Discovering Divine Flow with TWIM

What if, instead of just thinking about God, you could experience a direct and intimate relationship with Divine Love as it gently flows through you, like water bathing your body?

In last week’s blog, I introduced Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation (TWIM). This practice helps us shift from merely understanding ourselves and God intellectually to actually feeling the divine flow of love—like a gentle stream of water washing over us—within our bodies.

We are made up of mind, body, and spirit, yet many of us get stuck in our minds—overthinking, ruminating, and trying to figure out everything with our intellect alone.

But our bodies hold their own wisdom. By focusing on the felt sense of Divine Love flowing through us, much like the soothing flow of water bathing our bodies, our minds can rest, letting us experience God’s divine energy more deeply as it moves within us.

This is what experiencing Divine Flow—a deep and intimate connection with God’s love—feels like. Practicing TWIM opens the door to experiencing Divine Flow in your life.

What Is TWIM Meditation?

TWIM meditation, as taught by Bhante Vimalaramsi, emphasizes staying with the felt sense of loving-kindness in the body. Rather than focusing on the breath, meditators are encouraged to generate and maintain feelings of love, first toward themselves and then extending outward to others.

This practice is about softening the heart, releasing tension, and letting love flow freely, leading to a deeper sense of connection and joy.

TWIM offers a transformative pathway beyond intellectual concepts. Through TWIM, we can actually feel Divine Energy in our bodies, connecting with the profound sense of peace, joy, and love that is always present within us.

As we experience this felt sense of Divine Energy, we awaken to the fact that we are God’s Divine Energy of Love in human form.

TWIM lets us move from simply knowing about God’s love to experiencing it in a real, embodied way—helping us recognize and embrace our true nature as expressions of Divine Love.

 Grounded in the teachings of Buddhist monk Bhante Vimalaramsi, the TWIM  practice offers a unique and accessible way to cultivate mindfulness and joy.

The Three Steps to Practicing TWIM
and the Felt Sense of Divine Love

The key parts of TWIM are these steps:

Smile 

Smiling isn’t just a physical action; it’s a way to set the tone for your meditation.

By starting with a gentle smile, you invite a sense of lightness and friendliness into your practice. Smiling helps soften the mind, making it more open and receptive to the Loving-Kindness you’re about to cultivate. It’s a small yet powerful way to connect with the joy that lies within you.

When we smile, we release oxytocin, a hormone and neurotransmitter that sends calming endorphins from the brain to the body. Your smile sends a message from your brain inviting you to feel happy.

Stop for a moment as you read this. Put a gentle smile on your face. Notice the flow of calm that cascades from your brain into your body. Notice how your smile lightens your mood. Smiling is good medicine for the mind, body, and spirit.

Metta-Mantra 

The Metta-Mantra is a simple phrase or set of phrases you repeat silently in your mind to generate feelings of Loving-Kindness.

For example, you might use a phrase like “May I be happy” or “May I be filled with divine love and kindness.”

The mantra serves as the anchor of your meditation, guiding your attention back to Loving-Kindness whenever your mind starts to wander. The repetition of the Metta-Mantra helps deepen your connection to the Divine Energy of compassion and love.

Since our minds can think only one thought at a time, when we offer it a loving phrase, the mind focuses on that phrase and quiets down.

You can also bring to mind someone or something that makes you happy, like the image of a baby, your dog, or your cat.

Felt Sense of Love in Your Body

As you repeat the Metta-Mantra, you begin to cultivate a felt sense of Loving-Kindness in your body. This is the warm, gentle feeling that arises when you focus on kindness and compassion.

It might feel like a soft glow in your chest, a sense of peace, or a gentle warmth throughout your body.

The felt sense is your “meditation object,” the anchor that keeps you present and connected to the Loving-Kindness you’re cultivating.

As you deepen, you let go of your phrase and draw your awareness to what love feels like in your heart and throughout your body.

You savor the felt sense of love within you, letting it bathe you.

A Collected Approach to Meditation

TWIM’s “felt sense” of loving-kindness offers a more collected and helpful approach compared to practices that try to “crush the mind” with intense focus. A collected state in meditation means a calm and balanced mind that is gently gathered rather than forcefully controlled. Instead of rigid concentration, TWIM encourages focusing on the warm, positive sensations in the body.

This natural gathering of the mind allows distractions to fade without suppression, fostering relaxation, joy, and kindness. By letting go and staying connected to this nurturing, collected state, TWIM creates a more peaceful and sustainable practice—one that effectively reduces mental suffering and cultivates lasting happiness.

