RickyFitts

@Judy2

@Judy2 Thanks for elaborating I've come to think that when we're very young we just haven't yet learnt to think that it's not all right to express our emotions, and so they can actually move through our systems much more quickly because we haven't been conditioned to repress upset, anger, fear, etc. - when we're upset we cry, when we're angry we scream, and so on, we're completely unfiltered at that stage. And emotion is energy, of course, so to repress emotion is to repress that energy, which ends up causing all sorts of mental/emotional/physical/energetic issues. That's just how it seems to me though, maybe that's a little simplistic I don't know.

Okay, that sounds like a good reason to me Not related to interuterine trauma specifically, but 'Healing Trauma' by Peter Levine is a good book on the subject of trauma that you might find useful, could be worth a look. Interesting, so are you saying that trauma tends to affect us worse after identification has happened? Would you mind expanding on this a little?

I seem to be on a bit of an instrumental kick today, this is an interesting one that just came up on Youtube, never heard it before:

Why do you want to re-experience it? Not that I'm suggesting that you're wrong to want to, I'm just curious.

Wrong. Belief and faith are two completely separate things. Belief is of the mind, faith is of the heart. The majority of people don't know the first thing about true faith, because they're so caught in their thinking.

That's your problem right there - that you're approaching meditation as a purely mental activity. Compassion and wisdom arise from the heart, not the head, so of course meditation isn't going to give rise to those things if you're approaching it like that. Give more attention to what's going on below the neckline, notice where you're feeling contracted and tense and allow yourself to relax and breathe. Allow the arising of what had previously been suppressed, even if it feels uncomfortable, painful, or upsetting.

I know But I could've given a more accurate idea of what the video is actually about with a better thread title, that was a bit lazy on my part.

The following video from Shunyamurti came up in my Youtube recommendations so I figured I'd share it here, I know trauma's a big issue for a lot of people so hopefully some will get use out of it:

Touché! ???

Yeah, the thread title was misleading, sorry about that guys - I probably should have titled it something like, 'Understanding Trauma', I reckon that'd have been more accurate.

This just sounds like spiritual bypassing, ironically. It's in our everyday lives that the rubber hits the road. How do you feel when you're alone without any external distractions? Do you feel at peace, or do you feel agitated, irritable, depressed, etc.? Do you exude equanimity and calm even in the face of turbulent situations and difficult people, or do you get triggered by them? All the spiritual clichés in the world don't amount to a hill of beans if you're still conflicted inside.

@puporing You're so welcome He's fantastic, he really is

'Without a shift of attention from concept to immediate experience and perception, spirituality tends to degrade into magical thinking, fantasy, and/or fanaticism. It is only by redirecting attention away from the surface level of the mind’s narrative, and towards the pure immediacy of the present, that we can break the trance of ego-identification and fall into conscious connection with our true nature.' - Adyashanti

I've experienced various aches and pains whilst meditating over the years, I remember one instance where I was hit by a wave of nausea in my solar plexus that felt fucking awful, it was so hard to sit with it (I did, though, and the feeling dissipated after a few minutes). Different parts of my body have felt rather tender at times, too, particularly in the region of my stomach and lower back; I've felt pressure in different parts of my body, too, initially it was in my head but I've also felt it most noticeably in my heart.

For me personally, it's a couple of things: 1) Two spiritual teachers I have a lot of respect for, the Buddha and Adyashanti, have talked about how they saw many of their past lives after they became enlightened; and 2) I've been told about many of my own past lives by two people I trust and have a lot of respect for. So I tend to believe in reincarnation, though I can't say that I know that it's a fact. I don't think it's especially important, either, I think life is all about this moment, right now, and obsessing about past lives can become just another distraction from what's really important.

You're so welcome, glad you found it helpful I'm afraid I don't, sorry about that! @Ulax Did I try what myself? Empathising?

I've been subscribed to this fella's Youtube channel for a while now and find him to be very wise, the following video is his most recent upload and I found it very insightful, so I figured I'd share it here:

The title of this song happens to be my real name, I always loved the way she sung it