Technique of recapitulation working through situations. The Recapitulation Technique is a description of Castaneda's practice. Two main levels of recapitulation
The technique itself is as follows. You need to remember some situation that made the greatest impression on you (for starters, you can use some recent case that made you worry). It is advisable to do this in a calm environment so that nothing interferes or distracts. Later, you can do this in any conditions. For example, I sometimes practice recapitulation during long trips - when you sit behind the wheel for 5-7 hours, you can direct part of your attention to a useful thing. The results are very fruitful. However, it is hardly worth getting carried away with this at first, while the approach has not yet become automatic.
So, you need to try as vividly as possible to remember all the details and details of the event, the picture that stood before your eyes at that moment, all the details and details of what was happening, remember as much as possible at the moment. And at the same time try to remember in detailall those sensations and feelings that you were experiencing at that moment. And no matter how unpleasant or painful they are, stay inside this mood without trying to escape from it. Dive headfirst into it. Thisfirst step .
After you have felt yourself in the whole gamut of feelings and moods of that moment, you begin to restore energy with the help of breathing: taking a calm slow breath, simultaneously with the air you draw in yourself from those sensations that you experience, the energy stuck in them; exhaling slowly, you give away the energy that has penetrated you along with extraneous feelings and moods, returning it to the one from whom it came to you. Thus, alternating slow breaths and exhalations, you go deeper and deeper into the details and details of feelings and sensations, and continue until you feel that you have more or less dealt with this case. Then you can move on to another episode. And it’s not scary if at first I remembered quite a bit. As you deepen and with regular practice, you begin to notice that such details come up that you completely forgot about, and suddenly they come up, and you can, paying attention to them again, “breathe” them too. This is because as the energy as a resultrecapitulation is restored, it endows you andnew possibilities of understanding. From a certain moment, this process can even begin to develop like an avalanche: a new power opens up new layers of memories, and memories return the power stuck in them.
However, it is important to be focused precisely on sensations, not on images and pictures, not on imagination, namelyon sensations . Although images and pictures help the process, it is important not to turn them into an end in themselves in order torecapitulation did not turn into a mechanical enumeration of the details known to you - what people usually do when indulging in memories, that is, they simply chew the usual chewing gum of lived feelings. Thissecond step . Many old people, almost all the time immersed in memories, are partly at the threshold of such an opportunity, but without mastering the method, they simply wander semi-consciously through the land of dreams, and instead of restoring energy, they waste time in vain. Their life has already brought them to the need to deal with the accumulated baggage of impressions of life, but they still do not know how to do it correctly.
In mastering recapitulation, two approaches are possible: go from situations or tune in to specific people. In the latter case, you can even write a detailed list of everyone who has had some kind of impact on your life (ideally, you need to rememberall people who met in life, although this is not always necessary, because. most often, our situations in life go in circles, and we repeat the same scenarios over and over again. Having recognized some scenario of our life, we can stop supporting it and then we will be freed from many of its consequences.) But we must start, first of all, with the people who left the deepest imprint on us. Moreover, it is necessary to remember not only the bad, but also the good. With good things it is a little more difficult, because in this case, in our nature, there is often an unwillingness to part with pleasant memories. And it takes some determination to overcome this greed of an instinctive nature. it can be overcome, remembering that the main and real thing that we experienced at this moment will not leave us anywhere, but will always be with us, but the energy, chaotically mixed up at the same time, will be restored.
Here is the technique in a nutshell. If you like it, you will be able to change and transform a lot in your life with its help. And besides, it helps not only you. At the other end of the situation, there is also a release. Because you returnnot their own energy to the one who gave it to you. Thus, give him an additional opportunity to understand something and understand himself. Usually a person does not have the opportunity to change something, because all his energy is already involved in life and there is no excess. And here - an unexpected joy, a few extra calories appeared, which can sometimes outweigh the scales for an hour in the right direction for a person. Sometimes even a little bit can do a lot.
Now a little about the results themselves. Perhaps the most important consequence, besides the feeling that lost strength is returning to you, is an increasingclarity of thought . After practicing for a while, you begin to notice connections and relationships between people, situations, and events that you didn't notice before. You begin to identify certain general patterns that accompany you through life, you better navigate them, you become more conscious, and therefore a more effective participant in your own life. For example, understanding the consequences of disagreements between parents on children. One day I just saw how the conflict between parentsdevastates child, as a child loses a lot of energy. There are many such strokes, but in this case it is better to rely on your own experience.recapitulation .
The power of recapitulation is that it stirs up all the rubbish of a person's life and brings it to the surface.
Carlos Castaneda "The Active Side of Infinity"
Recapitulation is an effective magical practice that has as its main goal the work of purifying the individual perception of the practitioner from private identifications with the forms of manifestation of forces and energies.
Almost every serious tradition has some form of this magical practice in its arsenal of techniques, and the degree of elaboration of details is the main difference between them.
The proposed recapitulation methodology is the most adapted for integration with everyday life. It does not set as its goal the acquisition of specific superpowers obtained as a result of the practice of recapitulation, its main task is to maintain the current purity of perception with a consistent revision of the elements of the past based on the events that arise as life activity progresses. This approach is most comparable to karmic hygiene, for which an increase in the practitioner's individual magical power is a natural consequence of its presence.
For the magician, recapitulation is a way to give back to this extraordinary power what it lent to us at the moment of our birth. It is quite unbelievable, don Juan said, that this force is content with the aforementioned re-experiencing. Since the only thing she wants from us is self-awareness, then if we give it to her in the form of a recapitulation, she does not take our life in the end, but allows us to go along with it to freedom. This is how sorcerers theoretically explain recapitulation.
