Post one of seven, in section About Practice
Introduction
My awakening path is a holistic one that is about committing to being present with the full range of experience. Walking this path requires finding the courage to meet yourself, others, and life itself with an open heart.
This can look different at different times, and while awakening requires some elements of diving deeply into individual introspection and changing your perception, a holistic path will also include things like living an engaged, awake life that serves the whole.
Life and awakening are ultimately not separate and if you want to wake up consciously considering how you live every part of your life supports that process.
This list aims to help people orient towards cultivating this sense of wholeness in practice and life.
Dharma
the basic principles of cosmic and individual existence; the mystery and intelligence that permeates all things, including you
Personal Development
One of the ways that people start to wake up to a deeper truth is by doing personal development work.
Some examples would be developing a jhana meditation practice for pleasure, doing psychedelic therapy for healing, or taking a mindfulness-based stress reduction course.
Some people who do this kind of work get the benefits they were hoping for, incorporate this back into their normal lives, and don’t delve any deeper. For others, they get a taste of something more expansive that perhaps they weren’t expecting to find. It can be the start of an exploration into something that goes much deeper than they initially imagined.
When a person realises that there is something beyond what they previously conceived of, that is when a path can become an awakening path.
About The List
It’s very easy for an awakening path to be imbalanced and become narcissistic, dissociative, or a distraction from the depths of life.
This list lays out a complete, well-rounded approach to practice. You don’t need to be doing everything on the list at once; it may take years to include everything here. But it’s worth being aware that if aspects of the list are missing, it’s a sign that there is a shadow in your awakening.
The list is partially inspired by the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism.
If you are at the start of your path, you may want to build them up in order. If you have an established practice, you may realise that you already have some of the building blocks and others you need to work towards. If you are a teacher, it may be worth reflecting on how this fits with your teaching and your students’ practices.
As you read through, check in with yourself about whether you are holding yourself accountable to these things. You don’t need to be doing everything perfectly all of the time; the aim is to be working towards wholeness.
At times it may be most fruitful for you to focus on one or two of the building blocks and forget about the others completely, but in order to cultivate depth and balance, you will need to dedicate time and energy to everything that is listed here at various points on your path, whether that is over the course of a year or over the course of a lifetime.
1. Holistic Approach
- My understanding of awakening includes awakening to different dimensions of experience, e.g., my body, heart, mind, and soul
- My practice or practices nourish the growth of the different aspects of my being
- My practice leaves space for mystery to emerge and for things to be different to how I initially imagined them to be
- My process includes welcoming my shadows and darkness and engaging with them in a healthy way, either accepting, transmuting or appreciating them
- Integrity is one of the most important guides in my process
- My practice includes both connecting with transcendental aspects of experience and becoming the fullest expression of myself as a human being
- My practice, life and relationships are an expression of my deepest intentions and values
Related to: Right view
Helpful content: Reflecting on Life, Whole Being Awakening Framework
2. Heartful Approach
- I am connected to my heart
- My connection with my heart allows me to meet myself, others and life with courage, curiosity, joy, and compassion
- My belief in goodness in the world supports my capacity to show up wholeheartedly
- My connections to other people nourish me and I care for others in return
- My depth and resilience are strengthened by a practice of feeling a sense of agapic or Universal love
- My grief is welcomed as part of my wholeness; connecting with it is a heart-opening experience
- My life is experienced one moment at a time and I meet the present moment with a sense of joy and compassion
- My practice is inspired by my deepest intentions
Related to: Right intention
Helpful content: Intention Setting, Heart First Experience, Heart Knowing vs Mind Knowing, Reframing the Brahma Viharas as Questions
3. Honest Approach
- Sincerity is as at the core of my practice, including both being able to be vulnerable and embody my own power
- I value honesty in other people over charisma or shininess
- I am able to express challenging things from a place of love when it feels important
- My boundaries are healthy, flexible, well-communicated, and come from a place of love
- When I talk about practice, I share what feels meaningful rather than trying to impress people
- I listen carefully to what others share and am honest about how it impacts me, rather than creating judgements and projections
- My understanding of the awakening path feels like a true representation of what it is possible to achieve or experience in this lifetime, rather than marketing hype, hubris, or a magic bullet
- My practice allows me to start where I am, rather than where I want to be or where I think I should be. I am able to feel this directly in my own experience
Related to: Right speech
Helpful content: Hard Truths, Poetry
4. Continuous Practice
- My daily life is part of my awakening practice
- My path includes a practice that I do throughout the day
- My perspective of myself and my life feels real and whole and includes my dark and my light
- My awakening practice includes turning towards difficult things and not unconsciously writing off parts of life as irrelevant
- My challenges and vulnerabilities are opportunities for me to learn and grow
- My practice includes enjoying the beautiful parts of life, from sex to food to friendship
