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Sensory Improvisation

6/14/2017

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Waking up the innate powers of connection to experience, and integration through practice.

For this written piece I want to assume something, offer something that is true and accessible in its first form, and highlight the principles that are demonstrated as a result.

My assumption is that yours and my senses work in much the same way, only differing in the degree of subtlety and particular detail. I also assume that we share the ability to connect to something, to a phenomena with our attention. By focusing with our attention we entrain ourselves to the object (or subject) of our focus. The connection deepens with repeated practice.

Another very important thing we share is the ability or the potential to be curious. Curiosity is a certain attitude of awareness to the unknown. Without curiosity, we can learn “by rote” and repeat certain patterns, but there is not the spark behind the action to also ignite joy and invigoration: the action is imitation only. Curiosity is fueled by something, propelling us forward effortlessly. We can be curious within repetition and discipline, but we must start with curiosity. It is like planting an orange tree before building a house, we work to construct the scaffold and the structure and so on, whilst knowing that the oranges are on their way. We can know that the house we build will be richer for its shared beginnings with the orange tree. Later in the life practice, the orange tree continues to give, and the life of the home is both structurally sound, and nourishing. In this way curiosity must be part of the foundation of any expedition of transformation practice.

There must be a certain level of innocence within this work: not naivety, but rather a lack of constrictive agenda. Our maps of meaning and value, and the story we tell about our experiences can either amplify or eliminate. An approach to practice that is open enough to allow the unexpected, to allow us to be surprised, is really essential to the process of making meaningful connections and learning through synthesis.

What I'm pointing to here is a certain power or character trait. It may seem an obvious statement, but consider the following: a thread has one loose end, as we follow the thread, we enter the weave, and as we pull and manipulate the thread, we change the weave. Curiosity then, is a way or method of pulling a thread, or following a trail. Using a curiosity with our senses in direct perception practice will have a certain affect on the weave. What we perceive will respond to that particular tone or attitude. It is not the only way to manipulate the weave, but having left gaps for the unexpected to flow through, we end up with a richer pattern, and a subtler experience.

So if the attitude of curiosity is at least somewhat established (or rediscovered), we can become aware of the way or feeling our attention works from that basis. Once the sentiment and practical focus are symbiotic, real change starts to occur.

But what is the weave? What realm do we want to focus our beings on? Assuming we can at least categorize the difference between thinking and feeling, ideas and sensation (or the combinations thereof), we can choose where to focus: thinking or feeling, imagination or sensation. I don't want to make value judgments on the personal practice of individuals, but rather offer a perspective on integration: Self-localization is the ongoing process of connecting to the resources of the present moment. I'm specifically referring to the sensory information presenting to the awareness, that precedes the layering of meaning that comes after. The assumption is that the attitude of curiosity is an open enough map to allow this direct experience to pass the filter.

So if we are practicing to localize the self, and approach deeper and deeper levels of embodied connection through direct perception, curiosity is a great attitude. By extension, trust is the glue of integrity. As the sensory experience within the present moment unfolds, as the weave shifts and shimmers, we slowly establish a deeper connection that is orientated around permission and non-violence; deeper subtlety, more reliable feedback; ongoing trust in the act of practice.

Another way to say this is that the mundane can be nourishing, if we approach our sensory experience with the right attitude, this curious focus. The point is not that we will have some kind of revelation (we likely will have many), but rather that we can begin to redefine success, redefine the feedback relationship with reality to allow the best conditions for simple satisfaction. Integration is moving towards the safety of being interconnected through voluntary practice, accessing resources made available according our own curiosity; personal allegiance with ever-present forces. The orientation around simplicity, localization and the present moment reduces the dynamic tension of transformation to a gentler level; I.e sustainable practice.

There is another assumption within this whole model: that practice can be in any moment, any space. That the living experience itself is one continuous thread within the weave of life. The way we wash the dishes, the way we sit and write, the way we sit and talk with friends, work and play, love and grieve, rest and travel. The way we move with each step, breathe each breath, all of this is the weave, and our particular point of awareness is a thread within the larger pattern.

