Flow with the figure 8 and feel the mind & body relax.
Just before COVID-19 hit, I had invested my savings into self-publishing my new book, Good Food: Better Sex. I’d taken a leap of faith and thought I can do this, it’s time for me to expand and flourish, the world needs what I have to offer. So relying on sales of the book, my online courses, upcoming retreats and regular Shiatsu clients, I stepped into my spotlight and was suddenly blinded by the unforeseen impact of a virus I had seen start thousands of miles away in China. My clinic closed, retreats canceled and upcoming TV and media appearances no longer had space to talk about Good Food and Better Health. The threat of the virus was very real as one of my sons has an underlying chest condition so I made plans to take him and his twin to stay with their dad, living on an island off Ireland. That seemed to be the safest place for them to be.
At this point, it felt like I’d lost everything. I had no money, no family, no clients, and it seemed like my new book could be dead in the water. I too left my home in Dublin and moved in with my partner in Castletownbere, West Cork, the end of nowhere. No more bustling city, and interaction with neighbours, now there’s only fields and sheep. What was going to happen now that I had lost all control of my life? DRAMA – I thought poor me!!
I soon realized I’m not dead. I have access to running water, a warm bed to sleep in and food in the fridge. I am just having change forced on me when I was not expecting or prepared for it. However, nothing in life stays the same – the one constant is that everything changes.
The first law of thermodynamics states “Energy cannot be created nor destroyed”, energy is infinite, it goes on and on and on. To our narrow perception, this does not seem to ring true. It seems like we use energy and then it is gone. We burn coal or collect wind for electricity which turns on the TV, the lights or charges our phones. But when the TV is turned off, or the batteries run low, it seems like the energy is used up. But that is not true, it has just changed form. Fire converts chemicals into thermal and light energy. When you turn off the light, the electromagnetic energy is still present, it just is not visible. An easy example is sunlight which transforms earth to give the food which we, eat, digest, and transform into our energy, along with waste material which goes back into the earth.
The symbol used to represent this flow of energy and therefore life is the endless horizontal figure ∞. It is used in mathematical equations and I am using it in my daily Chi Gong practice to calm the mind and body. It’s one thing to know something, but another to feel it. To help the surges of anxiety, chest tightening, poor sleep, overwork, overthinking, panic-inducing, grief and uncertainty we may be feeling, I’m sharing a few Chi Gong exercises that help the mind and body loosen the fear by using the figure ∞. Energy doesn’t travel in straight lines. As I said before, it doesn’t have a beginning and an endpoint. It loops and flows, spiraling and swirling as it travels. We see it in the way rivers flow and the breeze blows. Large retail companies make use of this knowledge when guiding shoppers through their stores so they don’t come through one door and out of another. They meander through shops and end up in the sections full of temptation they had not anticipated. In my Shiatsu Clinic, I diagnose where energy is stuck in the body and help it flow through the meridians which flow in circles and figure 8’s through the body.
Making these fluid 8 shapes with our body has a wonderfully calming effect on the mind. I have been sharing them on Facebook Live at 8.30 every morning since lockdown began so that I can remain within the flow of the current situation rather than be frozen in fear. This transitory state of lockdown during the coronavirus will pass. It will change and transform. I will change and transform, with the help of a practice grounded in a strong back and an open heart. I look forward to seeing where we all are when the world emerges. Acts of kindness to others have become commonplace and there is a deeper understanding of working together for a common good.
PS – after my initial despair, unexpectedly sales of the book and the online course began flowing I could not have predicted a sales spike when my daily work was less than ever. It seems that during lockdown we all have time and space to explore Good Food and Better Sex
Now is the time to make changes to your health and your diet
I can teach you how to understand your body and take control of all areas of your health.
Courses include: Online Consultation PLUS Copy of Conscious Cookbook sent straight to your door
Tailored Videos – bitesize cookery programs, Chi-Gong exercises, and self-shiatsu acupressure points in your own home.
Choose from:
- Stopping Sweet Cravings
- Sexy Savvy Menopause
- Reduce Pain in Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue
- Good Food: Better Health
Watch the video to find out more at https://joannefaulkner.ie/online-courses/