ACHIEVE INSTANT ENLIGHTENMENT! - The Headless Way
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- Did you know you don’t have a head? This video describes a simple and profound meditation technique to look deeply into the essence of who your are. Its effectively a shortcut to instant enlightenment, and can totally change your perception of who you are. It comes from The Headless Way developed by the late Douglas Harding.
On a personal level this approach really blew my mind and shifted my awareness on a deep level. It guided me to see that at my center is not something solid, it is open awareness. And this open awareness contains the entire universe!!
There are not many techniques that I would say can often lead to instant enlightenment, but this is definitely one of them.
I really encourage you to actually try it out as you need to see it in your direct experience to understand.
I hope you enjoy having no head as much as I do!!
Douglas Hardings website:
www.headless.org
Douglas’ most famous book is ‘On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious’.
www.amazon.com...
Richard Lang’s website (he still runs workshops on being headless):
/ headexchange
There is even a free online course on headlessness:
www.headless.or...
Thanks for watching!
View Shanti's website here for more great videos:
wideawakewiths...
New Book by Shanti Just Released! Check it out here:
www.amazon.com... - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
I practice transcendental meditation but I love the headless way as I can use it when I have to have my eyes open.
Any negative emotion you feel just arises in space.
I think the practice is so powerful because you’re not making yourself the focus. You are just space for the world.
Sam Harris' Waking Up meditation app brought me here. I like how you explained it! Thanks Shanti. Peace - Jason from Ottawa.
Thanks Jason!
When awareness is focused on the headlessness, it feels and looks like the whole world or universe IS my head and my body and its little legs is an appendage connected to the world via the head area. We are also upside down compared to everyone else because our feet are pointing towards their feet!
Our brains "correct" what our eyes actually see. This is what the book, "Drawing on the right side of the brain" was also about. Good artists can draw what the eye actually perceives, while bad drawers are correcting what they actually see into acceptable "proper" shapes, (the stereotypical cliche idea) ,which makes it more childlike and less professional. That is the main difference between an artist and an ordinary average drawer.
One other related idea is Paradolia, where people see faces in clouds or rocks, etc, . I propose that it is Paradolia at work when we look at actual faces! It's all part of the cognitive correction that we put the raw image from our eyes through. We are not seeing what is actually there, but a cognitive creation!
That's why we need to learn to see the headless reality and not the idea construct we have replaced it with.
Brilliant! This is hugely helpful toward experiencing “no self” thank you
Great to hear Carinne! Enjoy headlessness
Can you also acknowledge that it is also terrifying, too? Just a few nights ago, I had this realization that I cannot see my own face directly, cannot see my own head, that I always have this eyes-forward POV and it freaked me out.
Until you realize everything that can possibly happen appears to YOU!!!
I think this feeling of fear when ones perspective changes is common. I used to have a lot of terror come up while meditating. I think it is our ego-mind freaking out as we come to a perspective that is not so ego focused. The illusory small self will do what it can to draw itself back to the centre of your attention. I would suggest doing your best to allow the feelings to arise and pass and notice the open space inside which the terror appears and disapears. That space itself is not affected by the fear - it remains perfectly clear and open. It may take some time to recalibrate and settle into the direct experience of headlessness. It is nothing special but can take some getting used to. Hope that helps.
I freaked out too… laughed a lot later … hated it , then loved it. Now I feel stupid. 😅
Once you accept that discomfort in life is inevitable, then it will be okay.
this is a great explanation of our space-like nature.
The Formless Awareness that is there in place of your head is so vast that it encompasses EVERYTHING! Even your body exists within this Field of Awareness!! So that means that your mind is not in your body; your body is in your mind!
I think that was he was getting at is what many ancient philosophies state, that you are not your body, you are pure awareness. Douglas Harding hinted at that when he mentioned certain passages from the Upanishads.
Yes yes yes! Same same
Yes beautiful it is , such a relief and relaxation it is this realisation, thank you so much ❤
Very useful tactic, thank you!!
While pointing the finger towards head one can see the nose and not other parts. The eyes are normally made in that way.
Yes, but right at your centre is space
@@WideAwakeWithShanti space is everywhere - in and outside.
