What is Enlightenment?

The beloved Buddhist nun, Pema Chödrön, defines enlightenment as relaxing into life. My main teacher, Stephen Levine, describes it as lightenment.

Embedded in these two definitions is a treasure we all long for, the treasure of discovering that enlightenment is not something you have to try to get or an experience that is off in the future. Enlightenment is always right here, right now, and you don’t access it by trying, doing, figuring out, resisting and controlling. You open to it as you learn how to relax into the great energetic river of life.

This is why I talk and write so much about the long, slow out-breath. This kind of breath activates your vagus nerve, which is one of the most important nerves in your body. When you learn how to soothe it, it turns on the calming aspect of your nervous system, opening your breath and lowering your heart rate, blood pressure, tension in your muscles and even anxiousness.

In this more relaxed place, it is easier to not get caught in the struggles of your mind. Yes, it’s so easy to get caught in our conditioned reactions to life, to get caught in the stories in our mind that love to try to control life rather than connect with it;  to get caught in the tightening in our body, especially the holding of our breath: and to get caught in all the thoughts and feelings that tightening and resisting life generate.

Long, slow out-breaths sprinkled throughout your day are phenomenally powerful. They bring more spaciousness and you begin to be able to see how you react to life, discovering how to respond instead. You also begin to not take your own stories and the feelings they generate so personally. You even discover how not to react to other people’s reactions.

But most important, you begin to realize that you can allow thoughts, feelings and sensations to simply move through, without getting caught in resisting them. This leaves you present, clear and responsive to life. Everything you struggled with before no longer has the magnetic attraction they used to, so rather than being caught in the world of struggle, your attention is free to be here for life exactly as it is right now, which is enlightenment.

Are you willing, right now, to let go of reading and give yourself the gift of some long, slow out-breaths? Remember, this allows for a relaxing into life (Pema) and a lightening of your immediate experience (Stephen).  I assure you, if you do this, it will begin to dramatically change your life. I know, it doesn’t seem like much but if you start on a journey of one mile from point A to point B and before you start you move your feet ¼ of an inch to the left from the straight line which connects the two points, you will eventually end up in a place that is completely different than point B. Small adjustments in your daily life make a huge difference.

And if you weren’t able to pause and give yourself the gift of some long, slow out-breaths, please, no judgment. We are all so familiar with being caught in the prison of struggle, which is the main flavor of our conditioning and stepping out of that prison and back into life can be very scary. But being someone who lived in a mind that was full of monsters, dragons and demons and then was shown how to step out of that prison and back into life, I will tell you that the safest thing you’ll ever do is discover how to ground and open into life as it is right now. This moment is your home!

So be gentle with yourself and know that life is calling to you. Give yourself the gift of relaxing into life for a few moments here and a few moments there and you will finally see what I saw, that the safest place you’ll ever know is right here, right now and your natural state is lightness itself!