Designed to Move

photo credit: rxl photographics fotostream

The body is designed to move.

Every aspect of our complex human physiology is dependent on this requirement:  movement.

A brief primer in Physiology and Movement
The heart, the "master pump" is the most important muscle in the body, pumping blood throughout the body, nourishing all major vessels and organs. Muscles (including the heart) have to be used (challenge-rest activity) to function; if left underused, muscles atrophy and don't operate optimally.  This less-than-three-quarters of a pound organ, contracts and releases approximately 72 times per minute, circulating life-giving blood and oxygen throughout our organism.  Hence, to keep the heart's muscle healthy, challenging it through movement is imperative.

Lymph nodes are scattered throughout our bodies (in gorgeous groups and related patterns), from our cranium to our feet.  Lymph nodes are the garrisons of our immune cells; proper flow of lymph through the body protects our disease fighting capacity.  Unlike blood, which is pumped through arteries and veins via the contraction and release of the heart muscle, lymph is completely dependent on movement to keep it flowing, flooding the bloodstream with its wondrous immune properties. Only movement moves lymph.  Stagnant lymph, prevents white blood cells and their incredible immunity properties from doing their job, protecting us from infection and disease.  The body is designed to move.

Pneumonia is the frequent last illness of the elderly.  Pneumonia develops when the lung's respiratory mechanism is diminished or compromised.  The lung's exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen is a movement.  This movement's capacity is impacted by the muscular-skeletal system's wellness (ie: spinal stenosis, negatively impacts respiration, by limiting movement, sometimes even the organ's natural movement). Movement of the body forces oxygen into the lungs, expanding the lobes so they can counter the action by expelling carbon dioxide.  The body is designed to move.

These are just a few illustrations as to how movement impacts our bodies.  This post would turn into a small book if I were to include the bones, joints, muscles, mood/psych and endocrine relationship to movement.  We all have experienced the stiffness and muscle weakness, the irritability and fatigue of sitting around too much or for too long.  Suffice it to say, the body is designed to move.  Move we must.

The question
Why as a culture, having all this information as to the benefits and absolute need to move the body often, challenging the cardiac threshold frequently, bending, turning, squatting and reaching to maintain range of motion and balance, how is it we resist practicing what we know? We take the car instead of the bike, the elevator instead of the stairs. We design appliances and technology so no bending is required.  Daily walk constitutionals are a thing of the Victorian/Edwardian era. Backyards and blocks are no longer a buzz of activity with kids running and playing outdoor games; replaced by sedentary electronic activities.

In relation to movement the adage, "information is power", doesn't seem to apply.  We know all this stuff (for the most part) but our passivity dominates.  The path of least resistance.....  It's almost as if we don't want to know our own physicality, to own these bodies we live in, to fulfill the being obligation of taking care of them every which way.  Where is the honoring of the vessel, the "temple"?

photo credit:  Haroon Sadiq

Where is the joy?  The innate joy we all knew as babies rolling around the crib, toddlers challenging their movement capacities, youngsters exploring sports, dance, the heart pounding thrill of sprinting for a bus, a long tennis volley?  Even non-athletes crawled and courageously learned to walk through delightful trial and error; we have all been enthralled at one time or another with our body's movement capacity, moving through space. Our bodies remember this; it's there in our cells, embedded in our central nervous systems.  How can we reclaim for ourselves the pure pleasure of moving?

There will always be the excuse of age:  "My knees and hips don't bounce like they used to .... my arthritis keeps me indoors... I have stenosis, sciatica, chronic fatigue...".  Yes, the excuses are endless, especially if associated to pain (which always trumps that endorphined-feel-good memory of old).  I believe the body calls for a relationship to self in it's discomforts.  It calls for an attention in relationship to movement.  Movement and pain are not exclusive.  They co-habitate, right here, in me.  I can't turn away from one to oblige the other.  It's a package deal.

