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Messages - John Ruskan

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46
The Deep Clearing book goes into the details about addiction strategies. Develop the meditation and breathwork capacities to handle anxiety and the EC process for the feelings that come up.

47
Joel - Welcome to the EC community.

1. If I remember correctly you say to practice what I have learned up to the point before moving onto FEEL 2? EVERYTHING IS FLEXIBLE, YOU CANT GO WRONG. YOU CAN PRACTICE FEEL 1 OR NOT BEFORE MOVING AHEAD. IT'S BASICALLY THE SAME THING.


So, I've been using your youtube video titled "Emotional Clearing Process Group Meditation". Is it ok to do that for practicing the Deep Clearing book? Is it the same method/technique?  ANYTHING RECORDED IS GOING TO BE FEEL 3 TECHNIQUE, BUT THERE IS NO CONFLICT. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. ALL EMOTIONAL CLEARING - DEEP CLEARING IS THE SAME.

Also, I want to purchase and practice your 12 audio training program. Would that be ok to use that and what's in the book at the same time?
SURE, THE EC TRAINING PROGRAM TAKES IT MUCH FURTHER EXPERIENTIALLY AND IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE BOOK.

PLEASE DONT FORGET TO POST A VERIFIED PURCHASE AMAZON REVIEW - IT REALLY HELPS AND MAKES ME FEEL GOOD!

HAPPY TRAILS!

48
There are two ways to consider this: First, the mind is not yet fully trained and under control, so it is not responding to the higher will as desired. We would expect that as a meditation practice is cultivated and skills developed, these aberrations will come under control.

But then, there is also the possibility that negativity is being stirred up and is interfering with the process. In counseling, after having processed feelings behind an issue, we sometimes will suggest that the client visualize a positive outcome. But we do this with the understanding that if there is still suppressed negativity, visualizing the positive will not be fully effective, and will most probably only incite the suppressed negative and will produce images contrary to the desired outcome. When that happens, we just return again to the negative and apply the process. The positive visualization has then served as a tool to access the suppressed negative.

Maybe something like this is happening here. In trying to visualize protection, vulnerability results, even before you get into more specific processing. So the strategy would be to not get upset that the induction is not going according to plan, but just regard it as successfully stimulating negativity into awareness, to be processed with the steps.  Take all the images to a feeling level and work with the feelings.  You can still witness the experience without identifying with it, which is the most important element.

It's a good sign that you are sensitive enough to be able to perceive these subtle inner states. You appear to just be encountering the opposition to inner work that I talk about in my books.

49
The beating matresses with a tennis racket started with Bioenergetics in the seventies. At the time, this may have represented a freeing up of energies, but I believe is still a misconception. If therapists are clinging to this philosophy today, to me they have not advanced. As I explain in my books, expression is not the ultimate answer to repression, although like other avenues, it may provide some temporary relief. Maybe the EC philosophy actually is cutting-edge for many professionals.

50
I can't think of any clients I've had who went through similar withdrawal, but if you are attracted to EC work, I would suggest starting a regular EC meditation practice and see what happens. It certainly won't hurt.

51
Please refer to the previous posting "overcoming childhood abuse." If you truly understand the EC philosophy, you see how difficult events are drawn to you according to the negativity held inside. To act out blame and revenge is highly ignorant, and usually backfires anyway. Find the first-level emotions like anger, rage and process them. Then work with the core level feelings, like being dominated, controlled, helpless, or if its a case of physical assault, feelings of survival.

The feeling of revenge is not a suppressed feeling that needs to be processed; we regard it as a Reactive Emotional Impulse to the hurt. In your processing meditation, therefore, don't dwell on the feeling of revenge. You can spend a few minutes on it, witnessing and dis-identifying from it, but most of your processing time should be on the suppressed first-level emotions, and the the core feelings behind them.

52
EC Process work does not often start with a clear understanding of the internal energetics, such as you are describing. It's good that you have zeroed in on the solar plexus - that's a good start. What you need to do now is to continue or develop a right-brain inner practice where you sit with the energies or the resistance and allow it to develop. It's ok to accept resistance - true acceptance of resistance often leads to a breakthrough, which is what you need. Our starting assumption is that there is suppressed, unconscious energetic congestion in the solar plexus - the significance center. The unconscious resistance you apply to those feeling energies carries over into your activities, leading to the ups and downs you describe. We would expect to find suppressed feelings relating to significance, not being good enough, disrespected, a failure, etc.

