My Integral Life Practice - Release 1.0

Integral Life Practice (ILP) is an orientation to personal growth in which one takes a comprehensive approach addressing all the significant aspects of one's being. It often has a spiritual focus and in that context may be thought of as a kind of "spiritual cross-training" in which one has a central practice - e.g. dreamwork or yoga - and then adds other components that will support the chosen focus. For example, studies have shown that doing weight training makes you a better vipassana mediator, and of course anything that supports the health and well-being of your body will enhance the functioning of your mind. Many people find Ken Wilber's AQAL approach to be very useful. Although it is not necessary to be familiar with that particular map, it is useful to have a fairly comprehensive cognitive map to ensure you are not leaving out anything important.

My ILP is constantly changing, and frankly my biggest problem is lack of focus - or to put it another way, I tend to take on too much and then periodically drop everything. Ideally I'd like to have a well-organized set of daily practices, but for now I am focusing on activities I can do several times per week (or less often, depending on the situation - for example, having a massage can be very beneficial on multiple levels but who can afford to get a professional massage several times a week? answer to rhetorical question: not me!) In addition, there are practices that can be done in "stolen moments" here and there throughout the day, and I now have several of those.

So, first of all, when I get up in the morning before I get out of bed I do a "gratitude exercise" in which I think of three things that I am grateful for - this starts me off in a positive frame of mind. If I forget in the morning, as soon as I remember that I didn't do it, I do the practice right away. Conveniently, I forgot this morning, so let's see...I'm grateful for all the close friends I've made on the Integral Naked website, especially for those who have become part of my life in "meatspace." I am grateful for my beautiful cats, who bring me affection and joy. I am grateful for the amazing book I'm reading, Darkness Shining Wild by Robert Augustus Masters.

The gratitude exercise I learned from my friend Sohan. Another technique that can be done in moments is one taught to me by Rhonda - one of my closest friends from Integral Naked - and consists of focusing for a moment just before I eat something and thinking/feeling "I love you - please nourish me." I find this brings mindfulness into my eating and helps me to appreciate the food that sustains me - the only downside is that it makes me sound like a New Age freak to some people if I mention it. I have other "momentary" practices - e.g. focusing on the breath, kegels, sensing energy in my body, or just being in the moment without resistance - all of which which can be done when I'm in public transit or in other situations where I need to wait for something.

For the more physical aspect of my being, I try to eat well, take various supplements, use a light box to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder, and get exercise by various means - especially, I try to get as much brisk walking in as possible. For the food I eat, I buy organic when I can, because it is good for the environment; I buy Fair Trade because it is good for the people who produce my food and help sustain my existence, and by extension good for global society as a whole; I buy local produce because it reduces the energy cost of food and supports local agriculture. This illustrates how you can eat in a way that is mindful, that is good for your body, good the environment, and that is good for the people who produce the food. This is an example of using the ILP approach to achieve multiple goals in ways that don't necessarily take any more time out of your life.

To work on my mind I read and study books by Ken Wilber or other spiritual or Big Picture thinkers - the above-mentioned Robert Augustus Masters being a good recent example. I've also begun to accept and seek out opportunities to learn new things, e.g. I applied to get HTML training at work.

Relationships and community are are part of my ILP. I try to bring presence and love to my relationships, to resolve conflict as it arises and to be optimally open and honest. As for community, I'm still working on this one, but I've learned a lot by working with the Integral Naked forum as a virtual community of sorts (although recently some of us there have been trying on the metaphor of virtual party on for size - this works better in some ways).

Currently I'm doing a simple meditation on the breath several times a week (theoretically daily). I sit in a chair in a relaxed but upright posture, and focus on the sensation of breathing in my belly. Until recently I focused on the sensation of the breath in the end of my nose or my upper lip; but someone suggested that for people who have a tendency to dissociate from their body it can be good to focus on the belly. I'm finding this way works much better for me in that it does take my focus of awareness out of my head and into my body as a whole.

I also use Holosync at night, an audio system which is supposed to produce the same benefits as meditation. I lie down, initially in the corpse posture, and listen calmly to the CD and focus on my breath. Usually I fall asleep fairly quickly, but it is supposed to have a lot of benefits even under those circumstances. In any case, getting to sleep and/or staying asleep has tended to be challenging for me as long as I can remember, and Holosync definitely helps with that. There is a long discussion thread about Holosync here.

Periodically I go to advaita satsang and other types of spiritual events, and I occasionally use altered state experiences as part of my path, most notably I have taken part in several Ayahuasca ceremonies and will do more as opportunity permits.

Currently I'm not doing much in the way of shadow work - although in working with my reactions to the Integral Naked forum I have done some of that, recognizing and reclaiming some of my projections over time. As well, I try to pay at least minimal attention to my dreams - but I need to get more sleep and increase my dream recall to improve that aspect.

Well, that's an overview of my ILP at this particular moment. I expect it may change dramatically following the I-WET (Integral Weekend Experiential Training) workshop that I will be participating in next weekend, along with several of my friends. I'm very excited about attending this event, and learning new techniques I can add to my ILP. You can learn more about the I-WET weekends here: http://www.integralinstitute.org/seminars/index.html?wet, and A view from the deep end - I-WET NYC has some useful accounts from people who have attended past I-WET events.