Imagine life as a river

A somatic understanding of life as a human being

In the Beginning there is Existence

In the End there is Existence

What lies in between is a movement, a temporary expression  

To experience itself Existence — call it God, Nature, or the “Big S” Self — takes on form.

It seems to split into countless points of perception. These points of perception seem like separate beings, an individual consciousness. Truth is: This movement does not break unity. It expresses it.

Imagine Existence as an infinite ocean. To know itself, it allows currents to form. These currents become rivers.

Each river looks different. Each flows through different landscapes, with different bends, depths, and obstacles. Yet the water itself is the same everywhere.

This is life. And each of us is a river

The body is the riverbed — the vehicle through which life can flow, perceive, learn, and heal. Without a body, life would have no texture, no sensation, no friction, no knowing.

In Buddhist psychology and modern somatics alike, the body is not separate from the mind.

It is the subconscious mind. It stores experience, memory, fear, protection, and wisdom — not as stories, but as sensations.

Everywhere the water comes in contact with any part within the river sensations are created. Those can be perceived through input from outside through sensory objects, which are always perceived by the body. This is why all deep transformation eventually needs to become embodied.

Within each river lie stones

They represent conditioned patterns formed through past experience. They are the imprints of fear, loss, craving and resistance. Some of those stones are as small as pebbles, some might be bigger rocks. They all disturb the free flow of lifes energy in us.

All rivers have some stones, different in size and location, in them from the get go, based on the previous generations wounds, experiences, circumstances, lived and learned patterns, and, if you want to work with that idea, those of past lifes. Those stones show up as assembly of attachments to an individual ego or aversions towards the reality of existence. Some are formed early in life for example in moments where we learned it was not safe to feel. Our only option to survive was to reject the reality of the present moment, and its emotions and sensations.

Throughout life, through the conditioned mind, we often keep on adding more.

The Buddha described the root of suffering not as pain itself, but as our relationship to experience:

• craving what we want to last

• resisting what we want to disappear

• clinging to a solid sense of “me” in a world that is constantly changing

  
  

This is ignorance; not as stupidity, but as not seeing clearly. Every time we tighten against reality, another stone is added.

Again, some are small pebbles. Some can grow and mold together to form massive boulders.

They constrict the natural flow of energy within us.

The beautiful thing is, that Life/Self/God in its Essence carries the medicine. The healing qualities of Calmness, Curiosity, Compassion and Connectedness. And we are all that.

This is nothing we need to struggle to achieve, it is more something we need to allow. This loving energy heals and is able to dissolve these stones in our example naturally, if we allow it. It happens when we stop interfering with lifes intelligence. We can do that by using practices that connect us back to this understanding of impermanence of all experiences and forms (like pain, our body, even the universe). Everything goes in cycle of ebbing and flowing, creation and destruction, ups and downs, arising and passing.  Everything in this material existence follows this universal truth.

Impermanence as universal truth

In Buddhism, this is anicca — impermanence. So through different modalities, we return to our vehicle of experience: The body.

We become aware of this understanding of anicca and therefore the flow of life can be experienced. In stillness and meditation we can learn to connect more and more to the body, to really create deep and exact connection of mind and the body, feeling all the body parts, the sensations that appear. Not to analyze, not to fix — but to observe. We understand and use wisdom of this constant change to realize their fleeting nature. An itching, a tingling, a pull, tension… it comes and it goes. The body becomes the way the law of nature presents itself to us. We can practice equanimity in these moments. Equanimity is not indifference. It means finding acceptance and peace with what is. It's the capacity to remain present without grasping or resisting. Not fighting what is occouring or longing for something that is not occouring. Each moment we choose equanimity is a moment where no new stones are added to the river. And the healing naturally occurs.

This is a wisdom and a habit we are building in our subconscious mind and it helps us in daily life too. Per existance suffering is part of life. But we have the options to either attach to the suffering, fight the reality and therefore multiplying the suffering or to use the equanimity we have practiced in the meditation and further find peace and freedom. Since our subconcious is predomantly active 95% of the day, this might take a bit to become a natural pattern, but it learns through repetition and our active mind is also becoming more and more alert to create this short break between the sensation and our reaction. The reaction which was automatic so far and mostly created thoughts and actions of fear, anger, disgust,…  can now become more calm, centered, compassionate. You see, we are living the natural qualities of life more and more. Again, equanimity doesn’t mean being indifferent or inactive. Equanimity does not mean tolerating harm.

