Are You Enlighted?
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When we think of the word “Enlightenment” what comes to mind? Many of us think of the Zen Buddhist definition of enlightenment: the direct experience that the individual Self is one with the supreme Self; also referred to as realization, self-realization and liberation. The Sanskrit terms for enlightenment are moksha, mukti and nirvana.
There could also be several other possible meanings of the word enlightenment which I would like to open for consideration.
If you think of enlightenment in the form of light itself – photons that travel through space, then enlightenment could be looked at as an action as simple as turning on a light switch and filling a dark room with light. Enlightenment from this aspect, then, would be when a light shines upon you in the form of photons and you are brought out of darkness.
One could also think of enlightenment as a form of sustenance. You may be wondering how this can be. Well, if you think about plants, they convert light from the sun, or photons, through the process of photosynthesis into chlorophyll. When we ingest live plants that have not been compromised by heat, we are actually eating a form of light energy converted by photosynthesis into an edible form of light. There is also the idea of enlightenment of insentient beings such as the enlightenment of grass, trees, rocks, the land itself, or anything else that has neither emotion nor consciousness. We will, however, save that for another discussion.
We can also think of enlightenment as when you are carrying a heavy load and someone comes along and takes part of it for you, as in taking up the yoke for you and your burden becomes light. That heavy weight becomes lighter and we are enlightened.
Have you ever heard anyone say something like, “it is weighing heavy on my mind”? We carry burdens in our mind that can weigh us down, whether it is from trauma, abuse, worry or negative emotional states. The burdens can come to us in the form of emotionally charged thoughts and memories, such as anger, guilt, or sadness. These are burdens that sometimes render us unable to function fully in our lives and in society and to live optimally. And since the mind and the body are connected, this can spill over from the emotional body into the physical body.
This may be a new concept for many of us, but as a connective tissue therapist that practices the modality of Body Memory Recall, I see this quite often. We have talk therapists and we have touch therapists and those of us that understand the connection between the mind and the body understand that both the emotional charge in the mind, and the emotional charge in the body on a cellular level both need to be treated and processed so that a new thought pattern can be integrated and the body and mind are brought back into balance.
It’s hard to bring old wounds to the surface within our mind and body that are buried but you can bring them out of the darkness and into the light which cleanses and purifies them. When you are pure you have more clarity. You are living more consciously. You can live your life proactively. You may be thinking, “Well, I have had counseling and have processed all of these old memories from my mind and my heart is pure.” What we don’t realize is that the body also has a memory and there is still an emotional charge in the tissues on a cellular level and until it is processed and released, this charge is still present. It is called Body Memory.
Body Memory is energy from past events-thoughts, feelings, emotions that we have found to be threatening or uncomfortable that we may have braced or resisted against that are stored in our tissues, namely our connective tissue. Connective tissue is the largest tissue system of the body that wraps around our muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, our visceral organs like our heart and our lungs and it is one continuous web. This system communicates with every other system in the body and penetrates areas that nerves cannot get to. Communication of the fascial system (another word for connective tissue) is faster than the nervous system and it is present on a cellular level. It is also a conductor of bioelectric energy. This includes energy from our thoughts.
When we recall old memories that are stored in our tissues, through Body Memory Recall, a bodywork modality, we can process this residual body memory in a safe place without fear of retribution. We can release these old thought patterns and physical restrictions through specific techniques that promote the experience of recalling, or becoming aware that we are holding onto past memories, either consciously, or unconsciously. This happens when we are being treated by a touch therapist that has been trained to support this process so that as we recall, we can then release the holding pattern through specific techniques that include compression, stretching, and diagonal twisting to release and relieve connective tissue restrictions that can bind us up physically. Following a release, a new thought pattern is integrated and the body is reprogrammed to become balanced and cleared. We lift the burdens in our tissues and the body and mind are back in balance, the emotional charge and weight are lifted and we become “enlightened”.
