Recently, I saw a talk by Ava Irani of Functional Spirituality.
While I distinguish healing from awakening techniques, Ava did it much more explicitly. She observed that awakening techniques often also promise healing and vice versa, healing techniques promise awakening. However, they each are not as good at the other. We shouldn’t confuse this point and assume one will take care of the other.
Transcendental Meditation (TM), for example, is an awakening technique, designed to develop samadhi, connecting to source. Yoga tells us this is the key. The deep experience of pure being can be very healing, and the settled state of the physiology that is created is great for stress management. However, these benefits are secondary. The “General Points” of TM checking are more body-centric, designed to help facilitate the release of “hard nuts” that surface. Even so, it’s not the intent of the practice itself. And most meditators don’t use these points.
Further, some use spiritual techniques to escape from the world rather than integrate source into their lived experience. Enlightenment is living that inner light in the world, not just within.
Similarly, the somatic approach I’ve been studying helps clear impediments and shadows in the physiology. This increased clarity can be deeply helpful for a spiritual process. For example, we can be present more easily. But clarity alone doesn’t create awakening. How are we culturing source? Is there even a conscious presence to be with? Where is the transcendence?
Ava observed that awakening is not about the person (is post-personal), whereas healing is very much about the person. If we deny the person (common in some renunciate & non-dual approaches), we cannot recognize what needs work to embody the awakening. Yet if we obsess over the person, we cannot develop what is beyond that. It’s all about balance.
Ava talked about a more “functional” approach, where techniques are used appropriately, where they’re optimal. We don’t use breath-work to transcend, for example. Or expect presence from trauma work. And yet they both support these. She also observes that healing happens automatically if the body is relaxed and feeling safe. If we’re focused on the healing technique itself, we can miss this key point. The technique should set the stage for the body to do the actual processing.
Are we aware of what we need? What will support our intentions? Being trauma-informed means awareness of where we’re at, here in this body. Many long to know how they’re doing spiritually (this is the mind wanting to control), while ignoring how they are in their life. Slow down and pay attention. Quality of life is here, now.
Davidya
Note: Ava is in the modern non-duality and yoga arenas. I enjoy these insights, but the spiritual practices I recommend are a bit different. Guided meditation, for example, can be useful for noticing how the body-mind is doing (healing) but is not as effective for samadhi (awakening) as it keeps you in the mind or body, depending on the technique. I recommend a balance of transcending, activity for integration, and healing work. As Ayurveda puts it, atman and sattva, consciousness and clarity, the masculine and feminine processes.