Trauma is a huge buzzword these days, understandably so, with the meta-crises impacting all of us demanding meta-solutions. With this a new direction is emerging -- to see trauma not as a "mental health problem" but a driver for our evolution, personally and collectively...a signpost to the limitations, distortions and illusions that have been reining us in, so we can clear them, transmute their blocked energies, and open up to the highest potentials of our true nature.

There is a lot of focus these days both on trauma and ascension (moving from 3D to 5D consciousness) or awakening. These two may seem at first glance to lie on opposite ends of the spectrum, with trauma-work addressing extreme psychological damage and mental health problems, while ascension and awakening are the domain of those who are highly spiritually evolved. But more and more therapists and healers are seeing trauma as a powerful catalyst to awakening, experiencing it in their own lives, and developing integrated approaches that no longer separate the domains of mental health or trauma-healing from the domains of consciousness transformation and awakening, personally and ultimately collectively. 

The emerging zeitgeist seems to be all about recognizing, meeting and transmuting our shadows, personal and collective, in order to bring in the light...ie, rather than either denying or pathologizing the darkness, taking it as the vital fuel for the fire of transformation.

It is becoming increasingly clear that healing (even from extreme trauma, shadows, etc.) goes together with personal growth and conscious awakening. All three exist on a continuum, enhance each other, and have as their basis and ultimate aim our reconnection to our Source and the realization of our true nature. So the healing of “mental health problems and traumas” can better be framed as “cultivating inner wellbeing and transformation", bringing together physical, emotional, mental and energetic healing (nervous system regulation, brainwaves and brain-heart connection, igniting the creative powers of quantum coherence) with the awakening of higher consciousness. This avoids the stigma and negative self-image of labeling transformative challenges as “mental health problems” and instead engages the person in a positive, inspiring and empowering process by which they can realize their highest potentials and liberate their greatest gifts to contribute to the Whole.

The PA Mental Wellbeing project is excited to be exploring this larger, holistic, integrated and big-picture context, bridging the physical, mental, emotional, energetic and spiritual dimensions of transformation in these times of whole-scale transition.

This is a very positive direction because it de-stigmatizes working with "mental health problems" (the same term the mainstream medical system uses, that definitely has a stigma attached, which puts many people off from reaching out for help). Even the words "trauma" and "traumatized" have negative associations and stigma attached, plus they can have a "nocebo" effect – once people are given those labels and start to identify themselves as traumatized or mentally unhealthy, it can further entrap them in a negative self-image. So it's very healing in itself to go beyond these disempowering labels, emphasizing the positive and pointing to our true Wholeness. 

Etymologically, the word “health” itself derives from “Wholeness”. This means that, in its most fundamental and deep-rooted sense, healing is the quest for Wholeness; or even more precisely, the recognition that we are already Whole, and healing consists of bringing all the different aspects of our being into alignment and integration, within ourselves, with each other, and the larger web of life of which we are all a part.

This is not just a matter of semantics, but is fundamental to our understanding of what health is, and how the worldviews, frameworks, labels and lenses through which we perceive ourselves and our world can deeply influence both our potentials for personal healing and collective evolution. 

Embracing the Fullness of Our Multi-Dimensional Being: The Fulcrum for Our Deepest Healing 

In these times of enormous upheaval, a new worldview is emerging, based on ancient wisdom and consistent with modern quantum physics. And that is that we exist on multi-dimensional levels, visible and invisible, personal and collective, and that what happens at each of these levels profoundly influences the others. To the extent that we, as individuals, can access and integrate these levels, the holographic effects of our thoughts and actions on the Whole become exponentially powerful. We become fulcrums, or nodes in the Cosmic Matrix, that can activate catalytic change to the Whole -- ripple effects, or even non-local effects, that reverberate and cascade through the Whole at all levels.

What does it really mean to say we exist on multi-dimensional levels? If we unpack this a bit, we can see at least four distinct perceptual levels to our being: 1) the outer level of the physical body, which we and others can see directly; 2) the subtler inner level of mind and emotions, which others cannot see directly, but we can observe and feel within ourselves; 3) the still deeper subtle-energy levels, which few can see or feel, either in themselves or others, and yet which profoundly connect us all; and 4) the deepest level – ironically, ever-present, but the most rarely consciously accessed – the level of Source, or unity Consciousness, where inner and outer, self and other, “I” and the world, converge, and from which they’ve originally arisen.

