Meditation Group starting August 2022

Hello Dear Readers,

I am starting an every-other-week meditation group in August – on Thursday, August the 25th to be exact.

The plan is to do a basic Tibetan Buddhist practice most weeks. Although this will depend on the experience level of practitioners who join. We may also do other meditations – somatic body scans, embodiment exercises, 5 element body-oriented meditations, etc.

It will be Thursday evenings at 7 – 8:30 pm (Eastern US time). Every other Thursdays starting August 25th. This will be online, unless there is a lot of interest from here in the Charlottesville area. Let me know if you are interested.

To Register: you can email me a mkirbymoore [at] protonmail [dot] com

Suggested donation of $25 / class. But really pay what you can.

About me – Kirby Moore

I have been practicing meditation since 2002, when I first met a Zen teacher in a philosophy class and got my first preliminary meditation instructions. The first couple years were not very productive as I was attempting to go it alone (without regular contact with a teacher).

In 2005, I was very fortunate to meet Tibetan Buddhist teachers and Lamas. I first began with Bon lamas – Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in Charlottesville, Va. Then, in 2006, when I attended the Tibetan Meditation Center (TMC) in Frederick, Md (Drikung Kagyu lineage), I felt like I had come home. I have been working with these masters and heart teachers ever since – these include Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche, Drupon Thinley Ningpo, Khenpo Tsultrim, Khenpo Choepel, Garchen Rinpoche, His Holiness Chetsang Rinpoche and other incredible lineage holders. In addition, I have taken teachings from Nyingma lamas as well.

From 2006 – 2013, I went up to TMC in Md at least four times / year. In the spring, there were 10 – 14 days of teachings given at Spring Retreat. Then I would go up for long weekend practice (deity yoga or meditation) retreats twice a year and usually attend Winter Retreat. You can find many posts on this blog about teachings / retreats I attended – especially if you go back and check out the older posts from 2009 – 2013.

I was very fortunate to attend and then to practice the Tibetan language with Geshe Jampel Thardo in Charlottesville. He was a hidden master – manifesting signs of accomplishment at the time of his death in late 2008. I was so blessed to get to spend time with him. He strongly encouraged me to learn (and master) the Tibetan language. I’m not at that level yet, but I love practicing this beautiful language.

I have also attended meditation retreats in Charlottesville and at Virginia Beach – doing a 10-day retreat nearly every year since 2007. These were dynamic retreats where every day: we would do Zapchen Somatics for an hour or two, we would do several hours of Shamatha calm abiding meditation, Qigong, 8 verses for training the mind (or the 37 Bodhisattva practices), metta – loving kindness practice, and a group dream exploration practice in the evenings.

In addition, I completed my first 90-day meditation retreat in Charlottesville in 2020. And I have also done Advanced Somatic Retreats in Zapchen Somatics with Julie Henderson and with her senior students. Zapchen Somatics is a brilliant series of fun and playful exercises designed to sneakily get people to come down out of their heads and into their bodies – and to move toward well-being.

Not to overwhelm you with information about the teachings I have received… I have also studied nervous system repair, the polyvagal theory and trauma resolution extensively. I am certified as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and I have started a modality entitled Trauma Informed Astrology – where I teach students around the world a dynamic blend of somatic embodiment exercises, tools for nervous system repair and seeing the nervous system through the lens of the Western astrology chart.

Just so we are clear, I am not a lama. I am not even a meditation teacher per se (according to the strict Tantric definitions). But I am very happy to share what little I know.

I hope you will join us.

Contemplative Somatics Class Renews

Hello Dear Ones,

I am writing to inform you about another series of classes entitled “Contemplative Somatics.” The first 8-class series went very well. All of the students loved it and requested to continue. So that is the intention! (See below for the class info!)

We are going to continue to deepen awareness of the body, awareness as our bodies. The intention is to drop into greater presence in the three centers – the clarity of the head, the compassion of the heart and the potency of the pelvis. If we worked on this for the rest of our lives, it would be a very meaningful life. (So we are going to take another little chunk in this series.)

There will be themes in this upcoming class. In one class, we will work with the jaw and patterns of holding tension there. In another class, we will work with the cranial base. Of course, there will be a class on opening and softening into our hearts. And we will even get into bringing awareness and attention down to the potency of the pelvis. How deep we go will depend on who shows up – frankly though, we will gain insights into our process wherever we are!

There will be an occasional guided meditation (hence the name) and we will also do a class on cultivating improved awareness of self-vs-other – in other words, we will strengthen our boundaries.