Improvisation is a process of responding to the moment, making decisions within a state of flow that holds our attention and our sense of purpose. Improvisation allows focus through uncertainty, continuation through variation, and authentic connection to experience. Sensory improvisation then, is directing focus effortlessly in connection to sensory phenomena, relaxing into choice and curiosity in such a way that we nourished by our own awareness.

The way we follow the thread; pulling the string, affects the weave at large. We experience more of what we do; we are the weave, speaking back to ourselves through sensory phenomena.


www.michaelmasoellis.com/mentoring.html



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The Nuts and Bolts of Creative Meditation - Pt2 Spiritual Psychology and Finding Your Centre

2/23/2016

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Freedom and Structure in creative and personal consciousness practices.
Part one can be found here - Nuts and Bolts of Meditation Part 1 : Spatial Consciousness

Mind body practices in this day and age are at risk of being obscured in a haze of nonsense.. Globalization has left its mark on the spirituality of humanity in the Euro-American west, so much so that the word spirituality in the west now means just about anything to anyone, from a deep natural mysticism, to the conscious capitalism movement where 'God want's you to be rich'. There are pitfalls involved in describing spiritual practices. We can generalize too readily, as a way of understanding something that is, on any closer inspection, complex and subjective. Each person's philosophy is an elaborate and beautiful combination of philosophies, personal insights and inherited beliefs from their cultural and familial backgrounds.

Focus

So using the words 'Mind-Body' is a good way to focus a little bit more on the topic of techniques, which will reveal itself to the practitioner as the true path towards a sense of empowerment in relation to ones own consciousness.  Techniques inevitably involve an action, acting upon the human being in a way that simultaneously affects the conceptual language and the body. Techniques of consciousness then, are the practical focus of the mind-body traditions.
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 Balancing Tradition and Individuality

Techniques in any context are nothing without a clear example of what to practice towards. This is to say that without role-modeling, learning (integrating) a new state of consciousness is difficult if not impossible. As always, the idea of something is not the thing itself, likewise with experiences.

Additionally and crucially, without a deep essential desire to gain a handle on ones own direction and establish an authentic grounding in this post modern world, there is no substance to work with anyway.

​We need to find that beginning point, that 'genius loci' the spirit within as alluded to by all the great traditions of the 'evolution of the self', mysticism,  spirituality, psychology, and as pointed to by the myths and legends of the celtic, nordic and hermetic symbolic paradigms, at the very least.

What happens then, if by happenstance, we are gifted this essential spark of individuality that exists alone in the face of the mystery of reality? Somehow we have to find a way to protect and tend this fire and indeed ground ourselves in the human realm of relationships and community.

​Robert A Johnson's book 'Inner Gold' speaks of the power and weight of this deep aspect of the self that is distributed like treasure throughout our conceptual, social and spiritual landscapes. Trans-personal Psychology gives us the conceptual freedom to discover meaning and language for our own experiences, and thus reclaim this gold and gain access to the raw truth behind the projections. This truth is often hard and as such we are moved by it.

Intuitive or Personal Meditation

The space itself, and the dimension of Spatial-Awareness, within which spatial intelligence takes place, is available to all people. The malleability of the neural pathways and enerrgy is universal. Experience happens within space, inner or outer, and we can perceive the non-conceptual truth in our proximity, and further. Perhaps the real trick is making our presenting spatial experience important enough to warrant attention. This means we have to let go of the social masking that has such a strong affect on our attention and behavior. This is by no means easy, and requires patience and compassion, and above all courage. However, we can allow ourselves to rest in the knowledge that within us is the hardware inherited from our evolutionary past. The natural context of the wild human demanded a full spectrum of spatial experience, alertness and presence. Survival depends on it, and survive we do! Humanity has evolved for a high degree of spatial-intelligence, and the resources that ensured our survival are ready to be explored and enjoyed should we desire.

This type of approach to experience requires that we let go of as much of our modern conditioning on our behavior as possible. If we want to experience a creative consciousness in the space, we need to have a good grounding in the raw material itself. Rawness is mysterious, it is unshaped by humanity, it is potent, primal and downright scary. Uncertainty has a funny way of triggering a jump to a conceptual safety, but the deeper we can allow the raw spatial experience to be, the more of reality shows itself to us.
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Entities and Spirits – Presences in the Space.

