, the practices of T'ai Chi and yoga enhance the movement strand.
I’m a therapist and the company I work for has a library of mental health content they create, including a video on mindful awareness that asks viewers to practice the “three point check: what am I thinking? What am I feeling? What am I doing?”
So clear! So helpful! Thank you, thank you!
Obstruye levels of information; that’s precisely where I disconnect from Gurdijef.I can resonate with balancing the three centers, but can do away with the intellectual map, his Cosmology, metaphysics., ray of creation,etc. Thank you for your description, Cynthia.
Thank you for this Advent gift! As I prepare to sing the first mass of the season, I pray that your reflection, and the Bach music, help me to remain fully three centered and awake. Keeping the candle in my heart burning, as not to miss the awaited one when it once more arrives. Blessings!
Saturday morning, here in snowy Ontario and my heart is bursting with joy as I crank up the volume and fill the house with Bach - amazing, love it!!!!! I have always appreciated you as my spiritual teacher Cynthia, but wow - your musical heart speaks to me!
Thanks. That's all. Thanks.