A Journey Through Self Compassion and Self Awareness

Abstract

‘Healing is the way in which separation is overcome’ (Williamson, 1996). This paper provides a framework for a six-week series and is intended to help clinicians understand the impact the mind-body connection has on supporting mental health. Participants of this series will be guided through yoga practices blending the work of Tibetan Buddhist Pema Chodron and modern yoga styles including Bikram yoga and Astanga Vinyasa. Accompanied by the yoga flow, participants will be a part of a modern psychotherapy process group in which they will begin to break down barriers that are blocking emotions through psychoeducation of the basics of neuroscience. In this paper, I will emphasize the central significance of yoga-based and mindfulness-based interventions in emerging adulthood and walk readers through an explanation of proposed series: Connecting in a Disconnected World: A Journey Through Self Compassion and Awareness.

Keywords: yoga, mindfulness, self-compassion, quality of life, stress, emerging adulthood, wellness, lifestyle, counseling, group counseling

Connecting in a Disconnected World

Acceptance and surrender move us forward on the journey we call life. Resisting or repressing does not change us, it simply puts a hold on reality and in turn, creates a disconnection between self and other. Ultimately, humans search for a sense of belonging every day. We search everywhere until we exhaust ourselves. I am seeking to work with my clients to help them witness their lives as unfolding and fluid so that they can grow in meaningful ways.

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Typically, humans are characterized as having both a mind, the nonphysical, and a body, the physical. Many philosophers believe that individuals have two separate entities: the mind and the body. This is known as dualism. Historically, philosophers like Descartes have discussed the relationship between mind and body as it is unidirectional. Descartes was the first to formulate the mind-body problem. In the 17th century, he recognized that he could doubt whether he had a body, but he could not doubt whether he had a mind. This suggested that they must be two different things; the immaterial mind and the material body. Descartes suggests that the two interact at the pineal gland, which serves as a crossroad permitting mental intent to produce material effects and vice versa.

In contrast, meditation, contemplation and yoga seek to offer practical tools to aid in the discovery of this non-dual self. Non-duality means “not two” or “non-separation.” It is the sense that all things are interconnected and not separate, while at the same time all things retain their individuality (Katz, 2019). “In nondual meditation or contemplation, the agitation of the separate-self sense profoundly relaxes, and the self-uncoils in the vast expanse of all space.  At that point, it becomes obvious that you are not ‘in here’ looking at the world ‘out there’, because that duality has simply collapsed into pure Presence and spontaneous luminosity” (Wilbur, 1998, p.27).

In my work as a clinician I often notice clients awaken to the idea of connection: the connection between feeling and action, self and other, etc. This sense of awakening leads clients to consider the relationship between what their outer purpose is – what they do – with their inner purpose – who do they want to be. Yoga creates the opportunity to sense oneness and non-separateness not only within one’s body and mind but the interconnectivity of a community. This paper explores yoga practice as a tool for emerging adults to deal with stress, begin to self-regulate and bring emotional balance to the heart and the mind by recognizing this interconnectivity. This paper will also offer and explain a model for clinicians to utilize with clients looking to cultivate self-compassion, self-esteem and identify different aspects of their identity.

Rationale

Today’s culture bombards all of us with an overload of visual and sensory stimuli. Many of us are faced with a climate that places us under enormous pressure to achieve, which is particularly toxic to our consciousness, emotional and physical well-being (Beauregard, 2017). This toxic energy flowing through countless emerging adults has led many across the country to report anxiety disorders and poor performance in educational settings, workplace and day to day lifestyles (Beauregard, 2017).

Emerging adults are categorized as a developmental stage that is neither adolescence nor young adulthood but theoretically and empirically distinct from them both. This lifespan begins in the late teens and continues on through the twenties. There is a focus from ages 18-25 in which there is a distinguished relative independence from social roles and from normative expectations (Arnett, 2000). Emerging adults have left childhood yet have not taken full responsibilities that are normative in adulthood. Emerging adults experience a process of trying things on for size or exploring various life possibilities things like falling in love, finding a career, defining worldviews, becoming autonomous from their parents, etc. This stage is an extreme identity exploration. During this period, individuals have the highest rates of residential instability (change) of any age group and see themselves neither as adolescents nor entirely as adults (Arnett, 2000).

Nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (46.6 million in 2017). Mental illnesses include many different conditions that vary in degree of severity, ranging from mild to moderate to severe. 25.8% of emerging adults ages 18-25 show prevalence of any mental illness. Any mental illness (AMI) is defined as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder. AMI can vary in impact, ranging from no impairment to mild, moderate, and even severe impairment (e.g., individuals with serious mental illness as defined below) (The National Institute of Mental Health, 2017).

Of the 3.1 million people ages 16 to 24 who graduated from high school between January and October 2016, in the United States, about 2.2 million, or 69.7 percent, were enrolled in college in October 2016 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). In 2014, the University of California, Los Angeles Cooperative Institutional Research Programs annual survey revealed that entering first-year college students had reported the lowest level of self-rated emotional health since the survey began 49 years ago. Although between 6.6% and 7.5% of undergraduate student’s report having seriously considered suicide and 21% of college students aged 18 to 24 meet the criteria for an alcohol use disorder, most don’t seek treatment. Even those who do not report these emotional, social, or hyperactive disorders often report they feel overwhelmed or uninspired to learn and work (Beauregard, 2016).

This clearly exposes the necessity for change in the way we approach our mental health. This is why finding the time to slow down, have space to reflect and find moments to detach from the constant pulse of information and life by reconnecting our mind to our body is important.

Literature Review

Mindfulness is “a process in which an individual views one situation from several perspectives” (Langer, 1989). This should be a reminder that instead of a linear trajectory to find the answer, the process is much more fluid. Yoga has shown promise in helping to manage stress, balance, positive aspects of mental health, and promotes healthy eating and physical activity habits for individuals all across the board. Whether a yoga practice be for mental health, wellness, or simply for a good sweat, if properly performed it has been proven to be effective. But how do we know this? National survey results from 2012 show that many people who practice yoga believe that it improves their general well-being (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, 2012).

So, what exactly is yoga? According to the Yoga Alliance in 2018, answering this question is difficult and is the subject of extensive academic and philosophical study. As the largest nonprofit that supports the practice of yoga, they offer perspectives from leading scholars and yogis to help answer this question.

Yoga was first developed up to 5,000 years ago in India as a comprehensive system for wellbeing on all levels: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual (Yoga Alliance, 2018). Yoga is thought to alter nervous system regulation and physiological system functioning (e.g., immune, endocrine, neurotransmitter, and cardiovascular) and improve psychological well-being (e.g., frequency of positive mood states and optimism) and physical fitness (e.g., strength, flexibility, and endurance) (Wren, Wright, Carson & Keefe, 2011). People can study and practice yoga for a lifetime yet still remain in the infancy stages of understanding yoga (Austin & Laeng, 2003). I know what you’re thinking, you thought this paper would give you a wealth of knowledge and all of the answers! Let me try my best to break it down.

The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit term “yug” and directly translates as “to unite”. Modern day yoga is best known as a form of exercise also known in Sanskrit as asana’s, or postures. This is only one of the overarching eightfold path of yoga.

The eightfold path was founded by Patanjali Yoga Sutra and outlines the meditation for self-realization. The eight limbs are moral observances (ethics when interacting with others); self-discipline (ethics geared toward the self); physical postures and exercises; breath regulation; sensory withdrawal (minimizing sensory input); concentration (effortful, focused attention); meditation (effortless, unbroken flow of attention), and self-transcendence (Stone, 2009).

Yoga is prevalent to mental health in that these eight limbs put together are meant to regulate emotions, thoughts or behaviors and increase mental and physical well-being (Khalsa & Cope, 2006). The literature suggests that yoga can improve symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other psychological problems (Kuntsevich et all., 2010), as well as a way to promote well-being (Woodyard, 2011).

Yoga is a way to mentally train the nervous system through both top-down and bottom-up mechanism to improve self-regulation (Chambers et al., 2009).  Top-down strategies have dominated traditional psychotherapy work in which the mind of the therapist engaged with that of the client. In short, top-down is based on the idea that if the client can think right, they can feel right. Bottom-up strategies uses individual senses and automatic response sensation. This approach begins with information that has been acquired from the senses of the body. Bottom-up processes involve the influence of peripheral sensory, visceral, cardiovascular, immune, and autonomic input upon central neural processing and mental activities via ascending pathways (Taylor et al., 2010).

