Secret Engines

In every relationship – in every kind of relationship even – you have a mission statement.  Perhaps you were not aware of this.  Every time you get together with another being, you are signing up for something.  It may be as simple as signing up for enough communication for you to buy your pack of gum, and for him or her to not get fired.  In other cases, you’ve signed up for things with even higher stakes.

Sometimes we are aware of these mission statements present in our interactions, other times they bubble under the radar and exert a subtle influence on how you relate. 

These statements of purpose may be unknown to you, but they act as powerful forces that determine what potential is able to manifest in any given union.  Many traditions around the world feel that there is some power in prayer.  The ancient yogis often felt that the most powerful prayers had to do with your intentions.  If you intend to help others (or even yourself without harming anyone) some great power seems to be marshaled behind what you are doing.  The purpose that you are holding for your relationship – consciously or unconsciously – acts like a type of prayer, molding and shaping the way it will manifest.

In intimate relationships, many of the happiest people have found that holding an intention of being of service to their partner is the secret.  The longest lasting relationships you’ll find likely involve people who have come to understand that healthily putting the other’s needs in a primary position is the path to harmony.  Indeed, it has been argued that the only reason love feels so GOOD is that you lose yourself in thoughts of the other.  This selflessness, this form of ecstasy created by moving out of your own needs and into care is a sure-fire way to stay “in love” for a very long time.

I think, though, that there is even a further step that we can take.  In the realm of yoga and inner practice, having a relationship isn’t just about being happy (although that’s certainly important).  A yogi doesn’t consider whether or not to have a relationship with someone based on whether he or she would like to or not – the yogi decides based on how the relationship applies to his or her mission.  For some reason, every deep yogic practitioner I’ve ever met or heard of was filled with the fire of purpose.  They may say odd things like “there’s nothing to do, just rest in your original nature” – but their actions are usually accomplishing many things for the benefit of many beings.  In my small experience of meditative states, I have consistently experienced that the deep rest and insight which comes from moving through meditative levels always produces a vast feeling of love, and a clear sense of direction through which to make this love manifest.

When a yogi looks to enter intimate partnership, it is because the combined power of two is greater than the sum of each one that comes into the union.  Some magic happens in the giving away of oneself – nothing essential is ever lost, but in the giving, something magical seems to be gained.  The act of loving expands a being, brightens it, lights if aflame.  This happens for both beloveds, and so the essential self they give as offering the next time is that much bigger, purer, and brighter.  I believe that this is the true purpose of deep relating – because a more refined, bright, and pure self can do more to help the world around him or her.

Think about it – if you’ve ever “fallen” in love, you know that you have access to almost infinite energy, everything looks beautiful, you are “on top of the world”.  Imagine then if you knew how to generate that feeling consistently, and you had some amazing purpose to turn it toward - how much good could you be doing from this type of full heart?

In a beautiful way, an intimate partnership can fuel the love that you have to give to others, and just as magically, the love you give others becomes the fuel that keeps your relationship strong.

The other day someone told my partner and I that we were one of the few inspiring examples of what she would call a “spiritual partnership” that she had seen in this world.  She, and others too, said that our partnership gave her hope.  I was surprised and pleased because exactly what she expressed is a major part of the mission of our relationship.  We stated strongly at the beginning of our union that we wanted to be very much in love so that others could find that state for themselves.  We would experience the best possible bliss that partnership had to offer, and we would do it as a gift (pretty self-sacrificing, huh?)!

My experience has been that this statement of intention at the very core of our relationship yoga practice has acted as an engine generating and attracting goodness from all around us.  Our relationship flourishes because we know exactly how we want to use it to serve everyone around us.  We found out that losing oneself in love of another brings deep peace and satisfaction, and decided to find out what might happen if we lost ourselves in love of all others – so far it has proven to be a great choice!

What are the agreements or statements of purpose underlying your relationships?  How are you using the interactions with friends, family, co-workers, and strangers that you encounter every day?  Could you engage a type of purpose that brought more empowerment, intentionality, and love to these relationships?  What might happen to your life, and the lives of those around you, if it did?