We could also call these, broadly: the waking mind, the dream-time, the unified quantum field, and Source Consciousness.

In optimal health and awakened consciousness, all these levels are accessible, and we easily navigate them, like surfing different wave-lengths, according to what is needed at any given time and in any situation. But it is through the deepest possible connection with Source that they are most smoothly and spontaneously accessed, and our actions aligned with the deepest light of wisdom, and transformative power.

Thus we can see that the level of consciousness from which we perceive our reality, and the degree to which it is integrated into the other levels of our being, profoundly affects our own health, physical, mental and energetic, plus our power to actively help heal our world, actualizing our own highest potentials.

Healing from the Ills of Illusory Separation into Our True Waves of Connection

A shift in our worldview, particularly from the current Western model of materialism, polarization and division, to one of spiritual wisdom, energetic interconnection and Wholeness, can be more effective in jump-starting a process of radical healing than many conventional medical interventions, because it addresses the root causes of our disorders rather than just suppressing outer symptoms.

One of the most healing insights (made explicit by modern quantum physics, but long-known by yogis and mystics) is to realize that each of us is both a “particle” and a “wave”, both a body of matter and a constellation of energy. At the heart of this apparent paradox is the key to both our healing and liberation -- the realization of who we really are, and liberation from the illusion of separation.

Seeing ourselves as a “particle”, a body of matter alone, we suffer from the root cause of almost all physical and mental ills, ignorance and pain: the idea, and feeling, that we are separate, isolated, alone. When we realize that behind this appearance of solidity and separation, or rather simultaneous to it, we are actually a “wave”, a nexus of energy waves that flow and connect us to others and all of nature,  those ills begin to heal and we enter into the greater fields of life and into our true Wholeness. When we understand, and increasingly flow as, the co-existent spectrum of our being – matter and energy flowing from the unified field of Consciousness, Source or Essence – we enter into our true connection with all life and heal into our true Wholeness, which is infinite and eternal, ever-present yet endlessly creative.

This shift in our understanding and experience of our true nature is not only personally healing, but also situates us within the greater social, planetary and Cosmic contexts of our being, extending the power of our personal healing and transformation into ripple effects through the collective. As we see these effects, we truly “get” that we are never alone, that we are both an intrinsic part of the Whole and the Whole itself, inextricably intertwined in the holographic nature of existence, flowing through our bodies, our societies, our planet and the entire Cosmos.

The Root of Our Wellbeing: Shifting to a Holographic Perception of Ourselves and Our World

A holographic perception of our nested, multi-dimensional reality brings clarity, focus, wisdom and healing power into our lives. It clears the helpless ignorance that comes from a limited, myopic perception of one level only (conventionally, today, the linear perception of the material level only.) It also clears the confusion and cognitive dissonance that can come from a mixture of perceptions from different levels clashing and conflicting with each other, which can happen as we outgrow one and move into another. With a holographic perspective, we can see the interconnections between levels, inner and outer, subtle and material, without conflating levels, but rather as a nested spectrum, or continuum, through which ripple effects can flow freely, increasing resonance and coherence. To live in this reciprocal flow inevitably augments our own wellbeing, as well as that of those around us.

Knowing that we exist simultaneously at multiple levels, and cultivating the practices to access them, gives a big-picture clarity and purpose to our lives and actions that is tremendously empowering. These different levels correspond to different energy centres or nerve plexuses in the body, so working with yoga, Chi Gong or meditation, particularly with the chakras and meridians, to open up those energy channels and access the different levels, is especially beneficial. As we learn to access these different levels, and master the different powers they accord, to heal ourselves and others, we become natural co-creators with the evolution of our planet and our world.

It is in this wider context that PA is looking to expand our scope, personally and collectively, to transmute the present crises in our consciousness and systems into extraordinary opportunities for wide-scale healing and planetary regenesis. We warmly welcome all who feel inspired to join us.
 

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