The Journey of Self-Healing

When I am able to resist the temptation to judge others, I can see them as teachers of forgiveness in my life, reminding me that I can only have peace of mind when I forgive rather than judge.  ~ Gerald Jampolsky

I would also say resisting the temptation to judge self reveals the teacher within forgiveness and the peace that brings. Finding space to just let myself be feels so much better than the judging mind and it's constant analysis.

As I near the end of the first packet of Level  Three Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy training, I find myself contemplating the journey of self-healing in many ways... for myself, for others, and for both within an assignment that is part of packet one. Part of that assignment is reading A Gradual Awakening by Stephen Levine (pictured at the end of this post). As life (not luck) would have it, I found this book in a used book store years before hearing of PRYT and loved it immediately. Now that I've reread it (more than once) and looked at it in connection with Yoga Therapy sessions, I see so much more within it's pages and the author's words. For instance when it comes to judging self and others, I now see how that can get in the way, not only of life, but of self-healing and supporting the self-healing of others.

The experience of giving, receiving, and reflecting on sessions shows me where the judging mind may creep in and how that can distract from what is actually going on in the moment. If I can stay neutral, there is much more opportunity for self-healing to take the path it needs. While giving sessions, if I notice my judging mind commenting on what my client is experiencing and what it thinks that means or what I should do about it, it's a good time to take a breath and come back to being a witness or step out of the way.

Brilliantly put, by Levine, on page 45...

When the judging mind is clearly noted, its fragile nature can be observed. We see opinions forming and melting away like snowflakes. We see that each comment is like a bubble. When awareness touches it, it's insubstantiality, its essential emptiness, becomes readily apparent. The likes and dislikes of the judging mind are just old karma and conditioning running off. But if we compulsively react to these prefernces, if we identify with them, they become the cause of new karma. Judging can be very subtle; a single moment of praise or blame, of liking or disliking polarizes our whole world. This automatic clinging and condemning of the judging mind is an ongoing karmic flow that need not be the motivator of new karma-creating action. A moment of judgmental mind, a mind lost in identification with old preferences, is a moment of forgetfulness, of ignorance. A moment of recognition of judgmental mind is a moment of freedom and wisdom.

When it comes to my own self-healing, I am again better off staying out of the way. If I judge myself from where I am in the moment, I am only seeing my past and not my potential, which could keep me stuck in that. Same goes for my clients. Being open to the path of self-healing means leaving lots of space for that path to be explored rather than judging what is showing up in the meantime. Here I am reminded of hiking. A trail that I love near Buntzen Lake takes a path up the mountain through the forest. If I were to judge the whole trail as it is in the middle, I would think it to be without a view (besides the trees), challenging, and perhaps never ending if I gave up somewhere along the way. However, when I keep going, staying open to possibilities of more, I find myself at the top of the mountain, looking out over the whole lower mainland, with open sky, quiet beauty, and a view that is breath-taking. All which would be missed if not for the challenging hike up through the trees.

When I practice mindfulness, both in life and in facilitating PRYT sessions, I am open to more possibilities. With mindfulness, I can stay out of the way of what I may not see happening in the moment from the standpoint of judging mind. I have already seen this in sessions when I have assumed something and been wrong and when I have stayed neutral and been amazed. Time to play more with neutrality and staying open to being amazed.

Core assets... staying open to the possibilities in the journey of self-healing.