(2003)
Her dark eyes stare into mine; her expression is flat with a trace of anxiety. I notice ashen skin sinking into her bones. “She’s probably less than 80 pounds,” I muse.
“But I have to see it to believe it,” she protests. “I’m not going to believe I can get better until my body stops reacting! And a part of me doesn’t believe that” she softens, “that there’s such a thing as this Spirit, this Universal Energy thing; I just don’t believe it.”
“You have to see it to believe it?” I question.
“Yeah, I guess,” she replies in the lowest tone.
“Then you may be waiting a long time. Your body could die before you believe it, if your mind has it’s way, that is. Just listen to your thoughts–your mind is judge and jury now:”
“I can’t eat anything.” “I react to everything.” “I’m allergic to even my own clothes.” “I’m never going to get better.” “I can’t trust anyone.” “My body is ugly.” “Nothing works.” “I’ve been to all the best doctors; no one can find a cure.”
“And then there’s our list of the other 40 plus disturbing thoughts you hold in your nervous system. All these thoughts have vibrations, and, like negative magnets, they attract more and more negative thoughts. ‘Monkey-mind’ we say in yoga — thoughts that jump from branch to branch, wreak havoc and shake up trees. They’re what my yoga teacher called mental masturbation—selfishly indulgent, but bearing no beautiful fruit! We begin to repel any sense of positive, any sense of our Light, our Highest Power! I’ve coined it: MIND MUTINY!
This is serious, a profoundly serious case. Allergies? Chemical Sensitivity? Anorexia? Chronic Fatigue? Lyme’s Disease? Fibermyralgia? She’s been medically diagnosed, ad nauseam, but from the history I learn it’s emotionally based. She is starving, but of a different nature than what we’re seeing physically. There’s starvation of Love, deepening into starvation of Spirit, starvation of Energy that could, indeed, end her life. Her mind succeeded in repelling any contact with her Higher Power, her Healer. She’s diagnosed with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).
I can help her initiate the healing process by guiding her to her Captain. It appears her mind has thrown the Captain overboard! This client needs to acknowledge she has a Source of energy above and beyond the mental, emotional and physical body. She needs to learn the Truth, find out for herself. Luckily, she has the time and enough energy to do it now, before it’s too late.
“Yoga is a science,” I explain. “If you practice, it will work. This practice has established success, for 3,000-plus years; it’s been time-tested. But, as with all science, you have to have to employ a non-biased, objective observer. If you want to observe results; you must remain detached from your thoughts and observe them objectively. Experiment for yourself. You need to notice the subtle and blatant feelings that the mind creates in the emotional and physical body. Our physical body usually takes longer to respond to healing because it’s Denser. The emotional body usually responds more quickly and the Objective Observer notices the difference sooner, because the emotional body is Lighter. In this experiment, if you contract to work with me, you must practice the exercises, even if your mind protests. Keep noticing and writing your data. I can only lead you to your own observations.”
She nods in agreement.
“You must admit,” I observe, “you have at least a thread of Energy within you, because you’re alive.”
She acknowledges this fact.
“I know that even a thread of Energy can ignite and magnify your power. I’ve learned in over 50 years of life the Light is more powerful than the dark; the Higher Self is more powerful than the mind. I’m betting on the Light; I’m betting on the real You to heal you.”
She begins a contract with me, the yoga teacher. A part of her trusts the clinical psychotherapist who helped clear her anxiety within 20 minutes in two different energy sessions and a part of her accepts yoga. Although she’s new to these ideas, she’s open to them. Being open is a major contributor to healing, a repellent of Mind Mutiny. Being open brings in the Light.
After reminding her of some of the mysteries of science, like the power of gravity, precise rhythms and orbits of planets and solar systems, mathematical mysteries, infinities, magnetic properties, unseen powers and Universal Laws, I ask her: “Can your mind explain any of this? Can your mind help you comprehend these Great Mysteries, or explain where you came from?”
“No.”
“Then, for one moment, consider suspending your mind, keeping it open, clear of all thought and consider if there could be a power greater than your own mind?”
“Oh, yes, of course,” she replies instantly. “But I don’t trust these forces.”
“Here we go again,” I point out, “Mind Mutiny— ‘I don’t trust.’ Can I ask if you trust your mind to help you heal? Have these thoughts, or patterns of thoughts, been helpful to you?”
“No,” she responds sadly.
“Then let’s experiment a different way, if you will. You’ll notice and write each disturbing thought your mind gives you. As soon as you realize it, log it, and say three positive statements to counter-act the negative energy your mind just created. They must be truthful statements like ‘I’m learning to look for peaceful thoughts’ or ‘I’m beginning to learn to heal.’ Be vigilant and the mind will begin to take its rightful place as first mate, the Captain’s assistant. When your mind visualizes you as the Captain and feels your power, it will relax and give the controls over to your wise and loving Guide, the rightful owner of your body/ship. Then, the mind will respond by giving you the pictures, thoughts and feelings you desire.
