The energy of emotions

Relaxed body, relaxed mind

Emotions that have been repressed for long periods of time are real armor in the form of muscle tension, which reflects poor posture.

For example, if we tense our throats when we’re unhappy, instead of releasing the pressure of sadness with tears, this can turn into chronic neck pain.

If we shrink our chests in reaction to the ridicule, we’ll impair our breathing and cause respiratory problems.

A child who stiffens their spine because of fear can develop poor, inflexible posture.

Unfortunately, these internalized tensions tend to stay with us. As we get used to the tension, it becomes part of our reality and identity. The tension and the situation that generated it fall into the unconscious. This forms the root of many chronic psychosomatic disorders.

Through qigong practice, we learn how to bring tense areas of the body into the light of awareness. Awareness is so powerful that sometimes it’s enough to change a fixed pattern of behavior. Emotions that have been trapped in tension come more easily to consciousness. Old memories and feelings thaw, freed from the frozen tissue. If this doesn’t solve the problem, at least it makes it available to work on, in the introspective process itself. I know this from working with many students and from personal experience.

The basis of qigong is relaxation and tranquillity. Instead of making an effort to do more, it can be important to do less!

Through regular qigong practice, you learn how to achieve a relaxed and peaceful center. It becomes easier to return to this feeling when you start to feel overwhelmed by emotions or preoccupied with specific thoughts. This way, emotions are much less likely to become extreme or out of control.

Sometimes, all you have to do is ask: “Am I breathing? Am I standing on the ground?” Taoists call this psychological state Taiji, the same term used in the Taijiquan form. Taiji means the point of balance between yin and yang, the place of stillness in the midst of change.

Relaxing isn’t as easy as it sounds.

It involves physical and mental transformation. Physical rigidity always produces mental rigidity and vice versa. Obsessive thought patterns accompany repetitive internal tensions. Sometimes these tensions are very subtle, such as in the jaw, tongue or deep connective tissue. People who are constantly ruminating their thoughts have forgotten the location of the off button on their internal TV. The tongue and jaw continuously contract, release and make extremely small, invisible movements.

The fact that tension is often unconscious or chronic doesn’t make it any less harmful. Continuous tension, whether conscious or not, is a continuous drain on vitality and qi. Chinese medicine considers these tensions to be the root of most psychological problems.

Sometimes, even when the obsessive thoughts or emotional behavior stop, the physical rigidity continues and eventually recreates the pathological condition. This becomes a vicious circle, a negative feedback loop.

The situation can become quite complex, considering that muscle tension also affects the functioning of the internal organs, especially the liver. For example, according to Chinese medicine, the liver controls tension in the muscles and ligaments and also helps spread qi throughout the body. When the body is tense, the liver is unable to function optimally. When the liver is unhealthy, the body becomes tense. Again we have a vicious circle.

Mental/Emotional Tension Physical Tension Liver Imbalance Qi Stagnation

The only way to get out of the loop is to use mindfulness. Awareness is the essential ingredient of relaxation. Once the student is aware, it is possible to sense what is wrong and exercise some control. We call this “listening to the energy”. Listening to energy leads to “understanding and controlling energy”.

However, since tension and effort are the problems, awareness and relaxation, although they involve focus and intention, must be done effortlessly, a process of surrender. Relaxation is a matter of paying attention and not doing.

Mastering relaxation is an ongoing challenge at each stage of qigong training. There is always a deeper level of relaxation that we can reach, more places where we can let go and do less.

The change from tension to relaxation parallels the change from distraction and lack of focus to silent awareness. The brain waves slow down from the fast beta waves, which characterize the use of language and intellect, to the slow alpha and theta waves, demonstrating an attentive, conscious and intuitive state. The strong presence of slow alpha and theta waves, commonly seen in the EEGs (electroencephalograms) of qigong practitioners, also suggests that repressed images and feelings can rise more easily to the surface of consciousness.

So we can see how relaxation can stimulate the release and resolution of emotional problems from two complementary perspectives. On the one hand, as tension is released, the emotions trapped in tense muscles are also released.

On the other hand, physical relaxation creates a slower metabolism, a slower pulse, slower and more relaxed breathing and slower brain waves. Slow brain waves correspond to the opening of rigid boundaries between the unconscious mind and the conscious mind, so that we can once again become aware of repressed and inhibited emotions and thus, hopefully, be able to express and release them in an appropriate way.

