The Fourteen Methods of Synchronizing with Primary Respiration – Metaphors of Interrelatedness Post #2

Homage to Shantideva who wrote the greatest book ever on compassion:
“As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then, may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world.” – Shantideva

Homage to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the King of Compassion. Please guide us in this time of need:
“May I become at all times, both now and forever: a protector for those without protection; a guide for those who have lost their way; a ship for those with oceans to cross; a bridge for those with rivers to cross; a sanctuary for those in danger; a lamp for those without light; a place of refuge for those who lack shelter; and a servant to all in need.” – Shantideva

Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is a compassion-based practice.
“Compassion – our ability to feel the pain that we share with others.”
– Pema Chodron

There is no embodiment of order without dynamic stillness,
There is no movement in the universe without Primary Respiration.

 

 3.  Embodiment

  1. PR is not given automatically in a biodynamic session. It is uncovered by the quality of the practitioner’s attention.
  2. The first synchronizing must be with the embodiment of the practitioner. The practice begins with the earth This is the starting point of exploration. It requires mindfulness of how the body-mind is constantly automatically shifting. The practitioner synchronizes with their intrinsic sense of wholeness, goodness and completeness. This is the core of compassion: to care for one’s self and to be friends with the totality of one’s self.
  3. Mindfulness is the open-ended exploration of experience. Synchronizing at this level involves the deliberate movement of conscious attention of the practitioner’s body-mind. It automatically shifts to becoming spontaneous then back to performing it deliberately. This begins in the tempo of PR and then time dilates and losses relevance in a session as the timeless dimension is entered. PR has a rhythm and biodynamic practice is a tango.
  4. The body-mind instinctually synchronizes quite frequently. The practitioner becomes conscious of what is already happening in their own body-mind. When the mind is distracted or wandering, a witness consciousness or abstract watcher notices the distraction and resynchronizes one’s attention on the feeling of the body. It is an experience of presently knowing or a kind of insightfulness. This event is a type of spark or sudden experience of returning home to embodiment. It is the basis of this first synchronizing with PR. This instinct is extinguished in many clients. The practitioner’s attention is a spark for the client.
  5. Synchronizing with PR happens both two-dimensionally and three-dimensionally: One possibility is sensing two dimensionally out the front or back of the body. Then the practitioner waits for PR to reveal its three-dimensionality. This awareness of PR also automatically shifts.
  6. Principle: PR cannot be sensed with the mind. It can be known by mindfulness of the body and thus some say that biodynamic practice is a mindfulness-based therapy. This means that simple awareness of the nature of one’s mind and its tendency to wander and get distracted by emotions and story lines about life is important. It’s natural to return one’s attention to and reside in the body of sensations where PR lives. Yes, at one level PR moves all thoughts and emotions but mind cannot figure out the therapeutic intention of PR. The body can. It is a different tempo that is interconnected to all things not just thoughts and emotions. As is said, the brain is not the source of our connection to the world but a necessary component of that connection. The whole body is the universal connection to all that is.

4. The Breath of Air

  1. The second synchronizing is with the breath of air. PR is already synchronized with the breath of air. This is an important beginning, middle and late exploration in synchronizing with the wind Periodically take a deep breath to synchronize with PR. It starts deliberately and becomes spontaneous as mentioned above. Everyone must become a conscious master of their own breath. We are being breathed by something deeper than the brain. This will be discussed later.
  2. Gradually this process leads to synchronizing directly with PR: This involves linking the start of an inhalation of the breath with the change of phase of PR. It’s about a deep full breath sensed from the central tendon of the diaphragm, the bottom lobes of the lungs and a sense of filling and emptying the whole space inside the body. Consider the skin being the diaphragm of PR. There is a gap at the end of exhalation. Without changing the breath, get to know this gap and the diaphragm of the skin simultaneously. The change of phase of breathing, usually with the initiation of inhalation, synchronizes with the change of phase of PR usually with its expansion phase. Notice its power called Ignition discussed below.