The Spirit of Ma’at
Vol 1 November 2000
The Art of Listening to Ourselves
There have always been healers to help people recover their health. But during the last century, most people in our culture have given away their healing ability to doctors. It has become a ''doing to'' rather than a ''doing with,'' says Suzanne Scurlock-Durana. Here, she describes techniques for reclaiming our innate ability to heal ourselves.
In order to reconnect body, mind, and spirit, there are a few skills we have to re-member. First, is the ability to listen. Second, is the ability to articulate what we hear.
Listening
Listening to your body is not much different from feeling it. Sensations signal to you that something is going on. It is necessary to figure out what that ''something'' is. Feelings, both physical and emotional, tell us how we are doing in terms of our health, aliveness, creativity, and joy. Many of us, however, have not been taught to listen to normal signals.
For example, a woman with a hypothyroid condition may get many signals. She will start to feel things slowing down in her body. She may notice that she is having more headaches than normal. She may notice hair changes, or being tired. She goes to bed at 7:30 or 8:00, wakes up at 7:00 in the morning, and is still tired. All of these symptoms are fairly reliable signals that she has something going on with her thyroid. But instead of knowing that this information is telling her she has medical situation, she may simply start to do something like drinking more coffee.
Articulating What We Hear
What pain feels like to us is richer than mere physiologic sensations, because feelings are truly internal. Unfortunately, our culture lacks a language that articulates well the internal sensations of being alive. So be imaginative. If your shoulders hurt, for example, is there a great weight upon them? Or are they being crushed together in a vise? If you have pain in your chest, does it feel like a fist is gripping your heart? Or like a spear is piercing it? The image will help you figure out the source of the pain, because you can then have a conversation with the spear or the fist about what it is doing. The fist might be trying to protect the heart from being hurt again.The spear might be pinpointing an area that has ''shut down'' in order to jump start it to be alive again.''
After feeling the sensations of the body (all of them, not just pain), step back from the body and say to yourself something like, Isn't that interesting? I have a spear in my heart. Not only does this give you a little space and objectivity from your situation, but also, anything that is interesting to you has value. Your attention or consciousness is directed to it. It is respected.
So our body communicates with us - we just need to take the time to learn its language. Slow down. Feel it. Things hurt for a reason. If it hurts way too much, take away the label of ''hurting'' and experience the actual sensations -- the tingling, the throbbing, the numbness -- however the hurt actually hurts. The language the body speaks is metaphoric, which means that its meaning may be conveyed in images. We already understand this on some level. Who hasn't felt immediate relief of the pain in the back of the neck when the co-worker who was ''a pain in the neck'' was fired or resigned?
Life-Giving versus Life-Taking Responses
In my view, we are always either doing something that is life-giving or life-taking. When our responses to experience are life-giving, there is more energy generated by what we are doing, whether it be conversing, drawing, walking, or daydreaming. When we are responding in ways that are life-taking, we are trying to repress something, disconnect from someone or something, push it away, or tighten down. The body tells us when we are doing too much life-taking by developing symptoms.
The ''Container'' Concept
Just as our pain deserves respect, the body itself deserves respect. After all, it is the container for our life force, for our spirit, our soul. So I use the term ''container'' to refer to the body -- not as an empty vessel, but as a vehicle or medium for all sensations. As we allow ourselves to feel these sensations, we will have more and more of them. And as we do so, the strength of our ''container'' grows, so that no matter what life-gives us, we can accept it. We can stay grounded and centered so that we make wise choices.
It is important to realize, as we are now learning scientifically, that the body is naturally integrated; that is, our emotions and feelings are not just specific parts of the body. Rather, they exist throughout the body. You might want to refer to Candace Pert's book Molecules of Emotion for a more in-depth discussion of this idea. Furthermore, in order to have vibrant health we need to be ''in'' all of our bodies. Yet religions and cultural standards usually give permission to men and women differently regarding which parts of the body they are allowed to be ''in.'' For example, in our culture men have more freedom to be in their heads and their pelvises, whereas women have more permission to be in their hearts. These are generalities for the purpose of example, and fortunately the situation is changing. But when I refer to the container of the body, I am referring to a system where the physical, emotional, and spiritual all blend into one.
The Five Principles
To help teach people to feel the energy flow and connect with their bodies, I have developed the Five Principles, or Circle of Life. The following explains these principles and how to apply them in your own healing:
Principle #1: Recognize the connection/separation continuum and where you are in it.
This is the ability to know at any moment whether you are headed in a life-giving or life-taking direction by the sensation of connection or disconnection that you have with your life force and with the world around you. When you are connected, it feels right.
