Understanding the concept of A “Lens”

A lens is a way of directing our attention and life-force in any moment. It is a way of relating to our experience. In every moment, we are relating to ourselves and our environment, whether consciously or unconsciously, through various lenses or ways of seeing. For example, we often relate to our experience through a continuous stream of inner storytelling, unconsciously narrating our life and habitually judging ourselves and others.

There are healthy and helpful ways of relating to our experience, ways that can free us and bring more clarity, ease and joy. There are also unhealthy and unhelpful ways of relating to our experience, ways that leave us feeling stuck in our lives and cause us to suffer. The seven lenses are ways of relating to our experience that can often lie dormant inside of us, waiting, until we learn how to reconnect to their hidden power.

Before we explore these lenses, it is very useful to examine how we are already relating to our experience. As a child, I remember trying on my father’s heavy prescription glasses and feeling shocked at how distorted my perception of the world became and how relieved I felt to take the glasses off and yet, for my father, these were the lenses he has become so used to seeing the world through. In a similar way, most of us are looking at reality through distorted ways of perceiving, ways that have been shaped and influenced by our familial conditioning and societal norms, (of course some of these ways are very functional and helpful while others can limit us). Before we can learn to relate to our experience and reality in more healthy ways, it is important that we first come to recognize the ways in which our attention has been hijacked by these distorted and often unconscious ways of seeing.

When we consider the many different psychological and spiritual systems and traditions from the perspective of these seven lenses, we can gain an understanding around the disagreements that can often occur around what true freedom is. For example, the sages often say that only the ground of being is most important (Lens 1: The Sage) and frequently dismiss everything else. There are also those who follow the path of self-love and self-care (Lens 2: The Nurturer), and believe that complete unconditional self-love is the most important way of experiencing reality. Meditators often believe that achieving a deep mastery of concentration of mind (Lens 3: The Warrior) is what matters most while psychotherapists tend to see the full unveiling of our unconscious mind (Lens 4: The Alchemist) to be where true freedom lies.

Underlying the “Lenses that Liberate” model is the understanding that reality is dynamic and therefore requires us to relate to our experience in many different ways using many different lenses. Indeed, if we only have access to one or two lenses, then our ways of relating can remain myopic. The model does not advocate for one specific perspective over another, but rather honors the truth and value of all seven lenses through which we can relate to our experience and helps us awaken these different capacities. By honoring the truth and value of all seven lenses through which we can relate to our experience, the “Lenses that Liberates” Model provides us with a way of deeply embodying our divinity and our humanity, allowing them to co-exist in harmony. Each lens invites us, from a different angle, into a deep enquiry of what it truly means to be both human and divine and as you enter each lens fully, our life itself becomes the answer. Over time, we arrive at a place inside, which I call the “Integrated Self”, where we can naturally draw on all seven lenses of relating to our experience while remaining unbound by all of them.

HOW a lens OPENS OUR EXPERIENCE

I use the terms lenses and levels interchangeably throughout this work because they are both useful ways to look at the model. Initially, each lens can be best understood as an independent way of relating to our experience. They can be seen as distinct ways of looking at our lives that can greatly serve us. We work on each lens independently, doing our best to take on its worldview and specific skill-set to activate its capacities. As we continue to practice and look more deeply through a lens, we come to see that for that way of seeing to fully blossom, it requires the foundation of the previous lenses, thus the term level. Over time. as we embody each way of relating to our experience, the lenses naturally start to weave together and positively influence each other. Similar to that of a council, where each member has a unique perspective and valuable contribution in a decision-making process, so too we learn to relate to situations that present themselves by drawing from the wisdom of many different lenses.

This model is not suggesting that we all need to become a master of each way of relating, but rather that having a solid foundation in each way of relating can have a profound impact on how we relate to ourselves and the world . For example, just as in school we are given a basic foundation in all subjects before we specialize so too it can be very useful to consider our spiritual and psychological development in a similar way. With a strong foundation in all lenses, we can start to discover where our natural gifts and unique strengths lie and gravitate in that direction.

HOW I WORK WITH PEOPLE

My name is Derek Sheahan and “The Lenses That Liberate” has developed over the last 18 years of my inner work and exploration with others, In my training, I have spent many years with meditation instructors, spiritual teachers and psychotherapy trainers and have practiced thousands of hours of meditation on silent retreat. From my own path, I have come to see that there are many important avenues for us to explore that lead to a healthy, integrated life and this model reflects and embodies an amalgamation of all of the integration and understanding that I have gained over the years. I use this model both in individual sessions with clients and also in the group work I regularly facilitate.

As we explore each lens in depth of this model, I will introduce how I work with people to activate that particular way of seeing. To begin with, I start by assessing to what degree each lens has been cultivated and activated in an individual when I meet them initially, that is, what lenses are they naturally drawn towards and what lenses they have neglected in their development. I then work in a unique way with each person so that these seven lenses can be brought into harmony over time. We always begin with the “Introductory Practices”, learning to inhabit our felt sense in a uniform and holistic way before we start the more subtle exploration of focusing on particular centers of the body and their archetypal qualities.

As we explore this model together, I will suggest a variety of practices that we can do to cultivate each specific lens of relating. While our intellectual understanding of this model is important, it is the direct, experiential aspect of engaging with the specific practices that brings about change in us and allows our understanding of the model to become real and embodied. It is usually not necessary to engage with all of these practices but rather to explore and discover what opens each way of seeing for each of us. I refer to these as our “keys” for opening each way of seeing.