A perceptual event can have any quality. Turning our attention to the space, (and away from social consciousness), can trigger a wide range of spatial experiences, with emotional or physical qualities. We could suddenly become aware that we don't know what we are looking at, at the mind can search for something to attach significance to. In this way the consumption of experience satisfies the hungry mind. The attention connects us to the space, and so as we reach out to connect, we want to name what we are connecting to. But we need to be very careful which words we are naming with, because they can very quickly and often unconsciously shape our experience. So training the attention without verbal or symbolic analysis is the path to the deeper connection. 'Perceptual Event' within the 'Spatial-Awareness' then, becomes the neutral doorway pointing to the raw medium of experience as quickly as possible.

Perhaps, during a process, we have the distinct experience that there is 'something' there, an intelligence of some kind that is invisible (or highly visible for some people), but that we can feel. The mind can respond out of desperation and we can trivialize and disengage with the experience. Worse, we can start to believe we are crazy. What we can be sure of though, is that something is happening.

The presenting experience is registering in the neural map of reality as a raw experience. What can be highly disconcerting is that this can be out of our control. Mental illness is a good example of a condition in which the person is experiencing a perceptual event which they cannot control, the effects of which can be highly distressing.

What ever the experience presenting to us is, it is there to teach us something, carrying a message about ourselves and our path.

Practice helps us to understand our experience on our own terms, alter our consciousness, and continue to explore the depth of life...if we so choose...
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Foundation of Practice

Establishing a direct connection to the raw spatial experience in Meditation Practices can be difficult in the modern context. There is usually powerful conditions that will hijack the will-power and prescribe importance to our attention. Indeed, attention is a commodity to be bought and sold. Our attention has value! Powerful forces are at work to sculpt our neural maps. There are techniques available to us to reclaim first the familiarity with our own personal consciousness (attention), and then gain the proficiency to wield our attention willingly and consciously. As with all skills, we can become very good at it! But we have to overcome challenges and persist in order to really understand the empowerment of any skill.

Developing an understanding of the fundamental parameters within which technique takes place is a good place to start learning from. Put simply, start simple, but with an awareness of the larger context. Permaculture principles in gardening are good example. We do well to know the ground before we plant in it, including rainfall and sunlight hours etc...


Finding The Center

Meditating on Balance and Gravity and Space - Mind Body fundamentals


Embodiment and Meditation go hand in hand, and practices are often prescriptive, involve specific forms, and are advertised as the best techniques. 

​The risk is that we skim over the subtle experience of the intuitive practice.

​If we use gravity and awareness of our center of gravity, we can very quickly deepen our sense of our bodies in space. Likewise, we can use our own personal attention as a catalyst, within the Spatial Matrix, to awaken our Personal Practice, and Find The Center. In this way, we plant the seeds of a creative consciousness and movement, and prepare the ground for exploratory practice.

Once we have a strong foundation, that is an awareness of our center, and of its relationship to space, we can keep returning to it. The way in which we return can change, and it is effective to alternate between freedom and structure in technique. 
A Base for Togetherness

Once we have a good sense of, and a commitment to, our own center, we can begin to more easily explore sharing energy. The benefits are obvious, we learn about embodiment and meditation through practicing together! We learn more about spatial-awareness and its depth, and ultimately learn more about ourselves. When our partner is likewise aware of their center, a condition is provided that amplifies the experience of balance and gravity.

Keep Practicing!


Traditions and teachers are powerfully valuable, but a tradition may not overtly encourage a creative practice. Teaching and learning can begin with different emphasis, and perhaps neither is better, and different people need different levels of structure to progress. There always remains, however, the option to first point to the value of individual motivation (the Genius Loci), to instill at least the beginnings of an independent practice...one that is possibly more difficult, but certainly more sustainable.

When people work together with a deep sense of value for the independent practice, the dynamic tension is a rich element for learning.


