Underneath the narrative of your life, just below the grand storyline, even beneath the colorful emotional landscape, there exists a rich, mysterious world of sensations – a somatically-organized field of intelligence, creativity, and aliveness. But there is no support here for personal identity; here, life is revealed to be much less about “me” than we thought. There are no “problems” here, nothing to be fixed, cured, or shifted. There is only an untamed fire of presence.
In any moment, you can enter this field and come to see, in a very direct way, that whatever arises in your present experience – whatever thought, feeling, emotion, image, hope, fear, or longing – no matter how seemingly disturbing – is ultimately and immediately workable, and a portal into the great natural perfection. It is pure energy, woven of the substance of sweet and fierce love.
Descending into the body, into this wide open, empty space can seem terrifying, because it is so unknown. You can no longer find many of the familiar reference points of the mind from which you have come to organize your life. There is no complaining here, no resentment, no “understanding” – not even any “transformation” or “healing” as we have come to think of these terms. Nothing is “unhealed” or in need of transformation. Just raw, naked, experience, free from interpretation.
The body is an invitation, an entryway into the freedom, love, and vastness that you are. For it is out of this alive, pregnant mandala of creativity that flow the qualities of kindness, compassion, attunement, and presence. This is what you are.
About the Author:
Matt Licata, PhD, is a psychotherapist, author, and independent scholar based in Boulder, Colorado. He offers in-person and online courses and events. Additionally, he facilitates the online membership community Befriending Yourself: Embodying a Trauma-Sensitive Spirituality. His new book, A Healing Space: Befriending Ourselves in Difficult Times (Sounds True, 2020), is now available through Amazon, Sounds True, and other online retailers. Additionally, he is the author of The Path is Everywhere: Uncovering the Jewels Hidden Within You (Wandering Yogi Press, 2017), an exploration of my discoveries in depth and relational psychologies, contemplative spirituality, and the poetic imagination. Visit his website for more information.