. th-cam.com/video/Dt0Z9f5bSxc/w-d-xo.html
Thanks, Shanti -- I agree with the posters below that a) you really got the headless way and b) you have a knack for explaining it a clear and compelling way. I think the "knack" is that you are relaxed and creative and filled with love for your life and for other people. Love, peace, joy, Dan
Thanks Dan. Glad you appreciated it. Hope you can enjoy having no head as well!
I watched other videos on this and got a glimpse but your explanation really solidified my view, thank you!
Experience yourself as that within which the world as it is occurs.
Man! How likable are you Shanti. Thanks for the video. I love the headless way.
Haha great to hear you enjoyed it Anand :-)
Really enjoyed this video and your explanation. Thank you for this!
Glad you liked it!!
I love the headless way! Great job describing it buddy!
Thanks dude - enjoy headlessness!!!
Something about how you explained the feeling of headlessness really clicked for me, thank you!
Wonderful to hear Erik - enjoy headlessness!
So nice to see you again Sante🤗!
Thanks for the nice comment Odette!
Wonderful and inspiring explanation and sharing! Thank you!!
Pleasure! Enjoy your headlessness!
The only issue is that there needs to be a degree of space between 2 people for relationship to exist otherwise you are fused/merged, and no relationship can be possible then if you think about it so it’s a profound experience but to try to live that way would erase healthy psychological boundaries that are necessary for healthy relationships to be sustainable. Lacking any sense of personal boundaries whatsoever leads to many harmful situations - the inability to differentiate between oneself and another at least on a relative level. So, please keep this in mind!
This is often times explained as a meditation, however, this is simply pointing to your normal everyday reality. If you never came across this topic it would still be the reality of your existence. Healthy relationships come out of this natural reality that is pointed to with the headless way. All is well my friend. To realize you are the happening of all things leans more toward making relationships GREAT!
Yeah good points Jessica. Yes good to keep healthy psychological and physical boundaries. In my experience it is possible to be headless and still maintain healthy boundaries. In fact they feel more healthy as there is more love present.
love Douglas Harding and his ideas around headlessness. I have found a deep sense of freedom and oneness with my environment practicing this concept. Also as I have come to understand that everyone else shares this same experience, I feel greater empathy and togetherness.
Yes i love Douglas' teachings about how we are 'built for love' - I contain you and you contain me :-)
I guess I’ve been doing this already. I just imagined that everything is ideas like an ocean or river of them, and I’m just a drop in that. Ideas flow through me, and some I catch and add to me, while others go on floating. I haven’t thought of myself as headless so much as bodyless, but this video helped me see that
Absolutely correctly identified. You are not headless. But disembodied. Everything appears only in consciousness. Your imaginary body like the imaginary dog poop🙂
Its like getting high on subjective perception of reality
This experience is really objective, it is not filtered.
Great job explaining! Thank you. ❤️
Thanks!!
Wouldn't the periphery of your nose have something to say about a "headless" feeling, i still observe the outer edge of a head.
Thanks Shanti, it's certainly a wild idea & I guess there's a reason it fell into my lap the other night. ...i like the stillness the driving would do 4 me, being detached! Gosh, I'm so detached I am like a jar of honey!
Thanks again mate.
Awesome! The next step after becoming detached is to realise there is actually no seperation between that open awareness and the objects that appear within it. Enjoy!
Woww.. I've come across this method before but It did not click sooo much as it did today.
Thankkk you❤
PROFOUND
holy fucking shit this video made me experience it - not just get it intellectually. wow
Shanti,you have explained the headless white very very very well. Ciao This is Marco from Italy
Ok, I can understand the space - that everything originates in the centre and that everything moves around it. Yet, hasn’t changed anything.. what am I missing? Why am I not getting the enlightenment 🥺
😂😂 cuz there is nobody there to get enlightenment, just your space like nature ever present and ever enlightened .. really the light that allows all to be seen , and nothing can see it .
I've been reading Harding's book. Your video has helped bring it to life. Thanks
Glad to hear it was helpful. Enjoy headlessness!
I found this to be very helpful.
This is explained in such a great way and I love how you have added some videos at the same time because the shift was more obvious, especially the driving one. Thank you.
Yay so happy to hear that
Good one. Thank you. I like your style of explanation.
Groovy thanks!
I don't understand.Even if I don't see my head I feel it all the time like how it's hot and sweat is pouring on it. How it gets red if I am embarassed. How my tooth aches, how my eyes are strained.. I know it's there my head because of physical feelings
This pointer doesn’t work for me because I can always see my nose in my periphery, and I can always feel the muscles in my face. Sure, I can’t see my head, but I’m always aware that it’s there. Sometimes more so than other parts of my body.