These three steps: smiling, the Metta-Mantra, and the felt sense of love within your body—form the foundation of TWIM.  They help you establish a meditation practice that is joyful, gentle, and deeply rooted in compassion. When combined, they create a powerful tool for transforming your mind and heart.

The 6Rs: A Tool for Letting Go When Your Mind Wanders

When we sit quietly, our minds often wander. They develop the monkey-mind jumping from one thought to another because that’s what minds do—they think thoughts one after the other.

The 6Rs are a step-by-step method within TWIM that helps you recognize and release the monkey-mind distractions or hindrances that arise during meditation.

The 6Rs are:

Recognize

Become aware of the distraction or hindrance. The moment you notice that your mind has wandered away from your meditation object (the felt sense of loving-kindness), you’ve recognized the distraction.

Release

Let go of the distraction. Don’t push it away or hold on to it—simply let it naturally fade away.

Gently close the door on it.

Relax

This step is important and often overlooked in other practices. After releasing the distraction, relax any tension that may have built up in your mind and body.

Most tension arises in the center of our forehead. When you notice that tension, relax your forehead and the rest of your body as you return to the flow of love within you.

Re-smile

Gently bring a smile back to your face and your heart. This small gesture helps cultivate a positive attitude and aligns your practice with the joy of loving-kindness.

Return

Bring your attention back to your meditation object, the felt sense of loving-kindness in your body.

Repeat

Continue this cycle whenever you notice your mind has wandered. It’s a practice of patience and gentle persistence.

Facing the Hindrances with the 6Rs

Buddha taught that we cause our own mental suffering because we get attached to people or things. We crave something or someone and won’t let it go. This results in tension and anxiety within our thoughts, emotions, and bodies. TWIM calls these “hindrances.”

As you meditate, it’s natural to encounter hindrances—those mental states that pull us away from the wholesome inner states of peace and clarity.

Here’s how to apply the 6Rs to some common hindrances:

Sensual Desire – (I want that)

The craving for something or someone pleasant can be enticing, but when you recognize it during meditation, use the 6Rs to release it. Notice how it feels in the body, relax any tension, and gently return to your practice.

Anger, Aversion, Fear – (I don’t like them or that)

Discomfort or dislike can arise, whether it’s toward a person, a physical sensation, or a thought.

By recognizing and releasing these negative thoughts, you soften their grip and let your heart stay open and calm.

Sloth and Torpor – (I fall asleep, or I don’t feel like meditating)

Drowsiness and dullness can make it hard to stay focused. Recognize these states without judgment and use the 6Rs to reinvigorate your practice.

Sometimes, simply re-smiling and returning to the object of meditation can help lift the fog. If you fall asleep while meditating, that’s okay. Just return to your practice as you awaken. Smile. Perhaps your body needed a bit of extra rest.

Restlessness – (I can’t sit still)

When the mind is agitated or anxious, it can feel impossible to settle down. Use the 6Rs to gently acknowledge the restlessness, release it, and relax into a more peaceful state.

Don’t give up on your practice. The restlessness will fade as you lean into the 6Rs again.

Doubt – (This isn’t working. I give up on myself)

Uncertainty about the practice or your progress is a common hindrance. Self-doubt can also cause you to want to give up on yourself and your practice.

Recognize the doubt, release the mental tension it creates, and trust the process as you return to your meditation.

Unlike other meditation practices which invite us to try and push away the distractions, which often leads to them eventually popping back up, in TWIM we notice the distractions and let them become our teacher. “How is the distraction inviting me to grow?” we might ask ourselves as we create inner space for the Holy Spirit to guide us with wisdom and insight.

Putting It All Together

The beauty of TWIM is its simplicity and effectiveness. By consistently applying these simple tools in your meditation practice, you create a gentle, compassionate way to deal with the inevitable distractions and hindrances. Your mind, body, and spirit work as one.

Remember, meditation is not about forcing the mind to be still but about learning to navigate the ebbs and flows of life with grace and ease.

Through the TWIM practice and the 6Rs, the hindrances become less daunting. They become opportunities for deeper understanding and compassion—both toward yourself and others.

With patience and persistence, you’ll cultivate a mind that knows how to let go and a heart that radiates joy.

You’ll get into the Divine Flow of experiencing love from God for yourself and for others.

You’ll train your mind to be happy.

—brian j plachta
brianplachta.com

STAY TUNED:

Next week, we’ll explore how to bring TWIM into your daily activities so you can maintain a positive, peaceful spirit throughout your day.

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