In order to become a Person it is necessary to be completely open to life and to accept and integrate essential being. But before integration can occur, essential being must awaken, come forth and outface the difficulties of coming to terms with the world, whether the world is friendly or inimical.

        Our discovery of essential being, as a reality within ourselves, entails also our concurrence in its demand that it become a reality in the world! Essential being is the unconditioned, creative motivating power of human existence which demands to be given form and which no amount of conditioning has the power to stifle. For this reason, man, finding himself imprisoned in those ingrained habits that prevent essential being from entering his consciousness and coming in contact with the world, is brought to the utmost extremity.

         When his world-ego is estranged from Divine Being, (even though his essential being is inevitably linked to it) man sooner or later experiences not only the suffering inherent in such estrangement, but also the mysterious tugging of the cord that joins him to his hidden, inner self and from which he is never free. To the extent to which he separates himself from his ego, he will experience this tugging as a painful longing for deliverance. He knows himself summoned by conscience. Something is lovingly drawing him home. Our answer can only be the determination to work (on ourselves) in the right way.

                              The Way of Transformation Daily Life As Spiritual Exercise   Karlfried Graf Von Durckheim                   

        Hanna (Hara) Somatic Education is the right way.

    In her book “When Things Fall Apart” Pema Chodron talks about the eight worldly dharmas:  

   One of the classic Buddhist teachings on hope and fear concerns what are known as the eight worldly dharmas. These are four pairs of opposites ---- four things that we like and become attached to and four things that we don’t like and try to avoid. The basic message is that when we are caught up in the eight worldly dharmas, we suffer.   We might feel that somehow we should try to eradicate these feelings of pleasure and pain, loss and gain, praise and blame, fame and disgrace. A more practical approach would be to get to know them, see how they hook us, see how they color our perception of reality and how they aren’t all that solid. Then the eight worldly dharmas become the means for growing wiser as well and kinder and more content.

    First, we like pleasure; we are attached to it. Conversely we don’t like pain. Second, we like and are attached to praise. We try to avoid criticism and blame. Third, we like and are attached to fame. We dislike and try to avoid disgrace. Finally we are attached to gain, to getting what we want. We don’t like losing what we have.

    According to this very simple teaching, becoming immersed in these four pairs of opposites --- pleasure and pain, loss and gain, fame and disgrace, and praise and blame  -- is what keeps us stuck in the pain of samsara.        Whenever we are feeling good, our thoughts are usually about things we like -- praise, gain, pleasure, and fame. When we’re feeling uncomfortable and irritable and fed up our thoughts and emotions are probably revolving around something like pain, loss, disgrace, or blame.

        Donald Epstein, in his book “The Twelve Stages of Healing”, outlines that loving path of awareness for Healing; the path for becoming a Person, where the Divine within all of us, expresses Its Self.

         The first four stages of healing in “The Twelve Stages of Healing” involve coming to the awareness of what keeps us stuck in the pain of samsara. We become aware of our suffering and what it is about. We then come to the  “Bifurcation point”, in Stage Four, where we say to ourselves. “I’ve had enough and I’m not going to take it anymore.” This is the point where we have choice in our lives and we are at the fork in the road where we have two paths to choose from;

   The first path, the one most commonly chosen, we say to ourselves: “I’ve had it!” “I’m fed up!” “No more!” and leave.   The second path, the one less often chosen, involves a different state of awareness. Although we may still say to ourselves “No more!” we also say to ourselves “I cannot continue getting myself into these situations.” Rather than separate, we assume responsibility for the situation.   Stage Four represents a dynamic phase in the healing process. We have now achieved a sense of self, strong enough to realize that we have dishonored our inner essence. In this stage we decide to turn our backs on suffering and move in a new direction. We need simply say, “I won’t take this anymore. I want to take my power back.” “I will separate myself from any situation that does not let me express my power. I am greater than I am allowing myself to be.

    “The Twelve Stages of Healing by Donald Epstein".      

   At this point, if we choose the second pathway, we take the road least traveled. It is here that we give up the illusion of self – our ego self, the lesser self and begin merging with our true Self. It is traveling this pathway that we become aware of:

    The Awareness, which is the essence of who, I am, becoming aware of it's Self: The essence of Somatic Education.

          We now begin merging with Our True Self and become the Person Innate Intelligence intended us to be. From there, as we become stronger in our Resolution and all the unnecessary baggage falls away. We are left with Presence in the world.

        Now, as we move forward in the world, we act as Luminaries Interacting with Form and Energy. We are LIFE. The world is magical and serendipity has become our constant companion. We no longer fear life. We have learned that Fear is; Forgetting Everything is All Right, and that it really is False Evidence Appearing as Real. We know the Universe will only give us what we can handle at any point in time. Our Person is Present and We “See the Light behind the Form” in everything. We become LOVE: Light Overflowing with Vital Energy. These are just a sampling of the lessons to be learned as we journey and ascend together the path-WAY often less taken.

         It is my job as a “Hanna (Hara) Somatic Educator” to walk with you on this “Healing” path until you are able to walk it on your own. I only have one request: Once you have journeyed this WAY with me and are able to travel it on your own, invite a stranger to join us, so they too may learn to travel the “Healing” path-WAY often less taken.

   Sincerely,

   Richard Eshelman 

   Ithaca, N.Y.

   January 26, 2009