2.4 Ortho-Bionomy
2.5 Reflex therapy
2.6 Kinesiology
2.7 Navel, Hara and Tan Tien
2.9 Ear acupuncture
2.10 Ayurveda
2.11 Anthroposophy
2.12 Navel chakra and solar plexus
2.13 The navel in shamanism and aura teachings
13.1 Exercise: Liberation from unconscious entanglements
2.14 The navel as a primal sound
2.15 Navel chakra and Sufism
2.16 Oriental medicine
2.17 The navel from the perspective of Osho
2.18 Navel and hara in Breema
2.19 The navel in Integral Orthopaedics
2.20 The navel, our connection with the center
2.21 Exercise: Connecting body, emotions and mind through aura and navel integration
21.1 Cleansing the hara with the aura release
21.2 Strengthening the hara with navel integration
21.3 Grounding the Hara
21.4 Connecting the Hara with our environment

I. The Origin of Integral Orthopaedics

I 1 Stress, pelvic writhing and navel

Illness is mainly caused by stress. The following texts are about recognizing the causes and effects of stress in ourselves and our lives, about freeing ourselves from it again and again, as best we can, not only to become healthier, more efficient or happier, but also to develop our actual potential and to recognize the responsibility associated with it.  

Early on in my orthopedic practice, I noticed the connection between stress, persistent muscle tension and back pain. Most of my patients exhibit twisting of their pelvis and, therefore, their back. The recognition of the connection between stress and pelvic distortion and the possibility of its relaxation is the basis of Integral Orthopedics. This researches the connection between muscle tension, pelvic torsion, vegetative nervous and fascial system, brain and aura and opens a causal way to support health. The resulting Fascia Integration Therapy (FIT) integrates the center of our fascial system, the navel, as well as internal and external causes of stress, thus freeing our stress-blocked ability to relax and regulate. For those affected, it is an invitation to self-help and for therapists in addition to a causal and more sustainable way of treatment.

In the last century, neural therapists had already identified so-called interference foci or interference fields as the cause of persistent complaints and used injections, for example on scars, to treat them. Injections to the navel were also discovered as a way to retune the autonomic nervous system.

I realized that injections to navel or interference foci also directly resolve pelvic torsion at least temporarily.

Accordingly, Integral Orthopaedics views pelvic twisting as the first sign in the musculoskeletal system of a fixed state of stress in the autonomic nervous and fascial systems.

For a much longer time, traditional Chinese medicine has referred to the navel region as the sea of energy (Qi). The Japanese healing, martial and meditation lore knows the Hara there, where the Qi is harmonized and activated through breathing, concentration or meditation. In TCM, acupuncture needles are used to restore the free flow and balance of energy through the meridians, which more recently have been rediscovered as fascial connections. And the navel represents the central connection point of the fascial system. 

In the 1960s, Canadian osteopath Artur Pauls developed a new treatment modality he called Ortho-Bionomy, literally the rules of life.

My ortho-bionomic approach also includes the relief of interference foci, such as scars or other trauma or disease effects both in the aura and through gentle touching and shifting on the surface of the body and in the body.

I realized that gently moving the navel in the direction of relaxation not only relaxes the abdominal fascia. If the second hand is held to an area in need of energy, fascial tension is likely to be released and the released energy directed there. As a sign of a retuning of the vegetative nervous system, the pelvic torsion is released at the same time. The harmonization and release of the stress-related blocked energy and information in the center of the body can specifically relax the body and psyche, activate self-healing and relax disturbing foci and pain. A few years later I observed that even while touching the navel as well as active interference foci, pelvic twisting almost always dissolves directly. But only almost always! And again it took a few years until I realized why:

The autonomic nervous system and thus the pelvis does not relax if there is a superordinate disturbance. Mostly this lies in our energetic shell, our aura. By relieving the aura, the pelvic torsion relaxes, at least temporarily. However, since there is usually other stress in the body, it returns, at least partially. On the second attempt, the pelvis relaxes upon touching the navel or a source of interference. The integral stress test, described in detail later, works again. 

In the acute times of the corona, I saw almost all of my patients not only in a vegetative state of stress. Most of them also had a superordinate stress in their aura. Unconsciously we live not only in our individual and family stress cloud, but also collectively and increasingly globally.

In order to dissolve these stress clouds, as well as our unconscious, vegetative and fascial stress again and again as well as possible, I invite you to a joint journey into the, to a large extent still unexplored world of the muscle, fascia and nervous system as well as our aura. After a short presentation of the different levels of action, we will explore unconscious causes of stress as well as new ways of healing. Since our body, as well as the fate of our world, is closely connected to our thoughts and feelings, I also try to offer solutions for a healthier and more fulfilling life on the level of consciousness.

Thereby my love for the inner music of the world draws me in the course of the essay also into spiritual levels. The somewhat more rational as well as the readers overly burdened with existential suffering, illness and pain I ask for indulgence there.

And since my concern to embark on this journey together with you also has to do with the stress state of our earth, I also allow myself occasional comparisons on a societal level.

2nd exercise: navel integration 

To give you a foretaste of Fascia Integration Therapy and to temporarily guide you out of thinking mode and into feeling mode, I would like to introduce you to the most important FIT exercise right now.  You can also do this while sitting, but even better while lying down. 

Touch your navel with the middle finger of one hand and hold it very gently in the softest direction. Place the other hand flat on the front of the neck and observe the relaxation reaction for a few minutes. If the touching of navel or neck is unpleasant, you have a thick neck, so to speak, please perform the aura relief described later beforehand.  

II. health in times of crises

After all, Corona was an impetus to write again. I would like to combine the texts published in Kamphausen Magazine with old and new texts. The pandemic was only one of the crises that show us how great the danger is that our world will destroy itself.

Even if this crisis has eased in the meantime and we have dived into supposed normality, like a temporarily stranded fish into the depths of the sea, our world is no longer the same as it was before Corona. While we had almost grown accustomed to the distance between us, the crises are drawing ever closer. They threaten not only the balance of our planet, but also our inner balance. While the loss of our resources in poor countries drives more and more people into existential distress and flight, in the West lack of perspective, fear and insecurity close the way to our inner resources. Derailments of the biological and sociological balance have always existed on our earth. People have always fallen ill or died as a result of pandemics, wars, environmental catastrophes or famines. And they have always suffered from the collateral damage, such as fear, despair, aggression, repression and extremism.

But now the effects of our selfish and ignorant way of life are threatening not only our regulatory powers, but also those of our Earth. 

This text is about our inner resources and our self-healing powers or regulatory capacity. But also our earth probably only has a chance if we learn to release them. So I invite you to a largely new way of looking at and treating physiological, psychological, energetic and spiritual connections in the sense of holistic health.

III. autonomic nervous system, stress response and chakras

Health is characterized by an undisturbed ability to regulate tension and relaxation (neural therapy).

1. the autonomic nervous system

The ANS or autonomic nervous system consists of the sympathetic nervous plexus, responsible for dangerous situations and increased performance, and the parasympathetic nervous plexus or vagus, responsible for relaxed activities, rest and regeneration.

It regulates most of our unconscious bodily functions in the chest and abdomen through the tension of the smooth muscles of the heart muscle and abdominal glands, and our unconscious patterns of movement , thought, feeling and action through its connection with the fascial system and brainstem. 

Due to its connection of the thoracic and abdominal organs with our unconscious brain parts as well as our facial, cervical, lower back as well as pelvic nerves, the vagus is also our most complex cranial nerve. The sympathetic boundary cord lies in front of the spine in the form of individual centers. The largest of these centers is the solar plexus in the upper abdomen, whose extremely fine regulation takes place together with the vagus. Through its terminal branches in the fascial system, the sympathetic nervous system connects this with the vagus and our subconscious or unconscious mind. Thus, stresses that are unconsciously experienced as a threat are the main causes of decompensation of this regulation. 

2. the overload of the internal regulation

Let’s exceed the individual or global limits of our resilience,

both our body and our earth lose their regulatory and thus also their regenerative capacity.

The normal stress response is a prehistorically anchored biological mechanism of the ANS for ensuring our survival by rapidly mobilizing energies for a flight or attack response. With prolonged or excessive stress, this mechanism can decompensate. In the musculoskeletal system we can recognize this by a fixation of the attack or defense position of the pelvis in the sense of a pelvic twisting. The Integral Stress Test described later builds on this. The autonomic regulation, which is controlled by the brain stem, i.e. unconsciously for us, and not readily accessible to our will, does not only concern our unconscious, vegetative functions, such as heart and circulation, digestion, detoxification, the function of our immune system or our sexual organs. Our behavior is also controlled to a large extent by the ANS, unconsciously for us.

3. the polyvagal theory according to Purges

We can divide our behavior under stress into three phases according to the polyvagal theory:

1.anterior vagus phase: we feel good, relaxed and safe and we look for a creative and social solution to our concern.

2.sympathetic phase: If our problem is classified by the brain stem as too big for a relaxed solution, the ANS switches to alarm state for quick mobilization of energies.

2 a. Productive sympathetic phase: We suddenly have new reserves of strength and unconscious reaction patterns at our disposal. The stimulus of the often associated, stronger body connection with the simultaneous release of limits of the body and the ego tempts some to extreme sports or work addiction. 

2.b. Destructive sympathetic phase: If we exceed our limits here as well, however, we need increasingly stronger stimuli to feel ourselves and our bodies. The classic reaction to unpleasant dysstress includes, in addition to vegetative reactions such as shallow breathing and an increase in blood pressure, an inner restlessness and an increasing ineffectiveness of action, which can increase to destructiveness.

3. decompensation phase:

3.a. Exhaustion phase: If the mobilization of energies is not sufficient to solve the problem or if the stress hormones released in the process are not consumed by physical exercise and if there is no adequate regeneration phase, the autonomic nervous system and the fascial system, which is closely coupled with it, remain in this unproductive tension mode. 

They work ineffectively and uncontrollably and exhaust their power reserves. The ANS can no longer properly switch to the phase of the anterior or ventral vagus. We can no longer relax properly, and as a result, we lose all the associated qualities and abilities, including our ability to regenerate. Most people who come to my orthopedic practice, as evidenced by their pelvic torsion, are in this decompensated stress mode. Yet it is not just current stress that we are aware of. We all also have a history of stress that is not in our bones, but primarily in the fascial system, which is intimately connected to the ANS, and reduces our ability to bear stress. 

3.b. Posterior vagus phase: The polyvagal theory of Steven W. Purges also describes a phase of the posterior vagus, which is mainly observed after trauma. It refers to a protective reaction of reptiles, the death reflex. But injured animals also use it for regeneration. We all know this solidification phase in a more or less pronounced form after longer periods of stress. It shows itself as a physical and emotional withdrawal of our unconscious. Our partners recognize this, usually even before ourselves, by our gaze, our facial expressions and our inner and outer posture.

We experience ourselves as increasingly listless, ineffective and in a bad mood. In a more pronounced state, we don’t want to see anyone, spank everyone, or pull the covers over our heads. In the beginning, this condition can still be reversed by taking appropriate breaks or engaging in other activities. If we remain in the last two phases due to external or internal entanglements, pathogenic circumstances or illnesses, the ANS can no longer switch to the relaxed and constructive sympathetic or vagus phase. This means that problem solving through creative or social activity or mobilization of energies and movement is no longer possible. We recognize the chronic exhaustion phase by the absence of pelvic torsion despite a corresponding history of stress.

