Embracing all you are, is about learning how to love yourself, have compassion for self and ultimately to look after your health.
A friend of mine once said “Part of loving yourself is looking after your health“, Rodan, D
Learning to love and have compassion for oneself connects us to the fluid that nurtures the body and mind – the blood cells. Connecting with the body from a place of love, rather than a place of fear, brings with it a somatic experience that allows us to heal and move on from the experiences of the past.
Compassion is innately aligned with the development of values such as non-judgement and kindness towards others. “Showing compassion, offering reassurance, and listening actively calms patients, lowers blood pressure, and enables faster recuperation, reduced pain … benefits that (sic) have been consistently demonstrated in cases ranging from traumatic injuries to common colds”. Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education
Embracing compassion as a tool for self-healing plays a major role in releasing our own suffering. It frees up loving, positive energy that has otherwise been held back through experiences of the past, experiences that interject themselves into our everyday living, blocking, often through fear, that free flow of Qi/blood that is paramount for human health.
In the texts on Daoism suffering comes about when experiences of the past are held by the body, this is called “acquired Qi”. In the words of Van Der Kolk, B., when speaking of victims of trauma, we can see that the experiences of the past are both experienced in the body, and held in the body, “The past is impressed not only on their minds, and in misinterpretation of innocuous events… , but also on the very core of their beings: in the safety of their bodies” (The Body Keeps the Score, p127).
In bio-energetic terms past experience builds up layers of acquired Qi – all those incidents and encounters we have experienced throughout life that have created, layer upon layer a theatre of acquired responses. Responses that are as varied as we are as people, but all serving to hide us from our true authentic self. By default, the response we acquire from these experiences, keeps us, at a very deep level, in a state of dis-trust and fear. And it is through this dis-trust or dis-connection from self, that our health and immune system are compromised bringing with it dis-ease.
Compassion for self works at building trust that serves to enhance the body-mind connection. It works at a somatic level, encouraging the body, through a mind fuelled by love, happiness and joy, to release the acquired Qi that is creating ill-health and dis-ease. “Cellular Communication” within the human body is a cutting edge science that looks at how our very own cells talk about us. When we constantly subject our blood cells to fear and stress, our cells will loose trust in us, they won’t listen to you. The consequences of which mean that we are not living in the present moment rather we are living controlled by moments long gone, experiences from the past.
Through Calligraphy Health training we learn to infuse our blood cells with compassion, and re-connect with our self with a loving mind-set. Through this new-found connection or cellular communication, our blood cells begin to feel safe and respond by listening and trusting you. When we turn around our disconnection to self, to a loving, kind and non-judgemental connection your cells feel it and we can begin the process of healing at a somatic level. This is when we truly feel connected and grounded, at home and at peace. The relief of suffering through self-love is felt by yourself and by others around you. Compassion is self-love that strips away the layers of acquired Qi, relieving us of our own suffering.
Health is Compassion – Compassion is Health.
