Image by ludi
Narrated by Marie T. Russell.
There is an abundance of pleasure possible for us all, a great deal more than we currently live. It is freely available to everyone without discrimination or expense. It is constantly accessible in each moment and with every interaction...
The Universe of Deliciousness is a reality hidden in plain sight. It is an essential state of pleasure, satisfaction and connection that has been experienced and described by many throughout history. Ancient Indian poet-saints referred to “this body of bliss”.
The Journey to Bliss
I am inviting you to make a journey without moving, from the surface of life to the depths, where delicious, satisfying pleasure awaits. We will travel by way of paying attention to ourselves and to others, and by choosing awareness of our perception and experiences, exploring our physical body with all of its sensations, feelings, imaginations and knowings, and opening ourselves up to the multi-dimensional richness...
This is an adventure that may change your life, allowing you to enter into a dynamic stillness of full-bodied being. It is about sexuality and healing, sustainability and the Earth, love, creativity and mystery. It shows how pleasure is nourishment, transforming us from an existence as competing individuals to collaboration as a cooperative community.
Life Itself Wants To Evolve Through Us
Life is uncertain. We do need the nourishment of the Universe of Deliciousness – so we can feel our fears and pains, our despairs and failures – and can then create something new and beautiful. When our hearts break, instead of violence can we be curious? Despite disaster, can we also find delight? Can we co-create together with Life, each of us a sensual intelligence within the multi-dimensional sensual intelligence of Life?
We, just like the rest of the natural world, yearn to be fully alive, full of passion and pleasure, humility and sensuality, purpose, dynamism and peace.
Individual Mess
Most of us, most of the time, are doing the very best we can. We hope that if we work hard enough and do all the “right” things, we will earn a better future either in a few years’ time or in a life after death.
In the meantime, we live with a gnawing sense of lack, a secret hole inside we don’t want to feel. We keep blaming other people for our own unhappiness – our boss or colleagues, partners or children – and looking outside of ourselves for something to satisfy us. But however much we consume and however busy we are, we can’t seem to reach that elusive delicious fulfilment.
We believe our sense of identity comes from our thoughts. We’ve forgotten there is another way.
Pleasure is Messy
When we see animals and children playing and enjoying themselves, we often smile in response, recognizing pleasure as natural, healthy and valuable. Pleasure is an essential dynamic in human existence.
Yet the body and its potential pleasure are all too often considered somehow dirty, bad or base – messy. It is often thought that pleasure needs to be controlled, that we must protect ourselves from it.
Why do we fear pleasure? Just what might it lead us to? Being out of our head and out of control, connecting with our authentic vulnerability, creative power and self-authority – living free. What might we do? Paradise lies in our experience of the variety of respectful relationships within the unity of living.
Pleasure is connected with the sacred creation of life, rejuvenation, inspiration and nourishment. It can be trusted as a physical principle to guide us in everyday life, freely available to wisely enjoy.
One thing is for sure: whenever spontaneous pleasure is repressed, it becomes stagnant and manifests as disease, abuse or manipulation. Surely natural messiness is preferable to this?
When people start to relax, they begin to notice everything in greater detail – more vivid colours, wider range of sound and the depth of silence. David Eagleman, author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, says that there is a looming chasm between what your brain knows and what your mind is capable of accessing.
A Higher-Resolution Life
As we open our perception, we discover that a higher-resolution life is possible. This is the key to increasing our experience of pleasure and satisfaction. Life is not just black and white; it is all of the colours, tones and textures in between. We access magic when we can accept both the happy, light and bright parts of life and the sometimes difficult, dark and frightening parts.
Fear, anger, frustration and hatred are inevitable, integral parts of life. Although it can be very challenging to really feel down and into the darkness, doing so can bring healing. In these situations, it is helpful to have the support of a practitioner as we descend below mental thought, into body.
Feeling both the up and the down makes us whole, radiant people, in contact with the magical. Within the darkness is light. Within the pain is pleasure. Within doubt is truth. Within the ordinary is the magical.
Life is not simple, it is amazingly complex. We live within an ocean of information. Accessing magic means embracing all details. Mythologist Joseph Campbell said that the psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight.
In different cultures and traditions, healing and spiritual work is about strengthening the nervous system. In this way, people learn to “tolerate” the impact of increased perception and sensory data coming into them from the world, with the accompanying increased flow of bioelectrical information within their body. Our capacity for pleasure depends on the capacity of our nervous system to allow these data waves to flood us.
In order to enjoy having more access to sensual information, we need to be grounded, take care of our basic needs and make sure that we are not overwhelmed. We need to access magic with intention and attention.
The work of healing oneself is a detective story, tracking down the missing pieces of information and energy we need. The aim is not to be self-obsessed, but to gather enough resources, enough ballast, to be able to experience what one couldn’t before – feelings, sensations and thoughts of difficult times past. In this way, we restore our healthy vitality, fragments are pieced together, and the liquid light of pleasure, power, potency flows again.
Melting In Bliss
Contrary to our usual idea of contentment, pleasure and fulfilment as being caused by something or somebody outside ourselves, what actually gives rise to our pleasure is when we are in good contact with our own self. The truth is that what leads to pleasure within a sexual occasion also leads to pleasure in daily life. The same ingredients – there are only a small number of essential patterns in life and these repeat. The body is a map for living well; it shows the way to the treasure.
Pleasure can become something that is not just genitally located, private and only for me. It becomes an aura and glow, a radiation of pleasure, illuminating not just your own body and life, but also those with whom you are in contact, those whose lives you touch. The energy of pleasure is felt by others even if they don’t know what it is that is so lovely for them to feel when they are with you.
We could describe this way of living as being balanced, living with integrity and authenticity. It comes from a deep trust in the external universe as a place of fundamental goodness, combined with a trust in the value of our own internal universe too. It is a willingness to take responsibility and explore all that’s arising here in this body-soul location.
It is a state and a process of personal evolution. When combined with other people living in the same way, with other beings, elements, archetypes and the Earth, it produces pleasure, wisdom and harmony for all, creating a sense of heaven on Earth, of literal paradise.
Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher,
Findhorn Press, an imprint of Inner Traditions Intl.
Article Source:
The Healing Power of Pleasure: Seven Medicines for Rediscovering the Innate Joy of Being
by Julia Paulette Hollenbery
A step-by-step journey into sensuality to rediscover the delight that lies just below the surface of everyday experience. Explaining how pleasure is all around us, Julia Hollenbery explores seven easily accessible spiritual “medicines” to discover more sensual pleasure and delight in your body, relationships, and way of being.
The author presents reflections, exercises, meditations, and energetic transmissions to help you reconnect body, mind, and soul and reclaim your innate source of pleasure.
For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About the Author
Julia Paulette Hollenbery is a bodyworker, therapist, mystic, healer, and facilitator. For more than 25 years she has guided countless clients into deep confidence and self-authority.
Julia is passionate about sharing her life-long love of the mystery, real sensual relationship, and the life of the body. Visit her website at UniverseOfDeliciousness.com/