So let me know if you are interested in learning more or want to sign up for this great series. See below for all the info. You can contact me at kirby [at] mkirbymoore [dot] com (email that is). You can also leave a comment on here and I will respond. I hope to hear from you!

Beginners are welcome in this next series of classes. Start where you are!

Contemplative Somatics

Starting July 7th (Thursday) – evenings 7 – 8:30 PM Eastern time

We will meet every other Thursday from July 7th thru October 13th.

(Classes will meet 7/7, 7/21, 8/4, 8/18, 9/1, 9/15, 9/29, 10/13)

In-person option or online – this is a hybrid class. This format worked well for both people who were local and able to come into the large spacious well-ventilated office (in Charlottesville, Va) or for people who were long-distance on Zoom.

Cost: $275 for the series.

To Register: You can pay via Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, or check to reserve your space. We are looking for two to three more participants. This is a small group format (max of eight to nine participants).

Back from retreat, changes afoot

Hello Dear Readers,

I returned from Maryland and Tibetan Meditation Center on Sunday evening. It was an incredible retreat – rejuvenating and filling my spiritual container!

Drikung Chenga Rinpoche at TMC Stupa

Due to Covid concerns, there were not that many people in-person (anywhere from 8 – 35 on a given day, more on the weekends), but at one point there were close to 250 people watching the teachings on Zoom.

We were very fortunate to have Chenga Rinpoche and Khenpo Tenzin Nyima come down from the Gampopa Vajrayana Center in New Jersey. http://gampopa.org/ (that is their website)

Chenga Rinpoche gave the Namgyalma empowerment and then he taught on a text entitled “The Mahamudra Supplication.” It was so great to meet a master of his quality – his equanimity is difficult to describe – very steadfast like a mountain!

Prior to that, Khenpo Tsultrim gave a Vajrasattva empowerment and teachings on that profound and beneficial (purifying) practice. Then there was a Chenrezig blessing ceremony and teachings on the text, followed by a miniature Mani Drupchen for a couple days. Lama Rigzin assisted with these events (and with Chenga Rinpoche’s teachings as well).

Chenga Rinpoche (right), Khenpo Tenzin Nyima (middle) and retreat participants at TMC

It was very inspiring to speak Tibetan most days. My colloquial has gotten rusty – just speaking occasionally for the past 7 – 8 years. It is my intention to head up to TMC more frequently however and dip my toe into the mandalic blessed waters (of authentic Dharma teachings and Tibetan language practice).

Chenga Rinpoche, along with the 3 other lamas and a couple of Western monastics consecrated a new Amitabha Buddha statue in the memorial wall section of TMC (the memorial wall was just completed within the past couple of years). This was an enjoyable ritual – many prayers followed by throwing flower petals and receiving a blessing from the blessed saffron water vase.

Consecrating Amitabha statue at TMC

Here is a nice pic of the flower petals ready to be thrown 🙂 (apart of the consecration ceremony)

Stayed tuned for what changes are afoot. Mainly I am going to start teaching more – probably in late August or September.

Thank you for reading!

Kirby Moore

konchog chakchen

Living breathing spaciousness, brief retreat

Hello readers,

I am heading up to the Tibetan Meditation Center in Md next week. I am looking forward to a respite and a rejuvenating week.

There will be less blogging activity (not that I have been producing much as of late anyway). But you can expect to see some pictures from retreat in a couple weeks when I return!

It has been interesting with these past two weeks of bad news (several bad mass shootings here in the United States) 😦 Ultimately, it is going to be okay. Here in the relative world, it is very difficult being with these waves of big emotions. Can I be with both of these realities simultaneously? I wish that for all of us!

May we all get what we need, to move toward well-being and alignment. Om Ah Hung

Blessings,

Kirby Moore

konchog chakchen

A few benefits of Trauma Informed Astrology

This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore. Please do not reproduce anything here without the author’s explicit permission. You can see more of what Kirby offers by going to www.traumainformedastrology.com or www.mkirbymoore.com There you can book astrology, distance somatic process or bodywork sessions. Thank you for visiting!

Hello Dear Ones,

I am writing this post because I have been loving the Trauma-Informed Astrology (T.I.A.) sessions I am offering to clients recently.

