At Ease - Qigong Class 2

March 5th found us (Bill and Gina) facing 8 wonderful people in our class... bringing with them their experiences and challenges with the material from last week.

We touched on some of the core concepts of 'grounding' and 'rooting'.. both from a physical 'planting the feet on the ground' kind of way, as well as a metaphor for intention. To know what you're trying to accomplish before you set out brings about a sense of purpose and alignment, whether doing an exercise or writing a book.

From the qigong (and other martial arts-related activities) perspective, we learned that 'rooting' means feeling the connection to the ground through the 'bubbling well' ... a key acupuncture point on the bottom of our feet. When we are balanced perfectly over this point, we are strong, stable and able to move into any position with ease and grace.

We also challenged the traditional notion of 'good posture' -  you know, stand up straight, shoulders back, etc., by actually trying that ... feeling its level of comfort (or absence thereof) and asking, how long could I stand like this before fidgeting or feeling discomfort?

We asked the class to find a place of rooting as well as relaxation .. making adjustments in the knees, hips, low back and shoulders, if necessary ... in order to find a place where they could not only stand for a longer period of time, but if met with someone pushing on them, they could remain stable.

Why?

Well, too often, our attempts at reclaiming good posture involve overlaying yet another restrictive pattern over what's already there. Beginning with developing a sense of ease from the inside out.. where we feel our way to good posture, rather than thinking it ... brings more of an awareness to where we're out of alignment.

And bringing an awareness to our own inner sense of balance and centeredness not only serves us while standing too long in the check-out line, but can cultivate a posture of relaxation in the midst of other situations - for example, at work, in tense engagements with others ... in any interaction that causes us to tense up, restrict our breathing and feel overwhelmed.

We start to become creatures of clear intention rather than unconscious reaction.

Skeptical?

Try it! Listen to the recording below for the 'posture exercise' ... (4 minutes, 20 seconds)

 (*background music, "A Long Farewell", by Rolly Brown...from the cd, "No Need for Words", available in my office..)

Run, Forrest, Run!

Got my bi-weekly (bi-weekly? bi-monthly? It's twice a month, whichever that is) shiatsu session today.

Upon walking in, my practitioner, Diane, asked me what my body was saying.

Over all, nothing major, but this damn vertigo that keeps popping up is still bothering me. Usually when I tilt my head back or turn to the left, the room starts spinning. But sometimes, just randomly.

Ah, she said. Mentioning things like Gall Bladder, which was not the usual association I would have made, she clarified by saying that Bladder is where we toss everything back to that we don't want to deal with. And then Gall Bladder is even beyond that.. the last stashing place. As well as governing decision-making.

That I knew.

And then, she said she suddenly got this image of Forrest Gump, you know Forrest Gump, right?

Uh, yeah...

Well, remember when he gets the braces off his legs and starts running? At first he's all wobbly, but eventually gains his stride. You're like that. It's like the braces just came off, and you're trying to find your balance amidst this new freedom. And your body is kinda freaking out.

I laughed. Yeah, put 'em back on! Put 'em back on!

It made me think of those times right after giving birth. Nine months of something growing inside, taking up space, adding extra weight in an unwieldy way, but at least with time enough to adjust. Not that you ever get graceful with it, but you compensate slowly.

Then the baby is born. Within a matter of minutes, twenty-plus pounds are lost, and I'll never forget the sensation of standing up after giving birth and finding I had NO idea where my center of balance was. It took me at least a week or two to figure out again how to walk, how to find the right posture. Meanwhile my back and shoulders would be in all kinds of weird pain, and I felt almost as clumsy as when I was pregnant.

And it's not like you ever really go back to how you were pre-pregnancy. Hips have widened, muscles have  stretched, fascia imprinted ..  adjustments have been made on every level, never again to be the same.

No doubt, I am again learning a new posture. The braces were constricting, but secure. Known and familiar. I'm struggling with how to be... to feel where my center is.

Many days, I really have no clue.

And here's another metaphor that just hit me, speaking of center (the Heart being center in Chinese medicine.)

Mark Silver talks about how the heart is never really divided (to reference a phrase used to describe feeling torn).

To quote directly: "Whatever the heart witnesses, it fills with. It's simply not possible to have a divided heart. However, what the heart can do is turn, and turn very quickly. In fact, in Arabic the word for heart is "qalb," which also means "to turn." As it turns, it fills with whatever it is facing.

