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Somatic Descent: How to Unlock the Deepest Wisdom of the Body
A powerful meditation practice for connecting with your body's innate, guiding wisdom .
Have you ever had a "gut feeling" about a certain person or situation? Or a sense of intuition about how to respond to a particular challenge in your life?
There's nothing magical or mystical about those kinds of scenarios. In fact, our body contains immense wisdom not directly available to our conscious mind, and it is continually communicating to us in the form of bodily feelings, impressions, sensations, corporeal intuitions, and felt senses. However, because most of us are so cut off from our somatic experience, we are quite unaware of this dimension of our body's expression. Although this intelligence may feel hidden most of the time, the wisdom of the body can actually be a guide for us in living our lives fully and also in responding compassionately to others.
Through a meditation practice called Somatic Descent, Reggie Ray shows us how to connect with our body's intuitive intelligence. In Somatic Descent we see that the body is always showing us what sort of response, direction, or action may be called for at any given time, and can in fact be relied upon as a primary practical resource for decision-making in our everyday life.
The book will include links to online audio recordings of the guided meditations to further aid the reader.
Have you ever had a "gut feeling" about a certain person or situation? Or a sense of intuition about how to respond to a particular challenge in your life?
There's nothing magical or mystical about those kinds of scenarios. In fact, our body contains immense wisdom not directly available to our conscious mind, and it is continually communicating to us in the form of bodily feelings, impressions, sensations, corporeal intuitions, and felt senses. However, because most of us are so cut off from our somatic experience, we are quite unaware of this dimension of our body's expression. Although this intelligence may feel hidden most of the time, the wisdom of the body can actually be a guide for us in living our lives fully and also in responding compassionately to others.
Through a meditation practice called Somatic Descent, Reggie Ray shows us how to connect with our body's intuitive intelligence. In Somatic Descent we see that the body is always showing us what sort of response, direction, or action may be called for at any given time, and can in fact be relied upon as a primary practical resource for decision-making in our everyday life.
The book will include links to online audio recordings of the guided meditations to further aid the reader.
- GenresSpirituality
192 pages, Paperback
Published August 25, 2020
43 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 1, 2020
This book feels like a trap.
I was reading it and enjoying at first. The author, Reginald Ray, says there are free guided meditations on his website. I go to look. It's not obvious where they are, so you're somewhat forced to snoop through the whole site looking for the meditations. I actually found some of them (not all) and tried two of them.
Curious for more information, I googled Reginald Ray to see what else was out there. That's how I found out about the scandal. It would seem Ray has been a bad spiritual teacher in the past. His students have come forward in an open letter and have accused him of "spiritual abuse". He played favourites, gossiped, used his position of power inappropriately. Nothing illegal or sexual. He is (so the complaints go) a narcissistic jerk who berates people and makes them cry, fires people who criticize him, etc etc.
I found a video where Ray apologizes for what he's done. He posted it and then deleted, but people kept copies. In the video (I watched half of it) he admits to emotional immaturity and says he craved the validation that students gave him. He lost his centre and was inconsistent in his teachings and guidance. He also complains how difficult it is having so many students, and how that makes it difficult for him to give everyone the attention they deserve. He does, at one point, sort of cry.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, he seems to be saying, seemingly unaware that he is not a king.
He mentions, in the video, that he is in retreat in Hawaii as he's recording it. Perhaps it's unfair of me, but I can't help but think that someone who can afford a retreat in Hawaii is doing quite well, financially. Evidently being a meditation instructor and spiritual guru with many books and students is lucrative.
His video felt like an attempt to put himself back in the centre. To keep his power. If you've ever been in abusive relationship, it felt a lot like, "I can change."
Having learned some of this scandal stuff, I turned back to the book and tried to read it. It was now tainted for me, and difficult to read. Because now I feel like I can see a deception deep inside the text.
Read my book, oh and go to the website for guided meditations. Why not sign up for online courses, while you're here. Hey, while you're at it, why not validate my ego?
And so it feels like a trap. He could have made the book a stand alone thing. There's no need for guided meditations. The way he's written the text, it makes seeking out the meditations mandatory. He goes so far as to say he's not going to describe the techniques in depth, because you are definitely going to go do those guided meditations, right? Of course you are.
Not to mention all the jargon. Why call the body the "soma"? Why not just call it the body? What's with all of these defined zones of experience? Intangible, unconscious forces that are highly personal and unique are shoe horned into Ray's model.
