Energies to Ride!

All sorts of different people, situations, even our own thoughts "push our buttons" many times each day. As a result, varying amounts of energy is frequently being released in us. Without careful, skilful training, these energies ride us ragged - as if we were being tazered!

While being ridden by energies we may, more or less unconsciously: overdo whatever we're good at doing; eat or drink compulsively; go into old, negative "story of me" spirals of thinking (wallowing or catastrophizing); escape into fantasy; "look for love in all the wrong places"; loose ourself in a cult; behave aggressively - in our thoughts, verbally, and or physically; shut down, putting our life on hold; etc. Without deep understanding, skills & the will to move through this swamp, we're madly off in all directions, as if we were on fire without a clue how to deal with the fire. So our behaviour likely appears at least somewhat erratic to others. And these energies are like a fire in our guts, our heart, our brains - both energizing and destructive. How can we get this dragon off our back, and jump on its back?

For a slow learner like me, it can take a long lifetime of self-reflection, study, and meditation practice before we start to get an effective handle on this, before we get on top of, & start riding these energies.

Part 1 - Who am I?

The first essential step is remembering who we are, & returning home - to center or ground ourselves in the depth of our being when the outside world or even our own mental / emotional world becomes chaotic, noisy, stressful.

Instead of taking the noise overly seriously, engaging with it directly, getting lost in it, identifying with it, and thereby ramping up the noise and confusion, we can simply accept it as it is, not engage with it, leave it be, and shift effortlessly to our center.

Our physical & energetic center (dan tien in Chinese; hara in Japanese) is just (2cm) below the navel, and about half way between our front and back. The noise and confusion outside of us, in our thoughts, or even in our bodies, can be compared to choppy waves on the surface of the ocean. The peaceful, silent, still, & spacious awareness in our dan tien is like the depths of the ocean. There's no separation between the choppy waves and the depths - they're one. In the same way, the inconceivable depths of our own being is more than capable of lightly holding the transient surface turbulances that periodically pass through our lives.

We can surf on these temporary tempests-in-a-teapot.

Part 2 - Riding from Stillness

Once we find & return to our center of gravity, our own still point, riding or surfing released energies is very similar to basic meditation instructions for surfing our breath in the belly. It's an awareness exercise to very physically experience continuously balancing & staying on top of these fire balls rolling around in our head, heart or belly. Riding, staying on top of these energy dragons requires the same skillset as surfing the moving breath energy in the belly.

We don't judge these dragons in any way, negatively or positively, we just accept them as energy forms (which these literally are) to ride or surf on top of (instead of something that will again & again & again ... keep riding us ragged).

Being ridden by these energies is a very well-established habit. Riding these energies is likely not yet a habit. We progressively allow less and less of the former & do more and more of the latter. This is how we gain traction in reversing habits. Energies that ride us drain our energy and can last a long, long time. Energies we ride dissipate much more quickly, all on their own.

Methodically, expertly ride dragons - you'll be very pleasantly surprised.