The

 Stages  of  Somatic  Descent,  By  Reginald  A.  Ray  

Phase  1:  Entry  

1.  Come  into  your  body.  Use  whichever  practice  feels  right  to  you:  10  points  practice;  earth  
descent;  12-­‐fold  lower  belly  breathing.  
2.  Greet  your  body.  Create  an  atmosphere  of  devotion,  respect,  and  connection  with  your  
body.  
3.  Make  a  supplication  to  your  body.  Supplicate  your  body  to  communicate  with  you  and  
guide  you  in  this  practice.    
4.  Make  a  request  of  your  soma.  Choose  your  initial  question  and  establish  a  dialogue:  
• Exploration:  What’s  actually  going  on  with  me  right  now?  
• What  do  I  need  to  be  aware  of?  What  needs  my  attention  right  now?    
• Ask  your  soma  for  information  or  guidance  in  a  specific  life  situation.  

Phase  2:  The  Main  Practice  

5.  Inhabit  and  identify  with  the  body.  Start  with  the  backline,  the  empty  space  of  the  central  
channel;  then  open  your  awareness  forward  into  the  mid-­‐body,  and  be  there.  Be  within  the  
density  of  the  experience  of  the  mid-­‐body.  
6.  Feel  the  totality  of  the  body.  Tune  in  to  what’s  going  on.  Start  with  physical  sensations  as  a  
way  to  be  present,  then  move  into  the  felt  sense.  Ask  yourself,  what  is  the  “weather,”  the  
general  atmosphere  of  the  body,  how  space  is  manifesting?  What  does  it  feel  like  at  the  
purely  somatic  level?  Here  are  some  synonyms  for  the  felt  sense  that  may  be  useful.  
• Non-­‐conceptual  experience  
• Direct  experience  
• Naked  experience  
• The  direct  referent  (Gendlin)—this  means  the  basic,  raw  experience  that  we  then  think  
about  with  our  left  brain  
• Implicit  bodily  sense  
• Pure  experience,  experience  before  thinking  (Nishida)  
• Somatic  intuition  
7.  Ascertaining  the  felt  sense.  What’s  going  on,  the  global  feel  in  the  body?  Be  right  down  at  
the  boundary  of  the  unconscious  and  hold  your  attention  there.  It  is  beneath  any  labeling,  
conceptualizing  process  whatsoever.  It  is  completely  direct  and  naked.  In  the  practice,  you  
will  spend  the  most  time  with  this  stage  (Zone  1).  
8.  If  you  can’t  feel  anything  or  can’t  find  anything,  use  Mahamudra-­‐style  questioning:  Is  
there  nothing  going  on  in  my  mid-­‐body?  Is  it  empty?  Is  there  something  here?  Then  see  how  
your  body  responds  to  that  question.  Say,  okay,  I  think  there  is  nothing  here,  and  see  how  
your  body  responds.  This  gives  you  the  capacity  to  feel  what  is  there.  You  may  feel  
something,  but  can’t  tell  what  it  is;  you  don’t  need  to  go  further.  Try  to  stay  in  touch  with  that  
something,  hang  out,  and  wait.  
9.  Wait  for  a  more  definitive  manifestation  of  the  soma  to  pop  up:  the  spontaneous  
expression  of  the  soma  (Zone  2).  Wait  with  the  something  until  something  else  pops  up  that,  
in  a  way,  makes  more  particular  sense  to  you.  This  could  be  an  image,  a  word,  a  phrase,  a  
dream-­‐like  scenario,  a  sudden  memory,  anything  that  just  pops  up  of  its  own  accord.  
10.  What  if  nothing  pops  up?  Then  you  can  use  the  dialogue  method  again  to  draw  out  
more,  if  there’s  no  spontaneous  expression.  If  nothing  pops  up,  you  can:  
• Wait—it  will  happen  eventually.  
• Find  an  expression  (a  handle)  by  asking  the  soma  questions.  Link  back  to  the  felt  sense,  
then  try  out  a  word,  image,  or  sound  that  embodies  the  felt  sense.  See  how  the  soma  
responds,  then  ask  another  question.  The  soma  needs  you  to  ask  questions.  
• This  “handle”  or  expression  will  be  important  since  it  will  be  something  we  can  carry  
with  us  and  will  help  us  tap  back  in  to  the  felt  sense  and  stay  connected  to  it.  
11.  Receive  whatever  it  is  in  non-­‐thought.  Let  it  be  and  sit  with  it.  Don’t  do  anything.  Let  it  
cook,  let  yourself  cook  with  it.  If  you  begin  thinking,  you  will  exit  the  process.  You  will  be  
taking  the  cake  out  of  the  oven  too  soon.  
12.  Give  it  space,  and  see  if  your  soma  has  any  more  to  offer  about  this  particular  situation  
or  information.  Ask,  is  there  anything  more  about  this  that  I  need  to  know?  
13.  If  your  body  says  that  in  relation  to  this,  it  is  complete,  then  ask  your  soma,  okay,  
beyond  this  situation,  more  generally,  is  this  enough  for  today,  for  this  session?  Is  there  
anything  more  for  today?  You’ll  feel  in  your  body  if  there’s  something  else.  Often,  it’s  the  
next  thing  that  happens  that  is  really  interesting.  Sometimes  it  is  even  the  main  thing  for  the  
day.  

Phase  3:  Conclusion  and  Post-­‐meditation  

14:  Express  gratitude  to  your  soma  for  the  help  and  guidance  it  has  offered  you,  and  state  
your  intention  to  return.  
15.  Assimilation:  incorporating  the  information  into  your  conscious  viewpoint.  This  is  about  
discovering  what  you  have  learned  means  for  your  life.  
16.  Write  down  key  points.  We  will  forget  things  that  we  don’t  at  first  understand.  
17.  Carry  it  with  you.  Allow  the  communication  to  continue  to  unfold.  

©  Reginald  A.  Ray,  Published  by  Dharma  Ocean  Foundation,  2015.  All  rights  reserved.  No  part  of  this  document  may  be  used  or  
reproduced  in  any  manner  without  written  permission  of  the  author.