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Posted - 12/08/2005 : 12:29:49

Monte Hueftle's latest newsletter

Dec 8, 2005

from: monte@runningpain.com

Hello Everyone;

Happy Holidays. This is a lengthy, very important topic, so make sure you have a good 10 minutes before you begin.

...Continuing on from our November newsletter, the topic this month is Experiencing Feelings. Words of Wisdom are provided by a whole host of experts: Myss, Naparstek, Zukov, Chopra, Tolle and Pert. And there are numerous exercises to try throughout.

If I was ever going to say this is the most important key to healing from tension induced pain, I'm saying it, Feeling or Experiencing your emotions is the most significant thing you can do or be to end the pain cycle, Period! So let's get started. Last month we discussed Emotional Awareness and how to identify the things we do that allow us to Deny, Resist and Avoid feeling or experiencing our emotions. We call this Repression Activities.

One of the big misunderstandings that we have is that we should Deny or Avoid certain "negative" feelings like fear, anger or hopelessness in order to overcome them. Let me reinforce what you already know, It does not work that way! When we resist or go around a feeling that is trying to express itself it has a way of coming back a little more intense or it goes deeper inside our bodies and then it really gets our attention when we least expect it.

Belleruth Naparstek, " I think feelings are just feelings. They're not voluntary, the way that actions or even thoughts are. Feelings are more like the natural flow of energy inside of us, with emotional flavor attached to them. When we train ourselves to observe them, acknowledge them, identify them, differentiate them, and give an honest nod of recognition to them, they tend to shift and move of their own accord. Because that's what feelings do, if we don't interrupt their natural flow. But if we can watch them come and go, with a non-judgmental interest, then they really do come and go. The natural state of feelings is to MOVE. But when we judge them, push them back, deny them, think less of ourselves for having them, they very perversely stick around. It's those judgments about our feelings that cause them to adhere to us, and take up residence, so to speak...Acknowledge to yourself what the emotional truth is for you. This is why mindfulness is such a great antidote for depression and suffering of all sorts. Mindfulness is practicing the discipline of watching what we feel, think, and sense, without judgment." BN.

Ask yourself why you deny yourself a feeling? Are you afraid? Is your ego in the way? Can you allow yourself to know and experience the Truth about yourself?

Gary Zukov, " When you become aware of your emotions, you are in a position to change how the energy moving through your energy system is processed. Your emotions no longer seep you away. They inform you and provide you with important data. You cannot receive this information and be submerged in your emotions at the same time, you cannot become aware of what your body is feeling when you are angry, for example, and shout in anger at the same time. You must choose between being in the water and letting your emotions determine your words and actions, and standing on the bridge watching your anger as it moves painfully through you. When you are in the water, your anger is your master, and it controls what you do. When you stand on the bridge and experience your anger, no matter how painful the sensations in your body are, you are the master of your anger, and you control what you do. Each time you do this, your anger loses power over you and you gain power over it.
When you are aware of your emotions and what is occurring around you, you step into the present moment...When you feel angry, stop what you are doing, what you are saying, and what you are thinking and focus your attention on what you are feeling.This will not be easy, but is is worth your effort. When you are in the grip of a powerful emotion such as anger, and you stop speaking and acting and start feeling, you channel the full force of that energy into your consciousness. Choosing not to act on an angry impulse and to feel the pain that lies beneath it instead is very courageous." GZ.

Try substituting complaining or judging or feeling frustrated for anger in the example above. Resist your old conditioned response and have it your intention to feel rather than act out.

Eckert Tolle, "The more you are identified with your thinking, your likes and dislikes, judgments and interpretations, which is to say the less present you are as the watching consciousness, the stronger the emotional energy charge will be, whether you are aware of it or not. If you cannot feel your emotions, if you are cut off from them, you will eventually experience them on a purely physical level, as a physical problem or symptom. If you have difficulty feeling your emotions, start by focusing attention on the inner energy field of your body. Feel the body from within, this will also put you in touch with your emotions. Make it a habit to ask yourself: What's going on inside me at this moment? That question will point you in the right direction. But don't analyze just watch. focus your attention within. Feel the energy of the emotion. If there is no emotion present take your attention more deeply into the inner energy field of your body. It is the doorway into Being. Intense presence is needed when certain situations trigger a reaction with a strong emotional charge, such as when your self image is threatened, a challenge comes into your life that triggers fear, things go wrong or an emotional complex from the past is brought up. In those instances, the tendency is for you to become "unconscious" the reaction or emotion takes you over you "become" it. You act is out. you justify, make wrong, attack, defend...except that is isn't you, it's the reactive pattern, the mind in its habitual survival mode. So when such challenges come, as they always do, make it a habit to go within at once and focus as much as you can on the inner energy field of your body. This need not take long, just a few seconds. but you need to do it the moment that the challenge presents itself. Any delay will allow a conditioned mental-emotional reaction to arise and take you over. When you focus within and feel the inner body, you immediately become still and present as you are withdrawing consciousness from the mind. If a response is required in that situation, it will come up from this deeper level." ET.

Remember that you can always use your breath in these situations. Deep conscious breathing will help you stay focused in the present, within yourself and keep you from reacting out.

Candace Pert, "The tendency to ignore our emotions is old think, a remnant of the still-reigning paradigm that keeps us focused on the material level of health, the physicality of it. But the emotions are a key element in self-care because they allow us to enter into the bodymind's conversation. By getting in touch with our emotions, both by listening to them and by directing them through the psychosomatic network, we gain access to the healing wisdom that is everyone's natural biological right. And how do we do this? First by acknowledging and claiming all our feelings, not just the so called positive ones. Anger, grief, fear these emotional experiences are not negative in themselves; in fact they are vital for our survival. ...It's only when these feelings are denied, so that they cannot be easily and rapidly processed through the system and released, that the situation becomes toxic...And the more we deny them, the greater the ultimate toxicity, which often takes the form of an explosive release of pent up emotion. So my advice is to express all of your feelings, regardless of whether you think they are acceptable, and then let them go. One: Becoming Conscious. The more conscious we are, the more we can "listen in" on the conversation going on at autonomic or subconscious levels of the bodymind, where basic functions such as breathing, digestion, immunity, pain control and blood flow are carried out. Only then can we enter into that conversation using our awareness to enhance the effectiveness of the autonomic system, where health and disease are being determined minute by minute. Two: Reducing Stress; In my experience, the most effective method for reducing stress is meditation, because it allows us, even without conscious awareness, to release emotions that are stuck in modes that subvert a healthy mind-body flow of biochemicals....(She likes TM--transcendental meditation best)....Another form of meditation that is gaining popularity is "mindfulness" as introduced by psychologist/researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn..By breathing consciously you enter the mind-body conversation without judgments or opinions, releasing peptide messenger molecules from the hindbrain to regulate breathing while unifying all systems. Studies have shown that mindfulness meditation can dramatically reduce pain for people who live with chronic pain...
A simpler, less formal practice than meditation, but equally effective at stress-reduction is the habit of self-honesty. By self-honesty, I mean being true to yourself, keeping your word to others as well as to yourself, living in a state of personal integrity. There is a profound physiological reason why honesty is stress-reducing. We have seen how the emotions bring the whole body into a single purpose, integrating systems and coordinating mental processes and biology to create behavior." CP.

I believe the honesty that Pert mentions and the truth that Naparstek states is a huge deal in what our body is experiencing. When we deny our self an emotion, when we somehow resist feeling what is their, we are lying to ourselves. We are not accepting who/what we are.

Deepak Chopra, "There is a state of non suffering inside of you; it is simple and open awareness. By contrast, the state of suffering is complicated because, in its attempts to wrestle with pain, the ego refuses to see that the answer could be as simple as simply learning to be. Any steps that get you to stop clinging to complications will bring you closer to the simple state of healing. Take anything in you life that is bringing you a sense of deep unease, discomfort, or suffering. You can choose something that has persisted for years or something that is uppermost in your life right now. Whether there is a physical component or not is unimportant, although if you pick a chronic physical disorder, don't approach this exercise as a cure--we are dealing with the patterns of perception that encourage you to hold on to suffering.

Energy and Sensations:

We rely on our bodies to tell us when we are in pain, and the body, like the mind, follows familiar patterns. You are taking familiar sensations and using them to confirm your suffering. Many depressed people, for example, will interpret fatigue as depression. The way to deal with these sensations is to strip away the interpretation. Instead of being sad, look upon this as the energy of sadness. Like fatigue, sadness has a bodily component that can be discharged. Instead of being an anxious person, deal with the energy of anxiety. All energies are discharged in the same way;

Take a deep breath, sit quietly, and feel the sensation in your body.
Feel the sensation without judgment. Just be with it. Let any feelings, thoughts, or energies that want to come up do so--this often means listening to the voice of anxiety, anger, fear, or woundedness. Let the voices say what they want to say. Listen and understand what is going on. Watch the energy disperse as much as it can. Don't demand complete discharge. Take the attitude that your body will let go of as much stored energy as it is able to.

The simple state of awareness is nature's default position; suffering and the complications that keep it going are unnatural--it wastes energy to maintain all that complexity. By working toward a simpler state every day, you are doing the best anyone can do to bring suffering to an end by cutting out the roots of unreality" DC.

When I was writing Get Rid..., especially Chapters 5, 6 and 7, which are devoted to the emotional component of healing from this disorder, my experiential information came directly from these experts. Understand that the energy of your body is Always Truthful. Always! Our ego, our unique personality, shields us from experiencing emotions. Challenge your ego by allowing yourself to feel whatever is there with non-judgment. Get away from the "superparent", achieving-businessperson", peak-performing-athlete", ect., personality. Your ego personality will give you "reasons" to not feel or will stop the process before anything really happens. Make it your intention to be truthful with yourself. Avoiding feelings is the same as lying to yourself. When we create this disconnection of truth within our self we are blocking our life energy. We are creating pockets of "stuckness" that become pain. The stuff that is uncomfortable for you to feel, this is what you need to allow yourself to feel. So challenge the ego's urge to resist and move on, by simply stating to yourself that it is OK to feel all emotions. Then use your breath to stay present, ask yourself inner questions of what you are feeling, ask your inner self to share whatever it wants to share If it becomes uncomfortable, begin to accept the uncomfortableness as a release of emotion, a release of stuck energy. This is the transformation you are seeking. Do not demand that some specific expectation occur. Accept what happens.

Just one plug....Because this is the significant phase of healing from this disorder, if you are challenged to connect with your feelings, to go inside with acceptance and detachment, then I encourage you to try my Guided Imagery/Hypnosis CD or Audio Download. It is an impactful 56 minutes of inner exploring that allows you to connect with, explore and experience your emotions in a safe, peaceful detached environment.

Best Regards In Your Running and Recovery;

Monte Hueftle

P.S. Realize that insanity is repeating the same thoughts and behaviors again and again, and expecting different results!

Edited by - n/a on 12/08/2005 15:45:02

Michele