Being comfortable in you body

This question is vague enough that different people could be responding to the survey with the answer “slightly uncomfortable” for entirely different reasons.

1. For some people, the primary reason is physical:
A lot of folks have poor diet, poor lifestyle choices, inadequate exercise, shortage of sleep, overwork, etc. So for them, they feel somewhat unwell in their bodies. This is the reason they check the “slightly uncomfortable” option. For them, while qigong could be helpful to reduce stress, the real thing they need is a change in lifestyle habits. Others in this category could have some kind of illness that needs to be healed, and this is the priority. Depending on the nature of the illness, the solution could take many different forms (e.g. Healing Tao, say different clinical qigong protocols depending on the situation) in addition to lifestyle changes.

2. For some people, the primary reason is self-judgment:
If “comfortable” is the top choice, and “slightly uncomfortable” is next, many will choose “slightly uncomfortable” because of self-judgment. Ultimately they are self-critical, unhappy with how they are, and want better. It could be that the person is overweight or they have a lack of muscle tone, or maybe some physical feature of attractiveness they wish were different. So this slight disappointment in their physical body is the cause. For them, the solution is more about self-acceptance. There could be some overlap with the physical (say in the case of someone being overweight), but it could be entirely self-judgment (i.e. “I’m ugly”). For these people, the predominant solution would be cultivation of self-acceptance, e.g. Healing Tao, say via the Inner Smile.

3. For some people, the primary reason is indeed ungroundedness:
While most modern folks in our high-paced culture are ungrounded to some degree, for some people it is their biggest problem. These are people who live almost entirely in their heads. Some symptoms of ungroundedness are:

A. caught in discursive thought, i.e. rapidly shifting from one idea to the next;

B. daydreaming about various negative (crazy) storylines, often about other people and what they “are probably thinking”, e.g. “if this is what XXX is thinking, then I’m going to get revenge on him by doing XXX, but if XXX does this, then . . .”

C. obsessively worrying about things that one has no control over, or worrying about trivial matters

D. rapidly shifting from one emotional state to the next, with no stability OR alternately, getting stuck in a negative emotional state for hours (or days or more) due to constantly replaying the same upsetting storylines over and over again, which fuels and keeps the emotion alive I.E. no detached perspective from thinking and emotions

E. restlessness, constantly feeling on edge, feeling the need to escape

F. psychological addictions: i.e. eating disorders, compulsive gambling, compulsive shopping, etc.

G. boundary issues: inability to say no to others, personalizing others’ problems as your own, getting disrupted by the emotional instability of others, etc.

That’s not to say that someone who is ungrounded will display all of these, but it is not uncommon to see more than one. Realistically they are all variations of the same energetic problem.

In any case, for those in this third category (of which being ungrounded is the dominant player), the issue is that they are so completely divorced from their bodies, it causes a psychological “discomfort” to “being here”.

Therefore, *for these folks*, the most important solution is to get grounded. The main instruction is to get into the body and connect to the slow vibration of the earth. It’s stuff I’ve mentioned in other posts to several individuals here on the forum, for example (E.G. Healing Tao, via rooted standing meditation (best), but also other things like Tai Chi 1 and Deep Earth Pulsing).

BUT, it is not necessarily the case that ungroundedness is the biggest issue for *everybody*. While it IS an issue for everyone *to some degree*, for some it may be a lesser issue and something else is more dominant. In particular, I have a close friend who is very self-critical, but ironically also very grounded (I know this sounds strange, but if you knew him, you’d understand). For him, for example, I wouldn’t say that “grounding practice” is the thing he needs. My recommendation for him, were I to give one, would be something completely different. Moreover, for others whose biggest issue is their health, I wouldn’t *necessarily* say grounding practice is what they need . . . especially if the cause is due to lifestyle issues, e.g. diet, exercise, sleep, etc. In total, it really is a case-by-case basis.

However–as to your original question–there are a number of different things that could cause a person to feel a “non-optimal” comfort level. I think it is likely that because of the variety of these possibilities, it ends up making most people choose “slightly uncomfortable” as their survey pick. It is hard for many to feel comfortable, picking “comfortable” (pardon the pun), when they can see the possibility of being more comfortable than they currently are.

Qi,
Steven