But from that centered place of equanimity:

• We can change environments

• We can leave harmful dynamics

• We can speak honestly without aggression

• We can choose relationships that support lifes qualities

Not to control, but to stop participating in what creates unnecessary suffering.

Through this practice of meditation that I am specializing in we just see what comes up and practice this equanimity. This leads to no more addition of new stones in the river of life. When awareness meets sensation no effort is needed. The natural flow of water erodes the stones until they finally dissolve. This deepens the river towards the riverbed, creates more capacity of the river to hold water (life force) and allows the rest of the stones to erode more quickly since there’s more waterflow.

In somatic practices we can also use what came up in life intensely, like struggles, stressors, symptoms of emotional states, diseases and pains, to become aware of the stones that are present in our life and within the body. We send our curious awareness onto exactly the parts that show symptoms. Our body is the subconscious mind and further the vehicle of the life to be able to experience itself. The outside world is out of our control so we can only use our internal experience and sensations. Going deeper from memories and thoughts through emotions to the concrete sensations in the body. Rather than trying to fix or suppress them, we bring awareness directly into the body. Again here we can use existences innate qualities of curiousity, compassion and love. You can imagine it like directing the flow of the river water towards these stones. Not aggressively and not to break them with force, as hoping to get rid of the sensations can lead to clinging again, aversion to the reality of the current reality.

But rather redirect to let life touch what was once avoided. Also here the current of the river naturally erodes the stones. The river becomes wider again. Now we “just” need to make sure that we don’t build more again through aversion and attachment in daily life. What we need to be aware of: As the river grows, stones that were once hidden along the shore may come into contact with the current. Old wounds may surface. New challenges can arise. It can feel like the work was for worse. But this too can heal and further make space for a deeper river in which lifes forces are free to flow.

Interestingly often something beautiful happens. As resonance dissolves many symptoms simply stop appearing. The body no longer needs to speak through the same language. But even if sensations or challenges return, something fundamental has changed: We now have the capacity to hold them. There is more space, more calm, more trust in the understanding of our true nature which brings gentle power. What once overwhelmed us can now be met with calm presence.

The use of psychedelics is also often connected to the healing of old wounds and to build understanding of the true nature of life.

It can be imagined as a forced increasing, stronger flow of water, which can make us aware of rigid structures in body and mind, reveal the illusion of separation and bring old stones to the surface. But since it’s a more uncontrolled and unusual amount of water flowing it can create a lot of disturbance, in this example, wash the stones to a different place or even split some stones. It needs proper understanding, practice or guidance to be able to manage and direct this flow a bit better or a least find safety in the turmoil. If we then return to these natural qualities of life that we mentioned and remain equanimous, the water will also now erode the stones. Insight alone does not liberate.

Embodiment does.

The return

Over time, as fewer stones remain and the flow becomes unobstructed, the river widens.

More life force. More aliveness. More peace.

And in the end, the river returns fully to the ocean of existence.

Something it was never truly separate from.

Nothing was missing. Nothing was broken.

Only the remembering of what has always been.

How a somatic coaching session can help your process of healing

Together we can create the right circumstances for healing to happen. This means we need to be able to firstly become aware of the flow of the river and further learn to direct it towards the stones.

I want to share what I have learned with you in doing exactly that. I am not pretending that I have no stones in my riverbed, but I have lived through how stones dissolve and how the capacity to hold more water and therefore life force increases through different practices. In the end the beauty is that even though our rivers might look different, we all share the same water flowing through it. In our work together I might be able to guide a little of my water into your river and help you move guide it to the right places.

New beginnings

With those insights I have created a new project: Buddha Somatics. In which i want to build a bridge between ancient wisdom and modern somatic therapy. The similarities are uncanny. It seems like we are only rediscovering the truth that was then and can always be experienced when we connect with our body. It is our individual key to connection to the core of existence and all the wisdom that is rooted in it. And the capacity of healing that is innate and natural to all of us. To express my gratitude for this understanding, your support and the method that I have been working on perfecting I want to create a raffle to give away free somatic healing sessions to 20 of the 100 first followers on my new Instagram Page @buddha_somatics

So if you are currently struggling with a life situation or bodily symptoms, let's dive deep together and find the understandings through connecting with the body.

Why is it there, what does it want to teach you? How to grow through it and heal?

Find everything about my new project here and understand the method and ideas!