Please hold this map lightly as you explore your experience with it because, like all maps, it is a useful tool at best. Our actual experience in any momentshould be the priority.

THE LENSES THAT LIBERATE

The first level of the “Lenses That Liberate” model, is the Sage. Through the lens of the Sage we direct our attention towards the ground of our being, that place within us that has always remained unchanged. We are invited to contemplate, “What is the ground of my life?, “What never changes?”.

We all come to this model at varying levels of development in each lens and we start with practices that are suitable for where we are on our journey. Before we look through this lens, it is important that we are sufficiently rested so our focus and attention is truly available to explore. Therefore grounding and relaxation practices are often a prerequisite before we can turn towards the deeper ground of our being. Essentially, we all start our enquiry through this lens at whatever grounding means for us. For many, this will be to recognize that the earth is holding us and we explore the felt sense and safety of this holding.. As we become settled in this experience, a deeper seeing becomes activated as we notice there is something in our experience that even holds the earth (not sure about this), something that holds everything and that never changes. At this point we are ready to look through the deeper aspects of the lens of the Sage, we examine, “What is the true ground of my being?”

OPENING TO THE GROUND of being

As we progress deeper with this lens, we start to long for the true ground of our being to reveal itself. At this point we are encouraged to turn all of our attention to the very core of ourselves that is changeless and by its very nature, free. That is, to ground ourselves in the truest way possible. In fact, at this deeper experience of the Sage, grounding oneself in the earth or even the body is secondary and useful in so much as it ultimately allows us to look more deeply at what never changes.

The objective here is to get a taste of a whole new way of experiencing life, a radical shift in the ground of where we are looking from. Whether this shift occurs through sheer will power, deep relaxation, complete somatic embodiment or of having no sense of the body whatsoever, the way we come to this initially isn’t important. One Zen master said that before we have this first taste of the ground (called “Satori” in the Zen tradition), our spiritual life is like “throwing rocks in the dark”. Once we taste this, we have a sense of a whole new way of life and from the Lenses That Liberate perspective, the deeper journey truly begins.

There are many ways for the Lens of the Sage to awaken, to uncover the ground of our own being. For some, it can awaken by being in contact with the resonance of a person already seeing through this lens, for others the ground can be opened through psychedelics, strong breathwork, extreme fasting and intense meditation retreats. Whatever the method, as we look through the eyes of the Sage we strip away all that isn’t essential to us, until all that remains is the core essence of ourselves. The more we can get the felt sense and direct understanding that what we are most fundamentally IS this open ground, the more the rest of the journey comes into alignment with a true and unshakable foundation. We have an authentic inner reference point to meet life from. As we spend time cultivating this way of seeing, we learn to reside naturally more and more in this open ground . Sooner or later, we have the experience that what we are is the ground of being itself. This is the core realization of the Sage. Our own true inner compass is activated and it increasingly becomes the unshakable foundation of our life that paves the way for the journey ahead, We are finally building our house on solid ground.

Initially as we explore this deeper ground of our being, our systems are often frozen and may not have much capacity to feel. All of us, to varying degrees, have experienced traumas and difficulties in our life, The memories of these traumas are often stored in our body as blocked energy and frozen feelings. Therefore practices here to activate the Sage often initially work best when they are intense, especially for those who are very energetically stuck and unable to access their felt sense of themselves to help loosen and free this trapped energy. Through strong energetic practices, we open and activate our energy system allowing us to experience the spaciousness that has always been underneath this trapped energy. For people who already have a very sensitive and open system, starting with more gentle practices is important as it can be very counterproductive to over-stress the nervous system.

In summary, awakening the Sage is fundamental to how we experience the other lenses. It will not be possible to remain rested in the Sage in an embodied way without the integration of many of the other ways of seeing, so we move onto the next Lens, that of The Nurturer.

How I WORK

In my work at the level of the Sage and opening the ground of being, I offer a variety of practices depending on the individual and their degree of awareness at this lens. Initially, I teach grounding practices that help people connect with energy and inherent safety of the earth. Spending time in nature and connecting the stillness of the natural world is also a very useful practice that I often recommend.

When I feel people are ready for a deeper experience of their ground of being, I often use strong breathwork as I’ve found it to be a powerful resource and the most suitable tool for the majority of people to facilitate a life-changing opening. I find breathwork most suitable because it’s completely natural, it does not require the reliance on another person for transmission, it does not rely on a substance to alter your state and it’s the most gentle method for the body and has no side effects if done correctly.

Through strong breath practices over a period of days, weeks or months, our system can release more and more energetic blocks. As a psychotherapist and breath work facilitator I’ve come to see that removing these energetic blocks allows us to look more clearly through the Lens of the Sage and the ground of being can be naturally awakened. In my experience, often one session of strong breathwork can be enough to open the depth of this lens and propel someone forward with a strong commitment and excitement for their journey. Others may need to revisit these strong practices multiple times before the Lens of the Sage become available to them.

