Inhabiting the Body as

Unitive Consciousness

Judith Blackstone

ABSTRACT
This paper presents the Realization Process, a method of body psychotherapy that includes a series of inward
attunement exercises for experiencing unitive consciousness as the basis of deepened contact with one’s own
being and with other people. The paper focuses primarily on this method’s understanding and facilitation of
embodiment. In the Realization Process, embodiment is viewed as the experience of being present everywhere
in one’s body simultaneously, as unitive consciousness. This is a shift from being aware of the body, to inhab-
iting the body. The paper describes how the Realization Process utilizes the embodiment of unitive conscious-
ness to heal deficits in contact with oneself and others, and to refine the therapist’s capacity for empathy. Brief
attunement practices from the Realization Process are included to illustrate this shift.

Keywords: embodiment, Realization Process, body psychotherapy, consciousness

Received: 16.12.2020
Revised: 06.05.2021
Accepted: 19.05.2021 mbodiment is the primary focus of body psycho-
International Body Psychotherapy Journal therapy. How we organize our experience of being
The Art and Science of Somatic Praxis in, or as, a lived body in relation to our environment,
Volume 20, Number 1, how trauma affects us somatically, and how we can
Spring/Summer 2021, pp. 36-45 help people heal and mature through bodily interventions have
ISSN 2169-4745 Printing, ISSN 2168-1279 Online been explored by all of the innovators in our field. Early in our
© Author and USABP/EABP. Reprints and history, Wilhelm Reich (1945) wrote about an energetic realm
permissions: [email protected] of embodiment that he called orgone energy that became bound
into “character armor” in reaction to painful or overwhelming
experiences. Stanley Keleman (1979) also wrote about how we
shape our personality through the way we live in our body, es-
pecially with regard to how we organize or contain excitation
and pulsation. Embodiment is also often understood as intero-
ception, the awareness of internal experience, such as sensations
and emotions, and as proprioception, the ability to sense our
physical location and movement in space (Fogel, 2020).

This paper presents an understanding of embodiment as our po-

tential to experience ourselves as present everywhere in our body
simultaneously. This is a shift from being aware of the body to

“
inhabiting the body. When we inhabit our whole body, we un-
cover a dimension of undivided, unitive consciousness that we
experience as the fundamental ground of our being. We know
ourselves as the undivided stillness of unitive consciousness,
disentangled from and allowing for the free flow of the move-
… embodiment is viewed as the ment of life, including our energy system, and our cognitions,

”
experience of being present every­where emotions, sensations, and perceptions. As the unified ground
of being, unitive consciousness enables us to be in contact with
in one’s body simultaneously,
ourselves as a whole, and to function as a whole; for example,
as unitive consciousness.
thinking and feeling at the same time.

