I wanted to share something which happened to me as I think it illustrates the connection between mind and body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I recently\n suffered from acute back pain. The kind of pain that paralyses you, and\n in this case, made me pass out. It was the culmination of an extremely \nstressful week, both physically and emotionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had\n not been very nice to my back throughout the years, as my job in the \nfilm industry was very demanding physically. A regular Tai Chi practice \nwas actually the only thing that helped and kept my back supple and \nhealthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\n had a similar bout of sharp back pain once before. In that case I was \nbed-ridden for a few weeks, unable to move without causing intense pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\n both cases had in common was an intense emotional charge. In both cases\n life-altering changes were threatening my sense of self. In both cases\n unacknowledged emotional currents were ramping up. And those emotional \ncharges needed to express themselves somehow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\n back pain, and the paralysis, were simply the way the body expressed \nthe emotions that were being carried. My back was the instrument, mostly\n because it was the weakest link in my body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\n often make the mistake of separating what is happening “in-here” ( the\n head, the heart) with what’s “out-there” ( the body, our \nrelationships). Truth is, there is no break. There is no line you can \npoint to where a thought ends and physical response begins. The thought \nIS a physical response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\n Traditional Chinese Medicine, psychological troubles are always treated\n first as physical problems. Part of the idea is that emotional \nimbalances cause a physical disturbance, so treating the physical \ndisturbance protects the body while minimizing the emotional trauma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\n is similar to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, where life-management tools\n are learned before dealing with the root of the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If\n we don’t have access to a doctor skilled in Traditional Chinese \nmodalities, we need to become our own doctors. We need to treat \nourselves, the whole of us. Mind, body, community, everything that makes\n us who we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\n mind is dark and full of terrors. We can meditate, but that will not \nend the subconscious thoughts that swim in the darkness of the mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\n need a body that is healthy enough to express those fears and \nanxieties, without breaking. That means a healthy body, but also a \nhealthy practice, which allows the body to move, to burn off the nervous\n energies, as well as relax and vent the negative vibes we’ve \naccumulated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\n also need a healthy community, a group or even a single loved one, who \ncan be trusted to help, to be there, to be a mirror or a balm. Just as \nwe are not separated between mind and body, we are not separated \nbetween “I” and “You”. We are shaped by our relationships, molded by our\n teachers and friends, sharpened by our adversaries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m\n going to go out and wave a sword around, do a little Tai Chi, get back \ninto my body after being bed-ridden. Shake this off. I’m also going to \nkiss someone I love. ‘Tis the season after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take care of yourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I wanted to share something which happened to me as I think it illustrates the connection between mind and body. I recently suffered from acute back pain. The kind of pain that paralyses you, and in this case, made me pass out. It was the culmination of an extremely stressful week, both physically and emotionally. I had not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[67,68,65,39,55,13,31,30,41,32,14],"class_list":["post-775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-musings","tag-back-pain","tag-healing","tag-meditation","tag-michuan","tag-psychology","tag-taichi","tag-taichichuan","tag-taiji","tag-taijiquan","tag-tao","tag-taoism"],"yoast_head":"\n