Catharsis
Listen carefully. There are no other salient points on the healing brought about by Inner Dance than this. I’ve been bombarded with questions, views and dismissive arguments on how catharsis should be handled, and how this has scared off many would be initiates.Let’s tackle this slowly, piecemeal.Catharsis is naught else but rapid change in the body, or explicitly, a releasing of a person’s trapped energies at breakneck speed.How does it happen?People will only enter into catharsis if their lower mind gives way to the higher mind in a comfortable setting, trusting that the moment, the space, and the people involved allows for the release of trapped energies.Why does it happen?Humans are always looking for a way to release trapped energies. In a natural state, people are supposed to allow it to happen. But automatic life rarely allows for the natural release of blockages to take place.Why are people so afraid of it?Catharsis is triggered by the internal agreement of our lower mind to relinquish control to our incomprehensible higher mind. People undergoing catharsis come from an inward feeling of bliss, while maintaining an outward perspective may sometimes spark off some fear that accompanies this loss of control. The same applies to people in the vicinity of those undergoing catharsis. Fear-based questions pop into their heads:“what if the person doesn’t return to normal?”;“what if this person is possessed by some evil spirit…?Etc.These questions stem from our human tendency to try to understand everything. It is a tendency rooted in fear.The mind is much bigger than we think, and the soul is infinitely larger.People have a normal tendency to create fear-based patterns that limit their infinitely larger natural thoughts, words and actions. Scattered tension solidifies all over the body. The more this happens, psyche follows suit. Fear-based patterns are maintained and reinforced over time for the sake of the illusion of security.When we let go of our mental defenses in favor of the larger part of us, in a very rapid manner, that’s when catharsis happens.So, what do you do?The first answer comes from the opposite direction. What don’t you do?Don’t be afraid.If you are, don’t send your fear.Don’t allow your partner to see as if anything is wrong.Just the act of trying to normalize your partner will send vibrations that this catharsis is not supposed to happen. Which in turn, adds fear to a situation, a fear that has a multiplier effect in the realm of energy.Do you have enough perspective to realize that this amazing release of trapped emotions has tremendous healing capacities? Perspective is the only way to control fear. If you see things from the larger viewpoint, there is nothing to fear. If you do not see things as what they really are, there are plenty of things to be afraid of. In energy work, what you see from your own value judgments sometimes happens right away.Seeing has nothing to do with having knowledge about every little detail. Seeing has everything to do with trust; trusting that when we allow everything to happen in faith and without fearful human intervention, a higher and natural balance will unfold.In this realm, there is just one thing to accept, create and experience. There is only oneness.Catharsis takes on many forms. Crying. From experience, this is the most common form of catharsis. Often enough, workshop participants who cry later relate that there was no particular emotion or life experience that arose from the release. That the act of crying “just happened” with no reason whatsoever. Universally speaking, everyone who underwent this phenomenon says that they feel a burden lifted off their chest, an incredible sense of lightness all over their body and a freer mental state as before they underwent the cathartic experience. Intense movement. Often accompanied by rapid breathing and profuse sweating, people often sway wildly, roll around the floor, or bang their hands on the ground. The movements always differ, often directly relating to a person’s occupation, background, etc. People punch the air, do ballet dance, write their names on the ground, or run around in circles. The movements almost always transition from forceful movements to gentle ones. Screaming. This form of release happens when people resist the act of letting go, yet simultaneously build up energy inside. Likened to a volcano or an unopened soft drink can that gets shaken up, pressure builds as people gather energy by doing the movements. Unless these people create exit points through their pores, their lungs, by crying, or learn to find a mental flow, they sometimes have little recourse but to scream. After they have done so, they feel spent, exhausted but with a slight tingling across the body. It will take just a few minutes to replenish their emptied out bodies with fresh energy, but it is advisable to take a short (or why not a long?) nap afterwards. If a person in this state turns on the mental facility right away, there is a possibility that he or she might fill in the cleansed space within with the same old patterns which that person tried so hard to release in the first place. The recovery process should be done without rushing, as organically harmonic as