On the other hand, it could be a true dark-night-of-the-soul, gut-wrenching experience that calls into question a person’s very existence. Up is down, down is up, and the whole world is an out of control merry-go-round that seems to be spinning so fast everything is being thrown off of it only to land in … oblivion.

            Enter some kind of light, some glimpse of a horizon, or an opening or easing of the heart. Perhaps someone says something that makes sense not logically but intuitively. Or perhaps a person reads a passage that resonates on a deeper level with only a soft “hmmmm,” or “aaahhhhh,” that follows.

            It makes sense then, as Richard Rohr writes, “All spiritual knowledge is recognition, not cognition.” This is profound. It means, to me, that we can’t think our way into a spiritual path. Rather, we feel or sense our way in. We are called to it on a frequency we’ve never before been tuned into. And yet, we recognize it as something deep … earth-shattering … even mystical … while at the same time, making perfect sense.

            Such is the beginning of the spiritual path. And because, most likely, we didn’t think about it, didn’t declare to the world “and now, I embark on the spiritual path!” (well, maybe we said that but it is highly likely it was well past the time we took the first wobbly step), instead, what probably happened is we had some kind of realization (hence, realization as a term meaning enlightenment, and indeed, it is an enlightened moment when we step on the path) that a different way of being is needed, or more so, being sought. And so we come to the first paradox. We can’t think our way out of spiritual despondency. We experience our way out of it. In some ways, we are like the baby grasping at near-by objects that are fuzzy and unknown until we find one we can hold onto.

            Which may feel awkward, especially in this age where we automatically turn to “experts” on the internet to “figure out” what or where to go next. Instead, when we embark on the spiritual path we find that no one can tell us what will work for us. There are a lot of fingers pointing to moons (see my blog by that name), and even worse, said moons can end up being a lot of dead ends. Which isn’t, paradoxically, a bad thing.

            A dead end, or a hard stop, forces us to turn around and pursue a more viable option. In the intellectual world, there are few if any hard stops as the mind can come up with reason upon reason to “keep going,” “just one more corner to turn,” or “put just a bit more effort in.” We can drop down some rabbit holes that are endless, and I have definitely traveled the far length of quite a few.

            Which is why the paradox in spiritual practice can wake us up to the folly of the mind. Rather than the mind endlessly arguing that it is “either this … or that,” we can say “it’s … both.” Confusing? Yep. This is the premise of the koan. Such wisdom questions are meant to by-pass the logical mind to awaken spiritual curiosity. “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” is a famous one. Don’t think about how one hand can clap … that’s an intellectual exercise. Instead, just consider how if one hand is moving in space without the backstop of another hand, what would that sound be? … Yes, … silence.

            In our fast-paced, technologically driven world, we often assume there is an answer for everything. And that there is only one answer. With a paradox, there can be one, two, three … a thousand, and they can even be in opposition to each other. Probably one of my most profound awakenings, realizations, was when I finally understood that being mad at someone didn’t mean I hated them, or that I had to sever my relationship with them. I could both be mad with them … and love them at the same time.

            It is this ability to hold two truths simultaneously that appears to be lacking in our current social and political environments. It is as if one fact is more relevant or important than another fact, even when both are accurate. I remember reading an article about a NYC liberal who moved upstate during the pandemic and ran off the road in a snow storm. A conservative neighbor showed up in a truck and pulled the car out. The liberal had the same kind of ah-ha moment I had — that it was possible to accept help from someone with diametrically opposed political beliefs, and to see how such beliefs did not stop the conservative from being helpful.

            In essence, political beliefs are just one part of the picture, not the whole. Neither had to base their actions on just one fact. Both were true. A human needed help, a human could help, and they had opposite political views. This is the very essence of seeing the whole of a person. This ability to hold the whole of our experience is for me exactly the spiritual path. Nisargadatta says it a bit differently:

Your problem is that you like one part of your dream and not another. Love all, or none of it, and stop complaining.

            This is classic Buddhism. We cling to what we like, and push away what we don’t. Nisargadatta is clear: Polarization is not the answer; complaining is not the answer. Perhaps another way I would paraphrase this is — embrace all, and live fully. Of course, Pema Chodron offers another option — approach all with tenderness, and drop the judgment. Most importantly, apply this to yourself first. Love all of you, and complaining ceases.