Transformation Threshold

About 10 years ago now, during a challenging part of a relationship, I read a fabulous book called "Dont break up before the breakthrough!"  Actually, I don't remember if the book was well written or not, but I know that the main idea it presented has stuck with me for many years - that sometimes when it is hardest to stay is when the biggest magic is about to happen.

Around the same period I read something about how the discipline of rebirthing was developed by Leonard Orr.  As I remember it, he described his experience of bathing in a hot pool that had signs warning people not to stay too long in the heat.  Well, he was sitting there and feeling safe, but starting to notice strange sensations arising in his body, and the vague impulse to get out, do something else.  He had the thought "what if I just stay."  Staying proved to be what began the process of unlocking an amazing body-mind practice that many people utilize to discover and integrate deep feelings and inspirations.

I guess the point here for me is this:  When do I feel like it's time to stop and move onto the next activity, and why?  Of course, sometimes our impulse to stop is a very valuable one - like when the stomach is full after a good meal, or when we've had enough sleep.  At other times, though, it can be good to question the impulse to change to a new activity.  It is for this reason that many people will hire a trainer for their physical exercise - because by ourselves, we don't know exactly how far we can go, and how far it is safe to push.

One of the biggest places that we can observe the transformation threshold experience is in intimate relationships.  There is a natural process that happens after about 6-9 months of relating where the hormones just kind of wear off and you are left with whatever actual intimacy you were able to create beyond the biological push to mate.  This is about how much time that body judges is appropriate to ensure impregnation and therefore survival of the species.  Oddly, sometimes it isn't just biological sex drives that attract us to another person, but this pattern plays itself out in many relationships.

I'm sure that in some relationships, the wearing off of brain chemicals that enforce mating activities is a good thing - because the person you are with was never partner material.  In other cases, though, you may give up on one of the most fabulous potential mates simply because "you lost that loving feeling".  It can be very disconcerting when the sex drive that starts a relationship slacks off, or when the motivation to spend time together doesn't seem as present as it was.  This is the time where one or both partners my begin reconsidering if "this is a good idea".

The wonderful gift about even knowing that such a thing as a transformation threshold exists is that you can look deeply and honestly at these decisions.  Rather than a confusing time of wondering why the relationship is lacking spark, or you are feeling irritable, you can recognize that you have reached a moment where you can consider if a deeper level of intimacy is available and calling to you.

In my own current relationship, I was able to notice this moment arising and state my needs for deeper intimacy to my partner.  I could feel that we were reaching a moment of decision, and we could either spiral deeper together, or spiral out and apart.  In the relationship that led me to that breakthrough book, I was forced to evaluate my habitual tendency just to make a change when things got hard.  I learned that sometimes it's more valuable to work through the challenge.

Of couse, that 6/9month mark is not the only transformation threshold in a relationship, just perhaps the most common - because it is biological.  The rest will likely be unique to you.  It is so amazing to me that, having learned this about relationship, I've seen how it applies to my work, my meditation practice, and every other aspect of life.  It appears that the old phrase "it's darkest just before the dawn" really does apply.  In meditation, in work, in school, and in relationship - just because things seem to be falling apart does not mean that you're doing anything wrong - it may mean just the opposite, that you are doing things exactly right.

This is similar to how the concept of the sound barrier was developed.  During World War II, many pilots began to notice significant problems with being able to accelerate to high speeds - their propellors or wings might come apart, or they might not be able to pull out of dives.  One solution might just be not to fly so fast - another solution was to put in the work to develop the jet engine and take things supersonic!

So, how do we gauge then?  If we can't always count on the feelings of pleasure or displeasure we are feeling to give us the honest truth about our decisions, what can we count on?

In my experience, each of us has a deep intuitive knowing within that we can call on in any moment (ok, sometimes we can only access it in our better moments). This knowing, if you can tap into it, seems to transcend whether we like what it's telling us or not.  Your intuition may tell you to stay even when things seem dire, or to go even when the seas are smooth.  I've found it important to learn to trust this inner compass.

