Mind-Body Awareness: Integration of Both

In the June 11th article, "Perspectives of the Mind (in the Relative World)," and in the first tele-class, we were able to see a relationship in how the Ego with its various parts/voices within the Mind was created as a means to protect us, the self -- at first at a very early age and then continuing the 'protective mission' as we grew up and became adults.

We began our lives as Essence; and then, as part of the ego-development process, we became more and more associated with the various artifact-like identifications that the Ego creates in order to exist. Since an artifact is an object, a piece of something, we can look at it from a Kabbalistic perspective and see that an artifact is a yesh-mi-yesh, something from something, and is associated with the psychological and symbolic universe, Yetzirah.

Now Essence is not an 'object' that we find within ourselves; it is the true nature of who we are -- it is the truth of our very presence, the purity of our consciousness and awareness. It is the ultimate core reality of our soul. Essence has been given many names by different spiritual traditions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam called it Spirit; Buddhism calls it Buddha nature; Taoism calls it the Tao; Hinduism calls it Atman or Brahman. 1

In a sense, we might say that the Ego tries to imitate Essence, the essential qualities of Essence. The Ego only understands how to objectify. To the Ego everything is an object, an image, a copy of something -- 'something from something.'

Anne Foerst, a theologian who became known for her work with humanoid robots at MIT's Computer Science and Artifical Intelligence Laboratory, calls a human being homo narrandus -- the story-making animal. You see, the robots at the AI lab that best mimic human behaviors do not rely on a single big computer to solve a big problem like walking. Instead, the robot builders distribute small computers, like brains, throughout the robot, and the net effect of all those little brains working on small, separate problems is a robot that walks much like we do. We humans evolved in much the same way as the little-brained robots. Our three trillion cells have separate as well as integrated lives. We even have real brains spread throughout our bodies . . . every part of us is talking to us all the time -- even if we generally aren't conscious of the conversation.2

We often define ourselves by our personal stories which we can find deep in our flesh and bones as well as our psyche. It's not just in our heads (or Mind), the very cells in our bodies hold our personal stories as well. I find it interesting to see each part/voice as a character in our own story. In fact, the more parts/voices we're able to see, able to become aware of, the more we're able to see the complete picture from various different perspectives.

In the Kabbalistic Creation Story, the last seven vessels (sephirot) that emanated from Source, the Ayn Sof, broke -- shattering into pieces or shards. As these pieces fell, they captured sparks of Divine Light, forming shells, or husks, with a Divine inner core. It is a Kabbalistic belief that it is human-kind's responsibility to gather these sparks and free them from the shells thereby raising the sparks to rejoin the Infinite -- a Unification.

I can't help but compare these shells that cover up the Divine sparks with the Ego imitations that cover up pieces of Essence. My own experience in discovering and dialoguing with various parts/voices, both Mind and Body, is that I'm uncovering and getting closer to the bigger picture, Truth, Essence and thereby returning the sparks to their original source.

Exercise
After experiencing the parts/voices within the Mind and the Body, we need to ask ourselves questions like the following (feel free to add others). Your answers are specific to you and your own experience. All answers are acceptable; there are no right or wrong answers. Answering these questions from the perspective of the "Integrated Human Being" is helpful in synthesizing and integrating the work we've been doing together.

1. How does the Mind affect the Body? Specifically, which parts/voices do you recognize affecting your Body? Explain how.
2. How does the Body affect the Mind? Specifically, which body parts, functions, systems do you recognize as affecting your Mind? Explain how.
3. Which voices within the Mind help and/or hinder the Body -- it's functions, health, size, shape (anything else?)?
4. Which parts/systems within the Body help or hinder the Mind?

Comment Area Below
I encourage you to use the comment area below to share your experience and insights. Feel free to use your initials if you're uncomfortable using your name on this blog.

1 "Spacecruiser Inquiry" by A. H. Almaas.
2 "The Power of a Good Story," by Stephen Kiesling in Spirituality & Health magazine, November/December 2005, Volume 8, Number 6.

Body Wisdom -- Listening to Your Body

It seems that only recently, over the last 25 years or so, that we've moved from a mechanistic view of the physical body to a more holistic view. By mechanistic, I'm referring to the way people referred to the body as a machine, an object -- an inanimate object at that! Maybe I'm relating more to my own shift in perspective, but still I've noticed more and more publications, media, etc. that seem to be concerned with paying attention to the body. Remember the saying: "No pain, no gain"? In fact, I read an article the other day where an athelete was talking about how he learned the hard way to listen to his body. He talked about injuries that his body sustained because he did not listen and that today he's much more in tune with his body.

Most of us take our own physical body for granted as long as it's working as we think it should. And, when something isn't working right, we often ignore it until it's manifested as a discomfort, pain, or disease that we can no longer ignore.