By Beth Hinnen, Certified Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher: Beth Hinnen came to the spiritual path from the corporate world. After experiencing impermanence and greed, she left to study Yoga and has over 1,000 hours in Yoga teacher training, and ended up specializing in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, spiritual scripture that closely aligns with Buddhism. From there, she studied Zen Buddhism for over ten years, including in-person, month-long monastic retreats, until she earned certification, in January, 2023, as a Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. Currently, Beth is a co-leader of the IMCD Council, and on the Teachers Collective, as administrator. She hosts a Meetup group called Yoga Meets Buddhism, and for the past three years, has held an online Dharma Wednesdays class that discusses the Yoga Sutras while also bringing in Buddhist teachings, along with Sufi poets, Christianity, Judaism and other spiritual paths that reinforce the words of Sri Swami Satchidananda, the founder of Integral Yoga where Beth studied. “The truth is one, the paths are many.” More information about Beth is at www.samayaco.org.

ll By Michelle LaBorde, MA, LPCC

In his book, “A New Earth: Awakening to your Life’s Purpose” Eckart Tolle teaches that our “inner purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that. You share that purpose with every other person on the planet – because it is the purpose of humanity”.  This is the basic, fundamental aspiration of transpersonal psychotherapy… for the transpersonal counselor to walk with the client in whatever way and to whatever degree or level that supports the client’s spiritual journey toward awakening and connecting with their highest Self.

There are eight basic assumptions about a transpersonal approach to psychology that can be viewed as the “underlying principles that unite transpersonal therapists” according to Brant Cortright in his book “Psychotherapy and Spirit: Theory and Practice in Transpersonal Psychology”. While there are many approaches that come under the umbrella of transpersonal psychology, they all assume that:

1. Our essential nature is spiritual.

2. Consciousness is multidimensional.

3. Human beings have valid urges toward spiritual seeking, expressed as a search for wholeness through deepening individual, social, and transcendent awareness.

4. Contacting a deeper source of wisdom and guidance within is both possible and helpful to growth. 

5. Uniting a personal conscious will and aspiration with the spiritual impulse is a superordinate health value.

6. Altered states of consciousness are one way of accessing transpersonal experiences and can be an aid to healing and growth.

7. Our life and actions are meaningful.

8. The transpersonal context shapes how the person/client is viewed. 

Cortright argues that “Traditional psychology has focused on motivational hierarchies – survival needs, sex and aggression, the need to integrate feelings and impulses, finding intimacy, developing a cohesive self, and actualizing the self’s potentials through meaningful work and activities. Transpersonal psychology completes the process by putting this motivational path into the context of a spiritual journey”.  The goal of the spiritual journey is greater consciousness for us as individuals and “from a transpersonal perspective, consciousness heals”.  

Religions, philosophies and healing traditions throughout human existence have played a role in shaping how we view our life’s purpose during our short time here on Earth and all these wisdom traditions have given direction with regard to our spiritual journey. “As soon as you rise above mere survival, the question of meaning and purpose becomes of utmost important in your life”, Tolle says. The field of transpersonal psychology seeks to, via scientific research, integrate mind, body and spiritual practices in support of transcendent experiences that offer access to what might be referred to as the soul, the spirit or our deeper, ancient wisdom in this essential search for meaning and purpose. Carl Jung, who is recognized as the founder of transpersonal psychology was deeply interested in transpersonal phenomena from the time he was a child and spent his career mapping the human psychological evolution toward individuation or wholeness.  Thanks to Jung’s work, a transpersonal psychotherapist might recommend dream work, with its rich language of symbolism, archetypes and collective metaphor, for example, as way of offering a client a window into their interior life. As the field has evolved, a variety of practices and experiences have been identified that serve to open the window to our greater awareness and consciousness. Mindfulness practices, including meditation, are probably the trendiest and most touted by the mainstream right now but yoga, exercise, hypnosis, psychedelic substance induced experiences and even sex all present opportunities to help break us free from our heads and the trappings of the world and introduce us to our own higher nature or as Tolle says, invites us into “the peace of God”. 

The simplest moments – admiring a sunset, watching a baby sleep – can be seen as a holy instant where we are gifted with an opening to our true essence. “The world can penetrate us if we let it. If we relax our habitual anxieties for a moment and all our ideas about the world, all our interpretations, and just let ourselves see and hear it as it is, then we can feel the living energy of the world. We connect ourselves directly to it. This experience of direct connection might seem extremely simple, but it can affect us profoundly” writes Jeremy Harward. This wisdom is transpersonal. It invites us to step out of grasping, habitual thought patterns which keeps us separate from receiving divine direction and from connecting with our higher Selves and others. Connecting to the living energy of the world is our work as human beings, and this work is well facilitated by a transpersonal psychotherapist.