This is the main technique that allows stalkers to first highlight their main elements of the tonal façade. In other words, we can say that this technique allows you to understand exactly where the energy is leaking. That is, to find out exactly how you react to the world, and gives you the opportunity to control your reactions, emotions and even feelings. Through recapitulation, a person can first find the "buttons" by which others, society, and also himself (yes, yes, we ourselves often press our buttons - Pity, Importance, Fear, etc.) press him and so thus forced to react in one way or another, while losing the lion's share of the available energy. And when the buttons are found, the preconditions for their neutralization are already being created. In fact, a person is able to fundamentally change the "façade of the tonal". And for dreamers, this is the main channel for drawing energy for dreams. Why do you think some people have dreams and others don't? natural data? - nothing like that! The main reason people can't DO dreams is because they never did a REVIEW.
The technique itself was invented by ancient seers on the American continent several thousand years ago. They found that in the course of a person's life, energy fibers begin to remain in the surrounding details (both physical and emotional-psychological). And over time, it turns out that most of the fibers somewhere "stuck" in the past. Namely, they (energy fibers) are not enough to stalker (track yourself inside) or dream. But note that awareness (maha mudra) is not yet stalking, but only a prerequisite for it (this is so, by the way), just as maha mudra is not yet a Toltec dream, but only a prerequisite for it, since it is not enough to realize oneself in dreaming! Toltec also needs to take some steps.
The very essence of recapitulation is in the return to oneself of one's own luminosity (energy fibers). Then the person becomes stronger, but loses touch with the past. For some, this is scary. But this is the way of the Toltecs - to be free from everything, including the past. And fear, as you know, is the first enemy of a person of Knowledge.
To conduct a recapitulation, you need to add up a list of all the people (or all the events) that have been in your life. This takes several weeks to months. Already folding the list itself is part of the recapitulation. Begins to draw the INTENT of the Seer Toltecs. And energy is released. This is how often a person comes to the first dream.
Technically, performing a recapture is pretty straightforward. A few key details stand out: place, breath, and list.
The place should be secluded, quiet. Pre-reviews are usually performed while sitting in a cardboard or wooden box in a position with raised knees pressed to the chest. From time to time, you have to change the position of the legs, as the legs become numb, for this you can use meditative yoga asanas (sukh-asana, vajrasasna, half-lotots, lotus, guptasana). The box must have a top with ventilation - holes are cut in the top cover. Even better - generally make the top of thin wooden planks in the form of a lattice. Here is what Castaneda writes: "... that stalkers use boxes or earthen coffins to close themselves in while they are reliving, and not just revisiting, every moment of their lives. The reason why stalkers have to revisit their lives in such a detailed way is that the gift of an eagle to a man includes his consent to accept a surrogate instead of real consciousness, if this surrogate is a perfect copy.
The list should be prepared in advance, for example in a separate notebook. The people selected for recapitulation in a given session can be written out on a piece of white plastic. As you review, you erase the names from the plastic with an ordinary eraser. And the main list is stored further in the notebook, it will still be needed, since there are several circles of recapitulation. The first circle is a brief recapitulation of all the people and events associated with them. The second circle is a detailed recapitulation of all phenomena, remembering everything down to the smallest details (color, smell, taste, thoughts ...) Traditionally, a recapitulation is carried out from the present time to birth. And the third round of recapitulation is the compilation of a mosaic of a recapitulated life based on random plots, relying on the Spirit. That is, in the third round, the list is actually no longer needed. To compile the list itself, you can use the principle of dividing people into areas of activity. It’s good to grab a flashlight with you in the box, as recapitulation is often carried out at night, when all the family are sleeping :).
Breath. There are several types of breathing described by Castaneda and his cohort. But the essence is the same - with the help of breathing, we return the lost energy fibers to ourselves. We use a synthesized version of breathing from several descriptions. The first person on the list is taken. Chin on right shoulder. With a turn of the head, a breath is taken, reviving the events associated with this person. The head returns to the central position and exhalation is carried out. Then the event is remembered, and from time to time one should do "wind fanning" (c) Juan Matus: inhale - turn the head from the right shoulder to the left, exhale - turn the head from the left shoulder to the right. During inhalation, we return our energy fibers, while exhaling, we throw out strangers. When the event is reviewed (and this is according to internal sensations), we turn our heads from right to left and back WITHOUT breathing. By doing this, we cut off the remnants of the energy fibers that bind us. In addition, the process of remembering can be conveniently divided into:
remembering the details of an event, remembering people and relationships, recapitulating one's Attitude towards this event.
"... Florinda explained that the key to revising was breathing. For her, breathing was magical because it was a life-giving function. She said it was easy to revisit if you could reduce the area of excitement around the body. That was the point of the box "Then the breath will carry deeper and deeper memories. Theoretically, stalkers have to remember every feeling they've had in their lives, and that process starts with their breath..."
There is one nuance. If you do not want a break (change) in relations with any person, wait a little with his recapitulation. Our relations are based on energy exchange. And by breaking the energy balance (or imbalance :)) with a given person (husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend ...), you provoke a change in relations.
DEPRESSION AS ONE OF THE EFFECTS OF REVIEW
Recently, the technique of recapitulation has gained specific popularity (perhaps sometimes unjustified and excessive). Traditionally (ie, in accordance with the books of Castaneda), recapitulation is included in the technology of stalking, although its significance is truly universal, as evidenced, in particular, by the practice of dreamers.
