Interview with Brandon Bays
Article by Maria Gutoi
In this season’s MONAD issue, The Integral Studies inside, when you clear all of that, what remains is your
Academy (ISA) is privileged to interview Brandon own self. This vast boundless potential this love that
Bays, the pioneer of “The Journey” method, a practi- is your own essence.
cal and liberating tool for healing and awakening the
soul. Brandon’s dedicated work has brought healing So when I said it’s about letting go of who you’re not
and freedom to peoplearound the globe. and opening into who you are, literally the method is a
practical method to give you the tools to do just that.
In their discussion, Maria Alina, Associate Lecturer
at ISA and a Journey Accredited Practitioner herself, MA: Beautiful! What would you say is the role of emo-
explores Brandon’s views on healing, the connection tions in developing awareness of the present moment
with modern science and how to incorporate the and starting the process of healing?
technique in schools.
BB: One of the things I think all of us have learnt to
MA: Brandon Bays you are the pioneer of The Journey do is to avoid uncomfortable emotions. And the way
Method, a practical and liberating tool for healing and we do so is by distracting ourselves with thoughts,
awakening, you have been dedicated to bringing heal- activities, by running from emotions and shutting
ing and freedom to people around the globe, thank them down. For example, when a strong emotion
you for agreeing to an interview for MONAD readers. comes up, we reach for a cigarette or we reach for
Google and start searching on the web or we reach
BB: I am delighted and hope that whatever is spoken for the telephone to start conversing with a friend
here can inspire people to go on their own journeys. or will read the newspaper or we will go to movie.
MA: In an interview 17 years ago you said that in one If an uncomfortable emotion arises, we do just about
sentence The Journey work is about “Waking up to anything to distract ourselves from the present mo-
who you are and letting go of who you are not”. Can ment,. We’ve learnt several cleverly manipulated
you please explain? Is this a one off process or a daily strategies to not only avoid feeling emotions, but to
process of awareness? shut them down, put a lid over them and sweep them
under the carpet so that we don’t feel them.
BB: The Journey method gives you a means to go on
a journey inside yourself, uncover old cell memories And those repressed emotions that we’re hiding from,
and old patterns stored inside your body, anything running from, pushing away, shoving away, shutting
that’s blocked you or held you back in life. It gives you down, they still tend to live in our cells and are operat-
the ability to not only uncover what’s been blocking ing at an impulse level, leaking out.
you and holding you back in life, but to release what’s
stored inside the body.To let go, to understand and All of our avoidance strategies that I’ve spoken about
ultimately: to forgive. take us out of the present moment. So what I always
suggested to people is that emotions really are the
When you clear away what blocks you, what obscures gateway to the soul. If you can open with your body
you, what holds you back, whatever shutdowns are and your being and really be present to the emotion
Monad 5 / 2017 | Page 7