The Light Meditation

(from: Thomas Hübl: Healing Collective Trauma)

Across the spiritual traditions we find what seem like two contradictory descriptions of awakening. Some saints emerged from profound states and proclaimed, “Wow, I merged with the light! I became one with God.” While others said, “I went into the heart of the deepest blackness, examining the thought, ‘I.’ And what I found there was the deepest spaciousness, the most magnetic presence. A unification with the Source.”

At first, it seems as though these reports are referring to different things, perhaps to different levels of awakening. But there is beauty in understanding that these experiences—the numinous light and the blackness of space, of emptiness—are not two, but one. There is a transformational effect when we come into alignment with the Divine Law, or with the Light. This light reveals itself as a transmission of consciousness flowing through all ancestors, all lifetimes, in an ongoing and unbroken stream. Finding alignment with Divine Law is about finding our rhythm with the flow of light and teaches us how we can transmit that light from one generation to the next, without attachment, karma, trauma, or violence.

In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu asks, “Can you cleanse your inner vision until you see nothing but the light?” Can you purify your inner sight until you see nothing but that which is sacred and alive and has wanted to be alive for countless generations? The explosion of light in all directions is the very creation of the universe, and it is happening now. But because of our karma, our trauma, it appears to us as though it happened long ago, in the faraway past. Still, the God that is, was, and will be is in creation now.

The light meditation deepens our awareness of the inner sensation of light, but it is much more than an exercise in visual imagination. It is a meditation on—indeed, a calling forth of—Divine Light. It is an act of realignment and purification, which actively raises our frequency, much like a charged prayer, and infuses vital new information into our nervous systems.

Guided Practice

If you’re able, sit comfortably with an erect spine. Take a couple of deep breaths and let everything go.

Allow the breath to take you deeper into an awareness of your bodily sensations. Simply breathe and notice. Practice this inner journey into your physical body, attuning to different areas: the feet, ankles, calves, knees, thighs, hips, pelvis, abdomen, back, and shoulders. Notice which parts feel stressed or tensed or even less clear to you, perhaps a bit numb. As you inhale and exhale, observe those areas that feel more alive with energy and subtle sensation. Continue breathing and take notice of any emotional content. What emotional impressions might be present alongside the physical sensations you detect?

Now, simply breathe and become aware of the dimension of inner space, the internal field that holds these impressions and sensations. Become aware of your thinking. Simply breathe and observe. Notice how all of this exists in an inner dimension, which contains a sense of inner presence. This inner presence is hosting the experience of your bodily sensations, hosting your emotional awareness, hosting your thoughts. Notice how this inner presence or witness has a flavor of timelessness and is linked to a quality of spaciousness that surrounds your feeling and thinking processes. As you breathe, take notice of this spaciousness.

This inner dimension is the home of the mind.

Now, slowly bring your attention to the top of your head. Using your inner vision, concentrate on the top of your head and see if you can bring your awareness to and focus your senses on this part of your body.

Simply breathe and hold your attention there for a moment. Gently inhale, breathing into a place at the top of the head, expanding upward and outward. Now, bring your awareness to just above you. Imagine that your body continues on above your head and that you can feel yourself in the space above. Simply breathe and explore this space.

As you continue exploring this area above your body, notice any faint sensations of light that begin to appear. Connect with these sensations as you continue traveling upward, expanding your sense of your body.

Whenever your mind offers you a thought, see if you can let it go and just continue to feel and sense as you expand your awareness upward, perhaps a few feet or so above your head, though still within your expanded sense of the body. You are simply expanding your awareness of your body’s location, as if activating a new sensory organ in the brain. You can feel upward, look upward, sense upward, as if your spine had an extension, a pillar that went high above your head, up and up and up.

As you continue expanding your felt awareness, higher and higher upward, above what you had thought was the top of your physical body, you may begin to notice new, subtle impressions — perhaps a whitish or golden light. See if you can even feel this light. (Don’t be dismayed if you can’t. What’s more important for now is that you simply continue to concentrate your awareness on the space above the head. If you find it difficult, just stay gentle with the process. Take it as a playful experiment).

As you notice any sensations of light or perhaps an inner visual illumination, connect to it. Feel into it. Whenever your thoughts intrude, let them go if you can and simply stay with this exploration. Continue elevating your felt awareness above your head, turning your inner vision upward. Keep exploring.

When you connect to the light, stay there — feel it. See if you can stabilize your awareness in this feeling of the light. Allow yourself to become receptive to it, letting it flow down into your body. This is the light of your soul. Set the intention to connect to this light, to the quality of intelligence that brought you into this life. Feel into this new illumination, letting it fill and surround you.

Stay with it as long as you can.

When you’re ready, gently bring your awareness back into your physical body. Feel your body sitting in the afterglow of this light meditation. Simply sit and be open and listen. Listen for whatever wants to arise.

Then again, gently, take a few deeper breaths, feeling the sensation of your body sitting on the chair or the cushion, wherever you are.

And slowly come back.