1. Amplifying Resistance:

Instead of trying to reduce resistance, invite the client to fully embody it. Say something like, “Let’s make this resistance as strong as possible. Really feel into it.” Paradoxically, by fully allowing and even amplifying the resistance, it often naturally dissolves.

Example: If a client resists feeling joy, ask them to resist it even more intensely. This often leads to a spontaneous breakthrough where joy naturally arises.

2. Exploring the “Resister”:

Guide the client to investigate who or what is resisting. Ask, “Can you find the one who is resisting? Where is this resister located?” This inquiry often reveals that there’s no solid entity doing the resisting, just thoughts and sensations arising in Awareness.

3. Welcoming Duality:

Invite the client to simultaneously hold both resistance and acceptance. Say, “Can you welcome both your resistance and your desire to not resist?” This paradoxical stance often opens up a spacious awareness that transcends both.

4. Reversing Roles:

Ask the client to argue in favor of their resistance. Say, “Pretend I’m you, and convince me why this resistance is absolutely necessary.” This role reversal can lead to surprising insights and a natural loosening of fixed positions.

5. Utilizing Koans:

Introduce paradoxical questions or statements that the mind can’t solve, like “What was your original face before your parents were born?” This can short-circuit habitual thinking patterns and open a door to direct experience.

6. Pointing to Awareness:

In the midst of resistance, guide the client’s attention to the aware space in which resistance is appearing. Ask, “What’s aware of this resistance? Is that awareness itself resistant?” This direct pointing can reveal the ever-present, non-resistant nature of Awareness.

7. Exploring Resistance as Sensation:

Invite the client to experience resistance purely as bodily sensation, without the storyline. Ask, “If you drop all thoughts about this resistance, what raw sensations are present?” This can shift the experience from a mental problem to a simple, passing phenomenon.

8. Loving What Is:

Guide the client to fully accept and even love their resistance. Say, “Can you welcome this resistance with the same openness that Awareness is already allowing it?” This radical acceptance often leads to a profound shift in perspective.

9. Investigating “No”:

When resistance shows up as a “no” to experience, invite the client to explore what’s saying “no” and what it’s saying “no” to. This often reveals the illusory nature of both subject and object.

10. Using Metaphor:

Introduce metaphors that illustrate the nature of Awareness, like “You are the sky, and resistance is just a passing cloud.” This can help clients intuitively understand their true nature beyond resistance.

These approaches work by leveraging the nondual understanding that Awareness is always already allowing all experiences, including resistance. By pointing to this, we invite clients to recognize their true nature as the open, spacious context in which all phenomena, including resistance, arise and pass.

The paradox here is that by fully allowing resistance to be as it is, without trying to change it, we create the conditions for transformation. This aligns with the nondual truth that our essential nature is already free, whole, and complete. The resistance we experience is another expression of awareness. This recognition dissolves the apparent problem of resistance, revealing peace and freedom.

Key Nondual Approach: The Mirror of Awareness

When resistance arises, invite the client to turn their attention away from the content of their experience and towards the aware space in which that experience is occurring. 

Guide them with these steps:

1. Acknowledge the resistance: “Notice the feeling of resistance arising.”

2. Shift attention: “Now, gently turn your attention to what’s aware of this resistance.”

3. Inquire deeply: “What is the nature of this awareness that’s noticing the resistance? Is it itself resistant? Does it have any boundaries or limitations?”

4. Recognize the mirror-like quality: “Notice how this awareness, like a perfect mirror, effortlessly reflects all experiences—including resistance—without itself being affected or changed.”

5. Rest as awareness: “Allow yourself to rest as this open, boundless awareness that’s naturally present and aware of all experiences.”

The power of this tool lies in its direct pointing to our true nature as awareness itself. By shifting attention from the content of experience (the resistance) to the context of experience (awareness), we invite a profound recognition:

Resistance is just another appearance in the vast, open field of awareness that we fundamentally are. This awareness has no resistance to resistance. It simply and effortlessly allows all experiences to come and go, like reflections in a mirror.

This often triggers a spontaneous relaxation of resistance. The client may suddenly see that their essential nature as awareness is already free, whole, and complete — regardless of what thoughts, emotions, or sensations are arising.

By consistently pointing to awareness itself, we guide clients to recognize SELF in this unchanging, ever-present reality, rather than in thoughts and emotions. From this perspective, resistance loses its power to disturb our peace.

This tool has the potential to cut through years of struggle and directly reveal the freedom that is our birthright. In the mirror of awareness, all resistance is seen for what it truly is: another beautiful, temporary ripple in the vast ocean of our true nature.