In order for you and your ANS to remain flexible and capable of performance , but also capable of love, you will later learn to recognize the limits of your resilience by regularly checking your pelvis. With the stress test you learn to distinguish your old and current, physical and mental stress factors. And with the integration techniques you will learn to free and constructively use the trouble spots and interference fields that burden your ANS and the energies and emotions blocked there. Your system will then have not only more energy, but also more physical and emotional vibratory capacity. You will learn to respond to nuances in your state of mind and not only increasingly cultivate and enjoy the state of inner relaxation, but also maintain it in the face of external tension. Since the twisting and tightening of your pelvis and thus your entire body is not only a consequence of stress, but subsequently also a cause of stress for your ANS, your musculoskeletal system and your psyche, by resolving your pelvic twisting you not only straighten up physically, but also mentally. 

4. the global congestion

While we are mostly responsible for our own overload or fear, consciously or unconsciously, our earth owes its stress exclusively to the spread, heedlessness and greed of its most intelligent inhabitants. The inhumanity in dealing with ourselves, as well as with the animal and plant world and the destruction of our common habitat, are perhaps also one of the causes in the emergence of the Covid virus. And the ignorance and the disregard of the rules, according to which our body and our world function, is certainly also a reason, why so many people, our society and our earth threaten to decompensate.

5.unconscious nervous system and chakras

For the yoga practitioners among you at this point a short excursion to the Indian energy system. As the correlate of the meridians of acupuncture today is seen in the fascia chains, one could consider the energy wheels or chakras of Far Eastern medicine as the correlate of the neuronal switching centers. The navel center or third chakra would then be based on the solar plexus and the so-called abdominal brain connected to it, located in the intestinal wall.

The vagus plexus in the sacrum with reference to the coccyx fits to the lower two chakras. The heart chakra would correspond to the so-called heart brain. To the throat chakra would correspond the vagal connections to the inner throat nerves that accompany our emotions, the thyroid gland, the immunocompetent glands and in the back, upper neck the returning vagus branch. The brow chakra or third eye has reference to the pineal gland located approximately in front of the ears in the center of the brain, which also anatomically fulfills the requirements for the strongest transmitting and receiving antenna of our body. In some animals it also has a connection to light-sensitive cells in the front of the skull. The vertex chakra is said to be based on the pituitary gland, which controls the entire vegetative system. It lies slightly in front of and below the pineal gland on the sphenoid bone, which we can touch in a small hollow about three centimeters behind the outer corners of the eyes.

Other minor chakras are described in the fascial switching centers, our joints, and the sensitive switching centers of our palms and soles. 

Each main chakra is assigned certain tasks. The connection of the fascial system and the autonomic nervous system as well as the brain, abdominal and heart brain would explain, for example, the unconscious communication forces assigned to the navel chakra. 

But even if you are critical of esoteric ideas, just try the techniques especially in the third part of the text. You will not only realize that there is an aura as well as a relation between it and our body. You will also experience that the relief of our subtle body and the conscious activation of its physical and subtle switching points can also contribute significantly to psychological and physical relaxation, recovery and development.

6.exercise: navel integration with conscious imagination

At this point I would like to introduce you to an exercise for activating your subtle consciousness.

Place one hand on the lower abdomen with the thumb in the navel and the little finger edge on the pubic bone, and the other with the palm on the heart and the fingers on the neck. Very gently move the base of the navel with your thumb in the softest direction. Imagine the energy released flowing from the navel center or solar plexus down into the pelvis and into your hips and legs to your feet, filling them with awareness. Then focus your attention on your heart and observe how the energy from your belly flows into your heart, neck and head and your shoulders and arms, filling them with consciousness. Afterwards, try to activate the connection to the belly and your feet again and again in your daily life. 

Over time, not only does your body awareness develop, but also a neutral position for your inner observer. 

IV. Fascia system and the unconscious communication

1. fascia, our unknown organ of perception and communication.  

Fasciae envelop and connect all our organs, muscles, joints, nerves and vessels. While they provide dynamic stability to our musculoskeletal system, they also form the most sensitive organ of perception and information conduction system in our musculoskeletal system and possibly in our body as a three-dimensional network of tension connections. The fascia system has the crystalline properties of a large liquid crystal, which constantly changes its structure and, like a transmitter and receiver, generates and responds to electromagnetic waves.

2. the mysterious space between our cells: the matrix of our fascial system.

The space in which these fascial connections vibrate in a lymph-like fluid, the so-called intercellular space, forms a communication system connecting all our cells, the so-called basic system, the matrix.

The branches of the blood, lymph and nervous systems also meet here, in particular the terminal branches of the sympathetic nervous system. 

However, the matrix plays not only a fundamental role for metabolic and immune system, regulation and information conduction. From my point of view, it probably also forms a part of our subconscious or unconscious and also connects this with the parts of our brain representing our consciousness. 

Modern fascia research also sees the fascial longitudinal pathways as a probable correlate to the more subtle acupuncture meridians.

3rd exercise: fascia anchor points and meridians

To give you an idea of the flow of energy and information in the fascial meridians, I suggest again a small exercise: 

With your legs bent, or even better with a partner lying down, feel the point between the tip of the outer ankle and the corner of the heel. It corresponds to the acupuncture point Bladder 61 and at the same time to the most important joint point of the posterior fascial longitudinal pathways. If this point is painful for pressure, try pushing the slightly flexed foot towards the heel or pulling it towards the toes. Hold the position that resolves the pressure pain and take a deep breath and observe a possible spread of warmth along your leg and, if necessary, the effect on your entire body. You can repeat the same for the anterior fascial meridians with a point in the center of the inner arch of the foot (spleen 4) by raising and lowering the first metatarsal.

4. fascia, stress and the unconscious mind

Stress leads to adhesions and thickening of the fasciae and for this reason alone is seen as the main cause of chronic back pain. Adhesions, scarring and joint blockages can also interrupt fascial tension connections and irritate our body and psyche like a jammer.

Due to the numerous represented, mainly sympathetic nerve fibers, there is a reciprocal relationship between the fascial system and the autonomic nervous system and thus also to our feelings and the feelings of people and animals in our environment. This means that our fascial system plays an important role in the communication of joy, sadness, anger and stress. 

And it goes even further.

Fascia has a close connection with our external energy field, the external qi or aura. Both fascia and aura not only react to stress and emotions, they can also store them. 

Our unconscious mind is not only located in the brain, but also in the abdominal and heart brain, in the fascia system and in our aura.

As a therapist, I regularly experience together with my patients during the release of fascia and aura not only a vegetative and fascial whole-body relaxation with resolution of pelvic tangles, but also the release of emotions that can hinder our body, psyche and life in the basement of the unconscious as unprocessed, inharmonious vibrations.

Also, we sense each other unconsciously not only through a subtle observation of facial expressions and body tension, but also, with and without touch, through a resonance of our fascial systems and auras. 

5. fascia communication in times of corona

The omission of unconscious communication via facial expressions, handshakes and hugs is probably one of the most sensitive limitations of corona measures. Non-existent physical contact not only kills laboratory animals. It certainly also robs many of our elderly fellow human beings, isolated for their own protection, of the last forces of their immune system and their will to live. We live from the, mostly unconscious exchange of vibrations. The conscious appreciation of being with pleasant people, animals, plants or places is one of the lessons of these times, which we hope we will not forget so quickly.

V. Our brain and the influence of the unconscious

1. our brain, the mediator between the outside world, the unconscious and consciousness.

Our brain translates the information arriving from the outside world and our body into signal oscillations and transmits them to the cerebral cortex of the cerebrum and cerebellum, which is assigned to consciousness and is only a few millimeters thick, and to the other areas that are unconscious to us. The conversion into further thoughts and feelings, production of messenger substances or the transmission via the central or vegetative nervous system takes place depending on our programs or thought patterns formed in the past.

The unconscious programs in our brainstem regulate most autonomic functions such as breathing, heartbeat, and body temperature, and decide between attack-,

Defense and escape reflexes and reactions.  

2. the limbic system, our inner brake

The limbic system consisting of the amygdala, hypothalamus and hippocampus is also called the brain of instinct and emotions. It decodes signals on the basis of the four basic programs fear, food, fight and reproduction and judges situations and people on the basis of vegetative influences via fascial information according to individual imprints and cultural guidelines. In the case of stress, especially fear, it blocks the free connection of our body with its emotions to consciousness.

3. the thalamus, our gateway to consciousness

The thalamus passes on the sensory impressions colored by joy, excitement, worry or concern of the limbic system to the newer parts of our brain in the cortex, the neocortex. The conscious programs running there are responsible for experiencing, thinking, acting, speaking, writing, consciously feeling, and sensing color and sound. They allow our consciousness, at least theoretically, to also think logically and without prejudice, to increasingly free ourselves from preconceived patterns and opinions, to help and love one another selflessly.

4. the energy saving program of our brain

The programs of the cerebral cortex need considerably more energy than our unconscious ones. And in addition, the working memory of our unconscious brain regions is vastly superior to that of our conscious thinking. It therefore works not only more economically, but also faster and more efficiently. Without its help, for example, locomotion even in traffic or our usual interpersonal communication would be impossible. While our conscious mind communicates via words, we unconsciously analyze the facial expressions and posture of our counterpart. When energy consumption is increased due to stress, the brain switches to autopilot. Even now in times of Corona we run the risk of being helplessly at the mercy of our unconscious programs and patterns.

If, on the other hand, we regularly relieve our vegetative nervous system, allow our body with its fasciae sufficient movement and give our thoughts and feelings continuous relaxation in the here and now, our consciousness can once again find access to sources of inspiration, creativity and love.

VI. Our Aura and the Levels of Consciousness

1. the connection of autonomic nervous system, fascia and aura. 

Our world consists of a rainbow of vibrations and the gift of nature to our consciousness is to be able to connect with all these colors. A gift that we rarely notice in its depth. 

The dynamics of our industrial and then media and digital development and the dominance of our rational and systems thinking have distracted us from the perception of vibrations and consideration of their natural harmony as the basis of a healthy world.

I invite you to look at our world and our body through glasses with an expanded spectrum of perception, that is, to give our conscious ability to perceive energies, moods, tact and harmony more space in your life.

We start with my personal idea of the so-called, subtle vibrations, our aura, then deal with the inharmonious vibrations of stress and diseases and swing through interpersonal to higher levels of consciousness before coming back to the harmony of our physical body in the last section of our journey.

By our aura I mean the electromagnetic radiation of our physical body, especially our nervous and fascial system, as well as an electromagnetic field, also independent of it, which permeates and surrounds our body.

The experience of over ten years with well over a thousand patients shows:

1. almost all people can feel a strain and relief of their outer and inner aura. 

2.the stress of our aura and its causal connection with a blockade of our autonomic nervous and fascial system can be proven, always reproducibly, through our pelvic writhing. 

Our aura also has its own dynamics, independent of the rest of our body. Just like our nervous and fascial systems, it can receive, store and send impressions and thus influence our body, our psyche and our life. 

Thus, there are also levels of the world outside the perception spectrum of our sense organs and conventional, electrical measuring instruments, which are an essential part of our life.

An experience that is worked with in many, especially eastern traditions, that we instinctively take into account and that obviously does not only concern living beings. Even places or objects may have an aura that can store memories and influence us without comparable, complex, physical hardware.

2. levels beyond the aura

Seekers have always tried to explain such experiences. Perhaps the current that gives all auras their existence also corresponds to the breath of God, the Chinese Qi and the Hindu Prana. Perhaps there are finer levels beyond that, which then correspond to the Hu of the Sufis, the essence or the original being. And the emptiness of Zen or the silence of the mystics is at the same time the all-connecting, space- and time-independent carrier medium and source, both for the vibrations of our aura and for higher levels of consciousness.

