The Story Behind ISS

When I was in my 20s, I attended several retreat sessions, one of which was the "Healing the Inner Child." One of the most intriguing parts of the entire program was the

guided meditation sessions, where the participants were asked to close our eyes and be aware of our breaths. In the beginning, I thought it was the most boring thing to do, and it was just a total waste of time. The facilitator then asked us to step into ourselves and observe. I even thought to myself, "And, how am I supposed to do that?"

With the facilitator's accompanying words, I remember that all I did was to be aware of the space behind my eyes. At that instant, I felt that I was in some place, though I still couldn't see anything except the blackness of space and the orangey or purpley color we could see behind our eyelids when we close our eyes. I realized it was indeed a space, a place within me, apart from the external world. And the eyelid was the thin wall that separates the outer from the inner.

As I turned inward, I realized this inner space was a world of its own, yet separate from the outer world. It was for the first time that I encountered the inner world as an observer, as a witness. It was like it was a movie, and I was watching my thoughts and feelings come and go, memories come flashing past, and the worries of my future appear uninvited on the screen of my mind. It was utter chaos in there. And in that chaos, I was supposed to search for my lost inner child. I had to "time travel" just to reach her. It took a while, but I did.

Meeting my inner child in my inner space was the most precious encounter I ever had back then. It was my first-ever experience of what it meant to heal from within.

(More on this next time.)