Expanded Awareness in One Minute
In a big hurry to feel good? Try hakalau, borrowed from the ancient Hawaiian system of spiritual shamanism that is modernly called Huna. Normal outward awareness has a relatively narrow range -- you pay attention to what's in front of you, more or less. In hakalau, your awareness spreads out and you become keenly receptive to the current moment. You are consciously aware of what's going on all around you -- not only in front of you, but peripherally and even behind you, and also to movement that is lower and higher than you're normally aware of.
Do you know that feeling when you're focusing intently on something, maybe typing or doing your taxes or listening hard to understand something, and your brow furrows and if you notice, you can feel the muscles in the rest of your body tighten, too? So you feel a little exhausted after spending a long time focusing that way -- you've been doing isometric exercise all day! And sometimes you might even feel a little headachy from it. Hakalau is the antidote. It's not an ideal state to be in when you really need to focus intently on what's immediately in front of you (that's called "foveal" focus), but otherwise it's a lovely way to open yourself up to far more of what's available in the moment, and to really *get it* at a deeply unconscious level. The tightness in your head and body just loosens up and eases, giving you a feeling of spaciousness and acceptance, as if the very cells in your body were just relaxing and giving each other more space. Ahhhhh.
For that reason, it's a great state to go into if you are in school or any other learning environment -- perhaps surprisingly, it's easier and faster to learn in hakalau than when you're in foveal focus. I use that relaxed cells image to envision learning flowing deep in and around the cells of my mind and body, really settling the lesson fully into my whole self. You can really relax and be accepting, so it's a wonderful technique to teach your kids -- they will enjoy the process of learning and get a lot more out of it! And it's a nice, flexible break from that very intense way of focusing that kids use when playing video games or watching tv. Suggest they go into hakalau at the beginning of class to learn quickly and easily, and to go back into this state when it's time to take a test -- all of the information they gathered into their unconscious mind will be instantly available, and they'll have fun breezing through quizzes that used to stress them out. Classes that used to bore them will often be a lot more interesting as they deliberately feel more "present" -- and can find new ways to communicate or otherwise *MAKE* the class more interesting for themselves.
Hakalau also tends to improve sports performance, as you might imagine! You can use hakalau almost all of the time -- walking around, at work, and it's great for socializing -- you may find you can pick up on a lot more information and be far more responsive and engaged with people.
So, here's how you get into hakalau.
- Sit with your head level, eyes forward.
- Now, keeping your head level, raise your eyes to gaze at a spot on the wall 20 degrees or so upwards. (Your eyes do this naturally as you begin to enter the sleep state, and your body will respond to this physiological cue to just relax now.) You can use an imaginary spot, or even draw a small spot or image on the wall if that helps you.
- As you continue to gaze at that spot, just loosen your mind, allow yourself to relax your focus. (You may want to tell yourself, "You have permission to just relax now" and consciously let go in your thinking, as if you were relaxing your clenched fist and allowing your fingers to wiggle freely.) Enjoy that relaxed, loosening up feeling as you continue to focus on that spot.
- Now notice as your awareness just spreads out on its own. Notice what you can see in your peripheral vision while still gazing at the spot. Notice that you can hear or even see cars or people outside your window, or the movement of a breeze in a curtain, or maybe you can smell something you hadn't smelled before. Maybe you become aware of what's behind you, in a reflection in a slightly shiny surface in front of you. Perhaps you can notice subtle shifts in the air, or sounds that had been out of your awareness till now, not by trying to be aware of them, but by opening yourself and allowing fully everything that's going on in your moment to just flow into and through you. Enjoy how all of these sensory experiences can just float through you; you are transparent, and at the same time all of the "data" is being stored in your subconscious mind, without any conscious effort at all. Feel the sense of space opening up in your mind and body. Ahhhhh, feels good, doesn't it?