Perhaps consciousness or brain research will manage to decode some of these levels at some point. If the consciousness of as many people as possible also gains access to these levels, perhaps there is also a chance that this time we will handle our knowledge more responsibly.

3. the language of vibrations

I also see the aura as the carrier medium for our unconscious communication, especially that between our fascial systems. Thereby the language of our auras is international and less dependent on ideas than on experiences and realizations. Our auras like to exchange information and usually unconsciously for us. Unfortunately, they also take on each other’s stress patterns and burdens, especially if their vibrations match our own. They enjoy the cross-fertilization, i.e. the togetherness and strengthen each other exponentially, in a constructive, but unfortunately also in a destructive sense.

4. the aura of the different levels of consciousness

4.1.The superpersonal levels

People who have found access to levels such as harmony, inner beauty or power, peace, silence or love in their consciousness often experience the essence of these qualities as existing independently of their consciousness, as almost material or divine qualities, so to speak.

4.2.The personal levels

As personal vibrations we can feel humility, gratitude, generosity, love, envy or greed. The inner maturity developed through body and consciousness work, as well as dealing with the challenges and gifts of life, is also expressed in our aura, with or without the help of our chakras, as a super-personal or personal radiation, conscious or unconscious to us.

4.3. .the unconscious levels

But it is especially the unconscious parts of the communication of our auras and fasciae that influence our lives. A communication with which we live quite naturally, without questioning it scientifically. A level that we, as dog owners and riders know, also share with animals and perhaps also with plants and that also influences our perception of places. A level that is much more important for mutual assessment and classification, including sexual, than our conscious impressions. A level on which traumas and stress are also stored and thereby reduce our resilience and emotional vibratory capacity.

If your mood inexplicably changes again, but also if you are suddenly or constantly tired for no particular reason or suffer from unclear complaints, then think about who you have just been with or are constantly with. Look for confusions and unresolved conflicts in your unconscious past.

During the aura relief described later , pay attention to how these burdens may become accessible to your consciousness.

And watch how, by connecting with your conscious awareness, burdens lose their weight and our aura increases in strength. 

4.4.Our inner aura

Every body structure also has an associated subtle, inner energy field with a rhythm, melody or mood that is connected to our individual primal vibration in a harmonious or inharmonious way. Later I will describe why our primal vibration can be harmonized through the navel as the center of the fascial network. You can harmonize the inner aura of a body structure, just like the outer one, by connecting it with your consciousness. This makes it accessible to treatments such as osteopathy or ortho-bionomy. Stresses can lead to inconsistencies in these energy fields or between them and their physical correspondence, and are a common cause of ailments and diseases that cannot be properly cured. Conversely, the correspondence of the physical and energetic levels could be a prerequisite for the impression of balance and authenticity.

The conscious touch of these levels can be perceived not only as a force in our outer aura. It can also give strength and vitality to the structures and organs of our body. And it can free our body from unconscious burdens and connect it with superconscious levels of our soul. For example, the inner touch of the womb feels like access to a temple and can initiate birth into a new level of femininity that receives its breath from the connection with all the wombs or the essence of our primordial mother.

Our outer aura

Only a few can see it, but almost all could feel it more or less. Most schools, including anthroposophy, distinguish different layers or levels of the aura, which are also, assigned to the chakras belonging to the level of the aura. But not only particularly sensitive people feel the energies and information that are assigned to the aura or the chakras. The patients in my practice and the seminar participants always feel ! together with me and in the seminar also together with most of the people present in the room, the exact size of the stress cloud in the aura. It shows itself in the distance from which a hand approaching the body is experienced as a distress and dissolves by slightly opening the hand. The resulting relaxation and often also the release of unprocessed emotions and the always detectable dissolution of a pelvic twisting shows the connection between stress or trauma, our aura, our body and our life.

4.5.The otherworldly levels

Perhaps there are other levels of the aura, beyond time and space.

We do not question the physical basis for the fact that we often think of each other at the same time. Also that some people radiate an aura of peace when they die or leave their physical shell, we simply accept it. But also if deceased should actually visit or accompany us or we feel their aura at certain places, this could be an indication of a level of the aura independent of our physical existence.

The inner aura also seems to be able to survive the death of its associated organ. At least during the treatment the impression arises again and again that the aura of, for example, a removed uterus is waiting to be touched in its pain.  And sometimes this is also the prerequisite for healing.

5th exercise: The discharge of the aura

Since stronger emotional reactions may occur, especially the first time, I recommend the presence of a partner or therapist. You can find detailed instructions in my book.

Spread your stretched arms first at the level of the navel, then at the level of the neck very wide to the side and then very slowly bring them a little closer.

Observe if and when the atmosphere between your hands and your body feels a little denser and somehow strained. Stay just outside this boundary for about one to two minutes, as if you were squeezing a balloon open to the front. feels a little denser and somehow strained. Stay just outside this boundary for about one to two minutes, as if you were squeezing a balloon open to the front.

This obviously activates the, so far unconscious burden energetically and makes it accessible to your consciousness. It can now be subsequently integrated and often accompanied by tears and a deep relaxation through the opened arms released.

You can also perform the same technique with one or two hands to relieve the other chakras, scars or overloaded organs, especially the eyes. With the help of a partner, as you gain experience, you can also relieve larger interference or trauma fields, which we will talk about later. You can relieve and harmonize the inner aura by placing your hand on it and going into depth with your perception and, for example, in the case of inner scars, push them in the pleasant direction in your imagination.

Following the aura relief I recommend to apply the navel-neck and if necessary the navel-scar integration and also to repeat it daily. You can find the detailed instructions in my book.

You have also already been able to learn an exercise that fills your aura with awareness. Furthermore, I invite you to use everyday life as an exercise and again and increasingly continuously consciously perceive your body, your fellow human beings and your surroundings even more in their beauty and with your sense of feeling.

VII. stress and its consequences on individual and global levels

1. resistance or resilience

The sustained mode of tension or defense triggered by individual or collective excessive stress becomes itself a cause of stress. The reduced resistance to stress, i.e. the reduced ability to recover from a state of stress is referred to in trauma therapy as resilience. This is impaired by the consequences of trauma and overload, which can form inharmonious vibrations in the body and its energy field as sources of interference and impede the free flow of energy and information, including our emotions. As a result, there is regularly a disturbed ability to regulate and relax. This weakens our immune system, the function of internal organs, our brain and fascia system, cell metabolism and repair processes in the body.

Body and psyche can no longer regenerate properly,

our „battery“ no longer recharge sufficiently, i.e. form the necessary hormones and messenger substances (neurotransmitters).

We observe a decrease in vitality and emotional vibrancy, creativity and performance, as well as an increase in initially functional disorders such as irritability,sleep disturbance, loss of libido, digestive disorders, allergies and other immune disorders, etc. . . 

In orthopedic practice, I find asymmetrical fascial tension with pelvic and subsequently whole-body twisting in most patients as a direct result of blockage of the vagus nerve. This leads to increasing joint blockages, especially in the spine, associated with muscle tension, pain at rest, onset and strain, and limited weight-bearing capacity.

Over time, chronic complaints of the organs follow, as well as general exhaustion, usually accompanied by depression. The musculoskeletal system shows premature signs of wear and tear, i.e. osteoarthritis and chronic pain.

The cause of all these derailments lies in the interconnectedness of the brain, the autonomic nervous and fascial systems, our aura and our environment.

2. fascial and emotional causes of stress

2.1.Interfering foci in the fascial system

If a normally successful treatment does not work for you, or only works for a short time, and if your complaints occur again and again and more frequently, especially when you are under stress, you probably have one or more trouble spots in your fascial system.

Interfering foci are cell tissues with traumatically altered vibration patterns. Their inharmonious vibration disturbs your, otherwise uniformly and harmoniously vibrating body harmony, like a badly tuned instrument disturbs an orchestra. In the long run, the conductor and the players get tired and the body loses its inner balance and its natural regulation, regeneration, defense and self-healing powers.

Sources of interference can be scars, diseased organs, injured or blocked joints. Especially overloaded regions with a close connection to our vegetative nervous system, such as the neck and face, atlas and sacrum, as well as the upper abdomen can disturb our self-regulation.

2.2.The consequences of stressful emotions

Unprocessed and unconsciously held emotions can also make us ill through the effects on the nervous and fascial systems. Especially in times of stress or in a state of stress, we are often unable to integrate stressful emotions into our body’s own vibrational pattern. We then lock them away in the basement of our unconscious, mostly in the fascial tissue, especially if this was also overloaded or injured at the same time as well as in our aura. Often we do not tolerate any touch or approach there or there is a need of the body for it, which is not perceived. The tissue is not resilient and feels burdened for the therapist.

Furthermore, holding back emotions costs a lot of energy. Thus, unexpressed or unintegrated emotions are one of the most important causes of a stress reaction because they block our self-regulation, consume energy and hinder our fascial and emotional communication, especially the flow of love.

3rd exercise: Diagnosis of causes of stress: Short version of the Integral Stress Test

At this point, in anticipation of exercises described in more detail later, I would like to present you with a short version of the Integral Stress Test:

You can test whether a scar or another body region, for example the jaw or the atlas, is acting as a source of interference in the following way:

In the supine position, with the feet up and the pelvis horizontal, compare the sinking of both knees to the side. If a vegetative stress pattern is present, the right side can usually be spread less far. Now compare the restricted abduction on the right side when you touch the belly button. Normally, touching the navel directly relaxes your entire autonomic nervous and fascial system, including your right leg. The same happens when you turn off the disturbing vibrations of an interference focal point with your hand. The most common interference foci are the anterior neck region with its dense innervation by the vagus nerve, the tonsil region, etc., as well as scars. But you can also test blocked key joints, such as at the uppermost cervical vertebra, the atlas, for their superior interference function in this way. Deep scars, for example the vertical peritoneal scar after a Caesarean section, can be tested by concentrating the fingers above them on the deep scar.

If the navel and neck do not lead to a release of the abdomen, there is a superordinate disturbance, mostly in their aura. Then apply the aura relief described later first to the abdomen and then to the neck. If covering a scar does not lead to a release of the abduction, the scar either does not disturb or there is also a superordinate interference field there, mostly in the aura of the scar.

4. the stress response and our unconscious mind

4.1.Our perception and its filters 

The cause of a stress reaction is often ourselves. This applies to individual as well as global stress and is mainly due to the way we deal with our consciousness, our unconscious thoughts and feelings, our body and our environment.

Our unconscious self experiences reality as a function of our physical and emotional state through the evaluative filters of our conscious mind as well as our unconscious brain parts and perceptual organs. These include special brain areas for evaluating, among other things, facial expressions, posture, voice and smell, as well as for filtering our emotions, but also largely unexplored perceptual dimensions for our communication via touch, movement and posture, and our aura.

We experience a discrepancy in this information as a lack of authenticity. 

We experience current stresses as a function of how we dealt with earlier stresses, especially from early childhood. What was probably the best possible response to an overload at the time can later lead to confusion and entanglement of the unconscious and become the main cause of our stress response. This can confuse or paralyze our consciousness and our unconscious feelings and thoughts, weaken our bodies, and also harm our environment through our unconscious shadow sides.

 

Confusions and shadow sides to which we are at the mercy of along with other weaknesses, habits and whims of our unconscious, like an untrained rider to a wayward, stray horse that does not use its wonderful potential and rides through a dark forest. At the same time, we have lost the torch of our higher consciousness or never learned to light it properly.

