Walking the Talk

by Puran Bair    

The interaction between the conscious and unconscious is one of the most fascinating aspects of life. One part reflects the divine, the other part shows the mundane. Which part is which? It's as if we are two persons, neither knowing the other well. The unconscious is awake when the conscious sleeps, but the unconscious never sleeps.

One way to create a dialogue between the parts is by breathing consciously. When you consciously take on one of the main functions of the unconscious, a door is held open to the inner world. Messages begin to fly back and forth, revealing the secrets of your depth, and allowing your conscious reprogramming of automatic responses.

Observing your walk is another portal to the unconscious. Like breathing, walking can be performed either consciously or unconsciously. Walking requires such a complex coordination of muscles and nerves that it always has a large unconscious component. Trying to walk completely consciously creates a very slow, Tai Chi kind of movement. Typically, we think only about where we're going, not how the body gets us there. The coordination required for walking is so complicated that one learns and habituates one choreography that becomes your dance of life. The pace, cadence, balance, bounce, swings of leg and arm, rhythms of shoulders and head, express one's approach to life. Your walk is highly individual; it is another window into your unconscious.

In the Winter Group Retreat on the Twelve Archetypes, we will observe our walks and learn how to identify in them the archetypes of our souls. Then we practice tuning ourselves to the great masters, saints and prophets of humanity and feeling how each attunement changes our walk. Taking the walk of Christ, Hazrat Babajon, Zarathustra, nine other archetypal beings, or your teacher or parent, is a powerful way to bring their divine qualities into your body, mind and heart. Through the feedback of your walk, you can feel the profound change that is happening in your energy and consciousness. Whereas even a great shift inwardly is sometimes missed in sitting meditation, you cannot miss the transformation in your walk, testifying to your attunement.

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