Behavioural science shows us that what we repeat we become. Our upbringing reinforces learned behaviours from our great grandparents and generations beyond them. We repeat these behaviours and responses which in turn affects how we view and respond to the world. Memories of traumatic events have been shown to be stored in our DNA and along with our conditioned inherited habits, this totals our subconscious mind, which runs 95% of the choices we make in our life. We are the sum of all the conditions our forebears were exposed to and survived.
In our formative years we are influenced by societal directives and now find ourselves in a culture of consumption, at the mercy of mercenaries who know how to manipulate.
Can we remember to choose cognitively over the pull of automatic reactions and old patterns?This can be tricky to navigate. With the over-culture’s twisted reports of “important information”, we can lose our mental footing, our clarity, focus and energy. This diverts us away from engaging with our truth and more towards becoming puppets who blindly devour and pollute. When social media was spawned it seemed like a solution for far-flung friends to be in touch. Now we find ourselves playing into the steely hands of consumer-bots, spending far too much time surfing and scrolling. This habit alone has changed everybody’s lives in developing nations, compelling us to surrender to a form of mindlessness which taps into psychological vulnerabilities. We are all in training; and where we focus, our energy flows.
Is there a pattern you are perpetuating that is not a conscious choice?
Would you like to change it?
Perpetuating old patterns feels recognisable and reassuring – albeit outdated.
So how can we re-programme ourselves with positive re-patterning?
Counter-action is called for. It’s time to power up from the inside.
Qigong is our great ally here.
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably already doing a version of energy work.
We are all wired to repair. Wounds heal and Qigong enhances this innate ability.
Qi is pure information. It is a language of truth and can be felt as a resonance, a frequency sense and state of coherence. Qi cannot be tricked, psy-opped or manipulated. What a relief! We know where we Be with our Qi.
Qigong encourages reframing and repetition to anchor in new ‘forms’ of truth alongside pathways of deep self-care. It gives you strength on the inside of your body – both physically and energetically – which supports healthy mind function. This is key to becoming anti-distractible.
So yes, we CAN create new healthy habitual ways.
How long does it take to create a positive pattern of behaviour?
“Phillippa Lally is a health psychology researcher at University College London. In a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, Lally and her research team decided to work out how long it actually takes to form a habit.
On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behaviour becomes automatic, 66 days to be precise. How long it takes a new habit to form can vary widely depending on the behaviour, the person, and the circumstances. In Lally’s study, it took anywhere from 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit.”
See article https://jamesclear.com/new-habit
CREATING NEW PATTERNS
Building new habits is not an all-or-nothing thing. Embrace the process, commit to your chosen system and make small incremental movements forwards. Research has found that missing an opportunity to exercise the new behaviour doesn’t affect the habit from forming i.e. it doesn’t matter if you mess up every now and again, just get back on the horse!
Which healthy new pattern do you favour?
What is being called forward from reading this?
Movement?
Sound?
Vision?
Affirmations?
Ah yes! Combine a spot-on affirmation with a simple movement and you’re getting closer to activating the subconscious sector of your mind, the part that’s actually running the show.
The 100 day practice challenge.
Primordial Qigong came into my life in the summer of 2017, when Ken Cohen visited the UK and shared this foundational lineage form. At the time I was living off grid in a chalet on the edge of a cliff in Cornwall. Here I hit rock bottom being isolated and yet deeply communing with nature. I practiced this form for 100 days, finding my ‘home’ deepening inside as I dedicated myself to this new practice. I was reassured by the regularity and support it offered. My energy body knew my soul’s home was my Dantiens, thanks to this deep nurturing of self. Eventually, my body needed a home too and in 2019, through a remarkable turn of events, I found my now home in Somerset. My body could settle in at last and enabled my soul to as well. This primal form has continued to support me steady.
How to engender regular self-care?
Self-care empowers, nurtures and restores. Building this into everyday life is a healthy pattern to promote and is key for thriving, but can be a challenge for the busiest of us who yearn to be more relaxed.
Winter is a good time to tune in to deep recuperation, as this season is connected to the Water element, the year slowly flowing down to the Solstice point, beckoning us into the cave of Yin Being, where deep restoration can occur… we are invited to stay here energetically after the Solstice stillness, until the Imbolc on Feb 1 when the quickening of the Spring begins and the Water moves to nurture the new growth and we enter the Wood element season.
Being like Water without distraction, can help you drop into your still point, and let your waters re-find a natural stillness.
Find your sweet-spot of balance and resource with this centring Qigong practice
- Stand hip width apart
- Ease in ankles and knees
- Soften your belly, breathing steady
- Breathing out, bring your weight into the balls of your feet
- Breathing in, bring the weight to the heels
- Gently rock back-and-forth with the breath, letting your system reclaim its inner balance
- Gradually return back to centre, claiming your sweet-spot of balance
AFFIRMATION
The repetitive nature of mantra-like words soothes, reassures and realigns.
Say your own statement, knowing that to begin with the mighty ‘I AM’ will definitely get through to your subconscious. At least 3 times and with feeling…
- I AM balance
- I AM healing
- I AM nourished
- I receive
Repeating this defragging behaviour is essential. New patterns need time to become habituations. Each time you choose to return, the pathway gets stronger, and you become stronger in your internal make up. The new behaviour eventually becomes an automatic default setting. Every time you choose you, you reaffirm the truth at your core.
Have the language of Qi at your centre, Earth Mother under your feet and Love in your Heart.
You know what truth feels like, this is your barometer, your base-place.
Breathe in, dear one. Be brave, be true, breathe into the courageous heat that is at the centre of you.
Breathe out and be grateful for all that you Be, as part of Mother Nature in her resplendant entirety.