Last week, I had an intense, sharp pain in my upper abdomen. Now, of course, this could have been a sign of a “medical condition” that required attention. However, in this case, I could trace the cause to an emotional event. As I became more conscious of that emotional event and resolved the thoughts and feelings around it, the pain went away. Could it be that many pains in our bodies have mental-emotional causes?

Now, the point of this post is not to tell you to avoid medical care when you need it. If you pay attention, your body will tell you when that is required. For example, many years ago I had appendicitis and there was no doubt at all—zero—that I was going to the hospital. I had received warning symptoms from my body, related to my mental-emotional state, for months, that I hadn’t paid attention to. If I had, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten to that point. After my medical treatment, I was able to go back and address those issues more consciously.

The point is, whether you need medical care or not, it can be beneficial to explore the deeper conscious meaning behind the events in your life, especially the painful ones. There is a mental-emotional component to everything that happens. Sometimes this component is so strong that it is a primary causal factor. As you address those mental-emotional issues, you gain greater clarity about what you need to do to move forward in a healthy way.

Let me describe my pain from last week, so you get an idea how this might go:

I had this intense pain in my upper right abdomen. From previous inner observations, I have come to know this pain as associated with my liver and with anger. Anger is often a message that there is something I am trying to protect. So when I get this pain, I ask: “What am I trying to protect?”

I recognized that, at that moment, I was trying to protect “What I wanted to do in my work.” I had just read an email that was asking me to do something that I really didn’t want to do. Almost immediately, I felt angry and, soon thereafter, I felt this pain in my upper right abdomen.

As I recognized and accepted what I believed gave rise to this pain, the pain shifted. It moved to my left upper abdomen, which felt painful and queasy. I’ve come to know this type of pain as associated with anxiety about “The way I am and if others will accept and respect me and what I feel strongly about.”

As I acknowledged, observed, and accepted this feeling, that pain also began to subside. I then did some deep breathing through that area and practiced a meditation technique to bring me back to my calm center. I then wrote an email response that reflected “what I really wanted to do.”

My current experience with pain is that the earlier and earlier I pay attention to subtle signals in my body and address them, the more quickly and easily these symptoms resolve. I can often address them mentally-emotionally and physically long before the point that medical care is needed. And if I reach the point where medical care is needed, I can work on the mental-emotional layer along with the physical to facilitate healing.

So, the message I wish to pass along today is this:

Pay attention to the feelings in your body.
Listen for the messages underneath pain.
And then follow your inner guidance.

Enjoy your practice,

Kevin

Kevin Schoeninger

P.S. This week on Spiritual Growth Monthly we’re practicing a powerful meditation for sensing and clearing your inner body. Click here to learn more.

At the end of last week, I was tapped out. I felt like I’d given everything I had, yet still had more to do. Though the weekend was coming, that too was filled with a nice-sized TO DO List. So, approaching the Qigong Meditation class that I teach every Friday afternoon felt a bit daunting. How would I summon up the energy to give a good class? What I didn’t know was that I would discover the answer in that very class.

Fortunately, I’ve taught this class for years, so I trust the practice and my ability to lead it. Usually, I begin with a little talk on some pertinent insight related to what we are about to do. However, this day, as I contemplated what to say, the words in my head were: “I got nothing.”

O.K. I’d really have to trust the practice today. I decided to dispense with the intro talk and just dive into it. I would let go, be present with what we were doing, and feel it “live” in the moment. I would “get out of the way,” which would be easy because I had no energy to be “in the way” or “take control” of how the class would go.

As I let go of trying at all, and just sunk into feeling the inner cues that begin our practice, I felt a “deep resonance” in my voice that I didn’t expect. Honestly, I felt a little relieved to find that quality there without any effort of “trying” on my part. I followed that feeling and continued through the form, keeping my internal focus on being present, feeling what was happening, and allowing that to come through my voice.

As we went along, I could feel the energy in the room getting very quiet and deeply relaxed. I found myself naturally expressing what was going on using some words I hadn’t used in that class before such as “Feel yourself as a simple presence with nothing else attached.”

At the end of class, we go around the room and I invite our class members to describe, “How did that feel today?” There was a general consensus that the room felt “very quiet” today, as if we had left the world and gone to a peaceful oasis. While I am well familiar with that feeling and relax into it as a daily practice, it was particularly deep and stayed with me particularly strongly the rest of that day—and I still feel it on this Monday.

