Our minds move faster than our bodies. There is a real danger here!
Sure, our mental powers are very useful when we need to apply them to visualise the future or create something new but oftentimes in modern humans this feature of the mental faculties we have at our disposal becomes imbalanced.
This happens to the point that we walk around with an inflated head. It's like the cranium is expanding more and more to accommodate the growing mass of mental activity and we are walking around with beach balls for heads clumsily bumping our colourful egos into everyone else's!
In Qigong terms, there is too much energy in the head!!!
Whilst our thoughts are being catapulted into the vast exponential multiverse of alternate chattering thoughts our body is still standing where it always was: The present moment.
Whilst we make grandiose plans and push ourselves further and further to the limits of our ravenous aspirations, our bodies are waiting for us to come back down to earth and get in tune with our senses.
As we exhaust our life-force running on the treadmill in the hopes of reaching the horizon, our bodies wait patiently to be given some attention. This attention is the crucial feedback to maintain our health and our sanity.
When we are in tune with the body we are in tune with the present moment. Our body will tell us if we are moving too fast, if it is time to slow down, if it is tome to rest. Our health may be forgiving for some time but if in ignorance it is pushed again and again over a long period of time health will collapse and we will be FORCED to slow down.
How to avoid this? We intentionally take time each day to slow down, tune into the body and recover. These daily excursions into the inner vitality of the body puts one in touch with the liveliness that feeds all physical and mental activities. How creative and intellectually inspired can you be if you are lying exhausted in bed sick, barely able to form a thought, let alone stand up?!
Take time out every day.
Qigong practice gives one the opportunity to learn how to do this in a structured way and accelerate/optimise the natural healing abilities inherent in everyone of our beautiful bodies!
Just don't turn your back on it!
As Lao Zi said in the dao de jing:
"I alone am expressionless, like an infant before it can smile"
and
"Other people are sharp; I alone am dull"
And also:
"I drink from the great mother's breasts"
Be more gentle with yourself. While your mind has catapulted itself light-speed toward the stars your body is left behind on the ground like a helpless child whose mother has carelessly let go of her hand right before crossing a busy road. It's time to hold hands and move forward united.
This is how to reach a healthy balance. In unity.
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