4.2.Unconscious behavior patterns

I see our unconscious as part of the consciousness of the earth. It is more comprehensive and works more effectively and economically than the conscious part of our brain or being. It enables us to function as human beings and as part of a community. It enables us to perform at the highest levels that our conscious mind could never coordinate. And it can connect us to the knowledge and powers of the collective unconscious when we free it from its shackles and connect it to the light of our consciousness.

However, like dreams, our unconscious thoughts and programs and repressed feelings are not readily accessible to consciousness.

Some are individual and others are systemic, that is, part of the way we think and feel in our family and community of origin. Some we recognize ourselves through mindful observation of our behavior patterns, others only become accessible to us through professional support.

There is the guilt of the grandfather from the war, which we unconsciously carry, the uncle, whose suicide we follow with an inclination to dangerous sports or driving, which always puts us in mortal danger, the alcoholic or loveless father, to whom we remain faithful through another addiction, e.g. that to work, or in which we deny our own children recognition and love. There we allow ourselves out of loyalty to the fate of our parents, no success in life, no happiness in love or no feeling of home. We lack the inner support of our fathers‘ or mothers‘ lineage or are weighed down by the burden of our clan.

The light of our consciousness and the power of unconscious levels can dissolve the clouds that separate us from reality.

We can learn to guide the wild horses of our thoughts and emotions instead of letting them rule us, in the name of a self-appointed ego.

We can learn to free the power of our concentration and the fire of our emotions from the paralysis caused by our heedlessness and secret fear.

If we direct the spotlight of our consciousness on the unconscious thoughts and programs according to which we feel and act, they can lose their power over us more and more.

The first step to free the treasure chamber of our unconscious from the ballast of unprocessed emotions and memories hidden with a lot of energy, as well as unconscious, foreign burdens, is therefore the connection with our consciousness. Mindfulness and concentration on the respective moment can help to deal consciously with our mental energy. It is necessary to keep the reins of our thinking taut until mind and unconscious recognize the benefits of a mind resting in silence and gratefully accept it as a guide. Then we can meet the needs and forces of our body and emotions as well as the gifts and tasks of life, and cultivate our connection to unknown levels.

5.Exercise: Three Approaches to Conscious Being

However, the concentration of consciousness as well as the connection of the levels of consciousness is only possible in the here and now and in connection with our body.

For this purpose, I would like to introduce you to some exercises for use in everyday life.

5.1.Immersion in the here and now

Keep focusing completely and exclusively on the present moment.

These include:

1. perceiving and letting go of the thoughts, emotions, evaluations and attitude patterns associated with the past and the future that cause most of our stress

2.perception and connection with the depth of the present on the physical, emotional and other spiritual and energetic levels.

3.encounter with our body, our fellow human beings, our environment, our work, our recreation and our inner world through immersion in the present.

5.2 Breathing

Breathing connects and disconnects.

It connects us with power and releases us from burdens on our metabolism. Potentially, it connects us at the atomic level to the depths of our cells with our external world and everything that has ever breathed or lived, and enables the release of current and old burdens on our body and psyche. By connecting our breath to our consciousness, we can multiply its power. Consciously release your stress and tension as you exhale, and connect with power from your center or your environment as you inhale. Let your breath carry you not only into your conscious and unconscious dreams, but again and again into the depths of the present.

Three breathing variations:

1.A proven rhythm is 1-7-1-7, which is 7 heartbeats or bars of breathing in and out, with one bar of pause in between each. You can breathe up the back and down the front of the belly, and pause briefly at the bottom of the pelvis and above the head. Of course, you can also visit your chakras while doing this.

2.First observe the effect of inhaling on your upper body and exhaling on your lower body, and then observe the effect of breathing on your whole body.

3.Inhale power into your center and let the breath spread throughout your body.

5.3 Grounding:

Grounding we can think of as connecting with the consciousness of the earth.

1.The most natural grounding for our consciousness is our body. Through the connection with our body, our consciousness gets a resting point and the opportunity to experience itself as an observer.

The most important grounding for our body happens through touch and movement. According to Porges‘ polyvagal theory, safety and security are among our vital needs, and the anterior vagus branch, i.e. our abdomen, is primarily responsible for satisfying these needs. Sympathetic, emotional and physical touch are essential human needs, the neglect of which not only weakens our self-regulation and immune system, but also our psychological balance.

3.the third vital grounding is the electromagnetic, that is, direct, physical as well as the psychic connection with the elements.

Take every opportunity to ground your body by touching the earth and contact with nature. Take a shower after work, especially after therapeutic work with stressed people. Let the wind blow through you and repeatedly breathe the power of the sun through the navel or hara into your solar plexus or navel chakra. Also take every opportunity for movement, especially by rocking, running, walking, stomping, dancing and stretching.

But also take every opportunity for rest and stillness. For example, relax and ground yourself in your body with the help of long breaths that emphasize exhalation. Start at the feet or in the belly and very slowly fill your whole body until it feels light and floating, soaked with love and power.

Also stabilize a permanent anchor place in your body, depending on the situation in your feet, your belly or your heart. And allow your consciousness to repeatedly take flights of fancy from this anchor point into the world of your body, your emotions, your surroundings and silence.

6. stressful social behavior patterns in times of corona

Common examples of externally triggered stresses, which increase considerably in times of corona, are, in addition to professional and private overloads, worries and fears of the unknown, unexpressed anger at the individual and societal confusion, and inadequately felt grief for the suffering of so many, not only those affected by corona. In addition, especially during quarantine periods, there is reduced mental and physical contact, as well as frequent contact with others who care, stoking of fear of others, and reduced community and cultural activities. While the conscious parts of our minds and our society are distracted by preoccupation with statistics and the pros and cons of protective measures, the tension in the unconscious parts of our bodies and our society is spreading. This includes the increase of people in crisis areas who are not perceived and supported internationally.

When unconscious, human and interpersonal tensions exceed the integration capacity of the body or a society, they often react with confusion or regulatory rigidity. At the same time, unconsciously working functional circuits, in humans, often archaically controlled and triggered by fear, in society mostly economically controlled and motivated by profit optimization, can increasingly take over. On the social level, becoming aware of the tendency of our mind, fixed in stress mode, to preoccupation with worries and fears, for example with Corona, helps us. We can recognize how this preoccupation distracts us from other, possibly more dramatic needs of people in crisis regions. And we can recognize that it also distracts us from the feeling of confusion, powerlessness and hopelessness in the face of the fatal situation of so many of our fellow human beings and our planet. We can counteract this development by raising awareness of the destructive elements of our society such as heedlessness with regard to the situation of our fellow human beings, the resources and climate of our planet, the involvement of the arms industry and the support of dictatorships for the maintenance of our prosperity. As preventive measures perhaps the disentanglement of economy, politics and media and the setting of certain goals, like equal and fair distribution to all world inhabitants and the preservation of our world also for our grandchildren and the animal world would be useful. On an energetic level, research has shown that above a certain percentage of meditators in American cities, crime has decreased. This could mean that the vibrations of consciously living people who are at peace with themselves can overlay or dissolve the vibrations of people who act destructively out of unconscious entanglements via their aura. The change of our own way of living and thinking would therefore have a positive influence on our society, reaching beyond our conscious radius of influence. Perhaps we will still manage to reach the percentage of consciously and responsibly living people that our world needs for its survival.

VIII. The power of thought 

1.the dimension of thoughts

Thoughts form a dimension of their own. Like feelings, they can arise as a reaction to internal processes or external events in our inner world or reach us from the external world.

Like feelings, they are not always subject to our will. More independent and faster than feelings, they can swim like fish through the sea of our consciousness and form themselves into swarms or inner ideas. 

According to our imprinting and current state of mind, they can connect with feelings and independently or controlled by them or our conscious will, have effects in our inner and outer world.

The same situation or the same person can, 

stress or delight us, depending on how we think about it. The way we think about a person can influence their attitude towards us.  

A placebo or attitude toward a disease can trigger disease-causing or healing chemical reactions in our brain and metabolism.

We need thoughts to develop, to solve problems, to learn from the past and prepare for the future, to recognize and prove ourselves as independent beings living in a community.

The way we think always depends on the way our community thinks. We like to smile at the way of thinking of our neighboring places or other population groups, like to distinguish between mind-oriented, pleasure-oriented or profit-oriented peoples.

Certain groups in society always benefit from their way of thinking and influence it accordingly without us always being aware of it. 

But our personal and social thinking also has the tendency to become independent and to develop its own dynamics. Together with the tremendous achievements of thinking in the field of technology, our way of thinking is just leading us on a self-destructive course. 

The counter-movement initiated by the findings about climate change and environmental destruction and activated by Corona also rides on the advances of technology, among other things at worldwide online seminars and conferences, and it also makes use in part of the attraction of the profit associated with it. But it is also expanding at a hopeful pace the consciousness especially of people living in countries that are significantly exploiting our world and directing its development. 

Corona could be seen as an example of influencing the way we think and feel, whether it is adopting fears or forgetting the existential other problems in our world, or adapting the way we think and feel to living with the mask, greeting with the elbow or the fist, or classifying people who get too close to us as a hostile threat.

Every human being creates his own view of the world with his thoughts, feelings and perceptions, usually with his ego in the center. The mental processing of the impressions of our perception as well as our evaluations and reactions to events and the dominance of the ego depend on our family and social imprinting, on our current, physical and psychological state as well as on our awareness.

Consciousness creates its freedom and its limitations, its desires and its prohibitions, its joy and its sorrow, its problems and fears to a large extent itself.

This applies to our inner world as well as our outer world.

In our inner world, the intense imagination of, for example, a vacation landscape, an erotic encounter, a place of security or a stress-producing situation, a personal or professional failure or success can have stronger effects than a shallowly lived, real experience. 

 

And our view and interpretation of events in the external world can influence them, sometimes even before our thoughts translate into words or an action.

 

Our unconscious can read thoughts and recognize feelings much more often than we are aware of, without them being expressed or shown. We not only feel affection and aversion, fears, doubts or desires and accordingly fulfill, often unintentionally, the expectations of our counterpart or society.

We also often suspect the underlying thoughts and, if we give space to this perception, could free our own thinking, feeling and acting from its unconscious influence. 

Our thoughts and feelings are mostly provoked by our body, its condition and desire, by our past, speculations about the future, hopes and fears, external events and influences.

We can consciously surf along on external thought currents, like in my profession the fascia or trauma wave. Mostly, however, we have to be careful not to be carried along unconsciously, as at present by the corona wave, or to get into distress if we want to keep the right to our own way of thinking. 

Thoughts from the depths of our unconscious also often arise under intense pressure, like a gas bubble forming inside the earth. When they rise to the surface of our lake of consciousness, they become larger and larger and can create powerful waves that unconsciously influence our thoughts, feelings and actions.

The calmer and clearer the sea of our consciousness is,

the purer it reflects the outer reality, the deeper we can look into the depth of our inner world, the more clearly we recognize the origin of our thoughts and feelings, and the easier it is for insights to rise from the depth of being and form into ideas.

It is not only writers who often seek the absence of outer thought waves at night or inner thoughts in a trance state or meditation, to let silence carry them into the depths. 

While a weak and uncontrolled thought impulse quickly falls flat, an idea arising from our inner depths or accompanied by equal-wave emotional vibrations can open up new horizons for us, reach the consciousness of others, and have effects both in our bodies and in our outer world, constructive but also destructive.

An example of this is the effect of fear of disease as it develops and spreads, or the effect of our inner confidence or doubt in ourselves in achieving a goal. 

Our lack of concentration, that is, the disorder of our thought vibrations regularly affects our actions and our surroundings. 

And we know the effects of inner peace of a person on his surroundings.

Thoughts can both connect and disconnect us from the here and now. 

