I truly believe denial is toxic.
Your body and mind store what your consciousness and ego may prefer to brush off. Denial is essentially a fragmenting of one’s experience and a fragmenting of one’s self. I have yet to discover a way to delete experience (and as Spotless Mind fans know, perhaps we don’t want to), yet I am acquainted with my often unconscious attempts to do so.
Denying memories, thoughts and experiences is the fastest way to duality. The denied concepts are alienated from the active consciousness and lurk in (metaphorically) a shadowy pool. Fear and pain fortify the barriers of that pool, denying oxygen to the now rotting experience.
As the mind has to work around the barricaded rot, it builds inconvenient detours that promote irrationality and delusion. One’s outer world mirrors this inner mess, and become smaller, more anxious. The majority of one’s mental function is wasted on contemplating different pathways around this dangerous rot, and one’s life becomes the continual avoidance of some terrible fate.
The rotten shadows begin to poison the spirit, corrupt the mind and deaden the body.
So, that all sounds terribly unpleasant, so let’s move onto the nice stuff….
Why is it so easy to do this? Usually, being busy is the main culprit. Which is why I like my mat. There are times in the practice of yoga and meditation where one is focused on the specifics of body and breath. And there are times to let that go. There are also times to just observe the mind and gain understanding.
Stuff comes up in pigeon. Heart-openers. Meditation. And curiously enough, in conflict and shadow work [shadow work is tracing your judgment of others to the fear in your heart]. I do believe that an active acknowledgement of experience is helpful.
This happened. I felt this. I thought that.
And then comes the best part: And I am letting it go.
And sometimes, a wave of emotion can occur at this moment, but frequently, it’s more of a sense of relief.
Acknowledge and let go, come back to the breath. Acknowledge and allow, return to the moment. Experiences must be received, for all experience is true. And I do believe that any experience is a way to transform your understand of a situation, grow and open yourself up to worlds you could never before fathom.
…..In other news, I read that having an actual physical mat isn’t in vogue anymore, so perhaps my metaphorical mat isn’t so stylish either? Oh no!
Your body and mind store what your consciousness and ego may prefer to brush off. Denial is essentially a fragmenting of one’s experience and a fragmenting of one’s self. I have yet to discover a way to delete experience (and as Spotless Mind fans know, perhaps we don’t want to), yet I am acquainted with my often unconscious attempts to do so.
Denying memories, thoughts and experiences is the fastest way to duality. The denied concepts are alienated from the active consciousness and lurk in (metaphorically) a shadowy pool. Fear and pain fortify the barriers of that pool, denying oxygen to the now rotting experience.
As the mind has to work around the barricaded rot, it builds inconvenient detours that promote irrationality and delusion. One’s outer world mirrors this inner mess, and become smaller, more anxious. The majority of one’s mental function is wasted on contemplating different pathways around this dangerous rot, and one’s life becomes the continual avoidance of some terrible fate.
The rotten shadows begin to poison the spirit, corrupt the mind and deaden the body.
So, that all sounds terribly unpleasant, so let’s move onto the nice stuff….
Why is it so easy to do this? Usually, being busy is the main culprit. Which is why I like my mat. There are times in the practice of yoga and meditation where one is focused on the specifics of body and breath. And there are times to let that go. There are also times to just observe the mind and gain understanding.
Stuff comes up in pigeon. Heart-openers. Meditation. And curiously enough, in conflict and shadow work [shadow work is tracing your judgment of others to the fear in your heart]. I do believe that an active acknowledgement of experience is helpful.
This happened. I felt this. I thought that.
And then comes the best part: And I am letting it go.
And sometimes, a wave of emotion can occur at this moment, but frequently, it’s more of a sense of relief.
Acknowledge and let go, come back to the breath. Acknowledge and allow, return to the moment. Experiences must be received, for all experience is true. And I do believe that any experience is a way to transform your understand of a situation, grow and open yourself up to worlds you could never before fathom.
…..In other news, I read that having an actual physical mat isn’t in vogue anymore, so perhaps my metaphorical mat isn’t so stylish either? Oh no!