I created TIA two years ago, after pondering and “chewing on” the idea for the previous year or two. I have been studying Western Astrology since 2003 – and then in 2005 I started casting charts and asking for a small donation. And since then, I have now done at least 750 charts if not more. One question that kept bugging me however, is that Western Astrology in its “pure” form is primarily a divination tool. It will answer questions like “What energy is arising?” And “when might this energy manifest?” and it may possibly answer the “Why” questions as well. But it does not answer the “Now that I know the What and the When, how do I fix it? How do I prevent challenging situations? How do I repair what the chart is indicating?”

I began to study and practice Craniosacral Therapy in 2005. I love how this modality helps us to connect with deeper healing rhythms and also helps us to come down out of our heads. Then in 2012, I began studying Polyvagal Theory and techniques to work with the Polyvagal System. In 2013, I was fortunate to meet Myrna Martin and I began studying Birth Process work (Pre- and Perinatal Psychology). And most recently, I completed my Somatic Experiencing Practitioner certificate after four years of studying and practicing that awesome modality. I love blending all of these tools with Western Astrology to get a fresh new lens through which to view the horoscope!

Hence my creation of TIA. This modality blends traditional Western Astrology, Spiritual Astrology with wisdom and the scientific backing of Somatic Experiencing, Zapchen Somatics, Polyvagal Theory, Birth Process work and more process-oriented-bodywork techniques. Therefore, we can dredge up some old stuff (only small chunks at a time) about our early history AND have the tools to be able to resource, repair and work through it!

In Chinese Medicine, there is the belief that many diseases (80% or so) are rooted in emotional causes. In other words, stuck emotions and stuck energy contribute to our dis-ease. If this is true, then all we have to do is learn to liberate this stuck energy, and we can benefit the majority of diseases out there. Obviously, work with a licensed health care provider if you think you have a significant health issue! But, if you go to multiple specialists and doctors and have the tests and scans run, and they don’t know what is happening in you, then it is quite possible that your dis-ease has an emotional root cause. And if this is the case, then it would definitely be worth trying Somatic Experiencing, Trauma-Informed Astrology, Craniosacral Therapy or other efficacious emotional-process-oriented modalities.

Just to be clear, we need to work with a competent practitioner if we think we need to work on early trauma issues. This material is tricky to work on by ourselves, and if it is preverbal (challenging events happened before we were 3 years old), then we literally can’t access it on our own. In other words, lean into support! Get good support from an experienced and skillful guide.

Multiple studies have shown us that unresolved trauma causes emotions to become stuck and rigid. It is almost as if the body (nervous system) is battening down the hatches to prevent further trauma from occurring. Except this causes further loss of connection and difficulties in relationships in addition to other health challenges. In fact, the Adverse Childhood Experience study (ACE study for short) has shown us that having significant unresolved early trauma will lead to adult disease (usually inflammatory issues). Yes, we know that correlation does not equal causation, but this study involved more than 17,000 participants and it is still on-going, 29 years after it first began! And the study’s results and effects have been successfully replicated in further studies by many reputable organizations (like the NIH, Johns Hopkins, the Mayo Clinic and more).

We know that Western Astrology can be a beneficial divination tool – using the astrology chart and knowing a bit about the client’s history, we can make some accurate predictions about how their nervous system is doing today (provided we understand how the autonomic nervous system functions). If we have the knowledge and the skills, we can even make some assumptions about their birth process. We can see where energy or emotions are getting stuck, and we might be able to see why they habitually get stuck. And then using tools from Somatic Experiencing and other Somatic / movement modalities, we can gently and competently guide them toward being with, digesting, processing and integrating those previously overwhelming events.

Some of the benefits of this process include greater awareness, insights into “why I behave the way I do,” and being able to shift and transform stubborn, old, outdated patterns and habits. Sometimes (very often actually) we don’t know the causes of our neurotic behavior or habits. Maybe we are a workaholic and don’t understand why. Maybe we are constantly being an entertainer or performer and we don’t know how to “turn ourselves off.” Perhaps we are a perpetual pleaser / placater / charmer and we are getting tired of always attending to others’ needs, rather than our own. It might be that we have a lot of shame and inner guilt around success or putting ourselves out there. Maybe there are strong ancestral patterns that we struggle to break out of. Sometimes we have the terrible fortune to end up with chronic digestive issues – constipation or diarrhea, etc. There is light at the end of the tunnel however – I have seen many of these issues shift and transform.

Trauma-Informed Astrology can often benefit most of these situations. Working on some of these issues usually requires several sessions (or more – sometimes I work with clients 7 – 10 times for one of these chronic issues), but we can start to bring awareness to these shadowy depths, bring more support to the process, and get movement and transformation going! It is amazing how some of the most stubborn patterns can start to shift when we bring awareness and consciousness to the process. As Julie Henderson, the creator of Zapchen Somatics says, “All things eventually resolve in peace.”

