Transmission

     Some of my own teachers put great weight on the significance of “transmission” for easing and expediting students’ transformations.  Their explanation of transmission is not that something is literally transmitted, or transferred, from the teacher to the student in a unilateral way, but rather, that transmission is more like a process of subtle example setting and matching.  We are all setting subtle examples for each other in this way.  Imagine, for instance, regularly spending time with someone who is chronically tense.  It is easy to think that this person's tension would affect us, making it morally likely that we become anxious or agitated as well.  The same might be true about spending time around someone who is very relaxed and quite at ease with themselves.  In this way, spending time and interacting with a spiritual mentor or teacher, can have a positive influence on the mentee just because the mentor lives from a place of greater insight, understanding, sincerity, care, and well-being.  These qualities may stimulate the mentee in her own search, enriching her spiritual development and making it more likely that she will experience these qualities for herself.  When working with my teachers, I experience this transmission effect primarily in my body, as a sense of relaxation, opening, and safety, and as the stimulation of my own continued deepening.

     I am describing this process because it may prove to play a significant role in the efficacy of our work together.  Transmission is a kind of psycho-physical empathy, a helpful lubricant for coming to know all of who you are..  As a mentor, I will set the example, and demonstrate that it is safe to trust yourself, and that the benefits of doing so can be extraordinarily fulfilling.