The divided heart is really one that is turning between two or more realities, emptying and filling, emptying and filling. Exhausting."*

Yes. That would be me. I would also add that it makes one quite dizzy.

*So what does Sufi Master Mark suggest we do? Well, he brings our attention to the First Commandment: "Thou shalt have no no other gods before Me." In other words, fill your heart with the Divine, with Spirit, "so that your heart is filled with that primal love and truth, and not distracted, weakened, or caught in the muck of other things."

Interpret that how you want, but I know for me, when I even attempt to face 'primal love and truth', my head indeed does stop spinning, if only metaphorically.

Now, back to learning to run without braces....

Posture as a Path to Personal Enlightenment

As I am away from the laptop this week doing various expos and events that seem to be cropping up like spring weeds, I thought I'd share some words from Certified Rolfer, Sukie Baxter.

When I discovered Sukie, I emailed her in jest about lifting her material, as I felt it resonated so strongly with my own philosophy. She didn't reply (go figure), but it turns out that she is willing to share her ezine articles as long as her tag is included. Which it is, at the bottom.

Enjoy!

Posture as a Path to Personal Enlightenment

by Sukie Baxter

To the extent the body nears the vertical, the more sensitive that person will be, and the more difference in living experience will be felt. Suppose 'mysticism' is what is going on at the atomic and sub-atomic levels? Do we want to sensitize? Or make people harder & tougher to face the world? What is the more human use of human beings, the direction in which we need to evolve or are evolving? - Ida P. Rolf

What is health?  Conventional medical wisdom would tell you that health is a series of markers, numbers and statistics, that give data about an organism.  Dictionary.com defines health as the soundness of body or mind; freedom from disease or ailment.  But what defines a sound body?  Is it low blood pressure, low cholesterol, good stamina?  Is simply not having a disease enough to categorically assume that an organism is 'healthy?' 

I would argue that there is truly something more to health.  It is a state beyond simply surviving, a place of thriving physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  Truly healthy organisms are those that appear to be walking sunbeams, lighting up a room with their very presence.  Their light and enthusiasm along with their insatiable curiosity about the world are contagious, spreading joy to all those fortunate enough to spend time in their presence.

Most would say that this form of health is a state of mind, due entirely to brain chemistry.  The brain does play an integral role in the total well being of any individual; however, a person's mental state is cannot be separated from that of his body.  In fact, the flexibility of the body is directly correlated to the flexibility of the mind.

Ida P. Rolf, the creator of Rolfing and brilliant mind behind the structural integration movement, did not see her work as 'fixing' or 'curing' any symptom, however frequently pain, strain, and dis-ease in the body vanished seemingly miraculously after a patient received a session.  In fact, she is famously quoted as saying, "Gravity is the therapist. When the body gets working appropriately, the force of gravity flows through.  Then, spontaneously, the body heals itself."  She understood that the physical healing her clients experienced did not come about from outside forces but rather as a result of achieving an inner, centered balance.

The position and movement of a person's body are expressions of the inner self.  We hear a lot about posture in the media - good posture, bad posture, how posture contributes to back pain or neck pain, how computers shape our posture, etc.  Interestingly, the Online Etymology Dictionary (www.etymonline) states that the word 'posture' stems from the Latin positura, meaning 'position' or 'station.'  In 1877, the verb form of posture was understood to mean, "To take up an artificial mental position."

We are living, breathing, fluid creatures.  Posture connotes a state of fixation, a place of holding.  Instead, our bodies function more like a giant bag of sea water; we slosh this way and that way, molding our forms to our current situation.  Fixations in the body - the holding patterns we generally consider 'good posture' - are literally blocks to the gravitational force.  The force of the gravitational field is immense, and resistance only causes compression and strain.

The correlation of body position to a person's mental and emotional state is impossible to ignore in the context of structural integration work.  In keeping with the holistic nature of her work, Ida P. Rolf saw structural integration as a process that helps human beings to evolve along the continuum of verticality.  Although it seems that we are now creatures walking upright, "We are not truly upright, we are only on our way to being upright.  This is a metaphysical consideration.  One of the jobs of a Rolfer is to speed that process along.  We want to get a man out of the place where gravity is his enemy.  We want to get him into the place where gravity reinforces him and is a friend, a nourishing force."  Ida Rolf saw that patterns in the body were not only a result of physical forces but also mental and emotional, and furthermore, these selfsame patterns create mental and emotional strain.

