Thich Nhat Hanh

I came across this beautiful article written by Thich Nhat Hanh today. It was an article entitled: Imagine a Pine Tree, published in the January, 2012 issue of the Shambhala Sun. This is at the core of CranioSacral Therapy, which is why I share it here with you today in my blog. 

In CranioSacral Therapy, we work with the client's intention and desire to heal, not only on the physical level, but also on an emotional and spiritual level. When we bring attention to the pain, fear and anger inside of us, we start to heal on all levels and the physical body naturally follows. When we heal our childhood wounds and our erroneous perceptions of who we think we are, who we think others are and what we think the world is, we heal the wounds in our bodies as well, whatever ways they tend to show up. And... as Thich Nhat Hanh says, when we take care of it, we are taking care of the world. 

I hope this inspires you on your own journey to heal, grow and evolve.

"As activists we want to do something to help the world to suffer less. But we know that when we’re not peaceful, when we don’t have enough compassion in us, we can’t do much to help the world. We ourselves are at the center. We have to make peace and reduce the suffering in ourselves first, because we represent the world. Peace, love, and happiness must always begin here, with ourselves. There is suffering, fear, and anger inside of us, and when we take care of it, we are taking care of the world.

Imagine a pine tree standing in the yard. If that pine tree were to ask us what it should do, what the maximum is a pine tree can do to help the world, our answer would be very clear: “You should be a beautiful, healthy pine tree. You help the world by being your best.” That is true for humans also. The basic thing we can do to help the world is to be healthy, solid, loving, and gentle to ourselves. Then when people look at us, they will gain confidence. They will say, “If she can do that, I can do that too!”

So anything you do for yourself, you do for the world. Don’t think that you and the world are two separate things. When you breathe in mindfully and gently, when you feel the wonder of being alive, remember that you’re also doing this for the world. Practicing with that kind of insight, you will succeed in helping the world. You don’t even have to wait until tomorrow. You can do it right now, today.

The Buddha proposed so many ways to practice to reduce the pain in your body and in your emotions, and to reconcile with yourself. We have learned in this retreat that you can reduce physical pain through the practice of releasing tension in the body. Pain increases as a function of tension, and it can be reduced if we release the tension. You can practice relaxation in the lying or sitting position. You can also practice relaxation when you walk, and with every step you can help release the tension. Walk like a free person. Put things down, don’t carry anything, and feel light. There is a burden we always carry with us. The skill we need is how to lay down our burden in order to be light." 

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Courage

A few weeks ago I was reading my book, enjoying the balmy weather of a summer's night, when a movement out of the corner of my eye distracted me. As I looked to follow the object that had caught my attention, I noticed a small spider, not bigger than the tip of my pinky finger. I saw it crawling down an almost invisible thread from a light fixture on the wall to the patio table where I was sitting. Now, I am not a fan of spiders to put it mildly and I was prepared to gently whisk it away, but instead of coming down to bother me, it went back up the way it had come. He was in the middle of making a web and using the table as an anchor.

I put my book down and watched with amazement how a web was spun. It was fascinating. This little guy worked steadfast and without paying any attention to anything that happened outside the web. Nothing could take him away from the task at hand.

As I was watching this spider, something about Nature became very clear to me. I realized that I could learn from my little friend here. He did not care that I was watching and this didn’t make him all of a sudden more self conscious, striving for perfection to get my approval. He wasn’t attached to how the web looked, as long as it did the job. He also wasn’t attached to the web being there permanently. I realized this when the next morning, I went outside to have my breakfast and noticed that the web had been destroyed. However, that same night, a new web had been spun, this time bigger, stronger and in a slightly different location. He learned the lesson and had simply started again.

Watching the spider, I had to look at myself. I too am a part of Nature. Do I have the courage to simply be, and do what naturally arises to sustain life and keep going no matter what life throws at me? Am I able to listen to my inner voice that will direct me in ways that are life affirming rather than going against it by resisting, trying to control or wanting, wanting, wanting life to be different?

When I watched this spider I realized something about Nature that is so simple and so beautifully in flow. There is no pushing or pulling, simply being.

It is something I see in my practice as well. When the mind stops controlling and the person on the table surrenders to the flow of Nature (the healing energy that is inherent in our own biology and all around us), the tissue relaxes and softens, and long held patterns in the body start to shift.

When I treat people in my Craniosacral therapy practice, I treat those areas in the body that are not relaxed, those places that feel tight, hard and constricted and where the body’s own healing energy seems to be moving in a disorganized pattern. Allowing the body’s own wisdom to re-organize and re-align these patterns and pockets, allows Nature to simply do its job and allows healing energy to flow freely and abundantly.

It is usually our own fears, attachments and need for protection and preservation that prevents healing from happening. Where in fact there is nothing to be afraid of, as energy cannot be created nor destroyed according to Einstein, we resist our body’s own healing energy from doing its job.

In the same way as it took the little spider courage, focus and determination to build his structure that would ultimately sustain his life, we too have to have courage, focus and determination to be healthy and free of pain. That, in combination with an absolute trust in the unbridled power and intelligence of Nature can create miracles in our lives.

This blog will published in the September issue of Parvati Magazine: http://parvatimagazine.com/

On the path of self discovery

On the path of self discovery, we begin to see, understand and accept those parts of us that are less attractive. Those parts are sometimes referred to as our shadow side. It is called shadow because it is our dark side and tends to make us react instantly and without thought until it is too late and the evidence of our actions have become blatantly obvious, leaving destruction and hurt in our wake. Not just in our relation to others, but often in relation to ourselves as well.

