Insight is effected by the correct body posture and the correct face expression.

So Focus - developing deep insight program - comprises the correction of both; that, in turn, opens the third eye chakra and the crown chakra.

We see that what is happening at our sense doors is simply a series of momentary activities, and momentary impressions. What we make of these momentary impressions shapes our happiness and unhappiness.

Indian spirituality has always had a love of the ascetic and austere. The saints and sages have examined the world of pleasure, dismissed the importance of impressions upon the senses, and put out the uncompromising message of renunciation. However, to the Western mind, stories of naked fakirs and sadhus sound bizarre and unworldly but it would be a pity to dismiss Indian spirituality out of hand. We should not overlook the sadhus' view of pleasure and profit seekers, whom they regard as equally bizarre and unworldly, since death makes a mockery of all pursuit of privilege and pleasure.
The story of Siva in India reminds us in tough terms of the life of renunciation. There are many depictions of Siva, the auspicious one. Siva is one of the aspects of existence, representing the whole dance of life, the totality of activity and expression. Pictures of Siva have captured a deep insight. Siva is virtually naked with long matted hair, and around him is a cobra. The way sadhus make matted hair in India involves putting wet cow dung on their hair and then covering it with ashes to dry it out. Despite the danger of the cobra, the repulsiveness of the wet cow dung on the body, having no clothing and being an ascetic, Siva is dancing.

Such a story might repulse us. We might not able to relate to it in any way. It seems to confirm all our views about Indian spirituality. We are hardly going to go out looking for the dung of Jersey cows to mat our hair. Nevertheless, it would be a pity to dismiss the story of Siva so quickly as many do, including millions of religious Indians who find such a lifestyle all a bit strange. We forget the message; Siva is dancing. Siva is always dancing. It is the dance of triumph, of joy, of celebration – despite the cobra, the stink of cow dung in his hair and the cold wind on his naked body. Siva is one with the dance of existence. The whole play of life goes on. How many of us dance daily, even with all the comforts we have surrounded ourselves with?

We see that what is happening at our sense doors is simply a series of momentary activities, and momentary impressions. What we make of these momentary impressions shapes our happiness and unhappiness. When we come down to the actuality, there is a bare touch on the eye in the form of a colour or shape, a bare touch on the ear in the form of sound and so on. Present to the eye, present to the mind. These momentary impressions have become very important to us, they make up our world, and it's the only world we know. We can easily find that our time is devoted to having certain types of impressions on our senses and avoiding other impressions.

We can gain some understanding about ourselves from watching the forces of attraction and aversion around these impressions. If we don't we are liable to get caught up in unhealthy patterns – always wanting things to go our way and hating it when they don't. Sometimes it is hard to admit how much we depend on experiencing pleasant impressions reacting over unpleasant ones.

Perhaps we have had this experience of really wanting something. We did everything possible to make it often. We succeeded and we got a thrill out of it. Perhaps we got a succession of thrills, but eventually, the thrill fades. There is no longer excitement, no longer the big buzz that we remember. In retrospect, we often see that years spent in the pursuit of personal pleasure can feel like wasted time. There are more important things in life than that.

If we can really get a sense of what it means to live fully amidst the sweet and stinking aromas of life, we can become one with Siva, one with the whole dance of existence.

A PROFOUND OPENING

We have had a taste of freedom, but then it's gone and we are left with the memory. We don't feel that depth of freedom any more, so naturally enough, we would like to repeat the experience.

We believe that there's something obstructing unconditional freedom, and when we come down to it we are convinced that states of mind have an inherent power to stop it. We speak of hindrances, obstacles, problems, other people, and situations. We've granted all these extraordinary powers over our consciousness. We're convinced that people and circumstances block our freedom. We live in this mythology, and we can't imagine it being otherwise. If something is troubling our mind, we have the view that we must get rid of it or overcome it, and that once we finish with it, we'll be free. This is a terrible paradox. Can we hear ourselves saying that the condition for unconditioned freedom is changing the conditions?

Can our state of mind really block freedom? There may be some moments when there's a personal story going on in our mind. We seem caught up in it, and would rather not have to go through such an experience. Whatever the unsatisfactory experience, we know it as a state of mind that arises and passes away. If the state of mind had the power to stay without change, then we would really have a problem, but this is obviously not the case.