How often we are absorbed in thoughts and not present. Once our thoughts and our ego have tasted the benefits of pure perception, willingly follow the path into the freedom and depth of our self. 

On this path we do not have to give up anything of real value. On the contrary, instead of not really being there most of the time of our life, or being busy with the after- and preparation of anything, we learn to develop our thoughts into the silent but mighty wings of an eagle, always watching the world, effortlessly carried by life or falling on its target in a flash. 

And this lies hidden in the moment. 

We can direct the flight into the now to visualize the gifts of life, to connect in thought with friends or our surroundings, with our bodies or with the earth. 

Even in the deepest darkness, the wise man knows to take his last breath gratefully.

To experience the power of presence, thoughts need training just like muscles.

And this can be done very well in cooperation with the body, as in concentrated work, especially conscious body work, such as yoga, qigong or breema, conscious awareness, devotion and meditation.

Many of you know the effect of thoughts during autogenic training. In my practice, patients learn to direct their thoughts there for the release of inner scars. They feel exactly in which direction it is easier to direct the scar in the imagination, often experience the release of emotions held there and always the beneficial reaction of the environment in the form of warmth and the relaxation of the whole body, including the resolution of a pelvic contortion. 

When we learn,

• to direct our thoughts instead of being at their mercy,
• to bundle their power and use it consciously,
• occasionally look at emerging thoughts for their origin and their relation to our feelings and 
• before we translate them into words or actions, to think about their usefulness for a moment, especially when we are tired or emotionally upset,
• trusting our unconscious perception of thoughts and 
• to resist the influence of unwanted, own or foreign thoughts even sometimes, 

– To bring our thinking back again and again from uncontrolled excursions into the past and future, into unconscious and unhelpful thought loops of self-regret to self-overestimation,

– To keep our consciousness still and open to impulses from the depths of the inner and outer unconscious,

we can

 – on the tamed horse of our thoughts, explore the depths and treasures of the worlds of thoughts and dreams,

• more consciously perceive the beauties and gifts in our world and its fellow inhabitants,
• explore, through ever finer and more conscious perception, the wonders hidden within,  

– also connect us with other levels and their forces and 

• merge more and more continuously with the moment and the silence behind it.

The equal vibrational alignment of our thought and feeling levels to the perception of truth in the here and now can open us to truly touching life.

And when these levels meet other people or levels full of beauty, joy, compassion, peace or love vibrating in the same way and resonate with them, our consciousness can experience itself as part of the whole.

2. exercises

With this in mind, I would like to suggest some exercises to you again. 

2.1 The desire

Lie down or sit down comfortably. 

Think of a specific goal you want to achieve in a fairly concrete but emotionally neutral way. 

It can be a state of health or a personal or professional goal. 

Now place both hands on your abdomen and very gently push your navel with one finger in the most comfortable and softest direction. This will relax the key point of your fascia, which is closely connected to the autonomic nervous system and our unconscious. 

Concentrate on your abdomen while doing this. The resulting deep breath already indicates the activation of your vagus nerve. The vagus nerve carries with most of its fibers the information generated in your abdomen to the unconscious areas of your brain. 

On the next inhale, briefly but concretely imagine the realization of your goal, like a stone falling into a calm lake. On the exhale, observe the effect of this thought as a wave spreading from the center of your body to your body, your feelings and into the world of silence. Leave the further development then completely and also in the next time to your unconscious and the silence, in order not to disturb the course of the released waves.

2.2,The training 

Our thinking, like our muscles, needs both training and rest. While most people do not strengthen and stretch their muscles and tendons enough on a scheduled basis, our thoughts are usually in constant and haphazard motion. A movement that for the most part is not only unnecessary and ineffective and consumes a lot of energy, but is often counterproductive as it distances us from the present.

a.Develop the habit of regularly shutting down your head. You will quickly realize how good this does and how much better it works after it has had some energy to use the more demanding areas of the brain.

To do this, sit or lie down comfortably several times a day, at the latest when you feel signs of fatigue, and observe your breath and its effect on your body. For example, imagine the calm surface of a lake and observe how thoughts occasionally appear like bubbles. Observe their origin and course, and allow the thoughts to burst and disappear on the surface. Keep extending the intervening phases of silence.  

b.Patiently but persistently accustom your thoughts to the reins of your will. Carry out any mental or physical activity, as well as periods of enjoyment and relaxation, such as listening to music, with relaxed and loving devotion and concentration.  Consistently bring digressive thoughts back to the present again and again. 

You can start in the morning in bed, stretching and consciously feeling your body a few times. In the shower, you can imagine using the water jet to cleanse your body internally as well. Afterwards, you will feel ready for the most beautiful and important day of your life.

As soon as you notice that you have drifted forwards or backwards in the timeline again for no good reason, concentrate on what you are doing or perceiving at the moment, keep looking at the wonders in your surroundings and the gifts of life. Dive deeper and deeper into the encounter with your fellow human beings and your environment or your body and silence.

IX. The world of emotions 

1. emotions are bound to internal and external circumstances 

Emotions connect our body with our feelings and thoughts. Like thoughts, emotions are at home in our head, but we feel their emotional content in our body. 

Our body forms emotions depending on 

external circumstances, such as the light of the sun or the atmosphere of our environment, from internal circumstances, such as our vegetative, fascial and sexual condition, as well as from our conscious and unconscious attitude towards a situation or a person. 

We can sense their presence or absence, their appropriateness or inappropriateness, and can respond to them, either directing them or entrusting ourselves to them. Then they are the most precious gift of life to us.

2. emotions connect us

Emotions can not only help us communicate without words. Even more clearly than in the world of thoughts, we are emotionally connected with each other. Our emotions influence each other and permeate each other. 

We perceive emotions of other people and animals, but also emotions floating freely in space via body signals, vegetative or fascial reactions. 

For example, laughing or crying can communicate to those around us how we are feeling. 

And it takes an act of consciousness to distinguish between one’s own emotions and those of others, whether they are acquired, mood-dependent, constitutional, or free. 

3..Emotions help us 

They facilitate the attitude towards a situation or a person, which was necessary for life in our early days and later enabled social behavior. Mirror neurons help us to do this. They enable an empathic reaction when observing certain situations and facilitate the recognition of a person who is related to us mentally or emotionally or who matches us sexually. According to research, we recognize the latter in the first moment of an encounter. 

4.emotions are filtered

Our brain experiences the fascial, nervous or energetic basis of emotions as conscious feelings only after the passage through its limbic system with the two amygdala, near the ears and the so-called reward system in the brainstem. The almond nuclei or amygdalla open the passage for emotions depending on their hormonal mood. 

And this depends on our vegetative and fascial condition and our mental attitude. 

When we are physically well and evaluate something as beautiful, they open the gates for pleasant emotions and produce happiness hormones, such as dopamine. 

When we are in stress and especially when its cause is fear, the gates close. Because fear was necessary for survival in our time of origin and has been the strongest stress for our autonomic nervous system ever since. 

It provides for our flight or defense via the sympathetic nervous system or produces other emotional reactions, among others, in our abdomen via the anterior vagus and in our back via the posterior vagus branch.

This is seen as responsible for freezing excess emotions in the event of trauma, for example. 

They are then kept hidden somewhere in the body with a lot of energy expenditure, usually in regions that were physically overloaded or traumatized at the time of the psychological overload, such as scars, key joints of the spine or other fascial structures. The resulting stiffening of our fasciae and increased sensitivity to hurtful emotions are major causes of instability in our backs.

5.emotions arise in the belly

We feel the fright first in the stomach. 

We also feel anger like a fire in our belly if we don’t let it out. Grief hangs like a lump in our throat and takes our breath away, anger lies on our liver, fear cools our kidneys, heartache makes our heart ache and according to TCM worry burdens our spleen. 

But modern research is also feeling its way to our gut. We know that fascia surrounds, protects and stabilizes our muscles, vessels and organs and connects them with each other and with our autonomic nervous system. Meanwhile, besides its center in our abdomen, the solar plexus, we also know a special abdominal brain. It works like our head brain and with hundreds of millions of nerve cells it is bigger and more complex than the nervous system of our spinal cord. 

It utilizes nourishing, stressful or threatening information from our food, our body and our environment. And it regulates the dependent balance of inhibitory, excitatory or protective messenger substances, hormones and secretions. Ninety percent of our happiness hormone, serotonin, is produced and stored in the gut wall, and seventy percent of our defense cells are located there.  The highly complex biochemical abilities of transformation, integration or rejection of external information by our digestive tract, controlled by the abdominal brain, together with the abilities of perception, selection, storage, transmission, radiation and communication of our fascial system, could be seen as the physical and biochemical correlate on which our emotions have swung. 

6. emotions and our heart feeling

Our heart is now also said to have its own brain, which, with its forty thousand nerve cells, is said to be responsible for our intuition, emotional intelligence, and perceptiveness, among other things. 

It regulates, depending on stress signals and emotional information from the vagus, the harmony of our heartbeat and its adaptability to stress. HRV or heart rate variability is dependent on autonomic information and is used as a parameter in stress-reducing techniques. According to scientific research, including that of the HeartMaths Institute, it is also related to our emotional sensitivity and stability. Other research also notes increased, physical sensitivity in the upper chest area with most emotions. It will take much more research to explain why patients with artificial or now animal hearts do not lose it. 

Research that may recognize other levels of our being, which like our emotions are related to physical foundations, but can also exist without them, as well as our aura. This, by the way, according to research, is largest at the level of our heart. 

Together with the practical experience that we not only store emotions in our aura, but can also perceive them through our aura, confirms the ancient knowledge of mankind that we feel best with the heart, but does not yet explain it to its depth. However, independent of scientific speculations, our language, our head, our stomach and our heart have always known how to distinguish between open and closed, warm and cold, soft and hard hearts. And the ancient knowledge of mankind also knows about the resonance ability of our hearts and belly with levels beyond our physical world and beyond our ordinary emotions. 

7. we can free emotions 

When life overtakes us or we do not listen to our body, its needs and its wisdom, and we repeatedly exceed the limits of our resilience, the vagus, fasciae and amygdalla close off our emotions from entering our consciousness. 

If we live only in our head, our body has to produce pain to make us take it seriously and we need stimuli like sports, sex or drugs to make us feel it and thus ourselves. 

Following the needs and wisdom of our body, we experience the world of our emotions through conscious immersion in encounter, movement and touch, in beauty, harmony and power, in constructive, creative and supportive work and in the present and the silence behind it.  

In a space of security and trust, conscious touching, massaging and stretching can also release fascially bound emotions. 

The bonding hormone oxytocin, which is released during loving, physical or emotional touch, as well as happiness hormones such as endorphins, which not only give us a good mood during external sunshine, but also during the internal sunshine of conscious encounters and movement, mindfulness in life or meditation, help us to do this.

But even beyond the confines of our comfort zones and in less fortunate times, mindful engagement with painful emotions can reveal to us their music and depth and their position on the color palette of life’s dramaturgy. 

8. all living beings feel 

Mammals feel fear, anger, sadness, affection and joy, and often with much greater intensity than we do, as we know not only from dogs. Plants feel fear and empathy and thrive better under loving care.  

Realizing that emotions are not a specific, human trait but are older than our cerebral cortex could help us shed our hubris as humans toward creation and instead dive into our connectedness with it on an emotional level as well. 

Perhaps then an inkling comes over us that emotions may also have a correspondence, if not their origin, on other levels of creation. 

9. emotions are more powerful than thoughts

The feeling of superiority over animals is also based on our ability to connect emotions with thoughts, as well as the assumption that we can think and act independently of them or of drives and instincts.

