Evil Strength
  • About
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer
  • Store
  • Schedule
    • GPP
    • Course Offerings

Reward v. Threat:  Emotions as in integral part of learning

7/19/2012

1 Comment

 
The reward system has, as its design, an experience "stamped" with an emotion.  The emotion is a shortcut for us to remember that the experience was good for us, worth expending the energy.  Threats are another version of an emotion-stamped experience:  event X was dangerous for me last time--avoid! 

The psoas, along with many other functions, is a highly reflexive, emotionally rich, vital part of our human structure.  It serves as a part of our protection--the startle response; it pulls our legs toward our torso when we're infants and our torso toward our legs as adults.  It reflexively prepares us for fight or flight.  [Note bene:  sitting for long periods of time engages the reflex thereby draining our adrenals and immune system.]  Conscious pelvic-abdominal work or stimulation [movement, manipulation, sexual expression and/or bringing awareness to this area as in the constructive rest position as talked about by Liz Koch] can help create an attunement to this area--a hightened sensitivity.

When bringing a hightened awareness to bear on a particular area of the body [the psoas is just one--one really rich part], it isn't uncommon to experience an emotional tone in tandem with the physical sensation of movement.  This is a valid part of the experience.  Whether we experience fear, shame, or a wave of general malaise in the midst of a conscious movement, if we can recognize it, bless it.  This emotional message is your body's phone call to your vertebral, upright, evolved self.  Even though it's an older message system [like a written letter], its a valid form of communication that should be received and read.

****************

The Guest House
By Master Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing, invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes.
Because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
***************

Whether we like the message or not, it has helped us survive. 
Whether we enjoy the emotional tone in the message or not, it has helped us through the last 100,000+ years of development.  And it will continue to help us.

This brilliant excerpt from the Mondo Zen Training Manual drives it home:
Consider this ringing phone analogy: feelings are telephone calls bringing information. Answer this phone when it rings. Do not refuse to answer the phone (depression). Do not drag the phone around jumping up and down shouting “the phone is ringing” (anxiety). Do not hit someone with the phone (anger), or blame yourself for its ringing (shame). Do not run away from the phone, or get so intoxicated, busy or stressed that you cannot hear it ringing (disconnection, denial). Answer the phone! Get the message, the information in the feeling, then hang up the phone. Understand, and choose your response. Stop mindlessly, unconsciously reacting to the phone’s ringing. Utilize your new insight and respond mindfully when the emotional phone rings.


1 Comment

Identifying...again...this time as Breath.

7/5/2012

0 Comments

 
When practicing, what is our focus?  Is it a tightness or an issue?  Do we use our practice to address or build up a deficiency or loosen an entaglement?  How often do we practice making contact with the solid stuff? 

Creating a container of Awareness or Breath can help open up our perspective and thereby shift our identification. 
By shifting our attention from contacting our deficiency patterns of behavior to the Awareness or space in which they're held, the experience feels more dynamic.  By shifting from identifying the stuckness of an energy pattern [as the practice aim] to the fluid spaciousness that encompasses it, we can start identifying as Breath, as Awareness, as that which contains.
Awareness, space, is the ultimate healing agent, the ultimate holding environment.
Awareness is the enzyme that helps digest undigested experiences.
This is healing in service of the Spiritual path.
0 Comments

    Gwen

    Incubating practice and teaching ideas in written form here.

    Archives

    May 2018
    September 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.