You may use the terms soul mate or twin flame to be interchangeable with what I refer to as “divine life partner.”
The difference between soul mate/twin flame and divine life partner is that multiple people can fulfill the first role, whereas your divine life partner is the soul that you’ve built into your soul’s blueprint (your Akashic Record) to evolve with throughout your purpose-aligned life in partnership. That is, true partnership whereby you support each other’s growth, remind each other of your greatness and commit to being together for life to facilitate that with love, truth and integrity.
I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t want this after conducting over 30,000+ Akashic Readings, and since it is one of the top 3 questions I’m asked by folks I read for, I thought you’d enjoy learning how the Records can help you attract and maintain this type of divine relationship with ease, joy and flow.
Here is how the Akashic Records can help you create this for yourself:
1. You receive divine guidance from your ascended masters/teachers/guides on what can be released physically, emotionally, mentally and/or spiritually to be a vibrational match for what you’re calling in.
2. You receive healing and energy shifting from this lifetime and any other space/time that would interfere with calling this love in.
3. You receive crystal clarity about whether someone is (or has the capacity to become) your divine life partner, along with guidance on how to expand the relationship to support your highest good and healing.
4. You receive practical steps for how to cultivate this love on a day-to-day basis in a way that is aligned to both of your paths and the consciousness of the relationship.
5. You can instantly shift the consciousness of the relationship to align to what you choose as a couple. Just as your body, your money, and your soul have it’s own consciousness, so does any relationship that you’re in, including your divine life partnership!
6. You clear out any vows, hooks, chords, soul contracts and other energies beyond your present understanding that may be interfering with your ability to create this.
7. You receive energy activations to be a vibrational match to call this to yourself with ease and joy.
8. Just by being in the energy of your Records, you are fully connecting with the energy of your soul and all of the things that your soul desires for growth, mastery and teaching.
There are a plethora of ways that the Akashic Records can support you in any area of your life, which is why I believe that it’s truly the only transformational tool that you’ll ever need!
Join Luciana and I for an interview on Inner Healers Radio!
Monday, February 27, 2017
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Channeling with Consciousness, by Shelly Dressel
Channeling is something that people do every day in their
lives…… they just are unaware! When
someone channels, they are communicating from one person/ energy to
another. We as the human who is
consciously opening to this becomes the conduit. Have you ever heard people say ‘I was
channeling my inner skeptic or creative or business sense’? What this means is that people will tune
inside of themselves looking for answers.
You can also create an alignment and speak with your angels, guides,
loved ones, animals or anything that has a consciousness.
So why would someone want to open to channel? They would be seeking a deeper connection
within themselves that will enhance the rest of their life. They might be seeking to create or enhance
their business.
These are some of the benefits of Channeling:
1) You feel good ~ When you have a deeper alignment with your divinity and the flow is easier, you feel good in your daily life.
2) You can change your vibration ~ Your thoughts create your reality. Your emotions are the expression of your reality. So behind it all, what is your reality?
3) You can learn to speak directly with Angels, Guides, Animal Totems and many others, including a more open alignment to those who've crossed over.
4) The foundation for the 5th Dimension and higher is living through your heart, using meditation you can open and focus your intention.
The potentials for why are limitless. The choice to open
begins with you.
On 2/20 Luciana and Shelly will be doing an Inner Healers Radio interview, tune in to find more about channeling and its benefits for your wellbeing! 👉🏻 http://tobtr.com/9827473
Friday, February 17, 2017
Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe
A book titled “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe” has stirred up the Internet, because it contained a notion that life does not end when the body dies, and it can last forever.
The author of this publication, scientist Dr. Robert Lanza who was voted the 3rd most important scientist alive by the NY Times, has no doubts that this is possible.
1. BEYOND TIME AND SPACE
Lanza is an expert in regenerative medicine and scientific director of Advanced Cell Technology Company. Before he has been known for his extensive research which dealt with stem cells, he was also famous for several successful experiments on cloning endangered animal species.