The satisfaction of movement is our birthright, at any age in any health condition.  It may not be the leaping youngster-of-old's movement and in fact might be a yet-undiscovered way of moving, that is just as delightful and delicious in the bodies we now inhabit.  Remembering the organic pleasure of my body in motion leads me to the inquiry and the subsequent exploration of my relationship with this organism, and a sensitivity to the subtle cues it gives me as to its needs.  The curiosity, the interest and the memory ultimately have to be rebirthed.  Knowing my physicality, having a pulse on the body's innate need and desire to move is essential sometimes before the right movement form (ie: Yoga, QiGong, TaiChi, swimming) for one's Now comes into being.  In a way, it starts with love for oneself, the appreciation of this vehicle that faithfully takes us through this life, the curiosity and awareness of who I am in movement.

A Walk In My Shoes

After doing a lot of witnessing of art, people in life and in Authentic Movement sessions as of late, I am feeling a little protective of the ordinary she in myself who is not embodied, never heard of presence or mindfulness and couldn't care less about being.

Witnessing is directly related to the amount of a fuller attention I have available in a moment.  My attention is labile; it is the human condition that this is so, not a personal deficit.  So, what do I have if I don't have attention?  I have a self who is projecting pretty continuously, about what she is seeing and what she is experiencing.  In the past, this was a fated experience to bemoan. Now, I see it differently.  It seems that it is just more material, more information to help Me have a more complete picture of myself, a better understanding.  If I don't turn away from the fact that it is projection, I might even have an opportunity to enjoy it.

This more relaxed attitude helps me embrace my humanity a little more fully.  It keeps the judgements at bay.  It gives me a larger perspective of all of me.  In the past, I've leaned toward trying to grasp the experience of the open presence, the less attached attention.  Perhaps it is the flexing of this "muscle", the experience of going in and out of this presence that has garnered this more free attention a little space that can observe, watch and witness when most of me is not fully there.  Like a camera shutter, she glimpses the few seconds in the hours of a day the tripping, the ordinary, the hand that turns the door knob, the genius timing of the kinesthetic response, the sometime Quixote-esque self as she navigates her life.

The past's habit of almost condemning the parts of myself that are not conscious (and never will be), usually labeled "ego", and diminishing of what Is, does not seem so entrenched.  Someone has stopped buying that what is ordinary is not ok. Someone has become interested in the pedestrian walking in my shoes.

Social Beings

 I remember two things from the sociology class I took 17 years ago.  One is, that sociologically speaking, the marker that differentiates wealthy from not wealthy is not the money a person has but the amount of leisure time one has.  The other thing I remember is that having a diverse and varied social life in old age is a major factor in how long a senior lives.  I remember being surprised at this at the time.  I now understand this fully having seen aged parents decline, death hastened by depression and loneliness and also having witnessed elderly patient's health decline necessitating hospitalization often correlated by the isolation of living extremely solitary existences.

People-persons are born, and NO!people-persons are also born.  Those who have tender skins and get bruised easily, sometimes have resorted to animals for company.  And great company they are too.  I've had patients about to be admitted to the hospital who refused to stay overnight because of a dear pet at home that needed tending. Non-conditional love from and to an animal can be a hearty inducement to enhance one's life force.  But, even for the tender skinned, it's human contact which notices one's waning pallor or lost weight, who knows what you went through 40 years ago and have a deep understanding in one's longevity and a corresponding empathy.  One could surmise how solitary confinement is used as a punishment and a method of torture.  We are social beings.


From the point of view of someone who has been around a lot of elderly and seen the various environments that sustain them (and which they sometimes endure), a diverse and varied circumstance appears most life-giving.  Living in a place and having the experience where all generations move through frequently, where the familiar and the unfamiliar co-exist and nature in the forms of animals, plants and creative outlet are commonplace, is ideal.  We become a bit crystallized, brittle (usually) as we age.  We want what we want, we resist change (yet our capacities are under a continual onslaught of change), we cling to our familiar habits.  Whereas one part of me wants to say, by the time one achieves octogenarian status, it's ok to have dessert before dinner, so-to-speak.  And yet, change and challenging one's flexibility in agedness is a good idea. Maintaining and forming new circles of relationships while continuing to practice connection and communication with oneself and others is life giving.

