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“Tune in, turn on, and drop out.” That is what many people associatewith “mind-bending” activities.
Indeed, in the heyday of Timothy Leary, there were a lot of drug-induced, altered states of consciousness. And in addition to alcohol and peyote, look at the post-Vietnam War period when marijuana was the drug of choice for taking a trip to another state of mental awareness.
At the risk of these chemical connotations, I have chosen to use the term mind-bending to refer to how all of us are now, without drugs, able to purposefully change our state of consciousness for some beneficial effect. Some disciplines move us to new spiritual awareness and some simply to a new mental perspective.
With your eyes closed could you tell the psychological difference between meditation and prayer, or between programmed relaxation and guided imagery? Regular practice of each — set out in its own particular set of steps to success — is meant to change the way we negotiate with the inner world.
By default, we mostly follow the internal guru of reasonableness and logical thinking to cope with relationship difficulties or bad health. On the other hand, after centuries of scientific “progress,” we can send people for joy rides into outer space, but are limited in our skill for traveling to the mysteries of inner space. We can produce technology beyond belief, but lack personal tools for community building and compassion.
What used to be dismissed as “new-age” has come of age. Now, there are yoga teachers on every corner. Enlightened medical facilities, like Mayo, are regularly teaching people a formula for dealing with modern stress, called programmed relaxation.
Elsewhere, mindfulness meditation is being hailed as a researched therapeutic tool to improve mental health. I count about 16 of these different disciplines, all of which claim, in their own way, to make our lives more healthy and more meaningful.
Whether they use some form of music, chant, or movement, many of these approaches rely on attention to breathing, inner focus, and mind-body relaxation. I think it matters less the philosophy of the particular discipline and more about which key elements are included in the recipe.
Mind bending is achieved by playing to the right hemisphere of the brain and suspending the left. As in awareness exercises, our attention moves away from the chatter of worry, obsession, and the gremlins of linear or logical thinking. In the right brain seems to reside the good muses of creativity, healing, and imagination, as well as the stairway to a spiritual world of peace and tranquility. Some of these mind-altering practices speak of “transcendence” and some only infer it. But in either case, the mental discipline, with sufficient practice, becomes, if desired, spiritual and can help the practitioner to detach from pain and suffering.
— Dr. Morrow is a Florida licensed marriage and family therapist with offices in Fort Myers and Cape Coral. He is the author of “The Rain Doesn’t Fall Straight Down: A Positive Slant on Marriage Relationships.” Learn more at WilliamRMorrow.com. Email to:wmorrowmft@embarqmail.com.
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