Great meditation technique, and you're such a cool guy!
Haha thanks!
Thanks mate!
Damn that’s a great shortcut.
fascinating thought . Will try this in my meditation. Thank-you Shanti.
Yes recommend trying it both in meditation but also in everyday life - enjoy!
Excellent explanation, really helpful. Thankyou so much .
You have really got this and this video has helped it click in me .
Genius. So simple and immediate yet so profound and practical.
The Headless Way App is good as are the Richard Lang videos and site
But for me this video is a jewell.
Thankyou once again
So good to hear! Glad it helped.
Driving a Porsche 911 Cabrio on the A14 in Germany near Leipzig will also work
While walking on a road, the scenery was passing THRU me as a vast, indescribable spaciousness or presence. Later, whilst standing by a road, cars were passing right THRU ME...a vast, boundless, nonphysical essence or Being Ness. Sadly, the experience soon faded but the effects of "vast boundessness" seem to remain! 😂
Everything and Nothing. Thank you,.
Glad you enjoyed it!!
Good explanation ✌️
Yay thanks glad you liked it. Enjoy headlessness :-)
Hey brother, do a vid of affirmations while doing Amy Cuddy's power poses, very potent
Thanks ill check it out
My nose, my eyelashes have a shape...but yes i get the gist of the idea
Hi Gary. It is common to see part of your face. I can see the tip of my nose. The practice is to direct your attention back to its source - the point where you are looking out of. Then one can see that all things, including the nose and/or upper lip appear within that open space of awareness above your shoulders. Hope that helps?
great video. thanks
Yay!
I understand the exercise but my big nose is distracting me from the fact I dont have a head 🤣 no matter where i look i can see it in my field of view 😅 loving my non-dual folks!
Thank you so much for sharing... 🗿
Thanks sir❤❤❤
Nice dude
Thanks!
Don't fully grasp this. I can't see my head because of the positioning of my eyes on my head... They look outwards, and report back what they see, however illusionary it may be, to my brain. Of course they can't look back on themselves. How does this make me headless? I can feel my head with my hands. If I bump it, it hurts...
I get that the boundary between my body and everything else is a material illusion. I get that scientifically I am part of everything. I just don't understand the idea of headlessness.
If I'm missing something, I'd like to learn it.
You fully have it!! What it means to you will eternally evolve as you continue to explore.
I would also call it an illusion, though because of the positioning of the eyes the illusion is quite strong, particularly if you look for it.
For me the next step is to consider that all of your senses send only electrical signals to your brain, your brain then constructs a complete simulation for you to experience, this simulation is created inside this 'space' that he speaks about. Everything you experience, even the sight and feeling of your own body is being simulated and projected into this 'space' where your head is/should be.
Hi Ryan. The headlessness practice helps us bring attention right back to the centre where there is space and openness. When we notice that in our direct experience we cant see our head - it helps us direct our attention back to this centre. We begin to see that all appears within the space of awareness, and that aware space itself remains unaffected. It can shift our sense of self. Does that make sense?
I've gotten so use to this experience that the peacefulness of it has died down quite significantly. Is this normal?
Yes I think the initial euphoria wears off and it becomes just the natural state - 'nothing special' as they say in zen. But keep checking in I think to make sure the ego has not snuck in the back door and taken over! In true headlessness there is generally a sense of deep peace and connectedness I think - at least in the background.
That crafty thought ridden ego gets it's way Into every nook & cranny, no denying it's a full time job.
What I find really upsetting is WHY we are born to go through all this grief, trying to find a way to still our turbulent thoughts. Some of us are living in hellish states & it just doesn't seem very damn fair that we learn a heap of patterns for the first 20 or 30 or 50 bloody years, then we have to UNLEARN all the bullduggery - 'Something' or 'Someone' has a very sick sense of humour is all I can say!!!
@@colleenhoney I've been thinking along those lines for a while and it is extremely depressing in one way and freedom in another. If you have all eternity to work with then a life is a day at the office from your true perspective. Think of every moment as working in eternal space .And one more thing that may help, we were born clear, and we were co creators of our own illusionary suffering, we joined with the mind voluntarily , as we do every time we engage in thoughts or feelings.
