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Copyright © 1997 by Sheila Barth
All rights reserved. Inquiries should be addressed to
Twelve Star Publishing, P.O. Box 123, Jefferson, MD 21755
It was quite an amazing moment for me six years ago,
the first time that I focused all of my awareness on the grief
in my heart without the story that went with it. My mind wanted
to keep going to the thoughts and the time-worn story, but I held
my focus. Within minutes, my awareness expanded, sunk more deeply
into the feeling in my heart, and suddenly, the feeling dissolved.
Disappeared! I was feeling an oceanic bliss that deepened as I
sunk my awareness into it. I was Home -- finally. All that I had
spent my life searching for was present, now, and, I have discovered,
totally available any time I chose to bring my awareness to it!
That moment changed everything in my life: my spiritual
practice, my inner healing work, my outer healing practice, my
relationships, and everything else. Samyama(sm) Healing training
was born. What happened to me on that fortuitous day has become
my life, and I am filled with gratitude for the grace that has
made this possible. The realization of Self continues -- it is
endlessly deepening. All longing has ceased. My search is over.
Since then, I have witnessed Samyama(sm) revolutionizing and evolutionizing
other people's lives as they take on this spiritual and healing
practice for themselves, sharing it with clients, family, friends,
and colleagues.
This practice of silencing the mind and focusing attention
without thoughts or images is a very ancient spiritual practice
called "samyama" in Sanskrit, used by yogis and mystics
of all traditions to directly experience the Divine. This jewel
has been held as a secret teaching, given by the masters only
to those who had proven that were ready for it -- until recent
years. The bliss that I experienced is the bliss of the essential
Self, easily available to us the moment that we direct our attention
away from the ego, the mind and its stories and images. Rarely
do we have any direct experience of ourselves, others, or anything.
We are veiled. We have one foot in a feeling and the other in
our thoughts and stories about the feeling. The more psychologically
sophisticated we are, the more subtly attached to the mind we
are. This is why pain hangs on, why we suffer, why issues persist,
why we keep re-visiting painful situations. There is a time to
tell and honor our stories, and when it is time for us to be done
with the pain, the most direct way is to experience the feelings
purely, directly, without the story.
This shift of attention is cosmic -- it is the shift that
ends all suffering, the shift that catapults us into a totally
new dimension and paradigm. With each moment, we can dissolve
the attachments of the ego, which are the root of our suffering.
Any pain, the deepest, rawest wound, the most fiery rage or icy
terror, can be the gateway to Self-realization. The direct experience
of divine bliss can happen for you, easily and quickly -- now
-- not after years of practice and work.
People in Samyama(sm) Healing work go to the depths of
their wounds easily, no matter what they are. They experience
the quick dissolution of pain and layers of feelings, and open
into the bliss of pure Being, pure Self. Nothing is suppressed,
denied, or cut off; everything is welcomed into this temple of
Truth. Resistance, fear, terror -- whatever demons that want to
be healed and released - are invited and experienced. Dissociative
states dissolve, and people become consciously embodied.
What is truly exciting about this work is its revolutionary
potential for people to heal deeply without lengthy therapy, making
it very cost-effective, even free, when friends share it with
each other. Insight and right action arise naturally, without
struggle or mental processing. Samskaras, the karmic roots of
our current woundings, burn in the fire of Self-recognition. When
we abide in the Self, life becomes effortless, fun, magical. Suffering
ends permanently, even in the face of life's demands, losses,
and painful happenings.
The work can be very simple, or extremely subtle and sophisticated,
depending upon the level of training. Energy healers, bodyworkers,
psychotherapists, educators, medical and other helping professionals
-- at all levels of experience and expertise -- are finding that
Samyama(sm) makes their work even more effective and profoundly
spiritual, both for themselves and their clients. Samyama(sm)
Healing is collaborative, community building, non-hierarchical,
and deeply empowering because each person ultimately does her
own work.
Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder are finding that
this work gives them a level of focus, concentration, and confidence
that they had not previously been able to achieve, and it dissolves
the painful self-esteem issues that accompany ADD. Samyama(sm)
is an amazing way to engage life, a profound way to participate
in the unfolding Mystery of consciousness through direct experience.
Sheila Barth, M.A., is the founder of Temenos Center and
the School for Women Healers. Though she now lives in Boulder,
Colorado, she is in Maryland frequently, continuing her work with
the School and the Samyama(sm) Healing training. For information
or referral to Samyama(sm) practitioners in the area, call 301-829-2460.