Resources:

Cortright, B, (1997). Psychotherapy and Spirit: Theory and Practice in Transpersonal Psychology, New York: State University of New York Press.

Friedman, H. L., & Hartelius, G. (2013). The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, NY, NY: John Wiley & Sons. 

Hayward, J.W. (1998). Discovering basic goodness. In Sacred world: The Shambhala way to gentleness, bravery, and power (pp. 1-13). Boston: Shambhala Publications.

Tolle, E. (2005) A New Earth: Awakening to your Life’s Purpose. New York: Penguin (Kindle version)

About Michelle

Michelle is a mother, a partner, a friend, a spiritual seeker, a licensed psychotherapist and someone who enjoys connecting with herself and her higher Self within a mindfulness meditation practice. She has a BA in Communications and Humanities from the University of Colorado and an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a concentration in Mindfulness-based Transpersonal Psychology from Naropa University. Michelle’s practice, Soul Care Counseling, offers mindfulness-based practices that support clients seeking to become less anxious, less stressed, less reactive and more grounded, present and connected with their own inner ally. As a result of their work together, clients are able to communicate with themselves and others with greater clarity, care and compassion.  https://michellelaborde.com/

Our body’s encircling low-level energy—an aura?

In Indonesia I worked as a copyeditor at an English daily print newspaper, The Jakarta Post (1). The editor of the Post’s Weekender Magazine came to me, “Mary, do you want your aura read?” 

At the time I was reading Valerie Hunt’s book, Infinite Mind: Science of the Human Vibrations of Consciousness. Dr. Hunt was a professor of Physiological Science at the University of California, LA. Her book introduced me to the science behind how we measure energy coming off our bodies, including that of EKGs and EEGs. She spoke of how NASA, in monitoring its astronauts out in space, had discovered a low level of energy emanating from and encircling our bodies, essentially an aura. 

I jumped at the chance. Four of us agreed: two Indonesians, an Australian, and I. Each of us would then write of his/her aura reading experience for the Weekender Magazine. I prepared a small tome before I knew there was a 250-word limit (2). 

The day finally arrived, and bubbling with near uncontrollable energy, I made my way up a nonfunctioning escalator with my small group to a tiny two-room office on the third floor of an aging mall. I expected a scientific readout of my entire body with squiggles representing various colors and their intensities—like something from a hospital heart monitor. Disappointment engulfed me; there would be no full-body energy scan. 

We are “human beings” not “human doings”

Instead, the owner directed me to sit in a large chair—similar to Captain Kirk’s command seat in Star Trek—in a darkened room with my fingertips resting lightly on the designated finger pads on the arm rests. Determined to make the most of it, I chose to sit calmly and meditatively while the Kodak camera snapped a 30-second photo of my aura read from the energy leaking out of my hands (3). After a few minutes, we were presented with our photo and a five-page, dot matrix computer printout explaining and analyzing our personalities around our chakras and the colors revealed in the photo. 

I decided to make the most of it and brought my critical realist “as-if” perspective to it: this photo acts “as if” it’s reading my energy. Not all my energy, of course, and not with exactitude, but I stayed open to the idea that maybe there’s something to this. 

I wanted my scan to show brilliant blue and purples flowing out from everywhere around me—symbols of super spirituality. But no—that floated around Indonesian Karen. While I had aquamarine and greens emanating from my left side and from the top of my head, my right side was bright yellow with some red in it. My accompanying computer readout said I needed to find balance between the two—between my rational, let’s-get-this-done NOW yellow side, and my calmer, more receptive blue and green side. The summary, translated from Indonesian to English, read, “Your health will always base on your conflict and unpeace mind.” That defined my spiritual journey long before Kodak exposed it in vibrant colors: how to balance my inner conflict as a “human being” versus a “human doing.” I fall on the doing side.

Other balancing acts (4)

• Are you quick to judge another’s way as “wrong,” while yours is the “right” way, bringing anger upon yourself?  
• Is your automatic response to your experiences by your feelings, in the process projecting those feelings onto others, believing you know their truth, instead of bringing facts into the experience? And vice-versa? 
• Do you run from ordinary life, always wanting the next new fun and exciting event? 
• Are you fearful of people wanting your time or energy, and thus avoid much human contact? 
• Do you run from conflict, bottling up that energy, which manifests itself as frustration, a low-level anger?
• Do you neglect your physical and emotional health to nurture others, putting their well-being before yours? You can’t help others if you’re a physical wreck.

