The value of Strong Emotions in recognizing our True Nature

People sometimes think that peacefulness is a sign of progression in liberation from suffering, but for true peacefulness mind state can be taken in artificially created conditions (cushioned, predictable environment) that does not disturb deeply seated kleshas/conditioning. In fact, running away from facing the deepest emotions is only running away from liberation. 

As Tulku Urgyen explains:
"The stronger and more forceful the disturbing emotions are, the greater the potential for recognizing our original wakefulness...it is in fact that at the very moment we are strongly caught up in thought forms or in the surging waves of an emotion, of anger, for instance, it is much easier to recognize the naked state of awareness. This of cause is not the case when one has trained in a very tranquil, placid state  of meditation where there no thoughts and negative emotions. Then, due to what is called "the soft pleasure", it is actually much more difficult to recognize the true state of non dual mind...Conversely, experiencing great despair, great fear, and intense worry can be a much stronger support for practice."

From my own experience I can say, the recognition of the true nature, Seeing, the View, happened in long silent retreat out of great desperation and applied effort. Pointing people to selfless nature, emptiness of things, also showed me the value of the energy in a strong emotion. Sometimes the inquirer would lack concentration or be caught up in analyzing, thinking. I had to evoke emotion in the inquirer by various means, including strong foul language.  I know, kindness is in a favor in Liberation Unleashed now and my personal work, but skillfully evoking strong emotion and creating conditions for insight into the true nature, is a highest form of kindness in a teacher/a guide, as I see it.

What is the work of Direct Pointing and how it fits in Awakening to the Truth of who we are?

Here is my attempt to describe my work and my own journey of awakening to the truth of who we are....in a very simple way that probably will be re-written many times to make it more clear :)

Also, for non-dual police: no work is mine, no awakening happens to me or any one, awakening is just a label for change in perception and anything that happens along it

So here it goes:

I point people to SEE that self is an illusion.

They realize it in their own experience through a very narrowly crafted dialog witch sounds more like a set of koans and cornering questions, that self, which they thought is who they are, does not exist.

No one disappears in the moment of realization. The whole of the experience reveals itself as a tapestry of Life that does not requirer a doer.

When "I" is seen for what it is, the veil of illusion drops, what's left  is WHAT IS - experience without an experiencer - Presence - Awareness - Life - Nature... 

There is no need to identify with a small "I" as a body/mind or bigger as Presence, Awareness... in fact, if identification happens, we look further, there is still subtle grasping at this point.

There are myriads of ways how awakening moves after this, the main component here is TRUST. Trust in the intelligence of the Life itself accommodating new perception in the most efficient way. For some can be falling into peace, for some - dissolution of conditioning/habits of the mind in different ways, including dramatic changes in familiar structures of one's life. We work through these, sometimes uncomfortable experiences. Mainly, it is a work with doubt and fear mind states.

Realizing emptiness of the self/"I" is followed by, or happens at the same time with realization of emptiness of "others" and 'the world'.  The illusion (Maya/samsara) is seeing, and THAT, from which all comes, reveals itself. Both seeing as inseparable ONE. There are no more doubts left and this realization molds one into "one who is in the world, but not of it".

Life continues.

Before enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. 
Perception here is self-focused, and there is a belief that there is  me or an "I" who is doing these tasks.

After enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. 
There is an Understanding/Knowing of divinity of all and non-doership of all.

Yet, wood is chopped and water is carried.

May all beings be happy, be liberated from false view and defilements! 

Thank you! <3

A song of Awakening

This letter is from one of my friends in Costa Rica I had an inner inquiry with...

"In the meeting with you the image felt down, the recognition of living in the mind disconnected from NOW was crystal clear. Concepts lost weight and value, worries of any kind are gone, any movement (thoughts, sensations, etc) happen in deep stillness... No place to land...

In silence this poem came:

There is a song beyond words
Unknowned by the mind
So intimate and alive
So empty and yet... Full of divine music

There is song always present
No one to hear its tunes
But the symphony keeps playing
While the soul dances the moon

There is a song of stillness
In a pentagram of silence
And the drops keeps falling
Like green notes in the forest

Endless gratitude and love dearest 

Apple Cobbler

The woman went to the third time to serve herself apply cobbler that was a special dessert for lunch today. As I was eating my lunch in a silent retreat, and watching this movement, I noticed that old friend, the thought, visited me: “How inconsiderable”. I knew there will be not enough of apple cobbler for all, and the thought appeared. As soon as it happened I started to smile: “What a beautiful creation of the mind where perception of the experience happened, evaluation the experience based on previous experiences happened, reaction based on evaluation happened, the thought and feeling appeared  out of the evaluation...”Ha Ha Ha!” the whole Being felt in the delight of seeing the movie of “Apple Cobbler” started...

