Discipline, submission and love

Inspired by Bindu Wiles' 21.5.800 challenge (see http://binduwiles.com/buddhism/my-new-project-21-5-800/) and her writing on discipline, "Discipline, the word we mostly cringe at (http://binduwiles.com/buddhism/discipline-the-word-we-mostly-cringe-at-21-5-800-day-8/comment-page-1/#comment-1158):

For me, I think of discipline as surrender, not as in I surrender to an opposing army but as in I surrender, swooning, into the arms of a lover.

If
- I envision the practice to which I submit myself as my lover,
- love infuses the act of surrendering myself to the lover,
- in surrender I reach out, not closing but rather opening to the fullness of the experience, as my vulva, vagina, cervix and uterus swell with blood to support the sexual experience

then the whole experience of submission or surrender to discipline is transformed.

There are some things in life - especially, for me, I have noticed, the subtle experiencings of my emotions, soul, spirit and heart - that require aspects of to submission or surrender, an opening and turning toward, for me to experience them at all. Otherwise they pass unnoticed. This has become most clear to me since beginning a personal practice of Focusing, which I do without fail a minimum of once a week, and often more.

I *love* the experience of discipline when I think if it this way. One of my yoga teachers said that if we are ready, the experience will happen. (I'm sure this is not unfamiliar to many of you.) Surrendering in love to discipline is how I make myself ready.

Bindu, thank you for opening the space in which I can reconnect with the juiciness in me in relation to this topic.

Shulamit

Felt-sensing occurs in us every day

Eugene Gendlin gives an example of how felt-sensing occurs naturally:

"Imagine you have that funny feeling that you have forgotten something, a kind of inner discomfort or conflictual feeling inside yourself that just won’t go away. You scrunch up your face, bring your hand to your head, searching around inside of yourself. Not this, not that . . . and then, suddenly, “oh yes, it’s that!” Ah ha—you and that feeling have made contact. You are left with a sense of resolution for now understanding (i.e., being able to communicate) something that had been disturbing and unknown before." Gendlin, E. (1981). Focusing. New York: Bantam Books.

Focusing is a method for directly accessing this kind of knowing. With training or support, you can find the entry point to your embodied knowledge. After that, you can become able to stay long enough to interact with it. and surprising new steps of change, thought, and action can come from it.

Focusing is supported by a long series of operational research studies conducted first at the University of Chicago and now internationally.

I offer guided Focusing sessions or Focusing instruction. $75/hr or save $25 with a three-session package for $200.

www.shula.ca
shulamit@shula.ca
613-868-9642 (Eastern Canada time zone)