Energy is your business
Shout it from the roof tops!
Transcript
Energy is your business
Charge and the energy body by Anodea Judith
Albert Einstein said: “Everything is energy and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.”
So if you believe in science you can believe in the subtle energetics of the body.
Welcome back. I’ve been busy the past few weeks and months preparing for our Shakti Encounter retreat coming up on November 12. So I thought I would take a few episodes and introduce you to some of the concepts that we’ll be exploring there.
I have always been fascinated by energy in the body. First, how to get more of it and how to harness it. How to optimize it. How to replenish it. How to overcome a lack of it. And eventually how to maintain it. I spent years as my own guinea pig.
Because in the beginning I thought that if I didn’t feel like I had enough energy I needed to get it from outside myself. I often felt low. What now I would say was a low charge, which I’ll explain in a moment. And because I didn’t understand the ebb and flow of energy in myself I was constantly turning to external sources for energy. For me that was sugar and caffeine in all of its many forms.
I thought that if a little was good more would be better. If I felt tired after a run I just needed more sugar. If I woke up tired I must need more coffee. If I crashed after lunch I must need an afternoon latte. If I felt weak I’d take a supplement for that to get through. I wasn’t very good at translating my body’s signals and then giving what it really needed. I basically learned how to mask those signals, the fatigue, the growing tension, the chronic pain. Until finally it got bad enough to send me to the doctor with chronic gut pain, chiropractor with chronic hip and neck pain. It was bad enough that I thought I’d have to quit teaching and I did quit running.
The takeaway here is that I didn’t understand my energetic body. I thought all I needed to know was how to physically fuel myself with food and water and of course caffeine and that was enough. But despite how my description sounds I was doing everything “right” according to exercise science. I mean, energy was literally my business as a fitness instructor.I was a healthy weight. I balanced my calories and exercise. When I complained to the various doctors they were stumped. I looked healthy, but they couldn’t find anything physically wrong with me. Nothing showed up on any test. So oh well, sorry about your luck!
Honestly I was pretty pissed about that at the time. This experience is a big part of why I’m not big on doctors. They’re supposed to know stuff like this but they don’t really.
What does that mean? It means that there’s more to you than meets the eye. You’re more than your physical body. That sounds so nice to hear, doesn’t it? But how does that help us? What does that even mean? Well, Yoga philosophy explains that every human is made of layers. Yep just like Shrek said. Like layers of an onion, and just as likely to make you cry. They’re called the Koshas and they make up your energetic subtle body.
Let me give you a brief overview of the koshas and we’ll jump off from there.
Subtle energy body
Brief outline of the koshas
Physical body - Annamaya kosha
Energy (breath, life force) - Pranamaya Kosha
Mental layer (mental emotional inner world) - Manomaya kosha
Intuition/wisdom (awareness of reality) - Vijnanamaya kosha
Bliss body (spiritual connection, discipline) - Anandamaya
Chakras
Exist in the astral body
Spiritual energy centers (wheels) along the the core within anandamaya
Nadis - energy channels
Sushumna
Ida - feminine energy
Pingala - masculine energy
Kundalini - the shakti energy coiled at the base of the spine
Chakras connect the nadis to the koshas
Energy/Charge - everything has one
Physical charge
Stress
Everything is a stressor
Starts as Neutral
Movement/exercise
Build up
Release
Sexual arousal
Orgasm
Sleep/rest
Sensation internal or external
Pain
Pleasure
Butterflies
Illness
Temperature
Touch
Taste + Smell
Regulation and modulation
External
Food + drink
Drugs + meds
Internal/self
Meditation
Breath
Movement
Yoga
TRE
Tapping
EMDR
exercise
Mindfulness
We all have a natural level of energy charge that we've adapted to. Anodea Judith calls it a comfort zone. Some of us have a very wide comfort zone of charge. Some people have a small comfort zone but maybe they’re highly charged. These folks have a hard time coming down. Some people have a small comfort zone that low charge. These folks might find it difficult to get too excited about anything. None of them are necessarily good or bad unless they start to show up as dysfunction, like anxiety or depression or some other physical, mental or emotional issues.
Because every living thing is charged with energy. Everything we do. Everything we experience. Everyone we connect with. (because they too have all these energetic layers) Every thought, emotion, memory. It all has a charge. And it all affects our energy in some way positively and negatively. You have an opportunity to affect your energy levels, to change the charge, expand your comfort zone in a lot of different ways.
For me I had a vicious inner critic who was bombarding my energetic self with ever higher expectations of perfection. You’ve heard me call her my inner mean girl. Maybe you have one of those?All that negative internal energy created separation from my subtle body. I had to learn to quiet her voice and reconnect with those energetic layers so my physical body could heal itself. And it did. But it took time and a new awareness of how that energy is connected.
The first step is always to build some objective energy awareness of that charge. Then resist the temptation to simply cover up what you find. It’s ok to be tired. It means you need rest. It’s ok to feel sore. It means you worked hard and maybe you need to recover. It’s ok to give yourself some TLC. It’s ok to let yourself receive that care also. If not from someone else then from yourself. It’s ok to not know what you need too. Sometimes you just need to sit with whatever sensations are there. They can be hard to untangle sometimes. The why doesn’t matter. First because it’s all past. And second because sometimes your body, physical or subtle body has a different story. All that really needs to happen is an acknowledgement of the truth of what you find. So I would challenge you to observe your energy for the next week. Don’t try to change it or mask it. Simply let yourself ride the wave for a week and lift the weight of judgment about what you find. Be curious. Take some notes or journal. Maybe ask your energetic self what it needs or wants. And try to give yourself what you need, when you need it. Maybe you need some new boundaries. Maybe you discover new sources of energy. Whatever you find, let yourself accept it as true. And then make some choices. Try something different. Remember opposites create balance. I can’t tell you exactly what to do. I can just point you in the direction. One of my favorite resources is Anodea Judth. She has a number of excellent books on the subject, one I really like is Charge and the energy body. I’ll link it in the show notes. I’d love to hear about your experience!
Thanks for joining me for this week's Work IN. Shakti Encounter is coming up soon! If you want to join us for one day to recharge and reconnect with your energetic self go to the show notes to reserve your spot, they’re filling up fast! If you like what you heard and are curious to see some of these things in action you can follow me on Instagram at @realsavagegrace or on Facebook @savagegracecoaching And I would be forever grateful if you would give The Work IN a like and share or a 5 star review on Apple or spotify. You can find links to everything we talk about on this podcast in the show notes and the easiest way to get to those is to visit savagegracecoaching.com/theworkin
Thanks everyone and I’ll see you next time!
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