Seeing Through the Eyes of Another Culture

Spending time in various parts of the world and Living among people from so many diverse cultures has shown me that there are so many different ways of thinking, feeling and doing things. It’s very easy for us to become entrenched in our own perceptions and ways of doing things. But I often try to imagine myself looking out through the eyes of the people that I’ve encountered in different parts of the world so that I can understand their perspectives. This practice causes me to examine my own ways of perceiving and doing things and it also helps me to broaden my own perspectives.

I remember trying to make sense of everything during the time that I was growing up. The minister of my mother’s church convinced me at the age of ten that I would burn in hell for all eternity if I didn’t accept Jesus Christ as my lord and savior. Something about the Christian concept of a god felt very foreign to me. I felt very uncomfortable with a petty vindictive god who would doom the vast majority of humanity to suffer in hell for all eternity. On the other hand I was too afraid to not believe.

There are things that I really enjoy about our modern way of life, but in many ways I feel more at home among indigenous groups and people of some of the old traditional cultures. American Indians felt more like a part of the Earth and the people who were connected to the traditional culture had a very primal quality about them. Readjusting to mainstream American society was difficult in some ways. I needed time to reassemble myself after my apprenticeship, so I reenrolled in college. I completed my degree after two years and then it was time for me to get to work.

I had assisted my mentor Horace on many occasions as he worked with his own people. Some of the native people that I worked with were taken aback by the fact that I was a nonnative. But they were amazed when they felt the presence of other forces working through me to facilitate healing within their bodies and minds.

I also feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to countries in other parts of the world and live among people from different cultures. It’s very fascinating for me to watch people as I move from one cultural context or country to the next. Every culture has its own brand of dysfunction and limitations, which can be a real source of frustration for me at times. I have also gained so much from my experiences with people in different cultures. It’s important for me to learn and grow and to experience new things. I take the best of what each culture has to offer as I move through the world.

Individual character traits and temperament determine how responsive each of us are to healing. Cultures help to shape our personality and there are vast differences within the mind or consciousness of people from one culture to the next. These differences will, to a large extent, determine how open or responsive people are to healing.

Most Sri Lankans do not enjoy the same level of material comforts as people in developed nations. People in Sri Lanka often move into their homes long before they are ever completed. They gradually make additions to their homes over time as the money becomes available.

I love to go into the Hindu temples in India, especially those in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. I really feel a strong presence in the temples. One of the things that really impresses me when I go to the temples is the reverence, devotion and sincerity that I feel from the people. I can really feel how the people are connected to the higher power.

South Asia and Latin America have a cultural context for healing that dates back thousands of years. There have been numerous saints in India over the centuries and people routinely go to the temples, make pilgrimages, have pujas conducted for them and do all sorts of other things. The native and Hispanic cultures of the Americas also have a long established tradition of healers and ceremonial practices.

One thing I really like about working with people from Central and South America and South Asia is that they haven’t become so desensitized. There are always exceptions, but people from these parts of the world tend to be more connected to their feelings and physical bodies and the Earth and that allows them to be more receptive. I don’t have to expend so much of my time and energy explaining and putting all the pieces together for them. They feel the power and they are aware of the changes taking place within their bodies and mind. They’re already tuned in on certain levels and they just get it.

Traditional cultures also have their drawbacks. Many people in India, Sri Lanka and other traditional cultures are bound by oppressive cultural constraints such as the caste system. I know and have stayed with families who are very loving and accepting. These families are very supportive of the children in whatever they chose to do. But narcissism is still very prevalent among many within the older generations. Other parents or families are continuing to exercise way too much control over the lives of their adult children. I’ve worked with people who have sacrificed their own dreams and ambitions or have married someone to please their parents. Denying one’s own needs, desires and purpose in life can be extremely damaging to an individual. I see the pain these individuals hold within as I look into their body-mind. I hate any form of oppression and I do everything I can encourage people to be true to themselves. Fortunately, more and more people are learning to think for themselves in this part of the world.

