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CHAPTER 1
The Energy-Emotion Matrix
Happy, sad, angry, joyful. Emotions provide rhythm, context, and meaning to life. Without them we would find little of value in our successes and minimal learning from our failures. Emotions convey the essence of being alive, yet most of us spend a considerable amount of time and energy avoiding and controlling our emotions rather than using them. We don't like to feel anger, fear, sadness, shame, or guilt, and strive to escape or suppress them. We value happiness, excitement, satisfaction, and joy — and who wouldn't? They are comfortable, energizing, and uplifting. We label some emotions good and others bad as we confuse comfortable and uncomfortable with value. But what if there is more to emotions than how they make us feel?
Emotions are a source of information. Comfortable or uncomfortable, they tell us about ourselves: where we need to grow, what traumas haven't healed, what we have to offer the world, and more. They also tell us about our surroundings: what direction to take, whom we can trust, when to make a business move, and so forth. Enjoyable emotions may lead us toward activities and relationships; however, unpleasant emotions have equal function. They provide vital information for survival, alerting us to threats and warning against foolish actions. The value of emotions doesn't end with information; they also energize our life. While informing our perceptions, they liberate energy for action, delivering the power to enable our goals and pursue our dreams.
Research shows that emotional intelligence is more important than IQ in career success and fostering happiness in relationships. Typically, however, we tend to undervalue emotions and view them with distrust, something taught to us as children. Do you remember being a kid and knowing from your own emotional response that a parent was angry with you, but being told you were wrong and that "nothing was the matter"? Denials of this nature send a twofold message. First, they dissuade us from trusting our senses. Coming to terms with contradictions between what we sense and what we are told undermines our ability to trust our perceptions, thus damaging self-confidence. A person who is always second-guessing his or her instincts is unable to act with conviction or access personal power.
Second, it implies that emotions are somehow bad and that we should deny what we feel. We are trained to believe that the mind is good and emotions are bad; that emotions take us away from logic, leading us into the addictions of pleasure over the virtues of hard work. They trap us in limitation through fear, anger, and shame. Many religions teach that emotions are tricksters, seducing aspirants away from faith. Emotions have even been described as parasites, as though one of the attributes in the magnificence of life is non-functional. The message is clear: Emotions should be suppressed and overcome in favor of either logic and rationality or blind faith.
Once emotions are denied, their message and energy are suppressed, and instead of empowering us, they become saboteurs to happiness and success. Distrust of emotions seems vindicated when they cause us to make limiting decisions or influence rash behavior. Many people attribute the worst mistakes they've ever made to decisions induced by wild emotion. However, bad decisions don't mean emotions can't be trusted; they mean we have unlearned how our emotions work; we have become separated from their function. Debased and suppressed, emotions become an unconscious ruling force rather than an attribute of wisdom.
The opposition between mind and emotion is an illusion; the two are meant to work together, each augmenting the other's unique contribution. Accessing emotions is the key that opens the door to higher consciousness, helping us to understand our selves and the world better. Emotions do this by being a direct link to subtle energy, the vital force that flows within and around us, creating the ambiance of life and carrying the information that directs our inner convictions. Emotions are the language of subtle energy — the body's translation of frequency. Through emotions, energy interactions are brought into direct awareness.
Today more than ever before, there is an awakening to the energy level of reality. The prevalence of yoga, Tai Chi, and energy healing in helping people live happier, healthier lives is generating acceptance of this mysterious substance. People are feeling the flows of energy in their bodies and becoming aware of the energy interactions in which they engage. Consequently, there is an upsurge of interest in the ability to consciously participate in energy realms to create meaningful, life-affirming change. Emotions are the language of interpretation.
Paying attention to subtle energy attunes us to deeper layers of reality. It brings unconscious awareness into the realm of conscious choice. Information we receive can indicate:
* Whether we are in danger.
* What the best decision may be in a given situation.
* Whether we can trust someone.
* Whether a person has ulterior motives or hidden agendas.
* How to be more intimate with people we love.
* What our limitations are and what fears we hide.
* What we value, what has meaning, what carries truth for us.
* What career path to take.
* The presence and meaning of underlying connections between people and events.
* The importance of synchronicity.
