altered states of consciousness…
the feeling of floating within your body as well as within the universe.
i recently received a reiki session. oftentimes reiki is lost on me. i don’t feel much, usually left feeling underwhelmed. almost less relaxed because i feel as though i have wasted my time. harsh maybe, but honest nonetheless. i’m a very critical person, which i know i have to look at, quite possibly by doing so i would be able to relax more… this week, i stopped by The Ruby Tree on a friend’s recommendation. i just recently broke up with my boyfriend and have been feeling a bit vulnerable, i needed to be touched and by someone whom i didn’t know. a stranger’s attention is what i was craving. i didn’t want to chit chat or care how i acted, i just wanted to lie down and be touched. christina was amazing. super chill and easy to be around. she asked me what my goals were. i was honest, i have no clue what i want. that’s exactly how my soul was feeling. she burned sage and had me focus on a white light entering my crown chakra while allowing black sand to leave my hands and feet- symbolizing everything i wanted to let go of. she started at my head, not quite touching me and slowly moved to touch the back of my head. by the time she was actually touching me i was somewhere else. somewhere else.
i have experienced this feeling many times before. often times in mediation, savasana and during some bodywork sessions. it’s an elusive feeling, something i’d like to feel more often. i believe its the space where the deepest healing happens. this state turns off the inner critic, thoughts float in and float out effortlessly. often times there are no real thoughts. it’s almost as if the body tells the mind to get out of the way for a bit. letting the body do what it does best, just be. whats happening there and why is touch one of the portals to this state?
I found this YouTube interview with one of my favorite teachers Fritz Smith the founder of Zero Balancing. If you have not received a ZB (as it is affectionalty called) I highly recommend it. Most ZB sessions i have recevied have brought me to this state almost immediately. In this video he explains this mechanism in his typical earthy way.
what is it about someone touching you that almost short circuits the monkey mind? is it the quality of the touch? is it the quality of the moment? a beautiful combination of the both perhaps. what about your state as the person receiving the touch? do you need to be in a specific state? I do not plan on figuring out this mechanism. i feel it’s worth a lifetime of inquiry.
when i feel this state the essence of the moment washes over me and is with me for hours afterward. a feeling of being fully in my body without the fear that can and oftentimes accompany that. this state creates a feeling of trusting the moment in which i am residing. is it the human contact? the ram dass quote “we are all just walking each other home” comes to mind. is this somewhere else a moment in which two souls realize what they are doing. just walking each other home… to the present moment. where it doesn’t matter if your bills are all caught up or if your lover has disappeared and its your doing or the big question of what the hell are we all really doing here anyway?
there isn’t any research as to why touch is a way of accessing this state, all we can do is speculate. however im glad it is one of the many ways to access this state, it makes my career so much more intriguing and rewarding!
thoughts?
somatically minded 