The practice of yoga alone cannot correct mental illness (Douglass, 2009); professional help is necessary to treat the primary cause of the disorder (Torkos, 2008). Therefore, pairing yoga, an applicable method of physical and mental training, with a psychotherapy process group in which tools for self-development are introduced, would utilize both approaches, top-down and bottom-up, allowing for the individual to begin to increase feelings of safety in their body along with social engagement and bonding to balance emotional calmness and improve processing, cognitive functioning and the capacity for a positive relationship with self (McRay et all., 2012).

Discussion

The literature suggests that yoga improves emotional processing, cognitive functioning and the capacity for positive relationships not only others but deep within oneself. We are able to surpass our goals or standards of self when we self-regulate our automatic responses and impulses. Our psychological health improves, when we begin to trust ourselves. “The general state of trust, furthermore, implied not only that one has learned to rely on the sameness and continuity of the outer providers but also that one may trust oneself and the capacity of one’s own organs to cope with urges that one is able to consider oneself trustworthy enough so that the providers will not need to be on guard or to leave” (Erikson, 1968). Once we trust, we begin to “do” without fear of failure.

‘In the visionary mode, myths from all times and cultures are available to us; we touch into a seemingly magical dimension from which emanates a sense of the mysterious and the sacred; we have experiential access to the past or the future, and the limitations of our cultural conditioning are transcended. Visionary seeing is a force against the literal mind, which believes that things are only as they appear’ (Gablik, 1991). Gablik asks the reader to reimagine a world more open to understanding different modes of creativity, art, and language. This kind of optimism about the future shows clinicians that ‘we’ have the power to re-imagine a brighter, more inclusive and more connected culture. Based on my research, I feel confident in saying we can transcend the limitations clients have coming into therapy and allow them to see their quality and authenticity within.

Also noted in Gablik’s book is a quote from psychologist Robert Johnson, The Reenchantmant of Art, ‘All my experience as a psychologist leads me to the conclusion that a sense of reverence is necessary for psychological health.  If a person has no sense of reverence, no feeling that there is anyone or anything that inspires awe, it cuts the conscious personality off completely from the nourishing spring of the unconscious.  It is ironic, then, that so much of our modern culture is aimed at eradicating all reverence, all respect for the high truths and qualities that inspire a feeling of awe and worship in the human soul’ (Gablik, 1991, p.76). Yoga opens doors for appreciation for self. This feeling of awe and high regard Johnson explains must be honored at the seat of self-awareness.

The benefit of the integration of supportive yoga programs is to help clients live in the moment. This helps them to learn to accept and appreciate what comes into their lives. People grow at their own paces. Some individuals may notice changes immediately upon starting their practice, for others it may take longer. Either way as connections grow, the body and mind naturally begin to relieve tensions.

Mindfulness practices and yoga encourage reflection, validate inner knowingness and offers glimpse of transcendence. The truth is everyone experiences momentary glimpse of transcendence in daily life – getting lost in thought while walking in the woods, being swept up in the joy of playing the piano, forgetting oneself while running on a track. We live for these moments of inner peace and awareness where the stresses of daily life simply fall away and our experience of deep connection to the world around us feels complete. Imagine the impact of helping individuals to systematically seek these moments of transcendence throughout the therapeutic process. How would the cumulative layers of such peace on a day to day basis transform individual lives?

Six-Week Series

This series is intended to introduce clinicians and their respective practice the topics explored in the literature review above through a six-week yoga series and psychotherapy process group. This framework will find especially apt use among clinicians seeking to design or implement mind-body connection series. This framework is committed to providing culturally sensitive services being mindful of the intersection nature of social identities, religious affiliation, nationalities, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or disability status. This series strives to be inclusive and give voice to varied experiences by providing a space to be heard, appreciated and accepted. The goal of this series is to create a space of inclusion and provide awareness of the interconnected lives we live and to foster hope in all. The format of the series is a framework and can be altered based on practices needs.