I've also needed to learn to live by vow rather than by other measures.  What does this mean?  It means that I have found a personal code of ethics that works for me, and this code is the standard to which I hold my actions.  The main idea of my personal code is to be of benefit to all beings (including myself).  With any question, I can apply this test - would staying with this person benefit all beings more, or would leaving?  Would taking this job benefit all beings more, or would letting it go?  You have to let your intuition answer, because of course we can never know the ultimate outcome of any choice - but many times just asking in this way can pierce through the confusion that inevitably comes when taking the journey of self-transformation.

Where are your transformation thresholds right now?  What are you considering breaking up with that might turn into deep magic on just the other side of this challenge.  You are on a hero's quest, and there are many dragons that need to be faced down and defeated.  I pray you face them with courage!

A Secret Key to Heart Communion

Sometimes the best communication techniques just don't "work."

Sometimes I diligently state my "Observations, Feelings, Needs, and Requests," and all it results in is the person calling me distant, or removed from my emotions.

I think that there are two things going on here when this happens - the first is about energy.

Regardless of what you say, the human, animal, or plant that you are communicating with is deeply attuned to how you feel when you say it.  Various studies point to strange facts like people being able to accurately tell when they are being stared at through closed circuit cameras, dogs getting excited when their owner starts their trip home, and plants thriving when given extra love and attention.

If this is true, then how can we expect someone to respond to our surface kindness if what is happening underneath feels like anger, disrespect, judgement, or disappointment?

I think this is the root of some of the complaints I have heard at times about disciplines like NonViolent Communication and the like - that it can feel inauthentic, that is interrupts actual intimacy, and that at times people have been judged for their inability to utilize the process in an "orthodox" way.  I have myself experienced the use of communication protocols in ways that created greater distance than closeness (sometimes it was me using them this way).

In my current understanding, this is because what is being communicated is not just your words.  In addition to words, there is tone, facial expression, body posture, and the like.  It can be valuable to learn to utilize our posture, tone, and expression to inspire safety in another, but I think that there is an even faster way.  That way is simply love.  When we are feeling love for the other person, our tone will naturally reflect it, our posture will signify it, and our expression will shine that love outward.

Many have had the experience that somehow even if their partner is communicating like a complete fool, but there is a sense of love, it makes the situation somehow a little more "OK".

I think this understanding can lead to an even deeper understanding - that the point of these communication and intimacy tools was never to get our "needs" met in the first place.  Yes, we talk about our needs, but I think that the deepest level of practice is one in which we share our needs with the other person simply as a way to unveil our deepest selves.  The practice of communion through communication is not one of learning more skillful ways to get what we want - it is a practice of continually giving our hearts away to the other.

This is what I mean when I say "love".  There are some people who would much rather have a good ol' fashioned shouting match that had the force of love behind it than a civilized conversation centered around each person protecting his or her ego.

Marshall Rosenberg reminds us that the aim of his system, NVC, is not to get what we want, but simply to share what is "alive in us" - by playing the game he calls "making life wonderful."  The amazing thing is, many of us come to realize, that the best way TO get what we want, is simply to let go of our own desires in the act of giving our heart to the other.

One of my favorite teachers on the path of partnership, David Deida speaks of different "stages" that we can operate from in relationship.  The first stage is selfish, the second is sort of 50/50, and the third is total giving love.

I think that when I hear people who are well trained in communication crying out for a deeper sense of sharing, they are ready to make the leap from the 50/50, "give a little, get a little" phase into the "balls out" love till it hurts, "F#ck everything, i'm loving anyway!" phase, which is the third stage.  This transition is not easy, it's completely terrifying.  The second stage is one of well defined boundaries, "safe space," clear terminology, and agreements - these are some of the most important things we can grow if we are to learn to share the world with our beloveds in a healthy way, and in a way, the third stage means leaving those safety nets behind.

Eventually you come to find that the places inside where you need others to live up to their agreements before you can love them fully, the places where you want to make sure your boundaries are respected, and the places where you need some solid ground, are all grasping at safety for the ego.  There is a Love that exists beyond all this self protection.  That which acted as the deepest nourishment to bring us up from selfishness and fear has now become the greatest barrier to true intimacy.