I just re-read a few months ago 'In Search of the Miraculous.' I'm a big Gurdjieff fan, but I'm not familiar with his work thing. What I got out of it was to strive to maintain constant self-remembering, or witnessing. This ties right into EC work, except we go deeper into feelings than he did.

Of course, work can be an escape, or become an addiction, or it can be taken to a Karma Yoga level, which is doing the work without thought of reward or personal benefit.

53
This is why we have EC Facilitators available. You need support and guidance. I would recommend Kirsty Collett or  Helen Ramsey.

54
The key here is to separate your feelings from the incident, and to intellectually understand that you have to apply acceptance to the feelings, not necessarily the incident itself, in order for the feelings to clear. Don’t struggle with trying to accept the incident if you can't easily do so - focus on the feelings and work with them, taking them through the steps. Put blame aside for just the duration of the processing session. It's just a matter of relaxing into the feelings, to stop resisting and fighting them, allowing them. I don't know what 'solipsism' is, so I can't comment on that, but it may be that you do not have a thorough comprehension of the ECP psychology, so you're getting stuck. Since this is such an important topic for many people, I am including here an excerpt from my new book DEEP CLEARING, which will be out soon. Study this for a few days and then let me know if it helps - I'll comment again.

Trauma
Trauma is the involuntary shutting-down to severe feelings. The mind clamps down, keeping painful feelings from conscious awareness, in an effort to protect. There is often a sense of disassociation, of going numb, blank, sometimes feeling out of the body. The feelings are not allowed to complete their cycle and so become trapped in the subconscious, from where they project themselves, just as with any trapped feeling, and cause the emotional disruption known as post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Trauma, therefore, is only a more drastic version of the usual suppression syndrome we have discussed. Trauma and PTSD, no matter how severe, absolutely may be addressed with the method you are learning here.

Trauma can occur anytime, although childhood trauma has always been emphasized in traditional psychology. Any highly stressful experience, at any age, can result in trauma. Obvious potentially traumatic events would include assaults and other violent experiences. But occurrences less dramatic can also be traumatic: When your spouse did not support you; when you were ridiculed; when you lost money. Don’t be afraid to go into a traumatic memory just as you would any event, but remember to go slowly if it’s an extreme experience.

Trauma cases can be brutal, and it’s reasonable to question if processing principles can apply. They can. But they may have to be more gently applied. For example, what about taking responsibility for war atrocities, violence, or childhood sexual abuse, as well as less physically harmful but equally traumatic experiences such as financial ruin, treachery, desertion, humiliation, etc.? In the face of such horrors, intellectualizing about taking responsibility can seem tactless, insensitive or even cruel; yet, if we apply the principles, if we have faith in the principles, we may be able to accept and eventually release our deep pain because the blame principle still applies. If we are deep into blame, including unconscious blame, healing is prevented.

The principle for taking responsibility: We have attracted extreme experiences because of suppressed negative energies contained inside. The feelings have built up to the point of explosively manifesting. If there is no apparent cause to which such extreme suppressed energies can be attributed, the only possible explanation has to come from a metaphysical origin: Subconscious energies from previous existences are brought into the present life and attract corresponding experiences.

Acknowledge that these feelings are coming from the suppressed subconscious, and are only being activated by the event.

In some way that we do not fully understand, the energy trapped inside has brought this event to you.

The purpose of the experience is to make you conscious of trapped negative energy so it can be healed and released.

Put aside any blame that may be present and focus on the feeling behind it.

Allow yourself to take responsibility, even if only in theory, even if only for this session.

When you take responsibility, you EMPOWER yourself – you stop being the victim.

Recognize that this is a Karmic experience, coming from your subconscious past, being reflected by the present.

We don’t know for certain why this difficult experience has come to you. It may be part of your Karma, which can have two meanings: It can mean that negativity from the past is being cleared in large amounts, or it can mean that certain souls take on difficult experiences to strengthen them.

What are the feelings in trauma cases? Being hurt, experiencing the physical and emotional pain of being attacked, the threat of death, severe loss, breach of trust when you were a child, acute heartbreak, and so on. Serious trauma usually occurs in the lower feeling centers – Survival, Power, Sex – or with Heart issues.