System collapse

Nature teaches us that we are designed to live in balance; without it, we face system collapse, and not only in our bodies. 

• Overfishing, in particular of juveniles, causes ocean ecosystem collapse. 
• In Afghanistan, when herders brought their sheep up the mountains to graze too early in the spring because they’d run out of fodder at lower elevations, the sheep nibbled those fresh green shoots down to the soil before the grass had a chance to establish itself after a winter hibernation, resulting in overgrazing and loss of grassland—ecosystem collapse. 
• Too many pollutants from fertilizer runoff flowing into our freshwater streams, rivers, and lakes contributes to algae growth. Decomposing algae consumes oxygen, creating dead zones and starving out riverine ecosystems—ecosystem collapse.

Did COVID-19 usher in a form of balance? Maybe; humanity’s pride certainly took a hit. 

As our seasons change, mediate on the sun resting on that pivotal equator, even as our days lengthen and move from winter’s demise of life to spring’s increase in life—an additional contour of balance for contemplation. 
And practice mindfulness, paying attention to the stress signals going off in your body, making the unconscious conscious, a cornerstone of People House spirituality as I wrote in my last blog.

______

Notes & Sources

1. At the time, The Jakarta Post was the only international, English daily print newspaper, now joined by the Jakarta Globe.
2. Tiojakin, Maggie. (2008). ‘The Camera Never Lies?’ The Jakarta Post, Weekender Magazine. October, page 44-45.
3. For sample photos, see https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-colorful-clairvoyant-history-aura-photography
4. The Enneagram explains these balancing acts in more detail. Contact me for more information or go to People House’s website https://39n.a5f.myftpupload.com/ for other qualified Enneagram counselors. 
5. Warnock, Terryl. The Miracle du jour, MoonLit Press, LLC; 2017; pages 193-195. https://www.amazon.com/Miracle-du-jour-Terryl-Warnock/dp/0989469859
6. Kabat-Zinn, Jon. He defines mindfulness meditation as “the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally”. For more information, refer to his many published works.

About the Author: Rev. Mary Coday Edwards is a Spiritual Growth Facilitator and People House Minister. A life-long student of spirituality, Mary spent almost 20 years living, working, and sojourning abroad in Asia, Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Latin America before finding her spiritual connection at People House and completing its Ministerial Program. Past studies include postgraduate studies from the University of South Africa in Theological Ethics/Ecological Justice, focusing on the spiritual and physical interconnectedness of all things. With her MA in Environmental Studies from Boston University, abroad she worked and wrote on environmental sustainability issues at both global and local levels, in addition to working in refugee repatriation.

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. C.G. Jung 

Our bodies are energy. An electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) measures the electrical activity in the heart. An electroencephalogram (EEG) measures electrical impulses in your brain. 

People House spirituality includes watching that energy, befriending it, welcoming it, asking it what it wants. Much of it remains stuck down in our unconscious/psyche in the form of what we think is “bad” or “wrong” based on what we’ve been taught by often well-meaning parents, teachers, and religious and political authorities. We fear that which we’ve buried. This energy down in our psyche is still driving our lives—we just don’t know it. Every day we make decisions based on unconscious motives and desires and emotions and values and attitudes and beliefs.

Coming to consciousness is bringing that suppressed energy up to the surface and utilizing it for the good of ourselves, humanity, and the planet. That’s why consciousness/energy is transformative. 

Stop. Breathe. Ask the Question.

 A-It’s about paying attention to the energy coursing through your body. Our bodies are present to the here and now while our brains ruminate over the past and plan the future. Our body tells us when we are stressing. It gives off warning signals through the tension we feel in the gut, the shoulders, the legs, in sweaty palms, shortness of breath, a palpitating heart rate. Stress will kill us, or at a minimum contribute to sickness and disease. Steps to dis-ease are as follows: 

1-Notice it. “Whoa, I’m stressed out about something, my gut is so tense.” Or wherever you feel it.

2- Stop and breathe into the stress. Even a minute or two of deep breathing begins the process of changing our unconscious responses. Your reptilian brain demands that you fight, flight, or freeze—an unconscious reaction. By bringing awareness to these signals you learn to respond and make conscious choices and thus break the automatic pattern. You do something different instead of just reacting to it. Our ancestors depended upon this reptilian brain to escape the saber-toothed tiger that wanted them for lunch. “Danger! Danger!” yelled instincts, and pumped the stress hormones adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine into the body to incite it for emergency action. Running then cleansed those hormones from the bloodstream.

