Richard Brook's Blog

Stagnation and Free Flow on all levels; from Physical to Mental to Emotional

Came across some old notes i'd made a while ago around 'stagnation.' Stagnation is the term we use in acupuncture to describe a state where energy isn't flowing smoothly and freely through a particular meridian or area of the body. Movement can often free up stagnation and make the energy flow more freely, hence why we can sometimes feel better after doing some exercise. However, and somewhat conversely you can also get energy stagnation from over work and exertion. This is  because when we become generally tired our energy doesn't have enough power behind it to keep it flowing freely of it's own accord - (a bit like say how an overworked muscle tightens and contracts and then stays tense - it blocks free flow). So in this case exercising and movement may help in the short term but it's actually a more balanced lifestyle with more rest and relaxation to build the bodies own internal power and force which would also help alongside the exercise - we always need both, but just in the right balance.

Life Path Stagnation

Looking through my notes however i'd also written them more in reference to the notion of 'Life Path' Stagnation. Similar to how our energy can get stuck and stagnate on the physical level, in Chinese Medicine there is also a similar degree of emphasis placed on the free movement and flow of our Mental and Emotional energy, and indeed what could be considered our 'Life Path'

We can also get 'stuck' on these levels too, and indeed when that happens, it often can reflect on the physical state, with a sense of physical heaviness coming alongside the lack of motivation and direction. This is because in Chinese Medicine, the different levels of Body, emotions and our mental state all interconnect.

And therefore when we make a good move emotionally or in terms of our life direction, it can also effect our other levels and often gives us an unexpected supercharge of energy which physically passes through us, as well as feeling mentally and emotionally brighter too. It's about having movement and free flow on our 'spirit' or emotional level as well as on our physical level.

When i talk of the words 'Spirit' and 'Spiritually' though, it's probably best i make some attempt to define that a little before you all think i'm recommending running off to the nearest Church! For me Spiritually can just mean a good move in the bigger picture of your life, in terms of what you're life is all about, and i guess for want of a better term, your life purpose. A good move Spiritually can be a move which brings you into contact with people, places or activities which really help to feed your growth as a person, whatever that may be. 

It could be starting a new course, getting a new job, engaging with a new social circle - whatever it takes, but something which keeps our growth going. As one of my favourite 5 rhythms dance teachers (Ya'cov Darling Khan) said once, basically we are a tree! - and therefore have a tendency to want to keep growing toward the Light. Or something like that! So sometimes when we keep doing the same things all the time we can eat whatever nourishment we can get from that and then we need to eat something else! (But also beware a bit too much movement can lead to our energy becoming a bit too dispered, which isn't healthy either)

Sometimes we are lucky enough to be within a structure which keeps providing room for that growth in a balanced way, like a job with the right kind of variety and potential for growth, or a continually evolving social circle, or a family situation with the right kind of support or challenges which supports that. Happy New Year, Many wishes for some good growth.
 

Good Luck and Thankyou Verity

Would like to give a mention to Star helper Verity who's off on her travels to India and Thailand in January. Verity helped me an enourmous amount with putting together some of my recent videos that are popping up on site, both as camera operator and yoga model and I appreciate her interest and support in my work tremendously! She's also a fantastic Indian Head massage therapist, so if you find yourself in Bristol later in the year when she's returned then get in touch for her contact details!

Verity also has a rather endearing quality of occasional spontaneous laughter which is always good for morale! Please see accompanying video, i'm sure she will appreciate this lol!

Summer 2008 - 2011
Practicing Acupuncture at Festivals

To accompany the video below I've written an article about practicing acupuncture at Summer festivals, it's written predominantly from an Acupuncturists perspective, as it was written to be submitted to an Acupuncture newsletter, but you are welcome to check it out here!

Winter
Dance and Movement.
Authentic Movement with Emma Ross (Bristol)

I'm a big fan of dance and movement, its a fantastic way, similar to acupuncture and Yoga to disperse what we think of as energy stagnation and enable the body to work more efficiently (and put a smile on your face) Stagnation can effect us on many levels - from muscolskeletal and spinal stiffness to contracted muscles to digestive problems - all signs that the body isn't flowing as efficiently as it should be (i've written a separate blog on stagantion above)

I've danced with Emma for a number of years and she holds regular 'Authentic Movement' classes in Bristol (see my links page for her details) Part of the structure is that each person who 'moves' is paired with a 'witness' who witnesses their actions.

