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ACTUALISM, Part 1: Meditation and Beyond

INTRODUCTION

The powerful, yet safe, introductory meditation technique which follows has been taught to literally thousands of people over
more than 30 years, including health practitioners at the University of California, San Diego Health Sciences Department. Many
have found it to be calming and centering for themselves and for those they treat and counsel. Scientific studies have found
meditation in general to have health benefits such as reducing stress and lowering blood pressure. Beyond those physical
benefits, if practiced often, meditation can lead to an overall increased clarity of mind, emotional well-being, and sensory delight
in life--in essence, more of the joy of living.

Actualism is a step-by-step process of enhancing and accelerating spiritual growth and enlightenment. Using ancient techniques
in a modern formulation, Actualism works with inner "light-fire" energy tools and techniques to bring about the releasing of one's
potential for healing self and others, for creative inspiration and expression, and for problem-solving in many areas of life.

HISTORY

Founded in the early 1960's by Dr. Russell Paul Schofield, Actualism--then known as "Agni Yoga" or "union by
fire"--is now taught at centers in New York and California (including Costa Mesa, Escondido, Los Angeles, San Diego, and
San Francisco). I am endeavoring to introduce this teaching to a worldwide audience by means of the Internet and commercial
online services such as America Online and CompuServe. To teach meditation by correspondence, or long distance over
networks such as these, is a formidable task, but the results since this article was first posted in September 1993 have shown
that it is possible. At least the introductory techniques can be practiced, and even mastered, from reading and then sitting down
and working with them. With a teacher present in person, it is much easier to learn because not only is the teacher available to
answer questions, but the energy and awareness of the teacher amplify the experience of the student.

BASIC LAWS

To begin with, there are some basic laws of energy that are helpful to know:

1. Awareness directs thought, and thought directs energy.

2. Life-energy follows thought.

3. Where there is pain, from mild discomfort to acute distress, the flow of life-energy is obstructed.

4. Where thought is focussed, the power of life-energy is concentrated.

We can sum up these four laws in four simple words for practical application: THINK, LET, OBSERVE, and
EXPERIENCE.

So when you are working with inner life energy tools, think of the energy once, then let it flow, observe it moving about, and
with your awareness let yourself enter into the experience. As you become skilled at this directed "letting" you move into what
we call "effortless effort". How difficult is it to think a thought? Yet that is all it takes to begin tapping into your inner-light-fire
energy. The key is knowing where to direct your awareness, and how to bring the energy from within out. The "how" is easy,
once you stop trying to make it difficult.

PREPARATION

Especially when you start out working with life-energies, it is best to be in a situation where you will not be interrupted. If
possible, find a quiet, comfortable place to sit. Let someone else or your phone answering machine answer the phone.

Sit in a comfortable chair, with your feet flat on the floor, your legs and arms uncrossed. (This can also be done lying down, but
you might fall asleep). Rest your hands on your upper legs, with your palms down. Close your eyes, so your mind won't be
distracted by what is going on around you.

MEDITATION TECHNIQUE

Direct your focus of awareness to a place six inches (about 20cm) directly above the center of the top of your head. Here is
located a place in consciousness which is always calm and radiant, no matter what is going on elsewhere in your mind or body,
or around you. It is called the "upper room". Think of a point of pure, crystal-white light here. Don't "try" to visualize it. If you
see it, fine, but if you don't, it doesn't matter. As you think of the point of white light, it grows brighter, expanding into a little
star, three inches (about 10cm) in diameter.

Think and let the star burn away the veils that have kept it hidden all these years. Direct the star to open, releasing a downpour
of cleansing and purifying life energy. This energy is crystal clear, like fresh spring water.

Let the energy flow through your hair, scalp, into the bones of your head and face, into your brain, eyes, ears, nose, mouth,
down the neck, through your shoulders, arms, and hands. Experience it flowing through your chest and back, abdomen, hips,
pelvic area, upper legs, knees, lower legs, ankles and feet. Think and let the soles of your feet open, releasing the energy into
the earth beneath your feet. Now it is flowing through your whole body.

Think of the bottoms of your feet closing, so the energy begins to backfill up through the areas you have cleared out.
Experience it in your legs, hips, torso, shoulders, arms, hands, neck, and head. Let it overflow out the top of your head,
surrounding your body with an aura of crystal clear white light.

