As you open your ears to silence, you realize that non-duality exists all around you. Grounding yourself in the present means silencing your mind and becoming conscious of your breath. This state of self-awareness is full of possibilities and free of judgment.
Believe it or not, non-dual awareness is not a peak experience you need to learn to achieve. The key is to learn to notice this state, which exists at all times. Your perception of the world is derived from your beliefs and experiences and may not always reflect reality.
Duality is like a layer you superimpose on top of your conscious experience. Our human minds are set on this default mode, and without making a deliberate attempt, you cannot see beyond it. With non-dual awareness, you can see right through these conceptual layers.
Discussed here are the best practices to experience non-duality:
Focused Meditation
This process involves focusing your attention on one subject, which in this case, is your breath. You can only do so by relegating the other elements of consciousness to your peripheral awareness.
It is not easy to achieve a meditative state as your mind is your biggest enemy by constantly generating thoughts. When your meditation practice focuses solely on examining yourself, you are more likely to experience non-dual awareness.
Consistent meditation based on maintaining stable attention and mindfulness eventually leads to a sense of self-awareness. The false sense of duality recedes with time and gradually places you on the right path.
Perception of Shifting Techniques
Shifting perception can spontaneously bring about valuable non-dual awareness. When such experiments work for you, what you immediately sense is merging the observer and the observed.
Most of these spontaneous experiments, like the Headless Way, equate the visual field with conscious experience. These are designed around the first-person perspective of sight, which gradually seeps through the rest of your consciousness.
Mystical Connections
A mystical experience creates positive behavioral changes and has the power to improve your quality of life. Psychedelic substances help bring about a mystical experience in an effective, safe, and reliable manner provided you take the necessary precautions. The quality of your experience largely depends on the strength of the psychedelic dose ingested.
Psychedelics in sufficient doses are known to be physiologically safe, non-addictive, and well-tolerated. A merging of self via blissful unity can successfully improve social behavior and treat depression and anxiety.
You can induce a connection with the divine and attain cosmic unity by:
● Letting no pressing demands weigh you down
● Setting intentions rather than expectations of what you aim to achieve
● Trusting and embracing the experience without a desire to control it
● Choosing a comfortable, clutter-free, and safe setting
● Minimizing the chances of interruptions
● Consuming healthy and natural foods
● Lying down, wearing eyeshades, and listening to soothing music
Listening, Reflection, and Contemplation Stages
Non-duality can be absorbed better when they are given due respect and their value appreciated. Carefully listening to the teachings imparted by an illumined source allows you to absorb the subject with particular interest.
Reflect over what you have heard and allow your mind to apply its method of comprehending the knowledge received. Let the reality of your changing thoughts and experiences not weigh you down but change your very outlook to a mature state.
Allocate a Dedicated Time
To better assimilate the non-dual teachings and progress towards inner discovery, consciously allocate time for study and reflection each day. You can spend a few minutes reading a text and subsequently reflect on its main points. Regularly devoting dedicated time enables you to reflect with focused attention.
Developing life skills that support the above practices help you realize the truth. To achieve oneness with life, you need to live the qualities of patience, gratitude, tolerance, kindness, and honesty. Self-examination, when done calmly, constructively, and in a balanced manner, enables you to detach yourself from an often destructive mind.
Allow experiences to unfold of their own accord without conceptual dividing lines. Rely on the personal guidance provided by spiritual teachers who base their teachings on the abiding truth. Centers that preserve the purity of the wisdom shared without getting blinded by personal opinions offer valuable insights.
Research shows that what’s going on in your head is reflected in your body, and physical issues like chronic pain will affect your state of mind. An imbalance in one area contributes to problems in the other, often creating a kind of vicious circle that diminishes your quality of life and quality of sleep.
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