When we live within our body, our experience of our identity is

not just an idea, constructed by our imagination. We can also ex-

36 INTERNATIONAL BODY PSYCHOTHERAPY JOURNAL Volume 20 Number 1 Spring/Summer 2021

perience that we are not just our physical anatomy and and the clear light of wisdom mind, among many other
physiology. We can access an experience of ourselves names. The twentieth century Zen philosopher Nish-
on the more subtle level of our energy system – the itani (1982) described it as “primordial subjectivity”
pulsing, streaming flow that is mentioned in Reichian (p. 32). The Buddhists describe unitive consciousness
(Reich, 1945) and Bioenergetic (Lowen, 1976) forms of as “self-knowing”, rather than as self-object knowing
therapy, and in subtle forms of body therapy such as (Rabjam, 2001). It is consciousness that has become
Craniosacral therapy (Kern, 2001). When we inhabit our conscious of itself (Tolle, 2008). We know ourselves to
body as a whole, we can attune to an even more subtle be the knower. We experience that we are the unified
level than energy and experience our primary identity as ground of fundamental consciousness.
unitive consciousness.
Asian metaphysical systems often view unitive con-
sciousness as impersonal because it is considered to
Context for Unitive Consciousness be universal, and even to pervade the whole universe.
However, when we uncover this ground within our own
The direct experience of a unitive ground of being ap- being, it feels like who we really are. We have a sense of
pears only rarely in the literature of the psychotherapy finally shedding the constructed images and superficial
field. Roberto Assagioli (1977), a contemporary of both layers of our being to uncover our authenticity. Nish-
Freud and Jung, developed a method called Psychosyn- itani (1982) calls it “the original self in itself” (p. 151).
thesis. He claimed that one could have an actual experi-
ence of the self, and of pure self-awareness. Jung (1968) I do not make an ontological claim for unitive con-
also wrote about a self that was beyond or behind the sciousness in the Realization Process, as is often done in
fragments of our personality, and he theorized about a traditional spiritual teachings. Instead, I describe it as
collective unconscious, in which the deepest contents of an experience that we can access through subtle, inward
all of our minds were somehow shared. However, Jung contact with our body (Blackstone, 1991, 2007).
presented these as ideas and symbols, rather than as There are relatively few references in the Asian spiritual
accessible experiences. Abraham Maslow (1994), one of literature that focus solely on the embodiment of unitive
the founders of the humanistic movement in psychol- consciousness, but there are some. The contemporary
ogy, described peak experiences of unitive conscious- Tibetan Buddhist teacher Lama Thubten Yeshe (1998)
ness, which he considered to be indications of personal writes, “Buddha’s body is not crowded with blood and
maturity. However, he described these as intense, tem- bones; it is transparent and light. It is a conscious body,
porary experiences that one necessarily returned from a psychic body” (p. 104). The twentieth century Japanese
in order to live a normal life. philosopher Yuasa (1987) says of embodied conscious-
Ken Wilber (1980), a transpersonal theorist, included ness, “The ‘mind’ here is not the surface conscious-
the realization of unitive consciousness as the pinnacle ness but is the ‘mind’ that penetrates into the body and
achievement in his stages of development. The Diamond deeply subjectivizes it” (p. 105). The Japanese philoso-
Approach, developed by A. H. Almaas (1998) as an in- pher Nishida (1979) writes, “To immerse oneself in the
tegration of mystical Islamic concepts with psychody- world does not mean to lose the body, nor does it mean
namic psychology and Tibetan Buddhism, also points that it becomes universal. On the contrary, the self is
directly to an innate essence of ourselves. Almaas wrote deepened or, rather, it is thoroughly at the base of one’s
that we could dissolve and live without our learned ob- body” (pp. 324-5).
ject-relations templates, and that this was necessary for In general, the field of psychotherapy has ignored or
knowing ourselves as our underlying essence. dismissed the notion of an essential aspect of ourselves
beyond our learned and constructed templates. Even
Recent research in the field of contemplative neurosci-
within Asian spiritual traditions, there is debate re-
ence has begun to explore the neural processes that may
garding the existence of a foundational ground of being.
mediate unitive consciousness (Josipovic, 2014; Josi-
Tibetan Buddhism has delineated two main categories
povic and Miskovic, 2020).
of spiritual realization – those believing that there is a
There are many descriptions of unitive consciousness ground of being, or buddha-nature, referred to as “emp-
in the Asian spiritual literature, especially within some ty of other” teachings, and those that assert that there
lineages of Zen (Hinton, 2020) and Tibetan Buddhism is no ground or any sort of uncompounded, permanent
(Rabjam, 2001), and the Hindu traditions of Advaita aspect of human experience, referred to as “empty of
Vedanta (Sankara, 1989) and Kashmir Shaivism (Mul- itself” teachings (Hookham, 1991). The long-standing
ler-Ortega, 1989). The 14th century Tibetan Buddhist conflict between these two points of views was imported
teacher Longchen Rabjam (2001) described unitive to the West along with the Buddhist teachings.
consciousness: “This vast expanse, unwavering, inde-
The dominant understanding within the psychotherapy
scribable, and equal to space, is timelessly and innately
field has been of human nature as made up of mental
present in all beings” (p. 83).
constructs and nothing else (Mitchell & Black, 1995).
In the Asian traditions, unitive consciousness has been This had the effect that when Buddhism began to gain
called buddha-nature, pure consciousness, Self, rigpa, popularity in the West, many psychotherapists were

