3 Powerful Practices for Experiencing States of Ecstasy and Bliss

October 25th, 2015

Awake Goy

26th October 2015

By Justin Faerman

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.” – Rumi

How often do you experience states of ecstasy and bliss? If I had to guess, I’d probably say far less than you’d like. For most people it’s a fleeting experience that they are lucky to taste a handful of times over the course of their entire lives. And yet states of ecstasy and bliss are remarkably easy to experience, even permanently if you’re really dedicated to doing what’s necessary to remove everything that’s blocking you from experiencing them.

And I want you to focus in on the words ‘blocking you’ in that last sentence because they’re important and hold the keys to experiencing lasting states of ecstasy and bliss in your life. You see, the truth is that we’ve simply lost touch with these exalted emotional states, which are, in fact, our essence. Most people cannot remember their earliest years and so they forget the incredible wonder, joy, ecstasy and bliss we regularly experience as young children, in those moments as close as most will ever be to their truest essence—an authentic and free expression of themselves and the unconditional love at their core.

As we age, that innocence and purity is lost as the experience of life in an unhealed world begins to cut us off from that deep place of love, bliss and joy at our core. We learn that love from others is conditional and that we must act in certain ways to get the approval we seek. We are inevitably hurt by the words or actions of another, unintentional as it may often be. We empathically feel the insecurity and fear of people around us and learn to shield our hearts so that we don’t experience the deep pain of judgement as we attempt to authentically express ourselves. We pickup emotional wounds when we are hurt or disappointed by the people we most trust and love. This deep sense of betrayal leads us to hold grudges and grievances—against others and ourselves. We get into the habit of comparing ourselves to the people around us and begin to believe we are inadequate or anything less than perfect. All of these experiences cut us off from experiencing the pure ecstasy and joy at the core of our being. Over time this bliss becomes a distant memory and we begin to settle for some limited experience of happiness that’s only a shadow of the emotional highs that we are capable of.

But this is actually not how life is supposed to be. All human life is created in a spark of ecstasy, during the moment of conception as two lovers experience orgasmic waves of bliss. Ecstasy is our origin; it is the most fundamental aspect and generative quality of life. And it is always there at the core of our being waiting to be tapped into and expressed. Your most authentic, natural state is one of unconditional love, ecstasy and bliss and our entire lives are spent unconsciously attempting to return to this state through relationships, material things, our professions, the pursuit of money and fame and so on. But all of these things are outside the self and so they cannot give us a lasting experience of what we seek, which can only come from within.

Which is, of course, a blessing because who would want someone or something other than ourselves controlling and limiting our access to unconditional love, ecstasy and bliss? But with great power comes great responsibility, meaning that we must take full responsibility for the fact that we have let ourselves become cut off from who we really are. Even though others may have hurt and betrayed us, we ultimately decide how much we will let it affect us. As you will see, it is in large part the act of blaming others, holding onto old emotional wounds and grievances and avoiding the inner healing work that is the main thing blocking us from moving back into states of unconditional love, ecstasy and bliss, and that beginning to experience them once again can be as simple as letting go.

1. Cultivate Unconditional Love

Cultivating unconditional love is paradoxically the most challenging and simultaneously easiest path to experiencing nearly permanent states of ecstasy and bliss. This is because embodying true, unconditional love can be as simple as opening yourself to the experience and letting it in, meaning that you decide to let go of all judgements, emotional wounds, grievances, self-limiting beliefs and hurts that keep you unconsciously locked into fear, separation, judgement, shame, anger and other low vibrational states. Although you may not be experiencing those things overtly in your day to day experience, with a little self-reflection and digging you’ll quickly find them embedded deep within your psyche and subconscious mind, powerfully affecting your emotional state, your decisions and your openness to loving yourself and others, ultimately keeping you cut off from the experience of unconditional love.

And, in fact, the only thing standing in between you and the experience of the ecstasy and bliss of unconditional love is the attachment to and suppression, either consciously or unconsciously, of these negative emotions, limiting beliefs and other unconscious baggage. It really can be as simple as making a profound decision to let go of that which does not serve you and moving into a space of forgiveness for yourself and others. However, for most people this is easier said than done. The layers of old mental and emotional conditioning and emotional wounding that must be healed and ultimately transcended in order to move permanently into unconditional love, ecstasy and bliss often run deep, and we are holding on to them tighter than we realize. And yet in moments of profound spiritual awakening, we can transcend a lifetime of hurt and conditioning in an instant. So be open to the possibility… but in the meantime you can still make rapid progress towards the ultimate goal of experiencing unconditional love through emotional healing processes like the one described below.

Exercise: Healing Emotional Wounds

Love begets love and so the best way to begin to cultivate unconditional love is to give yourself a direct experience of it. And by bringing the experience of love to our deepest emotional wounds we can release years of trauma and stuck energy in an instant. This is one of the fastest paths to reconnecting with your essence and removing everything that is blocking you from experiencing unconditional love, ecstasy and bliss.

In fact, virtually everyone who takes this practice seriously and puts in the effort will have an experience of ecstatic bliss in the process as they release old, stuck emotional energy. As you continue over time these moments become more frequent until they eventually become your dominant experience of life, reconnecting you with an almost permanent state of love, joy, peace ecstasy and bliss.

Think of a significant past event, situation or person (which can include yourself) where there is some kind of negative emotional charge (anger, fear, shame, jealousy, hate, rage, anxiety, worry, etc.), hurt, grievance or trauma and simply observe what comes up. Don’t resist or judge, simply mindfully observe what you are experiencing and remembering.

Then after a few moments, tell yourself “And I love that this happened to me,” (it can help to say this out loud), and let yourself move into a state where you actually begin to feel love in your body for yourself, the situation/experience and anyone involved. Really let yourself feel and drop into an authentic experience of love—as it must be genuine for this to work.

As the feeling of love deepens, let yourself move into a feeling of forgiveness for yourself, the situation/experience and anyone involved. As you move deeper into the authentic experience of love and forgiveness, it heals the emotional wound around the incident/experience permanently, bringing you one step closer to the experience of unconditional love.

Emotions are not static, they shift and change in an instant and this exercise allows us to reimprint how our nervous system experiences old memories from one of pain to neutrality or even joy.

Close the practice by taking a minute to meditate and observe what good has come of this experience that you may not have noticed before. Really challenge yourself to look at the experience through new eyes and discover positive things that you may have previously been unable to see. This helps to further repattern your mind and nervous system to change the imprinting of the experience from something negative to something positive.

This work gets easier over time and most people have no trouble staying motivated to continue after experiencing the emotional catharsis and release they experience after one session. You can literally feel yourself evolving, and it is not uncommon to experience major positive shifts in your life, your mood and your health after even a single session. If you find it challenging at first, stick with it as it may take a few attempts before you are able to really let yourself move into a space of love. After all, you are undoing years or perhaps even decades of emotional conditioning.

The art of cultivating unconditional love is at the core of learning to reconnect with a permanent sense of ecstasy and bliss, and so I recommend that you learn everything you can about it, which simply cannot be summarized in one article. A great starting point is the work of Harold W. Becker, who covers many important practices and distinctions for experiencing unconditional love here: Living in Bliss: How to Experience Unconditional Love For Yourself and Others