Awareness
One of the questions I got last week was what is stillness exactly and how do I get there?
It all starts with regular practice. Find a practice you like include some experienced guidance, and then begin the journey to self-realization.
Stillness is awareness, thus stillness is the awareness of stillness. It’s an experience and you will recognize it when you get present and just be in the moment.
It is not thinking you are still and It is NOT something you read about and learn. It’s an experience that’s cultivated with practice. Stillness is always here and now. It can be wide as the view of a horizon or refined with the one-pointed focus of looking into the eyes of someone you are interested in. And then there is the deeper experience of being aware of awareness itself. Often called the witness or observer which is the gateway to enlightenment.
There are many ways to develop awareness, meditation being the most obvious choice. Some other choices include breath work (prana), mantra repetition, walking meditation, inner body awareness, and yoga. There are many choices just as there are many variations of each. The old adage when the student is ready the teacher appears is very true. It’s usually intuition that prompts one to commit to a practice that is found to be spiritually attractive.
Awareness itself can mean many things to different situations and people. The written word can hardly do justice to explaining universal consciousness. But for this conversation about stillness and awareness to happen, it requires being conscious and aware enough to choose what we pay attention to, and to choose how we experience that experience. Ultimately just resting back into the experience itself and just being is the desired approach.
In a sense, our experience in any moment is totally defined by our level of awareness. It’s about what we pay attention to and how we engage with the moment.
If this sounds heady no worries we always just come back to the practice and remember we all have our own journey to walk. Begin by being honest with yourself, with where you are at, and with what you want from a practice.
If you would like some support with that I am available just click and follow the link.
Peace Shuka/Dean