Living as Light

In Living as Light, Brent Baum speaks to us of our luminous, mystical natures and the transformative power that comes with the mastery of our states of consciousness. The gifts of intuition, empathy, healing, manifestation, and mystical intimacy are not relegated to the few and privileged, but are revealed as our birthright and destiny. As we emerge from our personal and collective “dream” or trances, we discover our true potential as the quantum creators we are destined to become. In his second book, Brent shares his account of personal healing and spiritual awakening that occurred through the “emotional reframing” techniques that he developed and his archaeological journey through history. With the insights gained from his unique interdisciplinary expertise as an archaeologist, biblical scholar, addictions counselor, and trauma specialist, we explore the personal and cultural impact of trauma on all aspects of our psyche. Trauma precedes our earliest personal and collective stages of evolution and forms the backdrop for our awakening. Through his work with over 20,000 trauma survivors, Brent has discovered techniques for the clearing of the blockages in consciousness that occur from addiction, abuse, emotional and spiritual repression, as well as many other forms of trauma. As we resolve these “frozen” moments in our lives, we open to our true spiritual potential and discover our luminous natures. By mastering our states of consciousness, we discover our innate capacity to bring light and love to those moments of our lives where Consciousness was trapped through trauma and overwhelm. Trauma, addiction, and loss form the backdrop for the awakening of our mystical, healing natures. As we resolve the distorted messages of “ego,” our full creative power emerges, revealing our capacity for true intimacy, abundance, health, and manifestation. The awakening of the “mystic within” is the focus of this work.

In his second book, Living As Light, Brent Baum shares his account of personal healing and spiritual awakening that occurred through the “emotional reframing” techniques that he developed. As we resolve our traumatic imprints, we open to our true spiritual potential and discover our luminous natures. By mastering our states of consciousness, we discover our innate capacity to bring light to those moments of our lives where Consciousness was trapped through trauma and overwhelm. Trauma, addiction, and loss form the backdrop for the awakening of our mystical, healing natures. As we resolve the distorted messages of “ego,” our full creative power emerges, revealing our capacity for true intimacy, abundance, health, and manifestation. The awakening of the “mystic within” is the focus of this work. In the ancient spiritual traditions, our spiritual leaders spoke of the “via positiva” and the “via negativa.” Just as it sounds, many of us achieve spiritual awakening through confrontation with the “shadow” or dark aspect of our histories and natures. Many first marriages or relationships serve to reveal the hidden aspects of our personal and collective histories. In working with over 20,000 trauma survivors, and focusing on the treatment of addictions and trauma-based illness and disorders, Brent Baum has discovered resources that we all possess to unlock our capacity to “reframe” the darkest of our experiences and to access resources we have barely tapped up to this point in our evolution. The immense power of the ninety-five percent subconscious mind is now being tapped through our growing knowledge of the brain and our use of “primary language.” From children we have learned the power of color and brainwave frequency to transmit complex information to the bodymind, to heal the “trances” created through trauma and abuse, and to step into the light. The most ancient mystical traditions all agree: we now hold the light within us to access Source and reframe the experiences of the past. All mystical traditions converge on this point – that the light we seek now dwells within, and we can access this infinite font of light to release the blockages to health, intimacy, abundance, and spiritual union. As we learn to “emotionally reframe” the experiences of the past, we release the densest, heaviest energy of the psyche – the darkness and burden of shame that is created from trauma and dissociation. It is no wonder that our anorexics and eating disordered individuals are convinced of the great and heavy burden they carry: emotional trauma can produce unlimited heaviness in the meridians and fields of the bodymind. The “chakras” or energy centers identified by ancient cultures are real and can even appear to us as more real than the physical body. Trauma as a “primary affective experience” can supplant the positive messages of the rational mind and implant its own message of powerlessness, worthlessness, and failure. Religious systems are finally coming to realize that we cannot “shame” an individual into spiritual awakening. The use of emotionally repressive messages, techniques, and theology foster the very breach in the psyche that such systems are trying to heal. Having served as a Catholic priest, Brent’s own journey through the emotionally repressive messages gleaned from family, educational, political, and religious systems, is a story that is relevant for all. As one of Brent’s mentors and principal influences in the development of his work, Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse (author of over 25 books on addictions and recovery) stated: “The words, “courageous, intuitive, holy, spirited, healing and wise” kept coming to me as I read Brent’s new work. He is a healer and a mystic with an incredible ability to verbalize and explain the lessons he is able to teach. He inspires us by helping us find our own ability to become a visionary. His book is a wake-up call to our own development.”

