Jerry Freeman felt the message about the need for healing trauma post-enlightenment was very important. He asked Nancy Benda to compile parts of our conversations from comments here on the blog and in another forum into a post for further online forums. Here it is:
A conversation between Jerry Freeman and David “Davidya” Buckland.
Jerry himself said to me: I’ve been Brahman-realized, abiding 24/7/365, since early 1977. That’s what? Almost 48 years. That’s a long time, but there are LOTS of Brahman-realized people and we need to get used to the fact that it has become common and is not a big deal.
David:
Agreed. It was pretty rare for a long time but has become much more common in recent years. Many long-term meditators started to wake up. Due to the long preparation, many naturally progressed through the stages into Brahman.
I’ve seen enough examples to note common styles of the shift. Even more from our recent detailed discussion.
Jerry:
We were taught that all you have to do is realize the Self, realize Brahman and everything will automatically be perfect. More than half a century of experience involving by now large numbers of advanced practitioners has demonstrated that is not the case.
In that time we have learned that true, mature awakening requires attention to our emotional, psychological, human parts and not just the mere, passive observation of whatever awakened consciousness may have been emerging. It is necessary to address and metabolize the leftover impressions and tendencies (which for many people will be in the form of stored traumas) if the awakening is to be fully lived and embodied.
I have worked with psychotherapists over several years and found that work to be powerfully productive. In the context of a long established Brahman realization I’ve found psychotherapy can be a profound advanced practice. I expect this will also be true for trauma-informed coaching and the other modalities you are bringing into your work.
Again, kudos. With heartfelt best wishes,
Jerry
David:
Thanks, Jerry. Agreed. I was surprised to realize I was still carrying unresolved trauma in there. And it had been shadowing the experience and interfering with fuller embodiment. I can recognize it in others now too.
I’ve found Somatic therapy surprisingly effective and have been training in it. The study has considerably enhanced my understanding of the human experience.
It’s beneficial for embodiment but I think I was also pushed this way because a big part of rising consciousness in the current time is that it’s pushing trauma to the surface to be resolved. But many don’t have the tools to process it, resulting in acting out in various crazinesses. If we can help people with this, we can support the process.
Jerry:
David wrote: “Agreed. I was surprised to realize I was still carrying unresolved trauma in there.” Exactly. Me too.
This is key and it is something the entire spiritual awakening/meditation/nonduality/etc. culture needs to understand and embrace. Thankfully, it is happening more and more, which is heartening to witness.
David:
Agreed. The full benefits of enlightenment can’t be realized unless we’re actually living it here, in the body, fully in the human life.
I can note that many therapists are cognitive-based and don’t have somatic training. You can’t take a cognitive (mind) approach to deal with somatic (body) impressions (trauma). The body lives in the present moment; the mind does not. They process things differently. If you try to use the mind, you can be re-triggered and get re-traumatized. However, if you prepare the ground properly and come to it somatically, bingo. It’s seen in the safe present and released.
This is similar to emotions. As I’ve said many times, you can’t use the mind to process emotions either. You can name them with the mind but not release them.
Amen. As someone whose path has been Embodiment-led, the process here has unfolded through the clearing and unwinding of stored karma throughout the bodymind and nervous system – this has been central to my path from before I realized I was on it and has continued through the stages of waking up. This has been the natural way for me. If the body is full of junk how clear can the experience be? So few “awake people”/teachers/traditions in the West seem to talk about this – without cleaning up and feeling what’s in the way, so much of it seems like a bypass to me…and an extra “Amen” because you’re both men, when so many male teachers espouse things like just “waiting until the feeling passes” or telling yourself it’s all perfect when clearly there is unresolved stuff playing out…….lol thank you!
Hi Dara
Agreed. The trick is, I thought I was doing just that. That samadhi itself and living life was working through those karmas/stresses/impressions/unresolved experiences. Then I explored energy healing and cleared most reactivity. To my surprise, somatics opened up some other areas. Because the reactivity has been peeled off, they’re less visible and need a very specific approach to make them conscious, as noted in my comment above.
