When I was in my mid-twenties I went on a week-long retreat called Enlightened Warrior Camp. It was a fascinating combination of spiritual & warrior type activities. Afterwards when I returned home, I felt like I was on fire. People close to me noticed it too. Some people worried that I had joined some sort of cult. I felt energized and amazing.
Over time, this energy faded and I went back to my regular way of being in life, however ripples of that experience stay with me even now.
The Tony Robbins Style of Life
During that same period of time, Tony Robbins was very popular. My husband used to listen to some of his cassette tapes on his way to work in his twenties.
One of Tony’s big themes is the power of “changing your state”. He teaches many techniques including jumping into a cold plunge pool, dance like no ones watching, create energized gratitude & affirmations to shift your frequency and saying them every day. He is committed to helping people create a life worth living.
I’ve followed his trajectory over time with mixed feelings of intrigue, excitement, awe & fatigue. It seems so tiring to be in that energy all the time. Yet, as much as I kind of groan at Tony Robbins, I remember watching his Netflix documentary “I am Not your Guru” and realized I was being quite judgmental. He brings a lot of healing & inspiration to people & the world.
The New World With Joe Dispenza
(Side Bar: After I wrote this title, I googled Joe’s age – he’s 2 years younger than Tony Robbins. So interesting that while Joe Dispenza is more newly on the scene, he really isn’t that new.)
I chatted with some people who have attended Joe Dispenza’s retreats and I have also gone through a period of doing his meditations on a daily basis. Joe uses a different method than Tony to “enter the quantum field”, raise your frequency & create a life you want. What has made Joe’s method noteworthy, is that he has tons of testimonials from people who have attended his retreats who have healed themselves from physical issues that are deemed incurable by the medical community.
Again I find myself on one level generally annoyed at Joe’s demand of using so much will power to shift one’s state and then at the same time quite in awe of the transformation he’s brought into people’s lives.
But Is It a Spiritual Bypass?
Joe & Tony are both white cis-gendered American men. Part of me has always been averse to their methods because I felt like they minimized oppression & pain and focused on shifting into a higher vibration.
Part of this aversion has also been present because with this demand of being in a high vibration, the new age community took this belief on by storm. A pressure emerged to always be in a “high vibration”. Bad thing happened in your life? You must’ve caused it. You should’ve been in a higher vibration. Poverty? You must have caused that too – clearly an issue in shifting your frequency. Don’t these attitudes blame oppressed people for their problems?
The pressure to be in a high vibration created a vat of shame that followed it. But don’t feel shame, because that’s bad too..so then there’s shame for feeling shame. In addition, it created anger at these methodologies – but anger’s not good either. So now what? Cold plunge? Use your will to change your state?
When horrible things happen in a person’s life, it isn’t generally helpful or appreciated to then judge them and tell them to change their state to create a better life for themselves. Feel some gratitude! Shift into the Quantum!
So What Should We Do?
I recently went to a short retreat where we discussed these dilemmas. There were no concrete answers and I have no concrete answers, but this is such a deep and important topic to discuss when it comes to healing and also acknowledging oppression & making changes in our world. Here are my thoughts:
It feels like this is another duality about life to be held within us:
- We need to allow space for our “low frequency” feelings – they need to be validated and held with compassion and allowed to move.
- Sometimes holding that compassionate space isn’t enough – we need to find that will-power within ourselves to shift our vibration to a higher frequency.
The dance between these two places is in interesting one. Stay too much solely shifting your frequency, and you could end up spiritually bypassing your emotions & this can lead to arrogance, judgment of others who are struggling, and shame within ourselves when we hit a rough patch in life. Bringing compassion & love to low frequency feelings can sometimes be the ticket to have them clear and move into a different vibration and sometimes they are so strong & sticky we can’t move out of them.
Therapy & Energy Healing
One place in my life that I have seen the value of both acknowledging & feeling emotions and also going beyond that is with integrating counselling & energy healing. Therapy gives the place for feelings & for understanding our patterns & consciously noticing our patterns and making different choices. It also allows us to connect to our Wise Self that is ever present at the same time as our many different parts.
Energy Healing has been a place to bring in some grace. A place to allow things to shift beyond the conscious level. To invite something beyond ourselves into healing journey. Sometimes I find that things don’t need to be talked about anymore. Holding unconditional love is often a powerful place of healing.
What Are Your Thoughts Or Experiences With This Topic?
I bring up this topic, because I also want to hear from you. What do you think about the balance of acknowledging oppression & feeling “low vibration” emotions and also that intentionally raising your frequency can have incredible results?
What has been most healing for you when you hit a rough patch in your life?
Alright – that felt like a lot today, but I hope you could feel my excitement about this topic too.
