Acting As If

In my work as a health practitioner, I often counsel people on healing themselves using a combined body, mind, spirit modality. These three aspects of ourselves are inseparable. Healing can occur by making inroads through any aspect of our being, but for true transformation, the body, mind and spirit has to be considered as one unit. The mind drives the energy of our spirit to manifest the thoughts we focus on, resulting in experiences that leave impressions or memories which we carry in our bodies. This is why during bodywork, emotions can arise that we may not connect with. When the body relaxes, these locked-in emotions are set free.  So you would think that if we have lots of bodywork done we would eventually be free.  Not so.  We also have to address the mind, look at our beliefs and ingrained patterns of thought from which we create our reality.

Impressions and memories from learned behavior are stored in the more superficial layers of our bodies, while even more unconscious belief patterns come from a deeper cellular ancestral encoding. When difficult memories show up, we feel tension in our bodies. When pleasing memories show up we feel relaxed. I learned about this theory, not only in my studies of different healing modalities which include a psychological outlook, but also from studying yoga philosophy. The ancients spoke about how the actions we perform create karmic impressions of joy or  suffering, which generate further actions. When we die, these impressions follow us into other lifetimes. This I interpret to be genetic encoding.

So how do we make change, how do we break the patterns of unwanted behavior? Mindful awareness is the first step. When we can step back and recognize that we are creating the outcome we do not want, that is already a big step in the direction of change. The next step is acceptance for what is. To tell ourselves that we are doing the best we can for what we know right now. With this step, we have to have compassion for ourselves. I am often asked, “How do you do that?” Well it is not something you do, but allow it to happen. Compassion is innate. We walk away from compassion every time we beat up on ourselves.

My husband’s aunt’s favorite story to tell about him is when he was two years old and knew how to comfort his younger cousin. One day when she could not be consoled by her mother, Edward picked off bits of fluff from his blanket, rolled it into a little ball and placed it in her little hand. She stopped crying immediately. This story speaks to me of the innate power of compassion. We are not taught this. We see someone hurting, it is natural to want to help them and we can come up with creative ways to do so. When we are not holding back due to emotional blockages, the heart of compassion is available. Like a parent’s innate caring for a child or dogs acting to harmonize the behavior of the members of the pack.

The other step in the healing process is acting as if we are already whole. Some spiritual teachings give us the impression that this is elusive, it takes a long time after much practice of prayers, mantras and other rituals. This may be so, but I believe that we can get glimpses of wholeness and we can choose to shift our focus to this experience when our minds tell us otherwise.

The Self that we really are, is described in the eastern scriptures as of the nature of Truth, Auspiciousness and Beauty. We can focus on the Self by bringing these qualities to mind. One of the easiest ways to do this is to meditate on beauty. Many of us do this naturally by daydreaming. Recalling a beautiful nature scene, real or imagined, engaging the senses: Listen to the chirping of the birds, feel the warmth of the sun, smell the fragrance of the flowers. In some spiritual traditions, this practice is done by visualizing a deity and feeling the qualities assigned to that deity, becoming one with it. In such practices we imagine beauty in our minds and feel it in our bodies. This bring us in the presence of spirit, the Self that manifests as us and all things. This feels like peace and bliss, rejuvenating the body with deep relaxation.

When unwanted emotions arise, I choose not to indulge in them. I consciously begin to relax my body by becoming aware of my breathing. This relaxation allows the tension brought on by unhappy memories to dissolve and to take away the edgy feeling from the memory.  I hold the emotion in my awareness with compassion. It is not the truth, it is the play of consciousness itself. By sending loving energy to these impressions, they soon transform into the truth of our reality, which is of auspiciousness and beauty. The more we do this, the more we begin to feel gratitude for our lives. There is an acceptance for all aspects that show up in ourselves and others. It is then easier to be compassionate and forgiving.

Healing the planet starts with us. When we can tolerate our own humanness, we can forgive it in others. We are less encumbered by old patterns of reacting to our experiences. We see our old hurts and say, “I am sorry,” breaking the cycle of pain and suffering. We begin to train our minds to choose truth, auspiciousness and beauty. As we begin to master the unity of body, mind and spirit, we are acting as if wholeness is already our reality, which it paradoxically is.