In my own case, the pain of that barrier just became too great.  I was tired of hiding my heart and carving out space and time for its self-defense training.  I was exhausted from running after the needs of my little "self".  I yearned for the sweet release of giving everything in love.  I practiced half-heartedly with many patient dakinis until my heart was ripe - then I found a guru I could give myself to in devotion and have never yet regretted a single moment.  This love is a place of clarity and boundaries sometimes, and sometimes of defining terms and "taking space."  At other times, though, it is the willful and daring disregard of those carefully crafted boundaries, because love will not sit back any longer.  It is Kali-Ganesha force of wall-destruction and reveling in the dance of chaos for the sake of the Beloved.

This can never be self-serving, or you're just an ass.  And you do need to learn to communicate.  But when it comes down to it, on the inside, you have to be ready to put everything on the line to serve the other.  They may completely reject you, they may rush into your arms, you might totally fuck it up - there's no way to always get it "right".  But maybe for the first time in your life, like it was for me, you can relax with the feeling that you did your best, loved your hardest, and kept nothing in reserve for the trip home.

The High Art of Empathy

The ancient yogis of Tibet propose that perhaps the greatest yoga we can perform is the art of "exchanging self and others."

There are many beautiful practices that come under this heading, but one of the simplest is just to "put yourself in the other's place."

What is so powerful about empathy?  To me, empathy is a true expression of what is meant by the word compassion.  Literally, the Latin roots mean "to be with suffering" (com - with, passion - suffering).  In one sense this points out the truth many of us know - that somehow, when we suffer together, it makes the pain somehow less, or easier to bear than if we suffered alone.  In a way, knowing that someone else is there with our suffering allows us to step back and take perspective on it.  Of course, we are still in pain - but now we are not only the pain.  We can create some space around it.

Perhaps this is why "the talking cure" of psychotherapy has been found to be effective for many mental and emotional issues.  Just getting in touch with the root of the emotion can be so healing - bringing the powerful balm of presence to the wounds we experience in the heart.  Often, we are not able to create presence for our own pain, so we need someone else there to do it with us, and model it for us.  This is the power of empathy.

In a partnership, there are many chances to practice this powerful form of healing, and they often show up in the places where we'd least expect them to - during times of conflict.

A great teacher of communication has said that in everything anyone ever says, they are always only saying "please" or "thank you."  They are either requesting something, or offering gratitude - but sometimes it comes in highly disguised forms.  In a partnership, it can be hard to hear these two expressions, because the alchemical cauldron we're living in makes it so that emotions can run strong.  Many times, a partner can fall into using "you" language - which makes it sound like they just want you to admit that you are wrong in some way, rather than gain your empathy, or get your help with the hurt they are feeling.

The deep truth is that any expression of pain in a relationship, even if it's a finger-pointing type of expression, is a crying for some deep human need to be met.  This is true even if, or perhaps especially when, the partner expressing pain is not aware of their need.

In order to be effective empathizers, we must become very literate in the realm of human needs and longings.  It is only when we are deeply in touch with what beings need to thrive that we will be able to feel what our partner or friend may be needing - so that we can try to give it to them, or mourn with them if we cannot provide it.

Empathy is not a practice of saying "I'm sorry."  This really does nothing to heal whatever the other person is feeling.  "I'm sorry that happened to you" is really just as empty.  A simple question like "are you feeling sad because I didn't give you my full attention when you were talking to me?" can often bring deep emotional healing - even if your guess is wrong.  It can bring such healing because you are turning the light of your presence onto the other person.  "Are you angry about the way you were treated at work today?" can show the person you are really curious about what is alive in their heart, and that you want to be with them.

Some might come to feel or realize that the deepest human need is simply a need for this presence.  In cases of severe pain due to neglect, some individuals might even seek out abuse - because at least then they are receiving attention.  We can do better than that.  We can feel so deeply into the needs and longings of our partners or friends that old wounds begin to heal, the heart begins to become full, and miraculous things are possible  - all with the power of empathy.

It's not an easy practice by any means, but it is well worth the effort!

A Myth of Criticism

This week's post follows on the last, which expressed thoughts and observations about the power of praise.