In highly severe trauma cases, an alternate personality can be created that splits itself off from the prime identity, resulting in the fascinating phenomenon previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder, now known for no good reason except to use confusing, pretentious language as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). In theory, therapy would consist of contacting each of the personalities and releasing trapped feelings. If you think you might have DID, it might be best handled with a therapist. You would be guided into experiencing each personality and carefully letting the feelings be activated.

Cindy was a 41-year-old woman when we started working together. We logged 54 sessions. She had issues with her husband, feeling lonely with him, even though he was emotionally and financially supportive. She would eat compulsively, no particular food. She was overweight and guilty about that. She believed she was a Multiple, and although we never went too deeply in that direction, she sometimes spoke of lost time and other Multiple characteristics. From my point of view, I felt as if she was caught in a revolving-door cyclone of dark energy that she could not break free of. Events and personalities were attracted to her, acted on her, all because of the darkness within.

Her main issue was childhood sexual abuse, and continuing PTSD. Her history was extreme and shocking. Both her father and mother had sexually abused her, starting from a young age. Her parents belonged to what we would now call a pedophile group, in which she had been passed around. She reports that her first severe abuse was when she was vaginally penetrated at the age of 6 with a coke bottle, at a meeting of the group. Her father often displayed rage and disapproval, except for praising her when she performed sexual acts for him, and she grew to crave the approval. At 13, she became pregnant by her father and had an abortion. This became an additional trauma, as she felt torn from the child.

Her mother was no less brutal. Cindy recalls one event where she was playing by herself in her bedroom after school, around 10 years old. Her mother came home from work and barged into the bedroom and forced her to perform oral sex on her. “I can still taste her,” she reports. In the course of our dialogue, numerous other elements came into the picture: Other dark characters, witchcraft-like cursings, and occurrences that would suggest a satanic undercurrent in rural Missouri, where she grew up.

How to approach this? There’s always a sense of trepidation with horrendous cases such as this. Can the process really work? Can the client really apply the steps, especially the acceptance step? Again, the starting point is always to observe the principles. In all of our sessions, we began by talking for a while about current events or a particular memory that had been revived, and then we entered the Alpha-State mode. In Alpha, we would go into the feelings behind what was just discussed.

I always think in terms of the Centers of Consciousness when approaching a major issue, which I find helps to clarify it. Sexual abuse for both genders I would place as a second center issue, the Power center, the archetypal feminine sexual center, where receptiveness is one of the key psychological qualities. The sexual aspect of receptiveness has two potential, dualistic possibilities: It can be a voluntary, loving act of taking in; or the negative experience of being violently controlled, subdued, enslaved, and invaded. These are the negative core feelings to take through the process. They would be accompanied by first-level emotions of rage, fear, disgust, and hate.

Cindy had psychotherapy counseling, but felt she had never moved to a feeling level, which is why she was attracted to work with me. She also had an interest and background in metaphysical healing. She was psychically sensitive and had explored past lives, and had discovered much negativity there, where she “did bad things.” I think she was able to see or sense the continuity of her experience, how it carried over from previous times and had manifested in this life. Her acceptance of it seemed to be a spiritual, intuitive acquiescence and not primarily a logical, left-brain deduction. Although of course we did not have any scientific evidence on the authenticity of the past-life influence, her acknowledgement of it did seem to fit in with and contribute to her healing mind-set.

So our work proceeded. We applied the steps, we went slowly through all the memories. We brought up feelings and relaxed into them. As we did, other forgotten memories would surface. We owned and witnessed those feelings, processing them, sometimes with emergency sessions. There was a lot of childhood regression – going back and becoming the child. With each memory, feelings would be activated. These were both the first-level emotions and core feelings mentioned. As we took them through the process, they gradually dissipated. This is the essence of the process in action: The processing of emotions/feelings activated by traumatic memory results in the release of those emotions/feelings trapped in the subconscious, which served to attract those experiences in the first place.

If you are struggling with the idea that suppressed violent negative energies within are responsible for attracting such extreme experiences, I would ask you to give it time. This kind of realization comes with increasing awareness. But in the meantime, remember that you only have to extend acceptance to the feelings, not to the events connected to them. Perhaps you will be in agreement with the logic that feelings resisted in the past must be accepted now in order to release trauma. But, I believe you will find, if you accept feelings, that you will have accepted the event in a certain way as well. This does not mean you condone, permit, or invite any harmful event to continue.

After 2 months of weekly sessions with me and working on her own, Cindy reported “feeling good for longer periods.” It was a gradual uphill ascent after that.