In Tian Tan Park, Beijing, it is a common occurrence all mornings to see hundreds of elderly people gathering in substantial groups using "senior jungle gyms", square dancing or waltzing with each other.  This is an everyday occurrence, part of their routine.  In China, they understand the imperative nature of contact and of exercise through life's continuum. You stop meeting, you stop moving, you die; longevity in Chinese culture is everything.


It is unavoidable;  death is on its way. But being old isn't the time to stop living.


"We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection."
                                                                                         --Dalai Lama

Unexpected Healings

Stay with me, you non-medical gentle readers, this might get a little graphic.

I slammed the car door on my finger at Christmas.  This mishap caused a huge hematoma (blackish blood spot) to be created at the cuticle base of my finger.  I've been watching it now for a few months.  I expected that the body would eventually absorb the blood spot, my nail would get all yellow and grotty and I would lose it.  But that didn't happen. As my nail has been growing, the hematoma under the nail has been moving along with the nail's growth. So I then surmised that the hematoma would slough off as the nail grew out. That didn't happen either.  What did happen was the nail, with the blood spot now in the middle of the nail, having grown that far from the cuticle, erupted (!), broke through the nail above (as the new nail is growing under), freeing the debris of the hematoma.  Extremely unexpected! (ok, "gross" part over; fyi, it doesn't look as bad as described. And it doesn't hurt at all.)

Healing is unexpected. How the body deals with trauma or illness is largely mysterious, despite the plethora of knowledge as to how the body works.  The body has its own ideas.

A client suffering with uncharacteristic impulsivity and poor decision-making of late wondered why this was happening, what was going on.  We delved into the question with the intelligence of an open body by doing some Authentic Movement.  What arrived for her was an experience of the self named "Magnificent Vertical Beauty"; a part of her that respectfully follows the quiet, delicate and Knowing; that finds exactly the right note, tone, gesture and movement needed in a moment rather effortlessly. A part that knows when to be still and is guided by the listening and the moment's quiet.  With the surfacing of this 'character', she recognized she had been indiscreetly generous in a host of ways, too often; not respected nor appreciated by the receiver. Post session, she realized how she had taken for granted this more sacred aspect of herself, and all the giving it away would not relieve the need to share it.  Somehow this Magnificent Vertical Beauty was for her alone, not to be shared (at this point), was delicate and fine and required protection and discernment, but most of all an acknowledgement of its value, her worth.

This information for her gleaned from this session was unexpected. Could we have arrived at it through analyzing the events of life that were troubling?  Maybe.  Would that approach have been embodied, and poetic and using more of herself, a larger intelligence, to understand the dis-ease? No, most certainly not.

Unexpected Healings.  Staying open to the surprise of what is possible, what transpires, what is.

Reflexology as Informant

Translation:  "Don't hurt me." reply: "I shall act so you praise me."

I've found, in the role of Reflexologist, people can be funny about their feet.  They're hyper-conscious of what they look like, they are ticklish, or hyper-sensitive to stimulation or alternately, they almost border on a touch fetish.  And you can tell a lot about a person by their feet.  The care (or not) which has been given to them, fungus or yeast conditions present, deep cracked callus', tenderness, discoloration and swelling present.  All feet are not created equal, even when they belong to alternate legs on the same body.  Invariably, one foot is a lot more less "troublesome"than the other, has more flexibility, more willingness to be revealed. It all creates a picture for me as to who the person is whose tootsies recline before me.

