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Connors: Do something uncommon this month

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I think it was 1995. While I can’t be precise about the date, the ineffable experience there in Yucca Valley, California, is still palpable, vivid — and instructional.

It happened while attending a Holotropic Breathwork retreat with psychotherapist and best-selling author, Jack Kornfield and Dr. Stan Grof in Yucca Valley, both men being pioneers in transcendent-experience modalities.

Let me back up a moment and say that prior to the retreat, I had been introduced to Kundalini energy through a Kundalini yoga class I took while living in Gainesville, Florida. I did further research and hoped to experience this amazing energy for real. Fast forward now to the Yucca Valley Retreat.

Each day the retreat included meditation followed by a Dharma (teaching) talk by Jack and then breathwork facilitated by Dr. Grof. We then integrated these experiences through creating a mandala. As you can imagine, we were all in a pretty clear, receptive state of consciousness by then. 

While one of the women attendees and I discussed Kundalini energy (a possible outcome of Holotropic breathwork), she shared that she could experience this extraordinary energy whenever she chanted. I asked if she would demonstrate with me.

We found an empty room with sunlight streaming in through huge windows on all sides. Sitting together on the floor, I closed my eyes and Kim began to chant as she moved around me. Suddenly, like a lightening bolt, I felt a pulsating energy move from my feet to the crown of my head. The powerful energy moved me into a reclining position and I surrendered into the experience of Kundalini energy. I felt inhabited by what I could only think of as the Divine.

I tell this story to point to the possibility of experiencing sublime dimensions of spiritual energy. We can be changed in ways that may be difficult to articulate but we know that something wonderful has happened. 

We don’t have to chant or practice Holotropic breathing to experience an uncommon energy uplift. Living whole-heartedly; putting our whole self into what we are doing; appreciating the beauty all around us and within us; finding new, invigorating ways to express love; doing what gives us life — these are a few of the things. 

February is typically the month of “love.”

How about stepping outside your ordinary daily life to do something common in an uncommon way or just do something uncommon?

Editor’s Note: Ms. Connors is a reverend at Unity Spiritual Center in Sun City.