55
Ahmo- You do seem to be highly motivated and have gone deeply into the work. I have not come across the involuntary muscle contraction response either in clients I have worked with or in myself in deep processing mode. My comments are therefore somewhat conjectural. I wouldn't say off hand that this can be attributed to unconscious resistance, but maybe the body is reacting and going into a defensive posture. You say that you can still access feelings to at least a certain extent, and maybe this is the best that can be done. If you are not directly working on a body level with meditative yoga, as I describe on the emclear site, I would definitely add that to your regular practice and see if it helps. Energy shooting up the spine is a good sign, suggesting that lower chakra energy is being transmuted upwards. All said, however, I would tend to regard the muscle contraction as the wisdom of the body speaking, and if it does seem to interfere with accessing deeper feelings, to honor it and allow it to be as it is. Non-resistance to perceived resistance is the strategy. If you are indeed practicing as much as you say, there is a possibility that you are pushing too hard.

Regarding the breath, yes, the breath slowing down is definitely a sign of and benefits moving into the moment and contacting the deep subconscious. It's nothing to be alarmed about. Needing to take a breath at some point may very well lift you out of the feeling for a moment, but that can't be avoided. Maintaining a very slow breath instead of stopping the breath altogether may be the best alternative.

Keep up the good work.

56
THE EMOTIONAL CLEARING PROCESS / Re: affirmations
« on: October 12, 2020 »
Yes, I don't believe that affirmations should be used to try to get rid of negative emotions/feelings, for the reasons you state, but can be used to encourage acceptance of them. Your first two examples are regarding feelings; therefore affirming that its ok to have those feelings is in line with the ECP protocol.

Your third example is not exactly a feeling, but an event, or something you experienced. The key here is to always to go a feeling level. So, its ok to have the feelings that come up in this experience. These feelings would relate to the 2nd chakra power center, and be along the lines of being dominated, controlled, abused. You can affirm that its ok to have those feelings.

However, your focus should be on the feelings, not the event. So, we are not affirming that its ok to be bullied, or to lose your money in the stock market, or for your girl friend to leave you, but we must always accept the feelings associated with any distressful event. See the dif? Always go to a feeling level.

New book, DEEP CLEARING, should be out within a few months. I'll be notifying the forum members.

57
While we acknowledge that 'blockages' to suppressed energetic negativity can also limit positive expression and experience, there's more to it than just that. To think that you can't create art until you become psychologically clear is a disempowering idea. Artists are notorious for emotional instability if not neurosis yet they still create works, and are in fact often motivated by unresolved subconscious issues that find their way into the art and become the power source that makes the art come alive.  

Your first priority might be then to examine your attitude towards art-making. From the point of view of EC work, as well as general psychological enlightenment, the highest purpose of art is to reveal suppressed subconscious contents, both in the artist and the viewer. We invite our inner darkness to come forward and emerge in the art process. We are empowered by the inner darkness. As artists, we possess an extraordinary advantage in inner work that the ordinary person lacks. Art becomes a vital means for us to discover ourselves. Exactly how to do this is what I talk about in my book, EMOTION AND ART, which I would recommend highly.

For example, in the book I talk about how making art is inherently a manic-depressive experience, to which you have alluded. The artistic high is always followed by the depressive low. This is the dualistic nature of the human psyche. If you are not aware of this tendency, you can become trapped in it, running from the low with addictions and compulsions to try to get back to the creative high, or you just get discouraged. The key is to learn how to integrate both sides into a basically productive experience.

Then, there's the notion that one must 'express' something in the art in order to heal or get rid of it. This is another trap for the artist, because it implies that the negative subconscious which is emerging must be expelled instead of integrated. This is my take on why artists don't heal, even if they are producing. The key factor of acceptance is missing. Once the subconscious has emerged, it still must be processed using the EC steps in order to resolve. Simply becoming aware of it is not enough.

With regard to your personal situation, my guess is that your psychic energy is low so that you are unable to channel it into artistic creation. Raising your energy level is then another priority. You've recently been through some traumatic experiences, and these are probably suppressed and constitute an energy drain, so careful processing must be applied to them. The shame you talk about would be a starting point in EC meditative inner processing work. I usually consider shame a first-level emotion, and behind it is the core feeling that you must get to. Go into the shame, and see where it takes you. Let images come up and let them trigger other feelings, and apply the process.