Today when we feel threatened by our boss, the civilized human doesn’t have the option of running madly from her desk with a club in her hand, screaming at everyone to flee. Instead those hormones swirl inside her with no release, raising her heart rate and blood pressure—damaging over the long run. Recognizing that stress/energy and breathing into it with self-talk can help dissipate those chemicals, such as saying, “It’s OK. We’ve got this, it’s not the end of the world. I’m feeling threatened, what’s the worst that can happen?” It won’t be a tiger ripping you and your family apart from limb to limb. Breathing into that stress begins the process of breaking up that automatic chemical response. 

3-Then ask your higher self, your inner guide, your spirit, “What can I do next?” It might be nothing, but to stay present to your body and breathe into those spaces where your energy manifests in the form of anxiety or anger or fear or shame—whatever is your go-to emotion.  

You’ll notice that after a while, specific situations bring up stress over and over again—triggers, they’re called. Pema Chödrön, an ordained Buddhist nun in the Shambhala lineage, when asked if situations still triggered her, responded “Oh, yes. But now I’m curious. ‘Isn’t that interesting, I’m being triggered.’” A nun for more than 30 years, triggers for her become interesting, an object of curiosity, a learning experience—not something to berate herself for.

Alchemy: Transform Your Energy into Gold

B-Using various tools, skilled People House spiritual facilitators can work with you to transform that energy into that which is healthy.

1-Gestalt techniques: “Did you notice what you just did with your left hand?” I’ll ask my clients. “Tell me about that.” Their inner energy has manifested itself with a closed fist, or a hand wrapped with the other hand, or any myriad of physical responses reflecting an energy direction. By drawing attention to that, I’m helping them pay attention to something inner manifesting itself outwardly. A gestalt brings to the surface “a this and a that,” aiding the person to create something new out of what is often opposites.

2-We work with the NOW: “What’s most important to you this moment? What needs looked at, what needs loved, attention, right now?” If the past is impinging on the now, it’s up for discussion, but we don’t go digging it up if it’s not important to you NOW.

3-Dreams: What is your unconscious bringing up? What belief, attitude, or value is surfacing that needs looked at, that your conscious needs to recognize and incorporate into your outward life? That is valuable energy that brings transformation.

4-The enneagram: People House has many practitioners trained in its use, a tool to aid in pinpointing one’s automatic and unconscious go-to emotional and mental dialogue to life’s challenges. For example, a type three will see life as a series of failures and successes, with failure her greatest fear, along with an accompanying emotion of shame.  

5-We look at one’s mythos, the stories and rituals we tell ourselves to make sense of our lives. Often unconscious, bringing them into consciousness aids us in discovering if they’re still serving us or not. If not, stress surfaces and we return to stop, breathe, and ask the questions.

Referring to Joseph Campbell (1), People House minister Wayne Tittes, Sr., says of People House spirituality, “Follow your bliss and the Universe will open doors where there were only walls,” and that “the voice of People House would say, ‘You can trust yourself to find your bliss and the courage to follow it. Your thinking mind doesn’t need to know how it’s going to turn out. That [finding your bliss] requires going inside and coming to know yourself. Community can help so much when you know you’re not alone on that discovery path’” (2).

May 2021 be a year of transformation for you as you make your unconscious, conscious!

____

Notes & Sources: 

1. Moyers, Bill. Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth. Anchor, 1991.  (p. 155, p. 194)
2. Interview by text messaging, 12.30.2020.
3. Kabat-Zinn, Jon. He defines mindfulness meditation as “the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally”. For more information, refer to his many published works.
4. Kripal, Jeffrey. Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion. University of Chicago Press, 2007.

About the Author: Rev. Mary Coday Edwards is a Spiritual Growth Facilitator and People House Minister. A life-long student of spirituality, Mary spent almost 20 years living, working, and sojourning abroad in Asia, Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Latin America before finding her spiritual connection at People House and completing its Ministerial Program. Past studies include postgraduate studies from the University of South Africa in Theological Ethics/Ecological Justice, focusing on the spiritual and physical interconnectedness of all things. With her MA in Environmental Studies from Boston University, abroad she worked and wrote on environmental sustainability issues at both global and local levels, in addition to working in refugee repatriation.

My basic definition of anxiety is “fear of the future.” 

