The Flow-Counterflow Exercise

This inner exercise concerns the blending of two flows of spiritual energy. We will call them flow and counterflow, where flow refers to intentionally drawing energies from the air around us into our body and counterflow refers to intentionally opening to allow an inner upwelling of energies from a deeper level into us. For flow we are active. For counterflow we are receptive.

For flow, with our attention acting as a net, we put that attention-net out into the air around us to capture and then draw energies from the air into our body, as we inhale through our nose. This has some similarity to the energy aspects of pranayama yoga, only here we are not alternating nostrils and we are not changing the physical pattern of our breathing. We are engaging with the invisible energies carried by the air. We make them perceptible in the act of sucking them into us from the air. That act is not a physical action. It is solely an act of intention and attention, an act of will. This flow part of the practice is all about using our intention and attention to ingest inner energies from the air.

After gaining familiarity and facility with drawing-in energies from the air, we come to see attention and intention as our instruments, as our inner arms and hands. Through them we can function in the inner, non-physical world, which is where we find the energies needed to feed our inner body. With practice, we may even come to the point of drawing-in energies from the air not just through our nostrils, but through the entire surface of our body, and not necessarily coordinating that inner breath with our physical breathing. We discover that we can reach out into the air with our attention and pull the energies directly into us, separately from our breathing.

Nevertheless, for this Flow-Counterflow Exercise, we do coordinate the two actions with our breathing, to keep them distinct for the exercise. We engage the flow as we inhale and the counterflow as we exhale. Both the inhalation and the exhalation are in the normal physical pattern of our breathing.

The counterflow arises from within, out of a deep letting go and opening. Relaxing our body a little more with each exhalation. Letting go of being caught in the busyness of our mind. And opening our heart to a tender yearning for the Sacred. Fundamental to the counterflow is a directed opening into and through our own center, into and through who we are. The realms of the spirit lie behind that, through that doorway. We aim directly through our psychological center, our spiritual center, through that in us that chooses, that sees what we see and feels what we feel, through our very self. If we can find our way into, through, and behind that central core, which at our clearest and best we consider to be us, then through that opening the sacred spirit trickles into us, until it pours into us. That trickle, that upwelling of energy from within is the counterflow of this exercise.

The counterflow opening relates us to the spiritual realm, with its high-level energies. That spiritual realm, because it is beyond consciousness, appears to us as void. To open the channel to that realm, we might at first use some sacred words that touch us, maybe one of God's names or a short prayer phrase that we inwardly repeat as a way of knocking on the door of heaven.

The flow strengthens our place. The counterflow strengthens us. Their blending makes us whole.

To understand how, we turn to some technical details from Gurdjieff's Fourth Way and John Bennett's formulation of it. The flow part of this exercise accumulates sensitive energies from the air at the level of World 24. The counterflow part of this exercise opens us to the creative energies at the level of World 6, which is beyond consciousness, the substance of World 12. By blending the sensitive and creative energies, this exercise produces the energy at the level between them, the conscious energy.

This process of the higher blending with the lower to produce the middle is called by Gurdjieff in his writings "harnel miaznel." These three energies, sensitive, conscious, and creative, feed our two soul bodies: the Kesdjan body and the higher being-body. The sensitive energy feeds the lower soul, the Kesdjan body. The creative energy feeds the higher soul, the higher being-body. And the middle energy, the conscious energy, feeds both, because the Kesdjan body is made of the sensitive and conscious energies, and the higher being-body is made of the conscious and creative energies. Thus, the complete exercise helps us grow toward wholeness through the essential soul substances.

The Flow-Counterflow Exercise

Sit quietly, relaxing into your body.
As you relax, sensation comes to the foreground. Shift your attention into the sensation throughout your body and stay with that.
Savor the air you are breathing.
Cast your attention like a net into the air around you and, as you inhale through your nose, draw the active elements, these shimmering particles of energy, from the air into your body. Let these energies spread throughout your body, blending with and building up the sensation in your body, the cognitive energy in your head, and the feeling energy in your chest. Repeat this step until these sensitive energies are strong throughout your being. This step is the flow part of the exercise.
Inhabit the sensitive energy throughout your body, feeling, and mind. Be in it. Be totally present.
With each exhalation, open your mind and heart a little more, to a tender yearning for the Sacred. Open yourself. Open your innermost center, your very core. Let the higher well up into you through your core, a little more with each exhalation. Repeat until the Sacred cascades into you. This is the counterflow step of the exercise.
Put the flow of step 4 and the counterflow of step 6 together. When you inhale, draw the active elements from the air into your body. When you exhale, open to the inner upwelling of the higher energy from the Sacred. Repeat, letting the flow and counterflow energies mingle and blend.
When you are ready to stop, sit quietly for five or ten minutes to let it all settle into your being.

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