effortless effort

there is this seeming paradox
of resisting less and less and slowly relaxing into and freely expressing who you already are
and resisting more and more and progressively detaching and pushing away from who you think you are

The Journey

setbacks signal step-ups

hold back less and act with abandon more

and don’t worry
you are supposed to lose your poise when you let go

risk losing a little face every other day

but when it happens decelerate: recover from your wobbles

this is the most crucial part of alignment

feel the ripples and the emotional-hormonal tailspin you slip into

witness

take ownership of the fallout

feel excited about the higher plane you are just about to scale

know your hormetic range

Exposure has to have a context
which is basically your Intent
every exposure practice should be engaged with a mind to Align

strength training, cold exposure, cold approaching/seduction, social dynamics, intimacy, dieting, art, creation, unapologetic self-expression, asserting personal boundaries, seeking to address personal needs before anyone else’s, etc., etc.
all these Exposure practices are supposed to help you align rather than change (for the better)

they have to be driven, in other words, by a selfless motive rather than a selfish one for gains, lays, fame, success

if it is driven by the latter and you are still bent on escaping the inferior state you (feel you) momentarily inhabit you will tend to compulsively overdo it
and when you overdo something in order to change your “state”
you’ll end up further compromising it

rather,
see Exposure as an act of re-balancing
metabolically, hormonally, psychologically, etc.

as a circling back
to full-blown Trust

done right
it’ll feel effortless

no matter the amount of hit & miss it involves

once you hit upon the right notes a couple of times
the corrective stretches will take care of themselves
and the harmonization process will take over and continue cycling through your body/system as long as you provide it enough space/Trust

alightment

you can heal from emotional trauma
to the extent that you can correct musculo-skeletal asymmetries

it takes corrective stretches
on a regular (enough) basis

there is no shortcut
some level of regular exposure is a must

if intimacy triggers anxiety in you
you have to (let) go there
deeper & deeper
again & again

keep it real & keep it clean

every single day
every single set
claim 0,01% more ownership/partnership in the company called life

plant the seeds
tend the weeds
follow the leads

your investments may be minute
imperceptible for others and barely perceptible even for your self
but over time they’ll bring you to a place beyond your comprehension

your only task is to notice
and keep noticing

your spaciousness is your truest merit

abundance is the fruit that the processes you serve as a nexus for bear

grateful

if sooner or later everything fades
then why engage anything at all – you may sometimes ask

well,

why not?!

to detach from the world
& let the hold of its simulacra on you relax
& to train yourself to keep things at an emotional bay
just because there is nothing that stays
is foolish

do not reject what the world affords
just because transitoriness is the deafult

do not reject the some “little”
just because you cannot have all

intuition

the body regrounds itself on its own accord

breathing techniques, asanas, meditation, incantations, pithy insights, etc.
are worth shit
if they are assumed rather than expressed

granted,
forcing alignment from the top down (from the head)
can ignite the dynamics from the bottom up (from the gut)

and this is what you can revert to do when you don’t feel like doing the thing: by simply going through the corrective motions until the motions take over

but this is the key:
alignment has to come from the bottom up
it has to come from the gut
from YOUR gut

you have to be with your body
you have to slow down to its beat
you have to let go and trust the pulsations emerging from the depth of your body

the body seeks to reground itself, always

you have to give space & witness its convulsions
listen to its broken speech
feel its gagging and jostling
enjoy its flow
relish its resistances

you have to be with it

/in more practical terms:
at least once every day you have to totally let go in a kind of active meditation & speak “the language of the stars” to give vocal-gestural way to whatever bubbles up be it an imbecilic guffaw (combined, for instance, with deep belly contractions on an empty stomach in the morning on your walk to work 😉

coming to a standstill

things take time, things take patience

I get it now

when I eat all I need to do is relax
just let out my belly and take my time
as I relish each bite
and masticate thoroughly:
lingering in the ecstasy of nourishment

I’ve understood it in the abstract for a long time
but never truly got it at a visceral level

it took a couple of humbling digestive breakdowns
which resulted from my tensed up, gluttonous or harried style of feeding

and I guess the same goes for all things:
no matter how smart you become
until you truly get it and take ownership of it
–usually as a result of recovering from a crisis–
knowledge won’t convert to wisdom

and no matter how hard you try to convince others (to decelerate  for instance) no conversion will happen until they (let themselves) experience (the power unleashed by) it for themselves

so, if you must be a preacher about anything, preach, prithee, only vicariously: by sharing your process of alignment

the GAME is to be PLAYED

lose the idea of “balance”
think in terms of alignment
alignment is not about balance
alignment is about less resistance:
less resistance to actively create your life in terms of the choices you make

keep your domain -inside and outside- clean

never resent anyone for challenging you to be (more) real