Some connections between resisting and allowing experience, and the three centers…

When there is resistance to experience…

• The view becomes rigid. There is a closer identification with a particular perspective and identity, and a stronger disowning of the truth in their reversals. This identification is also why an experience is resisted in the first place, so there is a mutuality here, a feedback loop which holds the dynamic in place as long as there is identification with the story and the resistance.
• The heart closes down, or at least is ambivalent, trying to be open to some things and closed to something else.
• The emotions are reactive. There is identification with fear, and whatever reactive emotions come up from that.

And when an experience is allowed, when there is a being with of the experience…

• The view becomes more fluid. There is a release of identification out of a particular story and perspective, which makes it easier to explore the validity of its reversals. This also allows for more of a fluidity among perspectives, and an ability to use one or another as the situation seems to call for it. A generosity of view.
• The heart opens. There is empathy and compassion. A recognition of oneself in the other. A generosity of heart.
• At the belly center, there is a nurturing fullness. A trust in in life and whatever happens.

As usual, there is a mutuality among all of these… resisting or allowing experience, a fixed or fluid view, a closed or open heart, reactive emotions or nurturing fullness. A shift in one tends to invite a shift in the others, and they also stabilize and help deepen each other.

So when working on this, we can start at any point… allowing experience, inquire into stories, opening our heart, inviting in the nurturing fullness of the belly center.

We can ask ourselves, can I be with what I am experiencing right now?  We can use The Work to investigate our beliefs. We can use heart centered practices, such as the Christian heart prayer or the Buddhist tong-len, to open our heart. We can use any belly and body centered practice, such as Breema, to invite in the nurturing fullness and the sense of trust that comes with it.

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