Stage Nine - Light Behind The Form

Stage Nine begins what many people would call the transcendent stages of the healing process. It is the second level of a state of “be-ing,” when we first experience a higher or altered state of consciousness. Although we are acutely aware of the physical forms around us, we begin to perceive that life is more than the outward physical manifestation. It is also the energy, the force, and the light behind the form.

Life Force

Albert Szent-Gyorgi, the Nobel-prize-winning physiologist, said that it takes energy to move the wheels of life. This universal energy, or life force, impregnates the entire universe and stands behind all creation and evolution. In the earlier stages of healing, we are largely unconscious of the presence of this vital force, and may actually deny its existence. However, in Stage Nine, we begin to experience life differently. As we arrive at this stage of healing, we become acutely aware that there is more to us than the physical body we have grown accustomed to knowing. We begin to perceive that there is a life force, an energy, an intelligence that flows through us.

The Stage Nine Experience

In Stage Nine, we begin to feel energy or life force extending through us and into the world around us. Simply acknowledging that we are more than our physical senses and that there is a force or an intelligence that flows through us can potentially change our lives forever. For perhaps for the first time, we sense that we are a part of a larger, energetic reality, as compared to merely a physical reality. And this broader perspective initiates our ability to view ourselves playing a small but significant role in planetary healing. Stage Nine can be experienced in a variety of ways, such as feelings of warmth, light, or vitality. It can also manifest in our bodymind as a tingling sensation. For some, the experience of this energy or vital force manifesting in the bodymind may feel like a wave or pulsation moving through them. This experience often occurs with certain forms of yoga, bodywork, Network Chiropractic, Somato-Respiratory Integration, or some breathing-oriented therapies, in which an individual has an emotional release, feels empty afterward, and then immediately expresses an involuntary wave-like pulsation in parts of the body or in the entire body. Perceiving the life force naturally brings deep feelings of gratitude. In fact, the phenomenon of perceiving these waves of energy does not make it a Stage Nine experience unless it is accompanied by feelings of peace, simplicity, joy, or happiness. Childlike feelings of naiveté and awe, as well as a rush of excitement, are also characteristic of the rhythm of Stage Nine.

Working With The Energy

There are many kinds of energetic or magnetic healing disciplines available. These include Qigong, T’ai Chi, Tae Kwon Do, other martial arts, and yoga. The expression of an inherent life force is also consistent with the development of healing systems like acupuncture, shiatsu, and homeopathy. Other modalities such as Somato-Respiratory Integration, Therapeutic Touch, Reiki, Rebirthing, Huna Kane, breathwork, and Hands of Light, are also based on working with the life force for healing.

Moving Through Stage Nine

In the early part of this stage, we are excited and startled as we begin to feel the energy field and may actually begin to “play” with it. In the middle of Stage Nine, we are in awe of the process we are experiencing. As the stage concludes, we understand the rhythm that tells us that, “There is an energy that flows through me, there is a consciousness that I am made of, there is an aspect of my reality I have never known before. I am not a fixed product or body, but I am in the process of unfolding.” This understanding opens us to new paradigms in life as we experience being in awe of this vital life force. As the stage concludes, we wouldn’t consider playing with this energy, but simply seek to honor it. Gratitude and awe go hand in hand with Stage Nine. Therefore, when asking for help you may say something like, “Thank you for this life force and may it continue to flow through me.”

Stage Nine Exercise

There are two exercises which express the Stage Nine consciousness. Perform the one that feels most appropriate to you. The first is to lie comfortably on your back, with your legs apart and relaxed. If you are lying on a massage or chiropractic table, let your legs straddle the table. Imagine a cloud of light above you. Open your arms—as you would if you were holding a large beach ball—or stretch them above your head. Breathe the cloud of light gently yet deeply in through your mouth and breathe it out through your nose. Do this for at least one or two minutes.

Another Stage Nine exercise is to lie on your back in the same fashion, but instead position your arms as if you are going to do a headstand. Bend your elbows and place the palms of your hands flat on the table or floor at shoulder level or behind your neck. Breathe in through your mouth and breathe out through your nose until the rhythm takes over and your breath and movement become automatic. Otherwise, continue for at least one or two minutes.

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