Energy awareness is also a deepening of our spirituality. Through it we can access:
* Heightened states of being and altered states of awareness.
* Our innate understanding of the spiritual qualities in Nature.
* Connection to Universal Consciousness, Divine Love, and/or God.
* Frequency shifts associated with change.
* The ability to assist healing.
* Paranormal abilities such as communication with deceased individuals, precognition, and telepathy.
* The ability to see the forces behind social issues, politics, religious orders, and so forth.
* Our ability to manifest the life we want.
* Our spiritual essence.
When we become proficient at using the emotional language of energy, we can receive the information emotions hold, direct the force they entrain, and then release them. We no longer need to harbor feelings that hurt or cause injury, and no longer need to allow them to dictate our actions and behaviors. We can choose to step into our personal power and take command of our emotional terrain so that our actions become conscious, creative, potent, and fulfilling. We become the master creators of our life.
CHAPTER 2
The Kingdom of Subtle Energy
The first time I met my husband, a flood of perceptions engulfed me that I was ill-equipped to intellectually define. We were in a crowd of people, yet when he glanced in my direction, our eyes locked. I was immediately overcome with an internal quickening, a very fine vibration that felt as though it originated in my cells. The sensation was like bees buzzing in a hive. Waves of energy streamed between us, and the chakra energy centers in my body expanded. My heart physically burned as boundaries disappeared and internal resistance melted.
It was impossible to explain what was taking place. I had never experienced anything like it before. However, my emotions were clear. I felt love, and my feelings informed my understanding. They also provided the motivation to take a risk and connect with this stranger before me as well as the drive to follow through. It was a rare moment of complete coherence of mind, body, and emotion, and a perfect example of how emotions function.
The body is processing energy information all the time. Each of us is in continual exchange with the people around us and with the world at large. Emotions and sensations inform the importance and meaning of our energy interactions, creating our gut reactions. Rarely, however, do we have the experience of time slowing so that each component of an event can be individually felt and explored. These infrequent moments are unique and life altering, occurring most often during times of heightened meaning such as accidents and near-death experiences, and when meeting significant people. In those moments of percipience we feel alive; life force streams through our body and nerve endings are on fire.
Most people have had at least one experience of heightened awareness. The questions for many are: What is being transferred, and can we consciously engage it? To answer these we need to explore the dynamic world of subtle energy and form a foundation for understanding the role emotions play.
Subtle Energy Overview
Subtle energy has many names in many cultures; it is called etheric energy in the spiritual writings of Theosophy, akasha or prana in Vedic and Hindu traditions, and chi, or qi, in Chinese philosophy. Subtle energy is said to be the medium through which consciousness acts. It carries life force, that which makes the difference between inert material and life.
Flowing into, through, and beyond matter, subtle energy is both the substance of matter and the creative force that organizes it into form. It is the motivating and animating principle of the universe, forming the matrix of life. This formative level of reality is interactive. Into the energy field matrix we pour our dreams and desires as well as our fears and limitations, and out of it are formed the circumstances of our lives.
Though separate, everything is a part of everything else, connected through the matrix of the energy field. One of the children I work with likened the idea to fish in a fish tank. The fish are suspended in the medium of water that supports them, moving into, through, and around them. The water connects the fish to everything else in the tank. Every move one makes is felt by all as a vibration through the water. Though the metaphor is limited in similarity, imagining it provides a visceral experience of the concept.
As the force that organizes matter into structured form, subtle energy transmits information as frequency. Frequency is defined as either the number of traveling waves in a specified period of time, or as the rate at which a particle vibrates. Vibration in the energy matrix forms templates for physical matter. If we consider consciousness to be the creative force of the universe, then subtle energy is the carrier wave for consciousness.
Although the topic seems esoteric, using frequency to code information on energy carrier waves is a foundational concept in the technology revolution. The principle is used every time cell phone signals are transmitted on microwaves, or music and conversation are transmitted on radio waves. The same principle occurs when the body receives information from light and sound. Light frequency is received through the eyes and translated into visible information in the brain; sound frequency is received through the ears and translated into audible signals. Similarly, the body receives subtle energy information and translates it into emotional experiences. How this happens is discussed in Chapter 3.
