Non-Dual Approaches to Psychotherapy

The Vedic sages & the Bhagavada Gita states that a person who realizes the Self, which You have never not been , is wise if his or her actions have been burned in the fire of Self knowledge. Such people act without desire for the results of their actions. Consequently they are content because they do not depend on results to make them happy. They are free of doership even when they act.

Those who are free of expectations, whose bodies, minds and senses are well disciplined, who are free of attachment to possessions and act only to sustain the body are happy with what comes by chance, unaffected by the opposites, without envy, even-minded in success and failure and free of the need to act while acting.

The karma or (Actions) of those who are free from attachment, whose minds have been liberated by Self knowledge and who perform action as an offering is completely cleared.

Definition of Non-Duality by James Swartz Ramji
“Non-Duality is an ancient word that has gained considerable traction in the modern spiritual world. It means ‘not-two.’ It means that life is an indivisible whole, a ‘oneness.’ The manifold forms that make up our subjective inner worlds…and the outer world itself with all its apparently solid material objects…are made of one spiritual substance, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding.
That substance is consciousness or awareness. It is very difficult to see the truth of non-duality because our senses and mind trick us into believing that the conscious being that we are and the objects that we experience…including other conscious beings…are different from us. People who realize the non-duality of reality are happy people.
Experience is not to be trusted if we are going to be happy. To trust appearances is to be a dualist. A dualist is not like a capitalist or an existentialist. Duality is not a philosophy that one picks up in school. It is an unconscious assumption, not a conscious belief. It is quite natural in so far as everyone seems to see life this way.
Duality means that although we may exhibit superficial similarities, you are you and I am me and never the twain shall meet. Yes, we share the same human identity, but even it causes problems because it sets us off from the other things and beings in our environment. See the problems that we are facing nowadays environmentally. When I think I am better or different from a tree or a river you I may abuse it no end. And while we are all humans we are the same, many incidental attributes separate us. The raft of racial, social, and religious differences that our conditioning imposes brings a plethora of problems. If we could experience our non-dual oneness with life, most of the conflict and suffering we take for granted would disappear. Taking appearances to be reality is the norm, not the exception. There is nothing morally wrong or stupid with duality. But it causes a lot of suffering.
Non-Duality is not a new religion. It is not a belief system or a philosophy. It is not an idea that stands apart from other ideas. It is the idea that embraces and redeems all ideas. It is the nature of reality and is established by a proven method. This method is self inquiry, a way of investigating reality that reveals the essential oneness of all things. The purpose of this (the) method is to prove to you that the world is not a threatening place because it is non-separate from you.” (JAMES SWARTZ RAMJI)
You have always been yourself, You have never not been the Self, Self Aware, one with everything, non-dual, non separate, yet the personality, ego, body mind, matrix would have you believe and think otherwise. What fools us is Maya, as one focus’s on the Self, fears that seemed to be there, otherwise sense objects return to the unmanifest, outer conflicts seemed or apparently troubled us, dissolved. This is my experience.
Non-Duality holds the view that we are not separate from the world we see, feel, here, sense, taste smell and experience. Through knowledge and inquiry into our mis-understandings (ignorance) about who we are and the nature of reality one can learn to discriminate the real from the non real.

This notion is a very important aspect with respect to counseling and healing. it closely aligns with the idea of cognitive behavioral therapy, Rational emotive therapy and Reality therapy,

When see realize, that the feelings, thoughts, sounds and sensations that arise in awareness come and go, and that they are not who we are, are not to be identified with, and that they are impermanent and require no interpretation from us, the tendency is to let them go.

Because we have been conditioned to want to control our environment, seek approval and constantly search for security, we tend to believe the irrational beliefs and mis leading tendencies (actions) that seem to lead us to attain relief.

Relief if it is attained, is short lived, we must continued to act in familiar ways to obtain the same relief, joy and happiness that we believe to soothe our need to control, change and or get rid of the situation we seem to see ourselves in.

When you realize the non-duality of things your fears go away, your inner and outer conflicts dry up and you become happy. This is my experience.

Non-Duality holds the view that we are not separate from the world we see, feel, here, sense, taste smell and experience. That through knowledge and inquiry one can learn to discriminate the real from the non real. In other words what ever we see is the Self, though the objects of the world are not the Self.

This notion is a very important aspect with respect to counseling and healing. it closely aligns with the idea of cognitive behavioral therapy, Rational emotive therapy and Reality therapy,

When see realize that the feelings, thoughts, sounds and sensations that arise in awareness come and go and that they are not who we are, they are not to be identified with, that they are impermanent and require no interpretation from us, the tendency is to let them go.

Because we have been conditioned to want to control our environment, seek approval and constantly search for security, we tend to believe the irrational beliefs and mis leading tendencies (actions) that seem to lead us to attain relief.

Relief if it is attained, is short lived, we must continued to act in familiar ways to obtain the same relief, joy and happiness that we believe to soothe our need to control, change and or get rid of the situation we seem to see ourselves in.

Non-Dual approaches to healing, shorts this process, by making one aware of the conditioned tendencies, (Gunas, Vasansa Vedic Terms) and through knowledge and a process rediscovering the Self or Awareness that has always been operating.

Psychotherapy means many different things to people, from my perspective, it is my goal with clients to simplify as opposed to making complex a relationship that often has a negative conotation.

This method achieves results much faster and is less expensive then traditional psychotherapy.

While most people tend to want to control their feelings, change their thoughts, even plan intricate schemes to run from them, my work is about welcoming the tendencies as they arise, along with recognizing their somatic component.

By combining a more intimate experience of acknowledging the truth of what is there, the client re-establishes moment by moment awareness.

While the intensity of feelings & thoughts heighten initially, clients learn quickly that they do not have to do anything.

They fully learn to embrace and welcome what ever arises which release resistance.

clients report a quieting of the body mind complex offering a deep sense of well being, wisdom & intuition present.

Please understand our natural ability is to let go and release emotional content.

Client’s report that they are able to welcome long held behaviors as opposed to running off and soothing them with ineffective addictions.

My approach to psychotherapy is to simplify & assist individuals to rediscover that which is already there & to re-establish a relationship that embraces, thoughts, feelings, sounds, sensations & pictures that are often referred to as phenomena, and let them go easily.

Years of study as a student of the Vedas, The Upanishads, The Bhagavad Gita and Non-dual traditional teachers have contributed much to the process

If you are interested in a consultation please contact me at 310.666.8807