R4B Mastery: Harnessing Personal/Spiritual Energy
... insights from a half century of study, training, direct experience and reflections about that experience
The photograph below is a real world example of harnessing spiritual energy. This exceptional pic was taken recently during the spiritual consecration of a stupa in Asia. The photo captures the light traveling out of Kamala Rinpoche’s hand. This was detected later by Lama John Hoag when he examined the photograph he had taken. While every sentient being has energy coursing through and out of their body constantly, it is not typically directed through intention. This post explains how to intentionally generate, focus and direct personal/spiritual energy through and out of the body for the benefit of all beings and the world.
For a long minute, consider taking a 180 degree turn away from uncontrollable national and geopolitical issues toward the development of controllable personal/spiritual energy. This post explores practices that cultivate this capability. Learning how to generate, focus and direct personal/spiritual energy is a significant undertaking that can yield noteworthy benefits personally as well as for a widening sphere of reflective impact. This is especially true for beings who are awakening to an expansion of their consciousness through meditation.
A. Three Developmental Processes
The dharma wanderer’s training, study, direct experience and reflections suggest there are three developmental processes that enable the harnessing of personal/spiritual energy: 1 cultivating awareness; 2 clarifying aspirational intention; and 3 using the body/heart/mind as the locus for integrating awareness and aspirational intention. Specific energetic practices that rely on these developmental processes are clarified in detail below in Section B.
A. Developmental Process 1: Cultivating Awareness
Awareness is enhanced via the practice of mindfulness meditation. Sitting quietly. Observing the breath. Noticing thoughts, feelings and sensations when they arise and returning awareness to the breath. A more refined version of this practice involves noticing what arises in awareness without subsequent attachment or resistance by simply letting it be as it is. This neutral observation without grasping or judgment enables moments of primordial wisdom to arise.
According to Tibetan meditation masters, this intrinsic awareness, aka rigpa, is available to everyone from birth, but most beings do not recognize it because of their own thoughts and judgements. Their rigpa awareness is obscured by their mind’s busyness with thinking and random chatter. These become obscurations interfering with the primordial wisdom that is potentially available. Conscious relaxation and mindfulness meditation help dissolve these obscurations, so that wisdom moments can more readily arise in awareness. For those who might benefit from enhanced relaxation, a previous post included three short videos on how to consciously relax.
Wisdom moments arise when practitioners experience an intuitive knowing of what, when and how to do. This may include a holistic understanding of the dynamics operating amidst confusing and frustrating complexity. This knowing or understanding enables practitioners to employ skillful means for coping in the real world based on the guidance that arises in their awareness. This fundamental coping skill supports sustaining the experience of flow as practitioners unfold moment by moment in their daily living.
Guidance during wisdom moments tends to arise via hints, clues, signs and signals that are detected in awareness. As obscurations, attachments and negative emotions are detected and dissolved via meditation, practitioners can more readily detect this guidance. This enables them to make a choice: either accept what is or clarify their aspirational intention and then use or develop skillful means to take effective action.
A. Developmental Process 2: Clarifying Aspirational Intention
Multiple issues can arise when clarifying aspirational intention. The key elements of this developmental process are presented in the basic stage of the R4B Method. Be advised that…
Aspirational intention can be repeated…
as a carefully formulated goal/affirmation/mantra/prayer…
expressed silently or aloud…
in rhythm with the breath…
while sitting, walking and engaging in repetitive movement…
while allowing the precise wording to morph as intuitive awareness provides momentary guidance.
Fine tuning of the wording is enhanced by expressing it aloud during repetitive movement, as described in the intermediate stage of the R4B Method. This enables practitioners to develop one pointed concentration as they develop more refined control over their brain-mind. This stage can be used to amplify and project the vibratory intention throughout the body and into the external environment. This is explained further below by describing the specific energetic practice for projecting this intention through and out of the body.
Integrating these two developmental processes with additional energetic practices described below enables the harnessing of personal/spiritual energy. Personal energy becomes available for manifestation and accomplishment of personal/spiritual goals in the relative world.
However, there are several risks:
First, it may be difficult to avoid self managed re-programming success becoming food for the practitioner’s ego. Success manifestation and accomplishment can create karmic consequences that eventually yield dissatisfaction and suffering, aka dukkha, because of an expanded self congratulatory ego. There is, however, an effective antidote: negative karma can be dissolved by counteracting it with energetic practices that are motivated by beneficent intention. The dharma paradigm, path and practices operate to diminish the ego’s obscurations so practitioners can more readily project beneficent intention, discern wisdom guidance and progress toward what Tibetan masters call liberation.
Second, a critical issue clarified in the basic and intermediate stages of the R4B Method is how to safely formulate the precise words and aspirational phrasing to use for repetition. It’s important to recognize that practitioners can temporarily become their own guru by exerting control over their brain-mind. Word choice is critically important. Observing the consequences of this practice over time supports practitioner understanding of how to manage and fine tune their brain-mind as both a receiver of guidance arising from primordial wisdom and a transmitter of energetic vibratory intention for the benefit of all beings and the world.
These developmental processes and energetic practices are a one-two punch for developing one pointed concentration. The initial capability for one pointed concentration in the brain-mind is established by silently repeating a goal/affirmation/mantra/prayer while in sitting meditation. With practice, his becomes an easily repeated pattern. It can then be more easily expressed aloud in the intermediate stage. This vocal expression involves mentally formulating the words, speaking them and hearing them. This imbues the brain-mind-body with the intention being expressed. This requires intense one-pointed concentration, thereby dissolving distractions while walking and during repetitive exercise.
