Many people aren’t aware of the subtle realms, and yet we all are affected by the subtle energies around us all the time. Living with the context of a multidimensional world offers an opportunity to pay attention to the quality of energies that touch us as we move through our everyday lives. It also invites us to notice what qualities and energies we radiate into the world within a number of frequencies and “levels”. I use the word “levels” to attempt to describe the fact that frequencies generate, or support, different qualities of being—an infinite variety of qualities of being, expression—of manifestation. This week’s exploration offers an opportunity to pay particular attention to two dynamics. First is to notice how you feel in various situations, to become more aware of the impact on you of the subtle environments you move through every day. The other is to notice the impact of what you send into the world on a daily basis. For example, if you find yourself in a bad mood, or upset about something, notice what the world around you feels like as you radiate the thoughts and feelings that resonate with frequencies of upset or negativity. If you find that the “tone” or “mood” of your environment or your subtle experience doesn’t feel positive or good to you, notice what happens if you shift into an attitude of offering blessings to yourself and to all that you encounter. Pay attention to whatever shifts for you when you enter and/or generate the frequency, the quality of actively offering blessings. There’s no need to do this out loud. It’s more about generating and resonating with the frequency of blessing and then noticing how you feel and how that frequency affects you. If you feel moved to share your experience, please leave your comments. With our collective life so filled with stress these days, each and every offering of blessing contributes one more supportive and positive frequency to the One that we are…
Here's an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it. As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice. And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
This week’s exploration focuses on gratitude accompanied by an ever-deepening recognition of the gifts we receive every day from the beings with whom we share this planet. For this exploration, I invite you to remember that everything you eat was once the body of a living being. If that feels morbid to you, please keep in mind that our beautiful planet has organized its physical being to depend on both birth and death of all life forms. Without these dynamic processes, the creativity expressed in nature couldn’t continue to evolve, explore, or express itself in such abundance. Many indigenous cultures automatically include deep gratitude to the beings they hunt and consume, a recognition of the profound gift that the life of the being they hunt offers to their survival and well-being.For this exploration, I invite you to include in your awareness all sources of nourishment, be they animal-based or plant-based. Whatever the source of the food you eat, it came from a life form. How is it to feel into that? For me, it elicits a profound sense of gratitude and connection to the life that lived as the orange, lettuce, or source of protein I take into my body. For me, it makes eating a sacred activity, one of recognition and a deepened sense of connection to my world. Not only does this exploration invite you to be aware of the sacred gift that is the food that you are privileged to take in, but it also underscores the reality of interdependence and relationship you have with everything you encounter throughout the course of your daily activities. Honoring and thanking the gift of food is a way to actively recall and resonate with the presence of the Sacred that pervades and lives in and as everything around you. The invitation here is to deepen your experience of that Sacred presence—it also lives in and as you. If you feel moved to share your experience as you move through this exploration, please post your comments and questions. We’re all in this journey together, and we are all each other’s sources of inspiration and learning.
Here's an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it. As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice. And, please remember never to listen to recorded meditations when driving or using machinery.
Over the years, I’ve posted quite a few practices focused on water on my nancynapier.com website—practices that focus on the way that water absorbs and “remembers” the qualities of thought, emotion, and presence that touch it, on the importance of offering blessings to water whenever and wherever we encounter it. The other day, I read the following from a Facebook post by Water Transformations: "Did you know that the thoughts you are thinking are establishing a frequency in the water in your body? If you are thinking loving thoughts, forgiving and compassionate thoughts, your BodyWater is circulating that throughout your body. That is why, when you are feeling good inside and counting your blessings, it seems easier to stay in a good mood. Conversely, if your thoughts are angry, frustrated, or self-critical, it is challenging to shift into happier feelings.” For this week’s exploration, I invite you to act as if this quotation speaks an important truth and then notice how your relationship to water may change, deepen, or in some other way touch you in a meaningful way. Notice what it’s like to relate to water as a living essence that is affected by the quality of your thoughts, feelings, and actions and that whatever touches it remains as part of what it carries as it flows throughout your body, throughout our world. We are in a world of living presence everywhere around us and this exploration is one way to practice becoming increasingly aware of the fact that we constantly interact with consciousness, sentiency, life as we move through our daily activities. In this case, we interact with a sentiency that comprises up to 60% of the human body, and an even higher percentage in some of our organs. If you feel moved to share what you experience as you explore this practice, please be sure to leave a comment. The more we can share with one another, the more support we can all have in learning to live in our multidimensional world as members of a much larger community than we have been taught is present.