Today, I'm inspired to take a look at the opposite type of communication that we often experience in relationship - criticism.

Marya and I were discussing communication practice in relationship and we noticed that (somewhat to our surprise) our relationship was almost entirely free of critical communication.  This was surprising to us because we had both experienced, as I think many people do, the exchange of critiques as a standard communication model in different kinds of relationships throughout our lives.

What struck us as most odd was that although we largely don't offer critical feedback to each other, somehow each of us has grown significantly during the course of this partnership.  We began to recognize that it seems that there can be a sort of myth about criticism existing in the world - that if you are not continually acting as a check for each other's behaviour, the members of a relationship might slip into some kind of spiritual sloth and cease developing as individuals.  Our experience has shown us that criticism is not actually necessary for tremendous growth to take place.

I have heard this myth around most often in our little bubble of new-age "conscious" relating.  It's not like we are sniping at each other in a "conscious" relationship, but I have heard the sentiment that says something like "my partner and I are committed to each other's growth, so of course when I see some place where it looks like they are not growing, I'm going to say something."  Personally, I love the sentiment that is expressed here, but I think that if we are running a version of this view in our  relationships, it may be carrying a couple of unanalyzed assumptions.

Assumption #1 - "I know where my partner needs to grow, and what is or isn't good for them"

If we put it in these words, many of us interested in conscious relating would not think to offer feedback from this place, because it is obvious that it can be very hard to know what is or isn't good for someone else.
    I think a great question to ask ourselves when we feel the need to give "constructive feedback" to our partner is:  "Do I have any sense that I am compelled to inform them about what I can see about their personal path of development, which they cannot see?"  This gets a little tricky, because sometimes there are things that we can see about how are partner seems to be hanging back from living their true potential.  We see them suffer, and we want to help.  Many of us also want to be living our lives committed to someone who is committed deeply to his or her self, and on a path of continuous growth.
     Can you see, though, how speaking from this place of "I can see it and you cannot" could sound like "from my vantage point up here on the moral high ground i know what's good for you," and feel very condescending when received?
     Reflect on the times that you have received criticism that felt condescending and whether it felt like that kind of communication opened your heart more, or closed it down.

Assumption #2 - "The best way to help a person grow is to point out the places where their development is lacking"

I know that this is a perspective that I have had imported to me through our American culture.  It is only in recent years that fields like education and psychology have begun to realize that children and adults thrive best under POSITIVE feedback, rather than negative.  A glaring example of this mistake (in my belief) is in our prison system.  Statistically, people who come out of prison are not likely to be "rehabilitated."  Rather it's just a matter of time before they are back in.  This is because we are PUNISHING people who have deep needs that are not being met.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not so liberal as to say "society is the cause, free everyone and we'll all just live in peace somehow."  But at the same time, if someone has a brain chemistry that evolved from poor nutrition, or living in an abusive situation, punishing them by placing them in an abusive environment is not going to do much to change those underlying patterns - and the opposite is true, that environment will likely reinforce them.
     My own feeling about much (though not all) of the criticism that we exchange is that it is often, at least mildly, punishing in nature.  The sad truth is, whether or not we mean to punish the other person, they often feel punished when criticized.  Rarely do people make changes that resonate within them at a deep level just by punishing the symptom.
     Another example of this philosophy is in  our practice of medicine in the West.  Again, don't get me wrong and think I'm saying that Western medicine is "bad" in any way.  What I will say, though, is that hospital medicine alone tends to have a bias toward addressing symptoms only - if you are depressed take an anti-depressant, if you have pain take this pain medication.  Our most common treatments of cancer utilize cancer-causing agents, and the recurrence of cancers is simliar to the re-incarceration of individuals in the prison system.  There are other styles of healing that can work hand in hand with these symptomatic approaches, styles which endeavor to treat the root of the problem.  If you're depressed, let's see if there is anything psychologically, nutritionally, or environmentally that needs to change.  Usually if these deeper causes are addressed, the symptom simply disappears.
     When we are vexed by some pattern of behaviour in our partners, it can be easy to jump to worrying about how to fix the behaviour.  What we often overlook is that whatever the behaviour is, it is meeting some deep need that they have (often unskillfully).  To criticize the behaviour does nothing to meet the underlying need, and even if they accept our critique and decide to change, a new pattern may be adopted to take the old pattern's place (sometimes the new pattern is simply festering resentment of the critiquing partner).

