Are you mentally disturbed by your past traumas? Do you feel negative and powerless in your life? Are you constantly cherishing your dead past? Do you know that shallow breathing is related to you holding on to your past?
If you identify yourself with any of the above questions, you are holding on to your past which is stopping you from living a full life. Holding on to these photographic memories is like having many high-resolution images in your inner space which crowd your perception. This starts the problem because you have allowed negativity to take roots in your inner space. Negativity cannot grow in your inner space if your past memories are not supplied as evidence. Brooding over the dead past only leads you to low mood, low self esteem, anxiety and sometimes depression. This preparation for failure in life is a negative commitment you are giving to yourself which you need to get out. When your past occupies your inner space, it is lack of integrity!
The photographic memories are called engraved memories or engrams (samskaras in Sanskrit). Samskaras or engrams are fixed predispositions carried in our subtle body that block the neutral flow of energy and deliver pseudo information to the brain, resulting in disturbances in natural processing of information the brain is designed to provide us.
Engrams are thoughts with attached emotions, such as greed, fear, anger, guilt, anxiety or worries. Pure thoughts never disturb our mind; it is only engraved memories that cause disturbances in our inner space. Engraved memory is a dangerous thing because it can go on projecting our life as hell and make us retain the heaviness in our heart. The samskaras start creating noises in our inner space which prevent us from relating with the world as it is because everything we see is disturbed or distorted by these memories. Fundamentally, this disturbance causes diversion from our seeking or true purpose in life.
Another danger is the engrams are like high-resolution files which occupy so much of our inner space that makes listening almost impossible. As a result, no fulfilling relationship is possible and every moment our perception brings more suffering to us. Samskaras are also related to all brain-related disorders such as Parkinson diseases, Alzheimer, Dementia, brain hemorrhage that human beings are suffering.
According to the neuroscientists, engrams create mental grooves in the brain like a river-land in sands and let water run in certain patterns. Each time we react in certain way like getting angry or agitated, we strengthen these pathways (engrams) if we react in the same way.
Even if you did experience some past traumas, you should not punish yourself as a victim; just learn how to release these engrams. In the Vedic tradition, releasing all samskaras you accumulated in this birth is the first and foremost spiritual practice. The first thing a human being should learn before the age of 14 y.o. is one should be established in certain restful awareness, only then life happens and the human civilisation can evolve. Release of engrams is like you making a dam to divert the negative energy of anger, guilt or fear, that diversion of negativity is called Sadhana (spiritual practice). By doing so, you will create new river-land of positive mental grooves instead of strengthening the old mental setup! Scientists have found that our brain is pliable or capable of new neurons, new pathways as we create new habits and patterns even in adults.
There are a few yogic understanding and powerful practices that can really help in the release of past traumas and help build a new body-mind system.
- Come to Terms with Your Past. Human beings are only empowered to build the future as we want, we are not empowered to correct the past. The truth is your future has no connection with your past, you are hypnotized to believe your past has influence over your future. This is a delusion because you are trying to own something which you cannot own i.e. your past, but not owning what you are supposed to own – your future! Bring acceptance to your past and release the negative engrams so that you can reclaim your freedom as a conscious being. Take responsibility in creating a beautiful future as you want.
- Science of Vedic Cathartic Meditations. There are many dynamic meditation technique, breathing technique and heavy samana yoga activities which can release the physical layer of the engrams. Some of the techniques include Intense Hatha Yoga practice, Gibberish Meditation, Laughing/Crying Meditation, Vedic mantra chanting and specific Pranayama (breath control techniques). The mental layer engrams can be released by writing, digging and talking to different people till the right understanding dawns on a person.
- Being in the presence of an Enlightened Master. An enlightened being is constantly radiating the Anahata Dhvani (intense silence which heals the body-mind system and awakens our consciousness). If the wounded Nada (sound) structure is brought to a realised master, not only one’s whole body goes through a complete change, even the brain and cognition gets a complete re-wiring and consciousness gets awakened. That is why a master’s presence – the intense soundless sound (silence) is considered as the healing method for all possible diseases. All diseases are healed just by the vibrant silence of a living enlightened master. There is a 21-day retreat called Inner Awakening offered by a living incarnation, Paramahamsa Nithyananda. (Check out more details @ http://innerawakening.org)
In May, I shall be conducting a special healing workshop for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); it is a guided yoga practice which includes some Cathartic techniques. More details can be found in the “Workshop” page of Your Presence Heals.
In essence, you can heal your past traumas through certain spiritual practices. When you are able to release your past traumas, the first thing you will notice is you will be free from your past and you will become integrated in your thinking. Your whole inner space will be available for you to create a new bright future. Namaste 🙂