Ecstatic Absorption: Accessing the Ecstasies
A straight-forward guide on how to ACTUALLY access the ecstatic and liberating states.
You can access the YouTube instructional video by clicking here (http://youtu.be/G3lt0YaFLw8)
Part 1: Why Isn't Meditation Blissful?
In most of the world, meditation is practiced and taught like it isn't self-arising. As if it is something you create, or just a stoic exercise. I read so many of these unhelpful books and teachings, I began to wonder if anyone experienced what I had so gratefully come upon. They all missed the point, or failed to explain well. Meditation leads to naturally, self-arising experiences of joy, bliss, and ecstasy. Just as the right conditions will produce fire, so too will ecstatic states of altered consciousness.
To distinguish the following from the meditation most of us know, we will call this "ecstatic absorption." It is jhana, samadhi, and so many other terms, but what it really is, is mostly beyond words. Please follow along with the instructions as you read, and take a moment to re-read anything you might not understand. This is the fastest, most succinct and reliable source of experiencing the spiritual ecstasies I've ever seen or been able to produce through text.
If you are already established in a meditative practice, you might skip down to the next section entitled "Part 3: Accessing the Ecstasies."
Part 2: Pre-Requisite to Ecstatic Absorption
The pre-requisite skill needed to enter these profound states of altered consciousness is very simple. One needs to "take a step back" from the mind, and become the "witness" to all the mind's phenomena. Imagine you are watching a movie you're not so interested in, and therefor, are not immersed in it. The name of this movie is "Life." The mind is the screen where "Life" is projected onto, and experienced as sensations and thoughts. You are the awareness of "Life", of the mind. You are merely the audience.
Test this for yourself. I will state a short phrase, and it is for the reader to stop immediately upon reading it, and let your awareness simply witness the naturally arising thoughts related to the experience of the phrase. The phrase is "I am so tired of ______."
If you were successful, you will know or realize that you are not these thoughts. They arise without you, and they pass away without you. They only stay if you "grab" or "cling" to them with your awareness, just as a butterfly's nature is to fly free unless we grab it with our hand as it passes us. So just let the thoughts (and physical sensations) fly past you.
If you have difficulty, you may use the feeling of breathing in and out as an anchor. Simply rest your awareness on your breathing, and thoughts will eventually arise. When they arise, you return awareness to your breath. Soon the mind will realize.
You only need to realize you are not your thoughts, and that you don't need to be controlled by them. You don't have to be perfect at this. Just realize. It will create space for new sensations to arise.
Part 3: Accessing the Ecstasies
Having established "the witness", the next step is even easier. It is to "absorb" into NON-physical phenomena. Also known as "jhana-nimitta" or "charisms", these non-physical sensations are signs of absorption.
To do this, make sure your body is relaxed and comfortable. Then direct your awareness to the inside of your hands or feet, and rest it there. You will experience sensations. Let your awareness appreciate and subsequently absorb into the pleasant tingling, warmth, "fullness" or fluid movements you experience within. Even if it isn't mind-blowing at first, you must open your heart, and deeply appreciate it as if it were your refuge in the greatest need. Like it is a benevolent, deeply loved friend you've not seen for lifetimes, and now have the chance to embrace.
The more deeply you open up your heart to these sensations, the more you will be showered with tremendous reward. Soon, joy, bliss, and ecstasy will arise. And this is just the beginning.
Troubleshooting:
Like catching a butterfly, we don't squeeze too hard, or loosen too much. Your awareness of the non-physical sensations must be balanced. You must be gentle. If you concentrate too hard, you will experience tension in the body. If you concentrate too little, your awareness will waver. We're not concentrating at all. We're resting our awareness on the sensations, and embracing them with an open heart.
Continue to rest your awareness on this presence, allowing it to spread throughout the body. This takes patience, and one must let go. "Let go", for most people, is what we do when we go to sleep. One must relax into the primary sensations in your awareness. As one does, more sensations will enter the awareness, such as non-physical sensations in other parts of the body, or sounds, which almost always begin at first as a simple ringing or buzzing.
It's like standing in front of a beautiful painting with a flashlight pointed directly at it. When we take steps back, the flashlight illuminates more and more to our amazement. The light of our flashlight is the light of our awareness. The non-physical sensations inside the body is the painting. As our awareness slowly takes steps back at it's own pace--due to our awareness resting on and relaxing into it--we begin to see and experience more and more of the beautiful painting, our heart opens to it, and eventually we experience the totality of our non-physical "body."
Part 4: What is Possible?
For some who have practiced as they have read, they will experience much more than is detailed here. Each physical sense of though, seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing, balance, and tactile feeling has a non-physical counterpart, a sign of absorption, which will enter into your awareness as you relax into the non-physical sensations. They will develop, become stronger and more vivid. A ringing in the ear will turn into rushing water or birds. The tactile sensation present within the body will turn in bliss.
It will become clear to the reader they are tapping into an entire non-physical body with it's complete set of senses. Some may even experience an ecstatic surge of Energy rising in waves from the root to the crown of the head. Which will then surge back down with tremendous power, healing, love, insight, and ecstasy--often putting all the hairs of the physical body on end, and tears of relief in the eyes. This is called Kundalini, Energy, Ariya, or the Holy Spirit. It is unforgettable when at it's strongest.
Advanced: What is Possible?
If you go far enough, into the 4th stage, the 4th jhana, you may with the non-physical visual sense experience some kind of pin or light or tunnel or orb or star which will "like a spaceship" take you completely out of your physical body. You are now having an out of body experience. You may fall asleep, or not witness the "spaceship" and yet still have an out of body experience. Most likely you will experience heavenly things. Consider it a vacation, but the real progress is made in the first 4 stages, not the latter 4. If any of this is too much for you, simply open your eyes and walk away. Or to avoid leaving the body, just remain anchored in the tactile feeling sensations or even physical sensations in your background awareness.
This is all normal. Do not be frightened. Like riding a roller coaster for the first time, it is only a bit frightening because it is new to you. Like a child watching a movie at the theater for the first time. Your hands or feet may sweat, but trust that you are interacting with a benevolent process of unfolding. It's just very powerful and "moving" at first. Many of you, like I was the first time, will be too ecstatic for fear to bother you.
Welcome to the path to Enlightenment, to God, to Source, to Union, or whatever term you care to use. It doesn't matter. One simply knows they have come across something beautiful, profound, and it is what so many spiritual teachers have talked about all throughout history.
The fulfillment to be experienced within is far greater than anything to be experienced without.