Lift-Ups and Put-Downs

In my work as a spiritual educator for children, I was recently reading an exercise from a Unitarian curriculum, where they proposed to teach the children the practice of "lift-ups."  These are statements like "I appreciate Johnny because he's always cheerful."  The interesting thing about this practice is that they compared it with the concept of a "put-down," and noted the difference in the terminology.  When you put someone down, energetically, they start to feel low.  But when you praise them, it can feel like they've been literally "raised" up.
     Many yogis and masters of energy cultivation have noticed that we can bless or curse others with our speech.  When we blame another, it "puts-down" their energy, when we criticize it does the same thing.  On the other hand, when we shine our gratitude toward another, they often feel lifted up.
     What the qigong masters tell us is that these feelings in another are actual energetic phenomena.  When you give the gift of your gratitude, you are actually shining a type of subtle energy to the other person and they feel as if they've truly been blessed.  The wonderful thing is that the giver of gratitude also gets to feel the blessing of the energy that is shining through him or her.
     In the ancient schools of yogic relationship, it is said that one of the major reasons to practice a yogic intimacy is so that you can each empower each other's energy body, and thus come to a higher state of realization.  My beloved and I call this "enlightenment leap-frog".  The leap-frog element is because sometimes I feel abundant in energy and can use that positive light I feel to bless her.  Receiving that blessing, she then becomes abundant in energy as well, and can bless me - raising my vibrational body up to an even higher level.  This process goes back and forth - ultimately resulting in massive spiritual and energetic growth for both members of the intimate union.

Constructive Criticism

So a question that now might come up is, "But is there such a thing as 'Constructive' criticism?"  I think the answer is yes.  The code, I feel, is in the phrasing "constructive."  If I wish to give my partner some feedback that I think she'll find useful in her process of growth and development, I first ask myself "Will this sharing be additive to her life?  Will the way I'm about to say this help her to feel lifted up, or will it help her to feel put down?"  If I truly think that the feedback will function for her as a blessing, there are a few best practices that I've been taught, which attempt to phrase the feedback skillfully.

1. Speak from your experience, rather than infinite wisdom

It's often much more meaningful and receivable to hear about what you yourself feel, rather than WHAT IS SO.  If I tell my partner, "I find myself preferring an hour alone for spiritual practice in the morning" this might be hard to receive if she wanted to spend that time together, but it's much easier to hear than "people don't need to spend EVERY HOUR OF THE DAY together"  or worse yet, "You really need to work on your dependency issues."

2. Point to specific incidents

Avoid using the terms "always" or "never" and instead just speak about the specific moment that is troubling you.  Vagueness around some "pattern" you notice in your partner doesn't always give them anything to really work with, but speaking about what happened on Friday at 5pm can really get the point across in a scientific, rather than emotional way.  Just to be clear, I don't think there's anything wrong with sharing our feelings and emotions, but when we present the evidence of our claims mixed in with our emotional interpretations, this can be the beginning of a very powerful argument and a game of "who's right?"  When we point to specific incidents, on the other hand, with an attitude of exploring together, amazing conversations can ensue.

3. You can make requests without criticism at all

This is perhaps the most important thing I've ever learned.  You can ask for what you need without there needing to be anything wrong with what your partner is doing.  So often I hear people needing to construct a long argument about how "you never like to give me physical affection and you can be so aloof, I think you're out of touch with your emotions and I don't know that that's healthy..."  when they could just say "would you be willing to hold my hand more?"
     At least in the early stages of relationship, most partners are eager to make their beloved happy.  That's probably why they're in relationship with you in the first place, because they like to see you happ and they enjoy being the cause of that happiness.  It can be very surprising what happens if you just open up to asking for what you want.