As you open and unfold from the patterns you've carried with you for years, your mental state begins to shift.  The ideas and notions you held about yourself dissolve and you're open to finding a new identity in the world.  Your ability to perceive the space around you changes, and as your perception of the space changes, the space itself literally changes, for the world is only what we perceive it to be.  In fact, you will generally only see that which you are seeking because your brain is designed to bring you evidence to support current perceptions (if you doubt this, I highly recommend watching this video).

This has an evolutionary advantage.  If you're looking for red berries, everything red and berry like will jump out at you from the forest.  If you're seeking rabbit for supper, you'll start to hear small rustling in the underbrush and see flashes of small, hopping creatures between the bushes.  But this kind of programming can be extremely limiting.  If you have low self esteem and feel that you are inferior to your peers, you will adapt an appropriate body language and only perceive situations that support this mindset.  When your posture shifts and the compensations you've taken on to support your views vanish, your perception expands exponentially and suddenly you will see much more in your world.

As your ability to move your body expands, you literally take in more information about your environment.  Your wider movements stimulate proprioceptors in new ways.  Proprioceptors are incredible little cells inside your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia that tell your body where it is in relation to the space around it.  They help you to not bang into a door jamb or hit your knee on a coffee table.  They keep you from stretching a muscle too far and tearing it.  They send an alert when someone invades your personal space.  The more proprioceptors you are able to stimulate, the more information you take in, and thus the more well informed - enlightened, if you will - you are.

Thus, shifting your posture can be a path to personal enlightenment.  The state of your body directly affects the state of your mind.  If you open up your body and your movement, it will begin to shift your mindset, allowing you more mental and emotional freedom than you imagined possible.

Ready to start on your own path to body enlightenment? I'd recommend scheduling a series of Structural Integration.  This work systematically realigns your body and reconnects your nervous system so you function as a whole again.  Pain disappears and you start to feel more flexible, vibrant, and energetic!  You can also sign up for your first session by emailing me right now!

©2009 Functional Balance, Inc.

Here's the tag: Healing Arts Practitioner and Wellness Consultant, Sukie Baxter, publishes the weekly Embody Your Potential Ezine.  To learn how to rejuvenate your body and soul using natural mind-body wellness solutions that get real results, register for her free weekly articles at www.SukieBaxter.com.



Put Your Hips Into It

A simple technique for making things a little easier.

Proper shiatsu-giving is all about working from the hara... the area of the lower abdomen, the center of gravity, and as far as the Japanese are concerned, the seat of intuition (referred to in the west as our 'gut feelings').

From the perspective of good body mechanics, when treating someone, you always want to keep your hips close to and directly aligned with what your hands are working on.

I forget this sometimes, and will find myself straining in odd positions, or extending just a little too far beyond my reach.

When my body says, "Hey.. um, ouch..?", most times, all I'll have to do is torque my lower body slightly so my hara is facing what I'm doing, and it's like a palpable "click"... back strain disappears, arms are relaxed, and I'm back in control of myself.

I've created a shorter distance between my hands, which are listening, and my center, which is interpreting and guiding.

Working from the hara means that it is mostly driving the pressure. In other words, I'm not pushing into someone with my fingers or even my arms and shoulders. My hands simply become and remain an extension of my center, which not only informs me much more intelligently about how to proceed, but feels infinitely better for the person on the mat.

Hara de ... kangaroo???

No, silly. Hara de kangauru is a Japanese phrase meaning, "to think with one's hara".

And hara de yam, is "to act from hara".

This is a key precept not only of shiatsu, but in the martial art of Aikido.

We may think of this primarily in terms of the dynamic of acting in relation to another person, but at the heart is the discipline of mastering one's own energy and staying in center.

It's about not allowing yourself to be pulled away from the task at hand by meandering thoughts, multi-tasking, other people's agenda and dramas.

Commit the hips and the mind will follow.

There's the straightforward physical lesson here... that of good posture and body mechanics.

If you're currently sitting at your desk, notice your body. Where are your hips in relation to what you're working on? Are you sitting straight with feet on the floor, or are your legs crossed or off to the side?

