If I ask you to pay attention to any tension in your shoulders, something interesting usually happens.
They will spontaneously drop, with little intent on your part.
What happened? You paid attention and the holding broke into awareness. You realised you were actively maintaining it. The truth became apparent.
Becoming aware of a contraction is all that is needed to release it.
Adi-Da often talked about the self-contraction in this way. He would often use his fist to illustrate the contraction in action.
Beyond complex methods and drawn-out meditations, it is a potent way of returning to a free and unfabricated awareness.
Just pay attention to the self, or any sense of psychological contraction. You needn’t fix or change anything. You don’t need to see through it either—this isn’t insight meditation. Just look to see.
Over time the strain of the contraction will become more evident and release will naturally follow.
Notice the self-contraction.
1 Jan 2023