Nodes of Presence

Nodes of Presence

122nd Edition

Happy Spiritual Monday

In an interesting coincidence (a concept I don’t truly believe in but like to say) today marks the 1 year anniversary of my last career yoga class, my official retirement session. Now, I have picked up some contracts in sharing since then, but nothing that would resemble a career, more just fun. On the day of my retirement, I had a retirement/ birthday party, it was a Saturday, and this past weekend, we had a Housewarming/ birthday party in our new place. In gathering some good souls, my mind spun into some deep contemplations….

Tools.

Religion, spirituality, surfing, breathwork, men’s work, women’s work, psychedelics, festivals, books, programs, coaching, mentors, events… all of these things are tools for different people’s lives. We go to events to see musicians, sports stars, top tier players do their thing of mastery, be it a rock performance at an arena, a grand final/ world championship match, wherever and whatever - we pay our time and attention to go to experiences which make us feel alive… or so we believe.

We all chase presence, knowingly or not, and these events are opportunities for us to experience this. This past week, tens of thousands of people left the desert of Black Rock City after another Burning Man, which has become a beacon of expression, a weeklong experience of love, freedom, life and, more likely than not, lots of substances which create severely altered states of consciousness. 

I didn’t go, and truth be told, I haven’t been to the Burn (I have been to several smaller ones before, which are epic) but I have many friends who did. What I felt, is that the afterglow of those who have shared their experiences shows that they were present with themselves, others, life for a extended period of 3D time. 

In this way, the festival was a tool for many otherwise separate souls to connect and be present together. On such a large scale of art, music, expression, this would have created a native portal into the grand sense of presence with universal consciousness, whether intended or not which would have been a super connecting experience for all involved. 

This idea intrigued me…

Nodes

Nodes are loosely defined as connection points for data or networks to transmit and link up. We also use the term with reference to the body I.e. lymph nodes, but that’s not where I’ll go here.

For a moment, let’s consider the ether as the “cloud” containing all information, all events, all things that have been, will be and are in all potentiality - like a super super computer. Accessing this cloud, often referred to as the Akashic Records, is a difficult task, and a strong aim of many spiritual traditions and ritual based practices. 

Any regular reader here would know that I have always been a proponent for psychedelics and plant medicine ceremonies, so long as there is a reverance for the spirit contain therein and a respect for the substance which will inherently alter your experience of everything .

You might also know that for most of my life I have been in service, or held space for large gatherings of humans on a regular basis for a long time, often it was called “teaching yoga classes” because that’s what sales is about. If I reflect honestly on my life’s work, I have had the honour and pleasure of being a moving node for beings to connect and drop into presence of different character and colour, but I may have not realised the value of that mutual experience.

I’ve had the great fortune to drink a lot of cups of tea with sensational humans, and much of that tea was mind altering in it’s nature. Short version: I’ve had the opportunity to sit in the presence of lots of plant medicine and psychedelic allies. These experiences have always been gateways for me to connect with the infinite, the divine, the all or however you wish to label it.

Simply (or less waffley) put - these psychedelic experience have been - for me - nodes into the divine, or the Seas of Infinity as I refer to them. Every time, without fail, I have glimpses of perfection, beauty, divinity, God Consciousness. 

Now, I have had this experience with meditation as well, in surfing and snowboarding, with breath work, with my spiritual movement practice, with sound journeys, with sexual practice, with festivals - basically, multidisciplinary. But I choose to focus on the psychedelic experience as it is one of the easiest pathways of reminder for this connection we all share. (I’m also just finishing the book PIHKAL which documents a chemist and his research group of psychonauts in their exploration of several synthesised substances over a few decades.)

My point is that I have experienced several nodes of connection to the divine, in various chapters of my life and thus I know that what I am speaking of here exists.

In my life as a facilitator, a huge part of what I have done is to use the tools or skills or practices I have learned to organise groups of humans into portal spaces where they can all have the opportunity to experience even a shard of a moment of bliss, which can be enough to fill the tank for a period of time and motivate us to live more contented. 

Put another way, I have unknowingly acted as a mobile node where I am blessed to momentarily connect and open up to the eternal consciousness - through movement and breath flows, through words via meditation and visualisation, through journeys through sound. 

With humans, I have found that there are connections that manifest around me and I recognise that is when I feel like I am fulfilling my duty in this embodiment. 

On Sunday evening, I sat in a tea ceremony where our whole attention or meditation was focused around the experience of the preparation, serving, holding, drinking and savouring each sip of tea. It was psychedelic experience in it’s own right.

To tie this all together, I recognised that this tea ceremony was a node of connection for me and likely those who were present. This was a tool, a way to drop into the grand connection of all, and I was grateful to sit in the ceremony. It helped me to be aware of how, when we are tuned into our purpose, all of us become potential nodes of connectivity for each other.

This makes the idea of a sport network or system sound so much more robust and perfect. So whatever it is that fits for you - yoga religion, therapy, sport, journeying - seek those nodes and sail the Seas of Infinity. 

The more we stay connected to the all, the less we sit in the loneliness of “I” and the smallness of the “I” land. There is only we, the grand connectivity, so go out and get connected!

And so it is, with love.