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 Inhabiting the Body as Unitive Consciousness

trauma. This method, called

the Realization Process(tm)
“[Mindfulness techniques] … instruct the practitioner to become increasingly attuned (Blackstone, 1991, 2007,
to even tiny shifts in their internal experience, and they calm the mind by gradually 2008, 2011, 2012, 2018), was
reducing and eliminating mental elaboration. However, the focus of these practices is developed by the author as
specifically on the content of experience. They do not approach inhabiting the body as a a method of personal and
unified ground of consciousness.” relational healing and non-
dual spiritual realization. It
includes a series of inward
ready to embrace and incorporate into their work the attunement exercises for
school of Buddhism that denied any inherent ground living within one’s body, and for deepening the innate
of being. Today, in the West, as it was even in ancient capacities that are found in the body, such as our capac-
Tibet, the “empty of itself” concepts of Buddhism are ities for love, understanding, and sensual pleasure.
more widely known than the Buddhist teachings that
The Realization Process also includes an original meth-
point to a fundamental ground of being. The integra-
od for releasing trauma-based constrictions from the
tion of psychotherapy with the no-ground, empty of
body by focusing within these constrictions from a sub-
itself theories and practices of Buddhism have led many
tle channel that runs vertically through the innermost
psychotherapists into increasingly disembodied forms
core of the torso, neck and head, known as shushumna
of therapy.
in Hindu Yoga, and the central channel in Tibetan Bud-
The popularity of mindfulness forms of meditation, and dhism. The Realization Process relational practices help
its incorporation into Western psychotherapy modal- couples heal, balance and deepen their contact with each
ities, although focused on bodily experience, has sup- other from this subtle vertical channel, and as the uni-
ported Western psychotherapy’s rejection of an essence tive consciousness that they can both attune to pervad-
or ground of being. Mindfulness techniques cultivate ing both their bodies. The Realization Process practices
and refine the ability for monitoring interoception. They for nondual realization uncover unitive consciousness
instruct the practitioner to become increasingly attuned pervading our internal and external experience at the
to even tiny shifts in their internal experience, and they same time. This aspect of the work helps people know
calm the mind by gradually reducing and eliminating themselves as whole and separate at the same time as
mental elaboration. However, the focus of these prac- they know themselves as unified with their surround-
tices is specifically on the content of experience. They ings. This paper will focus only on the embodiment and
do not approach inhabiting the body as a unified ground relational aspect of the Realization Process.
of consciousness.
The description and benefits of inhabiting one’s body
As an example of how fully the Buddhist “empty of it- that I present in this paper are based on my experience
self” philosophy, and the focus on interoception that teaching the Realization Process. Exercises such as the
is associated with it has been accepted in Western psy- ones included here, although generally taught as longer
chology, here is a quote from Peter Levine (2010): and more elaborate than these, have yielded consistent
self-reports from students of feeling more authen-
Paradoxically, the only way that we can know our-
tic, unified, spontaneous, grounded, and self-confi-
selves is in learning to be mindfully aware of the mo-
dent, based on their increased contact with themselves
ment-to-moment goings-on of our body and mind
(Blackstone, 2018).
as they exist through various situations occurring in
time. We have no experience of anything that is per-
manent or independent of this. Thus, there is no ego Context for the Realization Process
or self, just a counterfeit construction. While coun-
terintuitive to most of us, this is common ‘knowl- The Realization Process differs from the majority of
edge’ to highly experienced meditators (p. 287). other body psychotherapy approaches, such as Somatic
Experiencing (Levine, 1997), in that instead of focus-
However, this is not the knowledge or experience of all ing directly on the nervous system as the main arena of
highly experienced meditators. Experienced meditators trauma, the Realization Process focuses on the fascia.
have been debating exactly this point for many centu- The fascia is everywhere in our body, surrounding every
ries (Duckworth, 2017, Gyamtso, 2001). part of our physical anatomy, and serves as an inter-
face between our mind and our body (Lesondak, 2017).
We brace and constrict ourselves through the medium
The Realization Process of the fascia in order to protect ourselves in relation to
This paper presents a method of body psychotherapy our environment. Over time, through repeated move-
that facilitates the shift to living within the body as uni- ments into constriction, we rigidify patterns of holding
tive consciousness, and that utilizes this subtle dimen- back our own behaviors that might evoke disapproval or
sion of self-experience to heal deficits in contact with punishment, such as our anger or tears, and we protect
oneself and others resulting from childhood relational against situations of perceived danger and overwhelm in

