Category: “The Philosophical Side”
I base this article on several different books that I have read, but one in particular called “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” by Deepak Chopra (one of my favorite authors). In this book, he discusses the seven spiritual laws which naturally govern our lives. To me, the effects of these “laws” are just as obvious and natural as the law of gravity effects us. I have lived them and learned to recognize them often. If something here doesn’t equate with your personal belief system, that is fine. All I ask is that you take what you need, leave what you don’t.
Today I want to discuss the Law of Detachment, or for me… the law of letting go. It has, perhaps, been one of the most difficult things I’ve had to learn how to do in my life, but it has helped me to grow immensely. Dr. Chopra says this about detachment… “In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty…in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning. And in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe.”
How powerful is that? Whenever we need to move on from something in life and can’t seem to let go puts us in a horrible place. It makes us feel stuck, stagnant and heavy. That need to cling to the past comes from fear and insecurity and self doubt… our WORST enemies. It may sound odd… but when you need to move on in order to embrace growth, it helps to find security in insecurity. After I left my marriage… I had no where to go, no one to turn to. I knew that I was going to leave my job soon to pursue a career in Healing Arts. But how? Where would I go? How would I survive? Honestly, I had no idea. All I knew is that I had faith in myself. It was like stepping off a cliff with a blindfold on. All I had was INTENTION of knowing what I wanted. I did NOT have an answer for HOW I was going to get here. You know that old adage, “let go and let god?”… Well, read on.
The only way to get to that conclusion is to get used to letting go. Don’t give up your desire or intention…just be detached from the result. Let the Universe handle that part. Be very clear to yourself and your thoughts about what it is you want for yourself. You can get on the road and head to California in the dark. You can only see 200 feet of the road in front of you. Do you stop because you can’t see the all of the road that will get you to your destination? NO. You just have faith that the road will be there, and it will eventually get you wherever you intend to go.
I’ve been through so many storms of change in my life… I’ve almost grown to love change. Well, ok maybe not LOVE it but I certainly try to embrace it. I’ve learned the hard way. It started with my brother’s death when I was young, my divorce, giving up jobs with security, questioning where money would come from, and having unwaivering faith that my plan would just “work”, not knowing how. My experience has told me that change comes INEVITABLY, so you really must make the best of it. Resistance never does anything good. Resistance only tires you out and makes you OLD before your time. (But thats another article all together).I prefer to try and go with the ebb and flows of the tides of life, although it is a conscious process. You have to THINK about it and sort of convince yourself to LET go and let the universe handle the how’s of your life. My only job is to focus on WHAT I want. The Universe’s job is to figure out how to orchestrate it for me…and ohhhhhhh … what a song it has been so far.
So how about discussion? Does anyone have a story or words of wisdom to share? What are your experiences with letting go and the law of detachment?
Namaste,
Beth
The first thing you may be asking yourself is, “What the heck is Somatic Therapy?” It is a term I never heard until I enrolled in massage school. The word Soma means “body experienced from within.” If you think about that, it isn’t too difficult to put two and two together.
Biologists are beginning to realize that all cells in the body have the capacity to store information in their cytoskeletons (the nervous system of the cell). This includes information regarding memory, otherwise known as “tissue memory”. Any physical or emotional trauma we’ve experienced in our lives can be stored in muscle and tissue cells. Ask yourself this: have you ever had to deal with an unpleasant person who, after they leave the room also leave you with a pain in the neck or a wrench in your stomach? Do you ever find yourself at work in the middle of the day, leaning over your keyboard or desk with your shoulders tightened up and contracted? Do you even KNOW if you do? I’d say most of the time, you don’t. Let’s try an exercise to see. Do this NOW: take several deep, long and slow breaths… long exhales. As you do this, release your shoulders and roll them around a bit… now your head. Surely you probably noticed that you just released some tension… and all because you merely brought some awareness to that stressed, neglected area. Inner awareness can do a lot!
Any time a trauma is experienced, small unconscious contractions form in muscle tissues… a protective reminder of painful experience. Where physical injury is concerned this contraction will remain even as tissues heal, leading to further chronic pain. It can even spread to other parts of the body and, in response, the body may adjust and shift to strain patterns which can lead to chronic pain with no “known cause”.
Worries and stress build up and become outward physical manifestations. Maybe you were yelled at or scared by something or someone repeatedly as a child, and as a result, developed a “holding pattern” somewhere in your body, contracting a certain group of muscles. After years of continual adaptation to this, your conscious mind doesn’t even recognize that it can no longer relax. The contraction practically becomes an involuntary response. Trigger points develop, muscle fascia binds up and tightens. Aches, stiffness, and pain develop and worsen as time goes by as a result. (For those of you who have a hard time relaxing during a massage or at night before bedtime… this can mean you too).
Mind-body communication is a powerful healing tool. Many times on my massage table, clients have had an emotional release. Getting regular massage can help us become aware of our bodies and what is going on inside of them. After all, it is a well known fact that nurturing human touch is essential for healing and growth, and massage therapy is a beautifully orchestrated form of healthy touch. With Somato-Emotional Release in mind, massage can trigger memories that we may have blocked out or otherwise forgotten. During our lives, we’ve become so wrapped up in schedules, relationships, family, work, and social activities that we become UNaware of our selves. Not just our emotions in many cases, but our bodies and in turn… we become detached from grief or pain in order to “move on” or keep going (or so we think).
However, awareness plus focus equals release. If we become aware, initially we want to shift away from and ignore this uncomfortable sensation or memory. Very traumatic memories can be extremely uncomfortable or painful if they come up. It is easy to want to revert back to the old habit of blocking it out or running away. During massage, we are in a safe environment which allows us to STOP; become aware and focus on these forgotten matters that need attention, and remain focused on them. This can help us to acknowledge what happened, honor it and let it go… to become at peace with our past experiences, people, or events in our lives that have injured us. Also, you should never be afraid to ask your therapist for feedback or guidance about what you are feeling. She is working WITH you to guide you through this healing process.
True healing can only come from mind-body communication.
Awareness + Focus = Release. When we can acknowledge, grieve, honor it and let it go up and out of us… then we can experience TRUE HEALING.
We can then cope with life from a place of wisdom within.
When your individual identity is grounded in somatic reality, you can say: “I know who I am by how I experience myself.”
NAMASTE Beth
This speaks for itself (or does it??) Philosophy is one of my passions in life. It CAN cross over into religious debates, I realize, but let’s try to keep things nice and civil. Live and let live! We are here to share what we believe, not persecute another for what they believe (no matter how vile or crazy you may think it is). This can be interesting, eh? I may ask some questions in this section; again I welcome discussion or comments.
