On a dark & stormy night, I met the Buddha . . .

Integrating Courage with Protection

It really was a dark and stormy night. One candle was burning on the altar . . . I was meditating.

But, well, you know, I wasn’t really. (My next book could easily be called The Bad Meditator.) Those calming, slow alpha waves that supposedly come online in the meditating brain were . . . continually knocked off track by the banjo-playing beta waves in some internal speakeasy . . .

So. Vaguely and ineffectually meditating, I floated around in the candlelit darkness. Eventually I silenced the banjo. I finished up an argument with someone in my mind (yep, I had all the right comebacks this time). After winning that argument, I managed to step out of my comeback-brain-wave pattern and just sat looking at the flickering-in-the-candlelight Buddha.

The Abhaya mudra: the hand position of ‘no fear’ in Buddhism.

I admired the beauty of the Buddha on the altar: the long fingers and hands, the faint smile, the gracefully falling robe . . . I remembered the meaning of the ‘abhaya’ mudra—the right hand of the Buddha raised up (fittingly, just like the traffic cops in Burma and Thailand . . . ) This raised hand is the mudra of ‘no fear,’ helpful for working with fearful thoughts and (in my therapeutic world) boundary violations .Then . . . dreamily, I opened a book of Buddhist images from Burma (Myanmar) . . .

There was another Buddha (in a cave, painted on a wall) expressing a variation of the abhaya mudra. The right hand raised and the left hand held open in supplication, ready to receive what was needed—help of any kind, divine blessing, bliss, the courage that the ‘no fear’ right hand calls upon.

And that’s when my brain exploded! I mean, awakened—–

**Wait! . . . I need to interrupt this story for a word from my Therapeutic Explorations. Bear with me! **

For the last almost-year, I’ve done a deep dive into hypnotherapy, especially a powerful form of hypnosis called integrative or accelerated hypnotherapy. ( I can’t decide which adjective I like better—they both come up a lot with this language-based practice that does not depend on traditional trance induction.)

Last week, I had a spirited conversation with my clinical supervisor in OEI (the extraordinary family therapist Audrey Cook—fyi, not taking new clients) about how so many elements of OEI (Observed and Experiential Integration) seem connected to hypnotherapy.

NB: for those who've been waiting for the recording of the OEI Becoming Whole Seminar: it is now available. You can find it by going to the online learning button in the top right hand corner of this site. The seminar lessons include an excerpt from my new book, which describes this unique neural integration therapy in more detail.

Audrey laughed when I mentioned the connection between OEI and hypnotherapy. “That’s because I was a hypnotherapist for many years, before I started working with trauma patients. The way I practice OEI incorporates hypnotherapeutic practices: anchoring, visualization, mild trance based on internal emotional response. Interpreting micro-expressions of the face, eyes, and body. Holding silence. That’s all hypnotherapy. So much of the time, humans are in one kind of trance or another."

Ding-dong! Isn’t it weird how we can know something, and forget it? Or know something, but keep it out of our conscious awareness? In hypnotherapy, we reverse engineer that knowing/unknowing and invite the unconscious mind to awaken and power up . . . I knew that Audrey had done plenty of hypnosis; I even mention that in the Becoming Whole Seminar. Last week, she also said (echoing my clincial hypnosis instructor): "In therapy, we use the trance for healing. Whatever helps people learn how to help themselves to more possibilities in life."

One of my hypnosis clients recently observed (blowing his own mind) that living in a state of perpetual overwhelm and trauma-responsiveness was itself a trance. To see and know that with acceptance, without self-condemnation is the beginning of change . . .

** Now, back to my exploding brain! **

Sitting before the Buddha in the dark-yet-light room (I realize now) I was already in a deep trancey, nerve & banjo-plucking state. From inside that meditative, self-hypnotized place, I had the Great Realization. Uh-huh. My mind was blown. Even the Buddha, I thought, in the flickering candlelight! (I was floating, swimming about in the half-dark half-light.)

To set a boundary of closure while opening outward. To sign a clear No. And, Yes, please.

I wish I could say it was Total Enlightenment. Maybe enlightenment comes in instalments?

Even the Buddha says, ‘No fear!’ (hand raised up) and ‘Please allow me to receive . . .’ (hand extended).

The tension between those two opposing possibilities . . . so effortlessly expressed and experienced simultaneously: of integration: no judgment, no comparison. I was also moved to recognize this wisdom of no-fear and protection at the same time had been expressed somatically by the Buddha and many Hindu deities, over two thousand years ago. This awakening also involved a lot of weeping, weeping . . . But what was I weeping about? I actually still do not know. Relief? Deep awareness? Profound integration? Catharsis? All of the above. All of the below . . .

Over the following days and weeks, I started to work with this mudra bilaterally

As neuroscience repeatedly tells us these days (as if Western scientists invented it) bilateral stimulation is good for our brains – the rhythmic movement from left to right both calms and gently stimulates the nervous system. Brain integration is what heals us emotionally and psychologically; it also allows us to be physically healthy—walking, swimming, running, dancing. All these left side, right side activities have a salutary influence on the brain-body-spirit.

Here’s what the Abhaya mudra stuff looks like. (Yes! let me know what you think in the comments, but please navigate back here to read the rest of my spell-binding tale!)

This is a powerful practice. Especially for those who are not interested in traditional sit there-and breathe-meditation.

Observe how setting a boundary/asserting fearlessness feels different from receiving whatever help you need--courage, support, love, peace. When you want to ‘come back’ remember to feel your feet/legs/butt on the floor, your body in the physical room . . . Move one hand forward . . . the other hand. What happens?

Observe how you may experience this simultaneously, though one side may be much more ‘lively’ and warmer than the other side. You may feel intensely emotional on one side, less so on the other. Observe, observe . . .

For some of us (c’est moi) this can be a reality-expanding experience.

As the Buddha and the Hindu deities and sages understood, mudras (the hand gestures) are practices where brain-body-spirit meet. That's one of the reasons they're so powerful.

Give it a try. If the brain-body-spirit moves you . . .

May you receive 'no fear' and divine protection!

Bon courage, kaz

P.S. Three times / month on Sunday, The Courage Room Collective works with Brain-Body-Spirit for half an hour with meditative or neuroscience-based practices like the Abhaya mudra and OEI. Then we deep-dive (and sometimes wades through the mud) into quiet creative work for 1-2 hours together. We are a small group of writers, painters, and other creative people who want calm and creative company.