C³

If we imagine a shock hitting us, we may recognize a sudden reaction. If the shock is happening first on a mental level it is likely to cause an emotional reaction afterwards. This emotion may be . . of terrified or angry or violent nature. If these feelings persist, another reaction will manifest in the body. Some sort of tension will be connected to those emotions and the original mental shock. A negative pattern is established, meaning that it can be triggered on each of those levels to have the remaining two join in.

This, of course, is a simplification of a process that is influenced by various elements. Nevertheless it is also far more accurate than  to serve just as a metaphor. And it also shows why a resolving process that begins with the body – with some sort of pain, that is – often has surprising effects on the emotional and mental levels of stored negative patterns.

The wisdom that originates in the asian cultures – especially India and China – and promotes among others breathing exercises is as stunning as it is surprising that here in the western world we didn’t find anything similar neither worthy of pursueing nor developing at all. Nowadays health insurances become more and more favorable of Qi Gong, Taichi, TCM  and Yoga to complement their services of highly sophisticated technology of repair. And to save costs: all those practices are free and suitable for all ages.

Breathing is one example of a very effective practice that can be done at all times at any place and doesn’t take more preparation than the willingness of the practitioner. How desperately they are needed in the West  can be observed on the street of any city when people with tight faces, tense shoulders and complete numbness in the solar plexus rush by. Their bodies exude a strange awkwardness contrasting all attempts to appear ‘relaxed’ and ‘successful’.

Nevertheless, breathing exercises were never designed as pure body practices but at the same time cleaning (self-)destructive emotions and mental constructs and even going beyond the clean up and purify those energies now freed from being spent to conserve internal toxic waste.

A person might recognize after some time of consistent body practice that she is emotionally more centered and moodiness or anger patterns of the past suddenly don’t appear anymore. And that includes stress situations in which she remembers all her buttons being pushed.

Likewise certain repetitive mental patterns have disappeared. Low self-esteem paired with a nagging feeling of competition has disappeared. Again, formerly stressful situations are the test and  the kick off for celebration: stress? What stress?  

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm and is filed under Cultivation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.