Do you ever feel that you’re "not
quite here"? …that there’s a "bit of a hole" somewhere?…or
an empty space that never gets filled?…We are beings of consciousness
and feeling – consciousness that moves and flows, feelings that move our
states of being from deep within. A violent shock can literally make us
jump out of our skins. A traumatic experience can cause us to dissociate
or separate part of ourselves from what is happening…"it was like
watching it happening from a distance". A loved one who leaves us can
take our heart with them if we "give our heart away". Even
leaving a place that we love can "tear us in two" and can result
in our leaving part of ourselves, part of our consciousness, behind in
that place.
Wholesome reintegration is not automatic
or inevitable and many of us are aware of an area of emptiness within…
perhaps felt as loss… that something is missing. From the most ancient
days of shamanic practice, this has been viewed as a loss of a part of
one's soul and there are many traditional techniques for the retrieval and
reintegration of that part of oneself that has become ‘lost’. In most
cases, this has involved the shamanic practitioner travelling to the bardo
or underworld, finding and negotiating with that part of the client’s
soul or consciousness that has been abandoned and returning it to the
waiting client.
A modern, and in some ways more
effective and empowering way of working, is where the practitioner guides
the client him/herself through the experience of
locating/negotiating/reuniting with and reintegrating that part of
him/herself that has been lost. The client is guided through an extended
relaxation process before being guided to a tunnel or stairway that leads
deep into the earth. At the end of the passage is another world, where
their spirit guide or guardian angel awaits. This, in itself, can be a
powerful experience. Accompanied in consciousness by the practitioner,
they embark on a boat that carries them along a river, during the course
of which a power animal on the river bank is identified and befriended.
Eventually they disembark and the magic of the moment takes place as the
part that was lost is rediscovered…
What follows is entirely personal; the
lost fragment may feel rejected or abandoned and need to be comforted or
even persuaded to return….there may be other parties involved in the
original event who need to be dealt with appropriately, before being
forgiven and released….eventually, all is resolved and the client (more
complete than when they left) returns to normal reality and a period of
assimilation. It isn’t a scary process; it is our own consciousness that
we are exploring and, since it is ours, it is a place that is deeply
familiar and where we feel at home.
The process of reintegration is
empowering and emotionally uplifting; it leaves us feeling stronger, more
whole and more wholesome. This is the most ancient ‘psychotherapy’
and, in my experience, amongst the most direct, most effective and most
efficient (usually requiring only one session of three hours) ways of ‘bringing
ourselves back home’.
