BODY ENERGETICS - AN ESSAY

BODY ENERGETICS

MIND-BODY INTERFACE

There is a harmony and fluid, dynamic relationship between the mind and the body. Though the mind is a separate entity from the body, the two exist in direct relationship with each other.

For without the mind, the body ceases to function and will die.

The body is physical, empirical and living, whereas the mind is invisible, subtle and non-physical.

The body is pervaded by the mind, the mind can be experienced throughout the body - the exceptions being the hair and nails, which though extensions of the body are not pervaded by mind.

The Western school of thought tends to consider the mind to be the brain, but based upon Eastern understanding, the brain is considered to be a functioning aspect of the physical body, and therefore not the subtle, non-physical mind.

So, what is the mind? The mind is described as clarity and cognition clarity as its nature is clear and unobstructed, like a clear glass of water through which light can pass, but with a greater attribute of clarity as the mind knows no obstructions whatsoever.

The mind is not impeded by distance, object or time. We know this from our own experience, for should we think of a distant object or place, maybe a distant city, our mind travels there immediately, and also the mind can travel through solid objects such as walls and mountains. Time too is no impediment to mind as we can visit places of our past with complete accuracy and also project into the possibilities of the future.

And cognition, the other aspect of the mind that tends to cognise or engage with knowable objects. We can understand this from our ability to 'see' or 'know' colours, shapes or forms, and to touch, taste, hear and smell.. For in its aspect of cognition the mind knows objects, makes sense of our physical existence, and facilitates our survival in this world.

The clarity enables the lucidity of cognition to be sifted and sorted, to create our life as we know and understand it, and allow the information necessary for our human survival to be maximised, and the superfluous information to be minimised.

Our own mind knows our own body better than any other thing in this universe, as it is, in effect, the closest thing to us, and this closeness, this harmonious relationship is a beautifully symbiotic relationship.

For, to enable and maximise our body potential we need to be able to nourish, maintain and sustain our vehicle of this life with maximum efficiency and with minimum effort.

We have many aspects to our lives, from our base and primitive survival to the highest aspects of spiritual aspiration... These aspects of our human life are both dependant upon our body, for without our human body we cannot survive, or explore and reach our highest spiritual potential.

So, we can ask, how well do we know our body, and how well do we know our mind? And one further question, how well do we know the relationship between mind and body?

We can gain insight and understanding into our minds through the practice of meditation, which is covered in 'Holding onto Happiness' and as explained, this involves participation and a pro-active approach.

Too often, in the modern Western world we bypass the responsibility of both our mind's welfare and the welfare of our bodies to the medical profession, and therein lies so many of the problems within both individuals minds and also the wider problems of society.

For, who can know our body better than ourselves? We have lived within our body throughout our life, but we are seldom encouraged to engage in any analysis or understanding into the nature and functions of our physical bodies. We may have an understanding of anatomy and physiology if we have had specific tutoring or education, but how many of us have been taught or encouraged to gain insights into the relationships of mind and body, and then to take active responsibility for our health, well-being and development.

This knowledge is called 'Body Energetics', a study of the relationship of mind and body from the perspective of the energy or flow that ensures our health, well-being and vitality.

Understanding, and then adopting an engaged and participatory role in out lives is essential to create, develop and increase our health, well-being and happiness. It is possible to take each of these elements, and develop each individually, but a holistic and combined approach creates a magical and profoundly transformational effect.

For who you have been, and who you are now is not who you need to be. It may be that your life is the way you wish it to be, but should you wish to chart a course to become a new person, a person of subtle, powerful and refined qualities, it is useful to gain an insight into who you are now and gain a reference as to who you wish to become, for we are the architects of our experience, we can choose which attributes we wish to develop and expand, and release those tiresome aspects we wish to leave behind.

And finally, to the aspect of vitality, which might be described as our wellspring of energy. The source of our life forces and the continuum of our continual transformation that defies a precise definition, but within our lives we know if we have vitality, or not...

Body energetics practices will function to increase our vitality, ensuring our capacity for growth and development, with the added aspects of increasing our radiance, calm and beauty. These aspects of our lives increase in relationship to our vitality and this can be understood by the occasions when we have met someone with great vitality - their skin and eyes have a lustre and glow, and they will exude a sense of calm, and have beauty in their body language, manner and demeanour.