Here's an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it. As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice. And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
In recent explorations, I’ve invited you to attune to the fact that everything you encounter radiates a particular quality, an essence of being. I’ve also invited you to recognize that everything you encounter is an expression of the same sacred source as you. For this week’s exploration, I invite you to focus more specifically on the individual trees, bushes, plants, rocks, water, buildings, and whatever else you encounter along the way as you move through your daily activities. The emphasis here is to notice that each has a unique quality. For example, let’s say you walk by particular trees on the street you travel to and from work every day. You may already have noticed that each tree, even if they look very much alike, has a distinct quality to it, a unique expression even though its physical form may be very much like the tree right next to it. Also, remember that here at Spirits of the Urban Sacred, we assume that everything has a living spirit connected to it—a nature spirit that inhabits a tree, a spirit of a place—be that a lamppost, a building, a room, a special place in a park or nature, a spirit of a rock or sculpture, etc. The goal here isn’t for you to have to experience the quality of the being directly. Instead, this exploration encourages you to develop a sense of relationship with the living, sentient world around you. Please don’t be concerned if you don’t directly sense the unique qualities of the life around you. Instead, the goal of this exploration is to build in the awareness that everything around you is alive in its own way and that you have a dynamic, active relationship with everything you encounter. You bring something to the relationship and that’s where these explorations offer an opportunity to deepen your sense of the sacred around you, and of your connection within this larger context. As you play with this exploration over the coming week, notice what may shift in the quality of your everyday experience if you develop an ever-deepening sense of relationship with the world around you, and as you recognize that everything you encounter is sentient and filled with its own unique quality and energy expression. We look forward to hearing from you in the comments section, if you feel like sharing what you discovered as you engaged this exploration.
Here's an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it. As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice. And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
For this week’s exploration, I invite you to focus on the spirits, the creative embodiments, the archetypes that are all around us in the subtle environment that is part of our multidimensional world. In whatever ways you are most comfortable thinking of the Intelligences that embody particular essences and qualities, notice what it’s like to imagine that there actually are living representatives of expressions that we take for granted. For example, when you draw on compassion, kindness, or assertiveness, what is it like to consider that these qualities are the expressions of embodied presences that inhabit your world? What would change in the quality of your everyday life if you were to imagine that you could meet a problem or challenge with the support of, say, the Spirit of Courage, or the Archetype of Strength? What if these embodiments were available to collaborate with you? Throughout history, humanity has represented these archetypal embodiments in many different ways in every religion and culture. For this exploration, there’s an opportunity to explore the possibility that these images and representations of gods and goddesses, mythical beings, spiritual sources of inspiration and guidance show up so regularly because they actually are living amongst us as part of the subtle dimensions of our world and are available to support us. In the coming week, notice what you experience if you experiment with asking for help or support. An important element of this is not to expect the experience to be logical and, also, to perhaps not feel you’ve gotten a response right away. More than getting results, it’s an exploration of what it’s like to engage the possibility that you are partnered every step of the way and that support and guidance are readily available—even though what you receive may not appear in a logical, familiar, or particularly clear form. There are times when we understand the support we have received only with hindsight, once we are able to look back on something and see more clearly what actually unfolded. After you’ve had some time to engage this exploration, please give us your comments, as we all support one another when we are able to share what worked, and what didn’t—or how we engage these explorations in unique ways.
Here's an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it. As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice. And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
Part of the emphasis here at Spirits of the Urban Sacred is to bring the presence of the Sacred more into awareness in everyday life. It’s a matter of paying attention to this aspect of reality and this week’s exploration focuses on a recognition that the essence of the Sacred is in everything you encounter in the course of your daily life. Everything around you is made of the same life force that moves in and through you, even though the physical forms that life force takes can be very different from yours. For example, it might seem strange to consider your smart phone, computer, coffee cup, table, chair as infused and informed with and by the same Sacred essence that infuses and informs your life, but what if that is the case? How would it affect the quality of your everyday life if you acknowledged and honored the Sacred in everything around you, the life present in literally everything you come in contact with as you move through your world? How would you interact with, and treat, everything around you if you were to recognize that it is related to you, that you emerge from, and are part of, the same Sacred life energy and impulse. This becomes an exercise in exploring your experience of oneness, of the inescapable relatedness of everything that exists, and asks you to play with acknowledging and honoring this underlying fact of oneness, that the Sacred is in everything. This doesn't mean you don't have your unique identity. It does mean that there is only one source, the Sacred, and it is in everything. It’s useful to notice any mixed feelings you may have when you consider that a building you enter is made of the same stuff as you, even though it is an entirely different expression of that “stuff”. You might notice that it’s easier to imagine oneness with a tree, a bird, even a rock than it is with objects and human-made structures. The underlying fact is, though, that everything—human-made or not—is comprised of particles that emerge from the same life source that creates your physical presence. When you’ve had a chance to play with this week’s Exploration, please post your comments, as our unique individual experiences can become a source of inspiration and support for one another.
