So where is the seat of the soul? Where should we keep our attention? Some Buddhists and martial artists advise focusing on the point of physical balance, a point behind the belly button. They encourage techniques such as the belly breath to entrain the mind to the healing rhythms of the body.

Some yogis emphasize the third eye. By keeping our attention there, they say, all the chakras open in a balanced way. They speak about the glories of going into light and meeting teachers on the inner planes who reveal life's mysteries.

Astronauts of the soul ascend beyond the chakras to the Self, the Heart. They shift from seeking balance to being balanced; from seeking light to being light. They realize that psychic exploration is born in duality and leads to duality; that mystical experiences are for nought if we identify with the experience rather than the One who is experiencing (see self-inquiry, Week 19).

Astronauts of the soul go beyond astral-plane traps by tracing the origins of ego. They invert their attention into their deepest Self, the Heart, the center of awareness and then become That.

They find that they (the soul) do not exist in any secret place in the subtle body. They live eternally awake beyond the illusions of space-time. They find One light--the light of the Self. Their crown chakras open exponentially. They become One Big Heart that encompasses all.