4. Use the "praise sandwich"

Often times, criticism goes down easier when it is surrounded by praise.  If we just tell someone what is lacking (even if it is very true that it is lacking), it can sometimes feel like all we do is focus on what's wrong, and that can be very draining.  When we accentuate the positive before we give criticism, it's not like we are trying to "soften the blow."  We can think of it more like tuning the energy of our communication toward lifting up, and lessening the possibility of someone feeling "put down."
      To make a praise sandwich, think of our constructive feedback as the meat, tofu, portobello mushroom, or whatever kind of "hearty" filling goes in the middle.  Then put a slice of praise bread on the beginning, and another on the end.
     It might go something like this:
"When we spend time together on Friday nights, I love the sense of connection I feel with you.  I do, though, sometimes feel stressed that it seems you have to check on work emails a lot during that time and I wonder if there's a way that we can carve out a time that is for just us.  I ask this because I really value your presence and have been having a lot of fun together lately."
    Another real-life example could be:
"I am SO grateful that you consistently do both of our dinner dishes.  I wonder if you'd be willing to wipe down the counter top as part of your cleaning of the kitchen - that makes if feel even cleaner to me.  It feels like such a gift to have a partner who does their part to keep our home clean!"

5.  Try to come from the sense of shared purpose

Remember, if you are in relationship, you have a shared purpose.  To a yogi, the purpose of intimate relating is spiritual growth and service of others.  If you can keep in mind that you are in this together, and you have a much bigger mission than just personal preferences, often this feeling of shared purpose makes every interaction feel that much more heart-centered and surrounded by an energy of love.

Using these tools has helped me personally feel more and more lifted up in my relationship and I hope they can for you too.  This uplift seems to bleed over into every aspect of my life, my meditation, my service-work, and my personal happiness.  Recognizing that we are here in partnerships to bless each other can be a magical key that unlocks a great wealth of subtle energy to fuel your deepest dreams!

Blessings and happy practicing!

Rev. Fa Jun

The Power of Praise!

Welcome to our new blog on the topic of conscious, yogic intimacy!

For this initiatory post, I'd like to take up the topic of one of the most powerful fuels for a healthy relationship - Praise!

The inspiration for this post has come from Marya's and my recent attempt to deepen our understanding and facility with compassionate communication, non-violent communication, and the creation of emotional intimacy.  What has happened with this intention to deepen is what often happens, in my experience - the moment we began to work toward deepening our OWN understanding, many beautiful friends began to come forth with brilliant questions and their own personal life experiences.

One of the big things that has arisen in the conversation is the recognition that in order to become a brilliant communicator (able to stay in the heart of compassion amidst the "storm", and also state your own needs clearly) one needs to practice!  The challenge here is that when conflict arises, the  principles of NVC (non-violent communication) or whatever system we are studying are often far from our mind.  This principle is often emphasized in martial arts training - you must drill the physical and mental techniques over and over if you wish to have access to them in a time of need.

As Marya and I spoke about this, one of the things that we recognized has been very powerful for us has been to practice our compassionate communication model when conflict has NOT arisen.  Simply put, we practice communication skills through praising each other.

This, for us, accomplishes what the discipline of Permaculture calls "stacking functions" - meaning that you do one thing, but it accomplishes many results.  I was deeply inspired by a teaching from one of my Buddhist masters, who shared that in order for a relationship to stay healthy, it requires about 5 positive comments made to your partner each day - and if there is stress or conflict, that number goes up  - because there needs to be a higher ratio of positive feedback than negative (even constructive) feedback.  I personally took this as a challenge and decided to try to implement this teaching as a daily life-practice and have been astounded by the increase of joy in our already-joyful relationship.

What Marya has said is that even when a challenging topic does come up, it is as if the conflict is taking place within a greater environment of love - so we don't get to stressed out, or caught up in our stories.  Lately we've been working on being more specific with our praise, and using the offering of our happiness as a chance to practice specific communication skills.

Ok, so how to go about using praise to practice a model of conscious and compassionate communication with an intimate partner (or anyone else)?  First, I'd like to borrow from Marshall Rosenberg's NonViolent Communication terminology and offer forth their model of Feelings, Observations, Needs, and Requests.  To remember all of these stages, I just think "I'd like to praise or compliment my partner OF(te)N(e)R ('oftener' as in "more often")".

