Episode 2 | January 26, 2021

Stellar Experiences: Meditation for Living in the Present Moment by Jonathan Hammond


A Personal Note From Orion

A couple of weeks ago, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Jonathan Hammond on the show and learning about the Huna Philosophy. It’s a powerful mindset with seven principles that can help one achieve the highest quality of life. If you want to know what these principles are, listening to Jonathan’s Stellar Life episode provides answers, wisdom, and more.

In this Stellar Experiences session, Jonathan is going to help you find your center and live in the now with the fourth Huna principle: Now is the Moment of Power. Living in the present moment is one of the most precious feelings. Not worrying about the future and being in full acceptance of the past is a strong definition of freedom. 

Jonathan Hammond is a teacher, energy healer, shamanic practitioner, and spiritual counselor. He is a Master Teacher in Shamanic Reiki, in Cherokee Bodywork, in Hooponopono a leader and a guide. Jonathan teaches classes and gives lectures in Shamanism, Energy Healing, Spirituality, and Huna. He has worked alongside shamans in Mexico, Brazil, Bali, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Hawaii. The Shamans Mind: Huna Wisdom to Change your Life is his first book.

Tune in as Jonathan guides you through short meditation practice to help you find your center, appreciate the present moment, and have more faith that everything is going to be alright.

 


About Today’s Show

We’re going to do a practice around the fourth unit principle, now is the moment of power. One of the things that I’ve noticed working with many clients is the sense that many of them suffer needlessly thinking that they’re supposed to have known something in the past that they didn’t know. And they go back and they look at those things that they’ve done, or the mistakes they’ve made, or they think, “What was I thinking? How did I not know?” And those things become a source of shame. When the truth of the matter is, is that you actually didn’t know what you didn’t know. And to not own that for yourself is a cause of needless suffering. So we’re going to do a process that’s based on the fourth unit principle, now is the moment of power, wherein using the power of the present moment, we’re going to begin to reframe, and see past unskillful or detrimental actions or mistakes that we’ve made in a new light so that we can let them go, forgive them, and see ourselves clearly. And know that, in general, we’re not bad people. We’re just doing our best all the time. We’re always doing our best, even if our best sometimes leads to something that is detrimental. So that’s what this process is about.

So this practice I’m going to guide you through is based on one of the seven principles, and it’s the one about being in the moment. Now is the moment of power, or rather, accessing the power in the present moment, in order to make changes in your life, even changes about long-standing truths about yourself that you can in the moment change. So just allow yourself to get comfortable, you can close your eyes. 

So we can change anything within the present moment. What we’re going to do now is, we’re going to work with the present moment to transform a long-held negative story that you might have about yourself. So just take a moment to relax, and begin to make deep inward contact with yourself. Take a few conscious inhales and exhales just to center yourself in the present moment. And if you haven’t, and you’re comfortable doing so, you can close your eyes. And just really stay right in your body. Stay with yourself. You’re doing work just on yourself.

Now, I want you to bring to mind a few big mistakes that you’ve made in your life, or could just be one mistake, this could be a bad habit. An instance, where you didn’t behave well. An action that you took that had caused you guilt or shame or regret. Or it could be that, “What on earth was I thinking at that moment?” When you did that, you did that thing that was unskillful or harmful in some way. Just bring that to mind. As this instance or these instances come to mind, consider that with each unfortunate event, even though your actions were unskillful, you were actually trying to do something to meet a need. With as much compassion for yourself as you can possibly muster, feel into a different truth about this past action. 

Ask yourself, what was I actually trying to do when I behaved in this way? Was I trying to make something better? Was I trying to make myself feel better? Was I attempting to help myself in some way? Was I trying to understand something about myself? Was I hoping to alleviate some internal pain or confusion? What were you actually trying to do? With real compassion, really invite that inquiry. So you did this thing that was unskillful, that was maybe cool or harmful to another or yourself. 

Now, I want you to side with and completely befriend this past behavior. Because the fact is that you didn’t know what you didn’t know. You didn’t know the extent of the hurt that you were causing. You didn’t realize what the negative effects would be. Were you acting from innocence? Or possibly from ignorance? Were you behaving from hurt, trying to hurt less in some way? What were you actually trying to do? 

Now, consider the fourth huna principle, now is the moment of power. As you reframe this difficult situation, with kindness and compassion for yourself, in this moment, you can choose and harness the power of this moment to see even your weakest moments differently. And now decide that from this moment onwards, to let your new way of seeing this action or this event in the past be a new truth, a new reality. One in which you didn’t know what you didn’t know, and you can make that change right now.

To understand ourselves compassionately is one of the most loving and healing things that we can do. Well, many of us would naturally extend this courtesy to others, we often fall short in doing it for ourselves. The present moment offers a powerful opportunity to create a new story by transforming long standing resentments, mistakes, and confusion into necessary steps on your path. Aloha.

Aloha. That’s wonderful. That was awesome. Wow. I appreciate everything that you shared today. It was really great. Thank you.

Check out Jonathan Hammond’s interview with Orion.

Links and Resources

About Jonathan Hammond

Jonathan Hammond is a teacher, energy healer, shamanic practitioner, and spiritual counselor. Before beginning his work in holistic health and spirituality, he had a career as an award-winning actor, appearing on Broadway and on television.

A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Michigan, Jonathan is an Interfaith minister and certified spiritual counselor. He also holds certifications as a Master Teacher in Shamanic Reiki, in Cherokee Bodywork, in Hooponopono, and is an ordained Alakai (leader or guide) through Aloha International. He teaches classes and gives lectures in Shamanism, Energy Healing, Spirituality, and Huna at the One Spirit Learning Alliance in NYC, the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, and other major venues around the world.

He has worked alongside shamans in Mexico, Brazil, Bali, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Hawaii. The Shamans Mind: Huna Wisdom to Change your Life is his first book.

Jonathan is in private practice in New York City.

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