Finding The Balance Between Science and Spirituality
As many of you know, my favorite thing, and my work, is bridging the gap between Western and science and Eastern Philosophy.
When it comes to healing, overcoming, or understanding anything about yourself, the mind and the heart have to come together. Otherwise, it's only half of the job. This is the nuts and bolts of my work. So, let's dive into some examples of this.
Talking to a trusted person, professional or not, is a wonderful way to bring things to the surface. It's a release! It's a way of processing! It's a way of being seen, heard, respected and neutralized! Often, we think we have worked through our dilemmas, pain points, or traumas, but then we have unexpected or unexplainable body, or emotional reactions to things and we wonder what the heck is going on.
The body remembers what the mind thinks it has processed. Unprocessed emotions, are stored in the cells of our bodies. This is what creates patterns and/or triggers. Western Science and Phycology refers to this as implicit memories. This is stored information that a person unconsciously remembers, like learning how to ride a bike, or learning your first language as a child. You don't remember how you did it, but you know it's in your memory bank. It happened unconsciously. In the west this is also referred to as Somatic Patterns. It's a recurring response to external stimulation. Things like muscle tension, movement restrictions and breath contractions are examples of Somatic Patterns that have formed as a result of stress, trauma, and habits.
In the East, the Buddhists called these patterns Sankharas. In Yoga and Ayurveda they are called Samskaras.
Both East and West refer to this as patterns developed for the basic need of survival. The nervous system and the brain are always talking. When you feel overwhelmed, the brain recognizes the thought, and the nervous system responds, storing the thought as a tension in the body.
When it seems like we are hyper reacting to something, what is really happening is a reliving of that feeling, activated by something in the present moment. These are old somatic patterns, Sankharas, or Samskaras. Same concept, different language. Until these patters are fully felt, seen, heard and processed, they will keep recycling through the body.
Talk therapy is one step in this process but it can't reach what is stored in the body. The residue of pain is stored in the gut, in the joints, muscles and organs. This is why Yoga works. This is why Ayurveda works. This is why merging the mind with the heart works. These practices can reach places where words can't.
The simple step of learning to observe your body, your thoughts, your actions, your reactions and all of yourself is the first step. In yoga we call this Svadhyaya. Observe everything with love and equanimity. No reactions. No suppressions. No repressions. Just observation. When we learn do observe without reactions, the imprint in the cells fall away because we aren't giving it the fuel it needs to continue.
Science is definitely catching up to this concept, because we now know that awareness changes neural pathways. Scientific research is proving that body based healing is working. This is incredible because the East and West are completely on the same page here. Yes, they have different methods, but working towards the same outcomes.
So, from a body perspective, science is recognizing that trauma can affect the way genes are turned on and off. Most, not all, genes are directly affected by your environment. The right genes can be turned off and the wrong genes can be turned on. Science agrees, that long term stress and trauma in the body can elevate cortisol levels, increase body inflammation, and overstimulate the adrenal glands. The secretion of these hormones is meant to support the body in short term situations to help get over a hurdle. When these hormones stay in the body for years, they begin to have adverse affects like hypertension, suppressed immune systems, depression, narrowing of the blood vessels, unexplainable weight gain, chronic pain, thinning of bones, just to name a few.
Both East and West would agree, that your deepest healing will come when you allow yourself to feel what you have been avoiding to feel. These feelings don't need to be solved, labeled, or diagnosed. They need to be seen, heard, and allowed the space to come out.
Every tension is a teacher.
Every trigger is an opportunity.
Every ache is a knock on your door.
The body is constantly sending you messages to help you become unstuck. A lot of times we feel like we are downing in stuckness, but what we are actually happening is that we are completely saturated with unprocessed emotions and experiences.
The body is a portal for growth and healing. An ailing body is trying to communicate a message of needing HELP.
We hope to understand that everything that we take in through our sensory beings either gets processed and distributed accordingly, or suppressed, or repressed. We are a compilation of all of these.
Finding the unique combination of tools to help you unlearn patterns and free your stuckness is absolutely possible!!!
Your Mind, Body and Heart will thank you!!
#BewellBeFitBefree
~ Leelah Lakshmi ~