Indeed, recapitulation is the stage that sooner or later everyone who counts on serious achievements in Kastanedov's discipline has to go through. The revision would rightly be called the "basic cleaning" of the tonal, which is a necessary condition for high-quality dreaming and stalking, for effective work with intention, maintaining impeccability, especially for the highest realizations of nagualism - the formation of a double and teleportation.
In this case, recapitulation is often accompanied by very dramatic effects, which everyone who wants to really get close to the nagual should know about. In particular, recapitulation can lead to depression, which should be specifically mentioned.
As a matter of fact, depression as one of the effects of recapitulation is a hot topic only because today's "Toltecs" do not quite understand the consistency and inner spirit of Don Juan's discipline. Tradition prescribes the use of recapitulation only after fully mastering the ideas of impeccability in everyday life, after mastering at least the initial skills of stopping the internal dialogue and a certain restructuring of the hierarchy of life values in the spirit of Kastanedov. This process takes time. It should be borne in mind that recapitulation is by no means intended for beginners. Nevertheless, enthusiasts of recent years often believe that initiation into Toltec magic begins precisely with Tensegrity and recapitulation. As a result, quite often the former causes psychoenergetic disorders, and recapitulation - depression and ugly personality changes.
Of course, a personal story, after careful recapitulation, does not often cause positive emotions. Subconsciously, we are always aware that our thoughts and actions are unlikely to coincide with the way that will strengthen self-esteem, i.e. will strengthen the sense of self-importance - the main defense of the ego from the aggression of the external environment. Recapitulation makes our ego helpless, it loses its internal orientation and literally freezes before the revelations of that impartial observer, which is the center of pure awareness, the assemblage point - because it does not care about feelings of guilt, shame, embarrassment, disappointment and hope. A non-egoistic, "bare" look at oneself can shock a normal person ("man of the tonal") to such an extent that the world seems like hell, and the whole previous life - a fall into the abyss, where there is neither meaning nor outcome of the struggle. It is easy to imagine the consequences such discoveries tend to lead to.
Such effects are often demonstrated by amateurish psychoanalysis. An analyst who is not gifted with due tact and intuition can literally destroy the patient by telling him the true motives of his behavior. Unfortunately, our ego is much uglier than we imagine, and our self-esteem is a more fragile entity than we would like. The collapse of these fundamental criteria of self-image for the "man of the tonal" can be an existential catastrophe. And these are not empty words, they are confirmed by personal experience of communication with beginner "Toltecs".
So, for a neophyte, recapitulation is, first of all, a source of trouble, insecurity and self-humiliation, sometimes reaching destructive proportions. Depression is the most common and far from the worst consequence of recapitulation. It can be protracted or short, deep or superficial: in any case, the results of such depression will definitely manifest themselves in the life of the subject. Such results tend to benefit only those who stubbornly follow don Juan's ideas for the rest of their lives. Otherwise, the “ego system” upset by untimely recapitulation significantly reduces the effectiveness of the individual in the implementation of the usual scenarios of self-realization of the ego in the world of the tonal. Simply put, a person becomes miserable here without gaining anything "there". It must be remembered that the fragmented use of Toltec technique often does harm than good. We often forget that ancient magic was never intended for mass use by the laity, with their tendency to choose from the whole the most convenient parts, the closest ideas, and the easiest ways to implement them. Today, a rare person is able to modify the ancient technique of self-transformation "for himself" - first try to figure out if you are capable of this. Perhaps it is in these cases that a "guru" is needed - an instructor, adviser, etc. Unfortunately, we rarely meet such specialists.
It is easy to see that the cause of depression after recapitulation is, to one degree or another, a collapse of self-esteem. It turns out that we are not as smart as we thought before, not as educated, not so friendly, not so spiritual, and so on. and so on. To put it bluntly, we all look disgusting as a result of the recapitulation. If your self-esteem has not changed, be sure that this was not a recapitulation, but another self-deception. Only a true warrior in this situation is able to avoid depression.
What to do in such a crisis? Of course, the technique of recapitulation itself contains the solution of all problems. Consistent consideration of one's own experiences - without fear, without evasions, to the very end - prevents the emergence of depressive reactions or states. The trouble is that most of us, faced with the horror of Reality, shied away and freeze somewhere in the corner with a pounding heart. A glimpse of oneself causes tetanus almost literally. By trying and constantly stepping back (and this is the most common scenario of recapitulation), we create optimal conditions for depression, all-round self-abasement and despair - that is, exactly what prevents any progress on the path of self-transformation.
The exposed person is simply offended by the fact that she was put in such an awkward position. It is here that it is unexpectedly discovered that the true Self (nagual) has little in common with the person we are used to (tonal). I want to say right away that the obvious analogy with consciousness and the unconscious is inappropriate here, since it reflects only a small part of the problem - these are not just two sides of the psyche, these are precisely two PARTS OF OUR BEING, firmly connected with behavior, reactions, and most importantly - the energy tone of the whole. Resentment automatically turns into an unconscious refusal of any further activity - that is, we are dealing with one of the options for "compression of the tonal". Castaneda was absolutely right when he pointed out that the tonal is very vulnerable, shy and touchy. There is also a metaphysical explanation for this - the tonal is secondary and optional for Reality, its reverse side is well aware of this, and that is why it fights any attacks on its own existence with such unbridled and gloomy passion.
One could write a whole treatise on this subject, but the most important thing is easy to understand in this way: REVIEW DOES NOT PROVIDE THE NECESSARY PERFECTION, BUT PERFECTION GUARANTEES THE CORRECT FLOW OF THE REVIEW. This is an important point and should not be forgotten.