Emma relays the following (taken from the work of Janet Adler) about what she considers to be Authentic Movements aims;

'As the mover experiences her outer witness's developing compassion, It then becomes possible for her/him to experience their own suffering in a more compasssionate light, and thus in turn helps to engender a more compassionate presence on relating to others'....the essence of authentic movement's aim.'
Emma Ross inspired and abridged from Janet Adler

And this is what i think about the dynamic of a 'mover' and 'witness'

When you sit in witness to another (or to your self for that matter - like when you meditate) you engage and amplify your Heart energy - as your Heart energy is the aspect of yourself which does not judge - it just witnesses and feels. It has no judging function - that comes from another part of us. Elementally our Heart is considered to be connected with our 'Fire' energy, so when it's amplified or 'stoked' in a safe structured way like the process of Authentic Movement allows, then the increase of that 'Fire' energy (or amplification of the vibration of your Heart - often more literally known as 'opening' your Heart) does exactly what it says on the can - the Fire or Heart opening energy literally burns off other lower vibrational energies within us (which we often experience as judgmental thoughforms) and brings our entire being more in tune with the vibration and energy of your Heart (and as we mentioned the Heart energy doesn't judge - it just witnesses, therefore we feel more compassionate as we are more aligned to our Heart)

And since your 'Heart energy produces the most powerful electromagnetic field in the body approx 5000 times greater than that of the brain and extends out from the body for several feet in all directions' (ref Dru Yoga, Stillness in Motion) then when your witness is holding space for you from their own Heart/witness space then as we have established they are eminating a very powerful compassionate energy from their body - and since it's practised in a circle, you have the mutiplied effect of several people / witnesses all 'containing' and enveloping a number of movers within that compassionate energy resonating from their bodies and facilitating and catalyzing the movers to move from a similar Heart space and move to a more compassionate / Heart opening energy running through their being, raising their own vibration to a more Heartful presence. The structure of authentic movement allows for this Heart opening energy to engage - since the structure places both the mover and witness in a safe place to disengage their usual defence mechanisms and personality traits and allows the Heart energy to emerge and amplify in an unhindered way.

Similarly then this same process of Heart opening energy affecting a person being witnessed is also of course affecting the person doing the witnessing, since they are also within their own electromagnetic field. And of course then this also works the same when you just witness yourself - as in a meditation or self witness state. When you meditate similarly you disengage your normal energetic demeanour and provide the conditions for the resonance of the Heart energy to increase, and since it has such a large electromagnetic field, 'it literally permeates every cell in your body, affecting your brain and dna and brings the rhythm of all the other organs and bodily systems into alignment with its own beat' (ref Dru Yoga, Stillness in Motion)
So the moral of the story is do as many things as possible which open your Heart - as its good for you! Whether you witness your self or another, the key is to enter that witness state and when you do you increase the resonance field of your Heart energy which alters your whole being to vibrate similarly from that place.

Winter
Dance and Movement; 5 Rhythms Classes and Workshops with Dawn Morgan (Birmingham and Stroud)

Continuing the Dance and Movement theme, for many years i've been attending 5 Rhythms Dance, and danced a great deal in Birmingham with a teacher, Dawn Morgan, (her website is in my links page) and also attended many longer workshops with her - from 1 day to 5 days. She's holding a workshop from Jan 14th to the 16th entitled 'Start the Year!' and i've written the following blog about why it would be good to attend such a workshop, and also mentioning her ongoing year group entitled 'Journey into Life' which has workshops periodically throughout the year. A lot of the dynamics i write about are transferable to the style of acupuncture i practice as it aligns with the underlying philosophy of being in tune with the Elements and natural rhythms of nature.

Start the Year!

Get the Year Started, tune into and nurture your blueprint for the Year ahead!

Often in New Year workshops we spend a while envisioning the year ahead, embodying, mentally planning, ritualising for the coming year the desired fruits which we would plan to grow.

However, alongside doing any envisioning it's also important to remember that deep Winter is actually, energetically our most 'Yin'; still and receptive time of year. Just look around and see what's happening in the natural world around us. Trees lay bare – expressing little growth but getting ready for the year ahead. So since naturally it’s our most receptive time of year, alongside doing any envisioning, its also essential to create and allow the space for the seeds for your blueprint for the year ahead to be planted within you.