Using TIA, we can be like the wise person – “the wise person controls their stars, it is the fool who obeys them.”

Thank you for reading!

Kirby Moore

BTW – I offer in-person bodywork in the Central Virginia area (USA), and I also offer long-distance Trauma-Informed Astrology sessions, Somatic Experiencing and Embodiment Coaching. Let me know if you are interested (see the links to the sites above).

[Disclaimer: I ask my clients if they have been to the doctor if this is appropriate. If something has an organic cause, we want to go to a medical practitioner to determine that first. Then, if doctors and specialists don’t know the cause or what to do next, at that point Somatic processing, trauma resolution and nervous system repair might be great next steps to take! Trauma Informed Astrology does not claim to treat, diagnose, prevent or cure any diseases.]

Shifting gears, offering mentoring & supervision

Hello Dear Readers,

I have been practicing Emotional Process-Oriented Bodywork for 17 years now. And I have been working with Nervous System Repair (trauma resolution / nurturing resilience) since 2012. Therefore, it is time for me to start offering mentoring around these topics.

Oh – and I have been studying and practicing Western Astrology since 2003 – almost 20 years! And in the past few years, I have blended these modalities to create Trauma Informed Astrology. I am also offering mentoring and supervision in this dynamic system.

Generally, I charge $75 an hour for this work. There are several options available – a practitioner brings their client’s info and history and we discuss how to support their nervous system, working with a client’s astrology chart and discussing how we can support their nervous system with that extra information, working with a client together (this would be a higher rate), and working with the practitioner if they are getting hooked and triggered by a client (also a higher rate).

Let me know if you want to discuss mentoring or supervision. And let me know if you are interested in attending a class on any of these topics. I am preparing a couple classes – one online (Trauma Informed Astrology) and one in-person (bodywork).

Thank you for reading!

Kirby Moore

Thoughts on Working with Grief

Healthy Goals to Overcome Grief

This is an article guest written by Camille Johnson. Thank you Camille for contributing to Astrodharma! Kirby Moore assisted with editing.

It can be hard to set and work on goals while grieving. After all, you’re going through a difficult time and might have uncertainty in the future. However, creating healthy goals during this time is crucial for moving forward.

It can help you stay focused and provide you with a sense of purpose. Here are some tips from Meditation Informs Healing Facilitation to keep in mind when setting and working on your goals.

Where to Begin

When it comes to working with grief, first of all, be gentle. There are many ways that grief manifests. There is no “one way” to grieve. So give yourself some time and space and allow stuff to move. According to the Kubler-Ross model of grieving, there are 5 stages – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Don’t let anyone else tell you how long you need to grieve – trust your heart. Then you may want to keep the following in mind as well.

It can be hard to know where to start when it comes to your goals. The first step is to identify what you want to achieve. Is there a goal you’ve been wanting to reach for a while now? Do you want to make some changes in your life?

Maybe you want to take up a new hobby or learn something new. This will help you set a goal that’s specific and measurable, which will give you a sense of accomplishment when it’s achieved. Try incorporating some of the ideas discussed below, or use your own goal to get started.

Get Plenty of Rest

It’s important to get plenty of rest as it is, but even more so when you’re grieving. You need mental focus and physical energy, both of which proper sleep provides. Try implementing a physical fitness routine each day of the week.

This will help you sleep soundly at night, giving you sufficient energy for the next day. Stick with it, and you will surely enjoy the many benefits that exercise provides.

Make Time for You

Grief is a process that takes time. It’s important to remember that you are not alone in this. You will need to set aside some time for yourself to process your grief, while still taking care of your other responsibilities.

Setting aside time for yourself can be achieved through schedule changes, taking breaks during the day, or scheduling activities with friends and family. Do your best not to neglect your own health and wellbeing.

It’s easy to forget about your own needs when you’re grieving. But you are important, too. By making time for your needs, you can be sure to better process and deal with grief.

Stay Connected

If you’ve experienced a loss, the most important thing you can do is to connect with others. Even if you don’t feel like talking or reaching out, it’s important to remember that there will be many people who want to help and be there for you.

Acknowledge that your feelings are difficult and that while it may not seem like it right now, life does go on. It is possible to move on and live life while still honoring the person who has passed away.