38 INTERNATIONAL BODY PSYCHOTHERAPY JOURNAL Volume 20 Number 1 Spring/Summer 2021

Judith Blackstone

our environment, such as parental criticism, shaming, energy and tissue bound up in somatic constrictions. We
and abuse. We may create patterns of limitation in our do not just become more open, energetic, or self-aware
fascia in order to obstruct the impact of abrasive stim- as we release trauma-based constrictions. We become
uli, such as loud noises or cigarette smoke. We may also more whole, more internally unified. We release into the
mirror the patterns of constriction of important people unitive ground of our being.
in our early lives. We do this automatically as we open to
the contact and warmth of other people, and as we close The Realization Process also differs from those thera-
off those parts of ourselves that are not met with contact peutic methods that view our basic nature as consist-
and warmth. For a more detailed discussion of this, see ing of parts (Schwartz & Sweezy, 2020; Howell, 2005).
Blackstone, 2018. Schwartz (2020) wrote that he views the psyche as “a
relational milieu that is populated by independent en-
Through the medium of the fascia, we can constrict our- tities” (p. ix). As unitive consciousness, we experience
selves anywhere where fascia is present within the inte- our primary identity as undivided and unchanging. The
rior space of our body. By inhabiting our whole body, we constantly changing content of our experience flows
can experience shifts in the fascia that occur within the through the unified ground of our being without chang-
internal depths of our body in reaction to painful events, ing this underlying experience of primary identity. We
or in the recounting of those events for therapeutic pur- have an ongoing sense of internal coherence, a felt
poses. We can also discern even small rigidities within experience that we are basically one and the same be-
the interior space of our body where fascial tissues have ing, even as our understanding, behavior, and depth of
glued together to create rigidly held limitations in our self-contact change over time.
functioning, such as our ability to feel emotion or ex-
perience sensual pleasure. It is possible, through the The experience of ourselves as an ongoing, undivided
medium of the fascia, to limit our ability to love, for ex- internal wholeness means that we can tolerate great-
ample, with a movement so small within the depths of er intensities of pleasure and pain without fear of be-
the chest that it would not be visible to most observers ing overwhelmed or shattered. We can encompass the
or accessible to a person who was not deeply in contact depth, intensity, and free flow of our perceptions, cog-
with the internal space of their body. In this way, the nitions, emotions, and physical sensations. We can more
Realization Process refines and can supplement those easily tolerate the intensity of emotional release that
methods of somatic observation offered by Sensorimo- often accompanies the release of traumatic wounding.
tor Psychotherapy (Ogden & Fisher, 2015).
The Realization Process contributes to the body psy-
By accessing and living within the subtle vertical en- chotherapy field a step-by-step method for arriving at
ergy channel (shushumna) that is experienced within embodiment that is not just self-awareness, not just
the innermost core of the torso, neck, and head, we can physical sensation or instinct, but that uncovers a subtle
achieve a focus that is deep and subtle enough to focus primary dimension of self-attunement encompassing
within the constrictions within the interior space of the every facet of our experience.
body. When we focus within these constrictions, there is
a spontaneous movement further into constriction, and
then a release along the exact trajectory that was used to Inhabiting the Body
create the constriction. This precision often also yields
To live within the body is to be in contact with the inter-
access to the memories and intentions of the constric-
nal space of the body. To inhabit our hands, for example,
tion and produces a lasting release of the pattern.
means that we are in contact with the whole internal
By providing a technique for uncovering the unitive space of our hands. To be in contact everywhere in our
ground of our being throughout our body, the Realiza- body produces an experience of internal wholeness, a
tion Process provides a container for the release of the unified ground of being (Blackstone, 2018).