But not so long ago, the scientist became involved with physics, quantum mechanics and astrophysics. This explosive mixture has given birth to the new theory of biocentrism, which the professor has been preaching ever since. Biocentrism teaches that life and consciousness are fundamental to the universe. It is consciousness that creates the material universe, not the other way around.
Lanza points to the structure of the universe itself, and that the laws, forces, and constants of the universe appear to be fine-tuned for life, implying intelligence existed prior to matter. He also claims that space and time are not objects or things, but rather tools of our animal understanding. Lanza says that we carry space and time around with us “like turtles with shells.” meaning that when the shell comes off (space and time), we still exist.
The theory implies that death of consciousness simply does not exist. It only exists as a thought because people identify themselves with their body. They believe that the body is going to perish, sooner or later, thinking their consciousness will disappear too. If the body generates consciousness, then consciousness dies when the body dies. But if the body receives consciousness in the same way that a cable box receives satellite signals, then of course consciousness does not end at the death of the physical vehicle. In fact, consciousness exists outside of constraints of time and space. It is able to be anywhere: in the human body and outside of it. In other words, it is non-local in the same sense that quantum objects are non-local.
Lanza also believes that multiple universes can exist simultaneously. In one universe, the body can be dead. And in another it continues to exist, absorbing consciousness which migrated into this universe. This means that a dead person while traveling through the same tunnel ends up not in hell or in heaven, but in a similar world he or she once inhabited, but this time alive. And so on, infinitely. It’s almost like a cosmic Russian doll afterlife effect.
2. MULTIPLE WORLDS
This hope-instilling, but extremely controversial theory by Lanza has many unwitting supporters, not just mere mortals who want to live forever, but also some well-known scientists. These are the physicists and astrophysicists who tend to agree with existence of parallel worlds and who suggest the possibility of multiple universes. Multiverse (multi-universe) is a so-called scientific concept, which they defend. They believe that no physical laws exist which would prohibit the existence of parallel worlds.
The first one was a science fiction writer H.G. Wells who proclaimed in 1895 in his story “The Door in the Wall”. And after 62 years, this idea was developed by Dr. Hugh Everett in his graduate thesis at the Princeton University. It basically posits that at any given moment the universe divides into countless similar instances. And the next moment, these “newborn” universes split in a similar fashion. In some of these worlds you may be present: reading this article in one universe, or watching TV in another.
The triggering factor for these multiplyingworlds is our actions, explained Everett. If we make some choices, instantly one universe splits into two with different versions of outcomes.
In the 1980s, Andrei Linde, scientist from the Lebedev’s Institute of physics, developed the theory of multiple universes. He is now a professor at Stanford University. Linde explained: Space consists of many inflating spheres, which give rise to similar spheres, and those, in turn, produce spheres in even greater numbers, and so on to infinity. In the universe, they are spaced apart. They are not aware of each other’s existence. But they represent parts of the same physical universe.
The fact that our universe is not alone is supported by data received from the Planck space telescope. Using the data, scientists have created the most accurate map of the microwave background, the so-called cosmic relic background radiation, which has remained since the inception of our universe. They also found that the universe has a lot of dark recesses represented by some holes and extensive gaps.
Theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton from the North Carolina University with her colleagues argue: the anomalies of the microwave background exist due to the fact that our universe is influenced by other universes existing nearby. And holes and gaps are a direct result of attacks on us by neighboring universes.
3. SOUL
So, there is abundance of places or other universes where our soul could migrate after death, according to the theory of neo-biocentrism. But does the soul exist? Is there any scientific theory of consciousness that could accommodate such a claim? According to Dr. Stuart Hameroff, a near-death experience happens when the quantum information that inhabits the nervous system leaves the body and dissipates into the universe. Contrary to materialistic accounts of consciousness, Dr. Hameroff offers an alternative explanation of consciousness that can perhaps appeal to both the rational scientific mind and personal intuitions.