Shift yourself in various positions for brief periods of time as you work on a task.. whether at your desk, or washing dishes, or talking with someone. Notice what happens to your attentiveness as you either fully face or move away away from what you're dealing with.

Let's get engaged!

Then there's the life lesson.

Interesting to note that the second chakra, the one dealing with being present in your own body, is located in the center of the hara, the tan dien.  When you bring your awareness to your hara, and you bring it into the conversation, you are essentially saying to whatever or whomever: "Here I am. I'm paying full attention. I am present."

And when you are present and engaged, everything seems to flow, does it not?

Try it for a day. For an hour. Get up and right now and move about your space, walking, standing, lifting, reaching, interacting.. all with the intention of "hara de yam"... acting from the hara.

Need a visualization?

Picture your lower abdomen in 3-D. See your pelvis structure as a bowl holding a ball of light or energy. This is your hara. Place your hands on the place below your navel. Take a few breaths, allowing this area to expand with each inhalation, and imagine the ball of light glowing brighter with each breath.

Imagine the ball having weight, and stand with your knees loose, bouncing a little to allow yourself to sink in the ground and root with the hara's solidity.

Shift your weight from side to side. Now try moving around the room again with this awareness.

Are you feeling it?

**As Gina's mind goes wandering off on tangents, she wonders if there's more than just coincidence between 'kangauru' and kangaroo... given that the hara/tan dien/second chakra is the area where babies gestate, and where marsupials, such as kangaroos, carry their young.

Hmmmmm.....**

But What If I'm Barefoot?

They say that you shouldn't judge another person until you've walked a mile in their shoes.

The idea here being that we really have no idea what another person is dealing with, what their lives are like, what it's like to be in their heads and hearts, and therefore really don't have an accurate picture by which we can make judgments about their words and actions.

I think this is good advice, as easy as it often is to make assessments about that other guy's so obviously blatant rude behavior.

But I digress.

I've been thinking a bit lately about empathy and compassion. About certain governmental leaders  in recent news who may have been calling the kettle black. And while the rest of us scream 'hypocrisy', I was thinking what a opportune time for that person to rethink his former stance against another governmental leader who once was in a similar position that he now finds himself.

But I digress yet again.

What I was really thinking when this came up, while working on a recent client, was this woman's breathing. And how it might feel to breathe that way. And her feet. And her body. And what it might feel like to inhabit that body.

This was one tip given to us in shiatsu school... when assessing a person's condition, and observing their posture, imagine putting yourself in that same bodily position. In doing so, you can almost imagine what they feel like.. what kind of outlook they might have on the world.

Try it, if you can. (Preferably without them noticing, otherwise they might accuse you of mocking them). Notice if their shoulders are slouched or pulled back, or if their chin hangs down or juts out. How do they walk? Do they shuffle? Or aggressively stride? Can you mimic this for a few moments and see if your own attitude changes, for better or worse?

And if you are fortunate enough to have someone beside you when you sleep, try noticing their breathing pattern and making yours the same. Often it's very difficult and uncomfortable after a few minutes.

This same client (coincidentally) was telling me a while back about a psychologist she knew of who would slowly mirror his client's mannerisms throughout their session ... so little as to be imperceptible. (I believe this conversation came up with her around the topic of goth.) And so, in his process of working with young people who had adopted this dark, macabre fashion statement, and then mirroring their posturing, he found his own thoughts growing rather dark and gloomy.

How interesting, I thought. To be able to get into a person's head by getting into their body. Almost literally walking in their shoes (which, by the way, in doing so, we possibly could get an idea of their posture, as our shoes wear out in accordance with our way of walking).

Body empathy? Kinesthetic compassion? Maybe there already is a whole science around this. I know that I've heard that when we want people to know that we're really listening to them, we mirror their body language. Often we do this unconsciously, adapting their movements, and sometimes even the pitch and tempo of their voice. (Try it! Notice what your own arms want to do when talking to someone who has their arms folded as if in a protective stance..)

And then, what would happen if we were to try reversing the process? In ourselves, by adopting a more upright and forward outlook when we're feeling down. Or keeping our postures open and uplifted when interacting with someone else who feels closed or low.

Could we better 'feel for each other' by learning how to feel as each other?

