Since my family is located across the country, I’m unable to join them for many holidays. Therefore, I often spend my days reflecting, reading and writing. I find it fascinating how we continue to face life circumstances that invite us to show up for ourselves in the most intimate way. Our greatest challenges and deepest fears continue to arise until we can be present and curious about them and trust that they will guide us to a deeper place.
I was speaking with a student recently about her current struggles. Her story was similar to a recurring nightmare I had experienced 2 weeks prior. My deepest desire in that moment was to stay present for her, while at the same time I was observing everything that was present in my body and mind; the detailed thoughts and images of my dream; the fear coursing through my veins; the constricted sensation in my solar plexus; the tightening in my throat in response to her intense sorrow. I remained with her in her process, but also experienced a mutual transition to a deeper place. I saw the universality of the human experience in our shared experience; our frailty, our strength, our courage and our ultimate wisdom. Together, we became reflections for one another to face our deepest truth and together we were able to help the other heal.
In his book “Tantric Quest,” Daniel Odier writes “As soon as devotion for one’s master makes us ignore the master in ourselves, we no longer take part in spirituality. As soon as we lose contact with reality in order to follow the Absolute, we lose contact with the Absolute. The entire Absolute is contained in reality. There’s not a trace of it elsewhere. …..All repression that isn’t flushed out or satisfied produces beings tormented by the spirit….All beauty contains darkness.” I see the word “master” as anything outside of ourselves that we turn to when we find it difficult to face life (food, sex, drugs, alcohol, gambling, work, and even a spiritual or religious practice).
The art and practice of Integrative Restoration, yogic meditation and form of self-inquiry, teaches us how to embrace and accept the sensations, emotions, thoughts and feelings present in our consciousness. From this place, we are led to the truth that lies in our essence.