Michael Maso Ellis


Part one can be found here  - Nuts and Bolts of Meditation Part 1 : Spatial Consciousness


Michael Maso Ellis
About the author:
Michael Maso Ellis is an artist, mentor and spiritual practitioner, with a deep passion for the intuitive experience of creatively connecting to reality.
www.michaelmasoellis.com
Michael Maso Ellis’s Facebook Page
© Michael Maso Ellis
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Nuts and Bolts of Creative Meditation pt 1 : Spatial Consciousness and Embodiment

12/24/2015

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In this article I will assume, on the part of the reader, an interest in individual experience, mind-body practices, exploring possibilities, and creative responses to life. I've used a bunch of ideas and my own understandings of some of my teachers theories to describe or point to insights I've gained from practice.



The Spatial Matrix - Being Conscious of Space


The Spatial Matrix is the space our senses take in information from. Here are a couple of definitions: Spatial means 'pertaining to space':
space
​noun
​

1. a continuous area or expanse which is free, available, or unoccupied.
"a table took up much of the space"

2. the dimensions of height, depth, and width within which all things exist and move.
  1. "the work gives the sense of a journey in space and time”
matrix
noun
​

1. the cultural, social, or political environment in which something develops.
"Oxbridge was the matrix of the ideology"

2
. a mass of fine-grained rock in which gems, crystals, or fossils are embedded.
"nodules of secondary limestone set in a matrix of porous dolomite"
​
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Untitled sculpture, 2010 " The Infinite Space of Consciousness
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The Spatial Matrix
Therefore, using these definitions we can take that the 'Spatial Matrix' is 'the area or expanse in which all things exist, move, develop and which lies available to the human experience'. The 'Spatial Matrix' is the dimension of spatial intelligence in living organisms, and an essential context for a broad range of disciplines and human activities, from movement, martial arts and dance, architecture and Feng Shui, Sculpture and Landscape design, and tracking and hunting in natural environments to name a few.

Very importantly, there is an individual's awareness of space, an origin of awareness that, for each person, lies somewhere in their being, and in normal states of consciousness, 'looks out' or 'perceives from' that place.
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So each of us is an agent of attention, within the Spatial Matrix, with the seat of our awareness being orientated to a 'central point'. When standing or sitting, there is an 'axis' which runs from above us to below us, and we can 'feel' difference', indicating a perception of gravity.
This Spatial Matrix also has 360degrees of direction on the horizontal and vertical planes, and all the space in between, forming a sphere of space. This extends outwards infinitely, and also inwards as the scale of increments decreases.
Obviously there things that are physically in this matrix, and unless we were in the vacuum of 'outer-space', we are able to perceive those things.
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So we can locate objects by turning our attention with our sight, and likewise our hearing. We can also locate or sense things with a felt sensation. Importantly, we can sense the absence of an object, we can sense and perceive empty space. We can sense the shape of a space, using a combination of sight and 'putting ourselves in the space', from a distance. For example, a person can measure (unconsciously usually) the size of a doorway with their spatial awareness and come to the conclusion that they will fit through (or not!). We can, just by looking, and using our own 'body-map' awareness, tell if a moving car is close enough to hit us when we cross the road. This goes on with any number of actions, throwing or catching a ball or ducking under a branch. 
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Physical Imagination

Perceiving and judging space is closely linked to our physical ability to interact with the space or the objects in it. For example, a professional rock-climber will be able to look at a climb or even a tree in a park, and 'place themselves in the climb' imagining what it would be like, and thus having a detailed sense of what the climb would be. This is 'physical imagination'.

Another important example is that of a 'game tracker' in a hunter-gatherer setting using this ability to follow the movement and behavior of an animal through a landscape. Awareness of how an animal moves through space improves the ability to physically imagine the animal moving, or place ones self in the experience of the animal, and thus better follow the trail.

The repetition of a movement or awareness pattern slowly 'locks in' the experience to the neural-map of reality. Our spatial map, within the spatial matrix, is the record of the space we inhabit, from the room we sit in, to the room were in earlier to the day, to the park we went to or the park we walked through yesterday. We can, with our 'minds eye' and also our 'physical imagination', recall previous experiences of the spatial matrix as recorded in our neural maps.