For individuals with a lot of prior awakening experience who are already established in the ground of Being, I usually start with gentle practices where stronger break-through experiences may not be necessary. For example, I teach people how to focus on the emptiness and spaciousness that is always available in our experience so that the ground of our being can strengthen as we regularly turn our attention to this spaciousness. For all practitioners, over time the practices at this level become more gentle as we learn to touch and rest as the ground of being more consistently with less and less effort. The more we can touch and rest as this ground of our Being, the more all the other levels can come into harmonious relationship as we stabilize in the true foundation of who we are.

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While The Sage allows us to taste the deep freedom of Being, The Nurturer invites us to perceive life from the standpoint of what is restful and kindest in our experience. This second lens, The Nurturer, calls us to explore practices that soothe and bring our physical, emotional and psychological selves into rest and ease. Initially through this lens, we see life from the perspective of, “How can I be kindest to myself in this moment?”, “How can I nourish myself fully and feel deeply rested in my body?”. It is also through the eyes of The Nurturer that we learn embody and celebrate the feminine aspects of ourselves; our receptivity, gentleness and goodness.

In our modern society, we are often all too aware of our traumas and difficulties, struggling endlessly to become an idealized version of ourselves. Life can feel like a battleground, constantly pushing ourselves to succeed with no end in sight. From the perspective of the Lenses That Liberate, it is usually essential that before we consciously move towards difficulties and disruptions in our system (which we are often doing unconsciously), that we activate the ground of ease and rest in our nervous system. Our over-activated systems need to find a place of harmony and balance before they have the ability to face what is not at rest inside of us (Level 4 : The Alchemist).

The foundational practices at this level involve exploring how we care for ourselves in our daily life. Fundamentally this means making wise choices in how we eat, our sleeping habits, getting regular exercise, connecting with others in nourishing ways, speaking to ourselves with kindness and respect and all of the other healthy ways that bring us to inner harmony. Through specific practices, we start to experience a deep sense of belonging at this level, to the earth, to our family and community and we regain a sense of our own inherent goodness as a person. Qualities like self-compassion, light-heartedness and humor are also cultivated at this level.

Once we have spent time with the foundational practices of self-care at this level , we move to practices that are focused inwardly. Inner practices such as body scans, progressive muscle relaxation techniques and gentle breathing practices bring our body and mind into a state of deep calm and rest and allow our threshold for somatic enjoyment and grounded pleasure to grow. Each time we practice, we loosen the edges of our resistance to feeling good in our body. Gradually, feeling rested becomes our default way of relating to ourselves.

Going Deeper into the nurturer

Over time we develop the capacity to “soak up” the nourishment that is naturally available to us and learn to enjoy a state of simple rest and pleasure for longer periods of time. As our innate need for rest and nurturing becomes more and more fulfilled, the lens of “What is goodness?” starts to reveal a deeper meaning. We start to see that life itself is infused with a “basic goodness” or “an energetic kindness” that actually wants to run through our system fully if we learn to allow it. This deeper seeing of the Nurturer requires that the Sage is activated as this true goodness naturally arises out of this ground of being. We discover that what is good and kindest both for us and others, is to radiate this inherent goodness outwards to all people. Ultimately, through this lens, we move towards a place where our life itself becomes a unique expression of the goodness of the universe .

HOW I WORK

At the Nurturer level, initially I help people identity the practices and tools that bring them into a place of ease and joy. I help individuals reevaluate how they perceive their lives so that it becomes an opportunity to feel, celebrate and express well-being, rather than living in the habitual state of seeing what arises as a constant problem to be solved. As with all the levels, I offer a wide range of practices to choose from and clients select a few at any one time that resonate and feel deeply alive for them. As we explore in this way, they find their own “keys” to open up this lens. We spend a lot of time looking together at how they can increase a basic well being throughout the day, establishing daily routines and regular practices to interrupt any negative patterns and to keep the ground of ease and nourishment available as much as possible. Visualizations and spoken somatic affirmations can also be very powerful at this level to bring a deeper rest to our system. I help clients retrain their attention so we start to notice any part of our somatic experience that feels good and gently allow that to come into the foreground so that the feeling of well-being and ease can gradually grow and spread throughout our entire physical and emotional system. Over time, we learn to attune to the basic goodness of reality and rest there.

Through the Lens of the Sage we encounter the deepest ground of our being and through The Nurturer we learn how to rest and nourish our over-activated nervous systems. Through the third lens, The Warrior, we consciously activate our willpower and an embodied masculinity in our system. As The Warrior we ask the questions, “What does my life stand for?” and “How can I direct my attention and will to what serves?”.

The Warrior is interested in building the muscles of resilience and resolve. It is looking through the eyes of the part of us that are willing to take a stand for what feels truest to us, the part of us that is disciplined and willing to develop “backbone” and true strength. The extent that we can develop this capacity of resolve is the extent to which we can face the difficult aspects of ourselves through the next lens (Level 4 : The Alchemist).

Through The Warrior, we explore practices that build stability and strength. We also activate the healthy Masculine so it can take root in our lives, activating our discipline, sovereignty, boundaries, determination and will-power. Meditation is the primary tool we use at the Warrior Level to develop these capacities.

