Getting the turtle off my back

Streaming is the act of connecting to your emotional core. I feel as though I have learned more about streaming in these past two classes than my previous block with it. Not doing the act of streaming of course, but just an understanding of its potential, how it works, and most importantly what I need to do in order to attain the ability to stream and stream well.

This past class we spent time doing an exercise of exploring our memories. The big takeaway that I shot for was, as Jon said, seeing what we need to do to get to the point of clearing our minds. I spent what seemed like a very long time in the state of clearing my mind. I know that I have been guilty of using my conscious mind to help select a scene and to build it in tandem with my imagination. Or rather, letting my mind lead my imagination. Spending this time to just reach a position of clear or "hollow" that we have named it, really opened my eyes to how much work I have skipped in the past. I now know what to look for and when I may be "jumping" too soon into an image. My new goal is to work on getting that image once I've allowed my mind to clear. I practiced today as well as in class yesterday, and both times I've got to the point of clearing my mind, but have been unable to grasp the image. I will keep working on clearing my mind and body. As someone said, "it takes patience to reach zen."

I am treating this as a task. And with it comes certain steps that you must follow. I'm very happy that we discussed what everyone was seeing and experiencing. It will vary from person to person of course, but it gives me insight into how it is affecting everyone. I am glad to hear that people see black or feel hollow as a way of knowing that they are there. Again, my conscious mind is still looking at all of this and trying to decide what it is going to do. But that is just part of the learning that will come from this and I plan to master getting that turtle off my back and allowing the flow to carry me away.

Yes, thank you for your good spirit. It’s not that the conscious mind is our enemy here, or that the literal selection of an image is bad, it’s just that we want the mind to calm down and allow us to see from a more relaxed state. Stay at it.

Sounds like you got this, Chris!