"Does anyone want to be buried alive?" - asked a friend on the Web. I thought and decided what I want.
Self-burial is a practice that some call esoteric and others psychological. The bottom line is that with the help of various techniques, a person is buried in the ground so that he can breathe, and left there for a while. It is believed that during this, a person is aware of irrational fears and gets rid of them, learns to trust and accept.
Under the board
Svetlana, a teacher of the esoteric school "The Magic Way", is not the first time making such trips with self-burial for everyone. She herself dreamed of being "buried" for many years, but she could not find comrades who would bury her. When I found the same inexperienced enthusiasts, for the first time I got acquainted with the need to carefully think over safety measures: “They took a person, wrapped him in a sleeping bag, wrapped him in polyethylene, gave him a long tube - two or three meters long, from a washing machine. They began to bury, pour the earth - it's a pity. We decided to put some branches on it so that the earth would not press so hard. As a result, firewood was placed on top of the person, covered with earth from above by two meters. He hums into the phone: "Get me out of here, I feel bad." And the guys among themselves: "No, he's just afraid, let's not listen, let's leave."Still, a more experienced comrade said that it was impossible. They dug it up. The sticks that were lying on top dug into his body, the earth pressed on them from above - in general, they got him all bruised,”says Svetlana.
However, only the first experiment was unsuccessful. The next burial was quite successful - “under the board”. Since then, Svetlana has been practicing for many years. She has buried herself dozens of times and organizes field trainings several times a year.
We were faced with a different burial practice: less dangerous than the one experienced by the unfortunate enthusiast, but more terrible than “under the board”. At least, as experienced "self-burialists" explained to us, it is more scary.
We will have to dig our own grave, lie there, wrapped in a raincoat (for warmth), and those who bury will throw the earth right at us.
Promotional video:
They bury me / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
Psychologists argue that the practice of self-burial can be effective but dangerous.
“Symbolic funerals in one form or another are quite used in thanatotherapy, that part of psychotherapy that deals with helping a person in his contact with death, be it palliative care for terminal patients or neurotic fear of death. The method is also used in addiction therapy and has proven itself quite successfully. Actually, burial is probably one of the most extreme techniques from the arsenal of thanatotherapy, and therefore - with the most unpredictable effect,”psychologist Andrei Chetverikov tells Ridus.
Even an outwardly prosperous person can be destabilized and give any reaction, what to say about people suffering from physical illness or mental illness. Accordingly, it makes sense to apply it only if it is really necessary and more gentle methods did not help. And only specialists can use it and only after a fairly wide range of diagnostic procedures.
I was partially dug up (my feet are still in the ground, I cannot move them) / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
Psychoanalyst Nina Sergeeva adheres to a similar opinion. At the same time, she emphasizes that the practice of self-burial was at the heart of the initiation rite for some ancients.
“I heard about this practice from those who did it,” she told Reedus. - True, on their own, with the help of friends and associates, and not as a paid service of some salon or office. And people gave very rave reviews, claiming that the experience changed them completely. However, I cannot say with certainty that it suits everyone and will not harm. Anthropologically, it is based on the primary symbolism of the transition to a mystical state, a certain world of human beliefs."
There were, according to her, such initiation rites among some peoples. From the point of view of classical psychoanalysis, this is a kind of attempt to reboot the psyche, return to the prenatal, intrauterine state and go out into objective reality anew.
They are still digging me up, Aunt Valya cleans the earth from me and "takes birth" / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
The fears that a person experiences during burial can be associated with both claustrophobia - the fear of confined space, and taphophobia - the fear of being buried alive.
“If you look at it therapeutically, then this is an intercultural and very widespread fear, which originates from childhood impressions - from the fact that everything related to death is hidden from children, tabooed, thereby creating an aura of horror and taboo on the topic. As a rule, then a random film, article or book, where someone was buried alive, leaves a mark, and the more impressionable the person, the stronger and more neurotic his fear,”continues Nina Sergeeva.
If we talk specifically about a phobia - that is, about the form when a person is afraid to go to bed so as not to fall into lethargy, lies down in an uncomfortable position intentionally so as not to resemble the deceased in a coffin, or wakes up from obsessive nightmares with burial alive, then psychoanalytically, based on the works of Klein or Gantrip, one can assume that the underlying reason lies in an acute obsessive desire to separate from the mother, to separate, to find freedom from her patterns, her opinions, because here the symbol of the funeral can be considered as a return to the womb.
“Burial practices can also be viewed in terms of separation from the mother,” concludes the psychoanalyst. - The ritual of symbolic rebirth, getting rid of the overwhelming inner adult.
Well. We were ready to separate from our mother and find freedom. We were given shovels for this.