So, that is my message for you today. In whatever you are doing, see if there might be something in this for you:

“Let go of trying too hard.

moving through you and leading the way.”

Enjoy your practice,

Kevin

Kevin Schoeninger

P.S. Click here to discover more about the quiet power of Qigong Meditation.

We’ve all witnessed the negative effects of anger, when it is reactive, self-righteous, and violent. However, there is also a positive energy and purpose in anger that is important to pay attention to and use wisely. In this post, we’ll talk about both faces of anger, how to differentiate them, and how to use anger productively.

As with all emotions, anger contains energy and information. In the case of anger, the energy is rising strength and the message is: “something needs protection.” Understanding this essential purpose in anger can help us to recognize what anger is trying to tell us and how we can use that energy and information in a good way.

The positive purpose in anger is to protect yourself or others in the face of a threat to well-being. For example, you see someone being harmed and the anger you feel alerts you and empowers you to step in and set a firm boundary against what is happening. An appropriate use of that anger is to firmly say “No!” or “Stop!” or to physically step in the middle and disarm the perpetrator.

When we understand the purpose of anger we can be more conscious of how to use this energy wisely. Then, we can accomplish the mission of protection while minimizing any harm done in the process. For example, we can use words and reason first and then defensive actions if required.

However, sometimes anger flares when we don’t really need to protect anything. This type of anger protects something that it is really better to release and let go. A whole lot of unnecessary conflict can be avoided if we let this anger go instead of following it. I’ll give you a small example that happened to me yesterday.

I was at the gym doing my Sunday workout. As I was going through my routine, I found that the machine I usually use next was occupied. The person occupying the machine was sitting there texting. Following normal gym etiquette, I asked if I could “work in,” which means that one person alternates with the other while the other person is resting between sets.

To my surprise, the person sitting on the machine said, “I’d prefer if you didn’t, I’m super-setting.” Whether it was the tone of how he said that or the fact that he was texting and not super-setting, I don’t know, but instantly my anger flared. In a nano-second, I rationalized my feeling into a full-blown, self-righteous anger.

I thought: “Does he think he owns the place? . . . What gives him more right than me? . . . He’s texting! . . . What an ______________! . . .”

Now the reality of the situation was, there was a machine right next to that one, that was similar enough that I could use it instead—and I did. Yet, as I was using it, I found myself wanting to verbally put him in his place. Angry words continued to run through my brain. My ego was hurt and I wanted revenge. O.K. that might be dramatic for such a small offense, but how often is anger overblown like that?

Fortunately, my better sense got hold of me and, after doing my sets on the machine next to him, I moved away to another part of the gym. Yet, I still had to work with mind. I told myself that what happened hadn’t hindered my workout at all, it just slightly adjusted my normal routine—and probably in a good way. A little variety is good for the muscles.

I also realized that his statement had triggered an old reaction of “feeling less than others”—something I’ve struggled with through my life. In some cases, it has been important for me to stand up and express myself. Yet, in this case, it really didn’t matter. I knew it was best to just let it go.

Still, little nagging angry thoughts kept running through my head—until I took one more step in my mind. I put myself in his shoes. I realized that there were many times in the past that I had felt like him. I don’t like to be interrupted in my routine and, when I am on a machine, I don’t like to give it up. Now, I usually do let others “work in” when they ask, but I understood his feeling, because I’ve often felt that way myself. When I put myself in his shoes and tried to understand where he was coming from, my anger stepped down another few notches.

Then I decided to take it one step further. I looked across the room at him and wished him a good workout. I know how important a good workout is to me, so I sent that message to him. I don’t know if it made any difference to him, but it took the final edge off my anger. I was able to completely let it go and move on.

So, the message here is that sometimes anger has a positive purpose, sometimes it arises to protect something that needs protection. At other times, anger may be defending something that is better let go. In that case, the positive purpose in anger could be to put ourselves in another’s shoes and consciously let our anger go. Maybe the bottom-line is that anger can always be used productively when we approach it consciously and use it wisely.

I hope you find this helpful when you feel the energy of anger rising up in you.

Enjoy your practice,

Kevin

P.S. On Spiritual Growth Monthly, we explore insights and techniques to grow in consciousness and experience greater health, happiness, and abundance. Click here to learn more.