September 2, 2018

NEELAM: Obstacles to Practice

When I speak about Practice I am not speaking about a practice of Becoming – like becoming Presence -because Presence is our True Nature, we are already It and it is already Here!

So when I speak about Practice I speak about training of our attention and about growing of the capacity of our nervous system to Be Here.
By now most of us really know that practice works well and yet it is still difficult at times to do it – why is that?

1. Force of Habit Obstacles to practice
By now patterns of the past have been repeated so many times that the past has its own “groove” its own energy that we experience as an unconscious pull. That pull oftentimes feels more familiar and more “safe” even though we already know the results of that. Becoming aware of the force of habit is the first step of Inquiry.

2. Trauma Past
Often times our life experience and particularly early on in life has been unpredictable or unstable and the nervous system has developed a habit of vigilance. Sitting quietly or sitting still is often instinctually and unconsciously related to survival – to the fear of not being able to survive.
That can create a lot of resistance and challenge to quiet sitting.

Understanding the role of the nervous system in Awakening, working with what is present in this moment through Inquiry and learning the skill of how to help the nervous system and the brain to Be Here are the key to creating spaciousness and safety necessary for Practice.

Sometimes sitting together at first is necessary as well so that with the right kind of guidance the nervous system can “get” this piece of information – that regardless of the events and habits of the past – it is ok to Be Here.

~Neelam

Ed note: Neelam is a guest teacher on NDL.
Please feel free to comment here or to contact her directly
for more details and insights: https://neelam.org/new-events/