This morning on the cbc I heard a scientist talking about the post traumatic damage to trees that is still going on ten years after the montreal ice storm. So many healthy boughs were frozen and fell off during that storm. Branches grew in their place, but these are tiny branches not quite up to the task of life as a major bough. They are more susceptible to rot, infestation, disease.
And they are much more likely to break off in the winter repeating the cycle again.
This strikes me a great metaphor for the cycle of trying to recover from any kind of psychological trauma. We create these behaviours in reponse to loss and grief and pain because we want to grow, we want to flourish, it's our nature. But they aren't up to the strain of life, so they die, only to be replaced by more behaviours, plans resolutions.
It's a rigged cycle, but we can't just not grow.
Today I had a completely different zhang zhuang experience. Yesterday was all about floating in the ether. But I forgot to mention something. I felt my body re-alligning. I felt and intense growing kind of suffering, almost like the fear and excitement of losing your virginity. It was terrified, but suddenly I felt my body and my psyche re-alligning and I felt my tan tien, felt exactly where it was supposed to be.
When I started practice today, I started from that allignement. But there were problems. This allignment forced a stretch in my spine that brought back memories of major back pain. That memory made me less willing to hold the position. If I disappear, lose self-consciouslness I'm afraid I'll shift in such a way that puts strain on my spine.
So I'm careful. I want to stay close to the new allignment, but I don't want to risk putting too much stretch on my lower back. All of this self-awaress makes the experience much more internal. I feel the energy collecting in my tan tien, like a water baloon holding me in place. I feel a cold energy, which is weird because the literature usually tells you that it's warm. I feel it still, and I also felt a cold energy begining to flow along my lower spine.
It's new growth, I feel it. But I have to protect it. I don't want rot to set in.
