You are not your thoughts….. You are not your feelings….. You are not your mind or your body. These are the non-dual teachings of many spiritual traditions. In essence they are correct, but they also have their place in time, or season, so to speak. Don’t let the non-dualists hear such talk, because time and seasons don’t exist either.
AUM (Om) - A for Creation, U for Sustenance, M for Destruction or Transcendence.
There is a time and place for destruction and transcendence, the letting go of everything you think you are, the mind and body, becoming just witness consciousness, the non-dual teachings. But when is this time? In the oh so popular now? What if you have experienced trauma? What if you have become oh so good at dissociating? Because you had to become the witness while you were being abused? Sexually, physically, and/or emotionally? I can’t tell you how many clients, I have encountered, who utilize mindfulness to dissociate from their feelings and from their bodies, because they don’t want to feel what their bodies are carrying - trauma. This is what is called spiritual bypass - the use of spirituality and spiritual teaching to escape, just like a drug.
Yoga - to join or unite. The union of body and mind. Trauma research prescribes yoga as one of the interventions, to help integrate a mind and body that has been fragmented due to trauma. Embodiment is what is needed in order to heal from trauma. You are your body. You are your mind. They are yours. They do not belong to your abuser. Right now. At this time. In this place. There is great power, in embodiment. But many non-dualist practitioners may not want to hear this. It is too scary to hear. The trauma is too scary to face. They will continue to use their drug of choice, to escape from the pain.
We transcend our trauma by becoming embodied. By learning what is ours. By having a strong sense of “I”. By understanding what is mine and what is not mine. What is yours and what is not yours. Sounds like the ego doesn’t it? There is a time and place for the ego as well. There is a time and place for the self. Your body and mind is yours, not your abusers. Get it? Reclaim your body. Reclaim your mind. Reclaim yourself. Become powerfully embodied. In this existence. No need to escape or transcend it, at this time, right now. It’s not so bad here.
And then there will come a time, when oh so powerfully embodied, you will not be scared anymore. To let go, to open up again, to give up the “I”, to that which will never harm or abuse you. Only at this time, when you are ready, will it be time, in the now, to let go of the self again. To transcend, the body and mind, to dissolve your embodiment into the great ocean from which you came. To come full circle.
Aum, creation, sustenance, transcendence.
Dr. Michael Garbe