What are the ‘indirect’ and ‘direct’ spiritual paths?
WHY THIS CONVERSATION IS IMPORTANT
In this blog post I will cover the difference between the direct and the indirect paths and what I feel the benefits of each are and the potential pitfalls of each path.
There is a lot of confusion out there on social media, in respect of spiritual paths and spiritual development. The ‘spiritual community’ is not a cohesive unit; rather it is often a collection of practices and techniques without any reference to the tradition or the path that it comes from.
I often find that when people come to work with me, they can are overwhelmed and confused by the mass of (often contradictory) information that they find. The spiritual awakening journey is confusing enough without becoming completely exhausted trying to understand what it is you are experiencing.
Today’s Western society has entered into such a dense material state with an obsession with externalisation, that matters that would have previously been considered ‘spiritual’ are either dismissed as ‘woo woo’ or the person is medicated rather than helped through their experience.
I predominantly focus on an embodied and grounded path of spiritual development with a strong focus on spiritual sovereignty.
Don't get me wrong, I love deeply studying higher level esoteric concepts, (often those things deemed by society as ‘woo woo’.) But I try to keep in mind that, during the mass awakening period that we are currently in, I often communicating with people going through various different stages of the awakening journey. My intention is always to be clear, concise and technically accurate.
THE ROLE OF THE MAGNETIC CENTRE
Each individual’s spiritual journey is unique to them, and they are going to be drawn to different practices and different paths (usually connected to what their soul has experienced in previous incarnations).
We all have a magnetic centre and we are constantly working with and strengthening this magnetic centre. This centre will pull you towards certain paths, teachers and practices. It is never a surprise when somebody is drawn to a specific path, practice or teacher when you look at it from the Akashic Records perspective, as there is often a connection across many incarnations. From the perspective of the Akashic Records, one lifetime (even if you live until you are 100) is only a short period in respect of the evolution of the soul.
All spiritual paths and practices can be categorised are either ‘direct’ or ‘indirect’. I am a firm believer of a balance of both for most people and I will explain why in this post.
THE INDIRECT PATHS AND PRACTICES
The ‘indirect path’ is also sometimes referred to as the ‘progressive path’. This is the path of self-improvement and where will find most spiritual teachers and practices.
TYPES OF INDIRECT PRACTICES
breathwork
certain yoga practices
practices and techniques to help you with your shadow work
inner child work
ancestral healing
somatic work
meditation
mindfulness practices
energy healing modalities such as Reiki and crystal therapy
kinesiology
cranio sacral therapy and more.
THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE PRIMARY CHAKRAS
From an energetic perspective this is the journey through the lower primary chakras (Eastern traditions) or energy centres (Western traditions). Most people who are going through their spiritual awakening have an awakening experience (the experience itself is different for everyone). They start to really self-reflect on their behaviour, their experiences and they want to understand themselves from a soul level perspective.
This journey traditionally begins at the root chakra/first energy centre which can mean inner child work, ancestral work and nervous system regulation. Once they have established a feeling of safety and security (i.e. balanced the root chakra/first energy centre) they move into the sacral chakra/second energy centre.
At this stage it is about understanding and accepting that all emotions are valid and that you may have gone through much of your life repressing certain emotions. There tends to be a focus on somatic practices to help you get into the body and move through those stuck emotions. There is also the need at this stage to honour all emotions. If you have been taught, for example, that anger is an unsafe or bad emotion it is at this stage you learn how to transmute and alchemise, rather than repress it.
As people move into the solar plexus/third energy centre they start to take radical self-responsibility and want to move out of victim consciousness. The nuance here is that they may have experienced situtations in which they were indeed a victim. But they now understand that they are only causing themselves more suffering by staying in the identification of being a victim. They realise that they can start to take more of an active role in their own life and begin to see that they are co-creators of their own reality.