... Florinda explained that the key to the revision was the breath. For her, breathing was magical because it was a life-giving function. She said it was easy to revise if you could reduce the area of arousal around the body. That was the point of the box. Then the breath will carry deeper and deeper memories. Theoretically, stalkers must remember every feeling they had in life, and this process begins with their breath ...
Carlos Castaneda "Gift of the Eagle"
Performing a Recapitulation
As a formal practice, recapitulation begins with the compilation of a recapitulation list.
Work on each event or person on the list continues until all emotions associated with the event have disappeared. The process of recapitulation is accompanied by a special breath (“sweeping breath”) - a slow exhalation with a head turn to the left, a slow breath in with a head turn to the right, which has various variations depending on the nature of the situation being recapitulated.
Don Juan taught me to combine recollection with natural rhythmic breathing. A deep exhalation should be done in time with a slow gentle movement of the head from right to left; a deep breath is taken when the head moves in the opposite direction - from left to right. He called this process of shaking his head from side to side "fanning the event." The mind explores the event from beginning to end, while the body "fans" again and again everything that the mind focuses on. Don Juan said that the sorcerers of the past, who discovered the recapitulation, considered the breath as a magical, vital action and used it accordingly - as a magical tool. Exhalation is used to release the negative energy left in them as a result of the event, which is being recapitulated, and inhalation is used to return the energy that they lost during the interaction.
Revision Terms
The conditions for recapitulation are a calm environment, silence, complete loneliness for a certain time and the presence of a recapitulation box, a recapitulation list compiled in advance.
Her benefactor gave her the box as a means and a symbol to help her learn concentration, because she had to sit there for many years until her whole life passed before her eyes, and at the same time it was a symbol of the narrowness of the boundaries of our personality. Her benefactor told her that when she finished her recapitulation, she would break the box, symbolizing that she was no longer bound by the limitations of her own personality.
Carlos Castaneda "Gift of the Eagle"
Due to the difficult conditions for some people, various organizations sometimes organize traveling collective sessions of recapitulation or provide a place for practice, which does not always meet the very requirements for conducting a recapitulation as a purely individual and intimate process.
In the same book, the idea is expressed that recapitulation should never stop, continuing throughout the life of a warrior and getting deeper and deeper.
The recapitulation of our lives must never end, no matter how well done once, don Juan said. - The reason why ordinary people cannot control their will in dreams is because they have never recapitulated their lives, and their dreams are filled with very intense emotions for this reason, such as memories, hopes, fears, and so on and so on. the like.
Carlos Castaneda "The Art of Dreaming"
It also mentions that recapitulation automatically causes the practitioner to suspend dream practice, and this is often the criterion for a properly initiated recapitulation.
Recapitulation and psychoanalysis
Recapitulation is similar in character to some methods of psychoanalysis, but nevertheless it is not. The book "The Art of Dreaming" asserts the energetic nature of the practice of recapitulation and, thus, the similarity with psychoanalysis is possible only as the similarity of some of the consequences of recapitulation to the results of the methods of psychoanalysis.
Recapitulation (compilation from books)
Two main levels of recapitulation:
1. The first is characterized by formality and rigidity. Very painstakingly and carefully make a list of all the people with whom you have interacted. From now to the past, from Z to A. The list will end with your father and mother.
How to do it: From the beginning, refresh your memory by remembering and writing down the most vivid memories of your life. Events that taught you something important, events that left a deep mark, events that led to total changes for you. In my opinion, this is the compilation of a memorable album of a warrior. Next, starting from the restored events, move on to people, to compiling a list of all people.
There is an incomprehensible powerful force in the universe that endows all beings with awareness and life. Under the influence of the same force, beings die, thereby returning to her the borrowed early awareness, strengthened and enriched by their life experiences. This force is interested precisely in experiences, so it is very important to saturate it with copies of our life experience obtained during the recapitulation. The list of people can be ordered at your own discretion, using the division into areas of activity, for example: various positions, professions, recreation, sports, various training courses, sex partners, this section is especially important, since we spend a lot of energy on sexual experiences that are necessary return and redistribute via recapture.
After that, you need to go from the first person on this list to the last one, without missing anyone, reliving each meeting with them again. When recapitulating an event, fragment by fragment is reconstructed, starting with the recall of external details, then moving on to the personality, and ending with turning to oneself, exploring one's feelings.
The recollection of events must be combined with rhythmic breathing. Deep exhalation should be done in time with a slow, gentle movement of the head from right to left; a deep breath is taken when the head moves in the opposite direction - from left to right. This shaking of the head from side to side is called "fanning the event." Breathing is a magical, vital action. Exhalation is used to release the negative energy left in the memory as a result of the event (clearing one's memories of negativity). Inhalation - to return the energy lost during a certain event.
Revision is best done in a confined space, in the dark. For example: closing in the pantry, or laying the bath with soft towels, or something else, turn off the light in the bathroom, get comfortable .... and go ahead.
2. The second level of recapitulation is characterized by mobility of attention. When you recapitulate the second level, you yourself do not remember either events or people, leave it to the spirit to decide. You simply, as usual, sit down, close your eyes, begin to shake your head in time with rhythmic breathing, then certain events will pop up by themselves. Time after time, looking through these fragmentary, seemingly unrelated events, they form your life from a very interesting angle. So, let the spirit decide what and in what sequence you review.