I would caution you about thinking that you have inherited some kind of self-limiting tendency from your father. This would be blameful avoidance of responsibility, and can stop you in your tracks. We attract to ourselves influences including parents who coincide with the darkness and tendencies we bring into this life. They are not the prime cause. Take responsibility for yourself. That said, regressions concerning your father's influence on your inner child could be productive. There very well could be negative associations stored away that interfere with your creative output, but this would be highly personal, and you must discover them for yourself. In a regression, you envision yourself during your meditation at an early age with your father and invite any discordant experience to arise in your mind, and you process those feelings and/or include them in a painting or song you are creating.

To raise your energy and get your physical in shape, the best way I know of is a traditional regular meditative yoga practice, with breathwork, watching your diet and expenditure of sexual energy. Ejaculations are severely energy-draining.

To sum it up, you're really embarking on a life journey. Resolution is not going to come overnight, but if you establish a serious, dedicated inner practice, combined with an enlightened approach to your art, no question that over time you will see results. You can 'keep at it' when not feeling it to a certain extent, but if you don't have the energy, it's not going to work. Perhaps a new view of what art is supposed to do for you will ignite a fire.

https://www.emclear.com/EmotionAndArt.html

58
The basic premise of EC work is that there is suppressed negativity in the subconscious that attracts corresponding circumstances. I have gone into this at length in the EC book. Simply trying to generate positive feelings does not modify negative suppressed feelings, but in fact can stimulate them so that you stir up exactly what you want to avoid. We sometimes use this as a technique to bring up negative feelings in EC therapy. While trying to cultivate positive feelings may help somewhat in the most superficial way, it does nothing to address core negativity. I have discussed the Law of Attraction on the top of the home page on the emclear.com site.

In addition, another basic premise of our work is that feelings are dualistic. Meaning, they occur together. So if you artificially boost your security feelings, fear will also increase to maintain the balance, for example. This is why the basic thrust of EC work is not to increase or be attached to positive feelings, but to transcend the dualistic appearance of any feeling combination.

I have just talked about attachment/avoidance in the monthly meeting. Your question implies an unconscious attachment to the positive and avoidance of the negative, which is the basic trap that the New Age ignorantly promotes.

59
I think you have identified the first 'loop': feeling rejected which is balanced by the urge for being wanted and loved. This is of course one of the most basic human predicaments. It is natural to crave closeness and relationships but it is easy to get caught in the trap of thinking the closeness will fix the loneliness. It seems to work for a while, but then the loneliness comes back and we blame the relationship for not have met our expectations. The aversion is to the rejection/loneliness and the attachment is to the idea of closeness. To break the syndrome, you become aware of how you are being driven into compulsive attachment syndrome, and try to ease up on it. Don't be so compulsive about finding the positive; cultivate independence. Then, process the negative feelings of loneliness which have probably built up in the subconscious and are driving you into an excessive compulsive hunger for closeness. As the suppressed negative feelings of loneliness are released, you won't be so fixated on finding outside closeness.

For the self-criticism, the compensating feeling you most likely would be driven to attain would be something like approval or recognition. But the most important thing is to process the negative feelings of not being good enough. You don't need to necessarily recognize what you are attached to, although its helpful. Maybe you are not being driven to attain anything, and the attachment/aversion cycle is not fully forming. Working with the negative feelings is the starting point and if you need to see how you are being driven to compulsively attain the positive as compensation, you will eventually see it.

60
Astrology is a fantastic tool for analyzing character and personality potentials. I have always studied the chart of all my clients, whether I discussed it with them or not, to get insights into what made them tick. However, while it can provide a quick summary of a person's psychological make-up, to truly go into the depths of the practice requires time and dedication. The birth chart - a picture of the heavens at the exact time and place you were born - is interpreted by an astrologer or can be provided by a computer read-out. A quick computer reading (which you can find on the internet) can be a good place to start, but for a more detailed and integrated - meaning all the elements of the chart are made into a big picture - consulting with a professional astrologer is best. And yes, it will definitely point to and help clarify issues you are contending with. The limitation with it is that it points out the energetic potentials which result in your karmic experience in the world, but does not really solve them. It's easy to fall into the trap of just trying to avoid the negative potentials which we all have. I was an astrologer before I developed the EC work, which I did because of the frustration I experienced by just trying to avoid or minimize the negative aspects of my chart.

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