Although relaxation is the basis of qigong training, it is not the only principle with psychological implications.

Posture in Qigong: the search for emotional balance

One of the most common physical reactions to fear or emotional trauma is the spontaneous shrinking of the back, as a cat does when reacting to danger. Fear causes an inward contraction, a withdrawal of energy from the periphery of the body, away from the perceived threat and towards the center. The sacrum and neck become tense and seem to move towards each other. The spine may become shorter.

Qigong helps to overcome and correct this by emphasizing “joint relaxation” and teaching ways to lengthen and extend the spine. In some qigong techniques, the student imagines that the tailbone is pulled down at the same time as the head is lifted. The spine is stretched internally. Only when the spine is long and flexible can it relax, which creates a confident attitude.

The sternum should also be relaxed. Individuals with psychological problems often feel constriction in the chest during inhalation or exhalation. Depression, anxiety and low self-esteem create a posture in which the chest is chronically sunken, making it difficult to inhale. The person is physically depressed, unable to expand the chest properly to receive the new and be invigorated by the environment.

The opposite posture is that of inflation, the chest chronically distended, as if it were stuck during inhalation and unable to let go. Here, the individual has an inflated and unrealistic self-image, they are literally full of themselves. It often hides a deeper feeling of unworthiness and fear of getting close to people. The individual who says: “I’m full, I don’t need anyone”, may really be saying: “I’ve been hurt in the past and I don’t want to risk it again”.

The qigong classics advise: “Release the chest; extend the back. Relax, open the joints.” This creates a fluid breathing posture in which the pulse of life, yin and yang, inhaling and exhaling are allowed with equal ease. We don’t cling to old experiences or avoid new ones.

In all qigong techniques, the shoulders are sunken. This is an area of the body that responds quickly to anger, fear and frustration. With raised and firm shoulders, the natural reach of the arms is inhibited. It is difficult to reach out and receive nourishment from the environment. When attempts to receive love have been repeatedly thwarted, this is usually shielded in the body as tension in the shoulders. Tense, raised shoulders also make hitting difficult and can be symptomatic of repressed anger. If the aggressive impulse has exploded or imploded, in the form of tension, this indicates that the individual is unable to find appropriate means of expressing anger or may have a problem with impulse control.

On the other hand, when the shoulders seem hunched and slumped forward, they may be saying: “Life is a burden” or “I can’t take it”. The back begins to curve forward, as if carrying a heavy load. If combined with a depressed sternum, the posture can boost the damage caused by other conditions. It puts pressure on the heart, making it harder for it to pump blood – a very dangerous situation if there is already a structural heart defect or a tendency towards heart failure. A curved spine accelerates the debilitating postural changes that are associated with osteoporosis.

The feeling of “I can’t take it” also manifests in locked knees, effectively cutting off the sensation of the ground and reinforcing the wall between the conscious and subconscious mind. Locked knees can attract an inability to trust, a fear that the ground won’t support us, so we try to lift ourselves away from the mesom. In fact, it generates the opposite effect, making balance difficult and precarious. Can you imagine walking on a tightrope with your knees locked? When the knees bend, we fall into our center, into a place of balance and fuller awareness of who we are.

In qigong, the eyes are generally open and take in the environment, examining it without fixating on any particular object. The eyes have a soft focus. They allow the world to enter, without attachment. The eyes don’t look at what has passed (the past) or jump to what is not yet in sight (the future). This helps keep the mind focused on the present and helps eliminate unrealistic expectations and the need to rehearse our responses to life’s events before they happen.

The most transformative and difficult aspect of the qigong posture is “sinking”.

As the body relaxes, the weight sinks into the feet and the center of the navel (dantian). As in climbing, the descent is more difficult and frightening than the ascent, sinking the qi can bring up difficult emotional issues.

Qigong is strongly influenced by the Taoist philosophy of naturalness and spontaneity.

Lao Tse says: “Embrace the uncarved block of wood”. In other words, don’t try to fit into a mold or reduce the fullness of who you are with rules and regulations, shoulds and shouldn’ts.

Instead, as you learn, through qigong practice, to identify imbalances, don’t get too excited about correcting them.

Balance the desire to improve with a strong dose of self-acceptance.

It will help you grow at a slow and steady pace.

