Life-Force Coaching, Part II

An Introduction to Spiritual Direction as life-energy Coaching: An Idiots Guide

1) spir·it noun \ˈspir-ət\ : the force within a person that is believed to give the body life, energy, and power.
~Mirriam Webster

Three essential survival needs are air, food and water. These involve the important fundamentals of Spiritual practice. Spirit has the dual meaning of breath. Our breathing mirrors our psyche. Psyche means "life." Being taught to watch the breath is enjoined with watching the psyche as a beginning practice in the recognition of the psyche as a function of the life-force. Few make the connection and thus a fixation on the respiration does not much cultivate the energetic awareness needed for the next step. That next step is feasting and fasting on the Life-energy itself. One recognizes the life-energy through the body as sensation or "felt meaning." Thus the Body is said to be the Temple of the Holy Spirit - or at least its feedback mechanism.

Here lies a core difference between Spiritual direction as a cognitive process and Spiritual Direction as an energy process. As a cognitive process every word and term is understood via mental constructs primarily and due to the uniqueness of our experience the meaning of terms is quite variable and even ideas such as prayer, or silence or G-d lend themselves to diverse theologizing. Thus there is really not much Direction or guidance going on, only accompaniment as each individual sorts out what has not been previously examined and hopes the guide will be sensitive enough point out when one is becoming at risk of loosing the way. So alternative and less directive terms like spiritual friend are associated with the guide. And if the sojourner finds bumps in the road which create dis-ease, there are no real healing interventions the typical guide has recourse to.

As an energy process Spiritual Direction finds some overlap with the above model, yet is lead by by a different language, a language of the body and its felt meanings. If, simply for illustration, the issue of love comes up, the sojourner may be asked where they feel that in the body. At this point we have a real definitive felt meaning of what is being addressed, even if the words as descriptors are inadequate. The guide may ask questions that help the sojourner distinguish this body energy in terms of solid or flowing, heavy or light, stressful or pleasant, and from many more perspectives. The native wisdom or intelligence of the life-energy in the body mind has a balance point it seeks to achieve and the guide may gently coach the sojourner in releasing or neutralizing the polarities of the energetic tension that the sought after inner peace may be achieved. Both positive and negatively judged perceptions may be released with great benefit in terms of sometimes extra-ordinary healing of body and soul. And expanding insights and intuitive guidance become spontaneously more available, something which might take years to arrive at by typical conversational means or short sighted disciplines of meditation.

Having recognized the functioning of the life-energy, its instinctive wisdom and transformative power, the sojourner is more able to discern that this life-energy is the real guide, the "inner voice" or prompting that was being sought. Its guidance is now available and with cultivation it continues to unlock the obscurations to the Divine Presence which brings fulfillment to ever expanding aspects of the human condition even if our surface human desires are for a time thwarted. In other words, this fulfillment is unconditioned by circumstance yet not necessarily a specific cure-all for living some idealized pain free life. It becomes more like what the Buddha taught - an end to suffering and also a heightened awareness of what I think Jesus taught as a becoming One with existence as Alaha, an incorruptible Unity.