It's my personal experience that, although allopathic (Western) medicine has come a long way, most (not all) doctors still "pooh-pooh" the holistic approach that includes finding the root cause for whatever the patient is presenting. So, oftentimes it's up to us to work at our own discovery of the root cause of what's happening in our body. I do find it refreshing to meet doctors who are open to complementary processes and modalities rather than merely writing prescriptions to make the symptom go away. My own General Practitioner is one of these -- a real gem who's open to listening to other options even when they're unconventional.

Why is it that we don't think of, and appreciate, all the various functions and systems that keep the body alive and working? What would it be like to actually be taught this kind of awareness (preferably at a young age)? Why didn't we know that every cell within our body has an infinite intelligence beyond our understanding and that all we need to do is pay attention and listen?! Isn't it all a mystery that all this and more exists (and works!) without our conscious control?

The Body Dialogue Process
Within each of us there is a reservoir of information. The Body Dialogue Process taps into this reserve and creates the opportunity for conscious communication with the overall voice of the body and the many selves/parts which support the body's miraculous functioning. The body and it's many selves, like any other part touched through the Voice Dialogue process, wants to be heard and acknowledged for the significant role it serves in the overall well being of the person. What's possible for us once we are in a conscious relationship with our body is to: eat when we are hungry; sleep when we are tired; and do exercise or movement because our body wants and needs it. 1

Body Scan
Take at least five minutes each morning as you awaken to do a slow body scan where you're consciously scanning each area and part of your body to see what you feel. Note if there's heaviness, numbness, tingling, warmth, coldness, discomfort or pain, etc. Just notice whatever you notice without trying to fix it or change it. Become aware of your body with your own consciousness.

Overall Body Voice
Just as the Protector/Controller is seen as the overall voice of the Mind and its many selves, there is an Overall Body Voice. We need to check-in with this Overall Body Voice periodically to find out how it's doing, if there are any concerns, and if there is any particular part with which we need to dialogue. In fact, after doing a body scan we can ask the Overall Body Voice about anything particular that we noticed during the scan. Lastly, we can ask the Overall Body Voice if there's any particular part of the body with which we should dialogue. Always end your Body Dialogue sessions with the Integrated Human Being where you can reflect back, verbally or in writing, what you learned from the dialogue.

Exercises
There are two different exercises below that you can either do together or separately. The first one can be done in only 5 minutes (or longer, if you prefer). The second one will take longer.
(1) Practice the 5 minute body scan each morning before you get out of bed and/or each evening as you're going to bed/sleep.
(2) Practice dialoguing with the Overall Body Voice and on to any voice/part the Overall Body Voice suggests you work with.

Comment Area Below
I encourage you to use the comment area below to share your experience and insights. Feel free to use your initials if you're uncomfortable using your name on this blog.


1 Article: "Learning the Language of the Body," Judith Tamar Stone. She created the Body Dialogue Process after being diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in her late twenties. Through her unwillingness to give up her body to a lifelong sentence of medications and pain, she began to apply the theories of Voice Dialogue and the Psychology of Selves through the voices of the body. Over the course of the past 18 years she has inspired and empowered others to learn the unique language of their own body.

Perspectives of the Mind (in the Relative World)

Let's begin by meeting ourselves where we are, or at least where we find ourselves most of the time -- the Mind in the Relative world.

With depth psychology, we learn that the development of the Ego is an integral process of every human being. It's interesting that in trying to understand this process we find that the Ego is an image-maker. The Ego creates images of anything and everything having to do with life experiences as a means to define itself and the world. From the time we are infants, the Ego begins to emerge showing us, distinguishing for us, that there's a self and an other -- an image of the self and an image of the other. These images form and change throughout our lives.

At this point, we can ask ourselves the following questions:

What images do I have about myself? About who I am, my aspirations, my limitations? How do these images about myself affect my relationships with others? With myself? Are these mere images and, therefore, not real? What is the truth?

Within the Voice Dialogue system, or process, we learn that the Ego creates various different selves (termed "voices") as a means of protection -- to protect the self which, of course, protects the Ego. Each of these selves has a specific function with the underlying mission -- to protect. The voice that's "in charge" of all the other voices is called the Protector, or Controller. Other voices include: the Fixer, the Critic, the Judge, the Pleaser, the Rebel, the Seeker, the Victim, the Vulnerable Child. There are many, many voices. Basically, remember this: 'if you can name it, it's a voice'.

Some basic guidelines to use in the dialoguing process are as follows:

• never have an agenda other than curiosity to understand, to see what you can learn
• always ask permission to speak to a specific voice
• shift your body to initiate the shift in consciousness
• use the pronoun "I" when speaking from the perspective of 'the voice' and the pronoun s/he (or "the self" or your name) when 'the voice' is giving information about you
• always ask the voice this question: "how do you help the self?"
• identify and speak with the opposite voice
• complete the process by reflecting on what you've learned and how you might integrate it

For every voice we recognize within ourselves, there's an opposite voice, one we may or may not recognize. Most often the unrecognized voices, the one's we find hard to imagine or get in touch with, are our disowned voices. I call these my orphans. Another rule of thumb is that when we dialogue with a voice, we need to dialogue with the opposite. After we've dialogued with both, we need to stand back and reflect, either verbally or in writing, what we learned from these two opposites.

