Embodied Awakening: Bridging the Wisdom of Buddha and Modern Practice
Mindfulness in America finally made its way into mainstream consciousness about 15-20 years ago. Mindfulness is a practice inspired by the teachings of Siddartha Gautuma also known as the Buddha or “Enlightened One” over 2,500 years ago. Buddha was a teacher who dedicated his life to unraveling the mystery of human consciousness. He was a prince that decided to leave his prosperous life to explore the phenomena of human suffering, while investigating what built suffering and what released suffering. The Buddha never claimed to be a God, only a teacher. He taught two things, suffering and the end of suffering. His path is referred to as the “middle way” since it advocates finding a balanced and moderate path in various aspects of life, including ethical conduct, mental discipline and wisdom.
The teachings of the Buddha have nourished me deeply on my journey of awakening. They have filled my tool box with practical ways to work with my unconscious, unskillful consciousness and habitual ways of being. It wasn’t until I discovered the exquisite teacher, Rob Burbea in 2020 that I deepened my practice even further. This was due to the embodied approach Rob engaged in when teaching. Sadly, Rob passed away from pancreatic cancer just a few weeks after discovering his teachings, but he has left us with a vast library of dharma talks to continue to support students on the path.
I have studied under a number of Western dharma teachers and have always left unsatisfied due to the way they neglect the body and the wisdom it holds. The Buddha taught that mindfulness of body is the first step or foundation of a mindfulness practice, and I whole heartedly agree. Many people have a difficult time accessing awareness of their body, due to the rigidity stored within the cells and tissues. Also, most people live in their heads, rather than in their feeling sense of the body. This programming can make it challenging to drop more into the body, but its not impossible.
One of Rob’s inquiries is “what is the potential of human consciousness”. This is my one of my favorite things to contemplate. It awakens excitement, inspiration, and fluidity within my being. I see that when humans learn how to be more in attunement with their bodily intelligence and inner wisdom, they can expand and become more fluid and less attached in their lived experiences. This means, they can become responsive to life, rather than reactive, and can cultivate more beautiful ways of being.
For me, I began my embodied mindful training circa 2010. However, even though I could track subtle shifts within my felt experience, at times, the energy body or nervous system would get activated so quickly through my triggered trauma response, that I would lose contact with my open, non-judgemental, compassionate awareness. I remember, I would watch this phenomena take over me. A part of me was able to witness, while other parts were consumed with the energy and pain of the past, that was trying to sequence through me for healing in the present. However, my way of relating to that experience, kept the energy trapped in the same structure it was already living in my consciousness.
This led me to revolutionize my practice of mindfulness, so that I could move into a state of autonomy and sovereignty. It pained me to react in unskillful ways in my relationships. It was difficult to be trapped in the past pain of life. I discovered that I had the power to touch and connect with my body in a way that supported it in moments of distress and trigger. We could say that our triggers are stored past traumatic energy activated in the present and according to psychologist and somatic experiencer Peter Levine, when a trigger releases, it is ultimately trying to sequence through the individual through discharging for healing. So, if our body remains tight, constricted, and activated in the fight-flight response, eventually the energy will freeze back up within us, and potentially be triggered in an even bigger way the next time round, completely bypassing the healing process.
What I discovered was I had the power to not only be aware of my triggers arising, but I could support my system in discharging and soothing to come back into an online presence and reclaim clarity and heart coherence. This is possible for all of us, and my mission is to teach others how to regulate their nervous systems back to health and safety, when experiencing unpleasantness and past traumatic energy, which is something a lot of people experience quite often.
