I wanted to share this beautiful commentary one of my students shared with me about his first experience with irest. I hope you will enjoy: If I had to describe my first iRest experience in one word, it would be “refreshing!” (The exclamation point negating the need for the second-word modifier: “extremely.”) As with many things, preparation may take up a large proportion of the total experience. In this case, in particular, it required a much larger energy expenditure than the iRest meditation itself, but made the total experience that much more fulfilling and expansive. Preparation was facilitated by a worksheet which guided one through identifying Inner Resource, Intention and Heartfelt Desire and how each applies to oneself. Since these are principle elements of, and the gateway to, iRest practice, I found it was very worthwhile to have at least thought about them prior to the practice. The more thought, the greater advantage. They provided a context upon which to draw as the practice began. Instead of floating in a vast, foreign ocean, I felt more like I was in my boat floating on that ocean. One other major benefit, whose importance became became apparent after going through the preparation exercises, was that a number of doors that had been closed for a while were opened. This may be age-related: the older one is, the more numerous and further away they are. But going through the exercise facilitated (sorry to use that word again) their opening and significantly broadened the overall experience. Recalling forgotten experiences provided a much larger pool from which to draw one’s Inner Resources. The iRest practice itself started similiarly to other Yoga and meditative practices: relaxation and a mantra. In this case the initial mantra was a compound one - Intention and then Heartfelt desire. As the practice continued into early iRest stages, the mantra shifted somewhat, but remained within the familiar bounds of Body- and Breath-sensing and then Feelings. Subsequent later stages went beyond those to which I am accustomed and included higher level awareness: Emotions and Beliefs. Somewhere between Emotions and Beliefs I believe I fell asleep. It was a floating sleep and I could feel myself drifting between semi-conscious, dream-like and completely unconscious states. Although able to hear Laura’s (the leader) beyond-soothing voice most of the time, and sometimes clumsily follow it, there definitely were times when I could not. It is quite possible that sleep occupied a much longer time than it appeared. I do not specifically recall the latter stages of Joy and Witnessing & Pure Awareness, but it is possible that I had glimpses, albeit semi-conciously. It certainly seems so, since upon reawakening, I felt completely relaxed and refreshed with an overall sense of well-being. It felt like I had been on a soothing, non-arduous journey and I remember thinking: “Wow, that was great!” It would be unrealistic to expect what I learned and experienced in my introductory, singular iRest experience to immediately and wholly integrate into my daily life. Surely that will require more time and experience. But I can say unequivocally that whenever I reflect on it, there is only goodness and well-being. -D.E.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 13:06:16 +0000
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