As appendages, feet are amazing.  Many inches long and a lot fewer wide, that group of twenty-six tiny bones support approximately 100-300 lbs of adult for umpteen hours a day, every day for several decades. They synergetically adjust and absorb to the shocks of running, walking, dancing and they rebound! Even when the posture is amiss, even when one's body compensations are wide and varied, they carry us. Rarely do they fail.  When they do, it's usually no fault of their own. I've always watched body's move, pedestrian or otherwise.  But I often (when on a beach, sidewalk or check out line) look at how people's feet are when I'm behind them; where do they place most of their weight, how do they move through the foot or not when ambulating.  It's just interesting.

Per the Ingham Method in which I was trained, Reflexology is a science that works on the principle that there are reflex areas in the feet and hands (and earlobes!) that correspond to all glands, organs and skeletal parts of the body.  Reflexology relieves stress and tension (aiding us in reaching homeostasis), improves blood supply and promotes the unblocking of the nerve impulses.

Pain and sensitivity in areas of the foot indicate a congestion in the zone of the body as indicated by the zone of the disturbed area on the foot.  For example, tenderness felt on the medial (inside) aspect of the foot's metatarsal corresponds with the spine, both being in Zone 1. In this case, clearing the zone with Reflexology promotes better energy flow, blood supply and improved nerve impulses to the spine.

I'm particularly fond of Reflexology, as a practitioner.  It's a time when I usually enter a state of deep relaxation; I mostly always feel there is a tremendous amount of self care embedded in the work.  Many of the relaxation "moves" of the technique are meant to cut the tension in the practitioner as well as the client. Breathing deeply. Listening closely to self and other. Receptivity. Responsiveness.  It's a kind of Holy.

Resource for training or finding a certified practitioner:
Reflexology FL USA - International Institute of Reflexology ...

Have Mercy

Having mercy is an opportunity each of us faces every day.  Whether it is the choice we make in how we handle an aggressive telemarketer on the phone, a grumpy argumentative old guy in the check out line, or an aging appliance beginning to falter. How I am is who I am.  Having mercy in a moment is as much about the care and consideration I have for myself as it is for another.


The following story is an example of the possibility of conventional medicine joining with alternative/complimentary medicine with the idea of achieving best outcomes for patient and practitioner.  

I admit a 62 year old woman, "Laura," newly diagnosed with progressive metastasized lung cancer. She claims, "I just can't get comfortable.  I want to jump out of my skin." Her vital signs are within normal limits, her oxygenation is fine, her breathing pattern is regular and even. She appears very anxious since her family left an hour ago.  I remember to use presence when I see/feel this anxiety.  I find my own sense of stillness in my legs, in my chest.  I become aware of my breathing and sense of tension in my body. I notice something has slowed down in myself. I look at her and I feel time. The time between us right now, the time we are sharing. I've got her. She's got me. Right now, we've got each other, unrushed. 

Now I can let my skills go to work.  


My conventional nursing judgment is that she requires an anxiety medication and possibly a sleeping aid (neither are currently prescribed).  She also will need emotional support and integrative medicine (IM) interventions.  Laura and I discuss her needs right now, how's she feeling and what she thinks would help her.  I make both conventional and complementary medicine suggestions. She says emphatically she wants it all.  I tell her I have to get an order from the doctor for the medications and the process of ordering and obtaining the meds might take 20-30 minutes.  I don't feel comfortable leaving her alone without some support for the anticipated 20 minutes I do these tasks.  I spend three minutes with her reviewing a simple breathing method using a relaxing guided imagery technique to help put her more at ease while she is waiting.  She's taken to it well. I leave to make the arrangements for the meds and prepare an essential oil aromatherapy "cotton ball" for anxiety and sleep.  Still waiting for the meds, I reassess Laura and find her more quiet and relaxed (her eyes are closed).  The cotton ball is to her liking, so I pin it to her hospital gown.  I coach her through deep breathing.  I speak to her in measured, low melodic vocal tones and we pick up her previous desired visualization piece and move through the five senses again, working with the breath.  


Laura is very quiet; I lower the head of the bed to 45 degrees, lower the lights and leave to retrieve the meds,returning five minutes later.  She is dozing, her diaphragmatic breathing deep and regular. I hold the meds for the time being, and do a short therapeutic touch session on her, smoothing out her energy field, allowing for a deeper rest. 