I can say, with complete certainty, that you, should you choose to engage with your potentials, will gain and increase all these attributes within your life - you will become body energetic.

THE SUBTLE BODY

When we begin to contemplate body energetics, there is much that is subtle and intuitive. Much of the medical profession will deny the existence of the subtle body, and why is this? It is because it is not visible, and cannot be directly seen or measured, but I shall ask you - are these sufficient reasons for you? Or, are you aware of the subtle flow and movements around and within your body?

To consider the subtle body is like contemplating an ocean - the complete body of water, with currents, eddies, flow and movement, continually shifting and travelling, and as with an ocean, the movement tends to follow reasonably predictable paths and patterns, but change is always occurring.

It is taught that within our body, our energy flows along 72,000 channels (or nadis), carried by winds, which arise from our minds, and to gain a little insight as to how this functions, we can try a little experiment.

If you touch your finger and thumb together, you will feel the sensation of touch, and when using the wisdom of body energetics, it is explained that the reason why we sense touch here is that our mind travels to the point of contact, carried by winds, travelling along the channels.

This understanding of how the mind moves throughout the body is the basis for understanding body energetics. So, we can stimulate the movement of our mind by touch, or we can stimulate the movement of our mind by thought, and again, we can try an experiment.

Think of your thumb tip, and consider what it is experiencing right now, and you will be moving your mind to that part of your body, and this can be repeated to any and all parts of your body, including muscles and inner organs.

At first our control of the movement of energy within our body, using the mind, is quite unrefined, but with practice, and with a map, it becomes subtle, direct and powerful.

And we do have a map. The main channel we have is called our central channel, and this runs from the base of our spine, rises up to the crown of our head, and forward to the centre of our eyebrows.

And, along the central channel are 7 chakras. These chakras are situated at the base of the spine, mid-way between the base of the spine and the navel, at the navel, at the heart level, at the throat, at the crown of the head, and midway between the eyebrows.

These chakras are the main meeting points of all the 72,000 channels, and such can be considered the hubs of the subtle body.

As the mind resides at the heart chakra, all movement of wind arises from the heart chakra, and travels up and down the central channel, and the 2 side channels, and then out into the 72,000 channels that comprise our subtle body.

The body is an ocean of currents and movements, arising from mind, flowing in familiar patterns, from finer tip to the crown of the head, and slowly, gradually, this movement can be directed by your will.

The flow of energy is sometimes described as Chi or Prana, and it is this directed movement that is used in both Tai Chi and Yoga. As we think of moving the body, the body responds and moves, as we gain control of the subtle body energy. And as the controlled movement becomes refined and considered our movements become graceful, elegant, precise and powerful, and this in turn brings an inner confidence arising from a clarity of mind and a sureness of thought.

INNER VISION FOR WELLNESS AND HEALING

With the experience, practice and knowledge of body energetics arises the potential to know our own body, and know your body with astonishing insight and accuracy.

This is called 'inner vision' and it develops into the ability to scan your own body, almost as an MRI can or X-Ray, to 'see' and 'know' exactly what is occurring within our living form.

With experience and practice it becomes possible to view the inner world of our body with the clarity in which we can see the room we are sat in. And, as we sit in our room we can see if areas are clean or dirty, tidy or untidy, cluttered or clear, broken or working, and this insight is invaluable as a tool for understanding our own health and wellbeing.

For with this inner clarity, the functioning of our body becomes apparent, and we begin to be able to determine the condition of our body, and choose to adopt self-healing understanding and techniques to both heal ourselves and take practical steps to maintain our health.

It always seemed strange to me that we should take our body to a doctor to understand what we are experiencing when, we, as having been in direct contact with our bodies for our whole lives, should have a very clear idea and insight as to what is happening within our bodies - but, there is a very good reason why we do not have this experience.

When we experience pain or discomfort in our bodies, what do we do and how do we respond to pain? On a body energetic level we pull our energy, our awareness, away from the pain to reduce the intensity of the experience. Though this has a quick and useful response and reaction mechanism, in the long term much of our illness, ill health, low vitality, stiffness, aches and pains can be partly attributed to this de-sensitising of our body due to the withdrawal of our awareness and energy.

