Stillness/Slowing 3-D Diagnosis

Stillness/slowing practice is the foundational starting point of Tai Chi, QiGong and movement therapy. First things first....returning to our basic state of connection, alignment and balance is key to maintaining that state in all movements and motion so standing is a natural place to begin. We may also find that just being still is rather difficult, a definite clue that we need to return to our basic origins, using the intent and physical practices to slow down, to return and ease into a state of inner stillness. This is an act of re-setting the foundations, unifying rhythms, truing up the “plum lines”, and returning to central equilibrium. It is well known that the unresolved past creates illusions/delusions and obscures the clarity of the present moment, disrupting all foundations. This engenders a type of “sensory entanglement.”

Until the heart/mind connection is returned, clarity, insight and reflection skills are limited. The brain needs the heart and the sensory feedback to face any/all of life’s changes and challenges, from the simple to the more difficult. When the sensory capacities are limited or injured, the inner guidance systems are stuck, and clarity is not present when choices are made solely from the brain. Adaptation misses the mark when present time sensory perception is not considered in light of past experience. Our senses interact with the present, our brain reviews past experiences, and integrates experiential learning from the past, with sensory information from the moment. This natural instinct maximizes our past learning and sheds light on the present situation, but is subordinate to sensory intelligence and adaptation.

The heart/brain union is paramount, and forms the united perceptive ability we call “mind”. This is a feeling, adapting, alive-intelligence within each of us and is our greatest ability, our greatest power. When thought and feeling struggle to find union or are in opposition, clarity and action are also difficult to reach. It is better to avoid compromise and compliance when the heart and brain are separated, the common ground and union of “mi nd” must reveal itself before it is safe to act.When beginning to develop a deeper relationship with the internal framework, the variables need to be fewer. Doing less, fewer movements, fewer distractions, fewer thoughts, more following, more listening, more receptivity. We balance this by bringing in more sensitivity, insight, reflection, and observation, ever-cultivating our basic receptivity skills. Outer distractions make it hard to feel deeply or distinguish between thought and sensory perceptions, at least until that gap is bridged. Re-learning this basic trait is key to using our internal abilities and capacities for recovery and healing. When observing the inner framework and connections by feeling, it is common to recognize some feelings as being inaccurate. Sometimes what feels straight or aligned, is often askew because our body accepts a state which goes on for long periods of time, simply out of the instinct to survive. Sensory accuracy must then be re-established so that what is felt is accurate. This experience is a type of physical re-education (both brain and body) that is worth all the effort it takes to return sensory precision.

3D Perception- The ability to feel a given area from at least 3 points of reference: a sensory-measurement of the size of something, in particular: the quality, direction, length, width, height, diameter, and its influence; the scope or extent of something.

3-D sensory perception is a learned skill that requires deeper levels of self interest. At its core, it is returning trust to sensory ability, and can be built upon and used to explore and retrieve information. It also functions to monitor and re-direct traits (adjustment and adaptation) that interfere with health. 3-D perception is necessary in whole health application as all our parts relate to wholeness. Noticing symptoms requires 3-D sensory skills to “ferret-out” root causes, which are often a part of other dimensions and leads us to seeing a connected chain of related imbalances.

Dimension - an extension into time, either past, present or future, that relates to a place in space, and influences other areas. 

A dimensional context is required when as an example, a past trauma interferes with the present, or a symptom is discovered and we want to find where it came from. Compound conditions are “connected chains of imbalance,” that are scattered between the dimensions of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual separations. Some examples might be how poor self esteem leads to slouching, and slouching leads to encumbered circulation. Past fears can create self recovery limitations, the root being the past (dimension) fear and the symptom being the present limitation in self recovery.

Standing/stillness practice is a basic way to begin the inner framework needed for all forms of physical recovery. We begin with root issues, learn, develop, and fortify the inner tools for complete rehabilitation. We must understand that treating the symptom does not alleviate the root cause and it will return. In the worse case scenario, we “shut down” because fear has replaced that part of our life force or we simply have not made enough effort to complete a functional change. In this case, we actually draw the repetition of that injury to us, over and over again.

In Standing practice, we are working with oxygenating, blood circulation, energy balancing and centering. Basic autonomic functions like breath, blood and energy are good places to begin developing the ability to feel in 3-D. We can easily learn to feel blood pressure in fullness and when it is weak, we can also feel the buoyancy of oxygen in the body or oxygen deprived states from shallow breathing. Energy is an easy one, we all recognize when we are lacking energy and when it is strong and abundant. The greater understanding with energy comes from how and when it becomes depleted, and what we allowed that caused depletion or excess. Learning to observe our life experiences as they happen can tell us a lot about the patterns that go unnoticed, the experiences that cause reactions on the inside, and the loss of energy that goes unchecked. In many cases, we choose to endure the pain and familiarity of the pattern rather than review the past and choose more functional options. This sometimes painful and unknown territory inside us is the key to understanding how to be in rhythm with life itself, the living terrain of change within us. It is also the compass and map to navigate our way through. 3-D perception, and links the heart with the mind. It connects sensory input with mental review and creative options. It gives us the ability to feel our way, even when we face life’s unknowns.....in essence, it is essential.