Lost in the Wilderness

 

photo by: CJ McGannon

A moment happens sometimes when the chronic diving into activity, mechanical habits, spinning repetitive thoughts, planning and subsequent worry has me realizing I am lost in the wilderness.  It's the ache of loneliness, of having been a long time away from myself that first wakes me to this. Somehow, once again, I am far away from Home, from having an awareness or ostensible sense of force in Self.  It's just a moment, a moment of recognition. There is no hope of finding my way back right then, I am in that moment buried in the static tension of purpose, knowing, believing, doing, desire. Still, there is a distant, long ago and far away vague voice heard: "Come home.  Where are You?"

Lost in the Wilderness.  Again. There is nothing to do about it. There I am.  To struggle being there just puts me deeper in the woods. So something quiet activates, is willing to open to the subtle.  Plunging ahead is not an option.

I suppose it would be appropriate to have gratitude for the cresting automatic in myself.  After all, it is its mounting, frenetic force that has brought a stop of sorts, a first notice that I've been missing-in-action. It's extreme has woken Other up.  The prodigal Self comes back to memory, back into being.

To know one is in a wilderness is a big thing. It makes it possible to reconsider the treadmill one has been on, to feel the aloneness of having been away and distant. Like waking, the engagement of my senses is once again possible and a sensitization to the ephemeral in and around me, the thing that will direct me back Home actually has a chance to do so.

Somatic Healing

Red Sleeve Panther, Cheyenne warrior
PTSD survivor?  photo credit: L.A. Huffman, 1879

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is seemingly epidemic and Integrated Medicine's (IM) cache of promising interventions effectively address this catastrophic malady.

"Post-traumatic stress disorder is a type of anxiety disorder. It can occur after you've seen or experienced a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death."  Source: healthline.com

1.7 million people are effected by a traumatic brain injury every year.  There are tens of thousands of veterans coming back from war scenarios,  PTSD is a major health factor; it is estimated 1 out of 6 vets will be homeless in their lifetime due to non-addressed PTSD.  Currently, pain and underlying PTSD symptoms are being treated with opioids (not effectively); therefore, addiction can be a side effect of PTSD untreated.  Countless others (on the record and off) have suffered birth trauma, sexual abuse, assault, accident, natural disasters and violence all making them likely victims of PTSD. Like cancer, if you haven't experienced PTSD yourself, chances are a loved one has.


Neuroscientific research validates the truth that the body and mind are not separate but are interdependent and deeply interconnected. Whereas trauma impacts dramatically on a person's mental and emotional well-being, the physicality of the trauma is stored in the body, in the cells and the patterning of the autonomic nervous system.  One might not even remember the trauma, but the body does not forget.  Trauma actually becomes embedded in the nervous system.  As long as it is stored or veritably trapped in the body, trauma will wreak havoc on a person's physical, mental emotional and spiritual wellness. An example is, a client's assault trauma remained minimized for ten years.  When a minor injury in the same area of the original trauma occurred, a full blown physical, mental and emotional response was elicited throwing the client into crisis.  Trauma energy (no matter how old) is unintegrated, fragmented and extremely charged.  Unresolved trauma can impact charged positive states as well, such as sexuality, compassion, gratitude and joy as stored trauma is extremely energized and in the central nervous system's aroused state, (posititive or otherwise) mirrors the parallel heightened state in the trauma event.  

