Sometimes, while I am doing my breathing exercises as explained in the Clear Lagoon exercise of The Dolphin’s Dance, I feel as though I am disappearing in the breath. That gap between the out-breath and the in-breath is the space of magic and oneness. It can also happen to me while listening to music, chanting, contemplating, writing, or meditating — as if I am vanishing in a space of some sort where all realities collapse.
Some of our experiences are not describable intellectually. The closest we can get to explaining them is to create analogies and reference some familiar feelings they evoke.
The closest comparison is when you are engaging deeply in an activity you love, your mind goes blank, you zone out, then suddenly you wake up and it takes you a split second to recognize where you are — as if you are waking up from a dream or you are moving from one level of consciousness to another. I am referring to that open space between the two levels of awareness. It is a clearing in between two occurrences, two thoughts, two words and two notes. It is a silent and still place.
It dawned on me that my calmest moments come from that interval of time. In that mental pause, it feels like I have briefly tasted an “altered state of consciousness” that is fleeting, but has worked magic on me! In this break of time, I feel the oneness and deep connection with the whole. The greatest strides of creativity and connections in my life have come when I awaken from that space between everything.
From time to time, I let myself be transported in that beautiful dimension of stillness where the dance and the dancer become one. It is a dimension where we don’t know if we are breathing or being breathed by the source.
This state is unlikely to happen immediately when you start meditating but if you are patient and persevere, you will start experiencing it at some point in your practice.
So, who would you discover in that quiet place at your center — if you were to shut off all your distractions, all noises around you, breathe and sit still?