Emotions and organs

Chinese medicine categorizes the main emotions as: anxiety, sadness, fear, anger, joy, rumination and empathy. Each of these, when excessive or fixed (preoccupying the mind), harms an internal organ and disturbs the qi in specific ways.

Anxiety and sadness damage the lungs. During periods of anxiety, breathing and qi become constricted, unable to flow easily in and out of the lungs. Anxiety can contribute to the development or exacerbation of asthma and other bronchial conditions. According to Chinese medicine, the lungs absorb qi from the air to regulate the supply of internal energy. When the lungs are weakened by pain, general health and vitality decrease. However, this doesn’t mean that we should suppress sadness. It’s not healthy to hold back tears in response to an upsetting event. Both prolonged grief and unexpressed grief weaken lung qi.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the word shen, “kidneys”, includes both the kidneys and the adrenal glands and, in some contexts, the reproductive system. The shen are most affected by fear. Fear causes pain and illness in the kidneys, adrenal glands and lower back and creates favorable conditions for urinary tract disorders and incontinence. When a person is afraid, the qi descends towards the sacrum and towards the center, away from the surface of the body. The body contracts in self-protection. The circulation of blood and breath slows down, resulting in conditions of excess and stagnation in the center and depletion in the periphery. A common sign is cold hands and feet. You are literally “frozen with fear”.

Chronic fear can lead to a number of debilitating conditions. Fear and stress cause the adrenal glands to secrete large amounts of the stress hormones adrenaline and hydrocortisone, which signal the cells to break down stored fats and proteins into sugar (glucose). This makes energy available to “fight or flee a threat” – a necessity during short-term threats to survival, but devastating if prolonged. As energy reserves are depleted, we become weak and tired, leading to exhaustion. The body’s reservoirs are not infinite. If we don’t have time to rest and regenerate, our ability to cope with stress is impaired.

The release of adrenal hormones puts many bodily processes on hold in order to defend against a threat. This includes stopping growth, repair and reproduction, inhibiting or deactivating essential chemicals and immune cells. If stress is constant, the body cannot return to a healthy state, it loses the ability to defend itself effectively against pathogens or to repair and heal damage.

In qigong theory, the kidneys and adrenals also control brain function, especially memory. Scientific research has confirmed that fear and stress can weaken memory and create learning difficulties. The stress hormone hydrocortisone damages the hippocampus, a region of the brain responsible for memory and learning and rich in hydrocortisone receptors.

Anger weakens the liver and causes the qi to rise. In fact, the common Chinese word for anger is sheng qi “rising qi”. Other expressions used to describe an angry person include huo qi “big qi fire” or yang qi tai gao “very high yang qi”.

Increased qi leads to muscle tension and various liver and fire-related illnesses, such as headaches, eye fatigue, hemorrhoids and irregular menstruation. Weak liver qi also contributes to mood swings, as the liver cannot perform its function of spreading qi and harmonizing the flow.

In the West, we distinguish between “healthy anger” and “unhealthy anger”. While the Chinese simply say that anger is harmful, Western mind-body researchers have discovered that the honest expression of “negative” feelings is good for health.

Unhealthy anger is repressed, chronic, cruel or violent. This type of anger doesn’t end once it’s discharged; inevitably, a trail of other feelings follows, including resentment, frustration and guilt.

The inability to express healthy anger and other emotions conventionally labeled “negative” can suppress the immune system.

That joy is considered a negative emotion in Chinese medical literature, the term joy (le) means excitability, a tendency to giddiness, loquaciousness, and general excess, it disperses the qi. It can create an irregular pulse and make a person prone to heart problems.

The excitable and joyful person is the opposite of the Chinese ideal of the sage, who is able to maintain inner composure and calm even in the midst of a storm. Excitement makes sudden demands on the heart.

The most extreme form of excitement, and therefore the most damaging emotion for the heart, is emotional shock, whether from a negative event, such as the death of a loved one, or from a positive event, such as winning a lottery. The epidemic of heart disease in the West may be symptomatic of our society’s preoccupation with, “joy, excitement”. The heart is over-stimulated by our fast pace of life, by frightening news, violence on TV and a passion for sex and romance.

In qigong philosophy, it is believed that the heart likes peace and quiet. It needs a sense of security to maintain an even rhythm while pumping energy through the body. When the heart’s qi is disturbed by excitement and excess, mind and spirit are affected, creating the possibility of insomnia, confused and restless thinking or, in extreme cases, hallucinations, hysteria and psychosis.