This ability has a 'high skill cap', if any, and different contexts will have different 'spatial-syntax'.
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Tommah sizing up a coconut palm, ready to drop the bunches from 30+feet high. Below: Voila!
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This is a great short video (thanks for link Simon!) of an infant by the name of Adia testing the Spatial Matrix, slowly expanding the 'neural map'.
The ability is innate

Children begin tentative exploration of their surroundings, and assuming normal development, slowly work out a functional neural-map. This article has some good stuff on the development of spatial awareness in infants: https://exploringcognition.wordpress.com/spatial-language-abilities/how-do-we-develop-our-spatial-skills/

So we all have the hardware required to establish spatial intelligence and awareness, and learn through exploration, repetition, and reflection, how to move in, and relate our own 'central point of awareness' to, the space around us. As with all variable dimensions of experience, we each have 'established norms', modes that are more comfortable or familiar. We are creatures of habit, which we can use to our advantage.

As our spatial awareness changes, through practice, altered states of consciousness, and context, so to does our experience of reality.
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The attention and spatial-awareness

Training the attention, the ability to choose and maintain focus, of a single point or a shifting point within a small area, is the process of directing this innate ability. Any action sufficiently repeated will develop into mastery and we can find examples everywhere.

We can choose an object to focus on, or a movement, or a shape, or an 'empty space' as defined by its physical parameters e.g: the space inside a cup.

Interestingly, attention ability is trans-contextual or transferable. This is why we can practice single pointed focus as a meditation, and find that our overall concentration improves. By training the attention, we improve competence in any discipline that utilizes attention. By extension, if we practice moving the attention in a sequence of points, we get better at maintaining focus through the transitions between those points.

Because attention is 'amplified' by utility, (spatial intelligence is about problem solving, after all), we can use movements to assist the development of the attention. Conversely, stilling the body and mind can give access to a subtler spatial zone.

So the elements are available to us to start to deliberately shape our experience of space. Movements of the body, and of the attention during 'stillness', when repeated, begin to shape our neural-map, shifting what is 'familiar' to us over time.

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Single pointed focus in Zen archery, giving access to the subtleties of the Spatial Matrix.
Spatial Matrix as Canvas – Consciousness as Paint – Attention as Brush.
​

Much of my exposure to 'spiritual teachings' and ideas has focused on the cessation of suffering, healing, or progressing on the path to some form of enlightenment. It was through these kinds of lenses that I was introduced to the Vipassana tradition, awareness of multiple different conceptual paradigms, the occult, psychology and motivation in human experience, creative therapy, and embodiment practices.

This all happened alongside my formal training in sculpture, performance, and installation art. These days I can't help but run my 'Spatial Matrix' filters as move through the world. Shopping malls are INTENSE.

All of these topics and practices have informed this metaphor:
Spatial Matrix as Canvas – Consciousness as Paint – Attention as Brush.

So hopefully I have defined the canvas as being an essentially limitless dimension of awareness, in any direction within our perception, on a sliding scale of size, the spatial matrix. Also hopefully I have attended to attention, (heh heh...) the ability to direct awareness, the brush.

So what of consciousness as paint? Well consciousness is an interesting term, it is used in lots of different ways and I want to be clear what I mean. Here is the Google definition: 
​
consciousness
noun
​

1. the state of being aware of and responsive to one's surroundings.
"she failed to regain consciousness and died two days later"

2. a person's awareness or perception of something.
"her acute consciousness of Luke's presence"

synonym:

awareness of, knowledge of the existence of, alertness to, sensitivity to, realization of, cognizance of, mindfulness of, perception of,apprehension of, recognition of

"her acute consciousness of Luke's presence"
​

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Woah man...Consciousness is a medium with depth.
We can say 'I became conscious of an idea when I read about it in a book' and so consciousness of something is the result of 'being exposed' to it. Then we can say a child's consciousness of the taste of lemon is the result of being exposed to it.

Here the term is loosely used in the way we might use the word 'awareness'. What I want to do is stretch the term a little bit. I'd like to define consciousness as a 'malleable substance-like' awareness. We know that through attention and movement practices, taking advantage of brain plasticity and neural-mapping, we can alter our consciousness of our bodies and of the space. This process is assisted by the ability to remember and recall experience using symbolic language e.g if the child has a good memory, the lemon taste is symbolized by the color and shape and context, within the spatial matrix.

