Quantherapy

Now that you’ve taken the first four steps to relieve your suffering (you’ve opened up to the possibility of the problem changing, you’ve given yourself approval instead of disapproval, you’ve let go of wanting to figure out your condition, and you’ve let go of believing in your illness or discomfort), there may be nothing left. Just in case there is, and so that you’ll know how to handle any physical issues that arise in the future, let’s explore two easy ways of working directly on symptoms.

The first effective way to work on a physical symptom is to use the basic process of the Method. First, simply notice how you feel about having this particular problem. Then, identify whether the feeling comes from wanting approval, control, or security. Finally, allow yourself to let it go. Very often, it’s our feelings about our symptoms that lock them into place. As you’ve already learned, it’s also our feelings about our symptoms (the condition of the body) that cause our suffering. So, even if a symptom or pain persists after you’ve released on it, you’ll still feel a lot better inside.

Another powerful way to let go of a physical symptom is to alternate between feeling it fully and then feeling the emptiness or space that surrounds and interpenetrates it. I have seen people let go of even the most intense and long-standing symptom just by practicing this simple technique. In one of our Seven-day Retreats, a man who’d been on morphine for over two years to manage severe back pain had it clear up completely after only a few minutes – no more than five or six – of this type of letting go.

As with embracing our emotions, being willing to feel a symptom as much as you do can provide you a lot of relief. Part of why our symptoms persist and seem to get magnified is that we resist having them. Welcoming our feelings and sensations is always a powerful first step. We can then take the process a step further by becoming aware of the underlying spaciousness, we tend to dissolve whatever emotions and symptoms appear on the surface of our awareness. So, simply switch back and forth between welcoming the sensations associated with your symptom and then feeling and acknowledging the space that surrounds and interpenetrates it. As you do this, you’ll watch pain and other symptoms quickly and effortlessly dissolve.