A Few Recommendations
Section 4 of my talk on Sunday 14th Zoom Satsang
Heal the Wounded Inner Child
As I said in my talks on managing likes and dislikes, Vedanta is packed with everything we need to submit the mind to self-inquiry and free it from the hypnosis of duality. If we are qualified, follow the methodology, have faith in the teachings and our teacher, Isvara will show us the way. But if we are stuck and our life is not working for us, even though we have the right values and most of the qualifications, have made lifestyle adjustments and are putting karma yoga, jnana yoga and bhakti yoga into practice, the chances are very good that there is an adaptive wounded inner child program we have rationalized and normalized, keeping the ego identity alive. It is still hanging on for dear life to our likes and dislikes. Don’t be fooled that you are the exception. It is a very rare human for whom this is not true because we all have a maladaptive inner child. So radical acceptance of your imperfect jiva program has to precede accepting your true perfection as the unborn undying ever present unchanging Self.
But for radical acceptance to succeed at banishing your likes and dislikes and the egoic doer, the only way is to accept and love that inner child. If you don’t, you will never accept your true nature as the perfect Self. The dam wall remains. If you are stuck with that, doing the inner child healing work is important. There are many ways you can explore that part of the jiva program, so find a good therapist who specializes in that to help you.
Heal the Nervous System
It is also really important to understand how our likes and dislikes have trained our nervous system to be stuck in negative coping mechanisms that have become our MO. There are many yogas that work to manage the mind and encourage it out of rajas into sattva, in tandem with the inner child work. I find yoga nidra meditation with emphasis on calming the vagus nerve, which is balancing the pranic systems, works very well for me. Any mediation will do. Just remember that any yoga is purely a means to an end; it’s not the end. If you are having trouble meditating because of intrusive thoughts, don’t worry about it. Just take a stand as the witness. You are always the knower of the thoughts.
Breathing exercises are really important for calming the mind by balancing the nervous system, and some of the simplest ways to bring harmony to the nervous system. Yoga has many of these practices. I also find the Wim Hof breathing exercises excellent and very simple to do. Humming, singing or chanting works very well too, not only because it’s a devotional practice but because it stimulates the vagus nerve, which helps to move us out of rajasic/tamasic fight or flight rajas/tamas (sympathetic nervous system) into rest, restore and digest – sattva (the parasympathetic nervous system). I have written about the polyvagal theory and how it relates to the three gunas in a posted satsang: https://www.shiningworld.com/the-neurobiology-of-connection-and-non-duality/
Practices such as BodyTalk work very well to release stuck energy in the Subtle body and stored in the physical body. Lucua can help with this and offers online treatment: http://www.bodytalkwithlucua.com. She can also help with self- inquiry, especially with reference to karma yoga. Lucua has just developed the first Vedanta app, and runs online courses. For more information, email her at: vedantalucua@gmail.com
If you want to understand more how important humility and bhakti yoga are, write to Rory or Ben de Silva, both are listed on our Shiningworld contact page. These two beautiful souls who protect the scripture are living examples of how to live as the Self. Rory: amoyaan@yahoo.co.uk. Ben de Silva: benedictdesilva@outlook.com.
Yoga, dancing or exercise work well too. Kate Finn, a Vedanta teacher and Yoga instructor who has just rejoined Shiningworld offers deep wisdom and knowledge of the scriptures. She can help greatly with self-inquiry, so don’t hesitate to write to her and receive her help. As a trained yoga teacher, she understands the polyvagal system well and offers meditation and yoga lessons that target the nervous system: Write to Kate at: finnkate@gmail.com
Find Your Identity Mantra
In Vedanta we chant not just to feel good but do acknowledge our true identity as the unchanging Self. Chanting identity mantras is a wonderful way to bring devotional practice into your daily life. It is also a great way to calm the nervous system, manage rajas and tamas, and develop sattva.
These are a few I like, but you can find your identity mantra which I encourage you to sing often.
Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithya Jivo Bramaiva Na Parah
I, the Self, am limitless Consciousness and the Jiva is non-different from me.
Lokaha samasta sukino bavantu
May all beings everywhere be happy, may everything I say do and think in some way contribute to everyone’s happiness and freedom
My own personal favorite made up on
I am Love. I accept every experience in every moment of every day as a sacred visit from God and let it pass through me. Love flows unobstructed to me and from me.
And Kate Finn’s sage advice:
‘Today is the best day. A better day will not come’.
If you can’t love yourself today, right this minute, when? Commit to Amor Fati. Love your fate.
Much love
Sundari
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