But neither thoughts nor feelings, certainly not the emotions associated with physical reactions, but also not our actions are always subject to our conscious or free will.  

More delicate still, but more overwhelming and vital than thoughts, emotions, like the rays of the sun, can add strength, beauty and warmth to our lives. 

More powerful still, but more subtle and life-enriching than thoughts, they influence our actions, our mental and physical health, and our relationship to our surroundings and to life.

Deeper than the world of thoughts and words, we trust communication and the influence of our emotions.

But more powerless than the play of our thoughts, we are at the mercy of the play and confusions of our emotions. 

10. emotions can stray

And these confusions do not begin with us. 

We adopt them from our ancestors and our environment and develop our own patterns to match the emotional confusions of our parents and caregivers.

If our parents lacked love, they often pass this lack on to us. 

If they were overwhelmed by external stresses, trapped in depression or addictions, as young children we may have also felt responsible for their inability to love or their other problems, and tried to take the burden off them instead of separating ourselves from them.  

If we have always been criticized, shame and guilt have pulled our bodies together in a stiffness that does not allow feelings, so that they can only free themselves through occasional explosions.

If our parents have dumped their problems on us or taken them out on us, we often react by withdrawing from our bodies internally.

If they have punished us by withdrawing love instead of lovingly setting the necessary boundaries, we may react with fear or anger as soon as other people withdraw their love or set boundaries.

If our boundaries have been crossed emotionally or even physically, we may live with the difficulty of trusting our boundaries or setting them appropriately. 

And if our systems were overwhelmed by this boundary transgression or other aberrations and were not at all able to respond through a flight or defense reaction or the development of complementary patterns, we shut them down and have lived with frozen emotions ever since or whenever we encounter similar patterns. Our deeply intimidated unconscious denies them passage to our consciousness. 

We dissociate.  That is, we disconnect the inner connection of physical reactions, thoughts and feelings. 

11. emotions can motivate us

Together with our drives and instincts, emotions are the essential drive in our actions. 

In connection with our thoughts, they can become ideas and dreams, guide us, but also confuse us. 

Our confusions arise and are triggered again and again by the encounter with corresponding confusions and often influence our thinking, feeling, acting and our life counterproductively. 

But they are also our most important, inner drive in the search of our dreams and ideas for a liberation and development of our original, inner potential. 

Often they are the motivation in the choice of a partner or profession and the driving force, but also the black ice in an unfolding on family, professional, sports, social, political or spiritual levels. 

If we have suffered from borderline or overbearing parents, we unconsciously either look for the same pattern or we look for someone who seems to rest in himself and also obviously lets us be the way we are. Only later do we perhaps realize that our partner either bursts or withdraws emotionally when stressed or likes to punish us even through this. 

If our pattern is one of inner withdrawal, we may tend to drift into inner dream worlds or take off into spiritual worlds without the necessary grounding in our bodies. If we have been exposed to mistrust or violence, we may seek positions of power in which we do not need to trust anyone or can exercise power arbitrarily. And it is precisely such people who then often determine the development of our world.

12. we can learn to untangle confusions 

We will always stumble upon our entanglements or our shadow and cannot avoid looking at them. But only when we have fallen on our face in such a way that we feel the entanglement as pain emotionally in our body, the light of our consciousness can reach up to the fascial correspondence of our entanglement and help to dissolve it. 

The surest way to recognize an entanglement is an inappropriate or absent emotional reaction. 

As dissociation, it can be an indication of the activation of an underlying fear. But also mental or physical symptoms, such as fatigue, confusion, lack of attention and mindfulness, or tension and unclear pain can draw our attention to underlying entanglements and not consciously experienced emotions.

Pay attention when a conversation, person, or situation makes you unreasonably upset, depressed, or tired and throws you out of connection with your body.

When we learn to look at our emotions, their absence and their inappropriateness and confusion, we slowly free ourselves from obstructive baggage for our flight into the world of true emotions.  

A flight whose fuel comes from our dreams, ideas and desires, but whose real goal is weightless floating in the present. Once we have tasted the essence of our emotions, we will follow this path to our real self. 

Within the scope of this essay, we can only travel a small part of the world of emotions, and of the many emotions whose depth and spectrum we could discuss, I have chosen one for our common consideration.

13. joy is enough for itself

If it is there, it needs no additional occasion, but it finds infinite ones. The short-lived, spiritual joy of having is quickly overshadowed by wanting to have even more or something else. In contrast, the physical joy of being can extend to ecstasy over the taste of breath, the touch or movement of our bodies, the communion with others, the perception of the wonder, depth and beauty of life, or simply being alive. 

Joy is fullness. It does not need possession. It is the emotional equivalent of our life energy, the dance of atoms and electrons, and we feel it in our whole body. 

It warms our hearts and shines from our eyes. And it is contagious. For deep in every heart and in all eyes is the knowledge that behind all shadows, she is our very state of being.

If you have lost joy, seek it like your lost child, woo it like a lost lover, and purify yourself for its return. Recognize where or why you have lost your joy and take better care of it each time. 

14. exercise 

In the previous exercise parts we have talked about testing and relieving stress causes in the form of stressful vibrations in the navel or in scars. Testing does not succeed when there are stressful, often emotional vibrations in our aura. 

In the following exercises, you first practice the release of your aura and then dive deeper and deeper into your body. This can also lead to a release of suppressed emotions. A partner can be helpful in this process. 

14.1.Touch

Choose a region of tension or pain or a scar. If touching her navel, neck or a scar did not relax the leg during the stress test, perform the exercise on these zones. 

a.The liberation of the aura 

Slowly approach your hand or both hands spread wide apart to the navel, neck or a scar and observe whether a slight tension builds up. In the latter case, look for the border of the tension field with your flat hand and open it by holding your hand slightly at an angle. Sometimes this boundary is beyond your arm’s length. Then you need a partner for relief. Later I will also describe how you can work with your imagination as a substitute for a partner. 

Observe, and if necessary your partner, if emotions appear and where and what else you feel in your body. 

Sometimes we also feel the circumstances and timing of the emergence of these emotions. As a rule, the partner usually feels the emergence of the emotions faster and initially more clearly, unless she or he has repressed similar emotions. 

b.The miracle of touch 

Now come very close to the surface of the body and as soon as you receive an invitation from the body, land as gently as possible but as firmly as if you were stopping time and moving out of time into the present. Allow your hand and the corresponding region of your body time to get to know each other and exchange. Feel the tenderness between them and observe the awakening reactions and associated emotions in the two touching partners, but also in their whole body. 

If you have chosen a scar, the touching of the whole scar should be done simultaneously or gradually, if possible with the fingertips. 

c.Emotions of the movement 

Sink a little bit into the body with the perception of your hand and follow the reactions of your body with your consciousness. This can be a twitch or pulsation or a flowing and spreading movement.

You may also want to press your hand a little harder in a certain direction. Compare the difference, between pressing in the firmer and softer direction and choose the one that triggers a deep breath. And that is usually the soft and pleasant one, the so-called free direction. Again, feel where you feel which emotions. 

If you want to detangle a scar, push and hold it as gently as possible in the free direction as well and feel the emotions released and the reactions of your or your body. 

d.Emotions of depth

Now you wander with your consciousness very slowly deeper into the body. Energy follows concentration. You may feel the difference in the different layers. Pay special attention to the peritoneum on the abdomen, which fascially envelops all organs and is cut open accordingly during abdominal surgery. 

Stay with each layer as long as you feel a movement or emotion. Emotion begins with E, which means out, and is followed by motion or movement from the Latin movere. 

Even if you visit a deep scar, you first come to the perception of encounter and silence. 

Then in your imagination move the scar a little in different directions and decide again for the pleasant and easier direction. Ask your partner about this and you will see that both of you will recognize the free direction without difficulty. It is always opposite to the direction in which it cannot be moved at all in the imagination. 

As a patient, you inwardly embrace or accompany the emotions that are released and retroactively the person who suffered them. As a therapist, you accompany your patient or partner in this. 

Stay in the connection with the depth as long as it needs it. Then say goodbye and slowly move back to the surface of the body. Let your hand tell the body that it now wants to let go of it and wait until the body then lets go of it.  Say goodbye to each other inwardly or even with folded hands, but remain in contact in your mindfulness for as long as your bodies desire. 

14.2.meeting

Choose who or what you want to meet in your consciousness now, a partner, a goal, or yourself. 

Place one hand on your belly and one on your heart. 

Feel through your hands the emotions that arise in this inner encounter and where they arise in your body. Also look at the projections that are associated with it and how and where they feel. This may be your father’s part in your husband, your fear or your goal, or your mother’s part in the softness or hardness of your heart. And then feel your encounter free of these projections. Dive into the world of these emotions. 

14.3.Enjoyment

The next time they enjoy something, they try to leave out the part of the enjoyment that takes place in the head, the wanting to hold on, even with the cell phone, for themselves or someone else, the comparing and relativizing, even thinking of its transience. 

Feel where and how you feel the pleasure in your body and let yourself be carried by the vibrations of your body. You can also do this exercise right now. 

Let go of everything and if that doesn’t work, open your arms in front of your belly or heart and let everything flow out that is blocking your vagus and amygdalla. Look at it and let it go now. 

Then avoid all further excursions into the past and future and dive into the depths of the emotions that are waiting to reveal themselves to you right now in this moment. 

You can repeat the exercise until it becomes the natural state of the emotions and their relation to the present.

 

X. The Ego and the Self 

1. the task of the ego

In the course of evolution, our brain has created a center for the perception of the world and our body with its past, vegetative moods, fascial tensions, thoughts and emotions, our ego. 

It is responsible for the best possible organization and utilization of our world and uses our body for this purpose. 

It has come from the best possible intentions of our parents and ancestors, their and our efforts and achievements, joys, knowledge and progress, dedication, empathy, courage and care. 

But it also contains the effect of their and our heedlessness and defeats, overloads and traumas, disappointments and sufferings, entanglements and lapses, our fear, our closedness and our greed. 

And since all I’s came into being in this way, their lives are interconnected. And every movement, every suffering, every joy and every deed in this network of life has an influence on the whole network.

A society has emerged from the connection of the I’s, 

• whose self-image ignores this connectedness,
• with whose perception, ways of feeling and thinking as well as their achievements we identify ourselves
• whose unconscious perception, ways of feeling and thinking as well as shadow sides we repress 
• reflects their dynamics, our hopes and entanglements
• a dynamic that has now taken on a life of its own and is in the process of destroying our world in the whirlpool of our self-centeredness and our entanglements, our heedlessness, fear and greed, suffering and detachment from suffering. 

There are as many ways to know oneself as there are people. Perhaps all paths lead to the same goal. 

But already to perceive the infinite variety not only of these ways, but also of every single moment and every encounter on every way as a characteristic of creation, I already see as an important step on this way. 

This essay is an expression of my own search and I invite you to accompany me in it, because I think it is high time to become aware of our origin, our actual destiny, our inner reality and our possibilities and to put them into practice.

2. the connection with our reality 

The connection of creation and evolution to the infinite with its inexhaustible diversity is embodied in our body and our earth and it manifests in our conscious being or self. 

There are many paths to this reality and it has many names. 

Whether reality reflects us as a divine You, accompanies us as helper, guide and teacher, friend or lover, or opens the gate into the vastness of our heart as our Self, is an expression of the same truth. 

Some touch their presence when near death takes them temporarily out of time. But also, when great joy or distress, deep attachment to the body, an emotion, a realization, other people, nature, silence or the sacred throws us out of time into the absolute present, the ego can rediscover its attachment to the self or a plane beyond time and space. 