The flow of subtle energy is life enhancing. It nourishes and vitalizes the body at a cellular level, promoting health and well-being. It promotes body wisdom and forms our innate intelligence. When we learn how to consciously interact with subtle energy, it increases our understanding of the world around us and can be used to transmit thought, healing energy, and personal intent. As such, it is a vehicle for self-empowerment.
In summary, subtle energy has several important attributes:
* It is an organizational force forming an energy matrix.
* It transmits information in the form of frequency.
* It is the medium for transmitting consciousness.
* It is life force, carrying information that produces health, well-being, and vitality.
* It is both substance and force.
Furthermore:
* The energy matrix is an energy field that produces templates that organize matter into discernible form.
* The body receives subtle energy information and translates it into emotions, physical sensations, and direct knowing that form gut reactions, instinctive responses, and intuition.
* Subtle energy can be used for healing, thought transmission, remote viewing, and other so-called paranormal abilities.
Historical Perspective
The majority of cultures around the world have a word for subtle energy and a practice to manipulate it. Chart 2.1, Energy Systems From Around the World, provides a few examples. Many indigenous cultures describe it as the web of life, a similar description to that of a matrix or energy field. Complex rituals and mind-expanding drugs along with meditation, breathing, and movement practices have been used for thousands of years to provide access to this realm. The prevailing belief is that humans are not powerless bystanders to mysterious processes; rather, we are participants interacting with a greater whole that guides the evolution of consciousness and the refinement of reality.
Ancient cultures consciously engaged subtle energy for healing, fertility, manifestation, guidance, and so forth. Maps of the body were made that diagrammed energy pathways and collection centers. The best known today are the maps of meridian pathways used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and the charts of the chakras from the Hindu tradition of India, both of which date at least to 3000 BCE.
The widespread ancient understanding of energy pathways in the body can be demonstrated with the discovery in 1991 of a naturally mummified man. The 43-year-old, 5-foot 5-inch male corpse, found frozen in the Alps between Italy and Austria, was dated at 5,300 years old. Known as Otzi the Iceman, or the Tyrolian Iceman, he was significant for many things, including charcoal tattoos found in specific locations on his body. The tattoos were made by slashing the skin and filling the cut with charcoal.
Unlike ornamental tattoos found on other mummies from this time period, the tattoos on Otzi the Iceman were clearly not artistic. Instead, they indicated knowledge of the same pathways of energy used by today's TCM practitioners: Placement of the tattoos had a very high correlation to acupuncture points. An article on the Iceman's autopsy in The Lancet, a British peer-reviewed medical journal, reported that the tattoos were placed on points along the Bladder Meridian that would be used by TCM practitioners to treat lower back pain and inflammation. Radiographic pictures (X-rays) of the skeletal structure showed lumbar degeneration indicating pain and inflammation in his lower back. These correlations are well beyond chance.
Is it accidental that two ancient cultures from different parts of the world developed similar healing methods? Or is it possible that ancient people were aware of energy pathways in the body? Has the modern human lost touch with innate energy senses that help us survive?
The Science of Energy
There is little scientific proof that subtle energy exists; however, the exciting frontier of physics offers a foundation for its presence. This subject is fascinating and complex, and only an overview is provided here. Those who are interested will find articles and books for further study in the resource appendix.
The discovery that light can display characteristics of both particles and waves (Young's double-slit experiment) sounds strikingly familiar to the substance-energy duality of subtle energy. Einstein's revolutionary formula E = MC (energy=mass x the speed of light squared) also states that energy and matter are the same substance; the difference between them is simply the speed at which they vibrate.
Although Einstein may not have been espousing the existence of a medium for consciousness, his equation implies that vibration underlies reality. Superstring Theory takes this idea further. Superstring Theory proposes that everything in the universe, from galaxies to subatomic particles, is made up of microscopic strands of vibrating energy termed Strings. The deepest, most indivisible level of matter, it suggests, are patterns of vibration that give specific types of matter their specific form and property. Physicist Brian Greene explains that all of the different properties of particles that make up matter are "the manifestation of one and the same physical feature: the resonant patterns of vibration — the music, so to speak — of fundamental loops of string."
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Excerpted from "The Path of Emotions"
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Copyright © 2013 Dr. Synthia Andrews.
Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
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