Consciousness resides, according to Stuart and British physicist Sir Roger Penrose, in the microtubules of the brain cells, which are the primary sites of quantum processing. Upon death, this information is released from your body, meaning that your consciousness goes with it. They have argued that our experience of consciousness is the result of quantum gravity effects in these microtubules, a theory which they dubbed orchestrated objective reduction (Orch-OR).
Consciousness, or at least proto-consciousness is theorized by them to be a fundamental property of the universe, present even at the first moment of the universe during the Big Bang. “In one such scheme proto-conscious experience is a basic property of physical reality accessible to a quantum process associated with brain activity.”
Our souls are in fact constructed from the very fabric of the universe – and may have existed since the beginning of time. Our brains are just receivers and amplifiers for the proto-consciousness that is intrinsic to the fabric of space-time. So is there really a part of your consciousness that is non-material and will live on after the death of your physical body?
Dr Hameroff told the Science Channel’s Through the Wormhole documentary: “Let’s say the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing, the microtubules lose their quantum state. The quantum information within the microtubules is not destroyed, it can’t be destroyed, it just distributes and dissipates to the universe at large”. Robert Lanza would add here that not only does it exist in the universe, it exists perhaps in another universe. If the patient is resuscitated, revived, this quantum information can go back into the microtubules and the patient says “I had a near death experience”
He adds: “If they’re not revived, and the patient dies, it’s possible that this quantum information can exist outside the body, perhaps indefinitely, as a soul.”
This account of quantum consciousness explains things like near-death experiences, astral projection, out of body experiences, and even reincarnation without needing to appeal to religious ideology. The energy of your consciousness potentially gets recycled back into a different body at some point, and in the mean time it exists outside of the physical body on some other level of reality, and possibly in another universe.
Source: Simple Capacity.
The Road Ahead & The Indigenous Heart, by Kedar S. Brown
"It is no longer enough to simply focus on healing the emotional wounds of the past; finding your passion in life and following your 'bliss'. We live in a world that is crying out for the gift of medicine that you alone carry, a gift that you came here to deliver. We must shift our healing methods from a pathology-focused paradigm toward a community-based, eco-spiritual "Response-Ability" focus, utilizing the ancestral wisdom and ritual methodologies of the past with our eyes turned toward the generations that are to follow. Our great-grandchildren are watching to see how we live our lives so they will know what to do whey they get here. My prayer is that we all become ancestors our great-grandchildren will be proud of." ~Kedar S. Brown, M.Ed., LPC, NCC, CHY, LCAS.
Join our Inner Healers Radio LIVE this 2/22 12h00 PET or On Demand as a recorded podcast while Luciana interviews Kedar about his upcoming retreat --> http://tobtr.com/s/9826953
Join our Inner Healers Radio LIVE this 2/22 12h00 PET or On Demand as a recorded podcast while Luciana interviews Kedar about his upcoming retreat --> http://tobtr.com/s/9826953
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Do relationships make us healthier and happier? by Melanie Greenberg, Ph.D.
Source: Syda Productions/Shutterstock
Satisfying relationships not only make us happy, they also influence our long-term health as much as getting enough sleep, eating healthy, and not smoking. Many research studies have shown that satisfying relationships are associated with better health, greater happiness, and even a longer life. This effect is not limited to romantic relationships -close friendships and social connections with family and members of your community can also help your health.
Does relationship quality make a difference?
"While the number of social ties makes a difference, quality also counts."
In one study, midlife women who were more satisfied with their marriages had a lower risk for cardiovascular disease. Conversely, toxic relationships with family and friends can stress us out and damage our health. In studies of marital conflict, hostile interactions with a spouse are associated with signs of impaired immunity and with increases in stress hormones. Other studies show that midlife women in unsatisfying marriages, have higher blood pressure, higher cholesterol, and higher body mass indexes than those in satisfying marriages. They also have higher levels of depression, anxiety, and anger. The researchers noted that these physical and emotional states raise the risk of heart disease -- and each can be exacerbated by stress.