First is Observations:  What is an observation?  Well, basically, this means a statement about some specific behavior or event.  In terms of a compliment, rather than saying "you're so beautiful", an observation says something like "looks like you really spent time getting ready for our date".

Next comes Feelings:  Feelings means basically - what's happening in your realm of sensations/emotions?  So, "when I notice how you've taken the time to get dressed up I feel...."  then just say whatever you feel: happy, ecstatic, aroused, tingly, nervous, etc.  Simply put, this is a chance to really become aware of what is going on inside of you and to SHARE that with your beloved one.  Even going to just this step is often much more than we usually do, and it can contribute a lot of juice to our shared reality in a partnership.
     One thing we have to watch out for here, though, is the danger of confusing an evaluation for a feeling.  An evaluation means an assumption about what the other person intends - and even in a point of praise, or a compliment, this can actually take away from intimacy.  An evaluation stated as a feeling could look like "When I see how dressed up you got, I feel like you're really looking forward to this date we're going on."  Can you see how this is actually a statement of what we are imagining about the other person, rather than what we are feeling in our own body?
     Instead, we might say "when I see how dressed up you got, I feel excited, and I'm wondering if you're excited about the date too?".  If you'd like to look at some examples of feelings, check out this great gift from communication master Scott Catamas
http://lovecoachscott.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Feelings_Emotions-1.pdf

After feelings comes a statement of Needs:  If conflict is arising, this is often where we explain some of what we are feeling in relation to what our needs are - thus letting a person even deeper into our experience.  Needs are things like the need for companionship, the need for shelter, the need for purpose, the need to be valued.  Again from Scott, here's a great list of Universal Human Needs and Values
http://lovecoachscott.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/UNIVERSAL_HUMAN_NEEDS-2.pdf .

What we need to be careful of here is confusing our needs for our preferences.  I have a need to be understood, but I have a preference that you understand me.  When we are giving someone positive feedback, or an expression of love, we can also express our needs or what we value in our lives.  So, continuing our example above, we might say "When I see how much effort you put into getting ready for our date, I feel excited, because I really value companionship and having fun together."

You may be noticing how all of these steps place a big emphasis on your OWN experience, rather than saying things like "you look nice"  "I can tell you are excited about tonight", or "you make me so happy when we spend time together".  There's a reason for this self-referential focus - and that reason is that emotional intimacy is a process of UNVEILING the more we show a beloved what is in our heart ("I feel happy when you smile at me that way"), the closer we become.  If we want to create an experience of closeness in our relations, the BEST thing we can do is learn the art of self-revelation.

Finally comes Requests:  I may not be following the NVC(tm) model here, not sure, but I am going to state that in an expression of praise, you don't need to necessarily make a request.  Of course, one great way to make requests is to make them based off of a positive observation ("I really liked the way you held my hand yesterday - would you like to hold my hand on more of our walks???").  Where I find requests to be most valuable personally is when a need is not being met, rather than when we are celebrating a need that has been met.  This is totally revelatory, in my experience... life can often be as simple as saying "would you be willing to do the dishes?"  but we so often feel the need to dive into assessments, criticisms, and judgements as ornaments to our requests - perhaps because we've had our needs rejected so often in the past.  It's a big and amazing topic, we can learn more about requests in a future post!

So, there it is - the OFNR model adapted to praising according to Rev. Fa Jun's experience :)  I hope that this inspires you to start praising OF(te)N(e)R than ever before!!!

To practice, it's sometimes easiest to start in your imagination - just think about scenarios where you might want to give your partner some nourishing, positive feedback about how happy you feel.  Then, dive right in and try it!  Don't worry if it feels a little like something out of a book at first - like anything new, you grow facility with it over time.  Soon, you can get to a level where you've integrated the model completely and can move beyond it into unexplored and wonderful realms.

Once you think you've got the model in you, try saying at least 5 sweet things every day to your partner - using Observations, Feelings, Needs, and Requests.  See if it doesn't create MAGIC!