For me this just caused horrible existential crisis, i figured this out accidentally few days ago and i'm still freaking out :(
Quickly realize you are everything that could possibly ever happen!! Its natural. Go on with your life all is well.
Sorry i just saw this message. I would recommend connecting with a respected spiritual teacher to help work through this shift in awareness - its common to be a bit freaked out as our sense of identity shifts - I hope it settles for you and feel free to contact me by sending a message through my website if needed wideawakewithshanti.com
I was hoping I'd learn something. I've thought about this since I was 5. So how can I use this to be helpful?
Simple and sweet explanation. Got the meditation .
Would it help to think of the feeling of yourself as space and nothingness , as after sometime , the proposition of not having a head is difficult for the mind . Like maybe see the sensation of the head is an appearance in the nothingness of you like other objects in the world ?
Yes Id go with whatever works for you!
Am I the only person that sees their nose and upper lip when they're looking at something?! I may not be able to see my full face and head but I definitely constantly see some of its features in the periphery of my vision.
you'll get used to very soon
That is in the periphery, but now experience the Centre of You.
I also met with the Headless way or Seeing who you really are. It is amazing! It is indeed instant enlightenment, but you have to practice and I also listened to Eckhart Tolle and Rupert Spira.
Yes, you’re the only one. Do you have some Alien DNA or something??
It is common to see part of your face. I can see the tip of my nose. The practice is to direct your attention back to its source - the point where you are looking out of. Then one can see that all things, including the nose and/or upper lip appear within that open space of awareness above your shoulders.
a nose is not a head, and regardless it's not even a nose from your perspective. it's a dark blurry blob. your mind/memories are filling in the gaps for you and TELLING you that it's your nose.
same with your upper lip. a lip is not a head, and it's not even a lip you're seeing is it? it's more like a dark smudge at the bottom of your visual field.
the point of this exercise is to almost force yourself to be as experientially naive as a small child or something. take everything in your direct, raw, first person experience as literally as possible.
in my experience, my torso comes up and instead of a head being on it, i see only the world, a space which includes everything, INCLUDING my headless body. there is absolute no head or face in my direct experience. there are dark smudges in the middle and bottom of my visual field, and i have some tingling sensations, but no evidence for a face or head
But you can’t see if you don’t have eyes !
Lol whoa. Great explanation. Lol whoa that’s really something!
Yes, and headlessness is a perfectly normal and natural state too!
sam harris waking up :)
I use a mirror to see my head!!!!!!!
Yes you can use a mirror to see your head - but as Douglas Harding says - our head in the mirror is some distance from us. The practice is to direct your attention to that empty space that is above our shoulders in our direct experience right now. That space is at zero distance. All reflections occur within that space. Hope that helps.
Why you had quite TH-cam?😢
I do this but it's made no difference. I was already aware in the non dual sense but still I feel my life is shat and suicide is not out of the question.
Sorry to hear it is not helpful - wishing you well on the journey
@@danielbanfai5195 thanks for the kind response. Things aren’t quite so depressing now thankfully but still not free of that.
Isn’t the idea of non dual awakening such an amazing curious thing... An intense seeker, then an end to all of that, then the stark immediate fact.. of the reality that once seemed to exist ‘around’ you is now all there seems to be.
Incredible.
There is Great Happiness and Peace when resting as The Self and it is available at all times. What makes the difference for me is to BE and seize striving. That's all
"I would lose my head if it was not attached to my shoulders." Anonymous
i can take my finger and feel my head..my nose, lips, eyes, ears and more!!!
no. your mind is filling in the gaps of that based on memories, and previous knowledge that you do in fact have a head (from a third person perspective)
take your hand and feel the top of where you believe your head is. doesn't your hand completely disappear into nothingness? where did it go? then you feel a tingling sensation that is occurring.....where? where is that sensation happening? also in that same nothingness.
Doesn’t this mess with your sense of reality?
Haha yes i think that is the whole point. It can shift our sense of who we are.
Why is this not clicking for me
❤❤🙏🙏
I've tried this many times over the years and still don't get it.
What are you confused by?
What about joy ??
Joy often arises spontaneously when you dont have a head getting in the way :-)
Can this help with self consciousness in social interaction?
ceeloc almost certainly, yes. I’m not an expert, but keeping exploring the subject. There are some profound moments, and changes in perception, that can occur. My source for a lot of this thinking is Sam Harris and his meditation app. Richard Lang and Douglas Harding also great people to check out.
