Integrating Your 4 Freedoms (Part 5 Of 9) - An Experiment In Awareness

Developing an Empirical Awareness of the Four Freedoms

You can do simple experiments to comprehend that all elements of you are interconnected.

1. For 30 seconds think a very negative thought, for instance, your partner has left you, you have been fired, or your home has burned down. Stop the thought and turn your attention to your feelings. What emotions have come up in you? Now focus on your body. Do you feel tension or pain anywhere? Notice that just one intense thought has affected your whole system.
2. Do some conscious emotional release. For 30 seconds scream out loud, jump up and down, and roar out anger, pain, or sadness. Stop. Now put your attention into your body. Does it feel looser? Feel your energetic self. Do you feel a vibration, a lightness? How is your mind? Is it free and uncluttered? Note: Because we are taught to be very much “in control,” the first time you do this you might have thoughts like “Oh, oh, I’m loosing it” or “This is foolish,” but if you pay attention to the effects emotional release has on you, those thoughts will dissipate.
3. Have a massage, either from your lover, a friend, or a professional masseur. As your body relaxes, notice how your emotions calm, your mind slows down, and you feel at peace and connected.

Excerpted from the book Sensual Love Secrets for Couples: The Four Freedoms of Body, Mind, Heart and Soul, by Al Link and Pala Copeland, Llewellyn, 2007