Many people come into spiritual development and spiritual teachings at the solar plexus/third energy centre through the conversations that are very popular at the moment around manifestation and the ‘I create my own reality’ teachings. Unfortunately, the belief of ‘I am the creator of my own reality’ can hinder the individuals growth and the essential movement towards the heart chakra/fourth energy centre, where there is a need to surrender and start connecting to Source consciousness.
To complicate matters further, this is not usually a linear process as I have set out above. What often happens is you cycle through these various energy centres over and over again. It is completely norma. You may also find that you work on more than one of these energy centres at a time.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE INDIRECT PRACTICES?
The purpose of the indirect paths and the practices associated with those paths is essentially clearing the energy bodies and moving the energetic stagnation through. In doing so, space is made for the direct path.
With indirect practices, you are constantly working towards an end. You are in the position of ‘seeker’. It is very normal for people to spend many years on the indirect path transmuting, neutralising karma and healing from traumas experience. But the ego is still very involved in the indirect path.
When people have that first initial awakening experience, they often believe that they have experienced full ‘ego death’. This is rarely the case. The ego may have indeed been weakened but for most there is still an ego. If you stay with indirect practices only for too long, you develop a strong spiritual ego because the need for constant self-improvement gives sustenance to the ego. It retains the idea of that being a separate self. It is very normal for somebody to reach a stage while they are undertaking these practices on the indirect path where they become frustrated with what feels like a constant need to fix themself. At that stage their magnetic starts to draw into them direct path practices and teachings.
THE DIRECT PATHS AND PRACTICES
The direct path is this remembrance that you are unconditional love. You are an individualised fractal of Source consciousness experiencing itself. The only real practice in a direct path is constant abidance in the frequency of unconditional love. This can be difficult to begin with as you will find you have to constantly bring your awareness and attention back throughout your normal daily life.
CONNECTION TO THE HEART CHAKRA
From the energetic perspective this abidance in unconditional love is the heart chakra/fourth energy centre awareness. You will often hear words such as surrender, gratitude, humility, compassion, kindness associated with the direct path. At this stage the focus is being rather than doing. You are not seeking. You are not trying to change yourself or the life circumstances around you. You are in complete acceptance.
On the direct path, you are essentially surrendering that lowest, egoic self for your higher self. You are embodying your soul. If somebody goes into direct path practices before their magnetic centre has really called them to the direct path they can focus on teachings such as ‘the world is just an illusion’ which can lead to spiritual bypassing. It can of course be really difficult for somebody if they come across direct path teachings too early and try to connect to unconditional love if they have energetic blocks to being able to connect to that and can spend time doing this practice while not actually feel anything from it.
HOW TO INCORPORATE BOTH
It is completely reasonable that you walk both paths for a time, balancing the indirect and the direct. For example you may spend time utilising indirect practices because you know you have got XYZ work to do. But you may also add some time and just to abide in the energy of unconditional love.
When people come to learn how to access their own Akashic records that is often the first thing that they notice. By going into their Akashic Records they experience a deep connection to unconditional love. And it's a beautiful experience for them.
But it doesn't mean that because they have started to work with the Akashic Records, that it is now time to just drop all of the indirect path practices, because there can be lots of things, holding them back to being able to be the clearest channels that they have the potential to be. The Akashic Records will help them not only identify the areas of energetic stagnation, but will also give them guidance as to which practices will help them transmute it.
THE ROLE OF THE EGO
The key whilst you are navigating these practices is to be very aware of your ego in this process and focus on humility as much as possible. The more time you spend giving credit to unconditional love to Source consciousness and less time giving credit to yourself, the more you are practicing humility.
Someone who has genuinely attained, enlightenment will not tell you that they have attained enlightenment. What you will find with them is they are extremely humble.
IN SUMMARY
For most people on the spiritual journey, it is necessary for them to have a good balance of both indirect and direct practices. Taking time to abide in unconditional love with the direct path practices and transmuting what comes up in their daily life with the indirect path practices.