When we sit in meditation, we learn to objectively observe our interior world rather than being trapped in it, as we can often feel in daily life. Over time we learn to anchor ourselves in our inner felt experience rather than getting pulled around by the currents of thoughts and emotions. Similar to observing a river from the riverbank, rather than being at the mercy of its constant ebb and flow, we learn to allow our experience to be as it is and to make space for our residual discomfort to arise. We use our will power and concentration to gently and consistently bring us back to our center. Gradually we develop an inner resilience that begins to have a significant effect on our way of being, allowing us to feel more resourced and available to deal with our challenges and difficulties.

As well as meditation, another important type of practice at this level is engaging in some form of physical discipline that brings us to the edge of where our perceived limitations lie and invites us to go beyond them. This could be running, weight-lifting, a martial art or any practice that allows us to regularly challenge ourselves and extend our somatic resilience and growth. The Warrior aspect of our being needs this challenge and tension to grow in order to continue its development. If we do not have a healthy avenue for expressing this Warrior energy, it can often manifest in a distorted way in our relationships. For example, this build up of energy can result in placing unhealthy demands and projections on others when we don’t give this energy a healthy avenue to flow.

Going Deeper into the warrior

If meditation at the Warrior level is practiced before we have seen the ground of who we are deeply (The Sage), we may often find ourselves chasing mediation experiences rather than allowing our current experience to unfold since we have no solid foundation to ground ourselves. Similarly, if we do not know what real rest is (The Nurturer), we bring a certain tension to our meditation practice that hinders us from finding the real value of sitting still. If we have developed The Nurturer (Level 2) to a sufficient extent, our resolve will be married with a soothing capacity that keeps our masculine Warrior balanced with a feminine tenderness.

As we progress through the Lens of the Warrior we gradually transition from forcing and struggling towards a state of deeper alignment where our will becomes the servant of something greater and has purpose and service. We require The Sage and The Nurturer to hold the Warrior for this deeper alignment to truly come to fruition.

How I Work

In my work, I help to ignite the Inner Warrior through various practices that activate our strength and inner resolve. Before any meditation practice, I encourage clients to ensure their system is not overly agitated and strongly advise they complete some form of practices from the Nurturer. For example, I often recommend clients first engage in a simple “shaking” practice that can help to relieve the excess energy from our system which allows us to come to a natural stillness in the body rather than an imposed one.

The practice of meditation is central to The Warrior’s development. I have found it most useful to use certain “Hot Spots” in the body to anchor our attention. “Hot Spots” are places where the energy and felt-sense of the body is naturally strong and therefore easier to focus on. These Hot Spots serve as the foundation for the Somatic Meditation I teach. Using these somatic gateways makes it much easier to stabilize our attention during meditation for periods of time. I generally start by introducing people to two “Hot Spots” in the lower belly. One advantage of this is that when we focus our attention low in the body, our thinking naturally slows down as a by-product of the practice. I find it useful to help clients access the feminine “hot spot” in the front of the belly first, allowing them to somatically experience warmth and soothing as they deepen their focus. Once their focus and attention is established in this place, we move to the masculine hot spot close to the spine at the back of the belly which allows us to feel a somatic stability and strength.

After these points have been established, I help people come into the somatic core of the masculine in their body, their spine. The spine is the very core of our being as a person and when we enter its felt sense, we naturally come into contact with the qualities of the Warrior. I teach various practices sustain our attention in the spine. When we observe our life from our Warrior, we see things very differently. There is more space inside us, more resilience and a quality of “inner knowing” that has an inherent strength. Since we are in the backbone of our body, so too our mind and being has “backbone” and resolve.

The first three lenses we have explored uniquely help to build the foundational capacities for our life by developing different qualities of our being. The Sage builds the ground and foundation of our life, the Nurturer establishes the basic goodness and the Warrior invokes our natural strength. Together these three lenses form our “Foundational Self”. The fourth lens, The Alchemist, turns our attention towards a fundamentally different capacity : transformation.

Through this lens, we are not looking at resourcing ourselves but at moving towards what is unconscious and difficult in us. Through The Alchemist we direct our attention to what we are not conscious of, including our blind spots, “What am I not seeing in my experience?”, “How can I show up more fully in my life?”. As we look through this lens, we start to uncover our unconscious patterns and ways of being that no longer serve us. We address these unconscious “shadow” aspects of ourselves primarily by opening our heart to them and becoming emotionally available to ourselves and others. Bravery, honesty, vulnerability and getting real with ourselves are qualities our Alchemist must develop in order to facilitate deep transformation at this level.

Historically, it is believed that an Alchemist was one who spent their time turning base metals into gold. They gathered these raw materials of base metals and spent a great deal of time and effort transforming them into something valuable. Similarly in the inner transformation process, we must learn to become skilled at turning our difficulties and stagnant energy into something that can serve ourselves and others, that is, to turn our darkness into light. In order for a more balanced form of alchemy to occur in the transformation process, we must not only face the darkness of our shadow but also be willing to open to our “Golden Shadow”, those beautiful and bright aspects of us which we ordinarily deny and may seem out of alignment with how we know ourselves. Acknowledging both the dark and light sides of our shadow allows a more balanced form of alchemy to occur as we work at this level.

There are many practices that allow for transformation at this level. A somatic psychotherapist can be a wonderful primary support for this level of the journey, often also acting as our guide and mentor in our life. Having regular supportive contact with someone outside of our family and social circles who can consistently help us to lovingly turn towards what we find difficult and illuminate our shadow and blind-spots can be invaluable to us . Developing this type of healing relationship over time can provide us with many of the necessary growth and missing experiences we didn’t receive as a child. As we learn to lean on another human being for this deep support, this level of contact and being seen by another human being can allow a deep healing to occur.