Week 1: Set an Intention

In Week One of the series, participants will be guided through a yoga flow in which they are asked to reflect a variety of life challenges that have led them to feel out of control, less authentic to self, or a lack of boundaries. In this session, we define how to reflect on the self-conscious – the human quality of not only being aware but aware that you are aware — it allows one to reflect rather than just accept his or her conditions and experiences and respond to them. Participants will notice any thoughts that may arise and are asked not to dismiss painful feelings but rather acknowledge and bring into their awareness. Surrendering to these thoughts is the first step in setting an intention to change. The process group will work on setting a group intention for the remainder of the six-weeks as well as explore individuals intentions, reactions and expectations.

Week 2: Give the Body Pathways for Release

Week Two will start with gentle movement. Participants will be introduced to the mantra: Body Like the Mountain, Breath Like the Wind, Mind Like the Sky (Burch, 2014) and asked to break down what this means to them during the process group. This mantra is meant to open the participants body up to their mind and their mind to the plane of their body. This week is purposely vague in honor of creating room for the body/mind to heal and recognize what participants individual needs are. Week two stresses the importance of observing, self-reporting and resonance to own reactions.

Week 3: Nervous System and Window of Tolerance

Participants will be introduced to the two parts of the nervous system, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system as well as their window of tolerance. The sympathetic nervous system triggers the fight-or-flight response that provides the body to respond to danger. This branch causes the organs to prepare by rising breathing rate, blood pressure, heart, pupils dilating, sweating, stress hormones or decrease digestion and saliva (Miller-Karas & Leitch, 2015) The parasympathic nervous system promotes the ‘rest and digest’ response that calms the body down after the danger has passed. This branch causes a decrease in breathing rate, heart rate, blood pressure, sweating and pupil constrict. These two branches are meant to act together to maintain homeostasis (Miller-Karas & Leitch, 2015). Lastly, the Window of Tolerance is our threshold of what we can easily manage day to day without getting emotionally dysregulated. In this week’s session, participants will explore their window of tolerance via handout and become aware of how their body has reacted and will react during stressful situations. The yoga flow in this session will be more rigorous to get participants body to respond to hard postures and a heightened heart rate to allow them to begin to track their automatic nervous system.

Week 4: Feeling of Sensation

Participants will begin their practice by listening to an audio quote Learning to Stay by Pema Chodron (Pema, 2018). This quote helps cultivate loving-kindness and compassion bringing one closer to their thoughts, emotions and becoming one with their body. This week’s yoga is one of guided sitting meditation.

During the process group portion of this session, participants will learn the meaning of The Language of Sensation (Leitch, 2018). Participants define sensations that they notice in their body, for example, “tightness in my throat” or “I feel light”. This type of language encourages curiosity about the body. Participants will learn strategies to help bring down the arousal in their bodies if sensations become overwhelming. These techniques help the nervous system discharge and release (Miller-Karas & Leitch, 2015)

Week 5: New Beginnings

In this week’s session, participants will explore the classic guide of Jungian psychology, The Hero Within (Pearson, 2015). Drawing from this literature, participants will become aware of the six heroic archetypes introduced by Carl Jung – the Innocent, the Orphan, the Wanderer, the Warrior, the Altruist, and the Magician. The process group will speak to the hero within each individual that will help participants define their own gifts that reside deep within. The yoga flow during this session will be focused on grounding exercises such as the warrior sequence and will build towards bigger postures such as dancer pose.

Week 6: Termination

In the final session of this six-week series, participants will be given a hand out of Ganesha. This symbol was a very popular god in Hinduism. This god was a symbol of wisdom, success and good luck. This elephant-headed god is known to be remover of obstacles. This offering to the participants metaphorically releases them and reminds them that they are ready to go and hold a gift within that will guide them and ground them in the future. He represents that part of us that asks: how do I want to begin again? The process group will be a time for reflection to look back on what participants have learned. The yoga flow will be lead with the closing mantra: “I am resilient” and will focus on grounding poses.

Conclusion

When we develop self-awareness through mindfulness practices and yoga, we literally become aware that we are aware.  We have the power to create our lives out of this new knowing.  As neuroscience research has proved ‘every sustained activity every mapped – including physical activities, sensory activities, learning, thinking, and imagining – changes the brain as well as the mind’  (Doidge, 2007, p.288). This is why it is so imperative that we seek a multitude of practices for our clients.  Counseling, yoga, mindfulness practices can function in unison bringing our clients a holistic approach to healing.

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