Start Your Own Company

When you lose someone you love, chances are you may feel lost at sea. Focusing on something you’re passionate about can help you stay the course, even when the grieving process suggests otherwise. For example, being your boss brings you a sense of accomplishment and great joy. Many people find that owning a business brings them joy and helps them refocus as they work through their feelings and emotions.

However, jumping blindly into business is a bad idea — you have to put together a plan and select a structure, among other things. Consider forming an LLC if you are interested in running your own business. An LLC has many benefits, including the possibility of saving money on startup costs. An LLC in Virginia is more tax-efficient compared to other business types. Instead of paying high fees for a lawyer to set up your LLC, consider LLC formation services.

Remember to take this business at your own pace. Again, rushing anything while grieving is a bad idea; make sure you’re positive this is something you want to pursue, and then take it step by step.

When you’re suffering from grief, setting healthy goals can often seem impossible. However, it’s important to find ways to occupy your mind as you work through this difficult period. Whatever you choose, be mindful and purposeful about it. Make healthy choices, follow previously unexplored passions, and stay in touch with family and friends — it may take some time, but you’ll soon find your way forward.

Somatic Experiencing as Spiritual Practice, continued

Kirby Moore (the author) offers Somatic Experiencing sessions over distance and in person. He also offers Craniosacral Therapy, Birth Process work and Asian Bodywork in person. In addition, he offers Trauma-informed Astrology interpretations, both in person and over distance. You can go to www.mkirbymoore.com for more or click here to schedule a session: https://wisdomhealingtherapies.schedulista.com/

Hello again Dear Readers,

BTW this material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore. Please ask permission before copying anything.

To continue a thread from earlier… go back and read the introduction to this piece if you haven’t already, also published today. Click here: https://wordpress.com/post/astrodharma.me/7225

As I was saying, Raja Selvam, one of my advanced Somatic Experiencing (SE) faculty members, seeks to fill in the gaps of SE – providing better tools for working with emotional trauma. SE is an awesome modality – however, trauma is a huge topic and SE is especially beneficial for acute shock trauma (accidents, injuries, falls, surgeries, etc). To use SE to benefit early or developmental trauma typically requires additional training and tools.

Raja taught us how to expand a challenging (or even positive) emotion in the body. (I had been doing some of this work using different methods from my Craniosacral Therapy and Developmental Needs Meeting Strategy training. But Raja’s methods are so efficient!) Many people, due to trauma responses, tend to resist feeling big fear, or big grief, or big anger, etc. For most of us, there is often a category of emotions (like fear or grief) that is more muted. This can happen for many reasons. This leads to us often trying to think our way through emotions, rather than really owning them and embodying them more fully. Maybe there is another defense mechanism which shows up to prevent us from feeling the big emotion. This is very very common. If you notice this in yourself, be gentle. Be kind, it can change, but it usually requires working with a skillful practitioner. There is hope, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Just be patient and persist gently.

When we expand fear for example, we have to be aware that freeze (immobility response) often comes with it. So we need to know how to bring someone up out of freeze as well. However, when we are able to expand fear in the body, our capacity to tolerate it increases. Our container for fear literally gets larger.

In a nutshell, what this is doing is expanding our capacity to be with our own suffering. Can I tolerate suffering easier? Without big resistance and other defense mechanisms getting in the way. Whether it is fear, or grief, or shame, or rage, etc.

If I expand my capacity to be with my own suffering without too much resistance – that can also make it easier to be present to other people’s suffering. This is where I am going out on a limb as it were – from here on out, this is my own hypothesis. Bear with me for a second on a tangent…

In Chinese Medicine (Taoism), it is known that if we don’t have much access to a particular emotion – let’s take fear again – then I also don’t have much access to fear’s opposite emotions. When we can’t be present with fear, we also don’t have much access to courage or fearlessness. Fear is the shadow emotion of the water element, courage, bravery and fearlessness are the positive emotions.

Likewise, this is true for every other element. Wood element – if we resist feeling anger, then we also resist feeling happiness and joy (we might discuss depression as a result of Wood element issues). Metal element – if we resist feeling grief, then we also resist feeling inspired and creative. The whole channel is muted as it were – the shadow side and the blessing side of the emotional spectrum.

To continue this analogy above, if we are able to be more present to our own and other’s suffering, that means we probably develop more empathy, more compassion. And this is where we start talking about spiritual practice. A very skillful SE practitioner (I am getting there myself, having practiced working with nervous system repair since 2012) can assist someone to open up muted emotional channels. Where there was resistance to being present with fear, now there is easier access to fear along with more courage as well. Where there was a preponderance toward worry, melancholy and obsession (Earth element), now there are better boundaries, more centeredness, grounding and easier connection with others. I feel that working with the Earth element themes are some of the trickiest – as the Earth element holds all the rest of the emotions (and bodily structure) together. Sometimes we have to work with the peripheral emotions before going for these deeper ones.