Those of us who grew up and live within our Western culture have developed a much greater understanding of our own dysfunction over the past few generations. We have also gained a lot more personal freedom. We enjoy many freedoms and opportunities that are not readily available to people in other cultures and parts of the world that make it easier for us to determine the course of our own lives. We’re also more likely to shut down or disconnect from our feelings. Many of us started to shut down our feelings from an early age and we never really learned to digest our emotions, issues and life experiences. Our bodies may become very dense and armored as a result and that can make us very unresponsive to any kind of healing.

Shutting down our feelings diminishes our sensitivity or self awareness as it causes us to disconnect from parts of ourselves. Our mind extends throughout the body. Internalized stresses cause our bodies to become very dense or armored. The increased density and rigidification of our minds results in a narrowing of our intellectual and emotional range. That makes it more difficult for us to learn or to take in new information.

Buried emotions act like cement by holding all of our internal conflicts in place. The inability to resolve our issues will prevent parts of us from growing or maturing. Shutting down our feelings also disconnects us from our authentic core self. We begin to lose touch with our passions and the deep sense of inner knowing that reveals our purpose and direction. The deadening that takes place within our consciousness also makes it difficult for us to give and receive love.

I had gone through so much physical and emotional abuse during the time I was growing up. My stepfather was an alcoholic and he was also violent at times. My mother then turned to fundamentalist Christianity. Things were not much easier after I was out on my own. I started getting deep tissue body work from a friend while I was in college. I was holding so much tension within my body that I was not conscious of until my friend started working on me. I felt like I was going to fly off the table as he began to work on the various acupressure points. It took a lot of time, intensive practice and ongoing body work, healing sessions and vision quests to digest all the stresses and dissolve the armor so that my body and mind could really be receptive to healing.

Years of intensive healing practices have really heightened my senses. I see and feel the density or armor that develops within people’s bodies. Some people’s bodies and minds are so shut down and unresponsive when I first begin to work with them. People who disconnect from their feelings are usually less conscious of their bodies. In some instances they have become so desensitized that they cannot really tell that anything is happening during the healing sessions. It may also be very difficult for them to recognize any changes that are taking place afterwards.

I encounter a lot of people here in America who are by nature very sensitive and yet they have spent so much of their lives doing everything they can to avoid their feelings, issues and stressful situations. People who operate in this way are primarily driven by their fears. Their bodies don’t necessarily become so densely armored. But they often accumulate a huge reservoir of unprocessed issues and emotions within their bodies. Much of this accumulation situates itself within the abdomen. All these emotions become very toxic as they sit within the body and then very now and then something comes along and unleashes a torrent of feeling from the abyss. These people then find them self feeling anxious, depressed and totally overwhelmed.

Westerner’s bodies and minds often become very dense or congested with the emotions and other stresses that they fail to digest. I spend a lot of additional time getting the people that I work with here in America to breathe into the feelings and sensations within their bodies. These practices help to dissolve the body armor. They also help to diffuse the anxious and painful feelings that leave people feeling overwhelmed. These practices awaken the innate healing power that resides within our body-mind. They also open the body-mind so people can become more receptive to healing.

I either know personally or know of a number of exceptional Westerners who have gone to India, China or to live among indigenous groups of people to train within the various disciplines. Some of these individuals fully immerse themselves in practice and in many instances they have developed to very high levels as a result of their hard work and dedication.

I have found it much more difficult to get people here in America to do any form of consistent practice. Working with practices can bring difficult feelings and issues up to the surface. It’s important for us to breathe into any issues, feelings of resistance or any emotions that surface. It can take weeks or months of repetition to develop the additional sets of neuropathways that make a new behavior part of our repertoire. I had to force myself to practice for months. The process began to feel more and more natural to me over time. Now I really enjoy the process and I feel that I’m missing out if I do not have the opportunity to practice.

