This practice is derived from its Buddhist form, but modified by some modern Western theory. This I believe makes it more efficient. Since we now know more about the obstacles to full inwardness, we do not need to take such a long time to arrive at it.

The chief obstacle to full inwardness is what I call “garden-variety trauma imprints”.  They are the residue of early injuries experienced by almost everyone.  Less intense than “abuse” but more pervasive, they form the foundation on which all subsequent experience accumulates.

The core of a trauma imprint is simply the incomplete defensive response your body could not finish when you first experienced the overwhelm of natural defense mechanisms. The wonderful thing about recent trauma  research is that it gives us techniques to release anxiety, not re-enact it.  [See the page: Trauma Treatment.]

So, the mantra here is “relax”.  Relax and “do nothing”.

There are three things that “sitting” is NOT:

1)  it is not sleep;
2)  it is not trance, an “altered state of consciousness”, an out-of-body state;
3)  it is not thinking. (In sitting the guideline is: “Cease the chatter of the mind.”)

So, sitting is just awareness; it is being completely awake.

We focus on our breathing, slow down the clock, and stay relaxed. If we are slow enough and relaxed enough, the body will complete its defensive response, and the original overwhelm will be neutralized. The completion shows up as crying or as simply a sigh.

And this eliminates the need for the escapism that is a normal part of all conventional culture.

So, in The Sitting Room, we investigate all this.

To learn more about the Sitting Room,
please send me an e-mail: mhducey@optonline.net