Do partners motivate us to live healthier?
Being in a supportive relationship can also motivate us to live healthier. Studies show social support is related to eating more vegetables, exercising, and stopping smoking. Being around healthier people can be an incentive to take better care of our own health. Or perhaps we may enjoy exercising with friends or partners. Spouses may buy and cook healthy foods for us or we may be motivated to get fitter so as to be more attractive to our partners.
There is a difference between encouragement and being too controlling, however. One study compared partner support (aiding and reinforcing a partner’s own efforts) with partner control behaviors (inducing change in one’s partner). Results showed that supportive behaviors predicted better mental health, while control behaviors predicted worse mental health and less healthy behaviors. Trying to control others may make them angry and create resistance to change. Research shows that we are more likely to maintain healthy behaviors if we are motivated by intrinsic factors (like wanting to be fitter), rather than extrinsic factors like placating a partner.
Does social support lessen your body's stress response?
Social support has also been shown to reduce the biological stress response. In studies in which people are subjected to social stress in the form of public speaking with evaluation, those who had a close friend or family member present showed less cardiovascular arousal and/or faster cardiac recovery from stress. Patting a pet can also lower your blood pressure. Social support (whether from humans or animals) may make us more resilient to stress by lessening the body's biological stress response. Findings from animal studies show that social support reduces the release of cortisol (the stress hormone) when faced with a stressor.
What about depression?
For people at risk for depression, supportive relationships can be a protective factor. In studies, better social support predicted less depression in people with cardiac disease and heart attack patients. Patients with more support are more likely to cope actively with their health issues, for example, by making lifestyle changes. Supportive relationships also help our mental health. This effect has been shown in many populations, including college students, unemployed spouses, and parents of medically ill children.
How do relationships impact your health?
How does social support impact our health? It seems there are biological, behavioral, and emotional pathways. Partners and friends or family can encourage us by listening, showing that they care, helping our self esteem, motivating us to be healthy, or distracting us from our stressors. On the other hand, criticism and ongoing unresolved conflict can make us feel more stressed and take energy away from managing our problems.
Melanie Greenberg, Ph.D., is a practicing psychologist in Mill Valley, California, and former Professor of Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology. She is an expert on stress, the brain, and mindfulness. She provides workshops, speaking engagements, and psychotherapy for individuals and couples. She regularly appears on radio shows and as an expert in national media. She also does long-distance coaching via the internet. Her new book, The Stress-Proof Brain is now available for presale (due out February 1).
Insights into Jōshin Kokyū Hō, by Frans Stiene.
Within Mikao Usui's teachings we find a meditation technique called jōshin kokyū hō. Jōshin kokyū hō is an essential meditation practice which is practised throughout all levels of the system of Reiki, and therefore can be practised for the rest of our lives.
But what is jōshin kokyū hō all about?
Translation
Let’s first look at the kanji of jōshin kokyū hō.
淨 jō means clear, pure, without taint or defilement, lucid
心 shin means heart, mind, essence, the mind as the principle of the universe, the enlightened mind
呼吸 kokyū means to exhale and inhale, breathing
法 hō means method, dharma, principle
We therefore can translate jōshin kokyū hō in this way:
*The principle of pure mind-heart through breathing in and out
*The method realizing our enlightened mind though breathing in and out
Thus when we practice jōshin kokyū hō on a daily basis for many years, we start to realize the principle that our mind-heart is as pure as the universe.
According to a Japanese Aikdo practitioner, kokyū hō also means "work in perfect harmony."
We thus also can say that jōshin kokyū hō translates as "The principle of pure mind-heart through working in perfect harmony with the universe."
The practice
1. Sit and gassho.
2. Place your hands in your lap, palms facing upwards.
3. With each in breath, feel a bright energy coming in through the nose and bring it down to the hara/tanden, just below your navel. When you do this, link the visual with the breath and the mind.
