Hello, Shangriballa Family! I have a feeling many of you will be as excited about this as Patrick and I are. We've heard countless times how much the Trauma-Informed Non-Dual sessions at our retreats have helped you gain not only profound insights but also integrate them upon returning home. It's the critical link between the cushion and real life, right? Well, we took those deep-dive sessions and recorded them! We packaged them up so you can revisit the wisdom, or catch up on what you might have missed. Think of it as your ongoing integration support, available right here in our classroom. Here’s what you get: - Part 1: The Blueprint of Trauma. We explore what it means to be trauma-informed and understand the very foundations of how the separate self creates and holds trauma, - Part 2: Connecting the Threads. This is where the magic happens! We examine closely how trauma affects every aspect of your life and skillfully connect those threads to the core understanding of non-duality. - Part 3: Working with the Body. It's not enough to just know this stuff. This final piece shows you how to bring all this information together, embodying it and working with it actively in yourself to dissolve the mist. Who gets access? This entire three-part workshop is a gift for our retreat alumni. If you've joined us at a Shangriballa retreat, drop a comment below saying 'Access, please!' and I'll personally grant you entry. Don't let those amazing insights fade; keep the integration flowing! What part of the trauma work did you find most helpful at your retreat?" https://www.skool.com/shangriballa/classroom/a3ed6c1e?md=229b53aa895c48e08cebe9f0922c7d0a

Hi everyone, I thought we could use this thread as a space to share books or other helpful resources (podcasts, documentaries, articles etc) as we go through integration processes. I have two recommended to me by my mentor - a Buddhist therapist who has experienced non-dual states. I haven’t read these yet but am planning to. Would love to see your recommendations too. The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom https://amzn.eu/d/6p8ODXQ In Touch: How to Tune In to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself https://amzn.eu/d/cTI6c9x (Apologies for the Amazon links - I would search for these on Abebooks or Worldbooks instead)

True meditation has no direction or goal. It is pure wordless surrender, pure silent prayer. All methods aiming at achieving a particular state of mind are limited, impermanent, and conditioned. Fascination with states leads only to bondage and dependency. True meditation is abidance as primordial awareness. True meditation appears in consciousness spontaneously when awareness is not being manipulated or controlled. When you first start to meditate, you notice that attention is often being held captive by focus on some object: on thoughts, bodily sensations, emotions, memories, sounds, etc. This is because the mind is conditioned to focus and contract upon objects. Then the mind compulsively interprets and tries to control what it is aware of (the object) in a mechanical and distorted way. It begins to draw conclusions and make assumptions according to past conditioning. In true meditation, all objects (thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories, etc.) are left to their natural functioning. This means that no effort should be made to focus on, manipulate, control, or suppress any object of awareness. In true meditation, the emphasis is on being aware, not on being aware of objects, but on resting as primordial awareness itself. Primordial awareness is the source from which all objects arise and subside. As you gently relax into awareness, into listening, the mind’s compulsive contraction around objects will fade. Silence of being will come more clearly into consciousness as a welcoming to rest and abide. An attitude of open receptivity, free of any goal or anticipation, will facilitate the presence of silence and stillness to be revealed as your natural condition. As you rest into stillness more profoundly, awareness becomes free of the mind’s compulsive control, contractions, and identifications. Awareness naturally returns to its non-state of absolute unmanifest potential, the silent abyss beyond all knowing. ADYASHANTI