Our minds get caught up in a lot of “what ifs” and before long, our bodies are joining in, and we find ourselves having trouble breathing, with hearts racing, feeling very restless, perhaps some nausea or heartburn. 

When this happens, I am in full flight or fight mode, and my nervous system is reacting as if there is a large, hungry lion in the room and I need to run to escape. This is what a panic attack might look like, and most people who experience them develop some method of self soothing to cope. They might go for a walk or run, or listen to calm music, or slow their breathing down.

Other people live with chronic, ongoing daily anxiety that just chews away at their minds, damaging mental and physical well being.  It’s as if the train tracks for anxiety have been laid down in the mind many years ago and that train keeps chugging along on it.

In fact, that is what happens in our minds. Habits of thought repeat themselves over and over, and most of us don’t even realize we are having these thoughts. We are wired to worry and to anticipate trouble- this negative bias has protected humanity for many generations. We need to be able to anticipate problems ahead so that we can plan for them and be prepared. We don’t need to live in them all the time, though. A nervous system that is always set to high alert makes it very difficult to function in the world.

Also, we have the ability to rip these well -traveled tracks up, and to lay down new tracks, with a train carrying new thoughts now running along in our brains.

We start by understanding how those thoughts got there, and then move on to how to replace them.

People with trauma in their pasts often struggle with anxiety. Trauma can “set us up” for anxiety, based on what we have experienced in our pasts. Other people are simply wired to worry more.  Add to this that we do exist in a very challenging world that contains many things worth worrying about.

To take a holistic, spiritual approach to anxious thoughts is to acknowledge that they exist, and to accept that, for all of us, a certain amount of anxiety is simply part of being human. It can help to write down your anxieties, or to say them out loud.  This can help to stop the spiraling thoughts of one anxiety leading to another- all the “what ifs?” Movement is a great way to calm yourself- anxiety creates heat and energy in the body and working off the energy by walking or other movement can be very helpful. So is listening to music that calms you. 

Then there is using the calming breath.

Sometimes I think people downplay the importance of the breath because it seems too simple; and because it has become a catch phrase to tell someone, “Take a breath!”  However, slowed breathing is just what the nervous system needs in order to begin to calm itself, allowing blood to return to the brain so that our reasonable mind can function. There are many types of slow breath techniques; the one I like best for calming anxiety is a “cooling breath.”

Sit in a comfortable position, preferably with spine straight and shoulders relaxed. Begin by breathing in fully through the nose, filling the lungs completely. Pause for a second, and then slowly, slowly breathe out through the mouth. Repeat several times, until you find your heart rate has slowed. Bring your attention to your heart center, and notice what is coming up for you. Notice any feelings in your body. This is just sitting with emotions and allowing them to be. When thoughts come up that are anxious or negative, just let them go. You might even thank them for helping to keep you safe.

Now, get up and do this again the next day, even if this is not an anxious day for you.  With continued practice, it is possible to soothe the mind and the nervous system by tapping into your wider, deeper Selves: your soul and your spirit, your true being.

For learning more about how the brain and nervous system work and guidance with a spiritual perspective, I would recommend reading anything by Mark Waldman and Andrew Newberg. Mark is a psychologist and Andrew is an MD who studies neurobiology. Their writings bring together science and spirituality in a way I find very enlightening.

Faye Maguire, MA, LACC, is a People House private practitioner working with youth and adults, using a transpersonal approach to therapy. Counseling is her second career, after being a business owner for nearly 30 years. She enjoys working with people experiencing life transitions, grief and loss, depression, anxiety, trauma, addictions, relationship issues, and figuring out life’s direction, using a holistic approach. Please contact her at 720-331-2454 or at fayemaguire@gmail.com for more information.

What we are experiencing on the planet is unprecedented. Never before have we had the magnitude of global interconnection and communication during a crisis that affects every human being, as we are experiencing in this moment.  

Much of humanity is focused on the media, the daily changes in life and the effect it is having on distant parts of the globe as the Covid-19 virus circulates around the world. 

Where is your focus and attention going?

You don’t need to listen to the news to know something remarkably uncommon is occurring. You can see it on the empty streets, with the closing of schools, people being sent home to work, and empty shelves at the grocery stores.  You can see it in your personal life and how it has affected your livelihood. Now, people are self-isolating or sheltering in place either by choice or because they have to.  

As you observe this phenomenon what are you experiencing inside? 

