For centuries now, humans have been struggling against one another. In fact, we even struggle against ourselves. My years of wrestling with depression, eating disorders, alcohol abuse, relationship issues, and bursts of reactive rage at the injustice of it all, revealed something to me about myself. Being close to my own suffering brought me closer to the suffering of others, and ultimately illuminated the human condition.
We are all broken. We all have our reasons. Sometimes we’re shattered by the choices we make ourselves; other times we are fractured by things that happen to us, and that we would never choose. While our brokenness is one aspect of our shared humanity, and is the basis for our search for comfort, meaning, and healing, too often it becomes an identity that keeps us in the cycle of suffering instead of popping us into a new way of living and being together.
The Mutual Awakening Practice (developed by Patricia Albere) is a unique and powerful meditation practice that is done with another person, eyes open, and includes speaking. The practice itself sweeps us into an awakened intersubjective space where we begin to “see” and deeply experience our inherent interconnectedness. A potent side effect of this practice, when it is done on a regular basis, is that it naturally heals our wounds and moves us beyond brokenness together.
Within the Evolutionary Collective, the group of dedicated individuals who are committed to engaging with, deepening, and curating this practice, one of the many things we are discovering is that by turning towards one another and practicing as we do, an energetic exchange is activated that creates a “holding environment” that is naturally curative. It’s like being taken out of a petri dish that is filled with a toxic substance and finding yourself inside of a petri dish where the solution is pure nutrition. Your nervous system, and your ego, relax and you begin to grow and flow freely.
While we have not yet conducted scientific studies with the Mutual Awakening Practice, we have ample qualitative data which demonstrates the effectiveness of this practice for restoring coherence and resonance to a central nervous system that has been thrown out of whack by trauma, and the normal woundings of life.
By practicing together, we miraculously create a larger central nervous system through which care and compassion can flow more easily. Care and compassion translate into oxytocin and other healing energetic substrates that are shared between us. These energies act as enzymes that begin to dissolve blocks and defenses that we cannot clear on our own. They actually dissolve the membrane of separation that keeps us trapped in isolation and suffering, and reveal to us our true connection.
We have reached a precipice in our call to be human beings. We cannot make the next step alone. We need one another. We must learn to come together in our brokenness. The Mutual Awakening Practice teaches us that. By practicing together we are moved beyond the realm of separation. We begin to see the “human condition” itself and realize that we all share it. It is then that we are taken into the slipstream of grace which moves us beyond separation into the realm of interconnectivity and interbeing.
Will you join us there? If you are interested in learning more about Mutual Awakening, you can find information by clicking here.