Brent M. Baum, STB, SSL, CADC, LISAC, CCH is an interdisciplinary specialist in spirituality, trauma, and addictions. He has served as a Catholic priest, an archaeologist in the Near East, a professor at Notre Dame Seminary, and as Clinical Director of Cottonwood Treatment Centers in New Mexico and Arizona. Brent completed his post-graduate training in theology at the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy and the Pontifical Biblical Institutes in Rome and Jerusalem. His sub-specialization in archaeology led to his active involvement in excavation in Southern Israel from 1979-1992. Brent’s pastoral counseling training evolved into strategies for relapse prevention, focusing on the treatment of addictions. His development of “Holographic Memory Resolution®” drew the attention of leading addictionologists and relapse prevention specialists and led to further involvement in the field of addictions treatment. His innovative approach was developed initially as an effort to address his clients’ abuse of and excessive dependency upon medications, particularly those that are routinely used to treat memory-based pain and anxiety. His techniques led to his involvement with the rescue personnel and survivors of the Oklahoma City Bombing and September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He was asked to present his work to the Human Resources department of TWA upon the crash of Flight 800 in New York and has trained therapists involved with many of the traumatic events of the last two decades. Brent is a Licensed Substance Abuse Counselor and a Clinical Hypnotherapist. He is the author of: “The Healing Dimensions: Resolving Trauma in Body, Mind and Spirit,” “Living as Light: The Awakening of Mystical Consciousness,” and “Surviving Trauma School Earth: A Practical Guide to Emotional Survival on the Earth Plane” (2013). Brent is also the developer of Holographic Memory Resolution®, an “emotional reframing” technique that helps to resolve the emotional and physical pain states attached to stress, trauma, and any form of memory or event-based pathology. He has worked with over twenty thousand trauma survivors and, due to his innovations in the treatment of trauma, was offered the position as clinical director of Cottonwood Treatment Center in Los Lunas, New Mexico in 1993. Upon merging with the Tucson facility in 1994 he became co-clinical director and coordinator of the trauma program and remained there until he was invited to bring his work to “Miraval” in Northwest Tucson in 2000. While at Cottonwood, his work led to affiliation with the Integrative Medicine Program of Dr. Andrew Weil at the University of Arizona, which continued with Dr. Weil’s Integrative Wellness Program at Miraval. HMR is a gentle, emotional reframing process that combines Somatic, Energy, and Color psychologies. This gentle non-abreactive (not re-living the event) approach empowers individuals to establish “proof of safety” in the bodymind at the point where the psyche stored pain and tension at the moment(s) of overwhelm. The pain which creates such “state-dependent” memory can be physical or emotional in origin, but can often be diminished or resolved by addressing the imprinting in both the cells and meridians of the bodymind. His discovery of a memory-access point at Cervical Vertebra-7 (C-7) and use of the primary language of color enable the complex mapping and address of many forms of memory-based pathology. Much that we label “migraine” or “chronic pain” finds its origin in memory and can be addressed by speaking effectively to the ninety-five percent subconscious mind which holds the memory intact. Psychologists, social workers, nurse practitioners, physicians, psychiatrists, neurologists, addictions counselors, chiropractors and acupuncturists, professional counselors, marriage and family therapist and educators have integrated HMR into their practices. The hallmark of HMR is the empowerment of the client’s own “Healer Within.”