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| Double-sided Chakra illustration |
Our body's adapting mechanism is a double-edge sword. On one hand, stress happens, we (sometimes) note and sense it and then our bodies adapt to it. And then stress happens again and very efficiently, the body adapts to it again. And so the pattern goes. We are constantly adapting to stressors and also accumulating layers upon layers of it without resolving it. This impacts our energy fields and life force as mentioned previously. An akin metaphor would be, we enter a room with a bad odor. The body notes it but within seconds adapts and "gets used to it"; the olfactory stops noting the bad odor (even though the odor has not gone away). This is very like how the body deals with stress. Our bodies are designed to adapt, adapt, adapt, giving us a false sense that the stress is no longer present nor been absorbed.
So, what is required are three things: a more acute sensitization and awareness that my being is currently being subjected to difficulty, or stress, a sense of internal (and external) groundedness that acknowledges the disturbance and finally that care is taken.
Meditation or mindfulness is a very useful practice in this regard. By slowing the mind, feeling-center and body down, sensitizing our awareness, we begin to have a consciousness of the subtle and oblique in ourselves. With regular practice, the organism becomes "primed" in this awareness, so outside of our meditation time, a relationship within ourselves to ourselves (and occasionally others) is more likely in experiencing this subtly in our every day activity.
Many of us as young parents (of a certain generation) taught our children about the "uh-oh feeling". That feeling one gets, that's not seemingly justified, but none-the-less real. We taught our children to respect that uncomfortable sense in oneself and seek help and safety even if those surrounding us at the time didn't have a similar feeling. This "uh-oh" feeling in my mind, is somewhat related to intuition, but I also think it's a body awareness that is quite subtle, possible messaging from our energetic field.
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Kirlian Bio-electrography (electricmagnetic energy field)
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I did three specific things toward “smoothing” out (both reinvigorating and nourishing) my energy field. Over the course of the next three days, I took an aromatherapy bath, did a session of QiGong and went to an acupuncturist.
Aromatherapy’s essential oils (eos) work on a vibrational level. My aim in using them was to have the deeply relaxing, replenishing chemistry of these eos work on my energy field. I took the bath at 2pm and slept afterwards for 4 hours (unusual for me), waking very refreshed and feeling renewed. My night sleep was not disturbed but a normal, 7-8 hours.
QiGong is also a type of energy medicine. “Qi baths” basically draw energy up and over oneself, connecting oneself to the earth and the heavens (per Chinese ideology). “Scattering Rice” is pulling energy into your belt line (dantian) and releasing it behind you. Done repetitively (along with the deep breathing that is part of all Qigong work) this ‘rights’ and balances one’s energy.
On the third day I visited the acupuncturist. During the session, I fell asleep for an hour and was ‘rosey-colored’ when I awoke. I did a few low key errands afterwards and noticed a subtle, sublime feeling of joy and that my sense of myself, my “inner smile” as the Taoists say, had returned (I hadn’t realized it was missing). I walked around the co-op with a buoyancy and a sense of deep, quiet happiness. I slept 11 hours that night. My energy fields are feeling pretty intact at the moment.
Preventative medicine for many people is getting an annual check up. I think a broader awareness and attention to one’s energy fields should be a big consideration in addressing prevention. As was illustrated we are dealing with varying aspects of ourselves; there is an assessor, a denier, parts of ourselves that sense the delicate, other parts that are rather obtuse, only wanting the comfort of sameness. We know stress impacts our health. Why wait until we have a full blown symptom or disease? Why not take care by addressing one’s energy field before the damage effects our physiology?
