Stop Chasing Peak Experiences

Stop chasing peak experiences and calling it healing.

What you are actually doing is taking a trip to Disney Land for your nervous system. Eventually the trip will end, and you will have to return to normal life.  What goes up must come down.

Chasing peak experiences causes chaos in your nervous system and will never lead to healing because there is too much energy to organize.

Always chasing, the next big release, the next big cry, the next big moment that skyrockets you out of your mundane everyday life.

As an ex-drug addict, I have been extremely mindful when it comes to what I will do and use in the name of my “healing”.

I remember my first time attending a “new age” event, the man selling drugs called it “medicine” – I assure you this was plain old MDMA as sure as the eyes can see.  Words can be skewed, and intentions can get manipulated.

The cold hard truth that we all know deep down, is that real change is uncomfortable, its slow, it’s not flashy, it’s not instantaneous.  Healing requires time to pass and integration to occur.

Real change does not come from going to the retreat, but from the changes you apply to your life after having the experience.

Real healing does not come from going to breath work and crying your lungs out but by integrating what you learned into your everyday life after being guided through the experience.

We are being sold healing now as entertainment.  As an exciting quick fix solution and I assure you – it’s not that simple.  We are not that simple.

We are actually incredibly complicated human beings.  And healing requires a gentle uncovering of the layers of who we are.  The more you uncover the deeper and more complex it becomes.  This requires patience and persistence.

Yoga is different.  Or rather, perhaps yoga was always just yoga.  It has withstood the tests of time.  I am not sure if you ever could overuse it because it requires you to have full control of all your faculties to do the practice.  Your body will get tired before your mind.  Often times, even in an attempt to heal ourselves, our mind will push us further than our body can go sending us into dysregulation.

There is no disconnect during yoga.  You have use of all your faculties and are fully aware of what you are doing.  What your mind is doing and what your body is doing.  There is full connection and awareness.  Sometimes, but not too often there will be a noticeable emotional release.  Tears and shaking that emerge spontaneously from deep within the body but not from an egos desire to manifest an “experience”. 

The beauty and form that arises in the body from a dedicated practice of yoga is a mirror for the beauty and form that is shaping your mind and emotions internally.  As within so without.

Yoga does not provide quick wins.  It fosters discipline from the inside out.  Your body will get stronger; your mind becomes clear and from this foundation the rest of your life organizes itself into coherence. 

I am not writing this to discourage you from any of the current practices that are being offered, but to remind you that the real work is for you and you alone to do.  The guides you meet along the way are there to help you – to point you in the right direction.  The work that will ultimately change your life will come from the practical changes you make in your everyday life, not from any one practice or experience.  The unglamorous things, the mundane decisions, the awareness practices, these are the things that, when done daily, will change your life.

If you are ready to have support in this journey, please check out my coaching programs at www.intentions-yoga.ca