Emotions and Five elements - Part 2

This text is the continuation of the previous blog Emotions and Five elements – Part 1.

Emotion as an energetic movement

In Daoist thought emotions are regarded as energetic movements which originate from the center of our consciousness. Emotions propagate through the entire energy system and they are changing its vibration. You can feel how different emotions have different vibrational qualities. If you are sensitive, you don’t feel only your emotional vibrations, but you can literally feel vibrations of people who are interacting with you.

These emotional vibrations pervade your physical body as well. As this happens you can experience different physical phenomena in different areas of the body (feelings of pain, cold, fever, sensations of contraction, expansion, tingling, heaviness, lightness or others…).

Observe how certain type of strong emotion influences your whole system and you will understand what am I talking about. Try to remember the feeling when you are shouting at someone in anger and compare it with the feeling when you are communicating with him/her with patience and appreciation.

Unconscious response or pattern

If you practice certain kind of emotion which doesn’t serve you well again and again it will become your unconscious response to certain kind of situation. It will become your pattern that will repeat again and again. It is information that is imprinted also in your physical body, in all your tissues and cells.

This is a principle which is used also by Qigong but only that it establishes positive life supporting and harmonious patterns. 🙂

Prolonged excessive emotions cause imbalances

If you remain in the specific excessive emotional state for a longer period of time this can damage the related organ and its energy. The prolonged period of time means that you experience some emotion for months or even years. For example if you live in intense fear for months or years it might damage your Kidneys, first on energetic and then also on a physical level.

Remember that any long-term emotional imbalance can become a cause of physical or mental disease.

Less drama, more emotional stability

So how to approach your emotions and make peace with them? The first step is to make your emotional states more stable. Of course your emotions are changing but why not to make these changes and states less dramatic. Yes, it is very exciting to jump from the top of the mountain into an abyss and then climb up again … But you consume a lot of energy in this way. Remember how exhausted you can feel after an aggressive verbal fight with someone…

More emotional stability means that there are not frequent oscillations from one excessive emotion to another and there are less (or no) emotional outbursts. It implicates also more stable state of your energy. But this is a long and gradual process.

Emotions are transient

Start first by perceiving your emotions differently. Remind yourselves that your emotions are not something permanent but rather transient. They are energy, vibration, which has a potential to change and transform.

There are not good or bad emotions, there are only vibrations (energy) which are in harmony with your soul (consciousness) or not. Believe in yourself that you can attain emotional state which will bring in your life and in your surrounding more harmony!

When you are aware of this you will not identify yourselves with your current emotions. You will slowly become able to consciously embrace all sorts of your emotions as they come and then let them go.

No fight, no one to defeat

When you try to become aware of your emotions you should be really patient with yourself. It really helps if other people who are close to you are patient with you as well :). (I thank you for this, Petar :)) It might happen that when you think that you are doing really great you find yourself again immersed in some old unconscious emotional pattern.

When this happens to me I feel for a moment as if I have failed. But fortunately I’m able to remember pretty soon that there is no fight and no one to defeat. I remember that my emotional reactions only remind me where I am and to which aspect of my being I should pay more attention and probably more Love.

Qigong and the balance of emotions

Qigong practice can help you considerably on the path of cultivating your emotions. Or better said, on the path of cultivating your mind which is tightly connected with your emotions. At the beginning it helps you to attain more relaxed state of body and mind. When your body structures are relaxed and the breathing is calm also your mind is more calm. In this state your emotions will be automatically more balanced and stable. Regular daily practice will bring you more and more of emotional stability.

There are many different Qigong sets which you can practice as beginner for balancing your emotions by improving the flow of Qi through your energy system and balancing the energy of Five elements.

It is very effective if you practice also some technique for releasing tensions from your three bodies, for example Sung breathing. And of course, as soon as you feel ready, start to practice meditation regularly every day. If you are interested in a spiritual path you will probably continue with Nei Gong practice and you will discover more advanced techniques for releasing emotions.

Don’t practice Qigong when you are emotionally upset

When you find yourself in the whirl of strong emotions it is not the moment to balance them with Qigong exercises. It is better to sit or lie down and try to calm yourself with abdominal breathing. Or going for a walk somewhere in the nature…

Practicing Qigong regularly every day, possibly in the morning, when you are usually the most calmed is a kind of pre-pavement for attaining a balanced emotional state.

And than toward the Five virtues

Let’s suppose that through years you have learned how to balance your emotions and how to release tensions created by emotions. Further step in Daoist practice, that I will only mention, is that in time you gradually convert your emotions into the five virtues which are more stable and are more directly connected with your consciousness.

Emotional balance is a necessary foundation for more advanced Qigong, Nei Gong and meditation practices. But it is also a foundation for harmonious relationships – especially with yourself. 🙂

Embrace your emotions and May the Qi be with You! 🙂

Smiljana