Embodying the Ground of Consciousness

Here is a brief exercise to illustrate the shift from being aware of the body to being within it
Rest your hands in your lap. Take a few moments to become aware of your hands. As you do this, you may
experience sensations in your hands, or the temperature of your hands, how hot or cold they are. You may ex-
perience how relaxed or tense they are. Now enter into your hands, inhabit them. Feel that you are the internal
space of your hands. Feel that you are living and present within your hands.

You may be able to feel the difference between these two experiences: aware of your hands and inhabiting
them.

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 Inhabiting the Body as Unitive Consciousness

This contact is consciousness. When we inhabit our As unitive consciousness, we can experience all of the
body, we feel that our consciousness is everywhere in parts and aspects of ourselves at the same time. We can
our body. This is a tangible experience. We feel that we experience our legs and our head at the same time, for
are made of consciousness. This is a shift from know- example, because we experience the internal space of
ing ourselves abstractly, from having an idea about who our whole body at once. When we inhabit both our head
we are that may change in different circumstances, to and our chest, we can think and feel at the same time.
embodying an unchanging, non-conceptual ground Our thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and per-
of consciousness. As the embodiment of unitive con- ceptions occur as a single, integrated experience.
sciousness, we know our basic identity experientially,
rather than conceptually. In one of the main Realization Process exercises, we
practice inhabiting the body, part by part, and then
Inward contact with one’s body is at the same time in- inhabiting the whole body at once (Blackstone, 2007).
ward contact with our human capacities. For example, Even this simple process of embodiment has much to
inward contact with the internal space of one’s neck is contribute to psychological health. Through the cul-
contact with one’s voice, one’s potential to speak. If we tivation of living within one’s body, we are able to ex-
constrict our neck and limit our ability to live within it, perience increased self-possession, and as a result,
we limit the use of our voice. Inward contact with the
increased self-confidence. The experience of having
internal space of one’s chest is contact with one’s ca-
internal volume, of “taking up space” in the body, can
pacity for emotional responsiveness. When we constrict
help us feel less overwhelmed by other people. It can
and limit our embodiment of our chest, we also limit the
help us to stay in contact with our own perceptions and
depth and fluidity of our emotional responsiveness. For
needs in relationship with other people. The felt expe-
this reason, inhabiting the body is crucial for recover-
rience of one’s own being can also engender self-love.
ing from early psychological wounding. For it is these
innate capacities of our being that we constrict in reac- When we inhabit our body, we uncover qualities of our
tion to overwhelmingly painful or confusing events in being that appear to be innate, since we discover them
our lives. rather than construct them. We can experience the ac-
tual feel of our intelligence and understanding within
We cannot suppress either our perception of the world
our head, the quality of our voice within our throat, the
around us, or our own responses to it, except by clamp-
ing down on our own body. For example, we cannot keep feel of our love within our chest, the quality of power
from crying, except by tightening the muscles in our within our midsection, the quality of sexuality and, for
chest, neck, and around our eyes. We cannot shut out the those who identify as having a gender, the quality of
sound of our parents fighting, except by tightening the gender (as a feeling, not an idea) within our pelvis and
anatomy of our hearing. For this reason, we cannot re- genital area. Uncovering these qualities also supports
cover ourselves, the depth of our emotional responsive- our recovery of compassion for ourselves. It becomes
ness, for example, or the acuity of our senses, without harder to tell ourselves that we are stupid, for example,
freeing ourselves from these bodily constrictions. when we actually feel our intelligence. It is hard to dis-
like ourselves when we actually feel that there is love in
These rigid somatic configurations obstruct our ability our chest, even when we are alone. We feel less intimi-
to inhabit the internal space of the body. They therefore dated or diminished by other people when we embody a
diminish our experience of contact with ourselves and
quality of power.
others, and limit both our internal coherence and our
capacity for intimacy. In the Realization Process, the
process of accessing and finally inhabiting the internal Clinical Illustrations
space of our body facilitates our ability to discern and
release these constrictions and regain the freedom and I worked with a woman who was severely depressed and
depth of our innate capacities. had made several suicide attempts. She described herself
as “garbage” and as “damaged goods.” Since she knew
As an antidote to the denial of our reality that is often many Hebrew blessings from her religious upbringing,
an aspect of childhood trauma, the free flow of our ex- I suggested that she take a moment to bless each part
perience through the unchanging ground of our being of her body as she inhabited it. After several months of
can help us to know what we really feel, really perceive, practice, she seemed to glow from inside. She began to
really know.
sit up straighter, even though we had never mentioned
As the embodiment of unitive consciousness, we experi- posture. And she began to make better choices in her
ence no distinction between our body and our being. We life. Of course, we also had many conversations about
experience that we are the internal space of our body. the painful events that she had endured as a child, and
Unitive consciousness is experienced as stillness. But it a warm relationship developed between us as I listened
is not emptiness; it is not hollow. It feels like our own to her. But it was after several months of practicing the
presence. It feels like the deepest, most direct contact embodiment exercise that she told me she had suddenly
that we can have with our own being. realized that she was “too precious to throw away.”