Here's an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it. As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice. And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
Every living being constantly radiates its essence, its “energy signature” into the environment in every moment. And, we are no exception. The frequencies with which we resonate as a matter of course determine the quality of energy we radiate into the environment, and this week’s exploration invites you to pay attention to what you send out to the world, as well as to the frequencies with which you generally resonate. The frequencies, qualities, and intentions with which you resonate not only shape your experience, they also align you with subtle beings, some of whom are collaborators, who resonate with those same frequencies.
David Spangler talks about how responsive the subtle realms are to our intentions, so it’s also helpful to remember that your state of mind, where you place your attention, what you choose as your focus of thoughts and feelings not only affect the physical world around you but also shape the subtle energies and realms you encounter along the way.
Notice what arises in your experience when you choose to radiate love, compassion, kindness, or other heart-centered energies into your environment, or what you experience when you resonate with sacred images or sounds. Explore the "tone of you" when you orient to different qualities of being, qualities that you then radiate into your environment.
How you move through the world and your daily experience matters. In every moment, our collective being, our interbeing, as Thich Nhat Hanh would say, is touched and affected by all of us. This doesn’t mean to become concerned about what you contribute simply by being you. Instead, it’s an opportunity to become more mindful of where you focus your attention and, then, what you radiate into your environment as a result of that focus.
Another part of this exploration is to continue to be even more aware of the energies you encounter along the way as you interact with other people, other life forms, other places, as everything radiates its essence into the environment and into our collective consciousness.
When you’ve had a chance to work with this week’s Exploration, please post your experiences so that we can all begin to share the process of discovering what enhances our sense of the sacred in our everyday lives.
Here's an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it.
As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice.
And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
Every space you enter has its own, unique “spirit” or quality and a powerful way to enrich your experience of the sacred in urban settings (or anywhere, for that matter) is to develop your ability to attune to the spirit of a place. For this week’s exploration, I invite you to focus on your felt-sense of the spaces and places around you.
There are a couple reasons to develop this practice, if you haven’t already. First, being able to sense the spirit of a place increases your awareness of the “ocean” of energies and qualities that you swim in as you move through your daily life. Being able to sense the qualities around you allows you to have a deeper sense of whether you want to stay or move on. It also offers a way to have a more enlivened relationship with the subtle energies around you.
For this exploration, it’s possible to use many of the “languages of interpretation” that we have available to perceive subtle realities. You might have impressions that come as images, sounds, flickering sensations in your body, words—in any way that allows you to perceive what your body-mind senses about the spirit, the energies, the qualities of a place.
Most of us have had many experiences of entering a space or place and immediately feeling comfortable or immediately feeling uncomfortable. Taking the time to attune to the energies you’ve just entered offers an opportunity to deepen your awareness. And, as always, deepened awareness allows for more choice. Even if you can’t leave a space that makes you uncomfortable, you may have ways to “shield” yourself by focusing on your internal center of gravity, your inherent groundedness, or on the ways you center yourself when you are unsettled or uncomfortable.
When you discover that you feel increasingly comfortable in a space or place, being aware of this offers an opportunity to deepen your relationship with the spirit, the energy, of the place. An enhanced sense of belonging, of connection, is a powerful way to nourish a sense of well-being, even in busy urban contexts.
When you’ve had a chance to work with this week’s Exploration, please post your experiences so that we can all begin to share the process of discovering what enhances our sense of the sacred in our everyday lives.
Here's an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it.
As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice.
And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
Over a number of years now, I’ve engaged in practices that help to develop a more heart-centered awareness, a shift from always being in the head/mental brain to the perception and intelligence that lives in the heart. For this week’s exploration, I invite you to play with these two “brains” and to notice the quality of your experience when you focus your awareness in your heart brain rather than your head brain.
One of the shifts many people notice when they perceive from their heart is a more distinct experience of connection with the world around them. For this exploration, notice what happens when you encounter, say, a tree, and perceive it not only through your thoughts about it but also from the perspective of your heart space. In addition, as you encounter the gadgets and “things” that are part of your daily activities, notice how it is to relate to them from your heart awareness, even as you also engage them mentally. Also, as you move among people throughout your day, in whatever ways that arise for you, notice what it’s like to meet them, or perceive them, with your heart awareness. Notice if you feel more related to your world when you experience it through your heart.
