Healing

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Rearranging the Constellation of Stories that you think you Are (for Healing)

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I often say that a human being is a constellation of stories. Some of these stories we adopt passively; some we adopt consciously. There is no authentic story; so there is no authentic way of being, other than experiencing the moment fully, and acting out of that experience. 

I distinguish between the personality and the essence, the terminology of Gurdjieff. The personality is what we present to the world; it is concerned with image fitting in. The essence is the part of ourselves that surfaces during peak or awakening experiences. It experiences being directly. 

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How Touching into your Essence Fundamentally Shifts Behavior.

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Habits can be changed by force, but it is not an effective approach. There is a lot of friction, and therefore a lot of wasted energy. It is easier to change behaviors through a fundamental shift in the nature of being, which shifts the perspective, which shifts the reality. 

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How the Budden Process Works (Somatic Breakthrough Delivery); With Esoteric Anatomy of the Skull

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While the benefits the Budden Process work are often very clear, the mechanics can be mysterious. 

They are a mystery in part because we are working with consciousness, and consciousness is, almost by definition, a mystery. Many spiritual traditions that are based in mindfulness practices are studies of consciousness. We don't study it much in our culture. Scientists call it 'the hard problem.' For one thing, how does one observe oneself objectively, when even the most minute particles of matter seem influenced by the observer?

Certain principles show up again and again in Budden Process sessions. So we can use these to deepen our understanding. 

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Transformational Anatomy - The Abdomen

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The body is a conduit for life force. This FLOW is hampered by tightening the abdomen. We learn, in our culture, to tighten our abdomen to fit into some programmed, artificial concepts of beauty. We also learn it through the unnatural postures we engage in regularly (sitting, for instance, and standing in certain footwear). We also may tighten the abdomen so as not to feel our deepest fears; our core wounds. 

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Honoring the entire spectrum of sensations, Flow and Non-Flow and the Transformational Anatomy of the Psoas)

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Sensations are always arising and passing away... arising and passing away. We put a lot of energy into labeling these sensations.

Sensations don't create our reality; the labels do.  The same sensation never shows up twice. 

Included are the tools for making the most of this fluid state. 

The Psoas: Esoteric Anatomy

The psoas runs from the lower 5 lumbar to the top of the femur or thigh bone. When it is congested, it can affect posture, digestion, circulation, sexuality, and the urinary system, to name a few.

Here are a few critical distinctions and tools for opening. 

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Gaps in Awareness (and how to fill them)

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In day to day living, we are largely unconscious. We often behave mechanically, going from pattern to pattern automatically, moving through our days and lives. We live in the liminal spaces, looking forward to life events, or back with nostalgia on the past.

Here are some practical tips for bringing awareness back, using the body as a springboard. (Hint: this has nothing to do with meditation). 

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Deepening your Healing Practice

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Faith is critical during this process, because healing happens outside of linear time. We weave in and out of childhood as though time didn't exist, welcoming back old abandoned pieces. Most of the tools we learn for measuring and quantifying in life do not apply here. 

How do you measure the healing of the heart and soul?

How do you compare one moment to another, in a constellation where 'change is the one constant?' 

The flowing forward calls upon an inner knowing; on following an inner compass that is uniquely your own. 

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The Paradoxes of Healing and Awakening

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I think a well-lived life is a balance between the external happening and the internal reflection. When we spend too much time moving through happenings, without reflection, it can be difficult to discover meaning. There may be one or two experiences that require a lifetime of reflection to make sense. They inform and are informed by our life path.

The process of embodiment, coming back into the body, includes discovering where those experiences have fit into our lives, so they can fall into place; so that our life purpose continues to clarify. 

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

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Investing in personal evolution or enhanced consciousness

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Consciousness is eroded not by experiences, but by the reaction to experiences. Have you seen a really luminous child devolve after a series of traumas or setbacks to become a bitter, angry, depressed adult?

We become masterful at seeding our devolution: through the over-use of pharmaceuticals; by ingesting non-foods over decades; by indulging in destructive practices of all kinds; by indulging disempowering thought patterns over a lifetime. The list goes on. 

What happened to the child, so full of light?

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How do you move forward without backsliding? Give the body the opportunity to catch up with the mind.

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The body becomes the tangible expression of the unconscious. Once you can hone into and locate where in the body these beliefs are manifesting, and how, they can be revealed, adjusted, shifted, and moved. Sometimes they are revelation and the adjustment occur at the same time; sometimes they are staggered.

There are certain practices you can engage in that ensure that the unconscious beliefs shift with the body, even if you don't know what these beliefs are. Vipassana is one example, as are certain therapies with a somatic component. Most of them only skim the surface, unfortunately, though they plant the seed of eventual deepening. 

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The value of embodiment (And how I found my legs again)

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Currently, in our culture, there is little value placed on 'embodiment.' That is not entirely surprising. For one thing, it is difficult to commodify, and thus valued less. It takes in-depth exploration, in a culture that values quick satisfaction. Also, I think embodiment as a way of being is a dangerous prospect, because an embodied person is difficult to control. 

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Evolve and let others Evolve (no two paths are alike)

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Walk your path; discover your lessons; transcend your wounds. Regather the pieces of yourself that you've left scattered in the past, and put them back on the road. When you slip into judgment, consider that all of these roads may be leading to the same place.

If you're glaring at someone else because their path appears different, you may miss that beautiful flower blooming on the roadside. If your chest is constricted, how are you going to catch this next breath?