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Four mp3 files + Ebook

Length: 114 minutes

 

This series of practices is designed as a companion set of exercises to complement "The Book of Little Things". However, they are not a mere repetition of what is written in the book, as the practices are deepened and extended. 

The main aim is to develop and expand your degree of awareness and presence in the tradition of great men such as Buddha, Giordano Bruno, Agrippa, Gurdjieff, Krishnamurti, Atkinson, Steiner and other individuals throughout history. Their lives were devoted to the study of Universal principles and human nature, drawing a unique science, integral in its form and, what is also important, free from every kind of dogmatism and sectarianism.

 

 

 

The "Basic Self-Remembering Practice"

This exercise belongs to Gurdjieff's basic practices and it is intended to help the practitioner to divide his attention - mainly, to experience what happens here and now, inside and outside of himself, simultaneously.  In an ordinary state of awareness, a person is in a constant trance-like state. Using Gurdjieff's terminology, he is absent, perpetually identified, "asleep". Self-remembering breaks this automation.

 

 

Inversed Body Scan

Different from most body scans and relaxation exercises proposed by Yoga and other meditation methods, I’ll suggest a relaxation practice that begins from the head and ends with the feet.  I’ll explain why:  mental activity is the main cause which denies an efficient relaxation; the mental chatter that brings with it, the various preoccupations related to various daily situations, is practically unstoppable for an ordinary, “untrained” person.  So, when one tries to relax himself, that person is literally submerged by the content of the mind.  This causes a series of emotional reactions which deny an effective relaxation.

In this practice, we’ll use a simple “trick” to avoid this problem:  the mind follows the attention.  Indeed, if we focus our attention on our hands, mind will inevitably ground itself in that part of the body.  If we begin to scan our body with attention, starting from the feet and ending with the head, our attention will end just where all the problems that avoid an efficient relaxation, begin – our “head”.  Feet represent a nice part of the body (the most distant from the head), to allow a relative detachment from the mental chatter.

 

Centering Exercise

This exercise is a powerful tool for centering ourselves, entering a little deeper in touch with our innate intimate self - our Essence. While performing this practice, a person accesses a great source of which he is usually unaware, to possess.

 

 

Additional Track: Gurdjieff’s Morning Exercise

This track contains an exercise which has not yet been released in audio format as a guided practice.  It is the only one of the four exercises which is not described in "The Book of Little Things". It's one of the several forms of morning exercise which Gurdjieff often gave to his pupils as meditation. This practice contains the focal points of his teaching and cosmology. However, for those who are not familiar to this cosmology, it would be useful to gain some information about the Ray of Creation.

The exercise is divided into three sections:

The first section could be called "grounding" the three centers of a human being: the physical (sensations of the body), emotional (breath), and intellectual (attention). This is the preparation to access the practice - "Rappel", a French word which means: "to recall", "to remind", "to remember". In this second section, the practitioner remains in a state of total inner and outer stillness.

The third section is the exercise of "making a daily decision" - a little goal you'll follow throughout the day. After having chosen the daily goal, there is another moment of silence.