So after the excesses of the festive period, both in terms of what we can often indulge in food and drink wise, and also in terms of our busyness, this workshop gives some personal space again to allow those seeds to be sowed, ready to be cultivated and launch forth as we move into Spring and throughout the rest of the year.

Alongside the actual time out you are gifting for yourself, the practice of 5 Rhythms dance in itself dance is a great way to create energetic Space within us. When we dance we clear energetic stagnation from our system and harmonise our Body, Mind and Spirit. So the meeting of this workshop which focuses on the potency of the 5 Rhythms practice itself and it’s ability to clear stagnation and the energy of the season asking us to be at our most receptive is a fantastic combination.

And don't forget that even though we will still be in deep Winter in mid January we will have moved past the Winter solstice so things will already have started to grow again slowly, as the light returns. So don't get caught out later in the year because you didn't give yourself the time and space to plant seeds and fill up on the energy of this season now!

In Taosim (The study of natural order and universal law) it is seen as essential that you fill up on the energy of each season as we pass through it as it feeds into the next season in the cycle and counterbalances those which have passed before. So fill up on Winter so you are ready to Spring!

And continuing this Journey into Life!

This brings us onto the ongoing year group on offer, Journey into Life. Alongside the richness of the 5 Rhythms practice and the gifts gained sharing transformational community, because it’s set out across the whole year we also get chance to continue our awareness of alignment to all seasons. It gives us the opportunity to recognise and be aware of how each season has it’s own rhythm and emotional energy (e-motion = energy in motion) which also moves through us.

This is further amplified by the workshop location, based in the Lickey Hills, being surrounded very closely by the rhythms of nature as they move through their yearly cycle.

So as well as being able at each module to tune into our own personal dance of what may be happening in our lives, we can also be aware of how our own dance and inner emotive landscape changes as the force and natural rhythm of energy around us moves – thus catalysing us into a different dance each season. This is part of our connection with our ‘bigger’ and more expanded self, how we align and are affected by the natural forces around us.

This relationship to the energy and rhythms of the seasons is something which we are to a greater or lesser degree cut off from in Modern Life, especially those living in urban areas. For example, being surrounded by lots of concrete every day we may miss out fully experiencing the rhythm of the force of spring, when trees, plants flowers burst forth with vibrant giving life, or also recognise the Stillness and bareness of Winter - which we don't get to see, feel, taste, smell when we are often surrounded by the same concrete shells each day!

Location; The Lickey Hills

But in the beautiful surrounds of the Lickey Hills as we mentioned earlier we get a reminder each module of how the dance of nature, which we are part of, moves, and gives us chance to reattune with that energy. - and to see how some of those seeds you may plant at the January ‘Start the Year’ workshop may grow!

The 5 Rhythms

So what else does dancing the 5 Rhythms do? Well alongside clearing stagnation from our system as we move and exercise our bodies, it also, fundamentally is practice for being able to move with Life’s rhythms as we experience them in our daily life. Everything has rhythm, we touched earlier upon on how different seasons have a different rhythm – contrast the feeling of stillness of Winter to the vibrancy of spring, when the force of light returning after the dark days of Winter catalyzes life to move upwards and out.

So learning and practising to move with various rhythms, provided by the music we experience in a class, gives us - our body mind and spirit - the experience, familiarity and preparation to be able to move fluidly with whatever rhythms we experience wherever they are – whether they are on the dancefloor, workfloor, shopfloor or kitchen floor!

For example, learning and practicing to move with the staccato rhythm on the dancefloor can help move with that energy as it’s demanded and experienced in your life – like the moments we have to give clear direction, act with clear direction and boundaries, be decisive, have form. Practising moving with the energy and rhythm of Chaos on the dancefloor – how that can be so relevant today – just about any busy shopping mall can show you that or the thronging crowds to get through to the January sales – many energies heading in different directions with different intentions all at the same time! It’s called a practice because sometimes we need a reminder – not just with the more ‘active’ or ‘Yang’ rhythms, but with the more inward ‘Yin’ ones too, perhaps need even more practice with those – to match and tune into the stillness rhythm of a Winters days, how utterly blissful!