Now with twinkle in my eye I was watching...

The woman who ate three helpings of apple cobbler was finally relaxed. Hyper-ness, that was present before in the body, subsided. The body was totally satisfied. I noticed relaxation in the face. I was so curious to see how Nature adjust itself, choosing the pass of the least resistance to ease the disharmony. 

One by one women were coming to the wide stainless steal bowl with dessert. I felt so much delight seeing the inner joy arise as the apple cobbler was served. With one more coming to the bowl, the metal ladder was making more and more louder sound, scrapping the sides of the bowl.Finally the scrapping was telling me: no more apple cobbler.

And here she was, of cause, the last woman to the bowl: she tilted her head so low into the bowl as she wanted to shake off the disbelief that there is no more apple cobbler left! With her head is almost in the bowl, she slowly examined the perimeter of the bowl with her gaze. The disbelief still was there, because she took the ladder and helplessly were scrapping the bowl. Then she gave up. She relaxed, look around the table, took the spoon of a strawberry jam, slapped a dollop of the whipped  cream on top of it, and left the dessert table.

I was totally fascinated by the the whole scene, the movement of energies expressed themselves in the actions, feelings, sensations, thoughts. A simple everyday situation contained the whole alchemy of feelings, expressed through human mind/body organisms. 

How beautiful, innocent and rich!

Thank you, apple cobbler! :)

I don't really f-e-e-l it!

Ever looked at sunset and felt that you don’t “really feel it, and you know you supposed to f-e-e-l?

You bought these expensive tickets to a symphony concert, sat and listened to the music, looked at the audience secretly, trying to see who is “really feel it” ?

You went to the museum and looked through many rooms of the paintings or the great masters, and wished that you can just stop by one and “really feel it” ?

Deep down you feel disappointed and somewhat damaged, because you still remember how it was in childhood, when everything was fascinating. You still remember when you “really felt it” when you fell in love, when you did something inspiring, when you went camping in the backcountry, and in the morning you unzipped your tent, peak outside, and was taking by the beauty of the morning fog. You remember that and you want to feel it again. 

This movement in feeling is absolutely true and innocent.  We forgot who we really are, and the beauty of all the Creation. We are locked in the simple structure of been separate little 'me' who is trying to survive in this life, make things happen with much effort, push some projects that we think are essential for our survival. We spend our days mostly in thinking. Feeling, touching, smelling, tasting get unnoticeable. We have so many experiences in one day that our senses become dull and most experiences undigested. 

On a weekend we go to the concert or to see the sunset, and we find ourselves unable to “really feel it”.  We go to see teachers, therapists, read books, try to meditate - all to find the way back to this feeling of fullness. We are constantly trying to be, become something, someone, because the one in this moment do not “really feel it”. 

It's all about simple being. BEING - is simply feel what one feels at the moment, smell what one smells, hear what one hears, see what one sees. Whatever it is - this is your truth at the moment. If you don’t really feel it”, accept it anyway - this is the reality of this moment. If you don’t smell, hear, taste, feel in a way you would love to smell, hear, taste, feel - accept it anyway as your reality at this moment.

Simple noticing that living is not some intense experiences, constant actions, and trying to “really feel it”, but feeling sensations right now, feeling feeling right now, smelling, tasting, hearing right now. Understanding of this will bring the attention to the present moment and satisfaction in the senses. Acceptance and noticing of the simplicity of being, and at the same time magnificence of the experience as it is, will bring peace and delight.

May all beings be happy!

Deep Dharma

I was invited to a Buddhist Temple in Mesa, AZ to attend a weekly meditation gatherings and talk by Shane Wilson, a Buddhist minister and a Theravada meditation teacher, who leads these sittings weekly in the temple.

Temple is very traditional, with the altar of big white statue of Buddha and many symbolic objects and offerings. There is a Theravada monk there who takes care of the temple, conducts ceremonies and chanting.

I was offered to have a little talk about Direct Pointing - guiding inner inquiry we do with people in Liberation Unleashed ( www.LiberationUnleashed.com)

I worked with one young fellow who came first time to the temple, and never heard about LU (Liberation Unleashed), or me, or this method.

