Feeling Tones Exercise

This is one of the exercises I’ve continued since I first read NPR, though it seems to help to go back and re-read the exercise occasionally.  Seth suggests that you perform it whenever you're feeling anxious or distressed.

According to Seth, “Your feeling tones are your emotional attitudes toward yourself and life in general, and these govern the large areas of experience” (Roberts, 1974, p 13). 

 He’s not talking about your emotions, which may change from moment to moment, but more like an emotional signature that is uniquely yours.  These tones may surface in extended cadences “like musical chords”.  They're value neutral (neither good nor bad) arising from your inner being and experience.  Essentially, they’re the emotional colour of who you are, and from this base you create events in your life (Roberts, 1974, p 13). 

Because we tend to limit or deny our emotions in our culture, many of us have lost touch with this rhythm.  However, according to Seth, it is the most profound source of our creativity, and denying its existence is like swimming against “a strong current”.

Feeling tones are the form our being adopts when joined with our flesh, and entwine with all matter.  When you become aware of the power and resilience of these tones you can acquire the capacity to follow them   “… into deeper realities of experience” (Roberts, 1974, p 14). 

The Exercise

I’ve found I can do this exercise anywhere: I’ve done it in the most public places, including airports and restaurants and it always helps me to feel better.   If you are used to meditating, try to treat this as something quite different.  There are no rules for how it should feel and no set time limit.  

I simply close my eyes, and imagine these chords rising from the centre of my body like gossamer ribbons with each inward breath.  With each outward breath, I imagine them wrapping around my body and limbs, as well as passing through it.  At the same time I visualise them forming my physical being. 

I’ve noticed lately that I get a feeling of warmth wherever these ribbons touch.  I also hear long sustained chords that coincide with each breath.

Seth explains that feeling tones mingle with the chords of all matter and beings on the planet, and actually form the planet in a magnificent gestalt.

So, after you’ve done the exercise a few times, you then imagine the chords reaching out into the environment around you, because that’s exactly how it is:  we all connect; with the objects and people in our lives.  

For some reason, the ribbons always turn pink when I visualise them extending outwards from the top of my head and lighting on everyone and everything in my vicinity.  

Just remember: this is my way of executing this visualisation and there’s no right or wrong way to do it.

 Results

The results are often subtle.  Like I said, lately I’ve noticed a warm feeling in the body parts I imagine wrapped and permeated with “ribbons”.  Within about 15 minutes I always feel noticeably more relaxed. 

Today, I didn’t feel much like writing.  I’m new to blogging, and I know it’s going to take some time to get the hang of it.  Actually, one of the difficulties involves how much of the material to use in the blog.  Of course, copyright law limits the amount I can reproduce here, so I’ve been struggling with that.  I feel like I have to give some background to the exercises, or they simply won’t make sense.  On the other hand, I don’t want to simply paraphrase Jane/Seth’s work here.  

But, within a short time of performing this exercise, I decided to go ahead and write this post anyway.  I’m sure the energy to grapple with the problem came from there.   In fact, I usually feel it gives me the energy to tackle whatever challenge looms before me. 

I think it also helped to make the decision to write something to.  this is an area where I often have difficulty: I go over the options endlessly, often doing nothing, because I just can't make up my mind. =D

It also seems have an analgesic effect.  I suffer from SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus), which causes arthritis, and I’ve noticed the exercise significantly reduces any pain I’m experiencing at the time.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been doing it at least daily (sometimes more) and I think it’s having a noticeable influence on my overall sense of well-being, energy and motivation.  

You see, I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for about 2 years, but I think fear of what other people will think has always held me back.  Yet within such a short time of working with the Seth material, here I am, and I know the exercises (there are a couple of others I’ve been doing, which I’ll get to later) are the reason why.

Your comments, as always are welcome.  I’d love to know what other people think. =)