Do you have a painful
physical condition which eludes diagnosis, or do
you know someone else thusly afflicted? Most of
us know at least one person in chronic pain. How
has this condition become almost epidemic in
recent times? We live in a time unlike any
preceding it. Moving at an increasingly faster
pace, we are at the same time opening to
knowledge that once existed only in mystery
schools. As human consciousness collectively
expands, we are similarly being stretched to our
physical limits through the stress of living in
a technological age. These two forms of
expansion, whether we are conscious of them or
not, are pulling us in opposite directions. This
makes it challenging to maintain a level of
physical comfort, not to mention wellness.
Consciousness and conceptual thought are
expansive. These energies seek ground in the
physical body in order to be felt, integrated
and finally understood. Like a funnel, we are
pouring expanded awareness through a big opening
into a stressed out, restrictive vessel. This
can and does cause problems.
In her book Conscious
Femininity, Marion Woodman shares both her
experience as a Jungian analyst over the past
twenty-five years, as well as her personal
struggle with body image. Both have shaped her
career in helping others come to terms with
being in the bodies we must reckon with, here on
Earth. She describes the body, whether male or
female, as our feminine element (earth, the
mater-ial). We are entering a stage of human
evolution where the feminine is becoming
conscious for the first time. This does not
mean that matriarchal societies, for example,
did not honor the feminine. Rather, this
feminine energy was never consciously
integrated. And patriarchy has, as we know,
little respect or space for its feminine
counterpart. Thus, we find our collective selves
in a state of disembodiment, a place where we
value mind over matter. Enter the feminine,
which many of us feel is emerging to balance the
scales. Our bodies have become an afterthought,
and they are demanding our attention.
Many of us on a path of
personal growth are finding our bodies betraying
us, but here's the funnel effect again. As
Woodman states, "You can't put spirit into dense
matter. Matter is dark; it's obtuse. There has
to be a consciousness to receive spirit. The way
I'm understanding it, more and more from dreams,
is that consciousness exists in matter, and that
consciousness opens to receive spirit." We may
resist this process, for it requires we
surrender our habitual way of being in the
world. This resistance creates pain we are
currently experiencing, individually as well as
collectively. For, as Woodman continues, "We are
adolescents with a hydrogen bomb and without a
sense of the love that can use that energy
creatively." She likewise believes the addictive
quality of our society contributes to the
awakening of this feminine energy. For as
addicts are confronted with healing their
condition, they are forced to surrender. This is
"the point of vulnerability ... where the god
enters ... The feminine is forcing her way into
consciousness by means of these addictions."
Whether alcoholic or
workaholic, addictions are distractions that
keep us numb to the presence of feelings, of
emotional pain, both within ourselves and in
relation to others. As the feminine element
awakens within us, our numbness begins to thaw
and we experience more physical discomfort.
Medicating this pain is one choice and moving
through it, another. One step we can take to
move through pain is to breathe more deeply.
Woodman states that "most of us keep our breath
as shallow as possible because the eruption of
feeling is too intense if we inhale deeply.
Breathing is very important because it is a
matter of receiving and that is the feminine
principle incarnate." Exercise, such as walking
outside, can help enhance our breathing capacity
in a safe way. With our feet grounded on Mother
Earth, we are able to discharge some of this
emotional intensity. Joining a meditation group
or doing yoga can help move the breath, as long
as we choose a body centered practice.
Otherwise, we are gathering yet more spiritual
energy which has no container to ground itself
into. Bodywork and massage can be powerful ways
in which to move emotional residue, yet these
modalities, if effective, are not without pain.
Our collective resistance
to pain is deeply rooted in Western culture.
Westerners value life without pain over living a
full, rich, complex life. We compromise this
fullness for the escape our addictions offer us,
though ultimately, addictions are but a
temporary salve for much deeper wounds. Choosing
to move through pain is to honor these wounds,
to heal them. As we move through layers of
denial and fear, our bodies become freer and we
become greater vessels for spirit to penetrate.
Woodman affirms that "body work is soul work,
and the imagination is the key to connecting
both. To have healing power, an image must be
taken into the body on the breath. Then it can
connect with the life force, and things can
change, physically and psychologically. A man
might come into therapy and say, 'I can't cry.'
Yet if I ask him to breathe in a symbol of his
grief, the tears will start." She also stresses
the importance of doing this kind of work with a
facilitator, as it can be frightening on one's
own.
Asking for help is
surrendering our need for a controlled, safe
existence. Yet piercing our illusions of safety
might be the only way in which to heal the
deeper pain that besets us. Again, Marion
Woodman: "Life is a matter of incarnation. The
soul is an entity we have to live with in our
human body ... Suffering and conflict are the
only way to grow. As life moves from phase to
phase, you have to suffer the death of one and
the birth of the next."