Pass
As we review our lives, all the rubbish comes to the surface. We are aware of our contradictions, our repetitions, but something in us has great resistance to recapitulation. Magicians say that the road is free only after a colossal shock; after the memory of the event appears on the screen, which shakes our foundations with terrifying clarity of detail. This event truly pulls us back to the very moment we experienced it. Magicians call this event a pass, because after it, every event that we touch is re-experienced, and not just remembered.
There is no way to find a pass, but one way or another, everyone who will do a recapitulation will inevitably, sooner or later, stumble upon it.
The recapitulation of our lives must never end, no matter how well done once, don Juan said. – The reason why ordinary people cannot control their will in dreams is that they have never recapitulated their lives, and their dreams, for this reason, are filled with very intense emotions, such as memories, hopes, fears, etc. further and the like.
Recapitulation is also a ruse used by the magician to bring about a permanent shift in the assemblage point, however slight. The assemblage point, influenced by viewing past events and experiences, moves back and forth between its present position and the position it held when the integrating experience took place. And this is an act of weakening the fixation of the assemblage point in its everyday - standard position, which brings us closer to seeing the energy fields, makes the vision more accessible.
Excerpt from Carlos Castaneda's book, The Active Side of Infinity, about recapitulation
It's time for you to start one of the biggest magical projects, don Juan said.
What magical project are you talking about, don Juan? I asked.
It's called recapitulation - the ancient sorcerers called it retelling the events of their lives, and for them it began as a simple technique, an aid to remembering what they did and said to their students. For their students, this technique had the same value: it allowed them to remember what their teachers had said and done. It took terrible social upheavals, such as being conquered and defeated several times, before the magicians of old realized that their technique had much more far-reaching consequences.
Don Juan, are you talking about the Spanish conquest? I asked.
No, he said. - It was only the final note. There were other shocks before that, more devastating. When the Spaniards got here, the magicians of antiquity were gone. Their disciples, who had survived other shocks, were by then very circumspect. They knew how to take care of themselves. It was this new generation of sorcerers who renamed the technique of the sorcerers of old and called it recapitulation.
Time is extremely valuable,” he continued. - In general, time is material for magicians. For me, the challenge is that in a very short time I have to cram into you everything that is known about magic as an abstract pursuit, but in order to do this, I need to build in you the space necessary for this.
What space? What are you talking about, don Juan?
Magicians proceed from the fact that in order to bring something in, there must be a space where to bring it in, - he said. - If you are filled to the brim with the objects of everyday life, then there is no room for anything new. This space needs to be built. You know what I mean? Ancient sorcerers believed that recapitulating one's life creates this space. He really does it and, of course, a lot more.
Magicians perform recapitulation in a very formal way,” he continued. - It consists of making a list of all the people they have met, from the present to the very beginning of their lives. When they have this list, they take the first person on it and remember everything they can about that person. And I mean everything, every detail. It is better to review from the present to the past, because the memories of the present are fresh, and thus the ability to remember is sharpened. Practitioners do what they remember and breathe. They inhale slowly and consciously, waving their heads like a fan from right to left, with a barely noticeable turn, and exhale in the same way. He said that the inhalation and exhalation should be natural; if they are too fast, one can enter into what he called fatiguing breathing: breathing after which you need to breathe normally to calm the muscles.
And what do you suggest I do with all this, don Juan? I asked. “Start making your list today,” he said.
Divide it by year, by profession, put it in any order, but make it consistent, starting with the most recent person, and ending with mom and dad. And then remember all about them. Enough talk. As you practice, you will understand what you are doing. On my next visit to don Juan's house, I told him that I had been conscientiously going through the events of my life and that it was very difficult for me to stick to such a rigid form and go through the list of people in turn. As a rule, my recapitulation threw me in all directions. I let events determine the direction of my recollection. I voluntarily began to adhere to broad periods of time. For example, I started with people in the anthropology department, but let my memories take me anywhere in time, from the present to the day I started at UCLA.
The power of recapitulation, don Juan said, is that it stirs up all the rubbish of a person's life and brings it to the surface. Don Juan then described the subtleties of awareness and perception that are the basis of recapitulation. At the beginning he said that he would now introduce me to a system of concepts that I should by no means consider the theories of sorcerers, because this system was developed by the shamans of ancient Mexico as a result of a direct vision of the energy flowing in the universe. He warned me that he would introduce me to the parts of this system without making the slightest attempt to classify or rank them according to some pre-established standard.
I am not interested in classifications,” he continued. - You've classified everything all your life. Now you have to avoid classifications. Recently, when I asked you what you know about clouds, you told me the names of all the clouds and the percentage of humidity expected from each of them. You were a real meteorologist. But when I asked if you knew what you personally could do with these clouds, you had no idea what I was talking about. “Classifications have their own world,” he continued. - When you start to classify something, the classification comes to life and controls you. But since classifications were not created as energizing things, they always remain dead logs. These are not trees; it's just logs. He explained that the sorcerers of ancient Mexico saw that the entire universe was composed of energy fields in the form of luminous threads. Whichever way they looked, they saw myriads of these threads. They also saw that these energy fields are structured into streams of luminous fibers; streams that are the permanent, eternal forces of the universe, and that these magicians have called the stream or stream of threads related to recapitulation, the dark sea of awareness, or the Eagle. He said that even these sorcerers found out that every living being in the universe is attached to the dark sea of awareness by a circular spot of light that was noticeable when these beings were perceived as energy.
Don Juan said that in this spot of light, which the sorcerers of ancient Mexico called the assemblage point, perception gathers by building the aspect of the dark sea of awareness. Don Juan stated that at the assemblage point of man, myriads of energy fields from all over the universe converge and pass through it in the form of luminous threads. These energy fields are converted into sensory data, and the sensory data is then interpreted and perceived as the world we know. In addition, don Juan explained that it is the dark sea of awareness that turns the luminous threads into perceptible information. Sorcerers see this transformation and call it the glow of awareness - it is a radiance that spreads like a halo around the assemblage point. Here he warned me that he was about to say what the sorcerers thought was most important for understanding the scope of the recapitulation. Emphasizing his words in an unusual way, he said that what we call the senses of organisms are nothing but different degrees of awareness. He insisted that if we agree that our feelings are a dark sea of awareness, then we need to recognize that the interpretation that feelings create from sensory data is also a dark sea of awareness. He explained in detail that the way we encounter the world around us is the result of the human interpretation system that each person is equipped with. He also said that every living organism needs to have an interpretation system that allows it to function in its environment.
The sorcerers who emerged after the apocalyptic upheavals I told you about,” he continued, “saw that at the moment of death, the dark sea of awareness sucks, so to speak, through the assemblage point the awareness of living beings. They also saw that the dark sea of awareness wavered momentarily, so to speak, when it met with sorcerers who had completed the retelling of their lives. Without knowing it, some did it so thoroughly that the sea of awareness took their awareness in the form of their life experiences, but did not touch their life force. Magicians have discovered a colossal truth about the forces of the universe: the dark sea of awareness only needs our life experiences, not our life force. It was incomprehensible to me what don Juan proceeded from in his explanations. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I knew vaguely, yet profoundly, how practical what he was proceeding from in his explanations.
Sorcerers believe, don Juan continued, that as we review our lives, all the rubbish, as I said, comes to the surface. We are aware of our contradictions, our repetitions, but something in us has great resistance to recapitulation. Magicians say that the road is free only after a colossal shock; after the memory of the event appears on the screen, which shakes our foundations with terrifying clarity of detail. This event truly drags us back to the very moment we experienced it. Sorcerers call this event a conduit because after it, every event we touch is re-experienced, not just remembered.
Walking always brings back memories, don Juan continued. - The magicians of ancient Mexico believed that we store everything that we experienced as sensations from the back of the legs. They considered the backs of the legs to be the storehouse of a person's personal history. So let's go through the hills now. We walked until it was almost dark. "I think I've kept you walking long enough," don Juan said when we returned to the house, "that you're ready to begin this maneuver of sorcerers to find a guide: an event in your life that you will remember with such clarity that it will serve spotlight to illuminate everything else in your recapitulation with equal or comparable clarity. Do what sorcerers call a recapitulation puzzle. Something will lead you to a memory of an event that will guide you. He left me alone with one final warning.
The technique is compiled by me based on the books of Carlos Castaneda.Recapitulation- the most detailed recollection and re-living of one's entire life, the release of energy, analysis and restructuring of goals and intentions.
Termination Criteria
Recapitulation of all life events must be done until all emotions associated with any events disappear. The recapitulation of our lives must never end, no matter how well done once.
Motivation
1. Freedom.It is a technique for destroying the concept of self that exists in the form of memories and connections with people we have met throughout our lives. For liberation from the limitations of one's own personality, from lack of freedom in actions related to self-identification of oneself as a certain individuality. Becomes available to all the fullness of styles of behavior, from long forgotten to completely new.
2. Lucid dreams.
In the course of recapitulation, there is getting rid of the overflowing of dreams with very intense emotions, such as memories, hopes, fears, and so on and so forth, and releasing energy for dreaming. It becomes possible to realize oneself in a dream and control one's will in dreams.
3. Movement of the assemblage point.
There is a call for a slight, but for that permanent shift of the assemblage point. The assemblage point moves back and forth between its present position and the position it held when the integrating experience took place.
4. Vision of energy.
The weakening of the fixation of the assemblage point in its everyday - standard position brings it closer to the vision of energy fields.
5. Getting rid of the human form.
The force that governs the fate of all living beings is called the Eagle. The eagle endows sentient beings with awareness at birth, and devours their awareness at death. When recaptured, an exact copy of awareness is formed that can be absorbed by the Eagle instead of the true awareness of a person. Eagle's gift to man includes his agreement to accept a surrogate instead of real consciousness, if this surrogate is a perfect copy.
6. Pass to re-experience.
Magicians say that the road is free only after a colossal shock, i.e. the emergence of a memory of an event that shakes our foundations with terrifying clarity of detail. This event truly pulls us back to the very moment we experienced it. This event is called a skip, because after it, every event that we touch is re-experienced, and not just remembered. There is no way to find a pass, but one way or another, everyone who will do a recapitulation will inevitably, sooner or later, stumble upon it.
Preparation
1. Making a list.Very painstakingly and carefully make a list of all the people with whom you have interacted. From now to the past. First on the list should be sexual partners, since we spend a lot of energy on sexual experiences that need to be returned and redistributed through recapitulation in the first place. The list will end with your father and mother. How to do it: From the beginning, refresh your memory by remembering and writing down the most vivid memories of your life. Events that taught you something important, events that left a deep mark, events that led to total changes for you. Next, starting from the restored events, move on to people, to compiling a list of all people. It is better to review from the present to the past, because the memories of the present are fresh, and thus the ability to remember is sharpened.