In Buddhism, one of the main goals of the path is to increase our compassion. To be more skillful in helping to alleviate suffering. And what I am describing with advanced SE work can help to do just that! I am very grateful to my teachers and the teachings I have received to be able to benefit people easier.

In conclusion, if we increase our ability to tolerate suffering, then we can be present to our own suffering easier. Then this might make it easier to be present to other people’s suffering as well. At this point, we may notice greater empathy or compassion arising. And then we are definitely on the path to becoming better human beings – whether we use an established religious path or not. This is why I mention that SE can possibly have some benefits, similar to spiritual practice.

This ability to tolerate suffering may come in chunks – first I might learn to tolerate fear easier (also resulting in more courage). And then I might have to work with shame for a bit, gaining clarity and understanding around that. Next I might work with rage and issues around personal power for a while. Once I can tolerate them better, I might find myself becoming happier and able to smile easier. Who knows how the process will go? What is important is that we get started 🙂

Thank you for reading!

Kirby Moore

An Intro to Somatic Experiencing as Spiritual Practice

Kirby Moore (the author) offers Somatic Experiencing sessions over distance and in person. He also offers Craniosacral Therapy, Birth Process work and Asian Bodywork in person. In addition, he offers Trauma-informed Astrology interpretations, both in person and over distance. You can go to www.mkirbymoore.com for more or click here to schedule a session: https://wisdomhealingtherapies.schedulista.com/

Hello Dear Readers,

I am writing this post to discuss how Somatic Experiencing (a trauma resolution, nervous system repair-oriented modality) can have additional benefits supplementing an established spiritual practice.

And just so my biases are out there, I am a Buddhist practitioner, on the Tibetan Buddhism or Vajrayana path. I was raised Christian and have a deep respect for authentic spiritual practitioners of any faith who are sincere and who look to grow and become better human beings. Obviously many people work to become better humans without having a spiritual practice – however you do it, Great!

Personal growth work and becoming a better human are some of the benefits of practicing Somatic Experiencing, SE for short. SE is a supplementary modality or a lens through which one practices psychotherapy, bodywork, yoga or other self-help / therapeutic modality.

In SE, we track the nervous system – where is the client in their autonomic nervous system responses (sympathetic or fight-or-flight-oriented, parasympathetic oriented – in this case dorsal vagal response meaning “are they in freeze?” or socially engaged, ventral vagus, alert-and-relaxed response)? If they have trauma symptoms, we gradually tease apart compression (trauma is typically a compression of time, space and resources). We add more time and space into the client’s process, and give their nervous system precious time to process and integrate, to re-organize and renegotiate these old stuck patterns. An SE certification requires at least a 3-year training, so I am oversimplifying things a bit here. But I want to point out that SE focuses primarily on repairing the nervous system.

So how can SE become a spiritual practice as well? I want to point out that it is probably best to follow an authentic and established spiritual path to begin with. SE is taught as a secular healing modality for therapeutic practitioners – whether talk therapists or bodyworkers (touch therapists). It is not taught from a spiritual or religious perspective. This idea that SE can also be used as a spiritual practice is my own.

In my advanced SE training (the final year is known as the advanced levels), I worked with an incredible SE faculty member – Raja Selvam. He taught us the SE advanced techniques, but also introduced us to additional topics and tools. Then I did additional training with him on working with Pre- and Perinatal Trauma. Some of what he said spoke to my Buddhist principles, and some of what he said even informed my practice of Western Astrology (but that is a story for another time).

In SE, Raja commented that there is not enough emphasis on emotional-trauma repair. SE works with sensations, images, memories, emotions, behaviors and even can help to clarify meaning (the “Why” questions). That is a lot about which to be cognizant. SE is often better suited for dealing with acute trauma (shock trauma – accidents, injuries, falls, surgery, etc). And Raja mentioned that we need additional training to work with developmental or emotional trauma, which I agree with. Thankfully I have some of that training with my PPN / birth process work training, along with additional training in working with the Polyvagal System.

Therefore, Raja set out to “fill-in” some of those gaps in healing emotional trauma for us. And I am deeply grateful for this! And in doing so, I realized that he was speaking the language of a spiritual practice in addition to profound healing modality.

Continued in the next post…