Does fear arise? Does confusion, panic or astonishment arise? Are you at peace?  Do you enjoy the “alone” time? Perhaps you are at home with family members that before were all out in the world.  Now you find yourself in constant contact with them. Are you kind? Are you enjoying one another? What is your response?  

It has been just a week, although it seems like a month, since this became a serious enough issue that I thought to take action to be prepared.  Being a pragmatic Virgo, I made a list of items I would need to stay at home for a month or so and set out to purchase them. Lucky to find a parking space at Costco, I started toward the door when a man ran up behind me, “Ma’am take my cart.  There are none in the store.” A bit bewildered, I thanked him for his thoughtfulness. Before entering, a woman holding a bottle of hand sanitizer and wipes swabbed my cart handle. Again, I smiled and thanked her. Inside I beheld a sea of people and baskets.  It might have been daunting yet as I navigated through the crowd, I felt a sense of joy. People were not pushing and shoving, they were actually slowing down and allowing others to get where they needed to go. There was an air of kindness…a sense that all of us were in this together.  Checkout lines were long going all of the way to the back of the store. I rounded an aisle near the front to pick up some protein powder, the last item I needed, and saw a short line. In disbelief, I asked the man standing at the end, “Are you at the end of the line?” “Yes, he replied.”  I had the most delightful time as we conversed noticing our similar feelings and views on keeping a positive loving attitude and approaching the situation from within our heart. Normally, I am not inclined to be so open with a “stranger” but it felt good to share and reflect on our abundance and goodwill.    

If you haven’t noticed, we are witnessing an extraordinary moment. 

A moment when we have an opportunity to awaken to the truth that we are truly One.  One human family, breathing one breath, globally interconnected and interdependent. Is there any doubt now that what happens in China or Italy or the U.S. or Canada or Australia, or Syria, or any country affects every single one of us?  We are joined physically, mentally, emotionally, economically and spiritually.     

You can look at the virus as a demon or as transformer.  It is showing us that we All Breathe the Same Air. We are One Breath.  We are not Separate. We are one global family. With that understanding the question becomes, how do we respond as One Being?  How do we lift our consciousness to a higher level of Care for One another?    

There is so much I have thought about over the past days with so much to say…and so little to say.  We are in Unknown Uncharted waters. Isn’t that the greatest fear? We cannot know for certain what lies ahead.  The world has turned upside down and in the outer world there seems to be no stability. Our healthcare, economic, social systems, and leaders are showing their vulnerabilities.  No one is immune. This tiny creature is raising All of our personal and systemic vulnerabilities to the surface.    

As strange as it sounds, that is the Gift. 

We are getting a clear view of our response or reaction to this crisis.  Distractions are few. We are at a standstill. When have you ever seen the world Stop Doing?  We have been running around willy-nilly doing, doing, doing with endless thoughtless busyness. We have been so preoccupied with doing life that we have not stopped to see where we are going.  What have we created? How are we impacting each other? How are we impacting all of life?

In a moment of fantasy, I had a Sci-Fi vision of Mother Earth creating this microbe to get rid of humans.  We would not be missed. In actuality, the earth is taking a deep breath right now. Water in the canals of Venice is clearing and fish and dolphins are populating the waters.  Pollution in cities is abating as cars, trucks, businesses and factories are shut down. Animals and other creatures are happily carrying on. We humans are the ones in crisis.         

We are in a pivotal moment in consciousness.  We have a great opportunity to pause and observe without judgment but with great discernment our habitual conditioned response to life.  We invest lots of our energy in attempting to control just about everything. It is a basic reaction to ensure survival and it can also be our greatest downfall.  There are a zillion different views on what and how to control the outer world and other people in order to be secure.

How secure do you feel right now?

Can you awaken from the trance?  You have never been able to control the outer world.  External stability is fleeting. The only place where true stability resides is inside of you.  A great teaching is offered in turning inward. Through this extraordinary circumstance you have a chance to glimpse the eternal part of you that is constant.  Here resides a core of centeredness and stability that is awareness. You have the power of choice in how you respond to whatever you experience. 

As you approach life from this pillar of timeless balance, you are coherent with the ebb and flow of life.  You are able to observe and choose responses that enhance life. Innovative and creative solutions abound in times like these.  Already, we are seeing people creating new and exciting ways to deal with work. Others are using their skills to find solutions to save people’s lives.  What we know for sure is that we are all in this together. We are having a rare Shared Experience. I trust we will adapt. Humans are resourceful and resilient.  We are in the midst of an upgrade in consciousness if we choose it.  