4. Feel the bright energy, the breath and the mind expanding through your body.
5. On the out breath, expand the bright energy, the breath and the mind out of the body, through your skin, out into infinity.
6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until finished.
Most important is that the mind is brought to the hara/tanden and that the mind expands through your body and into infinity. Visualising the bright light and following the breath are an aid for this.
The practice of jōshin kokyū hō also resembles specific visualisation meditation practices within Japanese esoteric Buddhism, such as the expansion visualisations (Jap: kakudai-ho), permeation visualisations (Jap: shinto-ho) and specific moon-disk visualisations (Jap: gachirin-kan).
Insights
The in-breath into the nose and bringing the mind to the hara/tanden is the first step of the practice. This is an important step as it helps us to bring our mind back into our body and under control, so that we do not get distracted by past, present and future. And as the hara/tanden is just below the navel it helps us to centre and ground ourselves. But it is just the first step. If our mind stops at the hara/tanden we are missing the point of jōshin kokyū hō as jōshin kokyū hō is so much more! It goes far beyond simply grounding ourselves.
Zen master Takuan Soho describes very clearly in his book "The Unfettered Mind" why it is important not to stop at the hara/tanden:
"You should not place your mind within yourself. Bracing the mind in the body is something done only at the inception of training, when one is a beginner."
"But viewed from the highest standpoint of Buddhism, putting your mind just below the navel and not allowing it to wander is a low level of understanding, not a high one. It is at the level of discipline and training."
From a traditional meditation practice perspective, we can say that breathing into the hara and resting the mind there for a moment is a Shamatha (resting our mind on a single object) meditation practice. And expanding the mind out and leaving it wide open is a Vipashyana (clearly seeing that there is no "I") meditation practice. Combining both practices is a classical way of deeper teachings in Buddhism.
In his book, “Luminous Clarity: A Commentary on Karma Chagme’s Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen,” Khenchen Thrangu writes about some of these teachings and the benefit of combining these practices:
"However, if Vipashyana is cultivated without the accompanying cultivation of Shamatha, then that Vipashyana meditation becomes like a small boat that drifts in the stormy sea of our controlled mind.”
“It is only through cultivating Vipashyana properly endowed with Shamatha meditation that we can conquer the disturbing emotions."
Yes, it is important to rest our mind at the hara/tanden for grounding and centring, especially for a beginner. But within Mikao Usui's style of jōshin kokyū hō, you focus on the hara/tanden and expand the mind out into infinity. Bringing the mind to the hara/tanden is the foundation for expanding our mind into infinity.
In fact by naming it jōshin kokyū hō, Mikao Usui also is pointing why not to stop at the hara/tanden.
Koichi Tohei describes kokyū in his book "Aikido, The Coordination of Mind and Body for Self-Defence" as: "Kokyu is, in plain words, the movement of your Ki or the movement of your body following Ki. If you have strong Kokyu, your body is filled with powerful Ki…"
According to Koichi Tohei, kokyū is the movement of your Ki. And if this movement of Ki is strong, your whole body is filled with powerful Ki. Hence the expansion of the mind through your whole body during jōshin kokyū hō. If we only rest our mind on the hara/tanden then our mind and energy will be stuck in one place. This is good for a beginner but if we want to go deeper, we need to expand it into infinity. The Ki needs to move through your body and not be stuck in one place.
Why do we need to expand our mind out into infinity? Because we need to realize that our mind is pure like the universe. The universe is infinite; there is no beginning or end. Thus through the daily practice of jōshin kokyū hō we start to slowly realize the principle that our mind is infinite like the universe. The universe doesn't stop at one point; it is infinitely open and expanded.
But this direct experience needs to be based on the hara/tanden; it is our starting point. If we do not expand from the hara/tanden, we will have a very hard time realizing this unification. Thus by connecting to the hara/tanden and expanding outwards into infinity, Mikao Usui killed two birds with one stone - grounding- centring and expanding into infinity. Realizing that our mind is always expanded like infinite space, the mind will not stop at one spot, it is just open. Hence the word open-mindedness; when we are open-minded we can accommodate everything and everyone. If our mind is stuck in one spot, we become narrow-minded and therefore have difficulty accommodating everything and everyone.