The New Rules of Posture

I have peripherally recommended this book, "The New Rules of Posture: How to Sit, Stand, and Move in the Modern World" by Mary Bond, for some months, so perhaps it's time to come right out and promote it.... especially as I have drawn so much of what I write about from its pages.

Author Mary Bond, with a Master's degree in dance, and Structural Integration training under Dr. Ida Rolf, beautifully illustrates the point that proper posture is not about how we stand still, but how we move and carry ourselves. 

East to understand, Bond effectively carries the reader through simple exercises that bring awareness to how the body feels.. which, instead of the traditional path of retraining the muscles, allows for postural changes from the inside out. 

Bond also challenges some of long-held beliefs concerning things like proper breathing and ergonomics. If you find yourself dealing with any kind of chronic pain.. neck, shoulders, back, hips, feet.. even fatigue... I highly recommend picking up this book and trying her simple exercises and suggestions... on its own, or in conjunction with other therapies, her book is invaluable.

If nothing else, you will gain a greater awareness of how your body is put together, and how each action you undertake affects and is affected by every other. This is very much a book I would like to have written, and find it to be an essential part of my library.

Thinking Outside the Box

Such an oft-used term, isn't it? Almost a cliche'.

'Thinking outside of the box' is a metaphor intended to be descriptive of the creative process... to discover new solutions for familiar  problems by tossing out the 'same ol' same ol', and abandoning unproductive paradigms.

And what is a paradigm? A perspective and way of thinking so overarching as to be invisible and unquestioned. The idea of challenging paradigms can feel as scary as taking oneself off life-support.

Continuing with the box metaphor, paradigms can come in many sizes. They be giant freight containers.. encompassing entire cultures, or shoe boxes small enough to contain a family, a couple or an individual. What's most remarkable about these boxes is the flimsy material from which they're fabricated, but our experience of them is that of plexiglass. Invisible, yet unbreakable. They are stories (and often assumptions) about "the way things are". We may not even notice a paradigm until it is challenged.

What does this have to do with bodywork? (Always the question, isn't it? Where is she GOING with this?" Bear with me..)

I see a parallel between limited paradigms that don't serve us, and a limited range of physical expression. Paradigms are the stories about "the way things are". And our bodies are the storytellers. We come into this world with full range of motion and expression... and over time, the stories, with their accompanying limitations, pile onto us, like layers of clothing. Some asked-for, many not. Life goes on and there may come a time (if we're lucky) when we wonder, who am I? under this cumbersome wardrobe. Our bodies have taken the shape of what we've molded ourselves to be.. to find happiness, to maintain a relationship, to self-protect, to feel worthy, to care for others... and often, we start to buckle under all that weight.

Again, if we're lucky, the inkling of a suspicion comes forth about a potential key to our happiness. This inkling glows and grows, makes us giddy with joy.. begins to take on a life of its own, and then.. WHAM!...comes smack up against the constraints of the box. Paradigms of the Way Things Are, or Should Be, or Have Always Been (often labeled as 'reality') fill us with feelings of doubt and shame, and guilt... and 'what the hell was I thinking?'  -- and back into the cramped box goes that little spark of joy (otherwise known as 'who you really are').. to either die a sad and lonely death, or to continue to find a way to express itself, in ways that may not always be very healthy to self and others.

I've seen it, and I've felt it, in my clients and in myself.

Like I said, challenging paradigms can feel life-threatening. Challenging a limited range of motion can feel painful and destabilizing. We get very, very used to stuff. Even if we're miserable.

But here's the thing. What if, even for the briefest of moments, we were to stop ourselves in the process of stuffing our deepest desires underneath the layers of our beliefs about 'How We Should Be", and in that moment asked, "Whose story is this? Why do I believe what I believe about this? And is it really true? Whose clothes ARE these?" It is in that moment of questioning that utter miracles happen.  Even if we choose to keep those clothes on.. keep our beliefs and our paradigms (because we gotta have something to go on!).. even still, just the recognition of a CHOICE creates space, room to breathe...room to move and get unstuck from a very cramped and uncomfortable position. Energy, momentum, and possibility flow in. Being able to touch one's toes after years of experiencing pain in the attempt is motivating and encouraging.

So, what is it? What is that 'reality' that boxes you in, and keeps you from stepping into your joy? Here's another thing. Paradigms aren't real. They exist only in our perception. Does that make it a little easier?

Like this post? Then, do be a dear, and