Episode 19: Power Abuse through Spiritual Teachers

 
 
 

EPISODE SUMMARY

What does it look like when mega-celebrity spiritual teachers misuse their power and authority? And, when do these teachers' blindspots recapitulate the student's trauma - especially when the teacher doesn't understand the student's trauma response and instead blames the student for not doing the practices "right"?

How can we stay alert to the charming and persuasive tactics of leaders who hold high positions of power and authority - while remaining realistic that they are still a human-being expressing themselves in unintegrated ways?

This conversation with Nicola Amadora, spiritual teacher, Hakomi therapist and trauma-informed guide, brings light to the reality that students of spiritual teachers can slip into power-over and dominating power dynamics with a teacher that cause them to lose faith in their own inner authority and self-authoring trust.

Other topics covered:

* The dangerous traps of spiritual bypassing and transcendence

* How can women reclaim their voice when there have been centuries of cultural conditioning that dismisses a women's direct experience and personal needs? How can someone's direct experience ever be wrong as opposed to a gateway to greater self-awareness and understanding?

* Scapegoating Projections - a common practice of banishing the innocent to justify separation and off-loading of personal responsibility through blame and exile

* The downfall of savior projections that become a slippery slope of needing to hold a teacher as perfect and whole while ignoring red flags such as justifying their abuse and hypocritical behavior.

* The impact of spiritual teachers who rigidly hold a right and wrong about how a person should live their life that makes no room for the unique needs of that person's process of integration and embodied healing.

* Creating safe resources to process our confusion -- how to find people who can listen to our pain in a neutral and open-hearted way

* We all have blindspots -- how to create a world where we help one another see them more clearly

 

Full Podcast Video

 
 
 

EPISODE NOTES

Nicola Amadora:

Nicola Amadora:  Dr. Nicola Amadora is an international spiritual teacher, psychologist and trauma/Hakomi therapist, speaker, activist and author. For three decades she has worked with thousands of people worldwide. Nicola guides spiritual retreats, sessions and professional trainings. She is passionate about the great turning for our lives and this world. Www.nicolaamadora.com

Anne-Marie:

 
Mindfulness pause, Re-parenting ourselves, Embracing Our ShadowAnne-Marie MarronCentering Power, Wild Power, Self-Acceptance Power