2. Preparing the environment.
Pre-reviews are usually performed while sitting in a cardboard or wooden box in a position with raised knees pressed to the chest. The box must have a top with ventilation - holes are cut in the top cover. Even better - generally make the top of thin wooden planks in the form of a lattice. Here is what Castaneda writes: "... that stalkers use boxes or earthen coffins to close themselves in them while they relive, and not just revise every moment of their lives."
If at the moment there is no box, then recapitulate in a closed space, in the dark. For example: closing in the pantry, or laying the bath with soft towels, or something else, turn off the light in the bathroom, make yourself comfortable .... and go ahead.
Technique
1. The level of recapitulation.Choose a recap level:
Recapitulation of the first level: use a list. Go from the first person on the rewatch list to the last without missing anyone. Relive every time you meet him. Recapitulation of the second level: use the mobility of attention. Let certain events pop up by themselves.
2. Furnishings.
Get into a comfortable sitting position in the recapitulation box. Create a calm environment, silence, complete loneliness during the recapitulation time.
3. Reexperience.
Recall events, combining this with rhythmic breathing "fanning the event":
A) inhale. Take a deep breath in time with a slow, gentle head movement from right to left. By inhaling, you return the energy left in the event from the past.
b) Exhalation. Exhale deeply while moving your head in the opposite direction - from left to right. By exhaling, you transfer the returned energy into the future.
It is important not to breathe too fast to avoid exhausting breathing: breathing after which you need to breathe normally to calm the muscles.
When you are sure that the event has ceased to cause emotions, move on to the next event. With practice, the past ceases to define you.
This is a very ancient technique that don Juan's line of sorcerers inherited from the sorcerers of old. But it was almost forgotten by the ancient magicians, because they were more interested in strength, power over other people and the like. The idea of losing their sense of self-importance never crossed their minds. But this technique remained, and the new sorcerers revived it, and by inheritance it passed to the Nagual Carlos and to us. We now consider this to be the fundamental technique of magic, among all the techniques we know of, that can move the assemblage point. Recapitulation is the best technique for modern man, anyone can do it, which is why we distinguish it so much from others, don Juan also singled out this particular technique.
You don't have to be a "sorcerer's apprentice" or anything like that. It can be performed by any person who shows little interest, he may not even be completely involved in it, but only show some curiosity. Can start to perform recapitulation. It is a technique for destroying the self-image, the self-image that exists in the form of memories and connections with people we have met throughout our lives. And this is not just an idea - it is an energy idea, because when we interact with people, there is an exchange of energy. A large amount of it remains or is lost in a variety of things. In those cases when we experience deep feelings, our energy remains in the world and in people. The sorcerer's strategy is to get that energy back, to get it back so that you can have it now. Why leave it somewhere in the past, because that is what keeps you in your current state?...
For recapitulation, you need to choose a quiet secluded place where you can sit, preferably a closet or a large box, or even a shower, because you need to be in an enclosed space - magicians use special recapitulation boxes in which they are buried, or they use caves. I started doing my recapitulation in a small cave. An energy body must be in a closed space so that some pressure acts on its luminosity. Before you sit in the box, you must make your list. You make a list of all the people you have met in your life, who you have ever encountered or have ever interacted with in any way. This will already make you do some work and make you remember a lot. These memories in and of themselves loosen the assemblage point. This is already something like a preliminary exercise. You remember everyone you knew from now until your childhood, and you list everyone you worked with, your family, your relatives, everyone you ever dealt with. It's best to make two lists. The first should be people with whom you had a sexual relationship.
Magicians say you should start with this list, because it was sexual relationships that took most of your energy, and if you replenish it, it will give you the opportunity to make a more effective recapitulation of other people.
So, if you have two lists ready, you sit in your recapitulation box, closet, or cave and start breathing. Breathing is the third most important element of recapitulation, after the box and the list. Breathing is very important because it is what unwinds energy from the past. And this is already determined by the Intention. Our interactions with other people took place at the level of our energy body, and breathing sets the luminous fibers in motion. You start from your right shoulder, I described this procedure in some detail in my book, first you need to recreate in your imagination the scene and place that you want to remember, and when you have imagined and visualized everything in detail, then you put your chin on your right shoulder and inhale, turning your head until it rests on your left shoulder, then you return your head back to your right shoulder, and then look straight ahead. With your breath you sweep the scene away, you sweep the whole room, the person or whatever you imagined with your breath. Thus, you draw back what you left there and throw out of yourself the energy of the other person that remained in you. Thus, you become no longer associated with that particular incident. And you do it with everything that happened to you."
Recapitulation helps to achieve inner silence. Inner silence is a special state of expulsion of thoughts, in which a person can function at a different level of consciousness than usual. Inner silence comes with the cessation of the internal dialogue - the eternal companion of thoughts, and therefore is a state of deep silence. During the time of inner silence, another ability of a person comes into force, that ability that makes him a magical being, the ability that allows human consciousness to operate freely in the second attention.
Inner silence begins to work from the moment a person begins to develop it in himself - it can be accumulated and developed. Everyone has an individual threshold. The ultimate goal is to stop the world and see the energy of the universe, magicians call this - absolute freedom of perception.
Revision technique:
The recapitulation technique is simple - a person starts by making a list of all (or almost all) people with whom he communicated. And he begins to remember his communication with them, going from top to bottom down the list. Breathing has a key meaning when recapitulating - when inhaling, a person absorbs (takes) his life force, when exhaling, he pushes someone else out of his body. Inhalation and exhalation are done simultaneously with a smooth turn of the head from shoulder to shoulder - it does not matter in which direction the inhalation and exhalation are taken, the main thing is to alternate them - if exhalation is from right to left, then inhale from left to right (and vice versa). Ideally, the recapitulation is done in a small box or cave to put pressure on the person's energy body and cause the person's perception to stir.