possible. Laughing. This isn’t that common but it nonetheless happens. I noticed that it strikes melancholic personalities more often than jolly-good fellows. For some strange reason, this scares beginning facilitators more than the crying and screaming manifestations. It seems to be regarded by some as reminiscent of a typical scene in a mental institution whereas weeping catharsis somehow feels more natural in a healing scenario. Speaking in strange tongues, if not gibberish. This too is particularly scary for some facilitators. The word ”possession” often surfaces; it is in these instances that healers find themselves questioning their own capabilities to handle such situations. Those I’ve observed manifesting this are people who usually have trouble communicating and have bottled up some things they were meant to express in an earlier time. Notice that when this happens, they end up repeating the same phonemes rather than speak in complex articulations the way languages to be. Many sound like over-grown infants who have yet to learn a single language. Know that they are simply cleansing their throat chakras, which will later have a great balancing effect with their solar plexus and heart chakras. Regression. One of the most interesting forms of catharsis is a return to innocence. This is when a person invariably retreats into a fetal position for a time, temporarily losing the ability to function as an adult while they spend a few minutes going back to the experience of being back in the womb of the mother. Some become like children while others withdraw into a silent space. Extreme cases claim to even regress to a past life in the past such as Rome or to a forest tribe in very specific situations involving other people. Many of these experiences lead to profound insights on identity and avenues to heal the self in the present life.To give you an idea of how powerful a healing facility catharsis has, there’s a story about a woman named Angie. She attended a workshop I gave in a healing community of the Good Shepherd Sisters in Tagaytay. I touched her head for a minute or two and left her to begin work on the others. It was a couple of minutes before I noticed that she was exhibiting all of the many cathartic forms listed above. She was screaming, crying, speaking in tongues, balling into a fetal position, laughing some of the time, alternating with intense movements. A small woman, three people couldn’t hold her down. The first wave of fear the group sent was strong. A lot of them believed that Angie was possessed. After the thought was articulated, the group was made to convert the fearful energy into love. It took a while for Angie to recover. Her fingers were pressed to her eyes almost the whole time. I didn’t know that she had acute Glaucoma and that her vision had been quite impaired for many years. I later learned that she gained her full eyesight right after. She stopped her medication after that and relied on the dance whenever her eyes would get even slightly blurry. Another woman who attended the workshop went through a lot of catharsis during those sessions in Tagaytay. After she left her glasses in the center, she eventually realized that her eyesight normalized to the point that she didn’t need her glasses anymore.If I was to suggest one basic foundation stone of catharsis work, this is it. What energy you bring forth shall manifest. The same applies to your partner.If you believe that your partner is possessed by an outer force, that reality will manifest. If you believe that all of creation is reflected within the inner, that instead, will manifest.I’ve facilitated group sessions where people go “out of their mind,” losing total control. The collective energy in the room can often affect the outcome. If you are facilitating a large group, instead of focusing on the person undergoing the catharsis, focus first on the people in the room. Be internally calm first; then calm people in the room taking advantage of this opportunity to demonstrate to them the beauty of the process of this heightened state of release.Messages such as “everything happens for a reason;” “if people didn’t let go of the pain, it will ever be there,” and “the deepest healing crisis is not always pleasurable,” aren’t just soothing for your energy partner, they are important lessons for all those in the room (including you).There are also moments when you need not do anything. But just to be there, smiling, attentive, and assuring that what is happening is part of the natural course on the road to complete wellness. Just wait. How much do you trust the human body, the human mind, and the divine soul? If left alone, how much healing can take place? Is there always a need for human intervention? When the person’s inner energy takes over, is it a superior healing agent to your fear-based intercession?Just wait. And instead of processing the person, process yourself. Every bit of your own inner energy is reflected in every molecule within the room. If everyone can just come from this one single thought, they will have no problems considering that we can all heal ourselves and we can all help others heal themselves. Continued, Special Ailments . . .
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