Another useful practice at this level is Dyading. This involves sitting opposite another person and alternating between being the listener and staying deeply open and present to the other and then being the speaker and sharing our inner experiences in an open and transparent way. Making an authentic connection with another person in this way can be deeply healing and, over time, can transform how we relate to ourselves and all of life. Ideally dyading is best practiced when we have already done a sufficient amount of individual inner work first. Otherwise, it is all too common in the Dyad process to get lost in our unseen projections of each other if we have not uncovered enough of our own shadow and awakened compassion inside ourselves.

Bodywork is also a very useful practice at this level. Bodywork that specifically focuses on opening the “armoring” of the body is a very effective practice that I often recommend to clients. This “armoring” refers to the protective layers of tension we established in our body to inhibit us from feeling emotions and sensations that were too difficult for us at that time in our life. Rolfing, The Rosen Method and other similar techniques work at removing these physical blockages in the body in a gradual way and this can greatly help facilitate the inner alchemy process.

Going Deeper INTO THE ALCHEMIST

As we open to the deeper parts of our unconscious through The Alchemist, it is essential that we have the foundation of the first three lens activated. With the Sage available, we are grounded in our being and can allow the ground itself to hold and embrace our difficulties (can serve as the foundation for meeting our experience). When we know how to feel rested and rejuvenated in our bodies (The Nurturer), we can allow this ease and kindness to naturally embrace us (what we are facing). Finally, our Warrior also needs to be activated so that we have the resilience to stay with difficulty if and when it arises. Without all of these as the foundation, the deeper work can never really progress. Through the Alchemist, we are ready to work with our unconscious material in an engaged and available way. In fact, for the first time in this process, we actively turn towards it the deepest part of our shadow.

The primary quality that awakens in us at the level of the Alchemist is compassion. We cultivate a tender and open heart that can hold the difficulties of ourselves and others in an engaging way. We start to recognize that no matter what life presents, when we have the capacity to be patient and available to it, it can reveal its gifts to us. We allow life and all of our experiences to touch us deeply, having both the courage and softness to be shaped and transformed by them. When necessary, we allow the fire of life to purify us, so that out of the ashes we are reborn as a deeper and more authentic version of ourselves. Like a snake periodically shedding their skin, we are ever transforming, allowing the natural process of “shedding” our old ways of being to become the habitual way that we move through life.

REVIEW

The first three levels that we have discussed are all about building the ground of our “Foundational Self”, so that we are solid and stable as we explore the more subtle lens of experience..  Essentially, The Alchemist ( our “Relational Self” ) transforms inner difficulties and contractions so that they serve as the fuel for the conscious development of our “Subtle Self” and the next level of our journey, Lens 5 : The Shaman.  

How I Work

In my work at the level of the Alchemist, I help clients turn towards their difficulties in a consistent and resourced way. I consider it essential that for deeper transformation to happen, people have a sufficient stability and foundation in the first three levels of practice before they consciously move towards what is difficult in their experience to relate with.

I have trained in Hakomi, Gestalt and many other psycho-therapeutic modalities that I utilize at this level. Hakomi is a very gentle and heart-based form of mindfulness-centered somatic psychotherapy developed by Ron Kurtz in the 1970s. Using my skills in Hakomi, I help facilitate the gradual unwinding of our unconscious beliefs and emotional blocks so that we have increasing access to the natural peace we discovered through the lens of the Sage. We learn to move towards difficult parts of our shadow and psyche, creating a dialogue with these aspects of ourselves so that we can hear and understand their perspectives deeply. In addition, I often use tools like Internal Family Systems and two chair approaches from Gestalt Therapy to help this process.

Alongside the psycho-therapeutic work, I provide my clients with many other tools and practices they can do in the interim between sessions. These practices include modalities like the Trauma Release Exercise ® , a physical trauma release exercise that is very effective at opening our past wounds in the body in a kind and progressive way. Improvisation games are also a very useful tool that I often utilize, both with individual sessions and in groups. Embodying different characters and emotional states allows people to become unstuck from the patterns they habitually identity with in a playful way. All of these practices allow people to regain their expressive life force, vitality and joy over time, so they can start to “show up” in the world in a fully embodied and enlivened way.

While the first four lenses each help to form a solid bedrock for engaging fully with our life, the fifth, sixth and seventh lenses invite us to perceive our life in much more subtlety from the outset.

Through the lens of The Shaman, the fifth lens, we are invited to contemplate, “What is more subtle than the physical world?”, “What is energy?”, and “What underlies my experience of physical reality?”. At this level, we activate the capacity of subtle feeling and turn our attention to sense the subtle underlying current of energy that pervades our body. Here we encounter the inner anatomy and wonder of the subtle body.

The subtle body is the body of energy that underlines our physical existence. It is our essence, often called the Soul, that exists prior to physical manifestation in any moment. Looking through this lens, we are consciously placing our attention in the energy that underlies experience. We are feeling the energy deeply in our bodies and tuning into the subtle energy currents and how they move, developing our awareness of the more subtle aspects of our experience. When we discover the subtle body and learn to rest in it, there is a natural sense of witnessing our thoughts, emotions and the physical body that becomes available. It is the level of "I am", where we exist before any self definition, labels or feeling state. As the Shaman, we know ourselves as a body of energy rather than anything solid. This energy is often often referred to as our “presence” or “being”. We are ourselves before we define ourselves in any particular way. 

Going Deeper into THE SHAMAN

After we have transmuted enough of our shadow through the alchemy practices of Level 4, the energetic stagnation and unconscious “armoring” that was so much a part of our normal experience starts to melt and free up a lot of energy in our system. Then we are ready to truly turn our attention to the deeper aspects of The Shaman.

Through the Lens of the Shaman is recognizing somatically and directly that this body of energy is open, empty and not solid. As we develop in this recognition, the physical body itself relaxes deeply in the knowing that it is being supported by this subtle energy and we taste a deep rest and freedom as this understanding grows. Practices such as Tai Chi and Qi Gong that teach how energy flows through these pathways and can greatly assist us in becoming aware of this energy.

The subtle body is truly as diversified and magnificent as the physical body and an untapped wonder that most people do not even know exists. As we open to it, we start to explore different energetic pathways of this subtle system in more nuanced and detailed ways. As we deepen our experience of this lens, we come to the core realization of the Shaman, that, “I am this energy that forms the substrata of creation.”

How I Work

In my work at this level, I help people to get in touch with their felt sense of energy, both in their body and around them. I usually start by teaching clients how to notice the sense of presence and beingness in their experience, helping them to anchor their attention in this felt sense of this presence in their body. Once people are in touch with and can rest in this presence, I teach them the pathways through which this presence moves in the body. At this point, I help people awaken the deeper aspects of the Shaman through accessing various energetic pathways in the body. For example, The Central Channel is an energetic column that runs from the base of the spine to the top of the head in the center of the body. It can be directly experienced as the energetic birthplace of the physical body. By placing our attention in the Central Channel through particular practices, we gradually develop a felt sense of this energetic core with its vastness and subtlety. In a similar way, I work with other energetic pathways of the body such as The Microcosmic Orbit, The Chakra System, The Three Dantians and The 6 Centers of The Heart. I also provide clients with maps and diagrams of this inner terrain so they can learn the inner secrets of these subtle systems and the adventure of navigating this inner world begins. Whatever the energetic pathway, the most important initial discovery we return to again and again is the insight that our energy body is first and fore-most open and empty and it is from this place of openness that true bliss, pleasure and a somatic joy can truly bloom and blossom in our body through Level 6 & 7 practices.

While the Lens of the Shaman explores the subtlety of energy , through the Lens of The Seer, the sixth lens, we examine the subtlety of mind,. We investigate the sub-structures of mind, asking the deepest questions such as “Who Am I?” and “What is my purpose in Life?”, allowing a deeper realization of ourselves to come to the foreground. In Level 4 we work with our psychological material and through the lens of The Seer we examine what is underneath this, “Who is the one who has been doing this psychological work?”, “Can I find a solid “me” at the core of my experience?”. The primary quality we develop as The Seer is a deep curiosity about the way things are. Through the Seer, we start to move through life with an openness and wonder rather than following our usual ideas with a fixed and rigid certainty. We activate our Higher Mind, that aspect of us that can transcend our thinking mind whilst still using the mind where necessary. The Seer possesses “a knowing” that is much deeper than mental understanding. We learn to cultivate this “subtle knowing” more and more through this lens.

Going Deeper into THE SEER

In order to activate the deeper aspects of The Seer, it is important that the previous Lenses are available to us and can serve as a foundation. If we have worked sufficiently with our Alchemist, enough of our life-force has been freed up from the entanglements of our past wounding. Similarly, through our Shaman, even more of our energy has been liberated in a deeper way through the opening and resting in the subtle body. It is often the case that when we have not already uncovered the subtle energy body (The Shaman) and have not healed enough of our shadow (The Alchemist) , true self-enquiry isn’t possible or, at best, is limited by our distorted perceptions because we cannot see things as they are. This is why in all of the Mystery Schools of the past, (historical places of learning that valued and cultivated spiritual and “subtle” knowledge, Seer Practices were only introduced after first completing substantial practice at other levels. Once we’ve discovered the deeper nature of our somatic experience to be flowing and without solidity, we consciously turn our attention to the deeper aspects of The Seer.

If we have done enough Level 5 Subtle Body practices, we are now open and residing in the energy inside ourselves before mind, therefore we have the ability to enquire into mind. Once this resting in the Subtle Body is available to us, we are ready to begin an introspection into the nature of the mind, the nature of who we take ourselves to be and the nature of all of reality. We ask questions such as, “Should I believe my mind?”, “What is conditioned?” and “Do I have control over what I think?”.

As The Seer develops, we see how much our subtle mind is actually constantly overlaying our reality. We develop the capacity to reside in a place in our Higher Mind that is able to release our mental fixations and rest in an inner serenity, free from the need to concretely label our experience. The deepest fruition of the Seer lies in activating our capacity for an automatic enquiry into the nature of thought, asking “Is it true?” before any thought form takes solidity. In this way, our Lower Mind can then be in constant service to this deeper “knowing” and we move through life with an openness and innocence, meeting each moment freshly with a “child-like” curiosity.

How I Work

In my work, I activate the inner Seer through helping to ignite a deep curiosity about our life, helping people to become curious about their moment to moment experience, curious about how their mind operates and constructs our deepest interpretations of reality. I teach various forms of introspection into our thinking processes so individuals can become increasingly clear of what they are believing and telling themselves in their daily life . As this process deepens, there naturally comes a point where a person becomes curious on the most fundamental level and asks, “Who Am I really?”.

Before I teach the deeper forms of self-enquiry, the first practice I usually introduce is that of opening the third eye, the somatic gateway to intuitive perception in the head. This allows us to somatically see and examine these questions from a much deeper place than solely a mental perspective. Through this lens I introduce people to “Somatic Self-Enquiry” a form of introspective practice where the whole body is engaged in questions related to the fundamental sense of who we take ourselves to be. In this process, the wisdom of the life-force reveals itself through the body and reveals the answers to these questions.  Another practice, I teach people is how to train their attention to watch the source of their sense of “I” so they can experience their mental sense of self to be more formless and changing than something solid. As we work together with these practices, over time the grip of the psychological self starts to loosen and the deeper aspects of ourselves can naturally shine forth.

While the first Lens (The Sage) is concerned with seeing and living from the ground of being, The Mystic, the seventh Lens, is compelled to experience the fullness and richness of being. Through the eyes of The Mystic we are looking at “What is wholeness etc?”, “How does life want to move through me?” and “ How can I live in harmony with and stay open to everything in existence?”.

In this way of seeing, we start to look at life as one organic whole rather than as seeing it as separate parts. We move through our day with a curiosity of what it’s like to stay open to everything that happens, to honor everything as an equal expression of the one life. As we practice this more, we start to experience a sacredness to all of life, where all things start to reveal their inner radiance to us and we directly taste the reality of the statement “"The Kingdom of Heaven is here and now”. From the lens of the Alchemist, the turbulence and apparent disharmony of our life can be easily apparent. However as we deepen through the eyes of The Mystic, we also directly sense the seemingly paradoxical perfection of life the way it already is. Ultimately, the lens of The Mystic draws us deeper and deeper into the experience of unity with all things, until we know, in the deepest place in our heart that what we are is not separate from all of life.

The entry point and doorway for opening this lens is often through our longing. We start to see that our longing for unity has always been at the root of all the other desires of our life. This longing is a doorway that allows us to enter the Lens of the Mystic deeply. Through specific practices, we learn how to use this longing to open ourselves to the deepest aspects of our being.

Going Deeper into THE MYSTIC

As we mature in our development of our inner Mystic, we can also learn to activate the deeper energetic system of the body to further assist us in somatically experiencing this unity. This process involves bringing increasing amounts of energy through the higher pathways and subtle currents of our body so that our full somatic system can come into alignment and harmony with this “higher” life-force energy. Often we start these practices by firstly visualizing the energy moving through these pathways. This can be a safer route to stabilize before sending energy through the currents and it serves to further open the energetic channels we explored at Level 5 (The Shaman).

There are many practices we can use to activate this energy when our system is sufficiently prepared. For example, Kundalini awakening practices and working with the sexual energy of the body are very powerful techniques and should only be practiced when someone is truly ready. Having a network of support and guidance is very important for determining this. While these practices can be very blissful, they can also unearth our deeper emotional and psychological difficulties. As we activate this energy, it is very important that we are grounded in the other lenses as they serve as the essential foundation for this deeper opening of the Mystic and the challenges that go with it. Indeed, this foundation is more important here than at any other level in this model. Therefore, let me briefly summarize how each of the previous levels serves as this foundation for opening this higher energy.

Firstly, it is essential that our Sage has been awakened, that we are deeply aware of the ground being before activating energy in these higher pathways. Having the ground of our being available is very similar to having the earth cord of a plug in a house working as it serves as a safe guard and grounds possible energy overloads from the practices. When the Sage is truly activated, we see that all energy is being birthed moment to moment out of the deepest ground of our being this energy is always being contained by something greater. With our Sage aware of the ground, no matter what the intensity of the experience, we always have the refuge of this ground to return to.

Being in touch with basic goodness from the Nurturer is also essential here. As we activate this higher energy, these practices often unearth our deepest psychological and emotional difficulties, the most unconscious parts of ourselves that feel separate from life, and it’s very important that they are met with the foundation of kindness.

The healthy cultivation of our Warrior is also essential as it provides us with healthy boundaries as we continue to stay open to all of existence through the eyes of The Mystic.

Similarly, if our inner Alchemist is functioning in a healthy way, can continue to transform our difficulties that arise from these energetic practices into higher energy and it is important that we transmute this stagnant, blocked energy without getting lost and overwhelmed by it. We learn to open these blockages in a slow and resourced way without over-stressing our system, alternating between the deep rest of The Nurturer and the transformational fire of our Alchemist as we slowly increase the energy through these higher energetic practices.

It is important that we have discovered the fundamental nature of the physical body and subtle body to be open and without solidity so that the energy in our system can flow freely (The Shaman). Otherwise, we will very lightly encounter energetic blocks that can cause serious harm on multiple levels. This is all too common in neo-tantra schools and, as is well documented, can lead to serious consequences. Activating these pathways before our system is ready can be like sending 10,000 volts through a light bulb. Our system needs to cultivate this increase in energy slowly. Otherwise emotional, physical and psychological harm can easily occur.

