Living powerfully takes place in relation to death. Death is a purifying experience which reveals the priorities of life with absolute clarity; everything which mistakenly was given importance becomes meaningless in the face of death.
The training for death and transcendence begins in life when one is capable of influencing personal destiny. In some parts of the world where it is assumed one is exclusively the physical body, death is regarded as the end of everything and never talked about unless imminent death is certain. When death is rejected, life is rejected. In trying to avoid something that is impossible to avoid one lives in constant fear. The fear of death is based on fear of the unknown.
To become familiar with the true nature of death one needs to become familiar with the true nature of the mind, the subtle dimensions, and the continuity of pure consciousness.
The practices in Level 1 beginning with the Inner Softening Smile, train in feeling one by one the different parts of the body. Although the places and sensations one experiences change, there is an awareness that feels everything but doesn’t change. When one practices the Six Healing Sounds, one discovers a full range of sensations in each of the organs; there is an awareness that is not affected by what it experiences. At the conclusion of any energy practice pure consciousness as a witness, experiences everything but is not affected by it. When greater sensitivity manifests, one realizes the nature of pure consciousness is infinite wellbeing, bliss, and pure love.
The practices of death and transcendence are based on the experience of continuity of consciousness whose essence is Original Mind.
At this level, the practitioner becomes familiar with the signs and stages of dying so as to be able to guide the consciousness of the dying to the experience of Original Mind. Assisting someone on the most important day and most important experience in life is the highest altruistic gesture one can perform.