Yes I think it can as it helps us realise we are not seperate from other people and this can greatly reduce fears and anxieties, though sometimes the old habit patterns take a while to quiet down
But I can see my nose and cheeks and eyebrows...
actually i can see some part of my nose and my hairs when pointing,,,so ..
Hi Reza. Yes you can see a bit of your nose, but notice that at your centre right in the middle there is just space. The idea is to bring your attention right back to the centre where there is space and openness. Does that make sense?
yes it makes sense...very intersting approach..im currently resting as awareness
He wasn’t walking in the Himalayas. He made that bit up.
Oh really? haha
I read that also.
Right. Richard Lang says that, in fact, his first experience came in looking at the self-portrait of Ernst Mach, which shows the same view of chest and legs, with no head.
He did have the Himalayan experience after he saw that he was the happening of everything.
FirstPersonHood he himself said that was made up for the book. He said that. He said the publishers wanted a cool story about it rather than saying he was just walking down the street.
But I can see my nose.
I can see my lips, my nose, and even my cheeks. If I look up I can see my eye brows.
Yes but the important thing to notice is that right at your center there is open space. All the things like the tip of your nose appear within that space. What are you looking out of? :-)
you can't see lips or a nose or cheeks.
you see dark smudges that your mind is ASSUMING and TELLING you are lips, nose and cheeks.
take everything as literal as possible. just stare at your visual field and tell me HONESTLY, do you see your face or head anywhere? i will guarantee you that you don't.
a smudge in the center of your visual field is not a nose or a lip, it's a smudge.
a photo of your head is not your head, nor is a reflection of your head if you look in a mirror.
so again, look now into your direct experience and ask yourself, do you see your face/head anywhere?
What is alive eating flesh with flies?
◄ Colossians 3:3 ►
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Seeing that you were dead [al-Baqarah 2:28]
He who is forgetful of the Self, mistaking the physical body for it. Ramana Maharshi
-----
Is the world real?
So a genius can work out the dead?
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. Albert Einstein.
------
However:
(Which see) (Matthew 2:18)
"Nothing is as it seems. Nor is it otherwise." Lankavatara Sutra - Mahāyāna Buddhism
There is no greater mystery than this; that being the reality we seek to gain reality.
Sri Ramana Maharshi
Plato’s cave analogy.
Inprisoned inside the cave (Us), prisoners see the shadows on the wall and mistakenly view the shadows as reality.
Greek word "cosmos" Meaning "In The World" functioning apart from God
And according to Early Christian gnosticism - "Seraphims" Keter - Crown Divine Plan ~ The Angel of Death. (Read John 7:7) Satan is the ruler of this "cosmos" (John 12:31; 16:11; 1 John 5:19)
Islam.
The Surah takes its title from the sentence, Wa anzalna' l-hadida, of verse 25 The iron
Hinduism. (Caught up in Samsara - Maya ~ The Malevolant illusion) ( Sanskrit: “magic”)
In which this universe like a snake on a rope imagined appears.
I can see my nose, brow and lips. Making this exercise a bit redundant.
You are different from your point of view than other humans you look at.
Yes but the important thing to notice is that right at your center there is open space. All the things like the tip of your nose appear within that space. What are you looking out of? :-)
Eye can not see itself, a tooth can not bite itself. So what. Slap yourself you find your head or let me slap you into enlightenment. It's not even that.
Sorry to burst anyone's bubble on this one, but to say you don't have direct experience of having a head is totally false. Just because you can't see your head only denies visual experience of the head. You can touch your head. That's direct sensory experience of having a head. So you still perceive your head as an object in consciousness through sensation. It's fine to say you're creating the sense of having a head within consciousness, but it's silly to think you don't perceive having a head. If you bang it on a door, you notice it's there.
Dude, you see all heads at a distance from YOU. "YOU" IS GROUND ZERO FOR ALL THINGS.
Sorry dude, I can see a part of my nose and I know my nose is a part of my face and my face is a part of my head and I can feel my head is there right on top of my neck. this obviously dose not work for me.
You apparently have too much time on your hands to jabber on about crap like this. Go find something you genuinely add value to the world by. This ain't that.
Talk about having an open mind. 😉
you said nothing