Post-traditional meditation training & spiritual practices for the twenty-first century
Why do IST?
In meditation the rule of thumb is to simply allow all mental distractions to arise and pass, and return to the technique as often as needed. Traditionally, meditation constitutes the primary means for neutralising saṃskāras: the 'latent impressions' of past experience which unconsciously condition our mental and emotional reactions in ordinary life, and dynamise the thoughts, emotions, and bodily agitations which inevitably come with practice. More often than not when meditation practice becomes stagnant, one feels unable to break through, or feels they cannot help but get derailed by the mind or other forms of agitation, it can be sourced to a saṃskāra. Often we talk about our issues and attempt to fix their symptoms, but the saṃskāra lies beyond the ordinary level of mind, remaining unseen and unaddressed.
While the problems of life remain the same, as modern people we all live with levels of mental complication and neurosis that were simply not the case in the past. It is also far less possible, let alone appropriate, to emulate many of the traditional means deployed by gurus of the past to deconstruct conditioning and release unhelpful attachments. Like the iconic example of Marpa, the Tibetan master who famously put Milarepa through inordinate trials to deconstructed his mental obstructions, so that he could properly receive initiation and the spiritual fruitions of practice.
We need other ways to help let go and heal unseen blockages. The practice of IST was developed for just this reason. While essentially a method for applying yogic vision to help meditators, it has evolved into a fully-fledged form of therapy in its own right, practiced all over the world to help people from all walks of life:
• release emotional conditioning
• overcome anxiety
• resolve relationship issues
• heal addiction
• deal with bereavement
• change unhealthy patterns of behaviour
• clear energetic blockages
• find new meaning and purpose in life
• experience transpersonal opening
How does IST work?
The technique of IST does not involve anything like hypnosis, positive reinforcement or suggestion. Nor does it work by moving or manipulating energy, like some form of passively received healing. Rather, the facilitator (called the 'connector') guides the client in a simple and accessible meditation process that opens up a tangibly felt, inner space of consciousness. In this enhanced 'space of vision', IST utilises and cultivates the power of directed awareness. Focussed on the felt-qualities of embodied experience, through a process of sourcing it gently uncovers the roots of conditioning in the layer of saṃskāras, which lies beneath the level of ordinary mind. In this way, IST helps clients find and heal latent blockages, and gain emotional clarity. Working at a subtle level, the techniques can lead to transpersonal openings of unprecedented dimension and facilitate deep realignments of energy on the level of subtle bodies. More than just therapy, it is a yogic tool for self-knowledge and spiritual transformation.
More than therapy
saṃskārasākṣātkaraṇāt pūrvajāti jñānam
"By direct perception of the impressions (saṃskāras), knowledge of previous births (arises)."
— Pātañjalayogaśāstra 3.18
Having practiced countless sessions of IST as facilitator and receiver over many years, both among fellow students and with clients, one of the more remarkable and consistently recurrent findings in the process of sourcing saṃskāras, is that people commonly re-experience powerful episodes that cannot attributed to this life, but former ones. As an experiential process, it occurs regardless of what one may believe about past lives. One is therefore free to make up their own minds about explaining it. But, contrary to what one might think, such experiences are not vague or dream-like, or presented images requiring 'interpretation', but sensorially acute and emotionally detailed, accompanied by the sense of being in a different body, in different surrounds and different time. Of course, the point is not to prove anything, but experience the release of deeply hidden emotional charges, and profound spiritual realisation. And sometimes also shifts that are truly life changing. Such transpersonal openings are uniquely enlightening, because one experiences in themselves a level of being that is intimately familiar, yet spans across lifetimes and personalities.