On Apr 1, 2011, at 12:10 PM, curtisdeltablues wrote:
Here are the problems I see. First who has the training in both
mental health and chakras to a level that there can be a definitive
diagnosis of one or the other paradigm? The Catholic church sends
all exorcism cases to a psychiatrist first to rule out known mental
disorders. Is this how spiritual groups operate? If not they are
not in a knowledge position to distinguish the reported experiences
from known mental conditions. As long as the experiences are not
causing distress to the person this type of experience is usually
just ignored by most mental health professionals anyway.
So we are left with a person "trained" in "chakra knowledge" to work
with the person who is experiencing these things. Due to the nature
of the subjective detail and the downsides of bad advice (all within
the belief system of the chakra experts) this kind of interaction is
going to take some significant time.
So whether you believe these are valuable experiences or not, we have
the bottom line problem. The closest correlate to the time consuming
interaction needed is the mental health field which is often paid for
by insurance. Who is going to finance the needed interaction with
the "experts" of "chakra knowldege"? I am assuming that there aren't
a whole bunch of people who can step up and serve in this capacity so
their time is extremely valuable. Not to mention how we would
actually sort out what makes someone qualified to offer this advice.
In any case the idea that TM teachers could offer this expertise in
checking sessions is not realistic. They are not trained in chakras
or the ability to distinguish this class of experiences from mental
problems. Having checked the meditations of people who ended up with
a diagnosis of schizophrenia, I can say that the checking procedure
is not only insufficient for this class of person, it may be very
dangerous and make the situation much worse.
So even if you are going to believe in this system of development, I
can't see a realistic structure of professionals dealing with these
people. From my perspective I can only hope that TM or other
practices are not plunging people into experiences for which there is
no support structure or knowledge base to deal with them.
Basically the only people who are doing this do a lengthy
psychological evaluation and profile, along with long questionnaire
and interview of all the various developmental issues one dealt with
in their lives. Then and only then do they engage in a two week
retreat to evaluate what type of diversion (of kundalini) the person
may have or where their spiritual path can best progress from.
Of course the best thing to prevent to do to prevent this from
happening in the first place is to avoid disreputable teachers like
the plague. This type of scenario is largely the by-product of faux
kundalini yoga and meditation teachers IME. From the POV of these
traditions, being trapped in such an energetic state can mean
transmigration through the "lower realms" over many, many lives. I
hope they enjoyed their hopping on foam a hell of a lot.