A level that belongs to our lives and from which we can perhaps get the strength and guidance that we desperately need right now in order not to lose ourselves in the chaos of our aberrations. 

3. the separation from our reality 

The chaos of our confusions shows itself in ever faster successive, ever more threatening and ever closer to us derailments of the interaction of the elements of our societies and our earth.

The disregard of our inner reality and the needs of our earth with its children is currently leading to the destruction of creation. 

The careless, unjust and greedy exploitation of our world by our egos and their society is depleting its resources, poisoning its elements and its inhabitants. 

We live in an atmosphere of suffering, confusion, ignorance, violence, helplessness and excessive demands. 

Our bodies react with complaints and diseases. 

Our perception and our feelings are reduced to medial defaults.

Our emotions dull.

Our thoughts spin helplessly in circles. 

Our egos recognize this and begin to refuse the way of thinking and the demands of our society without having sufficiently grasped their inner reality.

4. the hierarchy of the ego

We can consider the ego as a program in our brain, which continues to develop in the course of evolution and our life. Long before the ego, we already had a body with its perception and communication systems, including the fascia system, as well as an unconscious, central as well as autonomous nervous system. And also long before their separation into I’s, humans lived in a community. 

In the course of the development of our brain, conscious and unconscious behavior patterns, thoughts and feelings combined to form a self-reflecting structure connected to the body, the ego. 

5. the ego sees itself as the boss in the house, 

• without appreciating the gift of the body, the community as well as the earth and considering his dependence on them.
• without reflecting its origin from all been I’s, from male and female parts and from our individual handling of promotion and disability.
• without reflecting its composition of aspects and programs.

Aspects,

• which we can consider as sub-egos, subpersonalities or inner children.
• whose perception can limit their power over us.
• whose struggle for leadership positions we can observe and influence.
• whose original needs we can recognize in love and thereby relieve them.

6.we have an I with programs,

• which essentially correspond to the programs of our autonomic nervous system
• whose input from the perception of our fasciae and sense organs is processed in our center, in the solar plexus.
• whose output regulates our body and psyche via the fasciae enveloping organs and muscles.
• whose overload can lead to a regulatory disorder of the ego, with a chronic defensive attitude, tendency to aggressive outbursts or depressive withdrawal, and impairment of physical strength and mental vibratory capacity.
• whose correspondence with the tasks of our solar plexus, suggest also to see the home of the ego in our body center.  

Programs,

• whose hierarchy is derived from the time of their creation.
• which have degenerated from the satisfaction of the basic needs of the body, food intake and reproduction, to the dominant desire of all I’s for more.
• which arose from the body’s struggle for survival against other egos and led to the second, dominant program of the ego, the desire for what it does not have.
• which have become the third dominant program of the ego from the body’s need to be cared for, to be seen in its pain, its strength and its beauty.
• which have arisen from a tendency of the body to inertia and comfort and have led to the fourth, dominant program of the ego, the focusing of its attention on insoluble and pitiable problems.
• – that arose from the alienation from his body and led to the fifth dominant program of the ego, to overtax his body, to lose control over his thinking and the appropriateness of his emotions.

Programs,

• who expand their superior position in our lives and in our society by linking their satisfaction with pleasure.
• which, in connection with our, unconscious desires, fears and entanglements, confuse our mind, prevent our feeling, exploit and destroy our body, our fellow human beings and our earth.
• which, in conjunction with the joint development of thoughts and emotions, inspire our minds and build our world.
• who can remember their origin, their oneness with life, and recognize their inherent destiny in oneness with life.
• that can give the body well-being and strength and the consciousness joy of life.
• that can support the body’s ability to regulate itself and thereby the earth, such as conscious work with the body and attention; joyful, meaningful, creative, constructive, earthy and charitable work; equanimity, serenity, trust, love, joy, humor and gratitude, kindness, empathy; consideration for oneself and others and for one’s surroundings.

7. the ego as embodied consciousness 

We can consider the I as a personal consciousness,

To whom creation has provided a body,

a body,

• at whose limits, it can fail or grow.
• created by genes, which the experience of evolution has developed and is in the process of confusing our way of life. 
• which the elements and molecules of the earth have formed and which our way of life is in the process of poisoning.
• with a fascial perception that we share with all living beings, but whose connection to our consciousness we have repressed.
• with feelings that have unfolded since the beginning of feeling, but whose unfolding we have hindered since the beginning of our creation. 
• with thoughts that we share with all those who have lived so far, but whose coming and going we find difficult to control,
• with the help of which we distinguish, evaluate and decide, according to a way of thinking that we have taken over from a society in which our shadow sides have taken on a life of their own for the enrichment of a few at the expense of the majority and our earth.

an awareness, 

• which is largely fed from its unconscious regions.
• which is composed of the processing of impressions, the perception of which depends on our physical condition, our attention and our unconscious filters. 
• which distinguishes its own perception and that of its external world primarily in terms of the harmony of the vibrations it perceives as pleasant or unpleasant.  
• that needs a reference in which it can reflect, feel and recognize itself and with which it can exchange ideas.
• which, however, usually separates itself from all the other I’s and competes with them instead of living the commonalities and connectedness.
• that identifies with our body, but at the same time often does not perceive it sufficiently, nor take into account its needs, weaknesses and limitations, or use its potentials.
• which gives expression to its unprocessed excessive demands, those of its ancestors and its environment in dissatisfaction, restlessness, impatience and irritability, chronic tension, pain and illness.
• that always whispers us with the appropriate arguments to justify its way of life as well as to achieve its goals and 
• which, as our shadow, grows ever larger the more we yield to its whispers. 
• that interprets life according to its ideas and desires and sees itself as separated from it rather than connected to it.
• that classifies the events of life as grace, providence, fate or chance, depending on how they please him.
• that, instead of appreciating the wonders and gifts of our world, exploits and poisons our earth and its inhabitants.
• that has to close its heart to suppress that.

8. in connection with the self, the I can learn,  

• Recognize the origin of inappropriate emotions, thoughts and distressing physical reactions in excessive demands and entanglements, in self-overestimation or underestimation, self-pity or lack of self-love.  
• to recognize the origin of emotions, thoughts and physical reactions also in his environment or on other levels. 
• Recognize a discrepancy in the perception of his emotions and thoughts and the reaction in his environment as a possible indication of unconscious overload or entanglement.
• to direct one’s emotions and thoughts more toward quality rather than quantity, more toward the self rather than getting lost in the dimensions of time and space.  

9. with regard to the energetic structure of life, the I can learn, 

• as its basic structure and that of its emotions, thoughts and that of its environment vibrations, which receive their information since the beginning of time and influence each other. 
• to distinguish own and foreign vibrations in terms of harmony and discrepancy, enrichment and burden. 
• that energy follows attention. 
• harmonize his own vibrations with the help of his concentration on his body and its centers, with dedication, creative, meaningful and supportive work, with mindfulness and meditation.
• To harmonize and enjoy his own vibrations by directing his attention to harmonious and powerful vibrations in his environment and to bring this harmony into his life and that of his environment.
• with his attention, animate his own strengths and energies and those of his environment.
• to dive with his attention again and again into the depth of a touch or encounter. 
• By focusing one’s attention on a movement, touch, or constructive action, to connect with it and experience the flow or „flow“ of energy in that connection as joy and peace.

10. In connection with the self, the I becomes a consciousness, 

• which even in the strongest hurricane does not completely forget the calm in its midst and under the thickest cloud cover the sun shining behind it.
• that can recognize the rhythm of life in the alternation of relaxation and tension, of rest and movement.
• that can learn to adapt the dance of his life to this rhythm.
• that can recognize the melody of life in the ups and downs.
• that can learn to let itself be carried from the heights into the sky and in the depths, not to lose the ground under the feet or the contact to the earth. 
• that can more and more surely recognize and follow the signs, the support and the flow of life.

11. the self

A free ego can open itself to its self, to a self 

• that obviously transcends the boundaries of the ego.
• that we can perceive with our body.
• that cannot be reduced to a program in our brain or a temporary state of our consciousness.
• that was not instilled in us and that we did not acquire.
• that is independent of our entanglements and confusions and those of our society, of our inner state of mind and that of our society.
• that accompanies our I in its self-discovery and self-realization in a body and a world of joy and suffering, hope and despair, realizations, entanglements and confusions, stagnation and development. 

a self, which is 

• can help you feel more deeply, feel more truly, think more clearly, and receive inspiration more openly. 
• that can open the door to infinity for us on each of our levels.
• which, following an inner longing and certainty, we can recognize as the center of our unconscious and conscious being. 
• which is reflected in the loving perception and treatment of our bodies, as well as our environment.
• to which we gain access when the three centers of the ego, head, heart and belly, when thoughts, emotions and perception vibrate in harmony. 
• we experience in the encounter with harmony and authenticity and lose through overplayed dysharmony.  
• that reflects this inner harmony in the depth of our gaze and the breadth of our heart. 
• which can convey to our I its noblest task of becoming, in connection with its Self, an instrument in the hand of Life or of the all-embracing Self, the eye with which Creation can perceive its own beauties, its diversity and its wonders.

12. the gateway to the self

The gate to the self narrows for the ego in the case of negligence, in the case of lack of authenticity, excessive stress and especially in the case of fear. If our ego succeeds in opening the gate, then through this gate we can receive from life itself exactly the power and guidance that we need in every moment for ourselves and our community. 

In order to be able to keep the connection or gateway to the Self open, we must 

• care for our body,
• consciously release our external and internal tension again and again,
• refine our perception,
• free our emotions,
• center and calm our thoughts,
• relax our center and 
• open our heart to the inner light and love.

Perception is the gateway to the Self, for in truly perceiving ourselves and our surroundings, we perceive our Self. And perception always happens in the here and now.

13. the perception of the self

What do you perceive, 

if you allow yourself to feel whether you might be something other than your body, your thoughts and feelings and their perception,

when your body is relaxed, your perception open, your feelings free and your thoughts silent ?

You may feel a quality of freedom, peace, joy, power, personal or impersonal love that you cannot attribute to your ego. 

Perhaps the quality of this touch cannot be experienced in the dimensions of space and time, but only in this very moment.

Perhaps there is another dimension, let’s call it the dimension of the self. 

And maybe this dimension crosses our space axis exactly where we are right now and our time axis always exactly in the now. 

Perhaps we can touch the Self recognizably in each of these crossroads, in each real encounter.

Perhaps the self not only forms and carries us, but is also the forming and carrying force of all life at every moment. 

Perhaps in the planes of space and time, as a characteristic of the self, we can also experience the infinite variety in every touch, every shaping, and every support. 

A depth that extends from the union of two cells, two gazes, two living beings touching each other in love, many people feeling and supporting each other in times of crisis, to the unity of all life. 

And perhaps a rapprochement and touch of as many people as possible in connection with this level can also have an effect on the personal and social levels on our space on earth, in our time in crisis. 

Perhaps our survival depends on our personal and social openness to each other and to our common, inner reality. 

Exercise 14: The Ego and the Self

To conclude this section, I suggest two more journeys. As preparation I recommend of course the aura discharge and the navel-neck integration. 

14.1.Who am I?

Sit or lie down relaxed, close your eyes, observe your breathing, feel your body and the force with which the earth pulls you. 

Observe these perceptions and any thoughts and feelings that arise, without identifying with them. 

Leave all emerging perceptions, thoughts and feelings, i.e. your ego, to the gravitational pull of the earth. 

Dive with what remains of you, with your self, into the space of your body, where perhaps sometimes perceptions, thoughts and feelings emerge from the depths like fish in the sea and disappear again. 

