100 Paths

Last weekend I had two healing processes back-to-back, and there was a lot to uncover and release. A few major truths emerged, and some wild experiences.

On Saturday, I went for dance meditation with Niyam Bhushan – perhaps my fifth or sixth such session with him. His sessions are held in a large, darkened ballet studio, and last for about three or four hours. The group can be as small as seven people or as large as 20. My meditation has been getting progressively better over time – from the stiff muscles and painful knees of the earlier sessions due to inner resistance, I’ve been more in sync with universal energy and learning to go with the flow. The last two sessions have been largely painless even though I end up drenched in sweat.

This time, during the Sufi whirling part, I went faster than I could have ever believed possible. At one point, even when we weren’t told to whirl, I began whirling looking up – my gaze fixed on the twinkling disco lights on the ceiling. It was incredible. After a bit, I turned my head down and – oh heavens! – vertigo set in since I was still in fast motion.

But then something even more incredible happened.

I didn’t fall!!

Something – I imagine it was God – kept me spinning even though I was tilting on one side and expecting to fall. I was giddy as hell, but my legs and body went into survival mode and kept me spinning lopsidedly. I began laughing loudly because of the adrenaline rush. I could hear Niyam laughing back from a few feet away but I could not see him since I was still spinning madly. No one rushed to save me – my laughter made it sound like I was having fun, not falling in dizzy chaos.

Finally, I slowed myself down and got into another dance trance.

But I can still taste those few giddy moments – I have no idea how long it lasted – when it felt like none less than Krishna Himself was holding me up while I twirled round and round like a drunken gopi. He didn’t let me hurt myself. I never felt naughtier, and safer, and wilder, and more scared, and more exhilarated. It was an energy burst of the psychedelic kind.

And that was just the beginning of my weekend of awakenings.

Later that night, I chatted with Niyam on Telegram and happened to share a recent incident when someone’s words had hurt me. Niyam – who has the vibes and presence of a wise old woman – texted me this:

Buddha says, assume you are the only unenlightened person in the world, and every living being is an enlightened master here to wake you up. Urgently.

We talked a bit more, and I processed what he said. “So, their hurtful words are making me aware of the unawakened part of me? So I should see them as a teacher and not as a villain? Hmm.”

I fell asleep with his words in my mind.

The next morning, I woke up early. I had a full day of past-life regression therapy awaiting me.

Continued here.