Allowing the energy to pass through
Michael Singer’s approach begins by noticing that an event has activated energy within us. Our usual response is to close around it, push it away, act it out or keep it moving through repeated thought. Instead, we can remain present and allow the energy to move through without requiring the event or the feeling to be different.
Notice where you close
A comment, memory or disappointment may produce tightness in the chest, heat in the face, pressure in the throat or another movement of energy. Notice the bodily experience before following the explanation of why it is happening.
The story may say that the feeling will stop when someone apologizes, agrees or changes. Singer’s approach turns attention from solving the story to noticing what is happening within you now.
Do not suppress or discharge it
Allowing does not mean forcing the feeling down, pretending not to care or replacing it with a better thought. It also does not mean expressing every impulse in order to get the energy out.
Relax the effort to resist the sensation. Let it be felt as fully as you can without feeding it through rumination or using it as a command to act.
Let the energy complete its movement
Energy changes when it is allowed to move without being grasped or resisted. Your task is not to determine how quickly it should pass or what you should feel instead. Remain present while it unfolds in its own way.
If the mind returns to the event, notice the story and come back to the energy it generates. This can happen repeatedly. Each return is another opportunity to stop closing around the experience.
Return to action from clarity
Allowing the energy to pass does not decide whether you should speak, leave, set a boundary or take another action. It loosens the demand that action must make the inner experience go away.
Within the Wheel of Acceptance, this approach supports Feel & Accept and Integrate & Accept. Planning and action can follow after the activated energy has been allowed rather than placed in charge.
Pause and reflect
- Where do I feel this reaction as energy in my body?
- Am I resisting it, feeding it with thought or preparing to act it out?
- Can I relax around the sensation and allow it to move in its own way?
The practice is not to make the energy leave. It is to stop preventing its movement by closing around it.