First Evening Class: 9th Jan 2008

We will be doing three types of activities in the classes: energy meditations, exercises to help make the meditations more effective, and thirdly some teaching to help you along. There are several different energy meditations I will be using (Soma, Bodyflow, SHEM, Tao Walk...) - what they have in common is that they work specifically with the energy field - rather than, say with the breath, or watching thoughts or moving the body. So to get the full value of these we will need to help you develop your sensitivity to energies - open your inner "energy eyes". The various exercises and explorations will help you to "tune-in" to the energies that are moving in and around you during the meditations. Then from time-to-time I will be giving some teaching and explanation to help you make sense of the experiences. Just a few hints and tips, simple models and maps to clear away any misconceptions or set aside burning questions. There will be very little theory - this work is essentially experiential.

• EXERCISE: A guided meditation - sitting and feeling the space around and letting it move inside with each breath: natural, healing purity. First in silence, then with chanting music.

• EXERCISE: Stretching and yawning - giving the body its freedom to move - encouraged by LOUD rock music.

Q/ How are you feeling after the body movement?

A/ Relaxed! But in a more physical way from before.

There is such a difference between now and the relaxation you felt after the guided meditation - yet both are described by a single label: 'Relaxation'. You have gone beyond the capacity of the mind to discriminate in words between such subtle variations - yet the difference in feeling is still very strong. "Tuning-in" to energy is being able to taste these subtle differences in texture between different experiences and savouring them fully. When you attend to fully feeling a quality that can't easily be named you are naturally drawn into a part of yourself beyond the familiar word-oriented mind.

• MEDITATION: Bodyflow

Bodyflow is a meditation in 3 stages. Start from a standing position with closed eyes. In the first stage we open to the simple, clear purity of the open space in the room and let that move inside us and then we ALLOW MOVEMENT in response. The movements are (initially) a soft, gentle, purposeless, undirected flow; just like an unborn fetus floating in the amniotic fluid. You have complete freedom to use the space in the room, make sounds, use the floor, and roll around. But if you find yourself at rest, stuck on the floor with no movement happening any more, then pick yourself up and start again from the initial position.

That stage is for 20 minutes and then a voice on the CD will say, "STOP!" Then freeze like a statue in whatever position you find yourself. The soft, healing energies you have awoken will move more deeply into your energy system. To start with the freeze will be fine to hold, but then step by step your various systems may begin to complain: your arms ache, your mind doubts, your enthusiasm wanes. So on the one hand these various systems want to move again, on the other hand you must find a deeper place inside where your intention is to stay still: 'As a Meditation, I WILL NOT move!" It's an experiement - see how you get on.

The freeze stage lasts for 10 minutes. Then some music will begin. The instruction now is essentially the same as for the first stage. Let the music move inside you and allow yourself to feel it deeply - then ALLOW MOVEMENT in response. Not necessarily dance - but a spontaneous flow of movement from moment to moment. If you are really tuned in then each moment will be a fresh and creative expression of what you are feeling just then.

The music lasts 15 minutes: the first 5 minutes are gentle, the second 5 are more energised and the last 5 minute are strong and celebrative. So you can really enjoy this stage of the process.