3rd Gear: The Sunspot and the Lightning Rod

The sunspot:

A sunspot is an immense jet of plasma shooting out into space from the core of the sun. You can think of it as a leak, a disruption in the energy of the sun. If you could put a giant finger in the dike, plugging the leak, the sun would return to its proper form, symmetrical and round.

The lightning rod:

A lightning rod planted into the earth can ground any amount of energy as it flows from the sky in the form of lightning. The earth is big and solid enough to ground it all. Your body is the Earth. Your attention is the lightning rod that grounds your energy.

The technique:

Feel your body, all at once. Don't pick it apart, just let it be whole. Notice that anxiety, anger, resentment, aversion, or agitation, no matter how subtle, can be experienced as energy disruptions in the body. You might notice a hardness or seeming blockage in the neck or shoulder, for example. Don't try to fix it. Just rest your attention on it gently and continuously as you might rest your hand on the shoulder of a loved one to reassure them. Notice that this gentle application of attention grounds the energy like a lightning rod. The lightning goes to ground and is made harmless. Resting your attention on the energy disruption plugs the leak. The sun spot stops shooting plasma into space. The body feels whole and seems to straighten out a bit. Don't expect the hardness or tension to go away; that is not the point. Notice, though, that the anxiety, anger, or resentment is completely grounded and resolved in the body. You are not suffering in this moment of grounding the emotions continuously in the body.

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Now look around. See like an artist. Notice the brightness and immediacy of colors. See how shapes and patterns captivate the attention. Wood grain patterns are fascinating. That translucent green plastic yoga ball is a visual feast. The visual texture of fabrics is delightful. Feel your body again and ground the anxiety. If excitement arises, see it as an energy disruption. Ground it by placing your attention on it. Speculation arises; is this practice valuable? Ground it in the body. Look around at the clarity of the colors and the shapes. Feel the anxiety. Ground it. Doubt? You just sprung a leak. Feel it in the body and ground it. Panic that the simplicity of this experience calls into question everything you thought you knew about enlightenment? Feel it in the body and ground it. If you are suffering, you are not doing this practice. Ground the suffering as a sensation in the body and be as you are. This practice doesn't go anywhere. It's over. You are the happiness you seek. You are enlightened in this moment and there is nothing further to be done. This is the direct path. Feel the panic? Ground it...

Video of a solar flare:

I have been doing grounding recently and had a few questions.

1.) Is one supposed to feel the body all at once? Or just feel the energy disturbances? Or both at the same time? For example, I often feel a buzzing type of anxiety in my abdomen or chest, so I just rest my attention there. That's it. I don't try and feel my body all at once at the same time as feeling the buzzing anxiety. Is this right?

2.) Is grounding okay to do with eyes closed or does one have to be looking at the world as an artist as well?

Lately, what I've been doing is just resting my attention on these emotions/energy disturbances. There's often a thread of anxiety from my throat to my abdomen. And so I just let me attention rest on it, not doing anything at all, just resting. I am able to do this pretty continuously throughout the day. I don't really do anything like see the world as the artist or get lost in the visual world and textures. Sometimes, this sort of thing can happen naturally or spontaneously, but I don't try to make it happen. I just want to check in and see if I am doing this practice properly. Thanks.

Here's the way I just did it now. I tuned into the body as a whole, just touching the whole thing with the loose, soft focus. Soon after, my attention went to a tense spot behind my left shoulder and rested there, ignoring the rest of the body. After hanging out there for maybe 10 seconds, I started noticing the visual field while continuing to rest the attention on the tense spot. I noticed a large potted plant gently swaying from a breeze. I noticed space and angles and colors. There was a surge of excitement and thought, which brought and end to the experience. I re-widened the focus to the body as a whole again, allowing the re-grounding to take place. Then back to the tense spot on the shoulder. This time the experience was a bit more profound and lasted longer. When a thought or emotion arose, I widened the focus a little to see where it was in the body. You can get into a "flow" with it like that - wider focus, narrower focus.

I'm glad you posted this, because it gave me an excuse to try this practice again. It's been more than a few months.

Thanks for this John and Jim. Great question and great answer.

About Q2. My guess is that grounding is possible with the eyes closed, but that it's more difficult. It would require that you be especially sensitive to your interior experience. Since mental images and thoughts tend to be fleeting and ephemeral that leaves you less space on which to lay your attention. If you must do it with eyes closed then I imagine sounds would be the best place to focus. As for me I like to do things the easy way first.