Bringing in the Brain Science
In April and May of this year,I went to a training in a technique called “ReCreation of the Self” (RcS), which is based out of Hakomi Therapy. One of the big tenants of this system is that we have the choice to move ourselves into an expanded state, or to move into, or stay in, a more contracted one. A trained RcS practitioner can show you how to access more expansive states and then give you the tools to get there yourself.
Various people have talked about our ability to do this in different ways over the years: “choose only love”, “love is letting go of fear”, or “you create your own reality” which is a more all-encompassing view of the process. Now, contributions from neuroscience are coming into the conversation and the understandings about how our experiences and behavior patterns are built in the brain, has made it possible to approach this perspective from a more materialistic or scientifically based direction./
A teacher I have followed for many years, Adyashanti, teaches that Enlightenment is realized through seeing through our attachments or identifications with all states, selves and neural networks-even the expansive ones. In alignment with traditional Buddhist teachings, he states that there is a more fundamental energy, or ground of being, that all states arise out of. This primal ground does not come and go with mood, thoughts, or even changes in hormone levels or brain chemistry. In striving to introduce my clients to this place in themselves, which is also called “the unconditioned” or “the I Am”, I’ve run into the challenge of doing this successfully when they are coming to a session in a world colored by fear, anger or depression. From that place, it’s very difficult to see the groundless ground which those states arise from. When you’re in a contracted state, it’s very difficult if not impossible, to access the larger field. Generally, one is brought into contact with more expansive states, or non-states, on meditation retreats or via various types of ceremonies, and then learns how to generalize that experience back into daily life.
The genius of Jon Eisman, Ron Kurtz and others who developed Hakomi methods and more recently “The Recreation of the Self, is that they borrowed from the emerging brain sciences and developed techniques for addressing this difficulty. In RcS, Eisman developed methods for orienting clients in an expansive state of being and then from there, have them look at the contracted state which brought them into therapy. From the place of being grounded in the expansive or loving quality of the Organic Self, (Eisman’s term) one is able to look at dysfunctional strategies for getting by in life, or limiting beliefs, and see them for what they are. Eisman’s view is that a depressed or contracted person cannot fix their problem, no matter how long they talk about it. But when they choose (with the guidance of a trained RcS therapist), to reside in a more expansive state, (“Change the Who, not the what”) then one’s experience of life can change dramatically. This, I believe, is the great possibility of this work, and what it really has to offer to consciousness studies
I am still in the process of understanding this model and gaining facility at using it with clients. As I do that I will share more about it in this blog.
