Wellbeing

Barefoot Doctor – 3 Ways to Shift Your Perspective

The UK’s top spiritual guru on the drug-free way to enlightenment.

The UK’s top spiritual guru on the drug-free way to enlightenment.
Back in 1967 when Timothy Leary, one of the main proponents of the LSD experience coined the phrase, “turn on, tune in, drop out,” he was referring to taking the drug in order to attune to the underlying causative level of reality, rather than continue being entranced by the surface level of things, by their appearances, and thus no longer be held in sway by the so-called system.

Now I was never a big fan of Timothy Leary – for a start he grassed up his former friends as part of a deal to avoid a lengthy jail term – and LSD, while illuminating and sometimes fun, tended to give me a headache. But the notion of turning on, tuning in and dropping out still holds great appeal, especially if slightly reframed as follows.

The whole point of LSD trips was to shake off the shackles of the trance of everyday life in a trice and thus be left interacting with the underlying reality, the subatomic or causative realm, the realm of the undifferentiated absolute, the Tao, the Great Mother of both existence and non-existence, (from whence the former springs), rather than continuing to be deluded by its superficial effects, the shadows and shapes cast off by the magic lantern show of appearances and illusions; this external realm of the world of the 10,000 things, and in so doing, to attain to the transcendent state of enlightenment – if only temporarily.

Society needed LSD at that time – it needed it to wake itself up out of its trance and in so waking, to discover and explore the ancient methods carried through the ages mostly in the East, where technology was then still far behind, hence offering less of a distraction from the ancient ways, methods for attaining to the transcendent, enlightenedstate naturally without the need for any psychoactive agents other than those obtained via breathing, exercise, psychological reframing and mental focus.

And while achieving an altered state all at once by ingesting a substance ostensibly has more exotic appeal – especially to the lazy, undisciplined, instant gratification attuned Western mind – the longer term effects of following a daily discipline of meditation and/or psycho-physical exercise (such as qigong, tai chi, yoga etc) are obviously far more useful andultimately effective. Although I’m sure there are more than a few old hippy types hanging about in the north ofIbiza or the hinterlands of Goa who’d disagree andbless them all for keeping that freak flag still obstinately flying.

In any case, it’s this latter approach I wish to propose and champion here today.

But rather than burden you with admonishments to adopt a strict daily discipline, I’m going to proffer lightly three gentle yet powerful moves to make which, if practised correctly, will enable you to turn on at will to the cosmic force informingyou and your life, to then tune in to it at the appropriate frequency to elicit amazing results from your life as you go along, step by step, and finally to drop out of the zone of selfimposed prison-like restriction and constriction that otherwise makes your life a hell, so you can feel beautiful instead.

As it happens, LSD affects nerve nuclei in both the midbrain and the small intestine area around the belly button. To elicit a relaxed state during the trip, in order to gain most advantage, the given wisdom back in the day was to concentrate on relaxing the heart area. Interestingly an ancient Taoist (Chinese) meditation technique devised a few thousand years prior to Albert Hoffman’s discovery of LSD advises to concentrate the thoughts simultaneously in the midbrain and the navel and to warm the experience up by relaxing the heart area. Do this as follows and you’ll see why.

Turn on

Start with the belly button. Concentrate on your navel – press a finger into it to help you feel it more clearly.

If you were lying down with your arms over your head, so at full extension, and someone, for whatever strange reason of their own or yours, wanted or was required to attach a handle to you so you could be lifted ergonomically like a suitcase, your belly button area would be the place to attach it. This is the centre of your body; your body is the arena in which you experience the universe, hence this is the centre of your hole universe – not the things in your head, not the melodramas you’ve convinced yourself are your life – but this simple point: your belly button. Understanding this turns you on to a deeper, causative level of reality.
Tune in

Now you’ve turned on it’s time to tune in, into the flow of creative juice running through you and your life. Mobilising this flow you’re able to make things manifest in your life, in real time, simply by seeing them happen in your mind’s eye. So let’s move to the midbrain and make it happen.

Lower your eyelids, imagine yourself like a mini-Buddha sitting cross-legged in a cave within the cranium, leaning your back up against the rear interior wall of your skull, and gaze with gentle intent into the middle of the deep, dark void, which you’ll now find visible between and behind your eyes.

Stay like this for a while and try and focus on a line of light stretching from your midbrain all the way into infinity in front of you in the void. You’ll notice an energetic concentration sensation once you get it, that’ll make you feel empowered with a feeling of confidence that you can achieve anything you put your intention into.
Drop out

Move three is just a quick flip of the attention to warm this all up and inject some love into it. Concentrate on a vision of a small, round pinprick of rose-gold light bang in the middle of your breastbone. As you focus on it, breathing slowly all the while, watch it grow larger and larger until your whole chest is flooded with rose-gold light.

You’re centred in your navel and powerfully present, your mind is no longer entranced by the everyday realm, hence able to manifest what you need through original thought and now you’re opening to share it with everyone by radiating love from your heart and availing yourself likewise of the love of everyone else. This is what anchors being who you are, what gives it meaning, without which there’s no real point manifesting enlightenment or anything else for that matter.

Master of Modern Metaphysics

Barefoot Doctor is a leading Tao master and has written numerous books including the cult classic Handbook for the Urban Warrior. His latest book is called The Man Who Drove With His Eyes Closed and is published by Hay House. For information on his books, courses, lectures and other news visit the website barefootdoctorworld.com.

Article by

Barefoot Doctor

Tao Master

Barefoot Doctor is a leading tao master and has written numerous books including the cult classic Handbook for the Urban Warrior. His latest book is called The Man Who Drove...

Discover more

Article by

Barefoot Doctor

Tao Master

Barefoot Doctor is a leading tao master and has written numerous books including the cult classic Handbook for the Urban Warrior. His latest book is called The Man Who Drove...

Discover more