As one might guess, talk psychotherapy is not usually the best way to approach PTSD.  The body memories can't be talked out of what was experienced.   Somatic Experiencing and Somatic Emotional Release are both extremely valuable body work modalities, effective in dealing with PTSD.  When in the hands of a compassionate and competent practitioner, miracles can happen.  Shamanic rituals and nature-based healing practices (which I wouldn't doubt Red Sleeve Panther above, might have utilized in recovering from what was probably multiple traumas in his lifetime) also mend and repair a dysregulated nervous system.  We have several layers of energy fields and when one of those fields is violated by trauma or major stress, all the related fields akin to it are adversely effected. Tantric Medicine, Therapeutic Touch, Reiki, Healing Touch, EFT, energy medicines like flower remedies, homeopathy, essential oils and botanicals all go a long way in smoothing out a ruptured energy field and aid in rebuilding one's inherent life force stream.  There are a host of approaches.  One or many might strongly resonate with one's personal path; choice should be determined by a vibrational affinity and the severity of the trauma.

Foundation for Human Enrichment. (2007) Somatic Experiencing healing trauma. Boulder, CO
Levine, P. & Frederick A (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma.  Richmond, North Atlantic Books
Rothschild, B (2000). The Body Remembers: The psychophysiology of trauma and trauma treatment.  WW Norton and Co.
Carleton, J & Gabay, J (2012) Somatic Experiencing: A Neuroscientific Approach to Attachment Trauma. Annals of Psychotherapy and Integrative 
        Health, Vol.15-1 pp 52-67

Following are other resources:
Somatic Emotional Release
About Somatic Experiencing | Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ... 
http://www.authenticmovementjournal.com/?p=813--Tantric Medicine
http://www.authenticmovementjournal.com/?p=54  Connecting Authentic Movement with Other Practices to Transform Trauma

Spring forward

Photo by Mie Sato

This is a beguiling time of year.  The weather is shifting, nature is showing itself more visibly with its sprouts and color.  Yet, counter-intuitively,  people are feeling drained.  Is it the long winter catching up on the worn, winterized organism?  Or is it the incredible action of deep-seated Spring that is drawing on our reserves?

There is this expectation that more light and fairer weather will have us livelier in all ways; yet this is not always the case.  For many years now, this is the time of year I call my acupuncturist for a "tune up".  As she has described: this extremely worn-out fatigue like symptoms in humans, is due in large part to the enormous awakening of the earth below, surging forward and upward, drawing on all to do its bidding, to arrive.  When you put it that way, Wow. I guess it takes an entire planet (and all its occupants) to make a season happen.  That theory kind of puts things in perspective.  That we at the top of the food chain are not the center of the universe after all (and not at the top of the food chain when all existence is taken into consideration).  That Great Nature, whether below us or above us in planetary realms actually influences how we feel and how we are.  It's so big, it is difficult to acknowledge the relationship.

Unlike a western approach, classical Chinese medicine does not treat per the symptom.  The complete pattern and principle of reharmonizing bodily imbalance of Yin and Yang are considered. Not surprisingly, other medical paths such as original Greek medicine, Arab and Hindu Ayurvedic systems, define health and illness in relation to balance.

So, in considering the whole picture, the earth below pushing forward, birthing itself, the cosmos above taking what it needs to maintain itself and we in the middle in a mostly unknowing position of being acted upon-- how do we seek a balance? A balance of the Whole?  Our western way is to treat a single objective, our not feeling well.  These other highly developed civilizations have put together a larger spectrum approach that indicates our unwellness is related to the larger picture around us, which has to be considered when looking for balance.  Working with nature, not in isolation; how to spring forward in unity?

Making Scents/Sense/Cents

courtesy RJ Buckle Associates LLC

Aromatherapy is often misunderstood.  SC Johnson/Glade's man-made chemicals have hijacked the scent market and our sense (and cents!) of smell has gone with it.  Consequently, the traditional and ancient practice of using essential oils ("eo") is subject to (false) assumptions, partial-at-best understandings and usually unreasonable expectations about the nature and action of these delicate (yet powerful) and sublime botanicals.

Many people simplistically think aromatherapy's value is that the smells are "nice".  This sometime truth is very partial.  Essential oils have a chemistry that acts on the olfactory system and goes directly to the brain through the nasal passages acting on the brain's various receptor sites (see above diagram). This impacts our memory center and the most basic, primal part of our brain, the limbic system.