It was interesting to see the interplay of the characters in this experiential sharing. The young guy was able to see that self is not the real object, but only on the intellectual level, as the resistance from the mind to see it deeper was so great. And it is understandable, because realizing anatta (no self) is not a first glimpse, but total surrender of the whole being to the truth, and it seems like it happens when one is in a special place: a place of exhaustion of seeking, a place of hunger not for spiritual practice, spiritual states and insights, but for seeing what is really true. At the same time, first glimpse is very important insight, either it happened through meditation, inquiry, self-help modalities, sports, or just in the middle of a daily activities. Its especially has a value, if its noticed. I pointed to the young fellow not to disregard the importance of the understanding that “I” does not exist as a separate entity, that “I” is an illusion, created by the mind. The young guy will go on practicing meditation until he is in the place when the being will be ready to see it without any doubts. The value of meditation is undeniable for some of us to arrive to the place of surrendering.

As I was leaving the temple, one of my new friends, the regular member of this meditation gatherings, said that the monk, hearing my work with young fellow, said: “Elena teaches deep Dharma”.

This not only touched me, it stroke me, as I never saw myself as a teacher. I don’t have any formal initiations, except I practiced Theravada meditation for some years, and then used guided inner inquiry to wake up to reality of no self/anatta. I am humbled and glad that i can just translate my experience through my personality, ability to communicate and articulate, and keep the focus of the inquirer in a way it became effective to see and resolve this mind paradox.

The only intent here is to keep helping others in this inquiry, as it helps to stop perpetual spiritual search, and start living out of our true nature.

May all beings be happy.
May all beings be peaceful.
May all beings be liberated
from the illusion of the separation 

and all the impurities of the mind.

Upcoming Live events. Awaken to your true nature NOW!

With Shane Wilson, meditation teacher and Buddhist minister in Arizona.
We will be leading retreat in Costa Rica together to give the benefit of
our different, but both very effective styles of awakening work to participants.
We both are from Liberation Unleashed.
www.LiberationUnleashed.com

Hi, friends! We have several Liberation Unleashed face to face public meetings, intensives and retreats coming up in the next couple of months. I been traveling with live meetings for the past 3 months, and it proved to be very effective...Here is the results from my travel and work with people. These are the number of people I worked with and confirmed by my own experience, intuition and checking with them after, and some of them were confirmed by other people as well,  as seeing the illusion of the self, awakened to the true nature, seeing through the illusion of separation (anatta)

Stuart, Florida 8 people
Costa Rica 15 people 
Mesa, Sedona Arizona 10 people 

I write "people" just because we use this language to communicate. Of cause, when one awakens to true nature, one is seeing that there is no person, and all is a movement of Life itself...

I invite anyone who is at the threshold of awakening come to our meetings and retreats and see through the illusion of the self. 

Here is the link to Mesa and Sedona, Arizona April,18-27 intensives:

http://elena-nezhinksy.eventbrite.com/

Sedona, Arizona March 2013 public meeting

Here is the link to the retreat we will hold in 
Costa Rica June 2-9...if you are ready, come, awaken and start living as a free being!

http://meetingtruth.com/Event/442/Awaken+to+Your+True+Nature+in+Costa+Rica+Retreat

And the place of the retreat here:http://www.bhogacostarica.com/

Costa Rica, February 2013 after retreat

Liberation Unleashed Direct Pointing Retreat in Arizona

I was invited to lead the retreat for Buddhist community in Mesa, Arizona by Shane Wilson, Theravada Buddhist minister... Shane Wilson realized anatta/no self at some point of his meditation practice with the help of Direct Pointing, and was eager to bring this opportunity to his community.  He organized a weekend retreat at his meditation center in Mesa, Arizona and talks in Sedona and Tuscon...8 people awakened during the retreat in Mesa...Thank you all who had a courage to look into the nature of being, and realize it...

Here is some of the visuals from the retreat. We did video and audio recordings that will be posted on youtube channel ( Elena Nezhinsky Youtube Channel Link)  and Liberation Unleashed channel and website...

We had a dinner with Liberation Unleashed friends in a cuban restaurant...yumm! Shane Wilson is a musician, he was playing guitar for us while we talked out weird LU talk :) hahaha

Citrus from Shane's garden... it all grows on trees here...OMG, really :)

Liberation Unleashed Meetings in Costa Rica

Hello from Costa Rica!

I appreciate my friends Gonzalo and Jenny who invited me to Costa Rica to their community, to their town, to their people. We are doing Direct Pointing work and integration work every day here...Here are some photos from our meetings. I also have recordings, and as soon as I can connect my iPhone to wi-fi to transfer the files, I will upload it here...Recordings are with wonderful Spanish translation of Jenny Ortuno.