The participant is ready for burial: she dug her own grave and holds the air tube at her mouth / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
With a pipe in my mouth and a vest on my head
I got the grave already dug: here, on the shores of Lake Ladoga, self-burial took place not for the first time. However, it was necessary to deepen it. Next to me, an elderly man, Valery, was preparing for himself a "rookery", according to him, who had dreamed of experiencing the experience of self-burial for more than thirty years. At the same time, he did not look like an esoteric: in the company of seekers of enlightenment, he looked like a random person.
The grave turned out to be not very impressive, a little more than a meter deep. But the cardboard tube was even half a meter. The rest, by the way, mostly had cut 5-liter bottles as tubes. It is more convenient: more air access. It was hard for me to breathe with my narrow long tube.
Svetlana Pilatova and another participant of the training Lyudmila bury her / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
I put on a raincoat, lay down in the grave, put a straw to my lips and asked bravo:
- Well, bury it!
- And a rag on your face? - Svetlana asked me. - Or do you want the earth to be poured right on your face?
No, I didn't want to! I had to wrap my face in a vest. By the way, the rules indicated that you need to take a towel with you to wrap your face during self-burial, but I somehow missed this point.
So, there was a vest on my face, at my lips there was a cardboard tube, which I held vertically with both hands, and they began to pour earth on my feet.
The process of burying continues (Svetlana Pilatova buries in) / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
It was not scary on my feet.
I'm not claustrophobic at all. I suffer more from chronic fatigue and lack of thrills. So while a layer of earth was growing over my legs and belly, I was somewhat disappointed at my lack of irrational and rational fears.
But when the earth began to crumble on her face and its lumps rolled over the thin vest, irrational fears did not hesitate to manifest.
- Enough land? a voice outside inquired dully.
“No,” I muttered into the tube. - I have a finger sticking out, pour some more.
The lands were generously added.
Almost finished grave. If the person being buried wants to, they can pour more earth on top of her / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
Now I had to lie down for an hour. After an hour, the assistant, who had to be on duty over my "grave" all this time, will ask if I want to continue.
I listened to my feelings. It was cozy underground and somehow it was acutely felt that no one would catch up with me here with the demand to amend the text. The harmony was somewhat disturbed by the stirring under the left calf. I tried not to think about who it might be. Meanwhile, the stirring did not stop. I tried to move my leg and found that I could not do it. Naturally: there the layer of earth above me reached its maximum.
During burial, more soil is poured onto the feet - nothing will happen to them. But it is dangerous to pour a lot of earth on the chest, because a person still has to breathe. When the first euphoria from the fact that I was hiding from everyone, including bosses, creditors, the tax office and ex-husbands, passed, I discovered a fact, in general, long known in biology: when breathing, the chest periodically expands. In the air, she does this without problems, but in order to periodically expand the chest in the ground, it is necessary to apply some effort.
For about forty minutes I lay without any particular problems, except for shortness of breath. Past lives were not remembered. I thought carefully about this one (I haven't seen my mother for a long time, I stroke the cat a little). Then my back began to ache. The bottom of the grave turned out to be uneven, and, apparently, I lay down imperfectly.
A training participant is being dug up, the earth has been cleared from his face / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
- Soon? - I whined into the tube.
“Lie down, lie down,” said the assistant.
Well, we were warned against asking questions about time. I tried to continue to psychotherapeutically think about my mother, but I was thinking mainly about my back. Plus I was cold. So the message that the hour has already passed, I was delighted.
- Dig it out!
Two women, who seemed to me the sweetest and most beautiful in the world, shoveled the earth above me. I wanted to hug and kiss them. It was hot and blueberries were growing around. In general, the sensations were amazing. I wanted to repeat.
The partner of the person being buried is on duty over his grave so that he can call for help at any time if something goes wrong / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
If you also decide to bury yourself, then do not repeat my mistakes:
Dress warmly underground and bring a raincoat or plastic wrap long enough to wrap over your clothes.
Use a normal cut 5 liter bottle, not a long narrow tube. And a face towel that you don't mind.
Do not step on other buried persons. I stepped on one person when I was filming. Twice. He later said that he became enlightened and understood everything, but it still feels like kicking in the stomach or in the face, depending on where you step.
Unlike other participants in the practice, I did not remember a single past life and did not catch any enlightenment, but the sensations from self-burial and especially from the subsequent “birth” into the world is a very interesting bodily practice. Unless, of course, you are afraid. Or vice versa - especially if you are afraid!
A training participant tries to fit a breathing tube to his mouth / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
Svetlana helps him wrap his face more tightly so that the earth does not get there / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
The face is wrapped up, they begin to throw earth / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
The woman was not buried very deeply, and the fingers that hold the pipe protrude from the sand. It looks scary! / Anna Dolgareva / Ridus.ru
Anna Dolgareva