In the series of books by Carlos Castaneda, the Yaqui Indian shaman, Don Juan, would hit Castaneda sharply on his back between the shoulder blades in order to send his student into the "Second Attention." While in this Second Attention, Castaneda was able to experience a much richer, deeper world, where shamans could do amazing things, and what seemed impossible happened right before his eyes.

I was fascinated by the idea of the Second Attention, but wondered why Don Juan would slap poor Carlos between the shoulder blades to get him there. As I continued in my shamanic studies, I found out that the Second Attention resides in the Heart. When observing and sensing the world through the heart, it allows those to see "who have eyes to see." It references the world away from the intellect. Using your head to see the world only allows you to see through the filter of social programming and personal judgment.

The heartspace in the body is a completely unique electromagnetic system, creating a magnetic field hundreds of times stronger than the brain's. Additionally, some bio-magnetic research has concluded that the heart is a torsion field, capable of accessing alternate realities, different dimensions and creating a bridge to all universal information.

The important point here is that we all have conscious access to this torsion field of the heart. In many shamanic traditions, there is the concept of "journeying." In journeying, one experiences walking a downhill path or taking an elevator down in order to enter into the underworld where everything is possible and all knowledge is available. This journeying drill is designed to move the focus of attention (the "assemblage point") from the head down into the heart. Once in the heartspace, the shaman can now SEE interdimensionally, and have deeply meaningful experiences due to conscious and unconscious intentions and creations playing out within and around the shaman.

In modern applications of the heartspace effect, the HeartMath Institute promotes its "Quick Coherence" technique:

1. Focus attention on the area around your heart
2. Breathe deeply and notice your breath as coming out of the heart area
3. As you maintain your heart focus and heart breathing, activate a positive feeling. Recall a positive feeling, a time when you felt good inside, and try to re-experience the feeling.

The HeartMath Institute has done extensive research on this technique and has proved it lowers general stress levels, cortisol, blood pressure, and nervousness. You can use it to "press the reset button" when things are getting stressful, and allows you to experience from a new perspective. That perspective is the torsion field of the heart.

In Matrix Energetics, it is, "Drop Down" in order to sense from a heartspace. By dropping down into the heartspace, it is then possible to effectively "notice what you notice," and see what is useful.

For example, when dropping down into the heart's torsion field, I saw in my "mind's eye" a red ball floating in front of me. I asked, "What is useful about this?" And the red ball immediately went into my ankle. Because my overall intent is to help the body regenerate and rejuvenate, that red ball going into my ankle must have been useful in carrying out that intent.

By applying these concepts, shamans (that means anyone) can bridge the artificial gap between what is accepted as "real" and what is "imaginary"--they become the same. That is the essense of shamanism--the inner world IS the outer world. Quantum physics teaches us that consciousness directly affects matter. And in the shamanic tradition, it is consciousness that is constantly creating everything. So the only measureable difference between this chair you're sitting on and that bright pink parrot across the room is density. Both are real in the shaman's world.

The mistake we all make in consciousness is separating what we call "reality" from what we call "imaginary." We even have rules to define insanity in this way. But, this thinking, in effect, cuts us off from an infinite amount of information residing in the imagination. The deeper we are into our heads, the less and less real the things we perceive with our imagination become. By dropping down into the heartspace, leaving the intellect and all its biases and judgments behind, an entirely new and infinite world opens up, perceptions become sharper, and the true illusion of human physical experience becomes obvious.

Another hindrance to dropping down into the heart is taking along with you expectations, judgments and biases about what is true and what is not. When you drop down, you are doing so with a clear mind, and although your mind (insanity) will clear if you are in the heartspace long enough, it greatly enhances the experience by leaving that intellectual briefcase of thoughts at the door before dropping down. Then, simply remain in the heartspace with the intention to notice what comes up, comes over, around and through. Once something does show up, ask what it is useful for and the answer will then present itself.

As you work with this type of seeing, don't be surprised if you are visited by a team of dolphins in your kitchen, or see a sword sticking out of your dog's back. Start to respond to this type of information, and you will begin to notice whole new realms of opportunity, love, inspiration, and transformation arriving in your life.