Distillates from aromatic plants have been studied for centuries; the chemical breakdown of the plants have been isolated into groups that produce certain actions (ie: "Esters" are known for their relaxation and immune  moderating properties, "Sesquiterpenes" for their anti-inflammatory and spasmolytic effects, etc.)  Clinical-grade essential oils have gone through a thorough and complex analyzation process to ensure efficacy for a desired purpose.  If the smell is pleasing, it's considered an added bonus, but it is the chemistry of an essential oil that determines it's therapeutic property.

Nature's chemistry is different than man-made chemistry.  For example, taking a pharmaceutical for nausea usually works for 4-6 hours.  Inhaling Ginger (Zingiber officinale) or Peppermint (Mentha x piperita) periodically over the course of a bout of nausea will abate the symptom, but it's not a silver bullet, nor a one-time-deal, inhaling the eo periodically is usually necessary to keep the nausea at bay.  The upside is there are rarely side effects to inhaling eos (unlike ingesting pharm), and in using them, your body's nature resonates with the eo's nature.  Harmony: the rarely discussed value of working with rather than against nature.

Clients have eradicated their migraine headaches with one "dose" of True Lavender, Lavandula angustifolia,  (via inhalation tent), an effective and economical alternative to migraine meds (migraine meds are $7/dose; a True Lavender dose is literally cents). In addition, there are no side effects and you get a boost to your sense of well being to-boot.  Lavender being high in Esters, is a spirit fortifier.

Essential oils have been used for hosts of symptoms ranging from anxiety to arrythmia. They are not innocuous and one should be well informed about using them safely.

Following are some resources to get excellent clinical grade eos and more information on their use:


HERBARIUM Herbal and Nutritional Supplements including Bulk ...  (great! info & service)


Appalachian Valley Natural Products

Reception

oil painting by Gerard Stricher

Confession: I've been a bit of a glutton lately.  I have been immersing myself in art; going to museums, exhibitions, looking at sculpture, paintings, master's works, abstracts on and off the web.  I've been to a few of the same exhibitions three times.  First time it's about meeting it, second time around it's breathing with it and third time I do the tourist thing, listening to the audio that gets handed out pre-entry, explaining and describing somebody else's take on it. (don't want to miss anything...)

The more I participate in this type of activity the more I get interested in the experience of receiving (or not) impressions.  Sometimes, I feel a large capacity to drink it in; other days, I have a much smaller capacity, or attention.  So, I spend some time trying to cultivate a softness in my eyes, a more relaxed posture before I go into the exhibit, or trying to figure out through experiment how to receive. I decide ahead of time not to cross my arms, that particular posture possibly is one that seemingly blocks the painting's energy meeting my own.  I find myself breathing from my back. Occasionally, I am in complete stillness for lengthy periods of time, a contentedness in the wash of an impression from a section of the whole I am viewing. The cognitive mind hovers in the background, some other part is engaged in the foreground not that interested in identifying shape, object or critiquing design or brush strokes.

Reception.  Allowing impressions to fall on the senses without comparison or criticism.  It feels like being bathed in shape and color and energy. Cognition, in the background, has various impulses to grab onto a form to identify and compare. Receiving moves through; it doesn't seem to stay or settle down. It has an air-water quality; unfixed, in flow.

The experience of not having room to view art is also very interesting.  There can be an irritation or negativity present; a sense of a wall being up, penetration not possible. Often, there is a sense of being overwhelmed, like the receptors are filled up and can't take anymore impressions in.  It's as if there is no attention possible, or the limited amount available has little flexibility.  I've noticed the energy of others around me impacts the viewing significantly; furtive crowds, people not living in their quiet mind, but expectant mind, can disrupt the delicate energetic relationship between painting and self.

The question comes, can the cognitive mind and the receptive mind be present together, not impeding the other? Is it possible to hold the duality simultaneously?  Is that important?  These are different states, valuable in their own right.  The critical mind/self runs my ordinary life, differentiates and most importantly is discerning.  This other more opaque state, is sensitive, sees and feels what is not obvious, gives room to the small and often invisible and doesn't have filtering as a skill.

