Non-dual, Yogic philosophy teaches us that we are all emanations of the One (Shiva, God, Consciousness, Love, Essence, Nature, etc.). This perspective has many implications for the practice of psychotherapy – let’s turn our attention to just a couple.
First of all, as human beings our lives are ALL sacred, no matter how each of us thinks, feels and behaves. In other words, the value of your life, mine and every other person on this planet is equal – independent of our careers, our financial positions, our partners, our contributions, our characters and personalities and anything else that makes us unique. In yogic psychotherapy this translates into full, unconditional acceptance of our clients and assisting them in revealing the most authentic version of their selves, with no ultimate standard of how this should look.
Secondly, since everything manifest is born from this One so too are all mental and emotional imbalances. Yogic psychotherapy does not see individuals as sick or abnormal. We view imbalance as a consequence of our misalignment with nature. With this understanding we can relinquish all personal shame and blame for whatever is not working in our psychology and our lives and instead focus on strategies to create the kind of health and wellbeing that we desire. Yogic psychotherapy has a myriad of tools to achieve such success, though I will save these for future posts.
Once we begin to accept who we are and where we are at in our lives, change is possible.
There is an axiom in the yogic tradition that states: We rise upon the ground which we stumble. Not only do we view our human struggles as normal, but we actually consider them to be the very springboards for our happiness and vitality.
Pain and suffering are a normal and important part of human life, however as we learn more about our individual natures and how they shine best in the world, joy, creativity and connection become much more readily available to our day-to-day lives.
Suzy (Sumanasa) Daren, LMFT
