Is it a possibility that most of us are running on empty or completely on credit? I’m not speaking about a monetary bank account – I’m speaking to our internal energy bank account, our vitality or chi.
If we have dreams of becoming leaner, stronger, faster etc… Could it also be possible that these ideas will be more difficult to reach unless we have an internal bank full of reserve energy?
Lastly, is it possible that we may also need to address the underlying mental and emotional blockages that are unconsciously draining our vitality from “behind the curtain”?
In my experience these are all possibilities, and I have found them to ring true often. In my first offering to the CHEK community, I thought it would be helpful to offer ways I personally cultivate energy, and pull the metaphoric curtain back to look within my psyche.
Below are guidelines to using healing exercises for both energy cultivation and connecting with deeper rooted mental, emotional blockages. These are only guidelines based on my personal experience, please feel free to use whatever works well for you. Choose any of the below or make up your own as part of your daily practice.
An energy cultivation exercise is any movement that is done using your calm, slow, deep breath as a guideline for movement pace (inhale with extension, exhale with flexion). Your tongue/mouth will stay moist, not dry, and your heart rate will not increase. My favorite guideline is imagine you just over-ate at a Thanksgiving dinner. The pace of movement would be one that you innately feel would promote digestion, not inhibit it. The zone exercises at the end of Terrence Thomas’s post last week are great examples of energy cultivation exercises.
Once you’ve selected your exercise, here are seven tips to maximize the energy and healing you’ll receive from the movement:
- I enjoy bringing intention to any given healing exercise, then during the exercise having focused attention to my intention. This helps to focus the mind and is a form of meditation. Where your mind is focused your energy will follow.
- As you do these “Energy” exercises, imagine that you are breathing in a deep cooling color which vibrates with the given Chakra – 1st Red, 2nd Orange, 3rd Yellow, 4th Green, 5th Blue, 6th Purple, 7th Light purple. If you aren’t familiar with the Chakra system, you can choose any color which feels soothing and healing to you. Imagine the color infusing every cell in your body, helping you to move any blockages which show up physically as:
- Past Injury
- Current pain
- Stability issues
- Tight muscles (yang) Breathe in Yin
- Loose muscles (yin) Breathe in Yang
- Simply guess what part of you is in need of attention. This is not an exercise in thinking, it is literally an exercise in guessing. For example ask yourself this question “if I had to guess, what part of me is in need of the most attention in this moment?” Pay attention to what arises in your mind, 2 year old self, 3 year old self etc… Once you have the age or moment in time that is in need of love, literally speak to that part of yourself and give yourself exactly what you need (out loud). It may seem awkward or weird at first, but the healing here is amazing and well worth the challenge.
- Wear the color of the chakra you are working on will help to attract that specific supportive energy during healing work.
- Chant affirmations during exercise that correlate to the Chakra you are addressing. (A beautiful book for affirmations and other healing modalities is The Book of Chakra Healing by Liz Simpson).
- Focused breathing into your organs and glands during healing exercise is another way to become intimate with your self. Before exercise, quiet your mind and gently ask for guidance as to what organ or gland needs nourishment, pay attention to what comes up, then focus intention and attention towards that system for healing during exercise.
- Purely focus on the flow of breath during any healing exercise. You will notice that your mind wanders away from breath and goes into “thinking”, recognize this, smile, and bring your attention and intention back to your breath.
These can be done anytime – when you are stressed, they can be used to decrease stress, when you are low on energy they can be used to energize you, your innate wisdom will give you exactly what you need in any given moment.