Recognize this space as the home of your Self. And recognize, the silence in this room as the music of your self. By perceiving this space and this silence, you involve your self. Now give your thoughts the wings of your breath and the power of your center.  

With the emotions of your body and the feelings of your consciousness, experience the pleasure that lies in opening the boundaries of your ego towards your Self. 

Notice what you are doing over and over again, now or in your everyday life, 

from this connection with your center and your self separates and connects you again and again with your center and your self through your body and your breathing. All this is you.

14.2.encounter with the self

For this encounter, I suggest you take a walk. 

For example, stop in front of a flowering tree. 

Immerse yourself in its space and abandon yourself to time. 

You meet the tree mainly through the light. And that also took time to give you this encounter. 

Sun rays take only eight minutes to travel the 150 million kilometers to us, but it takes between 10,000 and 170,000 years for a light particle or photon to travel just under half the distance from the center of the sun to the outside. Then it hits the tree through our protective atmosphere, wakes it from hibernation and, together with the earth’s elements, conjures up millions of leaves and flowers in a short time, each one a little different. 

Now your body comes into play. You catch the reflecting photons with your retina and your brain gives your ego the image of a blossoming tree. What it does with it, we decide. 

If our ego particularly likes it, we give the tree a little of our time, but try to capture it right back with a photo. 

Observe your emotions and your thoughts. 

What memories and associations of your ego emerge ?

Take a look at them at your leisure.

To open your consciousness to the connection with your Self, now imagine the „infinite“ space through which the Light comes to us, the infinite time it has taken to do so, and the infinite power with which it gives life to our Earth. 

To open your center to connect with your Self, close your eyes now and feel your body. 

Where except behind your eyes, do you feel the impression of the light ? Where would it darken when clouds move in front of the light of the sun ? Where is your attention drawn ? 

Do you feel more your belly or your heart ? How does the impression of the light and the image of the blossoming tree feel in your center ? 

Do you feel a connection between this image in your belly or heart with the tree you are facing ? 

Do you feel something of the invisible vibrations of the light that gives us strength and joie de vivre, of the beauty and tenderness of the freshly born flowers or those that have been on earth a little longer in your heart ? 

You can now also from your center, fill your legs and feet with awareness. Then imagine roots moving from your feet into the earth and touching the roots of the tree there. 

And you can connect with the tree through your breath. Watch your breath flow through your nose into your lungs and its power flood your whole body. Observe how you are invigorated and connected to the air that the tree has purified. 

Also give some of your attention to the earth that nourished the tree with water and minerals, gave birth to it and sustains it. It is the same earth that gave birth to us, nourishes us and carries us. 

The same Self that works the elements as the smallest particle or vibration also creates our body and vibrates in our perception, emotions and thoughts. 

And by giving attention to this self, our ego gives itself and becomes one with the self again. 

The opening of the heart to the perception of the body closes the circle of creation via the emotions and the realization of the I and opens the gate to the Self.

Try this game again and again in your everyday life.  

Observe, for example, when making eye contact with a passerby, meeting a neighbor or your breathing, preparing your meals or doing your work, when your I opens up with its silent presence and when your gateway to the Self closes due to complaints of your body, inappropriate emotions or restless thoughts. Come back again and again to what is self-evident, what is in front of you, what feels good, what is simple and full of light. 

Let yourself be enlightened, as often as possible, by the depth of an encounter. And share your insights, your sympathy and your joy with your neighbors. Recognize the self also in sharing . 

XI. The way to the center

 

By tuning into the body and the breath, the walls that separate us from our center and from the You can crumble.

The You awaits us in every counterpart, as the secret of life or as the gateway to ourselves. 

It hides behind our fear, lures us in our longing, touches us in our breath, and waits behind the mirror of our projections until we break the mirror and step into the now and our center.

 

1. the now

 

Just as matter is weightless without the gravitational pull of the earth,

perhaps our consciousness is also weightless without the gravity of time.

In the suspension of time, the burdens and anxieties of the past and the worries about the future are eliminated.

In the suspension of our habitual view of space, our templates fall and new perspectives open up.

In the now, we find our breath and our body, our gathering and rest, and our encounter with what is, with being. 

In the Now, the gate opens for the encounter with the You.

The secret of life is hidden in the now. 

Even the strongest pain can sometimes be dissolved by ever sharper concentration on its center in the now.

Even from the greatest sorrow, sometimes only a deep, pure sound remains in the very deepest moment.

The shortest joy can become eternity for a moment.

And the deepest love must sometimes be content with moments, moments that reveal to the present its eternity.

 

2nd Exercise: The Gate of Now

 

Always immerse yourself in the moment you are in.

Strip away all thoughts that have something to do with the past and the future,

all associations to what you are experiencing.

Notice this moment, with all that it contains, more and more precisely. 

Recognize more and more of its facets and dive deeper and deeper into its center. 

Recognize again and again for a moment the secret of your center, your connection to the flow of life.

Once we have tasted this flavor for a moment, we are caught up in it.  

3. the body

Just as our body is weightless without the gravitational pull of the earth, perhaps our ego is weightless without the gravitational pull of time.

In connection with the body, the weight of our pains and limitations can be reduced to the burden of the present. 

In connection with the present, our body can give wings to our soul. 

In the suspension of our orientation to space and time, we can find our way to their point of intersection in the center of our body.

Even the greatest exhaustion finds its rest in the relaxation of our center.

Even a breath of joy can become a symphony in the space of the body.

And love knows the hidden depth of every touch, however brief.

4. movement

Life is movement. Rest is ordering movement.

Movement is the play of our body with the attraction of the earth. 

Rest is the surrender of the body to the approaching power of the earth.

On the wings of the now, the body glides over the waves of life.

In the depth of the body, the I encounters the mystery of life.

No one teaches us movement and rest better than the earth with its seasons,

their elements and their creatures.

My yoga and zen master is called Pischi.

No one lives so exclusively in the now.

No one moves so elegantly and rests so quietly within himself, 

so perfectly masters concentration and letting go 

and enjoys to every fiber of their being like our cats. 

And no one embodies joie de vivre and love more expressively than our dogs.

5th exercise: The touch of the elements and the dance of the fasciae. 

5.1.The touch of the elements

Feel or remember the caress of the wind or water over your body, the warmth of the sun or a fire, and the softness or hardness of the earth between your fingers or under your feet.

Listen to the symphony of the elements.

5.2 The dance of the fasciae 

Move your hands as if to music and listen to its dance.

Rub them against each other and listen to their caress on their surface and in their depth. 

Move again and again, sometimes only in thought, as if in slow motion. 

If possible, notice every fiber of your body that is connected to this movement.

Our fasciae run front and back from our toes to our head and fingers, 

cross over the abdomen and chest and all meet in our center, in the navel. 

Experience the inner connection of all fasciae and their dynamics.

Increase this again and again consciously in the entire fiber course by tension, stretching. Dancing or swinging.

And let every movement arise from your center: 

„Like a dance of strength from a center in which a strong will stands liberated“ (after Rilke).

If the flow of your energy, your feelings or your daily life gets stalled or stumbles, pull back a little, 

look at you, if possible, with arms wide open in front of the chest, 

When you left him or closed yourself off to him, 

where you were in too much of a hurry and your mind was elsewhere, 

what was too much for you and what you did not process, but only swallowed.

Release the pressure through your arms into the sky or through your feet into the earth. Feel your body and come back to your center. 

6. the breath

Light makes life possible. Breath connects life and plants order life.

In the play of the elements, plants use light from the sun to transform water and carbon dioxide into organic energy in the form of sugar and oxygen. 

At the next stage, the power plants of creatures, the mitochondria, form our universal energy currency, ATP, with the help of oxygen from food and body fat.

The breath connects us both with all the elements of the earth and with all the creatures of the earth.

Every breath ever breathed is part of the sea in which we breathe.

Every feeling ever breathed is part of the sea in which we feel.

When our feelings and our bodies carry us to the sky, this happens on the wings of the breath. And when they press us down, this takes our breath. 

Every thought that was ever thought got its power from the breath.

Every idea and every counterpart with which we consciously or unconsciously connect through the breath becomes part of our being.

When the surf of the breath, cradles us between the shores of the body and the sky, we touch the mystery of being.

1.Exercise: The wave of the breath

Open to the wave of the breath with your whole body.

Let power and light flow into your center.

Let them merge into fire in the inflection point of the wave and spread throughout your body as the wave recedes. 

Also, keep breathing the circle of energy: breathe from the bottom of your tailbone up your spine to above your head and down the front center of your body. 

Connect consciously with your counterpart, a person, a plant, a landscape or a target through the breath.   

8. the you

By consciously connecting with our counterpart, the you comes into being. 

It can likewise be in every object, every living thing, every aspect of life, 

as well as arise in life itself, and its depth can be as immeasurable as life itself. 

We decide how we meet this You depending on our physical condition, our current life situation, the absence of old ways of seeing, the focus of our attention, our inner gathering, the opening and longing of our heart, and the purity and depth of our connection with the Now. We decide how we meet our partner, our children or parents, our friends or neighbors, the passerby on the street, the homeless person or the homeless person. 

When the opening seems one-sided, as to a tree, a landscape, a work of art or music, we think we can determine the depth ourselves, forgetting the You of life. 

When it is mutual, each you recognizes in an instant the depth of mutual opening. Sometimes an echo remains from the encounter of a moment, but it fades away and life goes on, enriched by this sound. 

When life itself is the You to which we open ourselves, we sense the origin and depth of all the encounters and their sounds. We feel their resonance in our longing and in the silence of our center and recognize them in the flow of our life.

When this You gifts us and we immerse ourselves in its mysteries and its depth, we feel connected to life.

When its apparent absence confronts us with difficulties, it makes it easier for us to embrace them as opportunities to grow and learn.

And when we look at the chaos, cruelty, injustice and suffering in our world, we may sense the connection with our lost center.

We always decide anew whether we connect with our center and give space to the silence within us. 

We decide whether to step aside and give space to the You as our Self in our midst. 

We choose to step into our center and meet the You in the flow of life. 

We decide how to deal with it when we are no longer in the flow or the flow confronts us with obstacles. 

We decide whether to meet our counterpart in the flow of life or to restrict the flow to our inner you. 

We decide whether to keep trying to reconcile our inner you with the outer you. 

We decide how to face ourselves in our weakness, pain, fear and emptiness and whether to entrust them to the flow of life. 

We decide whether we remain true to our center and the flow of life in the process. 

We decide whether to entrust ourselves to the guidance and power of silence in our midst. 

And each of these decisions we make anew in every moment.

9. exercise: decisions, love and the inner you

9..Decisions

Stand upright and relaxed. Surrender the weight of your body and every emerging thought to the gravitational pull of the earth.

Feel your body, your contact with the earth, your breath and your center. 

Now imagine an open question as your counterpart and observe whether your body is pulled forward from your center, toward this you, or backward, away from it. 

9.2.Love

Now focus your attention on love.

Can you perceive them in your body or in your environment?

What might be standing in its way? What is impeding its flow?

Give yourself and your surroundings as much love and power as you are able to give. Perhaps you will manage to break the dam so that the flow of love can flow freely again.

In the same way, you can deal with other elements or aspects of your being, with silence, power, peace or joy.

In your imagination, breathe the power of the respective elements or aspects into your belly or heart and open the flow into your body.

9.3 The inner you

You can call it God or you can call it your self. 

Compare building your relationship with the inner you to a relationship with a musical instrument. Whatever you give of yourself and your life into this relationship, 

you get back many times over in enrichment.

What seems very bumpy at first eventually becomes virtuosic. 

And someday you will become the flute on which life plays.