Asian perspectives on healing recognize Movement as a key aspect of healthy living. With age, what we did naturally as children can become an involved process, one that forces us to reflect at length on choices, and expensive. It does not have to be that way.
Work, in industrialized societies, keeps us immobile, while also forcing us to engage in repetitive motions that can lead to injuries. It is the dark side of a world that offers many comforts, comforts we have come to enjoy. Many of these societal changes became common only in the last seventy years. With them have come chronic and resistant conditions that drugs, regardless of however many we take, do not fix.
In an earlier post, I had spoken about the Five Animal Frolics (Wuqinxi). The key to using movement to improve health is Play or Frolic – i.e., stretching our minds and muscles from their chronically contracted states as an enjoyable daily activity. Benefits include reduction in the chronic and resistant health conditions seen in Western societies. Conditions like hypertension, affecting Body, and depression, affecting Mind.
Our primary objectives are to move Blood (e.g., nutrients) and Chi (energy, oxygen), from the core of our bodies, i.e., the organs in our torso, to the distal extremities, both upper and lower, and to the skin. There are two considerations that may appear as challenges in the beginning.
First among them, is the desire, or motivation, to move. This impulse comes from the Heart organ-network (TCM), the traditional Chinese medicine representation of Psyche from the Western healing traditions, combining Heart + Mind.
Second, is an appreciation/awareness of how we feel, after stretching, the responses from the Lung and the Spleen organ-networks (TCM), the latter involved with the absorptive-assimilative and distribution functions of our gastrointestinal system. Responses like increased metabolism and a sense of glowing – linked to the warmth and comfort associated with improved tissue perfusion, and relaxation.
Over the last decade, I have developed a series of stretches (exercises) to reduce muscle weakness and chronic pain – for people recovering from prolonged illness, injury, or surgery. Activities that can be tailored to suit the needs of the individual, based on fitness level. The forms are gentle, even for the frail, and include deep breathing as an active component.
No equipment is needed. The focus is on increased awareness of connections between Body and Mind. The goal is to become able to execute the activities of daily living (ADL) with confidence. Over time, as our muscles become stronger, chronic pains decrease or just go away and confidence increases as our health flourishes.
Contact the clinic (503-682-9319 when you are ready to achieve greater confidence and health, regardless of age.