Speaking from the perspective of any of these voices can be extraordinary as we're introduced to knowledge about ourselves we did not know or fully understand previously. If, or when, we find that we're not learning anything new, or not receiving a better understanding about ourselves, then there may very well be something (a voice) blocking, resisting the process. A good voice to speak to in this case is Fear. Ask questions like: "As fear, what are you afraid of (having to do with the voice we were just speaking to)?" Even with the voice of Fear, you need to ask the question: "how are you helping the self?" Once you dialogue with Fear in this way, you should be able to go back to the voice with which you were working.

Exercise
We're now ready to do the following exercise. It can be done alone; however, it's particularly helpful, especially when first learning this work, to both facilitate others and be facilitated by others.

Identify a self/voice that you feel you are particularly identified with. Use all the basic guidelines above to dialogue with this part of you. When you've finished with that voice, identify and dialogue with the opposite. After speaking with this opposite voice, step back and reflect, either verbally or in writing, what you've learned from each voice. Lastly, talk, or write about, how you can integrate both voices in your life now.

Repeating this exercise with more than one voice will help you understand more about yourself AND will help you in learning how to shift your consciousness more easily from one voice-perspective to another.

Comment Area Below
I encourage you to use the comment area below to share your experience and insights. Feel free to use your initials if you're uncomfortable using your name on this blog.

Soul Expressions: Giving Voice to Aspects of the Soul/Self

The Evolution
This work has evolved over a number of years beginning with my personal work with Integrated Kabbalistic Healing* where in my own healing sessions I realized there were parts of myself that I denied. I denied their very existence either because I did not like those parts and thought they were 'bad' or, in some cases, did not know they really existed within me. It became evident to me that I could basically sit down with these parts, one at a time, and ask them questions to find out more about them as if they were someone else -- as if I was meeting someone new for the first time and wanted to find out more about them. I found this method extremely helpful in finding out more about my Self with curiosity rather than judgement.

Out of the realizations that accompanied my using this method to discover more about mySelf, I began forming small groups of individuals who were interested in discovering more about themselves too. The group meetings became known as A Soul Connection Groupwork. I taught this "talking to parts" method to the groups. They (we) were often astounded at the information discovered as a result of opening ourselves to the possibility of "talking with" these parts. They (we) were literally making space (making room) for more of ourselves. The evolution of this work continued beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

Last year, I was introduced to the Big Mind* process where I was able to see a further expansion -- from talking with the "voices" of the parts of ourselves to an actual shift of consciousness to a place of unity, of Oneness, where there's no longer a subject/object split. I found that in using the Big Mind process, we can make a shift from a rigid, egoic perspective to a more expanded perspective that embraces and includes more of who we really are. This process opens us to realizing and recognizing ourselves beyond the Relative view where we're used to living day-to-day. We get to see ourselves from within the Absolute and the Transcendent views as well as the Relative. We all have the capacity to embrace and include it all and with this capacity comes a profound compassion and respect for ourselves, others, and humanity as a whole.

As I understand it, the Big Mind process grew out of a seed -- Voice Dialogue and the Psychology of Selves* where Voice Dialogue works with the psychological aspects of the individual that develop as a result of the ego development process. In studying Voice Dialogue's methods, I could see where this work heals a subject/object split that's created as we mature from childhood to adulthood. Voice Dialogue teaches us how these parts/voices are created by our own ego as a part of a process to keep us safe when we were vulnerable as children and continues to do its 'safe-keeping' function even after we grow up.

Along this journey from my discovery of Big Mind to Voice Dialogue, I kept asking the question: "What about the body?" I kept thinking that the body and all it's functions and systems must also have a voice or voices to which we can dialogue. My question was answered relatively quickly when I found Body Dialogue*. Body Dialogue came from the same seed, Voice Dialogue, and is a profound way of getting more in touch with our physical body. If there was any doubt left within me, it was dispelled once I experienced Body Dialogue.

From a Kabbalistic perspective, there are different levels of the Soul and these levels come from specific Kabbalistically-viewed worlds/universes. As we become aware of these soul-levels, we can see how one embraces and includes the other. In Soul Expressions . . . we learn how to speak from each soul-level and we learn how to integrate each level along the way so that we arrive at a fully integrated destination.

*Notes:
Integrated Kabbalistic Healing was developed by Jason Shulman, internationally known spiritual teacher and modern kabbalist, and the founder of A Society of Souls.

Big Mind was developed by Zen Master Dennis Genpo Merzel, founder of the international Sangha named Kanzeon from the Boddhissatva of Compassion.

Voice Dialogue and the Psychology of Selves was developed by Drs. Hal and Sidra Stone, providing a psychospiritual approach to consciousness and transformation that include awareness-work with the many selves or subpersonalities that make up the psyche.

Body Dialogue, developed by Judith Tamar Stone, expands and deepens the Voice Dialogue process to a profound mind/body communication level.