Sedona Method Retreat Day 2
Written on June 23, 2008 by Tom Stine
What a day! I started the morning feeling incredibly resistant and, well, basically angry at everything. I have no clue where that came from, but there it was. It was a wonderful experience, because I have talked to many people at retreats who have gotten angry, had wild fits of rage hit them, etc., but I’ve never felt that myself.
What did I do with that, you might ask? Well, basically nothing. Just let it run its course. And as I did so, I was gifted with some great insights. One was how much Hale was annoying me. And as I looked into it, I discovered why: he is so different from Adyashanti.
Yes, I was guilty of comparing gurus! I had gotten so used to Adya’s style, his gentleness, his passive approach to people, that Hale’s more assertive style was irksome. Not that Hale is a jerk (too many of those already in the world), but he does like to challenge you to see past what you believe. So, thankfully, I saw past that one.
As the day progressed, I was treated to a wonderful insight that helped it all to melt. It went like this: someone (Sailor Bob?) said that the only difference between someone who is awake and someone who isn’t is that the one who is awake sees no differences. As that thought percolated through my awareness, it dawned on me that Hale must be awake. And the person sitting in front of me must be awake. And the person behind me. Everyone in the room. And so must “I”. Everywhere I turn must be awakeness because if there are no differences, then one awakened being means all are awake. Or better to say, awakeness is everywhere.
And at that moment, all my frustration, anger, annoyance, resistance melted away. I felt happy and content to be right where I was, sitting in a room with 140 people looking into the truth of who we are.
To close, let me share a few observations I jotted down during the afternoon, some random bits about the day:
- There is the raw data of our experience: this happened, that happened, then this, then that, etc. Maybe at best that equals 1% of the content of our memory.
- The other 99% : the feelings about the data, the judgments about it, the narration, the criticisms, the fears, the frustrations, the commentary, and on and on.
- Hale can say “so what” to someone’s story with far more compassion, love and kindness than most people’s “support” and sympathy. In the end, not buying into someone’s story that denies the truth of who they are is actually quite loving and compassionate.
Namaste.
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on June 23rd, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Thanks for the honesty, Tom. In meditation circles I’ve been in, they speak of your experience as purification. When you clear enough stuff or get enough rest, some deep resistance can come loose. It often comes with emotional content or a sense of restlessness. Because the mind doesn’t like moods without reason, it usually associates them with available thoughts.
Your approach was perfect, as you well know. Resisting it or acting on the thoughts the feelings get associated with is the wrong approach.
In India, they use the analogy of sleeping elephants. Turn up the light and you might wake some elephants that make some noise on the way out. Sounds like you shooed an elephant or 2.
If you find the feelings getting especially intense, just sit with them and allow the awareness to be on the body. You will probably find the attention is drawn or moves to a specific location. Allow the attention there and it will likely be accompanied by physical sensations as the deep rooted stress is released. You may want to rest afterwards to help complete the healing. The intense stuff is not too typical unless getting very deep rest on a long retreat but it can happen, especially if there has been some big openings.
I agree with the points abouts thoughts and just did a couple of posts about memory. Memory is deeper and more significant than we might think.
Davidya’s last blog post..Choose Love, really
on June 25th, 2008 at 10:30 am
@Davidya There were elephants stampeding out the door. Especially on Day 4. I will report on that one later.
on June 25th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Hi Tom, Just stumbled across your site while searching for a forum to learn about and share my experiences with the Sedona Method. I bought _The Sedona Method_ just under 2 weeks ago and have experienced some profoundly stupendous just awesomely cool stuff as I began to release. I’m glad I found you. I’m looking forward to reading about your experiences in Sedona.
on June 26th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
@Dan Glad to have you here! I’m glad you are discovering some good stuff from the Method. It is a wonderful way to go. Enjoy! Thanks for the comments.