It’s common for indigenous peoples and those of other ancient cultures to do intensive practice throughout the course of their lives. Their bodies remain strong and vital for much longer and many of these individuals develop various gifts and powers. Practices such as yoga, pranayama, tai chi, chi gong and just breathing into our feelings and sensations will nourish our bodies and minds with life force. These practices will also provide us with the tools that will enable us to continually develop our bodies and minds.

The work that I do with people brings unprocessed feelings, memories and other stresses up to the surface. We’ve held these things within our bodies for so long and it can feel unsettling as they begin to emerge. These feelings need to be brought to the surface or they will remain trapped within our bodies indefinitely. Many people do not understand that this is an essential part of the healing process and it is exactly what needs to happen. As I said before, the most uncomfortable or painful feelings and issues will soften and become more diffuse as we just allow ourselves to be fully present by breathing into them.

Emotions and sensations can feel very foreign when we have disconnected from them for so much of our lives. Our feelings and sensations are not always pleasant, but they provide us with an opportunity to evolve when we learn how to work constructively with them. Digesting our feelings allows us to heal and integrate the wounded parts of ourselves. Feelings, emotions and bodily sensations become more comfortable as we continue to work with them. Our inner being will then provide a tremendous source of strength and comfort as that happens.

Things have changed so drastically within American Indian culture, but there are still a number of people who engage in the traditional healing practices. American Indians show respect to their native doctors. They hold tremendous reverence for the presence of the higher power that works through these doctors to facilitate healing. American Indians prepare an offering whenever they seek the assistance of their native doctors. A contractual agreement is made whenever a native doctor agrees to work with an individual and both parties regard the process as a sacred commitment. The doctor tells a person the number of times they needed to work together. Native doctors also advise their patients on various other steps that are necessary to facilitate healing. Native people listen to their doctors and they followed through with their doctor’s advice and this is why they get such powerful results.

People in India sometimes go to the Hindu priests for assistance with a particular matter. The priest will check the astrological influences that pertain to an individual or family. The priest may then prescribe specific pujas or yagyas, mantras and breathing practices. An individual may have certain yagyas repeated and continue to work with the same mantras and breathing practices for months or even years at a time.

I’ve worked with so many people who are struggling with the same kinds of health related or personal issues and I’m very familiar with the progression that takes place as one goes through their healing process. I’ll make recommendations as to the number of sessions a person needs to do and how often they need to be done. I will assign certain practices designed to awaken the body’s own innate healing power to do as homework. I also call at some point to follow up because I care about how each person that I work with is doing, and I want to make sure they understand the healing process they are going through and to make sure they are staying on track.

People of the various ancient cultures go through all kinds of intensive austerities. American Indian elders often told me that one has to really suffer if they want to have something good. The native elders were referring to what a person goes through in the vision quest or sun dance to receive special gifts or powers. American Indians would go out at times into the mountains for four days and nights with no food or water. Some of them would go many times over the course of their lifetime.

One of the greatest obstructions to healing is people’s resistance to experiencing their own feelings, facing their issues and being present within their own bodies. I encounter a lot of people who are desperate for change in their lives, but it’s just not going to happen unless they are willing to go to those places within and experience their true feelings. Buried emotions create the density that disconnects us from our core self, hold all of our dysfunctional patterns in place and prevent our bodies from healing. Healing can only take place when we chose to be fully present.

I began to work with Nadine a few months ago. Nadine started to tell me about that felt like she was play acting for so much of her life. "…I learned all the proper responses that helped me to get along in society. But those responses were superimposed upon an empty shell."

"The work we are doing is changing me on a visceral level. I can feel the values, ways of thinking and doing things that I had picked up from my family and society. These things had become so much a part of my identity and I now recognize that those things are not me. It’s just something I had internalized. I never realized in the past that I had a core self, but now I can feel my true essence emerging. I don’t need to wear a mask anymore because the way I feel, respond and move through the world is becoming more of an expression of my true essence."

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