If you do not have this ability, how do you develop it? First, develop a connection to the ground. Take your shoes off and feel it pushing back against your feet. There is energy there, and you can feel it nurture and support you. You can draw upon this unconditional energy whenever you need to. Grounding enables you to feel what you need to feel so that you are not overwhelmed by it. Second, ask yourself ''Am I present/connected now?'' You might be amazed at how often you drift into the past or future.
Principle #2: Acknowledge and widen your perceptual
lens.
We develop a perceptual lens, or worldview, based on our experiences and sometimes just based on what other people tell us. We create a whole set of assumptions and conclusions about life based on what we have experienced, what our family has experienced, what we have been exposed to in our culture, our religion, our gender, and so forth. Everything we experience is filtered through that lens and is given an interpretation by it. It is important to realize that it is just a lens and that we can change it if we choose. If we have a narrow perceptual lens, we might miss or misinterpret what is going on in the present moment.
To open or widen our perceptual lens, we can start by connecting with the intelligence in our bodies. When we are connected in the sense just mentioned, that intelligence informs us, for example of situations to avoid (danger) or situations to approach (synchronicity). However, it cannot inform us if we are caught in a perceptual lens that limits how we see the situation, like blinders on a horse. We must acknowledge our thoughts and feelings as allies. This intelligence is everywhere in the body, not just in the head. Candace Pert has shown, for example, that there are endorphin-producing molecules in the gut, in the finger, ready to create the sensation of pleasure. Similarly, there are adrenaline-producing molecules everywhere ready to create a response to fear. When we listen to that intelligence and, say, get out of a situation in which our body is signaling fear instead of listening to our narrow perceptual lens that is telling us that it is not polite to leave a party 10 minutes after you arrive, then the lens has been widened.
Principle #3: Recognize that you have a Core, your
spirit, which is uniquely yours and for which you must be caretaker for its
container, because that Core integrates your body, mind, emotions, and essence.
It is perhaps inaccurate to say that you have a core, as if it were somehow separate from you; rather, you are your Core. Your Core and your container are you. It is hard to pin down the nature of Core because it is flowing. It is the energy or chi in qigong or tai chi. It is life force. We know that we can amplify and change this energy by doing certain movements, breath work, or even having certain thoughts. It is always there, it is what connects everything with everything else: your head with your gut, you with your spouse, your feelings with your actions. Your Core integrates your experience such that when your gut says ''Danger, get out of here'' your head formulates the best way out, and your body moves in accord. When you listen to your body, take its signals seriously, and not let perceptual lenses get in the way, you have attained the ability to trust yourself.
Principle #4: Connect your Core to your Source.
Because your Core is the flow of life itself, it is not separate from the flow of all life, the Source. So you are not separate from the flow of all life. Your container is not an island. If you start feeling like an island, it is time to go to your perceptual lens and ask ''What am I believing about myself right now such that I am not drawing on the energy I need?'' This is the process of grounding and centering yourself, so you can restore the flow of energy and thereby heal. It is the process of shifting from life-taking to life-giving.
Principle #5: Know that there is an ever-present
Source of nourishing life energy.
The Source is called by many different names in the different spiritual traditions, but it is the same Source to which they all refer. This Source never runs out. It is unconditional in its giving, in its flow. When we truly trust in our bodies and know that we are supported, life-takes on a whole new resonance.
Resources:
I recommend the following books and other resources in helping you to reclaim your ability to heal yourself:
1. Upledger, John E. (1997) Your Inner Physician and You: CranioSacral Therapy and SomatoEmotional Release. North Atlantic Books and U.I. Enterprises. ISBN: 1556432461. www.upledger.com
2. Scurlock-Durana, S. (Speaker) (1996). ''Healing From the Core: A Journey Home to Ourselves'' (audiocassette and CD). Reston, Virginia; Lion Recording. Includes basic relaxation and energizing exercises. Available from: Healing From the Core, Suzanne Scurlock-Durana, 11417 Tanbark Drive, Reston, VA 20191, or www.healingfromthecore.com.
3. Pert, Candace B.(1999) Molecules of Emotion: Why You Feel the Way You Feel. Simon & Schuster. ISBN: 0684846349
4. Pipher, Mary Bray (1995) Reviving Orphelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. Ballantine Books. ISBN: 0345392825; and (1997) The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families. Ballantine Books. ISBN: 0345406036
5. Hendricks, Gay, (1992) Conscious Loving: The Journey to Co-Commitment. Bantam Books. ISBN: 0553354116
6. Schnarch, David (1998) Passionate Marriage: Love, Sex and Intimacy in Emotionally Committed Relationships. Henry Holt. ISBN: 0805058265
7. Gendlin, Eugene (reissued 1982) Focusing. Bantam Books. ISBN 0553278339, www.focusing.org.