Universal Consciousness, the Higher Self and the Soul That Resides Within Our Body
Bagua Zhang is an internal martial art that is characterized by highly intricate circular movements. Shifu Li Tai Liang began to teach me some specific bagua chi gong practices one day. He showed me how to draw the chi into my dan tien. From there he had me spiral the chi up through my abdomen and out through the top of my head with the intention of connecting my dan tien with my higher self.
Shifu then began to talk about how people pray to God asking for help in their lives. They may also go to churches, temples and other kinds of spiritual events to help them to connect with a higher power. Shifu was saying that these practices help people to tap into parts of the Universal Consciousness. Shifu also spoke of how so many people’s bodies and minds are in such terrible shape, because they are not doing any practices that help them to develop their bodies or the consciousness that resides therein
.
Shifu went on to describe the different aspects of our consciousness and their functions. He talked about how the internal arts masters used their breath and intention to draw chi or universal consciousness into different parts of the body and mind and that helped to awaken the personal soul that resides within the physical body. He said that the chi nourished and sustained the personal soul. Internal arts masters worked with these practices continually to purify, strengthen and develop this internal soul.
Shifu spoke about the importance of developing and integrating the different levels of our consciousness. He talked about the interaction of the different forces that are represented by the yin and yang symbol and said that neither a man nor woman can produce a baby by themselves. The sperm has to fertilize the egg, the cell begins to multiply and then the fetus develops within the womb.
Shifu was saying that we need to develop our personal soul in order to develop a strong connection with our higher self. Internal arts masters continually worked with these practices to bring about a greater level of integration of the personal soul and the higher self.
Many of the internal arts masters possessed remarkable gifts and powers and they continued to develop their body and mind throughout the course of their lives. These masters were very conscious at the time of their death and they would take the knowledge, gifts and powers that they had attained with them on into their next life. This made it possible for them to begin the next life at a higher level and they were able to continually evolve from one life to the next.
Shifu initially learned about the about the different aspects of our consciousness from his own father and grandfather. This knowledge has been handed down within the Taoist tradition which dates back over five thousand years. Shifu’s description of the soul is consistent with some of the things that I learned from my mentor Horace and some of the other American Indian elders.
Shifu spoke of how people are now working such long hours to pay off their mortgage, their cars and to cover all their other expenses. People often come home exhausted by the end of the day, yet they may still have children to care for, and many end up vegetating in front of the television for hours
. People in our society tend to ignore their bodies and they do very little to develop their souls. Parts of the self begin to wither and are left behind with the body at the end of this life.
Many of us have a very limited understanding of our own body and mind. We have a tendency to resist the feelings, emotions and issues that we do not feel comfortable with. Some of us have never learned how to process our emotions or resolve our issues. We may also lack the basic resources that would enable us to do so.
Feelings and emotions comprise an essential range of our consciousness. Avoiding or suppressing feelings causes us to disengage parts of our consciousness. That narrows our emotional range and diminishes our intellectual capacity. Shutting down parts of ourselves also causes us to lose much of our capacity to do the things that we want and need to do in our lives.
Undigested stresses and emotions accumulate within our body and mind. This undigested residue begins to saturate the organs and tissues of the body. Both the physical and subtle bodies begin to break down. The deadening that takes place within our body consciousness causes us to disconnect from our higher self and the universal consciousness.
Many of us have resisted our inner selves for so long and then we say "…I don’t want to go there." We can become extremely toxic when we ignore parts of our consciousness for long periods of time. These parts of our consciousness may begin to shut down and die.
Indigenous healers worked with other forces or beings to facilitate healing that would not otherwise be possible. The beings that work through me during the healing sessions help people to heal and reintegrate the parts of the self that have shut down. The backlog of emotional residue is predigested so that it can be reintegrated as a functional part of the self. The physical body heals as damage is repaired within the physical and subtle bodies. The personal soul that resides within the body awakens and becomes vibrant. One can then develop a stronger connection to the higher self.
I find that it works best to combine different practices and healing modalities. The vision quests have helped me to heal the deep underlying emotional wounds and to develop many new resources and capabilities
, including the healing gifts that enable me to assist others. I continue to breathe into the feelings and emotions that surface. This makes it easier for me to digest any emotional response that I have to what’s happening in my life and to resolve the issues. I’m also doing hours of intensive daily chi gong practices.
We cannot sit still for very long. We’re either growing and developing new resources and capabilities or we’re stagnating. Consciousness needs to be cultivated and that’s what happens as we work with the practices that enable us to develop our body, mind and soul.
©Copyright 2008 Ben Oofana. All Rights Reserved.
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