“Define chaos not as a negative or positive, but simply as a reality that you can choose to respond to in a more positive way.”
The sentence above, from an ad for a Qigong course, grabbed my attention. “Chaos” feels like a good word to describe life these days. The world has always been somewhat chaotic, but the speed, intensity, and in-your-face-ness of current times makes it especially difficult to avoid getting caught up in the turmoil. This can truly erode our peace of mind, not to mention our health. Here’s where Qigong is truly helpful. We learn a variety of methods to grapple with whatever chaos we’re experiencing, whether it manifests as mental overload, emotional pain, insomnia, or physical pain or dis-ease. We have choices, depending on what we need in the moment, and what we feel we can handle.
Here are four possibilities to play with when life feels unmanageable: 1) Deep, slow, mindful breathing offers an immediate, reliable, and simple way to become calm and centered. 2) If you’re feeling so pressurized and jittery that you can’t slow down, then vigorously shake off the stress, like a dog shaking rain off its fur. 3) When the stress feels stubbornly and permanently lodged in you, the gentle stretching movements of Tao Yin can help unhook tension from your bodymindspirit, and transform it into vitality. 4) It helps to vocalize some or all the six healing sounds, whose vibrations gently purge or transform the inner bedlam, converting its negativity into something positive, benevolent, even soothing.
These work. No prescription is necessary, other than daily practice. All it takes is to firstchoose to respond to stress in a positive way, and then through practice, develop the “chops” to flip the disturbing energy of chaos into inner power and peace before it erodes our well-being and peace of mind.
These suggestions might very well come in handy during the next few weeks. 😊 Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