- Bring your eyes back to normal, bringing this expanded state of awareness with you. Stay in this state as long as you can, and notice what you notice. Notice how your headache or tension or negative emotion has eased; pay attention to how good you feel, and remember that you can create this for yourself any time you want it.
This is called an uptime trance -- outward focus. You can also use the same 20-degree eye technique with your eyes closed to go into an inward trance, and get yourself into a meditative alpha state instantly, or to easily transition into deep sleep. It's a pretty flexible and useful state -- give it a go for all kinds of different circumstances, from learning a language to talking with your lover; "coming down" from a busy day or ramping up for a new, exciting one. I think you'll want to use it more and more.
Please let me know how you like hakalau!
Posted by Angela at 9/5/2009 11:11 AM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: relax huna hakalau alpha awareness
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: relax huna hakalau alpha awareness
Cool technique, I've never heard of it before. It's kind of like a mini-meditation of some sort.
I'm usually calm and very rarely stressed to begin with, but when I am, it works to just take a few moments in a quiet place and let my thoughts process. I can usually see what was stressing me out and just let it go.
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Hi Angela,
thanks for sharing that. It worked really quickly. As I type this I still have that expanded feeling.
I'm going to try this before setting my next intentions.
Cheers,
Rob
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I'm so glad it was helpful, Rob! Please let me know how it feels for when you set your intentions while in hakalau.
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Hi Angela,
I didn't have much luck with Hakalau by itself, but I had a lot of luck with Hakalau + counting backwards from 100 in the morning. This was amazing for me, because it used to take me an hour to get into alpha!
One thing I am wondering is whether there's really a difference between an "inward trance" and an "outward trance" as you describe. Jose Silva's Mind Control book strongly implies that these are the same, and are both just a matter of being in alpha. I'd love to get your input on this
Thanks a bunch!
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Hi, Satvik! Nice to see you here. I think you are right that the states are pretty much the same; it's the focus that's different. Depending on what kind of results you want to get, adjusting your focus into the world outside the bones of your head may be more effective, or looking deep inside may work better.
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Nice post time. This stuff works, but I've been doing something similar for a while now I came up with on my own. The peripheral vision is a good way to go if you want to work on awareness. I always like to think of it in terms of energy: Physical matter is an illusion as there is really only energy. Energy is negative and positive and as energy myself I am able to sense other energies since we all exist together in the same universe. Like me being a single drop of water in the ocean. The waves I produce by existing and being oscillate outward, affecting all other drops in the endless ocean and vice versa. Awareness and sensitivity seem to go hand in hand. Increase on and you increase the other. The more we can sense the energy around, and realize that physical matter is an illusion, the more aware we become.
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This is an interesting technique. I can see how it would be very helpful. For me personally, the technique doesn't seem to do much, but I suspect this is because I am naturally relaxed most of the time.
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Hiya, Daffy! Hakalau isn't only about relaxation - it's also about opening up one's awareness into a state where you're very receptive at a deeply unconscious level. So, since you're very relaxed most of the time, you might notice more of a difference if you use hakalau in, say, a classroom or meeting or party. Notice how spread out your "antenna" feel in hakalau, how you can sense subtle movements all around you, slight changes in emotional and physical temperature, and even "read minds" (thin slice or cold read people) -- even more than in your normal state. It's not a dramatically altered state, usually, but an enhancement of your sensory acuity.
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HI angela,
I read this article. Completely understood and well digested. Now i will try this method and i am excited to see its effect. Thank you very much. I will put it nicely into action.
hakalau,
Happily,
Federer
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Wonderful! Please let me know how it goes.
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Dear angela,
I am following this from last couple of days. It felt i have done this long ago. But lack of understanding and knowledge i could not enjoy this thing fully. You know, i am not stressed. Everything is going to improve. I feel like this. But help me for one thing. Why i see colors? Sometimes i see white color or sometimes yellow like. I am going to do this for one month. A new habit for me. I am going improve a lot on visualization and will keep things related to it in mind.
Thank you.
- Ravin
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