Let Go of Ego and Heal More Deeply

This week, I took my three-years-old niece to the Zilker Botanical gardens for some relaxing play amid koi ponds filled with guppies. We walked under bamboo groves, swaying in hot summer breezes and delighted at feeding turtles at Mozart’s cafe as river waves splashed onto the deck unexpectedly. Ahh! Summer bliss.

The lack of self consciousness and the authenticity of just being, trusting and engaging life deeply, is amazing in young children.

In each moment, children create a ripple of positive energy that impacts our global energy by simply accepting that unconditional love , joy and the freedom of being, is available to everyone of us. Yet, so often, as we grow older, we allow traumatic experiences to transform us into people who are moving through life in self conscious ways, overanalyzing life and questioning the goodness in ourselves and in others.

Yet, it is possible to restore that more liberated state that we see in children, by healing the trauma through stepping out of the comfort zones of assimilation.

Assimilation is a process where we attempt to fit experiences into our existing preconceptions and patterns that exist internally.

In balance, assimilation allows us to make sense of the world in a way that is comfortable to us. For example, we might be people attuned to higher positive energies such that when we are met with negative energy, we might choose to assimilate the aspects of the experience that are positive and downplay the parts that are negative as a way to cope and keep our positive internal processes intact.

We may also choose to discern that negative external experiences do not fit where we are internally and remove ourselves from the presence of negative energy. Thus, assimilation in balance can serve as a tool to cultivate and grow our positive energies.

Out of balance, assimilation can be a controlling energy of entitlement where we expect and demand that other people accommodate our way of moving through life.

For example, a person who is manifesting imbalanced assimilation, when faced with discomfort in relationships, will tend to ask of others “Please do this or that differently so I can be more comfortable,” instead of exploring, “Is it my own internal patterns and responses that are making me uncomfortable and if so, what might I need to shift internally? Or is it truly the case that the other person has behaved in a way that is inappropriate or disharmonious to a positive flow of life energy?”

A habit of assimilation can be an egoic attempt to make the world bend to our internal patterns and also a way of disowning responsibility for healing our own internal wounds by expecting other people to accommodate our wounded selves. Eventually, this pattern can lead to isolation and loneliness as the sphere that we feel comfortable with contracts, and people who are expanding and growing leave our lives.

When we are ill physically, we often have internal patterns that feed the imbalances that maintain the physical illness. Thus, a habit of assimilation can prevent us from resolving the deeper underlying issues that may be contributing to illness. Thus, how willing we are to shift from a mode of assimiliation and develop skills with accommodating experience, stretching our comfort zones, impacts the degree of healing we can achieve.

Qi Gong is an art that when practiced consistently begins to transform our ability to accommodate new patterns into our lives–thus, it is about changing internal constructs and paradigms that may keep us locked into patterns of illness.

Similarly, the energetic bodywork part of qi gong can also create deep internal shifts that begin to liberate us from the wounded egoic self that has suffered through trauma and keeps us rigidly stuck in places unable to embrace the full range and depth of comprehensive therapies that can lead to resolution of health challenges.

So, this week, as you move through experience, take a moment to challenge yourself to accommodate new experiences with openness and trust. Try some new healing foods or incorporate a new herbal regimen if you’ve been resistant to using plant energy as a healing tool. Take a new taiji or qi gong class even if it is not in your usual flow of schedule. Step out and stretch out knowing that you deserve and are worth it!