Michael A. Singer explains that inner energy — Shakti — is the core of spiritual work: when it flows upward you feel uplifted, when it gets focused on personal likes and dislikes it becomes blocked. From his Untethered Soul lecture series.
Transcript
eventually if you work sincerely on yourself for a long enough time you realize it's all about the Shakti flow so all about the energy it's not about your philosophy it's not about what books you've read it's not about what mantra you do it's not about what gurus you've met it's about the flow of the energy inside of you if that flow is going up you feel uplifted if that flow is going down you feel trapped you feel anxious you feel scared you feel driven outwardly so the first thing that has to happen is the energy has to change directions now it flows down and out why if you work enough on yourself you'll see it consciousness and energy are the same thing in the ancient do Parishad scriptures they talk about Shakti Shakti all one word conscious energy Shakti it's one essence that has some properties so consciousness and energy are the same thing that's why underlying the entire universe is God I don't discuss God with you because people have completely made that word useless so the ancient Remy's they ever write the word god they'd write g underscore d or g - d i just don't get into this god thing all of the energy in Stein's energy you know equals mc-squared the quantum field energy that energy is consciousness that's why God is omnipresent omniscient and omnipotent because it's everywhere and that's what every great master has taught you it's not off somewheres with a long beard somewheres in heaven waiting for you or whatever it's literally everywhere it's why Christ taught not a hair on your head moves without him knowing not a sparrow falls from a tree but that he knows it because awareness consciousness is everywhere equally in all places at the same time I like quantum physics because the physicists believe that the quantum field which is energy of which all the quarks and leptons and subatomic particles come out of that that field is omnipresent that that field is equally everywhere in the entire universe no matter how far it goes that's what's there is the quantum field and then from it emanates the subatomic particles and then they put themselves together until the Chron neutrons protons and make atoms molecules and here you are but underneath it all manifesting at all is energy what they don't know is that energy and consciousness of the same thing period only Yogi's know that you can know that because you are consciousness so if you explore the nature of your being that's why they say meditate on the self if you explore where you come from and where your body comes from now where your emotions come from that way your thoughts come from what is the source of your consciousness there is a seed of awareness from which you look out through your eyes from which you watch the thoughts from which you feel your emotions that is the seed of consciousness if you return to that seat you will know yourself as a where power is conscious energy as chit Shakti because that's who you are so if you return to the seat of your being you not only are aware but it is the seat of power there's a seat of where your will comes from so let's put that aside for a second now I know people like talking about that now let's talk about instead of up high let's talk about why you fell from the garden why it goes down why the energy flow is the way it is now since consciousness and energy Chi Chuck D are same thing wherever you put your consciousness your awareness so you have put the energy flow and if you stop for a moment and realize where is your awareness well it is certainly on your senses and what is coming in through your senses you are aware of what comes into your eyes or a we're looking through your ears aware cetera et cetera so all five of these senses capture your awareness why because you're interested in them if you're not interested you don't pay attention then it's funny that awareness paying attention you know concentrate somebody know the nut hits your stick concentrate these are very spiritual words consciousness awareness concentration willpower they are the Shakti that she that emanates from consciousness when you focus consciousness you are focusing and sending and projecting energy just like when you hold a magnifying glass in front of the Sun something really happens bigger than normal because it concentrates and focuses the power of the Sun and therefore all kinds of different things go on so likewise when you concentrate your awareness you are focusing your Shakti your Chi your energy in that direction and I'm telling you that's what will is the fact that you can make this arm move you take it so for granted oh my god well you look at it from a physics point of view this arm waves something it can't pick itself up it has mass it requires energy to move mass doesn't it you're not breaking the rules Newton didn't say it requires energy to move mass unless it's your body mass is mass this thing has mass how is it that it went up I don't see any gasoline engines or you know anything like that it's because I willed it to you're so used to II don't even pay attention I willed it to go out that's why I went up so likewise when you sin and concentrate your energy and you send it down to these muscles those muscles contract and therefore this stuff goes up when you take it away it relaxes this is something you are doing you know that you are doing this it doesn't move by itself it is a willful act and the power you are using is the power of Qi is the power of prana is the power of of Shakti when you concentrate on something when you focus your attention on something you are sending your energy flow to that so underneath the quantum field is the consciousness that is emanating just through attention just through concentrating whatever it is is emanating a field of energy so if you want to think about God which I don't want you to I want you to experience God since you are capable of it but people like to think about things which is not good because the more you think about it the further away from which you become but if you want to think about it that's how you're to think about it is the force of consciousness when it concentrates when it pays attention it emanates you feel it if you concentrate on somebody you can feel power coming off of you it's somebody staring at you you can feel it it emanates energy so wherever you concentrate your awareness you are sending your Chi or sending your energy so that's nice it's fun to talk about but now let's talk about the fall in the garden because that is the fall from the garden that absolutely lays the groundwork for exactly what is meant by the fall from the garden why you're sitting here in consciousness in truth if you're back in Christ state my flower are one you have now your part of the universal being since your consciousness there's only one consciousness and when you return your individualized consciousness to the pool of consciousness then you too can experience everything that's what the great masters went but that's not what's happening what's happening is a cat walks in front of you and it looks like yours but you're out in Gainesville and all of a sudden all of your awareness is focused on that cat isn't it that means all of your energy is brought down out of the seed of self on to this whole system that goes out into the cat then the mind starts saying oh my god is that my cat she'd be in town do you pay attention of those thoughts or nursing pay no attention to him he pay attention to them if you pay attention to them you're focusing your energy on them then the sense of fear comes up in your heart what it's gonna do about this now think all this goes on do you pay attention to the fear that comes up in your heart do you pay attention to those things so now I have an outside world drawing your attention notice I use the word distracting distraction means your consciousness is pulled somewheres when your conscious is pulled there your energy goes there so the cat is distracting you the thought about the cat is distracting you and the feeling about fear is distracting you you're now lost that's called a lost soul you have been pulled out of the seat of self away from God away from the sense of your Center away from in a sense of your being all of your consciousness and energy has been pushed down and out and that's what's meant by the fall from the garden is you're pushed down and out instead of in and up so a normal human being is God consciousness chit Shakti just conscious energy distracted to the limitation of your senses to the limitation of your thoughts and to the limitation of your emotions and you are lost in that I mean that's full time that's where you live you've been listening to an excerpt from Michael singers the untethered soul lecture series volume 11 the unlimited energy of the self