Bring your hands together, almost but not quite touching, palms facing each other out in front of your body. Experience the
energy flowing through your hands. You could use this energy to heal others, by laying your lighted hands on the person's head,
heart, or wherever they have discomfort. Whatever you touch with your hands lighted this way will be filled with inner
light-fire-energy.

If you experience discomfort anywhere in your body as you are working with the inner light, think of the "consuming fire" aspect
of the energy. Hold the focus of it in the area of discomfort to burn through the obstructions to the flow of your pure life energy.
Afterwards, take a few minutes to assimilate the radiant essence of the light into any area that you have cleared out with the
consuming fire aspect.

WHEN TO USE THIS TECHNIQUE

In addition to your focussed practice of the energy in a meditation as described above, you can work with the downpour
anytime and anywhere, day or night, with your eyes open or closed, as appropriate to the situation. You can use it as an inner
shower while you take your outer shower in the morning. Every time you think of the star and the white light downpouring, it
continues for about 30 minutes. So you can literally fill your day with inner light. It's also a great way to go to sleep at night. For
stress-reduction it is best to practice the technique for at least a few minutes every day.
 

Actualism Lightwork Training, Part 2
Gathering and Enlightening Awareness

SUMMARY:

Part 2 introduces a method of gathering and enlightening awareness. When Actualism sessions are taught in person, this
technique precedes each lesson, including the introductory session, to enhance the experience of life-energy. I am presenting
this in this "online" series as the second lesson, because I thought it might be too subtle for the first session without a teacher
present. If you had a good response to the energy work from the first session, you are no doubt ready to do this more subtle
work with awareness.

This can be practiced by itself, or as the beginning of a meditation session with light-fire-energy.

ABOUT AWARENESS

One of the most important aspects of the power to focus thought, and thereby to direct energy, is awareness. Where your
awareness is scattered, your thoughts become scattered, and your energy also. As you learn to gather and enlighten your
awareness, working with light-fire-energy becomes more powerful and effective. Furthermore, as you gather more awareness,
you have more awareness available to expand. There is a big difference between scattering awareness and expanding
awareness, as you will come to experience.

Awareness has three main aspects: Knowing Awareness--Which is your mental awareness, including thoughts, ideas, plans,
and concepts. Emotional Awareness--Also called feeling awareness, including your emotional feelings of every kind.
Sensory Awareness--Including sensations of every kind, perceptions, and perspectives.

The following technique is a way of gathering and enlightening your knowing, feeling, and sensory awareness. It is
recommended that from now on you do this at the beginning of every meditation session, to amplify your experience of the
light-fire-energy, and your ability to direct and focus the energy.

TECHNIQUE FOR GATHERING AND ENLIGHTENING AWARENESS

Sit comfortably, with your feet, legs, and arms uncrossed, and your eyes closed. In time you will find you can also do this with
your eyes open, but it is easier not to be distracted with your eyes closed.

Think of your "Upper Room", the radiant, peaceful place within your nature that is located about six inches (20cm) directly
above the center of the top of your head. Although it is not within your body, it is within your energy field, which extends from
12 to 15 feet (about 4 to 5 meters) in every direction (spherically) around your body. The Upper Room is a source point for
the Radiant Awareness of your Actual Self, also known as your "Higher Self" or the "Being of Light" that you actually are.

Focus your attention in your brain. Think and let the knowing awareness in your brain-mind open to and harmonize with the
Radiant Awareness from your Upper Room. With effortless effort, observe and experience the gathering in of your mental
awareness. If your brain is chattering too much for you to experience anything else, let your brain shift out of the active "doing"
role into the relaxed "being" mode. Continue this for about 1-2 minutes.

Then shift your focus to the nerve cells and nerves in your brain. Most of the brain is made up of nerve cells. Direct the nerves
to harmonize with radiant awareness from your upper room, and send Radiant Awareness flowing through your spinal cord,
solar plexus, and out through all the nerves in your body, gathering and enlightening your sensory awareness. Continue this for
about 1-2 minutes.

