Techniques for Healing “Soul Pain:”
Raja Yoga
By Ruth Angela © 2004
When I embarked on the practice of daily meditation in 1979, I found a world of bliss. It was a realm in which I could escape the daily frustrations and griefs, and the disappointments and hardships of life. My enthusiasm was great. In just half an hour of meditation on the mantra my teacher had given me, I could be bathed in ecstatic waves of peace and harmony. I chose to meditate rather than do many activities and in a way it became an obsession.
After a few months of this, I began to feel discomforting stabs and constrictions in various places within my body while meditating. I was dismayed to find that along with meditative bliss and daily insights in the truth of the universe, I would be feeling these gnawing pains that seemed to be in the body, but not of it.
As my meditation progressed, these little knife-like stabs seemed lodged in my heart area. As much as I tried, I could not move them; sometimes they remained for days. It was sometimes depressing and painful, like a cramp or a “side stitch” after running. It definitely took the thrill out of meditation and was an obstacle to my joy in meditation; I resolved to find out how to remove this pain. Thus began a series of efforts that culminated in a technique that I call “Parallel Universe” which has turned out to be a technique that not only cures the “soul pains” but cures physical pains and other negative issues as well permanently.
As Jack Kornfield says in A Path with Heart “Our worldly education doesn’t help much in meditation”(230). I knew intuitively that these pains were not of physical origin, but were unresolved FEELING trauma from the past rising up to consciousness to be resolved. I did not want to overpower, ignore or numb the pain because it was clearly a dis-EASE emerging out of the darkness of denial and needing to be healed. If it was something that I created in unconsciousness, whatever it was, I had to face it and accept it. If it were attachments from other entities that were draining my energy, then I wanted to be able to let that go also.
Over the years, wrestling with ways to NEUTRALIZE these soul aches, I found strategies for dealing with the pains– and some that totally eliminated them PERMANENTL Y .
What to DO? Practice until you find one that works. Get into your usual meditation posture. Do your usual spiritual practice and when you are feeling peaceful and will be uninterrupted, try these techniques for salving soul pains. You may want to record this on a tape to play to yourself when you do it.
Salve #1 – Parallel Universe
This has also been called the Merkaba type salve. You are going to the parallel universe to neutralized your pain:
* a. Focus on the center of the pain and make every dimension, feel and aspect of it very clear in your mind. Try to feel the color, smell and whole dimension of the pain.
* b. When you have a clear template in your senses of every aspect of this pain, tell your self to “Go – Find the OPPOSITE.”
* c. You will then feel your point of consciousness zooming out into space.. very fast (this is your Merkaba) and with this template in your mind as your guide to where to go. Don’t worry if it takes a while… enjoy the journey.
* d. When you find the opposite that you are seeking, (you just know when you have it as it “feels” right) then take it into yourself – or grab it – and bring it back with you. When you get back to your body, bring the “thing” that you found right into the pain.
AHH – there will be such a relief!
You have just neutralized your pain. Subsequent to publishing this on the net, people reported it curing many pains including headaches. They have used it for psychic clearing and healing too. What is so interesting about this method is that it is PERMANENT. This pain is gone– never to return.
Salve #2 – No MIND:
This technique was given me by a friend.
* a. Sit in the center of the pain.
* b. Now as you keep the pain in your awareness try to imagine that you have to describe a flower to a blind person. ( If that doesn’t work as a topic try to describe a taste of a peach to a person who has never had one.)
What happens is that the pain will drop out of your awareness and you will be left with NO MIND… a very profound state to be. Enjoy no pain in no mind! ————————————————————————
#3 Salve – Neti Neti:
This technique is similar to the #2 where you sit in the pain and concentrate on every aspect of it.
* a.You do not try to resist the pain or ease it, but you stoically face its full impact.
* b. Then when you have a clear full sense of the pain say “I AM NOT THAT,” and wait. You will feel a shift, and then say it again:
*” I AM NOT THAT!” which is “Neti Neti” in Sanskrit I believe.
You continue to feel the shifting energy to your statement… it feels as if a layer of an onion is peeling off and underneath each layer is a new level of it. So repeat this until there is no more pain left.
Salve #4 – Dharana:
This technique comes from the Vijnaanabhairava – an ancient text from India which gives glimpses of the truth. The book has many more such techniques such as: “Towards whatever object the mind goes, one should remove it from there immediately by that very mind, and thus by not allowing it to settle there i.e. by making is[sic] supportless, one will be free from agitation (of the mind).” Verse 129.
So everytime your mind tries to rest on a subject, make it switch to something else…. i.e. as it tries to keep returning to your pain, force it to think about your big toe, or the noises in the street or something. It is as if you are training a dog. Every time it disobeys you, jerk the leash and pull it back. This will leave you in a state of great bliss and definitely no pain. I have tried this with hysterical kids by distracting them from
their “pain” for even a minute to say, “Is that a doggie out there?” and they stop crying to look.
Salve #5 – Hungry Ghosts:
This technique is Tibetan. It worked in 10 minutes for me with a person who was attaching to me and draining my energy.
* a. Imagine the person or thing which is pulling on you very clearly and in full sensory images. I.e. colors, shapes, smells etc. See everything in your mind’s eye.
* b. Ask this entity – “What do you want?” *
c. Listen for the answer. It will be a feeling of lack that they have about themselves which they are trying to get from you. Feel what they are answering and if you can’t hear it then ask again and again until you have a clear picture. You can ask them to clarify what it is also.
* d. When you have the answer – because you are infinite and connected to the divine– there is no limit to what you can do. So you SEND to this entity as much of this “stuff” or this quality that they need. With me it was about beauty. My former friend wanted my beauty. So I sent him tons of it… Just pour it in to this entity.
* e. When you feel they have had enough of this quality… ask, “Is that what you want?” and they will answer, “Yes.” and then you say, ” So you do not need to come to me for it any more now.” And they should then disconnect from you since they have their own “supply.” It sounds bizarre.. but… the rules are not the same in the etheric realms as any shaman will tell you.
As soon as I did this technique to a man who had been bothering me for 8 years, he was out of my field! What a relief. I have never looked back from that day. This is the technique that I believe helps Monks go into epidemics and not get sick.
Salve #6 Naming:
This one comes from Jack Kornfield’s book” A Path With Heart.” He says that naming one’s demons can have the effect of making them disappear.
I quote from p. 100. ” Choose one of the most frequent and difficult demons that arises in your practice, such as irritation, fear, boredom, lust, doubt … for one week in your daily meditation, be particularly aware of each time one of these arises. Carefully NAME it. Notice how it begins and what precedes it. Notice what triggers this state. Notice how long it lasts and when it ends. Notice what state usually follows it. …Finally sit and be aware of your breath, watching and waiting for this demon, allowing it to come and go, greeting it like and old friend.
These are just some of the techniques that I have found which have helped me deal with “soul” pain as I call it. I hope these are useful and helpful. You are welcome to use the ideas, forward the letters to others, and pass them along to others with attribution for the ideas to either me or the mentioned authors.
By Ruth Angela