Zen master Takuan Soho points out in his book "The Unfettered Mind" why it is so important to expand the mind into infinity and not to focus on one point.
"Considering that the Thousand-Armed Kannon has one thousand arms on its one body, if the mind stops at the one holding a bow, the other nine hundred and ninety-nine will be useless. It is because the mind is not detained at one place that all the arms are useful."
"...the mind that does not stop at all is called immovable wisdom."
When our mind is not stopped at the hara/tanden but flows into infinite space, we are in a state of mind of immovable wisdom. This immovable wisdom doesn't mean our mind is focused on one spot, because if we focus on one spot we can get distracted and have to bring our mind back to this one spot again and again. Thus our mind is constantly moving from being distracted to bringing it back to one spot. Immovable wisdom is where our mind is wide open, and there is nothing to grasp in this wide open space. Thus the mind is not moved by anything; hence, immovable wisdom. Thoughts come and go but as there is no grasping in this open space, they will dissolve all by themselves. No need to bring the mind back to anything, no need to do anything...just to be.
Even in other Buddhist teachings, they instruct us to do the same. Orgyen Chowang writes in his book; "The Pristine Mind", "Do not make the scope of your meditation too narrow. Do not try to force your mind or your visual focus to stay in one spot or in one particular place."
Orgyen Chowang explains this further: "If our meditation involves focusing on a single object, as in mindfulness meditation, then noises or other external distractions can take us away from that focus. But when our mind is not focused on any particular thing, then that noise just passes through our awareness without interrupting our meditation at all. When we try to hold our mind on one point by focusing on a particular object in meditation, then our awareness is not expansive but is listed to that one object. But when we are remaining in Pristine Mind and not holding our attention to any particular object, our awareness permeates the entire space we are in. All sound just passes through our awareness. After a certain point, when we are remaining in Pristine mind, sensory inputs from the external world do not affect us."
Mikao Usui also pointed this out by teaching the mantra hon sha ze sho nen in Okuden Reiki Level II. Hon sha ze sho nen literally translates as, "My original nature is a non dual thought" but it also stands for "My original nature is Right Mind"
Zen master Takuan Soho describes what Right Mind is: "The Right Mind is the mind that does not remain in one place. It is the mind that stretches throughout the entire universe."
He also states that "When the Right Mind congeals and settles in one place it becomes what is called the confused mind."
A student of Mikao Usui wrote this: "Human consciousness can go anywhere in the universe in an instant. You must endeavor to develop your consciousness quickly and not to rely on the symbols for too long.” This is very similar to what Takuan Soho is pointing out.
Hon sha ze sho nen and jōshin kokyū hō are two different practices/paths to the same state of mind, a mind which is grounded and centred yet infinitely open and expanded. In this state, our mind can realize its non-dual nature. Or in other words, jōshin kokyū hō is about the realization that I am the universe and the universe is me.
"A calm mind not tied to anything lets authentic wisdom appear" -Taisen Deshimaru
Thus as we can see, jōshin kokyū hō's deeper insight is that by practicing it on a daily basis, we can settle our mind from all our confused thoughts. When we do this, our mind can stretch and realize its oneness with the infinite universe so that authentic wisdom appears.
But what is jōshin kokyū hō all about?
Translation
Let’s first look at the kanji of jōshin kokyū hō.
淨 jō means clear, pure, without taint or defilement, lucid
心 shin means heart, mind, essence, the mind as the principle of the universe, the enlightened mind
呼吸 kokyū means to exhale and inhale, breathing
法 hō means method, dharma, principle
We therefore can translate jōshin kokyū hō in this way:
*The principle of pure mind-heart through breathing in and out
*The method realizing our enlightened mind though breathing in and out
Thus when we practice jōshin kokyū hō on a daily basis for many years, we start to realize the principle that our mind-heart is as pure as the universe.