A. Strategic Risks and Consequences
Strategic risks and consequences are determined by two factors: 1 whether practitioners’ programming of their brain-mind develops unhealthy attachment to the desired outcome; and 2 whether the expression of aspirational intent is aligned with the four immeasurables. Readers are encouraged to review the dharma wanderer’s post on the four immeasurables because it clarifies specific practices for cultivating these positive qualities.
Persistent attachment to desired outcomes tends to eventually yield dissatisfaction and suffering. Focusing re-programming on the four immeasurables of kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity can be combined with letting go into the unfolding process of favorable present moments. This is an essential element of the dharma paradigm, path and practice. Benefits have been validated by more than two millennia of committed practice and can be tested currently by direct experience.
A. Developmental Process 3: Using the Body-Mind to Integrate Awareness and Intention
This third developmental process adds visualization of personal/spiritual intention to the mix of meditation practices. A variety of visualization practices are described in the advanced stage of the R4B Method. These include specifics on how to further develop practitioners’ capability for visualization. This is an important cognitive skill that enables more effective harnessing of personal/spiritual energy. Readers who sense their visualization and imaging skills could be beneficially strengthened are encouraged to review this section of the website.
B. Harnessing Personal/Spiritual Energy
Be advised the three developmental processes described above enable personal/spiritual energy to be harnessed in three sequential stages: 1 generating physical energy through deep inhalations; 2 mentally focusing and converting the physical energy to imagery of light in the torso; and 3 directing it through and out the body for beneficial application. This pic illustrates the visualization for energetically projecting beneficent intention through and out of the body. The detailed stages for accomplishing this are described below.
B. Stage 1: Generating Physical Energy Through Deep Inhalations
The first stage is accomplished by intentionally generating an increase in the body’s physical energy through a series of deep inhalations. Many people do not fully use their lungs because they breathe shallowly and too high up in their chest. Engaging in deep inhalations generates an increase in the body’s energetic capacity.
This is accomplished in four micro-steps:
A required beginning for the deep inhalation practice is to first expand the lower abdomen and pull the diaphragm down. This pulls air into the lower lungs. This short video explains how to do diaphragmatic breathing. The belly should be expanded as much as possible to generate even more physical energy, thereby pulling even more air into the lower lungs.
The second step of the deep inhale expands the chest as much as possible by pulling the shoulders back. This pulls more air into the central portion of the lungs.
The third step of the deep inhalation involves raising the upper chest to bring more air into the top portion of the lungs. These three steps integrate diaphragm, chest and lungs for a conscious deep inhalation in the torso.
The final step for energy generation using the lungs is to hold the deeply inhaled breath for several seconds. This enables the oxygen that was deeply inhaled to be distributed throughout the body. Oxygen feeds cellular mitochondria, the essential component for cellular metabolism to provide physical energy for the body.
B. Stage 2: Transforming the Physical Energy to Light
The physical energy that has been generated by deep inhalation can be transformed by visualizing it as light moving through the body. As practitioners hold their breath in the fourth step of deep inhalation, they visualize/imagine blue or white light in the center of their torso. This begins to open and activate their heart chakra, which is a primary source of spiritual energy. The heart chakra energy and associated emotion can be amplified by recalling fond memories, such as memorable loving experiences with family, close friends and pets. The use of visualization and loving memories are key ingredients for converting physical energy to spiritual energy. This makes it more readily available for beneficial application.
A previous post explained how to do this. Two paragraphs are repeated from that post: To dissolve negative emotions when they arise, inhale deeply and visualize white or blue light entering the body from above, penetrating the chest area and expanding throughout the torso. Imagine this white or blue light dissolving the dark gray light of negative emotion and sending it out of the body into the earth on multiple extended exhalations.
Visualize this repeatedly until the torso’s dark gray light has completely dissolved and the negative emotion has subsided. This enables the negative emotion to be replaced by cleansing white or loving blue light. The repetition of this practice yields a variety of worthwhile benefits, including an enlarged space in consciousness for the experience of positive emotions to arise spontaneously and intentionally.
Be advised that individual capability for visualization varies considerably across individuals. The advanced stage of the R4B Method explains how to cultivate this mental skill and describes several developmental practices for visualization.
B. Stage 3: Directing the Energy Through and Out of the Body
The first step of a deep inhalation involves the lower abdomen and activation of the chi center. Expanding the chest then moves the chi energy up the practitioner’s central channel to the area of the heart chakra in the second step. Using memorable loving moments enables an increase in the physical/spiritual energy available for application and direction. Mentally converting it to light imagery makes it available for focused direction and beneficial application.
Directing this energy involves mentally and visually sending it out of the body during extended exhalations. Repetition of the mental/visual intention to direct the energy will enhance the sensations of energetic movement through the body. With repetitive practice, it can be felt/sensed most easily in the hands and heart area of the chest or torso. Sending healing energy through one’s hands and heart has been a beneficial spiritual practice for multiple millennia
It may be useful to consider a version of this process for healing emotional scar tissue. A previous post specifically addressed this issue.
Be advised that practitioners can beneficially heal their body/heart/mind of emotional scar tissue, dissolve negative emotions and clarify their aspirational intentions. This frees their body/heart/mind to intentionally generate, focus and direct their personal/spiritual energy. Harnessing this energy to personally experience and project the positive emotions of kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity can become a daily practice. As personal/spiritual energy arising from the four immeasurables is generated, focused and directed through and out of the body into absolute emptiness, it is reflected back into the relative world for the benefit of the practitioner as well as all beings and the world.
May all who read and reflect on this post, use it to further enhance their harnessing of personal/spiritual energy for the benefit of all beings and the world.
🙏💕🌎
ib
always free. unsubscribe at any time.