40 INTERNATIONAL BODY PSYCHOTHERAPY JOURNAL Volume 20 Number 1 Spring/Summer 2021

Judith Blackstone

The importance of inhabiting the body is often ignored Although I have not found references to this experience
because we, as a culture, are accustomed to the state of in the psychotherapy literature, there are many in the
disembodiment. In general, we do not question it. Where Asian spiritual literature. Muller-Ortega (1989) wrote,
do we live, if not in the body? The answer is that we live “No longer do finite objects appear as separate and lim-
in front of ourselves, and above ourselves, or in just a ited structures; rather, the silent and translucent con-
part of ourselves. sciousness out of which all things are composed surfac-
es and becomes visible as the true reality of perceived
Recently a man in a workshop I was teaching asked me
objects” (p. 182).
what I meant by the instruction: inhabit your feet. The
instruction had no meaning for him. I asked him where This pervasive, unified consciousness provides a sense
he lived in his body. He had to think about this, it seemed of continuity between ourselves and other people, and
like an odd question to him, but finally he pointed to his enhanced contact and “mutual transparency” when the
head. I suggested that he take a moment to experience other people have also attuned to unitive consciousness
what it felt like to live in his head, not just to be aware of (Blackstone, 2011).
his surrounding from his head, but actually to be living
The internal space of the body can experience contact
within the internal space of his head. It took a moment,
with the internal space of other bodies (Blackstone,
but he was able to feel himself living in his head. “Now
2011). Contact with other bodies depends on our contact
let yourself have this same experience in your feet,” I
with the internal space of our own body. If two peo-
said. This took even a little longer, but he did come down
ple both inhabit their hands, the contact they will feel
and enter into his feet, so that there was, visibly, as live-
if they touch each other’s hands will be more vibrant
ly a quality in his feet as there was in his head. When he
and intense than if they were not inhabiting their own
entered into his feet, he also began to inhabit his legs,
hands. They will each experience the contact within
and his lower torso. This internal foundation allowed
the internal depth of their own hands. This is true for
him to soften in his chest. Over the course of the work-
any part of our body that we inhabit. We can experience
shop, he began to feel, and to look, alive in his whole
contact with the internal depth of another person’s body
body. He reported that he felt much stronger, and at the
and being from within the internal depth of ourselves.
same time, somehow softer when he lived in his whole
body, and that it changed his sense of relationship with The contact between inhabited bodies does not neces-
everything around him. sarily require physical touch. It can even be felt across
distance. If two people each inhabit the internal space
of their chest, for example, they can experience contact
Embodiment in Relationship with each other within the internal depth of their chests,
across the distance of a room.
When we inhabit our body, we not only experience our
internal wholeness as unitive consciousness, we also This exercise will produce an automatic connection
experience unitive consciousness pervading our envi- between your love and the other person’s, a connec-
ronment. We experience that we are made of conscious- tion of love with love (Blackstone, 2011). This is not an
ness, and that everyone and everything around us is emotional response to each other, and not a mirroring
also made of the same one ground of consciousness. As or entrainment of each other’s emotional state. It is
an undivided ground, unitive consciousness appears to even more subtle than energetic resonance, although it
pervade and coincide with the substance of everything includes and can facilitate that level of connection and
that we perceive, so that everything appears to be both exchange as well. Rather, this is the subtle contact of the
empty and substantial at the same time. ground of one’s own being with the ground of another

Meeting in Unitive Consciousness

This exercise needs to be practiced by two people at the same time.

