Separation of the head from the body versus integration

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ex-l

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Separation of the head from the body versus integration

Post29 Mar 2009

I just pull this out of terry's posts because I think it is important to look at. In a way it fits in with our discussion of different psychotherapies and soul, and could be merged with either.

Putting aside any faith elements of Brahma Kumarism, there seems to be a basic dichotomy between those therapies or "paths" which encourage a separation of "the head" from the body versus those paths that encourage an integration of the head with body. Obviously, by "body" I also mean emotional, sensual, erotic etc.

Investing oneself in Brahma Kumarism, one invests far more time and energy that most religions in "detaching" the head from the body, even the basic practise might include 2 hours plus a day of sitting detaching (or hoping to) plus the rest of the day affirming detachment and how bad, impure, delusional "the body" is. Many religions or "ways", including many therapies, do not even believe in the separation of existence or of a part to separate.

Exiting the BKs, you must surely be stuck with either the results or the habit of this. How does or could reintegration take place? Should reintegration take? What is individual's experience of this?

Some similar experience is also described by cult related therapists and activists, they call the tendancy towards "floating" ... drifting off or drifting away from the real world. Here on this forum, terry has questioned the nature of seemingly BK related suicides on January the 18th by hanging as an example of this.

Personally, I am not labelling this as "soul consciousness" or not but, obviously, the question of just what that does arises. I am just asking the question. Would a "post-BK therapy" involve looking at this?
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leela

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Re: Separation of the head from the body versus integration

Post30 Mar 2009

I think separation of the head from the body is an interesting area of discussion, too. My own recent journey is definitely one of trusting my mind less and less, and looking to feelings more and more. I had already taken refuge in my head a lot prior to the BKs. Meeting them reinforced this tendency, and confirmed it as the "right" thing to do. It is definitely a habit that I took with me into life after the BKs and all other spiritual avenues I investigated. It was an effective coping strategy for a while, but I now see it as a form of evasion and denial of one's true self.

One of the first things I did when I left the BKs, was to take up a hatha Yoga practice. I just knew that I had to get out of my head and into my body. I still practice and rely on it for getting me back in touch with the energies present in the body. It took many years before a truly significant shift occured and I started to really "feel" for the first time. Years of reading, practices, workshops, psycho-spiritual therapies all made sense in retrospect when that shift ocurred. The visceral is definitely the way for me, and it was most definitely taboo in my BK world.

I am beginning to define Truth as simply being finely atuned to the energies and emotions which are felt in the body. Experiencing Life feels like allowing energy to "vibrate" me without the intermediary of the mind. (Maybe this is closer to the meaning of soul-consciousness?). I often wonder just what the mind is for and if any truth at all can be found in it. So much of what the mind thinks, sees, remembers or imagines is patently unreliable. So I don't know what to make of the idea of integration.

I definitely think shifting from the intellectual to the visceral is essential, but how to do that is an impossible question to answer. I have always believed that to be true, but only recently came to feel the truth of it. I think people are just wired differently and their breakthroughs come in their own timeframe. My recent epiphanies, that have come from participating in this forum, have deepened my visceral experiences. It is as if my life - the energetic accumulation of repression, denial, evasion, effort, and overthinking - is unravelling in layers. It is a very physical experience, often physically painful, but always positive.

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