- I recognise the endlessness of experience and the process
- My contemplative practice supports me to be a person I want to be
Related to: Right effort
Helpful content: Continuous Practice, Practice Guides
5. Contemplative Practice
- My practice includes meditation and being in silence. I practice regularly
- I can be present with experience without being distracted
- I can connect with a sense of spaciousness in direct experience
- I can connect with a sense of depth in direct experience
- I have a good understanding of some different styles of practice and their benefits
- My contemplative practice puts me in touch with things like truth, love, resilience, whole-heartedness, or other positive qualities
- My awakening is supported by retreat or intensive practice time
Related to: Right mindfulness
Helpful content: Reflecting on Practice, Overview of All Practice, Awakening Course
6. Shared Practice
- My awakening practice includes a relational practice that awakens me to what it is like to be present in connection with people
- My relational practice helps me develop a deeper connection to myself and others
- My relational practice helps me to navigate life more skillfully
- My teachers, peers, and practice communities feel meaningful, inspire me to strive for more, and help me appreciate what is already good
- Both my good qualities and the places where I still have work to do are recognised by others in a healthy and real way
- I can recognise difficult dynamics without going into blame or shame and have productive conversations with people about them when necessary
- My view of myself and others allows for human flaws
- I can feel a circle of concern that includes myself and others and communicate and act with that in mind
Related to: Right action
Helpful content: Guide to Shared Practice
7. Mystical Practice
- I am open to mystical experiences and to life being different to how I imagine it to be
- My practice includes getting in touch with both emptiness and fullness
- My experience is deep, expansive, and nourishing. I feel a sense of awe or wonder about aspects of experience
- My connection with the Universe feels profound; I can access flow states or altered states of consciousness where I feel connected with something bigger than me
- My present-moment awareness can include things that aren’t recognised as real in the dominant paradigm
- I can hold my mystical experiences with an open hand and respect their mystery rather than reifying them into a new, limited worldview
- I feel nourished by my practice in a way that goes beyond words and ordinary human concerns
Related to: Right samadhi
Helpful content: Imaginal Practice Overview, My Experiences
8. Living the Dharma
- My life, work, and practice are dedicated to something bigger than solely my own personal gain
- I am individuated and not propagating unhealthy co-dependent patterns in the world
- My devotion, desires, and realisation fuel my capacity to contribute positively to the world
- I feel empowered by my inner capacity and humbled by the intelligence outside of me, in others and the world
- I am able to experience and enjoy the present moment rather than needing to fix things first or arrive somewhere
- My intimate connection with myself and the Universe is a valuable part of my experience and my self-expression
- I can feel that everything, including me, is a natural expression of the Cosmos, and I trust the unfolding
Related to: Right livelihood
Helpful content: For Teachers, One-to-One Coaching
Reflection Exercise
Each one of these building blocks contains a whole world of exploration and depth that can support your awakening.
The simplest way to reflect on them is to write out the eight building blocks and describe the ways in which you are meeting them and the ways in which you find them challenging. Try and identify specific examples of both the things you are doing well and the things you would like to improve.
If you would like a more creative way to do this reflection, here are some suggestions:
- Holistic Approach: Draw a sketch that encapsulates you, your life, your practice, and your metaphysics at this moment in time. It can be very literal or more metaphorical and abstract, but don’t worry about taking it too seriously. The point is to create something that represents the wholeness of what you are doing in a fun and creative way.
- Heartful Approach: Draw a heart. On the left side, write down a short list of ways that you could be kinder to yourself and cut yourself some slack. On the right side, write down a short list of ways you could be more courageous in life or generous towards others.
- Honest Approach: Identify three to five lies that you are most likely to tell yourself or others and write them out in speech or thought bubbles in a highly caricatured way. Let them be present, and then, if you would like, spend some time thinking about how you could approach each topic or theme from a deeper and more wholehearted place.
- Continuous Practice: Create or find a very simple practice that you can do in daily life. Spend a day, a week, and a month committing to staying with it as often as you can.
- Contemplative Practice: Reflect on whether you could give yourself the gift of really dedicating more time to your practice. Can you afford to go on retreat or take some time off work to practice more deeply?
- Shared Practice: Ask a friend or a loved one if they would like to do a shared practice with you. It could be as simple as finding 15 minutes to connect. If you need some inspiration, here are some practices you could choose from.
- Mystical Practice: What are some of the weirdest experiences you’ve ever had? Can you remember what it felt like to experience them on an embodied level? How do they fit into your metaphysics and worldview?
- Living the Dharma: Think about some dharma teachers or spiritual leaders, living or dead, who embody something that you find inspiring. Do an imaginal practice where they come and meet you exactly as you are now. What positive qualities would they see in you? What would they say you need to improve on? If they were to give you a gift to help you with your life purpose, what would they give you?
If everyone was able to adopt a rich, wholesome, and holistic awakening practice, we would live in a different world. I hope this list inspires people towards this.