Stand or sit across the room from another person. Each of you inhabit the internal space of your chest. This
means to experience yourself as present within the internal space of your whole chest. Next, from within your
own chest, without moving from your own chest, find the space inside each other’s chest.

You can take this contact exercise a step further.

As you just did, each of you inhabit your own chest. Next, attune to the feeling of love within your chest. With-
out moving from within your own chest, let yourself experience the feeling of your own love in your own chest
and the other person’s love in their chest at the same time.

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 Inhabiting the Body as Unitive Consciousness

person’s being. It is an attunement to the unmoving, but Unitive Consciousness in

quality-rich ground of unitive consciousness pervading
the Therapeutic Relationship
one’s own body and the bodies of other people.
When we embody unitive consciousness, we experience
This exercise can be practiced with any part of our body ourselves as both whole within our individual form and
and any quality of our being, such as the qualities of as part of the spacious expanse of consciousness per-
understanding, voice, power, and sexuality or gender. vading our own form and our environment at the same
I often do this and other similar relational attunement time. This experience can enhance the effectiveness of
exercises with couples to help them feel where they the psychotherapeutic process in several ways. As the
easily connect with each other, or where there is some embodiment of unitive consciousness, we are present,
obstruction in their mutual contact. Then these ob- open, and responsive to our client at the same time as
structions, whether they be caused by chronic constric- we are contained and separate. This allows the client to
tion in one of the partner’s bodies, or by specific issues feel fully received by the therapist without feeling in-
between the partners, can be understood, released, and truded upon in their self-exploration. Put simply, they
resolved. Their mutual attunement to the pervasive, may feel more space to be themselves, to focus inward-
unified ground will itself contribute to the release of the ly, and to access the memories and emotions that they
barriers to the contact between them. need to uncover for their healing (Blackstone, 2018).

It is important to note that this is not a projection of Unitive consciousness also facilitates the free, unob-
oneself (of one’s focus or energy) into the other, which structed flow of our responses. This fluidity of respon-
would be felt as invasive. Nor is it a merging of oneself siveness, and lack of self-manipulation or agenda on
with another, which would mean loss of contact with the part of the therapist, can help the client feel safe
oneself. When we meet another person in the pervasive to be more authentic themselves, to more fully reveal
space of unitive consciousness, we do not leave the in- themselves both to the therapist and to the mirror of
ternal space of our own body in any way. To find oneself their own self-inquiry.
and another person at the same time within this space is The spontaneity that arises as we allow our responses
a more subtle attunement than projecting or losing one- to flow also appears to facilitate the spontaneous emer-
self in another person. gence of the healing process. It facilitates the function-
ing of more subtle phenomena such as synchronicity
This is a contact rather than a perception or informa-
and intuition (Blackstone, 2006). Both the client’s in-
tion-gathering exercise. It may facilitate our ability to
sights and the therapist’s guidance seem to arise direct-
see and feel, to some extent, the specific emotions or
ly out of the pervasive space of unitive consciousness
sensations that another person is experiencing, even
with less effort and error.
within the internal space of their body. This can be
thought of as a refinement of theory of mind, which The capacity of embodied consciousness to connect
usually relies on more superficial cues, such as fa- across distance with the internal space of other bod-
cial expression and bodily posture, rather than on the ies refines our ability not only to connect deeply with
movement of feeling within the body, to reveal another other people, but to know, to some extent, what other
person’s experience (Baron-Cohen, 2000). people are experiencing. This knowing is more subtle
than the experience of entrainment. Instead of feeling
Body psychotherapy modalities such as Sensorimotor another person’s emotions in our own body, as many
Psychotherapy (Ogden & Fisher, 2015) and Polyvagal sensitive people do, we can feel them “over there” in
Theory (Porges, 2011) have made huge strides in the un- the other person’s body. In the Realization Process, we
derstanding and treatment of attachment disorders by call this type of perception across distance a “see-feel.”
helping people closely observe their somatic responses It is not intuition, but rather a subtle range of our nor-
in relation to other people. The relational exercises of mal senses, and seems to yield a mixture of tactile and
the Realization Process contribute to this self-obser- visual information. It is a kind of “trans-interoception.”
vation by allowing us to perceive and understand the Almost everyone that I have trained to teach the Reali-
ways we obstruct the pervasive space of unitive con- zation Process has found they have access to this ability.
sciousness when we attune to it pervading our own It seems mystifying at first – how can we possibly feel
body and the body of another person (Blackstone, 2011). what is going on within someone’s body across the room
These exercises can also help heal relational difficulties without mirroring it ourselves? What sense is that? But
by teaching a way to experience intimate connection apparently, it is a subtle capacity of our senses that we
can access as unitive consciousness.
with another person without losing inward attunement
to our own authentic responses and needs. We neither This “see-feel” is a refinement of our natural human
have to cut off contact with others in order to protect capacity for empathy, our ability to know, “what the
the integrity of our own existence, nor give up our own inner life of man is, what we ourselves and what oth-
connection to ourselves in order to experience intimacy ers feel and think” (Kohut, 1977, p. 306). As it requires
with others. that we know ourselves as the unified ground of unitive