In his apology video, Ray admits to sometimes forcing interpretation on students when he shouldn't have. And this book reads that way from cover to cover.
"Oh, you're going into the unconscious dark? Let me tell you exactly what you'll find there!"
No, Ray. That's not how it works. Each of us has our own unconscious landscape. You can offer techniques to assist. But don't try to tell us the exact composition of the soil.
So now, I can't finish this book. It makes me queasy. I regret having bought it and giving this man money. I wonder why Shambalha Publishing promoted it in their emails. Though I am not a Shambalha practitioner, I have friends who are, and have visited the meditation centre in Ottawa, where I live. I am somewhat aware of the other scandals in their community.
So it seems odd to me that Shambalha Publishing would promote this book, in the midst of all their scandals. That seems like throwing salt in their members wounds. Particularly when the book feels built to give Reginald Ray more students and more cash and more power and more ego validation.
I was reading it and enjoying at first. The author, Reginald Ray, says there are free guided meditations on his website. I go to look. It's not obvious where they are, so you're somewhat forced to snoop through the whole site looking for the meditations. I actually found some of them (not all) and tried two of them.
Curious for more information, I googled Reginald Ray to see what else was out there. That's how I found out about the scandal. It would seem Ray has been a bad spiritual teacher in the past. His students have come forward in an open letter and have accused him of "spiritual abuse". He played favourites, gossiped, used his position of power inappropriately. Nothing illegal or sexual. He is (so the complaints go) a narcissistic jerk who berates people and makes them cry, fires people who criticize him, etc etc.
I found a video where Ray apologizes for what he's done. He posted it and then deleted, but people kept copies. In the video (I watched half of it) he admits to emotional immaturity and says he craved the validation that students gave him. He lost his centre and was inconsistent in his teachings and guidance. He also complains how difficult it is having so many students, and how that makes it difficult for him to give everyone the attention they deserve. He does, at one point, sort of cry.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, he seems to be saying, seemingly unaware that he is not a king.
He mentions, in the video, that he is in retreat in Hawaii as he's recording it. Perhaps it's unfair of me, but I can't help but think that someone who can afford a retreat in Hawaii is doing quite well, financially. Evidently being a meditation instructor and spiritual guru with many books and students is lucrative.
His video felt like an attempt to put himself back in the centre. To keep his power. If you've ever been in abusive relationship, it felt a lot like, "I can change."
Having learned some of this scandal stuff, I turned back to the book and tried to read it. It was now tainted for me, and difficult to read. Because now I feel like I can see a deception deep inside the text.
Read my book, oh and go to the website for guided meditations. Why not sign up for online courses, while you're here. Hey, while you're at it, why not validate my ego?
And so it feels like a trap. He could have made the book a stand alone thing. There's no need for guided meditations. The way he's written the text, it makes seeking out the meditations mandatory. He goes so far as to say he's not going to describe the techniques in depth, because you are definitely going to go do those guided meditations, right? Of course you are.
Not to mention all the jargon. Why call the body the "soma"? Why not just call it the body? What's with all of these defined zones of experience? Intangible, unconscious forces that are highly personal and unique are shoe horned into Ray's model.
In his apology video, Ray admits to sometimes forcing interpretation on students when he shouldn't have. And this book reads that way from cover to cover.
"Oh, you're going into the unconscious dark? Let me tell you exactly what you'll find there!"
No, Ray. That's not how it works. Each of us has our own unconscious landscape. You can offer techniques to assist. But don't try to tell us the exact composition of the soil.
So now, I can't finish this book. It makes me queasy. I regret having bought it and giving this man money. I wonder why Shambalha Publishing promoted it in their emails. Though I am not a Shambalha practitioner, I have friends who are, and have visited the meditation centre in Ottawa, where I live. I am somewhat aware of the other scandals in their community.
So it seems odd to me that Shambalha Publishing would promote this book, in the midst of all their scandals. That seems like throwing salt in their members wounds. Particularly when the book feels built to give Reginald Ray more students and more cash and more power and more ego validation.
March 13, 2023
Thank you
Finally, a book that outlines a path for true transfiguration of trauma to True Self. I am grateful for this work.
Finally, a book that outlines a path for true transfiguration of trauma to True Self. I am grateful for this work.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews