determining Where Am I? HOMEPLAY 1
Obtaining by determining Where am I? When in a place of distress or uncertainty, we often can t see the forest for the trees and it causes us to lose our bearings and our objectivity. With IN-Vizion, we create an atmosphere in our minds that interrupts this pattern, allows us to detach from it, and restores our ability to create new avenues of thinking and, therefore, a new experience of life. When we can t see the forest for the trees, we can actually provide our minds with a forest to be able to see the trees. Are you ready to get unstuck? Follow the steps below: 1. Prior to beginning this exercise, choose an uncomfortable emotion or situation that you d like to shift. The discomfort can either be a feeling state like fear, anxiety, overwhelm, shame or judgment, or a belief like, I am not worthy or I am stuck or I am unsafe. Choose whatever you d most like to shift. 2. Find a comfortable place to practice, then take a few deep breaths and center into your body. Imagine that you are sitting on a small sloping hill with lush green grass. You may find yourself standing or possibly sitting in a chair. Either way, be barefoot in your mind and feel the grass underneath your feet. Continue to breathe slowly. 3. Now recall the uncomfortable emotion you have decided to work with and allow yourself to feel deeply into it. This part feels 2
uncomfortable, but it is precisely what we want to shift, so recall the situation or emotion and locate it in your body. Invite it to come forth with as much curiosity and compassion as possible. 4. Once you are in touch with this emotion, invite and allow this emotion to show itself to you as a landscape that will now appear in front of you. You should be able to safely view the landscape from the hill you are standing or sitting on. 5. We are going for invitation and reception here, not projection, so whatever pops up, accept and begin to observe it. You might see a forest, a jungle, a desert, quicksand, or rocks, or you might see something cartoonish or fantastical, specific or abstract. Whatever it is, just observe it, as the idea is to actually allow yourself to be surprised. If you get the sense that you didn t expect something we are on the right track! We are seeking to find what we don t know here, and the landscape can take almost any form. Is it indoors or outdoors? Full of images or quite sparse? Don t force it. Images or the sense of something will often appear in the periphery, on the outer edges of your focused awareness and the act of trying to see something can actually get in your way. So just connect with the feeling, breathe, and simply allow. We welcome any communication, and there is no incorrect way to receive what needs to come through. You may get flashes of images that don t stay, or, if you are not a visual person, you may simply sense a few things, get an idea or an impression and those work, too! Pay attention and describe whatever grabs your greatest attention, making note of anything you experience even if it is blank space as everything, even emptiness, is meaningful. 6. Now that you see or sense a place, begin to describe it by noticing the sights, sounds, shapes, colors, impressions, etc. that are present here. And as you are able describe the landscape and see it outside of you, stop to notice that You Are Not the Landscape. You 3
are observing it. This means that You are not your emotional state you are simply observing your feelings from a neutral place on the side of a hill. Can you feel how profound this awareness is? 7. Feel the immediate relief that occurs as you experience this detachment. Breathe it in. Recognize how quick and easy it was to move into a detached internal space. As you observe, begin to recognize that the place presenting itself to you isn t a personal characteristic OF you, but an internal state of being that you ve recently inhabited, but are now observing. You have now become detached from your feeling state and have become instead, THE OBSERVER of your feeling state. Even if for some reason you found yourself IN the landscape and not observing from the hill, you are still IN the landscape, but not the landscape itself. 8. Take a few moments to really connect with the fact that you are indeed the observer of your emotion, and not the emotion itself fully allow the recognition of relief that this brings. 9. You are now free to walk down and explore this landscape and discover any interesting details about the landscape that may inform your understanding of this emotional state what is the terrain like? What colors do you see? What is the climate like? Are there animals? Simply note all the details.* If you are not at all interested in exploring the details of this (or any future) landscape, you may simply skip to the next step. 10. Whether you are in the landscape or on the hill, now turn around. What is the view behind you? What do you see from this new perspective? How does this add to your understanding of the emotional state it represents? 4
11. When you have sufficiently explored the landscape, or are simply ready to leave, call in a winged creature. When the winged creature arrives, it will most likely will take the form of a bird, but any winged creature will do. 12. Once the winged creature arrives, note the species and color. Even if you are unfamiliar with species of birds, you may simply get the impression, I think it is an eagle, or a robin or a bee. Once your personal mode of flight has arrived, allow it to become big enough for you to get on its back at your regular size, OR for you to become small enough to get on the bird at its regular size whichever feels right to you. 13. Either way, climb on its back and soar up into the clear blue sky. Feel the additional relief, detachment and neutrality that comes with this. 14. Look over the side and view the landscape from above. Is it bigger or smaller than you thought? What surrounds the landscape? Is there an edge or border? Take a few notes from your perspective up here. How does your emotional state look to you from up here, at a distance? Feel the relief perspective brings. 15. We will end the process with you in the clear blue sky feeling relief and noting all the images you received. Take time to journal about your experience and answer the questions that follow at the end of the lesson. Most importantly, affirm that you are not your story, emotion or state of mind, and that you now have the ability to detach from it and observe with curiosity any information it might be providing you! 5