“Square zero is this inner space that is empty of specific content yet full of fresh possibility.”
Dear Readers:
We seem to be doing a little series on Mindfulness Meditation and Focusing! This week I would like to bring you an excerpt from the lovely new book by David Rome, Your Body Knows the Answer. David is a true elder in both traditions, Focusing and meditation. Many people came to Focusing by reading his article on Shambhala Sun in 2004, “Searching for the Truth that is Far Below the Search.”
In the section of his book from which this excerpt is taken, David is talking about different gateways to finding the felt sense. One of the gateways is to start with a stream of thinking, our narrative storyline about ourselves, and then drop the storyline to feel the felt sense underneath. Here he tells how meditation supports this “dropping the storyline:”
David Rome writes:
Mindfulness meditation, which is really a kind of basic training in detaching from discursive thought, can be a great support for finding the felt sense.
Dropping our story lines, creating a gap in discursive mind, pausing the momentum of thinking – whatever we choose to call it — is a process of self-cultivation.
It is a gentle discipline of becoming familiar with the open, nonconceptual space in ourselves that is always available once we know how to find and rest in it.
My Buddhist teacher, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, used to talk about “going back to square zero.” Square zero is this inner space that is empty of specific content yet full of fresh possibility.
It is a “full emptiness” that provides a home base, a place we can come back to when we find ourselves off-kilter, rest for a while, and then make a fresh start.
Ann here again… just to say how highly I recommend David’s great new book. I wrote: “Eminently readable, engaging, and wise, this book is hugely welcome. Those new to Focusing and the felt sense will be expertly guided; those already familiar with the process will find fresh treasure on every page…”