As you move inward into your heart and know without a doubt that we are One, you will respond with care for all humans, for all creatures, and for our dear planet.  

This is our challenge and how we respond will be written in our memories for all time.  

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Dorothy Wallis is a former intern at People House in private practice with an M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy.  She is a Psychotherapist, Certified Relational Life Therapist, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, and an International Spiritual Teacher at the forefront of the consciousness movement for over thirty years grounded in practices of meditation, family systems, relationships, and emotional growth.  Her work reflects efficacious modalities of alternative approaches to healing for individuals and couples based upon the latest research in science, human energy fields, psychology, and spirituality. 

As a leader in the field of emotional consciousness and the connection to mind, body and spirit, her compassionate approach safely teaches you how to connect to your body, intuition and knowing to clear emotional wounds and trauma at the core.  The powerful Heartfulness protocol empowers your ability to join with your body’s innate capacity to heal through holistic Somatic, Sensory and Emotional awareness. 

www.TheDorWay.com and www.Heartfulnesspath.com  

We often hear about “treating the whole person”, which is an acknowledgement that modern Western medicine and psychology has, in practice, separated human beings in disparate parts and treated those parts as if they exist in a vacuum, unconnected to the rest of the person. Medicine has become the domain of specialists, highly educated in a specific area of health. In many ways, psychology has also become the domain of specialists, and it can be difficult for clients and patients to untangle the different modalities and discover which treatment will best serve their needs.

It seems as if physicians treat the body and counselors treat the mind and emotions.

Spiritual practices also may have contributed to this separation, as they have often placed the person’s spiritual needs above and beyond the physical and the realm of emotional life, imparting the belief that one’s eternal soul is a more important concern than physical needs and health. Spiritual leaders often give up many quotidian needs in the service of their spiritual well being.  However, Abraham Maslow recognized in his hierarchy of needs that one must have their basic physical needs met before being able to pursue spiritual goals.

It seems that science has taken us apart in order to learn about how we work, and that spirit calls out to put us back together.

How do we “put a person back together”, therapeutically? 

Perhaps I have experienced childhood or adult physical or emotional trauma, neglect, or other life experiences that have taught me that life is to be feared and people, in general, not to be trusted. This may have taught me to “live in my head” by avoiding feeling my body and my emotions. It may have caused me to numb my feelings or misuse my body through drug or alcohol abuse, or by eating disorders, angry outbursts, or self harm. This dissociation from the body is also dissociation from my soul and my spirit. I might be living on auto pilot, disregarding physical symptoms or seeing them as unrelated to my thinking mind. I might struggle to articulate what I am feeling.

I may resist feeling at all.

It can be uncomfortable or frightening to allow myself to feel my body or to let myself acknowledge long buried emotions. Sometimes smothered emotions emerge as chronic depression, uncontrolled anger, physical illness, or ongoing anxiety.

Do I say to myself, “I wonder why I am feeling so sad much of the time?” Or “I don’t know where that panic attack came from.” It is as if I am stuck in a level of depression or anxiety and not willing to bring it up into the light and examine it. It could be that looking at is seems just too overwhelming. I might be caught and never be able to free myself from the despair, pain, or anger I am carrying in my body.

But the body and the heart never lie.

My mind can lie to me, because it may be filled with ideas, beliefs, mental habits, opinions, and negative cognitions that come from my family of origin, my culture, physical and emotional trauma, or my religious upbringing. They may not be my truths. By bringing these mental habits, the feelings and emotions I carry in my body, I can free myself from the weight of unexamined fears, memories, and experiences. I can bring my mind into alignment with my body, my soul, and my spirit.

This is true integrity, the integration of my being into living a life that manifests my deepest beliefs, values, and priorities. I am then able to know that my work, my personal relationships, my daily actions are expressing who I truly am as a human being, body, mind, and spirit.

Here is a list of some of my favorite authors on the subject of body, mind and spirit integration:

 Larry Dossey

Carolyn Myss

Rudolph Ballentine

Christian Nothrup

Deepak Chopra

Faye Maguire, MA, LACC, is a People House private practitioner working with youth and adults, using a transpersonal approach to therapy. Counseling is her second career, after being a business owner for nearly 30 years. She enjoys working with people experiencing life transitions, grief and loss, depression, anxiety, trauma, addictions, relationship issues, and figuring out life’s direction, using a holistic approach. Please contact her at 720-331-2454 or at fayemaguire@gmail.com for more information.