Obviously, this is fundamentally important to the survival of the organism. More, the process of learning the symbolic meaning of things, as pertaining to ones personal experience, is one of the great marvels and joys of being human, all the more because we can be 'conscious of the process' as it happens.
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We also know this alteration persists overtime, which makes paint a useful metaphor, as it behaves the same way, and importantly, paint is a creative medium.
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Consciousness as Paint

Phew, that was chunky as! SO...Consciousness as Paint. Cool. Well paint has different qualities, and also quantities. Qualities include color, tone, brightness etc. Also when painting, one can dollop a whole lot of paint on the canvas, or put just a little spot in the corner. A painter might choose a color of paint to represent something or communicate a 'feeling or mood'. For example 'what mood do you want in the children's bedroom'. It could also be totally random, and then the audience interprets as they will.

Likewise, consciousness has different qualities. It can be sharp, or vague, light or heavy. It can have an emotional aspect. For example happy feelings can be associated with consciousness of the beach, either as symbolized in memory, or as in actual experience of being at the beach. Other qualities could include 'comfortable, peaceful, content, inspired', for instance. I know I'm often inspired to update my consciousness of the contents of the fridge.
​

In what way are we painting?

So when we apply paint to canvas, we do so with a certain technique. We might aggressively gesture with the black acrylic, or delicately paint a small circle with sky blue. In each case a quality is being recorded. Consciousness is no different. The way in which we put our attention on the subject, either a symbol or a space within the spatial matrix, will be part of the information recorded by the neural-map.

There are many techniques of 'painting with consciousness'. And there is a spectrum of awareness about whats happening when it's happening. This is why we can say 'so and so seemed very unconscious with their affect on the space'. They might also be very conscious and just not really mind what the consequences are.

'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth', 'Biting the hand that feeds', 'looking on the bright-side of life', 'bull in a china-shop', 'appreciate the little things in life'.

All of these metaphors refer to techniques for painting with consciousness. It is arguable that the 'bull in a china-shop' is not using any technique, but still getting results...

The calligraphy traditions of China and Japan are some of my favorite visual art disciplines in the world. The refinement of touch, the conviction of gesture, and the simplicity of composition all speak to something deep in my psyche. In much the same way, slow deliberate movement and comfortable arcs in martial arts and dance are symbolic of time and care put into technique.

The technique required to create beauty is closely associated to the technique required to perceive beauty. The care and consideration, the balance of creative intention and attention to the medium that is demonstrated in these art forms is applicable to the spatial-matrix.

The term gratitude can mean 'appreciating something' or recognizing its value. In this way, gratitude is a quality of consciousness. It is a way of seeing, a way of looking and perceiving deeply without bias. It is an essentially practical method of painting with consciousness.

​Whats super cool is that the better get at using a technique in one context, the more readily accessible that technique is in others, this is to say that if we get really good at painting a certain pattern, we can get a brand new canvas and make use of our access to the practiced skill within our neural-map. You can put a rock-singer or a comedian on any stage and if they are well practiced, should be able to access their established patterns, or techniques of consciousness. So the skill is transferable in ideal circumstance, with 'best practice'.
What do we want to paint?

So it seems to be clear now that the possibilities are vast if not endless. Whoa, that can be overwhelming. Well since we are using our own attention as the brush, and our own consciousness as the paint, the choice is undeniably up to the individual themselves. There are myriad coloring in books of consciousness available to those who want to experiment with color. There are 'connect the dots', 'learn how to draw aliens', 'paint like Van Gogh' courses and teachings. The are go-to guides and how-tos. But is there a DIY section for the 'consciousness artist', the 'wizards and witches' of the world? A mentor can offer the techniques that they use to paint their canvas.

As a student of such mentors, I fumbled through clumsy attempts to get 'my blue to look like the instructions' and 'get the perspective right in the landscape image'. One of the main barriers to my progress was trying to paint with consciousness before understanding the colors or the canvas. This is to say I only had limited resources. Therapy in this context can be thought of as rediscovering resources within ourselves. I had lots of black and red, but not much else. And my canvas as all torn and grubby, and I couldn't see the edges. You get the idea.

So in many ways, we can only really 'work with what we have'. Some people get really good at this, and then don't ever want to move outside the comfort zone. However! Other people go on a mad rainbow ride, rediscovering colors and shapes and techniques they either never knew existed, or had forgotten within themselves.