As I explain that being in therapy usually evokes dreams that she’ll need to pay attention to, she immediately tells me of a dream she’s had since childhood. “I was just talking about it today to a friend!” she shares with me, curious about the synchronicity of the moment.
Interestingly, some of our most powerful realizations come from messages we receive in dreams, in REM sleep, where we are processing the thoughts and feelings bilaterally through rapid eye movements that integrate both sides of the brain.
In this dream, she’s a small child on a tricycle left alone in Washington, DC. She’s frozen on that tricycle. That’s the dream.
After viewing each part of the dream as a puzzle, with messages from each piece, she begins to see the whole picture, the metaphor: The child in her feels left alone in the world, afraid to move. The thought “I’m alone, I can’t trust anyone” began as a seedling in early childhood, connecting the thought to depressed, scary feelings. These feelings remained stuck and grew in intensity through years of feeling abandoned, magnetizing and magnifying these thoughts, creating physical reality. Nothing she’s experienced thus far has changed the thought—its only magnified its power, destroying her ability to trust her Self—or anyone else.
Washington DC isn’t just any city; it’s THE CAPITAL, representing the President, Supreme Court, the Lawmakers—all the Power. Afraid to move, she’s subjugated to outside forces, be them benevolent or violent. She’s become Powerless over these forces.
Think it, feel it, see it, so it is: Mind Mutiny.
“OK, this is your dream,” I remind her. All these parts are parts of YOU, with messages for you. “Do you want help? Do you want a Good Samaritan to come to the rescue, or do you want to be kidnapped by a child molester?”
“I want help,” she looks up anxiously.
“OK, so if this is your dream creation, you can create the help. Let’s help her. You’re awake and aware now and able to access a Good Samaritan. Would you like to rescue her?”
“Yes!”
This can be called conscious dreaming: “Go into the dream and be the parent your child needs, the helper who pays attention and protects this child. As the parent of the child who’s afraid to move, could you go to your little girl and bring her to safety?”
“OK.” The client is open to the experiment and closes her eyes. She images rescuing her inner child. She goes to her STAR, her Highest Power, and shoots back through time, like a shooting star, she envelops her child in Light and Love, surrounds her with the Light of Protection. The scary sadness transforms to peaceful awareness in a few moments of this guided meditation, there’s a major breakthrough! It’s the beginning of Awareness of the Power of the Self, the Captain, and Creator of our Life. It’s the beginning of the healing process! She begins to learn “To Thy Own Self be True.” She is beginning to rescue her self from the dark thoughts that have created her life thus far. She is beginning to change the drama of the dream to a new reality, changing trauma to Triumph.
Discipline, from the word disciple, means to teach. Teaching the mind to respond to the Higher Self, to take direction from the Higher Self, is like training a rebellious child. You need steady love, firm discipline and to pay attention to the essential needs of the body/mind. When the mind trusts that the Captain is a good and fair Captain who would never do anything to hurt or destroy our life or our self, it releases it’s grip on the brain/body. When we accept our Higher Power as our Guide, we connect to a bliss-filled reality, and we usually feel better. Our life gets simpler, more peaceful. We become more powerfully aware.
Although it’s not always easy, it is Simple. Our mind affects our emotional body, and we can heal our physical body with the assistance of our Captain, and all the Power connected to the Light of Love…
She left smiling, but I am cautiously optimistic. A wise therapist knows that unless there are real supports outside of therapy, and until all the mind’s negative thoughts and “stuck” disturbances are positively transformed, clients are at risk. Until all her negative thought magnets are demagnetized, what a challenge this child/woman has! She needs to develop a strong force field of Light that will repel the dark energies that surround her, this negative thought field. Her mind needs to actively give her healing images—thoughts and feelings created and directed by her Higher Self.
We create our life with our mind’s help. Our body is our instrument, carrying us through life, allowing us to physically work things out and make our most beautiful dreams come true.
Mind Mutiny throws the Captain overboard, and becomes the destroyer of our positive creations.
Mind Mutiny is the pirate of our peace. In yoga it’s called Maya, illusion. Most pirates will try to show their strength, act like a violent bully, raping and pillaging all territories of value.
I believe these pirates need to be captured, rehabilitated and transformed into first-rate first mates. The first mate should assist the Captain in running a peaceful, loving, disciplined, well-coordinated ship. Even through the storms of life, a good first mate is worth its weight as GOLD.
Be the Golden Star. Shine your Golden Light. Make friends with your Captain and have a joyous, peaceful, and powerful cruise through Life!
