What is TNT?
“. . . Nature does not work in parts; she treats everything as a whole.”
F.M. Alexander
What IS the Now Technique?
It is a way to wholeness. With The Now Technique, we naturally move the attention through the breath, the body, the heart, the mind and to the vast Spirit. We acknowledge, embrace and surrender to every split and every wall in them and between them. This pattern of present moment exploration opens doors that we never imagined existed.
How was the Now Technique created?
The Now Technique was born of a deep desire to live with mind and heart united; I have had this desire since I was a small boy. This way of listening, feeling and observing has grown and deepened. It has become an art which I shared with my dying father two years ago and I continue to share with many friends.
My father lost the joy of living when his mother, and soon after his father died. He was only six years old. Later on, a few months before his eightieth birthday, he became sick with lung cancer. During this period he often cried out, “Life is not safe, you cannot trust anybody, and you are never good enough.” However, he trusted me to guide him through simple meditations: to allow his breath to come, to go. I asked him to do the same with the surging waves of feelings, emotions, thoughts and images. I asked him to simply allow them to come and to go. It eased the pain for us both and I felt blessed to share with him what I had learned through a lifetime of seeking. Until his last breath, this was our mantra: To allow. To let happen. To embrace. To return again and again to the present moment, without attachment or anticipation.
He died burning in the fierce fire of cancer, but his mind was clear, his journey here completed.
After this I questioned more deeply the purpose of my existence and found the answer only in following my passion. I have been a student of life with a definite inclination towards harmony, unity and peace. I have studied ancient and modern schools of thinking, and have always been drawn towards what is essential in each one. The essence I have found is one of wonder for the gift of life, in all its forms. Common sense and love continue to guide me to embrace all parts of myself. To embrace dualities and paradoxes. To surrender to chaos and order.
What is the science behind The Now Technique?
I have investigated the science behind the pattern of self-inquiry that we use in The Now Technique and found it to be a fascinating subject.
In a paper on triune brain biology and brain awareness, Dr. Grant McFetridge** states: “…the body (reptilian brain) …makes decisions based on association of sensations, and its primary drive is survival and reproduction. The heart (mammalian brain) thinks in sequences of emotions, and its primary drive is connection. The mind (primate brain) thinks in sequences of words or thoughts, uses judgment, and understanding…. For most people, these brain “awarenesses” are separate from each other, and in fact compete and dominate each other.”
Upon reading these words I recognized my original question: “How can I live with my mind and my heart united?”
With The Now Technique we answer this question by exploring the walls between the body-centered sensations, the heart-centered emotions, the mind-centered words and reasoning, and images or pictures. In this way they all MERGE and our consciousness returns to its source.
McFetridge continues, “… it is possible for these brain awarenesses to fully merge with each other in various combinations and degrees. Having all of the brain structures’ awarenesses fully fused together is optimum, and in fact is how we are designed to live.” — Isn’t this the foundation of Collaboration? Of Oneness?
It is the nervous system that connects the brain, heart and body. Nerve impulses move between them communicating harmonious or chaotic signals. The quality of these signals depends on the state of the autonomic nervous system.
According to Stephen Elliot***, author of Coherence®, in the state of autonomic balance our body relaxes, our mind state becomes at ease, our thinking clears, our sensibilities temper, our mind body communication becomes free flowing, our spheres of awareness expand, our intuition increases and we become open, receptive and accepting.
In his words: “Optimal autonomic balance results when heart rate variability and breathing rhythms are synchronized.”
I call this “true breath” because it always brings us back to the heart. To the Now. To put it simply, in the state of optimal autonomic balance the walls between body, heart and mind dissolve. This dissolution can never be forced but is simply the result of our presence to what IS.
In her book Molecules of Emotion, neuroscientist Candace Pert tells us that aware breathing helps us to “… enter the mind-body conversation without judgments or opinions, releasing peptide molecules from the hindbrain to regulate breathing while unifying all systems.”
Why does it work so well?
In the Now Technique session we weave lines of awareness into a rich living fabric. Moving between the breath, physical sensations, emotions, thoughts and images – without judgments or opinions – the breath becomes naturally deep, slow, rhythmic, whole and “true”.
As we dive into the Unifying Consciousness, we realize that life is whole. Never divided. Never fragmented. Never incomplete.
How would you summarize the effects?
The Now Technique is a momentary yet continuous, dedicated space of attention. Through seeing, feeling and listening (unifying all systems) the inner worlds become a moving, melting, changing experience which surrenders our secrets, dissolves tensions, integrates opposites and brightens shadows. Body, heart and mind become whole and this leaves us “awake”.
“All objects can be understood completely in the awareness of Presence, our real Being.”
Jean Klein
Vincenzo Santiglia, The Now Technique, © 2010
** The teacher I mentioned is Jean Klein. He introduced me to the Art of Listening. He passed away in 1998.
** Grant McFetridge and The Institute for the Study of Peak States, www.peakstates.com.
*** Stephen Elliot and Coherence, www.coherence.com.
