I've recently stumbled onto Taoism by way of trying to learn to meditate and learning about Internal Family Systems therapy. For those not familiar, IFS provides a method of interacting with our traumas and burdens (parts) as though they were agents and "unburdening" them. Much of the interaction with parts reminded me of stage 4 of the book The Mind Illuminated, where strong emotions sometimes appear spontaneously during meditation. It occurred to me that meditation is probably providing a space where therapy for past trauma can happen, kind of accidentally; whereas parts work goes and seeks out these feelings intentionally.
That was interesting, but the connection with this community comes in the next phase. Once your trauma is unburdened, or once you make it on to the higher stages of meditation, your desires and "self" are said to disappear. You still need food and water, of course, but you would be just as content in a simple dwelling as in a penthouse. This reminded me strongly of Taoism.
My question to the community is this:
What do you see as the connections between Taoism, mental health, and other forms of mediation? What can these subjects learn from each other?