Overview:  the 4 LEVELS of Exercise Consciousness 

Described below are the four levels that we see people go through on their path of deep inner growth.  As with any path to enlightenment, it is often non-linear, magical, and spontaneous. You may be in Level 1 then catapult to Level 4, then back to Level 1.  Levels 2, 3 and 4 tend to morph into one another. Moreover, everyone’s process is unique, especially when you get to Level 3.  Nonetheless, we have developed these levels to help you visualize the process.  

 

LEVEL 1:     How most people now exercise

  • Results-based - doing exercise for the physical and perhaps mental benefits:  to get fit, stay healthy, look good, release stress, be happier.
  • Will power or discipline/habit needed to exercise.
  • Feels good afterwards, often not during.
  • When am I done?  Waiting for the exercise to be over.
  • Using distraction to get through it - music, TV, podcasts.
  • Often in poor form because you are thinking about how to do the exercise, not feeling it.
  • Going through the motions, don’t really know what to do.
  • “Over-amping” - mentally reacting to the intensity of the physical experience, and thereby wasting a lot of mental energy.
  • For some people, a social experience - going to the gym, or classes.

LEVEL 2   Going Inside the Body

  • Putting all your attention on the body - the muscles being used, your breath
  • Completely engaged by the exercise; no external distractions
  • Body-mind connection - feeling your body, for example, feeling your abdominals when doing a plank
  • Body and mind working together
  • Body moving efficiently, thus less energy wasted
  • Moving more gracefully because you feel the exercise
  • Deep communication with your body - commanding it not only to do the exercise but how to do it
  • Proper form through feeling rather than thinking about the exercise
  • So embodied that you can tell if your form is correct
  • Listening to the feeling on the body
  • Becoming more present in the exercise by feeling your body
  • You need less willpower to get started in your exercise
  • The body feels solid and grounded

LEVEL 3 : Going Inside the Mind - Playing with Force

  • Consider that the uncomfortableness that happens in exercising is a “Force” that can be used to enlighten yourself
  • Playing with the force - watching how You show up when force happens in the exercise - listening to the voices inside you
  • Titrating force - playing with it - how much can be applied before “taking out your presence”?  How much can be applied before your internal voices show up?
  • “Matching” with your mind the Force that shows up in specific body parts.  Meet the Force wherever it shows up - mirror it with your mind.  Put all your attention on the body part that is feeling the Force.  When you fully “match” the Force, it will dissolve
  • Instead of collapsing with Force, the Force expands you
  • At times you will see your mind chatter, other times you will notice a deep stillness as your mind quiets
  • You will notice the external - the space around you, the sounds, the energy
  • You experience space in your body; your body will begin to feel less solid.  Form > Space
  • You stop fighting yourself; resistance disappears
  • You (ego mind) turn off, releasing yourself from your resistance
  • You realize that the Force is internal, not external
  • Virtually no willpower is needed to exercise
  • A deeper reality emerged 

LEVEL 4:   The Zone: Transcendence in Exercise and Everywhere

  • Your mind is perfectly quiet; you are free from any unnecessary thinking
  • You feel connected to greater wisdom
  • Your experience of time changes; you see timelessness
  • You see space
  • You see perfection in everything
  • You feel love towards everyone and everything
  • You seek greater and greater Force, because that deepens your experience
  • You have stopped "doing," you are "being" whatever you are doing
  • In athletics, this space is called "the zone"
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