All this is key if we’re going to embody those openings here in the life and not just live them abstractly.
Hi David, yes! I’m underlining this: “Because the reactivity has been peeled off, they’re less visible and need a very specific approach to make them conscious, as noted in my comment above.” This is also why I feel the refinement aspect is so important (and can get left out in this same conversation) – I feel it’s related to making those ‘specific approaches ‘ accessible for doing this work you’re describing.
Exactly, Dara. Which would you rather experience? A flat emptiness with peace? Or a rich fullness with peace and bliss?
🙂
Hi Dara!
What a wonderful website you have!
Have not known you before.
Archetypal healings… wow!
Will check out some of your healings!!!
Yes to your points!
Really ancient traditions often do not give that much weight to the shift in consciousness themselves but more to the degree of purification and embodiment that follows from it.
Even buddhism does that to some extend in their 4 stages modell.
While they do not talk about trauma perse they talk about clearing all (types of) karma and as you had contact with Dzogchen…even the body itself is seen as karmic (elements are karmicly stained).
I had contact to some non public ancient traditions and what happens there with embodiment and transformation of the subtle and the physical body is very different from what we see out in the open in the west…. but i am not sure if they know pure divinity beyond consciousness so a deeper exchange of ideas would bring much fruit (between the west and those non public lineages).
Anyway…
warmly
Michael
Hi Michael! Thank you for your kind words and response…what you say here feels so resonate and exciting:
“…I am not sure if they know pure divinity beyond consciousness so a deeper exchange of ideas would bring much fruit”
This feels like such a vital juncture – pure Divinity beyond Consciousness – and as more people wake up beyond the maps and traditions, I look forward to this exchange taking place. In some circles I feel “consciousness” is THE Ultimate and has been co-opted by the abstract/mental/disembodied and lacks the richness I know is possible, with the refinement Davidya talks about so clearly.
Sounds like you’ve been on a very interesting journey! Reach out anytime!
Hi David!
I am curious to know what led you to see that there was more to it when you said, “Because the reactivity has been peeled off, they’re less visible and need a very specific approach to make them conscious.”
This interests me because I am becoming less and less reactive, and up until now, reactivity has been my primary way of noticing unconscious patterns. From there, I would sit with the energetics, explore somatics, or uncover core beliefs.
Hi Nancy
I’d been using reactivity or “charge” (vasanas) as a marker for what was unresolved too. For that I primarily use energetics – followed the emotion or intensity back. Allowing the experience. Sometimes, I would notice things like “shoulds” and “musts,” indicating programming which may be false (beliefs) or absolutes.
But a year ago, I was taken through a somatic process as part of something else, and it revealed some deep stuff that had been unconscious prior. A few other prompts led me into studying somatics. I realized I was not present in the body as much as I’d thought I was. And how common this was for others I knew.
The phrasing of that sentence came up in a discussion because many think absence of reactivity means clear. And yet, for full embodiment to unfold, that awareness and clarity has to be brought right down into the body. If we’re carrying unresolved experiences there, these get in the way of that.
Those in some meditation traditions were taught that meditating alone would clear everything. However, if we’re holding on to them or have deep habit patterns of resistance, those may need conscious intervention to release.
It’s also important for us to recognize that awakening happens in consciousness. That doesn’t nessesarily mean everything else comes along for the ride. Different levels may need their own approaches.
Thanks for the response, very resonating here.
I may come from a different angle and have somatics quite integrated. But who knows, maybe I just think it’s like that. 😉
I will keep your experience in mind.
I’ve practiced a transcending meditation for decades and had a healthy, reliable body I took for granted. While not bypassing per se, I was more “lollipop” energetically. But when the inner development began to descend into the physical, it was time for somatics to clear the way. When people come to that varies a lot.