This is also called shadow, as it is hidden from our sight. We are so identified with this behaviour that we think that it is always because of outside factors that our buttons are being pushed. But it is us who is doing the reacting, it is us who feels the pain. We might think we are naturally generous and compassionate people, that we are social and fun-loving, but there is also another part of us that is wounded and that lashes out when we feel threatened or need to protect our fragile ego... our shadow side. So we keep behaving in ways that cover up the less attractive, shadow part by pleasing others (being generous), showing love (being compassionate) and be the clown at every party (social and fun-loving), until it no longer works and actually creates a problem in our lives... until our inability to say "no" gets us into trouble or until our inauthentic love keeps bringing us inauthentic partners that disrespect us and only care about themselves or until our hunger for relationships leaves us exhausted. Realizing that something isn't working anymore can be painful and our life may seem to be falling apart, yet if we are willing, these moments can actually be seen as Grace and as an opportunity to understand, witness, learn and grow. Rather than fighting to keep control, we have an opportunity to surrender, to bow down in humility and receive the lesson.

I saw one of my own shadow tendencies tonight. This particular pattern is very familiar to me and I have been working with it for quite a number of years. I thought I was doing well and that some of it was shifting and becoming less active, but tonight, as I was walking around this venue filled with everything you could possibly want to plan your wedding or party, I realized that I was feeling a sense of emptiness inside me. I realized I felt lonely and that I did not feel whole within myself. Something was lacking or "not enough" and there was wanting present. These two things are a clear sign to me. I recognize them easily these days and I thought: 'wow, that is still there. I have not released that yet.'

And that is okay. 

This is why I felt inspired to write this blog today. It was a revelation to me that that, which I thought I was in the process of releasing, was still active. I am not sure to what degree it has been released or to what degree it is still active and that is not important. I do not need to judge my process or my own evolution. I tend to do that sometimes, but have come to the realization that the only thing that is important is that I noticed it when it is happening and active and that I witness it without attaching any story, any emotion or any judgment to it.

I believe that this is really all we need to do: become the observer and witness our tendencies. When we become the observer we remove ourselves from our "story" of who we think we are and what we think the world is, and in that moment a space is created for something else to take its place, for another story to be created. In my own case, I guess a new story is in the process of being created and is still taking shape. As I continue on the path of self discovery and begin to understand and accept all aspects of myself that are made up by a story, as I then uncover all aspects of myself that are authentic and real, a freedom to 'be' takes the place of limited beliefs, a sense of power takes the place of disabling fear and 'I can't' is being replaced by 'I am'.

Creating something new

"Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before, but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God." ~Ram Dass


I really love this quote, because I had to really think in order to get the real depth of it. We associate healing with restoring something, as in a getting back to something that we once had or experienced. But seen from the present moment, is that really possible? "Life is constantly and forever changing and therefore so are my clients" is what I write on my website. Everything is fluid and moving in a certain direction.

The past may leave its mark on the present, but what was will never be again. The experiences of life will have left their physical or emotional imprint on the cells of our bodies, which may come to the surface at a later time, but they cannot be undone. So we are not going back to something, we are not undoing damage done, but we are creating something new, a new way for our cells to relate, a new way for energy to move and therefore creating new experiences and a new way of being. We are working with that, which presents itself in our lives, as an opportunity to take stock, to take responsibility, to understand and therefore to heal.

In order to do that, we would have to be open to a new way of thinking, a new way of relating. We would have to be receptive to change, to not knowing, to allowing new possibilities to arise and present themselves. 

Being open to life is being present for and receptive to what is happening in this moment at this particular time in our lives. Why resist it? Why fight it? It IS happening and we might as well go deeper and discover what this experience is trying to teach us. This way, we are allowing what is happening now to help us grow and evolve. 

So rather than fixing the problem, we can begin our journey towards perfect health by healing the underlying wounds or traumas that caused the dysfunction in the first place. Or, if the illness is of a more permanent nature, we can begin the process of acceptance, forgiveness and compassion, so we can move from fear, apathy and resentment to courage, wisdom and trust. And ultimately to Love. 

This is what I believe is the true meaning of Ram Dass' saying, because healing ourselves in this way brings us closer to our true Divine Self.

Understanding childhood wounds

“Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.” ~ Buddha


When we begin to recognize that our hurtful actions toward ourselves and others are derived from deep (childhood) wounding, we begin to see that we are not bad people, merely wounded people. We begin to accept that we do hurtful things not out of malice, but because we perceive that we are being hurt, which triggers a response that says we need to protect ourselves and lash out, either in words or deeds.

Once we go deeper within, either on our own through meditation, or with the help of a (craniosacral or other) therapist, we can begin to understand such wounding, where it originated and how it triggers us to lash out. It is then that healing begins.

We start to understand that what happened in the past is not happening now. The people in our lives are not our mothers, fathers who abandoned us or couldn't love us the way we needed. Furthermore, we are not 2 years old anymore; we can now defend ourselves, speak up and walk away if we need to.

When we start to understand the deeper layers of our wounding, we will begin to feel compassion for ourselves and we can slowly start to forgive ourselves for who we are or who we have become. It is this compassion and forgiveness which starts us on the road to healing and self-love.