For the magician, recapitulation is a way to give back to this extraordinary power what it lent to us at the moment of our birth. It is quite unbelievable, don Juan said, that this force is content with the aforementioned re-experiencing. Since the only thing she wants from us is self-awareness, then if we give it to her in the form of a recapitulation, she does not take our life in the end, but allows us to go along with it to freedom.
"... Florinda explained that the key to revising was breathing. For her, breathing was magical because it was a life-giving function. She said it was easy to revisit if you could reduce the area of excitement around the body. That was the point of the box "Then the breath will carry deeper and deeper memories. Theoretically, stalkers have to remember every feeling they've had in their lives, and that process starts with their breath..."
From an interview with Taisha Abelar with Keith Nichols in 1993:
"...K.N: What is a recapitulation?
Taisha Abelar: Recapitulation is a method to bring back all of our energy that is captured in our everyday world in order to use it for other purposes. Recapitulation allows a person to see that the reality in which we are born is not the only one, it is simply a fixation of energy.
When a child is born, his Assemblage Point is very mobile, he cannot perceive the world as a human being. As he interacts with the adults around him, his energy body begins to copy their position of the Assemblage Point.
Energetically, he makes himself a copy of those around him. We all have our assemblage points in more or less the same position, which allows us to perceive the same reality. Recapitulation allows you to move this point through the mental process of using the breath to reclaim all the energy you have spent in your life. Each epoch is characterized by what don Juan called the "modality of time" - a particular set of ideas and prevailing characteristics of the culture.
The modality of our time is what is shown on our TV, what is written in our books and newspapers. We are constantly bombarded with the same themes and ideas that we need to stick to. Sorcerers call the prevailing cultural traits of our day the “me, poor baby” syndrome, because everyone is consumed by that very feeling.
This is not only the world of unfortunate children, it is a whole universe of unfortunate children, with black holes devouring constellations and planets. Magicians see that our energy is constantly being absorbed by various things. In order to get where we want to go, we need energy.
In our waking state, all of our energy goes into our worries, our work, our family, or whatever. In order to move away from this position, we must have an enormous amount of energy. Recapitulation is the main means of accumulating this energy.
KN: How to do a recapitulation?
Taisha Abelar: First you make a list of all the people you have known in your life, all the people you have interacted with. This in itself will require a lot of concentration from you. Simply writing a list simplifies things and allows your attention to be focused on something specific. Once you have made the list, find a place where pressure will be placed on your energy body.
Work through the list from the last person to the first, revisiting or visualizing the situations in which you interacted with these people, those relationships in which energy was exchanged. watch how you interacted and how you went through all types of energy maneuvers in order to keep the situation going. We are all energetically constructing our reality.
Even if we are just driving down the street in a car, we are designing. We take it for granted and say that the street is always there. But in fact, we are all magicians, we create the world around us and come to an agreement about its existence. Through recapitulation, you collect your energy from the past, which is lost in the course of your personal history and surrounds you like debris in the tail of a comet.
To untangle yourself from the memories of the past, place your chin on your right shoulder and inhale as you move your head from right to left. Then exhale as you bring your head back from left to right, bringing back everything you no longer want to be associated with. Then turn your head forward again. You have no feelings towards these images, with your deep breathing you sweep everything away, sending outward with each exhalation.
After you have drawn all the energy back in, keep doing this until there is no energy left in this scene. This scene will become empty because it will no longer have energy components.
KN: What effect did the recapitulation have on your life?
Taisha Abelar: You find that your attachment to your family and friends will decrease. You can continue to interact with them, but you no longer feel attached to them, because you do not want to depend on them energetically..."
From Castaneda's 1997 MAS ALLA DE LA CIENCIA interview:
Question - You have repeatedly emphasized the importance of re-experiencing (Spanish recapitulacion - in the Russian translation of K. Castaneda's book - "recapitulation") and many people, inspired by what you said, tried to practice it. Could you tell us about the methodology and specific results of this exercise?
Answer - Re-experiencing was for don Juan an indispensable way to begin the path to freedom. This is not a technique for restoring energy, but a maneuver according to the vision of sorcerers. They believe that the possession of awareness of being is a state inherent in all living things.
Some extraordinary power gives self-awareness to those who have just been born - be it a virus, an amoeba or a human being. At the end of life, the same force will take away from each of these beings the self-awareness lent to them, expanded by individual life experience.
For the magician, re-experiencing is a way to give back to this extraordinary power what it lent to us at the moment of our birth. It is quite unbelievable, don Juan said, that this force is content with the aforementioned re-experiencing.
Since the only thing she wants from us is self-consciousness, then if we give it to her in the form of a new experience, she does not take our life away from us in the end, but allows us to go along with it to freedom. This is how sorcerers theoretically explain the experience anew.
Its methodology is very simple. First, a list is made of all the people with whom relations have been maintained, from the present time to possibly the moment of birth. The point is to relive the experience of communicating with everyone who is on the list - not just remembering them, but reliving them again.
To this is added a very slow rhythmic breathing - from right to left with an exhalation in the middle, which is called a "fan" because it refreshes (lit. fanning) memories. Magicians believe that the whole world and our experience of communication, being experienced anew, is given to an extraordinary force that destroys us. Since this maneuver has nothing to do with psychological exercises like psychoanalysis; reliving the whole life experience means using the energy already expended.
On this topic:
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /