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FEATURED ARTICLE:

The Now Technique

“...for Nature does not work in parts; she treats everything as a whole.” ~ F.M. Alexander

I was just a little boy when I first began to question how to live with my mind and my heart united. I often prayed that I could ask somebody how to do it. I finally found my answer when I was twenty-five years old. The voice of the teacher* gently guided me within and the mind naturally entered the heart. When I reopened my eyes, tears of gratitude appeared on my face. That way of listening, feeling and observing have grown in me. They have become an art which I continue to share with many friends and two years ago shared with my dying father.

My father lost the joy of living when his mother, and soon after his father, died. He was only six years old. Later on, a few months before his eightieth birthday, he became sick with lung cancer. During this period he often cried out, “Life is not safe, you cannot trust anybody, and you are never good enough.” However, he trusted me to guide him through simple meditations: to allow his breath to come, to go. I asked him to do the same with the surging waves of feelings, emotions, thoughts and images. I asked him to simply allow them to come and to go. It eased the pain for us both and I felt blessed to share with him what I had learned through a lifetime of seeking. Until his last breath, this was our mantra. To allow. To let happen. To embrace. To let go. To return again and again to the present moment, without attachment or anticipation.

He died burning in the fierce fire of cancer, but his mind was clear, his journey here completed. After this I questioned deeper the purpose of my existence and found the answer only in passion. I have been a student of life with a definite inclination towards harmony, unity and peace. I have studied ancient and modern schools of thinking, and have always been drawn towards what is essential in every one. The essence I have found is one of wonder for the gift of life. For nature, for wo-manhood, and for the Infinite which moves beyond and within all forms. Common sense and love continue to guide me to embrace parts of myself which I had never known existed. To embrace dualities and paradoxes. To surrender to chaos and order.

I dive into the dark inner seas and dry in the bright suns of consciousness and realize that life is whole. Never divided. Never fragmented. Never incomplete. I have found one way to wholeness. To naturally move the attention through the breath, from the body, to the heart, to the mind and to the vast Spirit and to acknowledge, embrace and surrender to every split and every wall in them and between them. This pattern of present moment exploration opens doors that I never imagined existed.

I have investigated the science behind this pattern of self-enquiry. I think there is beautiful clarity in words of Dr. Grant McFetridge** (Director of The Institute for the Study of Peak States) in a paper on triune-brain biology and brain awareness. He states:

“...the body (reptilian brain) ...makes decisions based on association of sensations, and its primary drive is survival and reproduction. The heart (mammalian brain) thinks in sequence of emotions, and its primary drive is connection. The mind (primate brain) thinks in sequence of words or thoughts, uses judgment, and understanding... For most people, these brain “awarenesses” are separate from each other, and in fact compete and dominate each other.”

Upon reading these words I have recognized my original question: “How can I live with my mind and my heart united?”

The words of the poet Khalil Gibran also come to mind: “Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.” A wall between the body-centered sensations, the heart-centered emotions, the mind-centered words and reasoning, and images or pictures.

“... it is possible for these brain awarenesses to fully merge with each other in various combinations and degree. Having all of the brain structures’ awarenesses fully fused together is optimum, and in fact is how we are designed to live.”

(Isn’t this the foundation of collaboration? Of Oneness?)

It is the autonomic nervous system that connects the brain, heart and body. Nerve impulses move between them communicating harmonious or chaotic signals. The quality of these signals depends on the state of the autonomic nervous system.

According to Stephen Elliot***, author of Coherence ™, in the state of autonomic balance our body relaxes, our mind state becomes at ease, our thinking clear, our sensibilities tempered, our mind body communication becomes free flowing, our sphere of awareness expanded, our intuition increases, we are open, receptive and accepting.

In his words: “Optimal autonomic balance results when heart rate variability and breathing rhythms are synchronized.”

I call this “true breath” because it always brings us back to the heart. To Now. In the state of optimal autonomic balance the walls between body, heart and mind dissolve.

This dissolution is never a labor of force but the result of our presence to what IS. In her book Molecules of Emotion, neuroscientist Candace Pert tells us that aware breathing helps us:

“enter the mind-body conversation without judgments or opinions, releasing peptide molecules from the hindbrain to regulate breathing while unifying all systems.”

In the Now Technique session we weave lines of awareness into a rich living fabric. Moving between the breath and the physical sensations, emotions, thoughts and images -without judgements or opinions- the breath becomes naturally deep, slow, rhythmic, whole and “true”.
(I also hope to research how and when during the Now Technique process we naturally touch upon optimal autonomic balance).

The Now Technique is a momentary yet continuous, dedicated space of attention. Seeing, feeling and listening (unifying all systems) the inner worlds become a moving, melting, changing experience which surrenders our secrets, dissolves tensions, integrates opposites and brightens shadows. Body, heart and mind become whole and this leaves us “awake”

The “Now Technique” is simply this:
Through the observation of the natural breath,
attention gently accesses the intelligence of the body.
It acknowledges feelings and emotions.
It becomes aware of thoughts and images.
It expands into a spacious awareness where everything is connected.
Within and without.
Past, present and future merge into this present moment: Now.

In this article I have begun to publically share what has been so far my almost private, meditative investigation. I have a vision of The Now Technique growing into a heart-centered collaboration for teachers and facilitators who can bring it to many around the world. I see myself as a facilitator of The Now Technique community. I am grateful to Whispering Energy for having inspired me to introduce it to its members and to write this article. I am grateful to the Wisdom Circle that has chosen me as celebrated member of this month of May, 2010. A graceful push to come out of my private studio. I am grateful for the support and feedback that I have received from several members in this collaboration. For the vision, beauty, light, love and honesty of all WE members and I am grateful to be, together with Barbro my life partner, one of them.

If you are interested in booking a session or discuss the training as a facilitator of The Now Technique you can contact me by visiting my website: www.thenowtechnique.com or you may also reach me through www.whisperingenergy.com

~ Vincenzo Santiglia

* The teacher I mentioned in the first paragraph is Jean Klein. He introduced me to the Art of Listening. He passed away in 1998.
** Grant McFetridge and The Institute for the Study of Peak States, www.peakstates.com.
*** Stephen Elliot and Coherence, www.coherence.com.

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