Same thing, another flavor

Life is a pulse. A rhythm of exchange,  dynamic equilibrium between organism and environment, interior and exterior, inbreath outbreath. The humming of vibrational harmony. According to many ancient cultures, the sound of this transcendent unity is AUM. The sound Ahh-Ooh-mmm begins at the back of the throat and moves to the lips, traveling the whole upper palate (thus stimulating the brain from back to front) and encompassing the whole range of sound a human can make. Interestingly, it is always spoken in the context of silence, treated as part of the silence from which it emerges.

Compared to the vast infinity of the universe, our range of experience is minute. Our ears can perceive a tiny band of the sound spectrum, our eyes the small band of visual light (ROYGBIV). The same can be said for the sensitivities of all our senses and faculties. As the sound AUM emerges out of the silence, our human expereince is but a tiny fragment of an infinite expanse. The success of our experience as humans, both as individuals and as a species, depends on the ability to harmonize with the pulse of life in all its colors.

In the body, this harmony involves a continuous process of exchange between the organism and its environment. Among these processes are not only respiration and metabolism but also the expression of impulses, emotions, and feelings. Our “true nature” so to speak is perhaps the ability to allow this process to be the fullest and most vibrant it can be. To fully embody our range of experience. However, this ability is quickly covered over by the collective unconscious conditioning we receive at birth from our fellow humans. Feelings that become too dangerous to be felt. Behaviors, expressions, and impulses that are denied, suppressed, or punished. We quickly learn, in the flesh and bone of our being, what is “right” and what is “wrong.” We begin to shut out certain facets of our experience.

The problem with this is that the impulses and emotions we habitually ignore or repress travel through the same body that sustains life. The nerves, tissue, and organs which enact our impulses are the same ones that keep us alive. When our conditioning begins to shut out the unwanted feelings, it also dismantles our ability to take part in the life process. Depending on how pervasive and strong this conditioning is, disease and disharmony will ultimately follow.

Each part of the body has its own ability to take in stimuli and energy and to release a response. The eyes both watch and cry, the nose smells, runs, and sneezes. The mouth eats but also speaks, the throat swallows but also sings. The chest breathes and also laughs and sobs and loves. The belly may digest, regurgitate, burp, or chuckle. The genitals both generate life and release waste. The anus releases but also retains. The ingestion and digestion of these organs sends pulses through our beings, shaking us into vibrancy.

Unfortunately, this is not the average human of the twenty first century. In our world, we wear suits of armor, neural and neuronal networks of inhibition that, most of the time, are not even conscious. It is a deep fear of what feelings lie buried underneath. These impulses were never carried to completion, they remain memories trapped in physicality, fog on the clear mirror of our perception.

The easiest place to see this armor is in the breath, for it is the surface separating the conscious from the unconscious, the link between mind and body. In a fully present individual (I’ll be writing by extrapolation) the breath is a continuous circular flow that travels the whole length of out being. The physical movement is for the most part restricted to the torso, but on a cellular level (a level accessible to your perception) extends into every extremity. It flows up and down the length of our spine, enlivening every nerve. Yet when the charge in our nerves becomes static out of fear, areas of breathing shut down as well. The diaphragms in the body (of which there are three: pelvis, torso, and skull), responsible for the the complete exchange of breathing, begin to be restricted unconsciously. A well of untapped feeling fills our bodies as intake and exchange grinds to a halt.

Some of the organs of exchange mentioned above are “corked” while others are opened up as energy is redirected. The primary impulse that was unprocessed may stagnate and turn to disease or be redirected to another outlet compensate: anything from allergies, headache, nausea or constipation to compulsive eating or sex may arise to either relieve the internal pressure or to fill a void. Consumption disorders, addictive behavior, or any other “psychosomatic” phenomena, so many of the things that ail us humans have their root in the disequilibrium between mind and body.

So the process of staying vibrant and attuned to life–the evolution of modern man–requires the conscious breath by breath balancing of our entire being with the world around us. To unplug the corks and confront the true depth and breadth of ourselves so that we may be filled by that glorious humming.

~ by yogibenji on January 25, 2010.