Finally, when we do practices that activate the Mystic and consciously bring large amounts of energy through our system, our psychological self is far less likely to co-opt this energy and use it for it’s own gain if we have deeply enquired into its true nature with The Seer at Level 6. Through the Seer practices we can remove many of the fixations on self and loosen the notion that we are separate and independent of life. This higher energy is then far less lightly to “go to our head” and can then be distributed evenly throughout the somatic body, allowing for a much deeper and smoother integration of the Mystic.

So we can see that any higher activation of The Mystic requires all of the previous levels to participate in its fruition. Without any one of these other levels, these energetic practices can lead to instability and can be very difficult to truly integrate in our lives.

Importantly, some people can experience the fullness of unity without ever doing these energetic practices. As they see through the illusion of their separate self (through the Seer) their energetic system may adjust organically without the need for directly engaging such energetic practices. However, in my experience, I have found it is useful for the majority of people I work with to consciously cultivate this energy when their system is ready.

The deepest healing of ourselves can occur at the higher aspects of this level. We use the bliss and ecstasy of the energy released in our system to meet and heal all aspects of ourselves and the deepest embodiment of what it means to be human can truly start to flourish. The Sage forms the ground of our experience and The Mystic completes the cycle, filling all of existence with a richness and joy of being alive. The core realization of the Mystic is that life has always been unified and our existence becomes a celebration of this.

From this place where all of the seven lenses are available to us, we are ready to explore the part of us that is deeper than any particular way of seeing. The part of us that is free to use all lenses and remain bound by none of them, The Integrated Self.

How I Work

In my work at this level, I help to activate the inner Mystic through a variety of practices. Firstly, I help people get in touch with their deepest longing so that this way of seeing activates in a natural way. “What do I really want?”. Through the eyes of The Mystic, if we trace any longing inside of us back to its root, we may discover it leads to this longing for wholeness, for unity. More than other levels, this level is about practices that really use the energy of daily life. I teach people to include what is happening in their life and their environment as fuel for their inner journey. We repeatedly turn towards the fullness of all life and start to discover its sacredness.

I work with people to introduce increasing amounts of energy into the body, purposely utilizing the subtle body currents so that energy flows freely and strongly throughout our entire nervous system. As the energy opens and starts to flow, our life naturally comes more into harmony with the wholeness of reality and I direct people to investigate the question, “How does life want to move through me in the deepest way?”.

At this level it is essential that we have a good guide or mentor that can assess our energetic threshold and capacity. In order to avoid facing the more difficult aspects of ourselves through the Alchemist, we may often want to jump straight to these “exciting” Level 7 practices and a good mentor will be able to keep our ego in check and prevent this. Similarly, as we become aware of these practices and how to move this energy, our ego may want to pull us into mystical and kundalini awakening states of conscious before our system is ready, what is sometimes referred to as “premature immaculation”. In these cases, I help clients stay grounded in their lower lenses first so they have a solid foundation for these higher practices.

At level 7, we start to finally see that great pleasure and bliss are actually inseparable from the emptiness that underlies our experience (The Sage). There can be a much deeper realization of an embodied non-duality that is increasingly resilient and unshakable by outside circumstances.

BRINGING IT TOGETHER
~ AN EMBODIED LETTING GO

To summarize, each lens helps us activate a different way of seeing. We learn to rest in our true ground (The Sage), we are self-respecting and know what kindness is (The Nurturer), we know the value and application of strength and boundaries (The Warrior) and know how to turn towards and be with difficulty in a skillful way (The Alchemist). We also know our subtle energetic selves (The Shaman), can see through the illusions of mind (The Seer) and can perceive the wholeness of all life (The Mystic). We continue to open into all these dimensions of our human experience, allowing life to call forth in us the lens most appropriate in any moment.

How we come to embody each lens of the model can also be likened to that of learning a string instrument. First we learn the seven different modes of music, the different scales and we practice the chords and rhythms regularly. We learn to attune our ear to where we are playing out of key and develop this skill with patience and practice. We learn to play and finely tune our instrument so that eventually we can move beyond any fixed pattern and play from a deeper “flow” space. If we let go to this deeper flow prematurely before we have enough practice in the different scales and chords (i.e. developed each lens sufficiently ), the deeper part of us may still play through us but our instrument will sound out of tune and the song unpleasing. 

This analogy offers us an explanation as to why having awareness of the many Lenses that Liberate can be of such value. It gives us the ability to train our body and being in different lens of seeing so that ultimately our life can flow from a deeper place, which I call “The Integrated Self”.

The Integrated Self lives connected to all the healthy aspects of our being. It effortlessly abides in the ground of being (The Sage), it is aware that goodness is the basic substance of the universe (The Nurturer), it is not afraid to take a stand for goodness (The Warrior), it is free to turn towards what is difficult (The Alchemist), it is aware of the undercurrents of energy (The Shaman), it sees through the illusions of mind ( The Seer) and sees the greater harmony of all life (The Mystic). When these lens are awakened, our Integrated Self can shine fully through us and play us like the symphony we were born to be, serving all those around us.

If you would like to go deeper into this WORK, you can learn more about the 12 Week Online Embodiment Course
I offer which goes into great depth on all these levels and practices.

BACKGROUND