All this effort seems to reinforce the view that clouds truly have the capacity to stop the sun from shining. But what side of the sun are we looking from? This is the extraordinary misunderstanding that we find ourselves believing in. We sometimes experience a touch of freedom that manifests extraordinarily clearly. At that moment, we sense we have finally arrived, and there is nothing more to do. We cannot add to this experience in any way. The walls of our mind and the definitions of our existence have dropped away. There is an immeasurable freedom that stands incomparable. We know that we cannot possibly add to such an experience.

Then this liberating experience fades due to the influence of conditions upon our consciousness. We have tasted something, but it has slipped into memory. The familiar mind is back, reborn into the present moment. We have had a taste of freedom, but then it's gone and we are left with the memory. We don't feel that depth of freedom any more, so naturally enough, we would like to repeat the experience. Should that be our priority?

A profound opening can have an extraordinary impact on our perceptions and priorities. There are two ways to acknowledge these deep experiences. One recognises the experience for itself with appreciation. There is no need to look any further, and it may not have any obvious bearing on your life. The second pays attention to any insights within the field of such an experience, and the consequences of such insights. The insights and understanding matter more than the quality of the experience, itself.

I doubt if any human being can continuously retain that extraordinary experience of centreless freedom in every moment. I certainly have never met such a person. The mind moves in mindful and less than mindful ways. That does not deny this immeasurable freedom at the core of being, but it also makes allowances for our humanity. The everyday mind has a place in the scheme of things, though it never has to stretch far from a centreless freedom that lies at the root of all things. The apple never falls far from the tree. In this centreless freedom, there is no suffering, no dissatisfaction whatsoever.

There is a common misconception that if we were egoless, that profound moment wouldn't fade and would always stay with us. We would live our lives thoroughly clear and knowledgeable about every thing and every issue. There would be insight into every area of interest. But it would be foolish to imagine that immeasurable freedom offers omniscience. This is an idealised version of liberation – not enjoyed by the Buddha or any teacher since. Out of the great depth of a liberating experience comes a knowing of freedom in daily life. If it doesn't, then the memory of the experience will be all that is left. Why? Because something wasn't realised, something wasn't seen. There wasn't a knowing that came out of the experience. This knowing grounded in awareness makes clear that freedom lies at the root of being.

We can easily assume that the teachings point to an absolute clarity about everything in every moment of existence. That would give us extraordinary power. We would be able to predict with absolute certainty the consequences of our actions. We would know everything that goes on in the past, present and future. There is no evidence on earth that any human being has ever reached that. Again, we keep confusing knowing liberation with omniscience in all directions.

Predictions about the future from prophets and religious texts abound. There are more astrologers in the East and West than priests. We want to believe that certain people can look accurately down the tunnel of time, perceive all the conditions available, and accurately state what will happen in the future. They might be right and they might equally be hopelessly wrong in their predications.

We remember in Palestine the prophet who predicted the coming of the Messiah. The daughter of the tyrant ruler persuaded her father to have the prophet's head cut off and brought to her on a plate during a party at the palace. When religious people and astrologers make predictions about the future, they too lose their head.

Yet, a timeless knowing is liberating and unstoppable. This knowing never concerns itself with the changing face of past, present and future. What is it that one knows? We know freedom. We can know an awakened life, and know its presence in our existence. We know the value of living a noble way of life. We know the emptiness of the ego, and the emptiness of views about cause and effect. We know the emptiness of craving, clinging and possessiveness. We know the end of suffering over this and that.

We know happiness and deep contentment. We know there is nowhere to go, nothing to be gotten, and nothing worth becoming caught up in. We know the importance of treating others as we wish to be treated, and we know the power of friendship. We know the end of belief in birth and death. We know the Deathless, we know Nirvana. There is nothing more we need to know.

In my weekend training session for developing deep insight, I just correct your body posture and face expression; and the insight ensues.

You discover the real physical nature of your body that makes you feel deeper and wider instantly as a result of undergoing deep insight program.

The only thing left, then, is to turn this personal discovery into your spontaneity - of body and mind; and the instant deep insight turns into the lasting deep insight for life!