If for example we have a pain in our hip, what might our normal course of action be? Probably to try and 'protect' the hip, by tightening our muscles around the hip joint, blocking the energy flow, and gradually over a long period of time we will create an energy 'vacuum' around the joint, locked in with spasmed muscles, which in turn will add a tilt to our walking and standing postures, throwing our body our of shape.

The ramifications of these vacuums can be very acute in the long term, causing very serious imbalances throughout our system. These areas of neglect within our body, once neglected and ignored, are like areas of a garden that are overlooked, and become choked with weeds and overcome with dense undergrowth and even impenetrable brambles, and back in the context of our body energetic flow, blockages will occur.

These energy blockages will manifest gradually in our physical body, in our digestive system, our nervous system, our bloodstream and our glandular systems, leading to ill health and disease.

Consider the water system within your home, if the pipes leak, are blocked, kinked or damaged, the system will be sluggish, turgid and will flow erratically and unevenly, and this is very similar as to how our energy system will weaken and fail.

So, how do we develop our inner vision and empower ourselves to clear and then avoid blockages, and maintain clear energetic flow?

BODY WORK

For optimum energy and vitality we have to accept and observe responsibility for our own well-being. It is not enough to rely upon treatments and practitioners to maintain our bodies for us.

For optimum flow of Chi or Prana we can enlist the help of reflexologists, acupuncturists or Reiki healers, but as with so many aspects of life, prevention is better than cure.

With the correct usage of bodywork and breathwork we can prevent blockages in our system and avoid many common illnesses and diseases, to the extent that we will rarely become ill, even shrugging off the common cold.

Picture this - after winter it is time to get the garden hose out of the shed to water the garden. We turn on the tap, but no water comes out of the end of the hose. With a little irritation we turn back and look at the hose, kinked and twisted, bent and distorted, and as we gradually straighten the hose a trickle begins to emerge until we have laid the hose out straight, and after a few final splutters and delays the water begins to flow, eventually clearing all the winters collected debris and stale water until the water finally flows free, pure, powerful and clear.

And this clearance, removal of blockages, can be achieved with our physical bodies, and this has the ramification within our subtle bodies as the two intertwine and inter connect.

A gentle process of stretching, toning and twisting the body, using soft yoga practices will enable and facilitate energetic flow clearly and lightly, gradually increasing our inner awareness, well being and vitality.

The first time you might practice a yoga stretch, the body may feel tight and stiff, but if it is possible for you to consciously relax around the tight or tense muscles, using the mind, the tension will ease, and a sense of comfort and relief will begin to flow and flood the body. And should you choose to enter the path, the practice of yoga, over time your body will become strong, subtle, lithe and vibrant.

During the process of opening the body, over a period of time we ill encounter many obstacles and challenges, and by choosing to continue through the challenges, an increased awareness and understanding of physical, emotional and spiritual bodies will emerge, and amongst these realisations will be the revelation of emotional traumas that have been held and trapped within our physical bodies, often completely without our conscious knowledge.

For, as we journey through our lives, we experience traumas, abuse, fear and rejections, maybe apparently minor and forgotten, but the echoes of these seemingly trivial (or indeed major) events, can be stored and locked within our muscles.

When we are frightened, threatened or confronted, there is often an involuntary and un-noticed muscular tension or spasm that arises within the body habitually in similar life situations, and possible even at the thought or memory of similar occasions.

These physical responses, to emotional situations, can also create blockages or vacuums within the body that divert our energy from a particular part of our body, and over time our joints, organs or muscles can begin to lock and freeze.

By practicing body energetics, through yoga and breathwork, we will be bought into direct awareness of the boundaries of our blockages, and when encountered, a unique and special opportunity arises, for in that moment of encounter, we can choose to witness and engage with that specific emotional stored trauma.

And at this time, an understanding will arise, activating the memory associated with that hidden blockage, and as the experience is recalled, you will gain intuitive insight into the nature of the muscular tightness, and once identified, never forgotten. Over the following few days, as you continue to witness the low ache, once hidden within the body, a continuance of the trauma's initial memory will loosen, and the blockage will dissipate and energy will flow once again.

Travel safely, dear ones... I am with you. Mark xxx