According to a Japanese Aikdo practitioner, kokyū hō also means "work in perfect harmony."
We thus also can say that jōshin kokyū hō translates as "The principle of pure mind-heart through working in perfect harmony with the universe."
The practice
1. Sit and gassho.
2. Place your hands in your lap, palms facing upwards.
3. With each in breath, feel a bright energy coming in through the nose and bring it down to the hara/tanden, just below your navel. When you do this, link the visual with the breath and the mind.
4. Feel the bright energy, the breath and the mind expanding through your body.
5. On the out breath, expand the bright energy, the breath and the mind out of the body, through your skin, out into infinity.
6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until finished.
Most important is that the mind is brought to the hara/tanden and that the mind expands through your body and into infinity. Visualising the bright light and following the breath are an aid for this.
The practice of jōshin kokyū hō also resembles specific visualisation meditation practices within Japanese esoteric Buddhism, such as the expansion visualisations (Jap: kakudai-ho), permeation visualisations (Jap: shinto-ho) and specific moon-disk visualisations (Jap: gachirin-kan).
Insights
The in-breath into the nose and bringing the mind to the hara/tanden is the first step of the practice. This is an important step as it helps us to bring our mind back into our body and under control, so that we do not get distracted by past, present and future. And as the hara/tanden is just below the navel it helps us to centre and ground ourselves. But it is just the first step. If our mind stops at the hara/tanden we are missing the point of jōshin kokyū hō as jōshin kokyū hō is so much more! It goes far beyond simply grounding ourselves.
Zen master Takuan Soho describes very clearly in his book "The Unfettered Mind" why it is important not to stop at the hara/tanden:
"You should not place your mind within yourself. Bracing the mind in the body is something done only at the inception of training, when one is a beginner."
"But viewed from the highest standpoint of Buddhism, putting your mind just below the navel and not allowing it to wander is a low level of understanding, not a high one. It is at the level of discipline and training."
From a traditional meditation practice perspective, we can say that breathing into the hara and resting the mind there for a moment is a Shamatha (resting our mind on a single object) meditation practice. And expanding the mind out and leaving it wide open is a Vipashyana (clearly seeing that there is no "I") meditation practice. Combining both practices is a classical way of deeper teachings in Buddhism.
In his book, “Luminous Clarity: A Commentary on Karma Chagme’s Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen,” Khenchen Thrangu writes about some of these teachings and the benefit of combining these practices:
"However, if Vipashyana is cultivated without the accompanying cultivation of Shamatha, then that Vipashyana meditation becomes like a small boat that drifts in the stormy sea of our controlled mind.”
“It is only through cultivating Vipashyana properly endowed with Shamatha meditation that we can conquer the disturbing emotions."
Yes, it is important to rest our mind at the hara/tanden for grounding and centring, especially for a beginner. But within Mikao Usui's style of jōshin kokyū hō, you focus on the hara/tanden and expand the mind out into infinity. Bringing the mind to the hara/tanden is the foundation for expanding our mind into infinity.
In fact by naming it jōshin kokyū hō, Mikao Usui also is pointing why not to stop at the hara/tanden.
Koichi Tohei describes kokyū in his book "Aikido, The Coordination of Mind and Body for Self-Defence" as: "Kokyu is, in plain words, the movement of your Ki or the movement of your body following Ki. If you have strong Kokyu, your body is filled with powerful Ki…"
According to Koichi Tohei, kokyū is the movement of your Ki. And if this movement of Ki is strong, your whole body is filled with powerful Ki. Hence the expansion of the mind through your whole body during jōshin kokyū hō. If we only rest our mind on the hara/tanden then our mind and energy will be stuck in one place. This is good for a beginner but if we want to go deeper, we need to expand it into infinity. The Ki needs to move through your body and not be stuck in one place.