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Judith Blackstone

consciousness pervading our own and the other per- er oneness. We combine the embodiment exercises with
son’s body, it also requires that we remain within our a method for releasing trauma-based constrictions
own body. For this reason, it is not an invasive energet- from the body, along with verbal dialogue to understand
ic movement into the other person’s body or space. It and encompass the client’s painful past and its effect on
also means that we can clearly feel our own responses their present life. As the client is able to live more fully
to the other person, whether it be an answering grief, within their body, the pervasive consciousness between
or compassion or aversion, without becoming the oth- the client and the embodied therapist becomes increas-
er person. Without running the other person’s feelings ingly open.
through our own body, we can more clearly experience
the distinction between the other person’s experience
and our own responses. Conclusion
We can also sometimes experience when, where, and By inhabiting our body, we heal the rift between body
how the pervasive ground of unitive consciousness is and mind, between perception, cognition, emotion, and
obstructed in our relationship with our clients. Where physical sensation, and between self and other. Wher-
the pervasive space is open, we are in contact with each ever we inhabit our body, we are both in contact with
other, and where it is obstructed, we are not in contact. ourselves and open and available to the present moment
Just as with intimate partners, this obstruction may be in our environment. In the internal depth of our body,
caused by areas of chronic disembodiment, based on we access an experience of unified consciousness per-
childhood trauma, in the client’s or the therapist’s body, vading our body and environment. This ground feels
or by areas of temporary disembodiment/constriction in like our own true nature, the basis of our authentic con-
reaction to obstacles in their specific relationship. This nection with ourselves, with our environment, and with
gives us a new pathway in which to explore a client’s other people.
responses to the person and behavior of the therapist,
Understanding and facilitating the experience of em-
or the superimposition of the client’s earlier, formative
bodiment as inhabiting the body can enhance the heal-
relationships onto the therapist. In the same way, we
ing potential of the clinical encounter. If we view the
can track our own obstructions to the pervasive space in
therapist’s art as maturing in the direction of empathic
relation to our clients, and better understand even our
attunement and close attention to subtle, unspoken as-
most subtle responses to them.
pects of the therapeutic encounter, then it is important
In the Realization Process, the direction of healing is to extend our attention to the quality and configuration
toward both a more complete experience of internal of the embodied contact between ourselves and our cli-
wholeness and a more complete experience of self-oth- ents.

◼ ◼ ◼

Judith Blackstone, PhD, developed the Realization Process, a method of embodied psychological and
relational healing and nondual spiritual awakening. She teaches the Realization Process worldwide and
online, in workshops and teacher certification trainings. She is a licensed mental health counselor in New
York and was in private practice as a psychotherapist for thirty-five years. She is the author of Trauma and the Unbound Body:
The Healing Power of Fundamental Consciousness, Belonging Here, The Enlightenment Process, The Intimate Life, The Subtle Self,
and The Empathic Ground.

Email: [email protected]

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 Inhabiting the Body as Unitive Consciousness

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