Now focus in your heart and harmonize your heart with the Radiant Awareness from the Upper Room. From here it flows out
through your blood and circulatory system throughout your whole body. Expand this focus to your liver, and from the liver
Radiant Awareness moves to all the glands in your body. From this focus in the liquid systems of your heart, blood, circulatory
system, liver and glands, experience gathering and enlightening your emotional or feeling awareness. Continue this for about 1-2
minutes.

Now you have enlightened knowing, sensory, and emotional awareness. From here you can move with a flow of enlightened
awareness into your Upper Room, lighting your Star and downpouring as in the previous lesson...

ACTUALISM Part 3: Enlightening Your Energy Field

SUMMARY: Part 3 discusses the energy field which surrounds everything, and how to enlighten the field surrounding your
body. It includes the next in this series of techniques, building upon the methods taught in Parts 1 and 2. I call this series
"meditation and beyond" because it involves not only transforming your energy during meditation, but in your active daily life as
well. For best results, practice working with the light (with effortless effort) for at least a few minutes every day.

NOTE: If for any reason you cannot locate previous articles in this series, please write to me and I will either re-post them
here, or mail them to you directly.

ABOUT THE ENERGY FIELD

We live in a sea of energy, as many people have discovered. Everything, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, has an energy
field within and around it. Human beings have the largest fields, in proportion to the size of their bodies, of any life form on
earth. The greater the degree of sensitivity, the larger the field. With training, the field can be extended to an even greater size.
People who are interested in meditation generally have a high degree of sensitivity, with a field extending from 12 to 15 feet
(about 4 to 5 meters) in every direction around the body, or about 30 feet (roughly 10m) in diameter.

The field tends to be very magnetic, picking up energy vibrations from the environment, of both high frequency, life-supportive
energy and low frequency, life-draining energy. Often we experience these loads without realizing what is happening. That is
why sometimes you may suddenly feel tired, depressed, or anxious upon entering a room or a building (such as a store), or
after a few minutes of being around certain people. With enlightened awareness expanded into the field, and with the use of
light-fire-energy from the crystal white Star, any loads picked up in the field can quickly be processed and transformed into
life-supporting energy essence.

There is a central vertical axis (CVA) running through the center of your body and your field, from top to bottom. It follows the
position of your body, and bends if your body bends, such as when you are seated in a chair. The upper room and white star
that we worked with in previous sessions are located upon this central vertical axis.

TECHNIQUE FOR CLEARING THE FIELD

After gathering and enlightening awareness (see Part 2 of this series), and turning on the crystal white star and downpour (see
Part 1), raise the star up to about three feet (about 1m) above the center of the top of your head. Direct the star to expand to
about 3-1/2 feet in diameter, and close it so that it is no longer downpouring.

Bring the star out in front of your body and on down below your feet to about 12 feet (4m) below your body. Here at the
bottom of your field, the star centers on the CVA. Direct the star to begin spinning in a counterclockwise direction (at body
height this would be from right to left). This counterclockwise (CC) spin intensifies elimination of low frequency energy debris.
Here we are using it to clear out the bottom of the field, where loads of muddy energy often collect. For added clearing power,
think of, which invokes, the "consuming fire" aspect of the crystal white light. This speeds up the elimination of low frequency,
making room for high frequency energy.

The star will reach a tremendous speed, faster than any material object could spin without flying apart. Your brain-mind does
not have to keep it going, so just relax and let the star do the spinning! This is "effortless effort" in action.

Bring the spinning star slowly up along the CVA, pausing about six inches (20cm) below your feet, then bring it up into your
legs and pelvic bowl, so you are seated within the spinning star. Then bring it up into the upper half of your body, extending
from above your head to below your seat.

Raise the star up above your body, on up to about 3 feet (1m) above. Direct it to stop spinning, which it does instantly. Then
have the star spinning clockwise (CW) and repeat the previous steps with the CW spin. This amplifies assimilation of purified,
transformed energy essence into all the areas you have cleared out. By filling in with light all along your axis, you are building up
a powerful radiant glow that will keep these areas lighted as you go about your business in the world.

There are other techniques for becoming more aware of your field, and for building up the strength of the light in your field,
which we will go into in subsequent sessions.
 
 

Further and deeper information you find at www.actualism.org, Bruce Jaffe's web-site.