I mention this at all on a primarily health-related blog because there is a strong correlation with creativity and spirit to healing.  They are all nourished by the same spring as it were.  Understanding these, my two natures, the role of reception to health is affirming my wholeness and sheds light on the nature of healing and the impact the creative spirit plays toward that end.

Oy Vay: High Anxiety

Sometime-anxiety is a normal part of the human experience. Fourteen years ago, as a hospital nurse, I'd say about 25% of my patients had marked anxiety. This is understandable, hospitals are scary places where one has little control over anything. But I noticed starting about 10 years ago, this increased state of anxiety had skyrocketed for the general population as well as hospital patients, to about 90%.  Anxiety exacerbates other conditions like pain, nausea, respiratory problems, also bringing on extra tensions which further impact health maladies negatively. It behooves us to manage anxiety.

So, what's this seeming global increase of angst about? I have a sense this significant group manifestation is due to more than the circumstances of a downward economy, ten years of war and a world in severe unrest. Yes, external conditions impact our sense of safety and peace.  But I am wondering if it isn't due to internal conditions, related to the idea we are all One, there is no separation between "me" and "them".  Could our internal workings reflect the external and vice versa?  And could it be our own possible life time of non-transparency and personal sense of dis-ease, polarization of our inner parts, the maybe bankrupting (and bailout) of our own truth, who we are, what we have done and not done; the chronic turning away, and a type of corruption of self is related?  This is a collective phenomena, which influence the times we live in and possibly generations to come... Feeling any anxiety yet?

Of course, when talking about human beings, nothing is simple. Anxiety, fear, feelings in general are layered and complex.  Like general stress, anxiety is usually a house built (of cards?), its foundation having been laid probably in infancy and include subsequent floors and rooms built on that foundation over time, creating often unexamined layers.  Besides the obvious, beginning to turn toward our own truths and being with them with as much non-judgement as we can muster, there are some actions that have proved supportive working with anxiety.

Creating a loving ritual around an identified anxiety (ie: bed time, being alone, dealing with bills, being with your significant other or kids-- kidding) goes a long way in calming the sympathetic nervous system.  This could include using essential oils like Neuroli, Rose, True Lavender, Sweet Marjoram in diffusers, baths, post shower lotions. Maintaining a daily gratitude practice in prayer or meditation is a grounding influence, which helps keep perspective. Keeping aggression out of your diet (what you eat, how you eat) and lifestyle in general is also helpful; this would include aggressive exercising.  Although exercise is the number one stress buster, a weekend-warrior regimen is a short term diffuser and doesn't nurture the organism like Tai Chi, QiGong, Yoga, easy-going lap swimming or walking.  Breathing techniques (longer exhales clear the toxic CO2 out of the system, making more room for life giving 02). Being mindful of where the breath is in the body and its rhythm is key, as anxiety tends to contract and minimize our respiration, imperative not only to existence but a moment to moment sense of well being.

And then there is always resting; give that harried Central Nervous System ("CNS") a break.  Playing with electromagnet-related technology like cell phones, computer games, TV actually isn't resting; it is a low grade, under the radar stimulant.  Resting is lying down. In your bed. Lights off. Breathing. Ok, maybe a book, but maybe not murder mysteries (unless they somehow make you laugh a lot).

Which brings us to humor; a wonderful adjunct in any anti-anxiety regimen.  Laughing hard, and deep and heartily (watching Mel Brook's hilarious "High Anxiety" comes to mind).  And crying hard, deep and heartily will do the same for your CNS too. Regardless, when laughing or crying Big, fake it til you make it.

Following is another clear, no-nonsense article by Susun Weed on dealing with fear and anxiety.
 Herbs That Ease Anxiety & Fear

As always, it is always best to consult with your health care practitioner when taking herbal medicines or when considering any before-mentioned health practices.