Emotionally-sensitive, somatically-grounded inner work is unique to each person. We must discover for ourselves the most skillful, effective, and compassionate ways to open and enter into the body, psyche, and heart. No other can reveal the right way for us. The journey is individual and unique by nature, requiring experiential, primary experience; a collective spirituality will never meet the longing within.
It is difficult to tend to the shadow and lost pieces of psyche on our own, and is often best approached via an empathic, attuned relational field, where our experience can be co-regulated and integrated slowly, by way of the relational field itself. To “borrow” another’s soothed, calm nervous system as we enter uncharted territory.
The way of direct revelation is not the easy way. It is not the path of five-steps to empowerment, manifestation, or thinking our way into permanent happiness, abundance, and bliss. While it is natural to want clear methods and direction, it is too wild inside us for all that. It is a humble journey, heart-wrenching at times, as we will inevitably be asked to compassionately tend to the disowned as it surges for reunion.
The goal is not to become dependent upon another in an unhealthy way, but over time to practice the art of self-regulation and be able to shift wisely, skillfully, and compassionately between the two.
Wherever you are on your journey, you can ask a guide to bear witness as you move into unknown territory, honoring the immensity of the call to wholeness. Find a therapist, lover, mentor, or friend; a tree, a bird, a mountain, or dog; the sky, the sun, the stars, or the mud. A God or Goddess, wise inner figure, or being of light.
A reindeer who has come from the moon.
Allow your symptoms to merge into these protectors and enter into dialogue, practicing intimacy with the inner material, while simultaneously not fusing with it.
It is unlikely we’ll ever fully understand or resolve the mystery of self and other, separation and union, sun and moon. But we can break open into the questions together, as beginners, as amateurs, and as servants of the mystery.
Art by Krista Marleena
My latest book – The Path Is Everywhere: Uncovering the Jewels Hidden Within You – is now available
The next book, The Unfolding Heart, will be published by Sounds True in early 2020, details to come
The next event is The Healing Shame Retreat: Spiritual Awakening and Transforming the Core Wound of Unworthiness, April 24-29, 2019 at Sunrise Ranch in Loveland, Colorado, with co-facilitator Jeff Foster
