Tales of Awakening

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Repressed Memories

(Thread Feb 2011)

Has anyone had repressed memories surface while meditating? Is there any mention of this in the standard works on K?

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IME - the mind is like a fragmented hard drive, & repressed memories emerge all the time, in meditation as well as ordinary consciousness & in dreams.

They are like stray files which find their way to the surface in no predictable pattern, although I'm sure if you search the kundalist files or do a search of the archives, you will find mention & links thereof.

Again ime - it has been more within the process of beginning stages of meditation, rather than within the meditation brain wave frequencies proper, in which repressed memories & emotion-packed past experiences have occurred.

everyone's mileage indubitably varies...

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Dear Friends of the Standard Works,

Whilst meditating/chanting this morning
I remembered a dream of a trapped bird
The trapped bird is often a symbol for the soul

I would suggest that everything
comes up eventually during meditation

I would also suggest that how we relate
to our arising in this moment is
the aspect of the relationship with a repression.
that is of most potential value.

For example I do have an experience of
leaving one reality and entering this form
and then forgetting my previous existence
as this form asserted itself
Is that real? Important? Not really
just stuff that happened or I experienced.

It is like yesterday news
Gone.

Lobster from another Dimension

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Yes and I know others that have - some much more dramatically than me. In my case it's not 'movies re-played'.
More just feelings and a sense of 'Oh thats how I felt when i was a kid - I had forgotten...'.

As I 'un-repress' my body lets go of the tension it took on at that time and some of the processing comes up into conciousness so I feel the old emotions - grief, fear, panic, sadness. I dont regard it as that necesary to understand where the emotion came from - it is going away and when it's gone it doesn't matter where it came from - it's gone.

My hang ups come from steady long term things not huge one-off trauma where flash backs and stuff may be more likely. I am also not a very visual person.

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Your spirit or subconscious or true self knows all which is there and which is not :). So, in my humble opinion, yes. It's more our inherent tendencies or 'impressions' burried inside that may come up. They may take different forms though. For me, it is less of conscious memories but other forms. The mind plays all games and in my experience, detached observance is useful. Don't worry about experiences or give too much attention to them, just appreciate their beauty and let them go .. These experiences may take many forms - uniquely and beautifully diff for all seekers. In my experience, I observed them transitioning from thoughts to lights to pictures/ videos to vibrations/ currents, etc. Usually it helps to observe the characteristic of the experience without attachment.

Hope it helps.

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When I meditate, I often have a vision of being in a dental chair looking at a window. Not sure if its a repressed memory or not.

Another flash I sometimes get is at this restaurant I used to frequent with my mom (Mimi's). It was our place. My mom has since passed and I don't think I could ever bring myself to enter a Mimi's again.

Sent from my iPhone. So forgive any typos!

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I think any type of effective meditation will allow repressed memories to surface as part of the 'cleaning house' process.

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> I think any type of effective meditation will allow repressed memories to
> surface as part of the 'cleaning house' process.

I agree. But I think especially in the early days many (maybe most) people benefit from something that works more through the body than just sitting ad visualising meditation. All the things Jen listed like deep tissue massage and yoga Tai Chi type things make us aware of how tied up our bodies and minds are and how a free mind has a free body as part of it's workings.
There seem to be so many practices and we can be blocked in so many ways.

Also I wonder sometimes just how far down this path a person goes. I still think of myself as a beginner - still working on freeing up blocks in the body of which many remain. Yet this stuff has changed me so much, done me so much good.

For those that can't go on long retreats like me there seem to be methods that get you along the way quicker than others.

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