What Are You Actually Feeling? | Urban Shaman Ministries

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What are you actually feeling right now?

Coming home is not as easy when your own signals don't match.

This is a map of what is actually happening inside you. Not a concept. Not a practice. What is real and already running whether you know it or not.

The Experience Layer

What is happening
right now

Before you explain it. Before you name it. Before you know what to call it. This is where it starts.

The Human Experience Map showing eleven layers of human experience from sensation to the loop
1 Here - The Moment of Presence
2 Something is Happening - The Body Notices First
3 A Direction Appears - The System Moves
4 A Feeling Emerges - Color of the Experience
5 Attention Locks - The Spotlight Moves

Where Am I?

The Signal Check

The 3-Minute Drop-In — Do This First

Minute 1 — Find Your Body

Sit or stand. Feel your feet touching the ground. Feel your butt on the chair if you're sitting.

Don't try to change anything. Just notice:

  • How heavy you feel
  • If the air feels warm or cold
  • Any tight spots in your body

You're not trying to relax. You're just finding your body. Breathe normal. Don't count. Don't control it.

Minute 2 — Follow Your Breath

Now pay attention to your breathing. Don't change it, just notice it. Where do you feel it the most?

  • Your nose?
  • Your chest?
  • Your stomach?

Pick wherever you feel it clearest and keep your attention there. If your brain wanders, that's fine. Just come back to feeling your breath.

Minute 3 — Feel Everything at Once

Now try to feel your breath, your feet on the ground, and the space around you, all at the same time. Don't think about these things. Try to feel them all at once.

Now take 3 big breaths:

Breathe in while counting to 4
Hold it for 2 seconds
Breathe out while counting to 6
Then go back to breathing normal.

You're ready. Now answer: Where am I?

Where Am I? — The Signal Check

Step 1 — Body

What do you feel in your body right now?

Step 2 — Energy

Does your body feel more relaxed or tense? More calm or hyped up?

Step 3 — What You Want to Do

Right now, do you want to move toward something, get away from something, or just stay still?

Step 4 — Focus

Is your brain jumping around, stuck on one thing, or focused?

Step 5 — Thinking or Feeling?

Are you explaining this to yourself in your head right now, or just noticing what's happening?

How Hard Was This?

Was this easy or hard to do?

Super easy Really hard
Anything Else? (Optional)

Did you notice anything else?

○

Done.

You just practiced noticing what's real instead of what you're thinking about it.

The Story Layer

Where the story
begins

After the body notices, the mind explains. It makes a story. It builds an identity out of what just happened.

6 The Story Arrives - Meaning is Made
7 The Self Appears - I Am This
8 Beliefs Take Root - The Hidden Rules
The Cycle

What happens
next

The story becomes action. Action meets the world. The world responds. Then it starts again. The cycle just runs. Noticing it is what gives you a choice.

9 Action Happens - The Story Moves Outward
10 The World Responds - The Ripple Returns
11 The Loop - The Cycle Continues

Still here? Try this.

Minute 1

Find Your Body

Feel your feet. Feel where you're sitting. Notice weight, temperature, any tight spots. Don't fix anything. Just notice.

Minute 2

Follow Your Breath

Where do you feel your breathing? Keep your attention there. If your mind wanders, just come back.

Minute 3

Feel It All

Feel breath and ground and the space around you. All at once. Take 3 breaths: in for 4, hold for 2, out for 6. Go back to normal breathing.

Now ask

Where am I?

Not where you think you should be. Where you actually are, right now, in your body.

That's it. That's the whole thing. You already know how to do this. You never forgot.

You can return anytime.

How would you like to experience something new? →

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