Why do we need to expand our mind out into infinity? Because we need to realize that our mind is pure like the universe. The universe is infinite; there is no beginning or end. Thus through the daily practice of jōshin kokyū hō we start to slowly realize the principle that our mind is infinite like the universe. The universe doesn't stop at one point; it is infinitely open and expanded.
But this direct experience needs to be based on the hara/tanden; it is our starting point. If we do not expand from the hara/tanden, we will have a very hard time realizing this unification. Thus by connecting to the hara/tanden and expanding outwards into infinity, Mikao Usui killed two birds with one stone - grounding- centring and expanding into infinity. Realizing that our mind is always expanded like infinite space, the mind will not stop at one spot, it is just open. Hence the word open-mindedness; when we are open-minded we can accommodate everything and everyone. If our mind is stuck in one spot, we become narrow-minded and therefore have difficulty accommodating everything and everyone.
Zen master Takuan Soho points out in his book "The Unfettered Mind" why it is so important to expand the mind into infinity and not to focus on one point.
"Considering that the Thousand-Armed Kannon has one thousand arms on its one body, if the mind stops at the one holding a bow, the other nine hundred and ninety-nine will be useless. It is because the mind is not detained at one place that all the arms are useful."
"...the mind that does not stop at all is called immovable wisdom."
When our mind is not stopped at the hara/tanden but flows into infinite space, we are in a state of mind of immovable wisdom. This immovable wisdom doesn't mean our mind is focused on one spot, because if we focus on one spot we can get distracted and have to bring our mind back to this one spot again and again. Thus our mind is constantly moving from being distracted to bringing it back to one spot. Immovable wisdom is where our mind is wide open, and there is nothing to grasp in this wide open space. Thus the mind is not moved by anything; hence, immovable wisdom. Thoughts come and go but as there is no grasping in this open space, they will dissolve all by themselves. No need to bring the mind back to anything, no need to do anything...just to be.
Even in other Buddhist teachings, they instruct us to do the same. Orgyen Chowang writes in his book; "The Pristine Mind", "Do not make the scope of your meditation too narrow. Do not try to force your mind or your visual focus to stay in one spot or in one particular place."
Orgyen Chowang explains this further: "If our meditation involves focusing on a single object, as in mindfulness meditation, then noises or other external distractions can take us away from that focus. But when our mind is not focused on any particular thing, then that noise just passes through our awareness without interrupting our meditation at all. When we try to hold our mind on one point by focusing on a particular object in meditation, then our awareness is not expansive but is listed to that one object. But when we are remaining in Pristine Mind and not holding our attention to any particular object, our awareness permeates the entire space we are in. All sound just passes through our awareness. After a certain point, when we are remaining in Pristine mind, sensory inputs from the external world do not affect us."
Mikao Usui also pointed this out by teaching the mantra hon sha ze sho nen in Okuden Reiki Level II. Hon sha ze sho nen literally translates as, "My original nature is a non dual thought" but it also stands for "My original nature is Right Mind"
Zen master Takuan Soho describes what Right Mind is: "The Right Mind is the mind that does not remain in one place. It is the mind that stretches throughout the entire universe."
He also states that "When the Right Mind congeals and settles in one place it becomes what is called the confused mind."
A student of Mikao Usui wrote this: "Human consciousness can go anywhere in the universe in an instant. You must endeavor to develop your consciousness quickly and not to rely on the symbols for too long.” This is very similar to what Takuan Soho is pointing out.
Hon sha ze sho nen and jōshin kokyū hō are two different practices/paths to the same state of mind, a mind which is grounded and centred yet infinitely open and expanded. In this state, our mind can realize its non-dual nature. Or in other words, jōshin kokyū hō is about the realization that I am the universe and the universe is me.
"A calm mind not tied to anything lets authentic wisdom appear" -Taisen Deshimaru
Thus as we can see, jōshin kokyū hō's deeper insight is that by practicing it on a daily basis, we can settle our mind from all our confused thoughts. When we do this, our mind can stretch and realize its oneness with the infinite universe so that authentic wisdom appears.
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