Perhaps health is simply effective process, essential to which is curiosity, experimentation and appreciation of ones works, and the works of others.

The point is, it's a trans formative process...We change as we practice. Maybe some-days we want to paint big and bold, and others we are more inconspicuous.

The flexibility to both try new things, and practice the ones we love, means that we can have a variety of resources to 'draw on' (pun intended), and tangle with the wondrous mess of life.
​
Getting to know the Spatial-Matrix, Understanding the Canvas.

As a personal practice, working in the Spatial-Matrix has been a step by step incremental exploration. Sometimes, unexpected things happen. In-fact, the spatial matrix is by its very nature unknown. A blank canvas is very uncertain. As we move through life, things can spill and qualities of consciousness can show up without our permission or control. In negotiating with the uncertainty, we run many risks.

It is very important to note here that all experience happens in our own neural-map...meaning that the experience of the spatial matrix is actually the experience of our own maps, which are characterized by karmic influences in our past, our genetic and ancestral past, right back through the eons to God Knows When.

Rediscovering, or becoming familiar with this uncertain nature of the matrix is an ongoing process, and one which involves negotiating with both pleasant and unsavory experiences.

At some point for me, it became possible to direct the previously 'negative' qualities of consciousness, into creative expression. Indeed, doing this in the spatial-matrix has been essential to 'clearing' or 'purifying' practices that have helped me move forward.

This process is repeatable and gets easier...both easier to identify when its needed, and easier to move through. Often the clearing of the spatial-matrix is a good session in its self.

Once the canvas is reliable, this is to say that you can set about doing some work, and rely on the spatial-matrix to respond your intention and practice without it exploding with un-dealt with qualities of consciousness, then you can dance with all the colors and brushes that you choose, and have a jolly good time and then a nice nap.


Happy painting! :)




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Little guys checking it all out...
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Family shot doing mosaics as a kid, SA about 1994 or '95.
2  Examples of Creative Use of Meditation Practice:
The Title is Empty - Moving Meditation Performance Sun Worhship
Georgeous Mortar Butoh: 'Shamanic Techniques of Consciousness in the Butoh-Dance" 'Shadow Spirit' - Body-State and Realm shift - aka - Darkness be my Friend


In this article I will assume, on the part of the reader, an interest in individual experience, mind-body practices, exploring possibilities, and creative responses to life. I've used a bunch of ideas and my own understandings of some of my teachers theories to describe or point to insights I've gained from practice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_intelligence_(psychology) This page has some good points which might help to put things in context.
My use of 'Body maps' terminology is largely made possible by my readings and experience of material presented by Simon Thakur of Ancestral Movement: http://ancestralmovement.com/bodymaps-and-sensorimotor-amnesia/

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Edit: *Update* Thankyou Simon for the heads up on this page on 'Grid Cells': ​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_cell, and the TED talk by Neil Burgess https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd71719_G8Y​
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The Space is Held - What is Mysticism?

4/27/2015

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Images: Acrylic originals 2012-2014
The Space is Held

In the new age and therapeutic community there is this metaphor of holding space. This basically means that (ideally..) the therapist or the facilitator is allowing people in the space of a workshop or a therapeutic context to be and feel how they are, without judgment, and without interference.

This is done for various reasons, probably the best one being that it allows space for parts of each-other to been seen and acknowledged in accordance with the healing process. Worth noting is also that sometimes its motivated by a desire of the facilitator to appear more 'with it', and so project an idea of themselves as being stronger than other people. This isn't necessarily bad, because we all take it in turns to be strong for each-other, as long as its conscious, and no-one is being exploited by the illusion.

The business and marketplace is essentially primed for and orientated around the projection of salable power, and novelty. Its interesting that the 'spiritual marketplace' is so subject to the current cultural attitude of retail therapy. Its not that the work being taught is valueless, but only that it must be marketed in order to register in the consensus paradigm as valuable.

Similarly, strength and stillness can sometimes be a presenting social armor to protect a vulnerability. The coping mechanism of never showing weakness is a common trait in this context of psychic competition. Never showing weakness, however, is a good way to get sick.

I'd like to use this context to present a foundation of spiritual practice. For this I'd like assume that the contemporary motivation of spiritual practice is integration, peace, happiness, healing, power or some combination or subjective interpretation of these things.