The spleen is damaged by melancholy. The qi becomes tangled and stuck. Thought means over-concentration, an obsessive preoccupation with a concept or subject. University students often suffer from what Chinese medicine considers spleen-related disorders: gastric disturbances, high blood pressure, weakened immunity and a tendency to catarrh and colds.

Empathy is an important and difficult issue for many healers. Too much empathy makes it difficult to treat the patient objectively and can result in “welcoming” the patient’s physical and/or mental illness. A qigong student knows they are overestimating when they find it difficult to feel relaxed, centered and grounded. To overdo empathy is to feel powerless and out of touch with the earth, the element that corresponds to the spleen. This empathy weakens the spleen and, conversely, a weak spleen can create boundary problems.

The spleen carries the qi of the earth. Qigong masters say that the spleen needs rooting, time spent in nature. There is a wonderful cure for both emotional pathogens of the spleen – melancholy and empathy. “Lose your head and come to your senses.” Spend more time in nature, seeing nature as a positive model of health and balance. The earth supports all kinds of life impartially, without attachment. Let your mind be still and your senses open to the environment.

In short, each of the main internal organs can be damaged by emotional excess. There are also positive emotions that can help heal the organs.

The lungs are healed by yi, often translated as “justice”, in the sense of integrity and dignity. Yi means giving yourself and others a kind of psychological space, room to live and breathe.

The kidneys are cured by zhi, wisdom. Zhi implies clear perception and self-understanding, a sure antidote to irrational fears.

The anger of the liver is mended with kindness (ren). The Confucian virtue ren is a pictogram of two people walking together. It is sometimes defined as the natural feelings that arise from companionship: benevolence and a “human heart”. The excitability of the heart is balanced by peace, calm, order.

Finally, the spleen is healed by xin cultivation. This is a rich concept that can mean trust, faith, honesty, confidence, belief. Trust is openness and acceptance, a feeling that arises when you find common ground with the other. Trust is a cure for tangled qi that occurs both through reflection (an internal knot and through stagnation) (one’s qi is connected to the other).

Healing emotions

Sit comfortably and breathe slowly for a few minutes, with your eyes slightly closed. Make sure you are relaxed and breathing naturally. Bring your mind to your lungs. Use your inner senses to feel your lungs. As you breathe in, bring integrity and dignity to your lungs. As you breathe out, let the breath carry away all worries, anxieties and sadness. Repeat several times. Breathe in integrity, breathe out anxiety and sadness.

Now concentrate on the kidneys. Let the inhalation fill the kidneys with wisdom, with the confidence of inner knowledge. Exhale all fears. Repeat several times.

Locate the liver with awareness. On the inhale, attract kindness, filling the liver completely. On the exhale, release and let go of anger. Repeat.

Bring your mind to your heart. Inhale, filling it – all the chambers, valves, the heart muscle – with peace and calm. Exhale, releasing excitement, zeal, excesses of any kind. Inhale peace again. Continue.

Now find the spleen. Locate it and feel it inside. As you breathe in, fill it with confidence and acceptance. As you breathe out, let go of melancholy and rumination. Let go of excess empathy, so that you can be secure and rooted in yourself. Once again, inspire confidence. Repeat.

Then bring your mind to the center of your being, to the stillness and silence of quiet abdominal breathing. Let all images and thoughts disappear. Stay with the feeling of being pure, “going out with yourself” for as long as you wish.

You can also use Inner Nourishing Qigong for emotional healing. As you breathe, think of a healing phrase, for example: “My emotions are balanced and calm”. Inhale, gently expanding your lower abdomen, and think: “My emotions are…” Exhale, letting your abdomen relax, thinking “balanced and calm”. Repeat for about five minutes.

I FEEL AND THAT’S WHY I AM

We can see that qigong approaches emotions from a very different place than traditional psychotherapy. Qigong considers how emotions affect posture, breathing and visceral health. Instead of seeing psychological problems in terms of past influences on present behavior, qigong focuses on present energy blockages.

Often, psychological problems seem to evaporate as physical tension dissolves. Although memories are stored in unhealthy tissues, it is not always necessary to analyze these memories in order to achieve psychological health. Many qigong students observe, in retrospect, that the emotional difficulties they had at the beginning of their training simply don’t exist a few years later.