The next exercise goes a step further than simply tuning into your ancestors. In the first exercise of the ritual—tuning into your ancestors—you might not have felt anything. It could well be that no ancestor wanted to come forward at that moment.

In this exercise, that is actually not possible. That is quite exciting. Because you might not feel anything. It is a matter of being very still inside and having patience. The stillness and patience, or the openness, the pure openness without expectation, are the most important ingredients. Alongside the love with which you do it, of course. Love is the measure of everything.

If you find this difficult, then meditating is a good solution. For that, I refer you to the section ‘Meditation instruction’. There I advise you not to focus on time. But if you wish to practise subtle perception – that is to say, cultivating pure openness and deep silence – then meditating for fifteen minutes daily, or almost daily, over a period of time is recommended.

Another difference between this exercise and the previous ones is that, when it comes to body parts, these involve systems that do not function in a human way. These are energy fields that feel very different. With this exercise, you enter other worlds that are unknown to us.

What requires extra attention is if you do encounter a human energy whilst you are tuning into a body part. In that case, you are dealing with an occupation. A human energy or emotion has settled on that part of your body. I would then advise you to work on clearing it. In the next section, I will explain a few exercises for clearing.

The ‘exploring your body’ exercise is simple and follows the same principle as the ancestral ritual. I think it’s important that you do the exercise blindfolded, meaning you don’t know which part of your body you’re tuning into. We have so many preconceived images of everything within us; it’s better to bypass those images by not knowing which body part you’re focusing on.

You write notes with body parts on them. Fold them so you cannot see what is written, or turn them over. Shuffle them and pick out five at random without looking at them. Make sure you have five stones. If possible, ensure it is quiet, nobody can disturb you, and you have plenty of time. You feel relaxed. For a moment, nothing demands your attention. You place five stones in a row on the floor and place a note next to each stone. You cannot see what is written on them. You pick up a stone and tune into it. You can accompany this with a question or a comment such as: “body part, I am going to tune into you. I ask you to reveal yourself to me”. I don’t think of that myself, but it’s certainly a lovely thing to do. You write down what you sense inside, clear your mind, and move on to the next stone. Once you’ve done all five, you check which body part was on which note and read the notes that go with them. You repeat this for all the notes with body parts.

If you find it difficult in the sense that you regularly encounter problems and tension in parts of your body, you could choose not to continue with the body scan, but to focus first on supporting your body. See the following section, ‘Supporting and cleansing body parts’, for guidance on this. But you certainly don’t have to. By scanning your body, you are already giving it your attention and things can start to shift. So if you encounter tensions and problems, you can accept that, not worry too much about it, and simply carry on. Ultimately, it is good to give them your attention, but completing this exercise is also a great help with tensions and problems. The exercise itself is helpful. It is good to realise that.

As for the body parts: you should focus on each part separately as much as possible. So you don’t focus on your legs or ears, but on the left leg and the right leg, the left ear and the right ear, and so on. If, in my experience, parts are not distinct, I do treat them as a single whole. See what you choose here. That will depend on your knowledge of this and your own experience with your body. Below is a list of parts. It is, to some extent, arbitrary. Different subdivisions may be important to you.

To keep it manageable, you can start by selecting the twenty that are most important to you. Make a note of which ones you’ve covered so that next time you can choose another twenty that you wish to focus on, without repeating any.