In the shamanic traditions the journey into darkness is an essential motif. In the teachings of the Buddha Gautama Sakyamuni, Dukkha, or suffering, is the first noble truth. The heroic journeys of the mythologies of ancient cultures inevitably present trial and challenge as the hurdles in the path to peace and harmony. Its only through our relationship to the suffering of life that we grow and strengthen. The miracle of healing is the transmutation of the darkness into beauty and meaning in relation to the whole.

Dogma can been seen as the prescription of appropriate ideology and methodology in accordance with tradition. It is inherently cultural in the sense that a group of people within an institution of knowledge more or less subscribe to it as a superior model. Dogma defines the parameters of the unknown, at best in the interests of learning, at worst in the interests of control. The seeker appeals to the dogmatic structure in the face of the uncertainty of the unknown. Dogma is a safety blanket.

In the practice of techniques of spiritual awareness, whether seeing the externalization of creative process, or in meditation or embodiment, the space of the unknown is held ready for the practitioner. It is the same space that holds all of creation. It is labeled variously as God, the Great Spirit, the Void, Oneness, the Mystery, the Cosmos, or the Universe.

The edge of learning in authentic spiritual practice is the shortest distance between the known and the unknown. Practice is paving the way into the unknown. For each stone laid, there is the space available for it. The quality of workmanship is subject to the attitude of practice. There is no path without the space.

Worship or devotion are loaded terms, and can conjure up images of irrational world views, blind faith,
charlatanism. Misunderstanding around theism, spirituality in general, and religion have tainted the act of worship. Real worship is a practice of attention and awareness on the space that is held for the presenting experience.

Worshiping the space, whether internal as in meditation or external as in creative expression, is the process of maintaining relationship to the space. In experience, space is unknown.

The space is held, by its very nature. The rational response is gratitude for and love of the space of the unknown, that allows for the unfolding of experience, endlessly and without judgment. The space is infinitely patient. This is why we can say God is Love.

The interference of dogma in social and interpersonal contexts is either informative or restrictive. The dogmatic map of experience is not the territory of authentic relationship to reality. The reclamation of the the right to assign meaning to personal experience is the empowerment available in spiritual practice.

Mysticism is the worship of the mystery of reality in the present experience. The development of practice is the unification of the subject of practice and the practitioner. The integration of the mystery is spiritual and psychological freedom, and so the practitioner is free to practice.

The space is held.

Michael Ellis.

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The Principles of Practice and the Practice of Principles

4/25/2015

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Picture
Reflections on meditation

1. Change happens in the present experience.

If we want to transform, we must first honor that which we intend to transform. We must know what we are dealing with. We must listen very carefully with our attention to what is presenting in our awareness.

2. The known is remembered, and the unknown is relative to the known.

Familiar territory is acknowledged and identified as past edges of awareness. Room for new material of contemplation is made alongside the established territory. The new experience presents as difference.

3. The will focuses the attention.

The focus of attention is directed by agency. The will is strengthened through use. Attention is strengthened through willpower.

4. The will is orientated by priority.

Options are available for awareness. Choosing a priority for the will prioritizes choice. Choice is the action of willpower. The surrender of choice is a peaceful choice. The known and the unknown are options to prioritize.

5. The priority is peace. 

Acceptance is the practice of peace. The peaceful relationship with the subject of the attention is the chosen priority. The choice is made to practice peaceful awareness. The willpower is peaceful. The goal is peace. The process is peace.

6. Peace is known.

Peace is known. The unknown presents to the awareness, and is accepted peacefully. Peace grows in accordance with the prioritization of peace. Peace begets pleasure, but must begin with acceptance of the unknown that is not yet at peace.

7. The way is remembered.

The way of peace is remembered and becomes effortless. The surrender of choice is the choice to follow the way that has become familiar. Peace is the way. Peace unfolds before the practitioner.

8. The way is shown.

Teaching the way of peace is knowing peace. Therefore, teaching is practice. The process is peaceful. Practice is being. Practicing peace is being peace. The teacher becomes the way. The student becomes the way.



The teacher and the student share the way of peace.



Michael Ellis
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