Awareness
Learning how to create lasting change in ourselves requires addressing multiple layers of who we think we are. These layers of awareness can be broken down into three basic subdivisions: body, speech, and mind. By effectively addressing each of these layers, we are able to expand our understanding of how the choices we make determine our experience and through that, the ultimate nature of our reality.
Body
ROLFING® STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION
The body is made up of many different types of tissue which function and relate to one another in a multitude of ways. All of the classic categories of tissue that we might think of, such as muscles and organs, are held together by a vast three-dimensional network of connective tissue. This connective tissue, which includes bone, and comprises 20% of our total body mass, could be thought of as a movable web that gives us the shape we recognize as us when we look in the mirror.
On a molecular level, the human body is comprised of mostly water. The task of moving this water in various fluid forms is essential for maintaining ideal physiological health. To do this, a certain volume of space and ease of movement is required in the body. All terrestrial-based animals, including humans, are forced to take water with them wherever they go. The largest challenge they face in doing this is finding an efficient volume of space while negotiating the relationship of a watery mass of a physical body, held in the connective tissue matrix, with the force of gravity.
If this relationship with gravity is efficient, then the force of gravity flows through the body in a beneficial, supportive manner. If however, areas of the connective tissue matrix adhere more tightly to neighboring tissues, then the ideal cycling of fluids through the tissues becomes compromised and adversely affects the efficiency of structural alignment with gravity. Since falling down is something that most humans are inclined to avoid, bodies develop subtle or major structural compensations, mostly unconsciously, to allow the completion of simple daily activities, such as breathing, sitting, standing, and walking. Through repetition, these compensations become habituated.
VISCERAL MANIPULATION
As we investigate adhesions in different layers of the connective tissue, it is possible to see the strong relationships between muscular tension patterns and reductions in functional movement of vital tissues in the body, such as organs, nerves, blood vessels, and organ support membranes. Many times, it is restrictions in stretch and glide of these types of tissue that lie at the core of long-standing functional and movement limitations in the body as a whole. To effect lasting change, it is very beneficial to be able to work with these more subtle layers of connective tissue in the body. As these more subtle layers move into a greater functional state, a calmer, more expansive sense of the body generally arises with respect to movement in gravity.
PRAJNA YOGA
The body is constantly changing and adapting based on the environment and stimuli it is exposed to. To create lasting change, structural patterns of movement and bodily awareness must be integrated to improve tissue function. If a pattern of tension and holding has been long-standing, it is very likely that there have been reductions in nerve coordination and sensory awareness in various areas of the body.
To improve this sensory awareness, it is beneficial to introduce patterns of movement that help to stimulate the nerve connections to those specific tissues. Yoga asana (postures), pranayama (breath), and structural ergonomic movement sequences help to ensure that sensory awareness patterns are increasing and slowly moving in a direction of greater ease of use and functional support in the field of gravity.
Speech
HABITUAL PATTERNS
Habitual patterns of speech, both internal and external, have structural characteristics in how they express themselves and impact the state of the body through repeated exposure. If these choices of speech detract from the optimal physiological functioning of the body, then these patterns are detrimental to long-term physical health.
These patterns could include statements incorporated from family, teachers, religious figures, people in a position of influence, or even faulty childhood logic. By integrating these structures into a self-image, the body’s neurons begin to change to reflect these patterns. By feeding these patterns, they become more familiar and easier to drop into, particularly during times of heightened physical and mental stress
IMPACT ON BODY
Stress often affects breath first as a reduction in the depth and ease of movement of the diaphragm, which spans the circumference of the lower ribs. An alteration in its movement can affect one quadrant or the entire dome of the diaphragm. With repeated stress, these changes become to feel normal.
Since the average person breathes in excess of 22,000 times per day, over time this reduction in movement impacts the movement of organs above and below the diaphragm. The reduction of organ movement can decrease the rate of fluid cycling and increase mechanical stressors on tissues, which, in a positive feedback loop, will increase neurological stress in the body.
SHIFTING FOCUS
To begin to shift these patterns in the body in a direction that is more supportive of physiological health, it is first necessary to become aware of what the body and breath feel like as various habitual structures of self-image cycle through. As the felt sense of constant fluctuations within the body is strengthened, it is possible to notice how the basic emotional content of these patterns relates to sensations in the body.
By selectively learning to choose structures of speech that are more supportive of a calm mind and full ease of breath, the neurological connections in the brain and nervous system as a whole are slowly rewired through a process called neuroplasticity. Over time, this plasticity allows a restructuring, creating new patterns which are more conducive to physical and mental health to arise more naturally and with less effort.
Mind
Disturbances of Mind
The process of calming and rewiring the nervous system expands awareness, eventually leading to the realization of the impact that disturbing emotional states of mind have on both the structures of speech and the physical state of the body. These emotional states arise in response to both internal and external sensory input. The origins of destructive emotional states can be categorized in five ways:
Anger or Aversion
Pride
Attachment or Greed
Jealousy
Delusion or Ignorance
Distilling the Mind
Through the process of calming and rewiring the nervous system, it is possible to learn how to simply observe sensory experience rather than being pulled into a destructive, habitual, neurological structure each time a new experience arises. By observing more and reacting less, a slightly different perspective on familiar experiences is possible.
“I began to feel less hurried and more patient with my body; more respectful of all the things my body had to tell me and of its inherent wisdom.”
This different perspective offers the opportunity to deepen awareness of habitual responses and their relationship to the greater experience as a whole. This new perspective presents an opportunity to act or react differently. Although changing behavior is a challenge at any time, the time to act is now because life is short; bodily and mental faculties can be focused now; and actions that are taken now will cause new experiences to arise.
Attempting new patterns of behavior provides ample opportunities for practicing greater self-kindness in the face of sporadic progress in changing habitual behaviors and structures. This experience highlights the human condition and gives rise to greater compassion for others as they struggle with their own life experiences and changes.
Supporting Transformation
Greater compassion for self and others supports deeper alignments of mind, speech and body in the life journey. This provides a more expansive awareness of the experience of living. Knowledge of these felt experiences of awareness were frequently depicted in traditional indigenous art and belief systems around the world in geometric forms. One particularly common motif was the circle or mandala.
Learning to trust this deep, calm sense of connection and purpose allows life to unfold in ways that are more fluid and connected - like waters in a river returning to the ocean. This vivid awareness of the structures through which the life force expresses itself fundamentally changes the nature of perceptual reality, and in turn the experiential nature of the body, speech and mind.
Hidden wisdom, in plain sight.
“The thought manifest as the word
The word manifest as the deed
The deed develops into habit and habit hardens into character
So watch the thought and its ways with care
And let it spring out of love
Born out of concern for all beings.
As the Shadow follows the body as we think, so we become. ”