One way to support a more heart-centered perception is to take a moment at the beginning of the day to breathe in and out through your heart. You can find practices around this through the HeartMath organization and in other heart-centered options such as Tonglen, which is found in Buddhist practice.
As we touch into in all these Explorations, this is another opportunity to enrich your experience of a larger reality even as you may live in a busy, noisy, and highly populated urban setting.
When you’ve had a chance to work with this week’s Exploration, please post your experiences so that we can all begin to share the process of discovering what enhances our sense of the sacred in our everyday lives.
Here's an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it.
As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice.
And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
David Spangler has an exercise that I really like and I’d like to share my adaptation of it for you to explore over the next week. It involves transmitting the essence and energy of love to everything around you. Remember that most of these explorations arise from the assumption that everything we encounter is alive and conscious, in the sense that all are expressions of the One Life that is all that is. Saying that everything is conscious doesn’t mean everything experiences and expresses the same kind of consciousness. Different frequencies and different qualities of essence no doubt generate different kinds of consciousness. The underlying assumption, however, is that there is One Consciousness and that we are all participants in that One.
For this week’s exploration, I invite you to imagine that you are filled up with universal love, an energy and essence that is constantly flowing into and through you and is infinite in its availability. As you approach, say, your favorite chair, imagine that the love energy can flow through you and out your fingertips into your chair. As the energy of love flows from you to your chair, imagine that it fills your chair with the living essence of love and that the chair receives, and is enhanced by, the love you offer to it.
Imagine how it would be if you were to offer love to whatever you encounter in your environment, recalling not only that it has an effect on everything you touch, but also noticing what effect it has on you as you engage this practice.
When you’ve had a chance to play with this a bit, please share your experiences and questions below. As a community, we can offer one another support in bringing alive, enriching, and deepening our experiences of engaging the Spirits of the Urban Sacred.
Here's an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it.
As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice.
And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.
I spend a lot of time on computers and have found that my relationship with them is a dynamic and active one. It took me quite a while to recognize that my computers—both at home and at the office—are true collaborative companions along the way. For example, it dawned on me one day that something other than my conscious awareness was guiding me to resources on the computer. Between my own website’s Weekly Practices postings, the Daily Inspiration postings on the Devadana Sanctuary side of the portal, and other activities that require inspiring input, I realized that I was being guided to sources of materials that I didn’t know existed. This usually happens as I follow certain things that pop up on my computer, either through Facebook or in odd ways I can’t quite explain.
For this week’s exploration of Spirits of the Urban Sacred, I invite you to notice how it is for you when you interact more actively with your gadgets—your computer, smart phone, iPad, or other gadgets that link you to the web—as if they are active collaborators with your intentions. For example, if you need to find something and you’re not sure where to start, ask your gadget for help and then don’t think about your request—just go forward with what you need to do. Later, notice how you eventually got to where you needed to be and play with the possibility that your gadget helped you to find what you needed.
One of the elements of having a more conscious relationship with your gadgets is to remember to greet and thank them, saying “hello” when you encounter them for the first time in the day and then thanking them when you sign off or put them away when it’s time to either go to bed or move on to other non-gadget activities.
With all of these Explorations, one of the elements to include in your awareness is your felt-sense of the process of engaging your gadgets in this way. What happens in your body when you consciously connect with your gadget as a living presence? What thoughts or feelings do you have when you play with opening up to receiving impressions from your gadgets? If you notice doubts, mixed feelings, or tension, bring curiosity to your response and get to know it without intensifying it by adding anything else.
Many of us run into doubt or conflict when we open ourselves to a larger reality, so you may find that it’s part of the process to notice mixed feelings and then allow them to move on through as you return to your intention to more consciously collaborate with, and relate to, your gadgets.
A note here on working with subtle awareness. It’s important allow yourself to be open to fleeting and vague impressions without pushing them away or having to immediately understand them. Over time, if you don’t have one already, you’ll develop your own “vocabulary” of impressions, your own way of translating subtle awareness into a kind of communication you can understand. You may do this differently from anyone else and that’s fine. It’s your own internal language and will develop over time as you explore what comes into your awareness and the outcomes that follow.
When you’ve had a chance to play with this a bit, please share your experiences and questions below. As a community, we can offer one another support in bringing alive, enriching, and deepening our experiences of engaging the Spirits of the Urban Sacred.
Here's an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it.
As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the information.
And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.