Q. In native American culture there was a thoery that emotional and mental suffering could not be healed by using the mind, but rather they should be healed by doing physical things, creating something with the hands, gardening, building, drawing etc., creative being the point and in so doing, emotional and mental distress including grief, depression, anxiety etc. could be healed by virtue of connecting with the earth ( earthing the brain so to speak ) . With the hands acting as a medium of the soul, channeling whatever was needed into the earth, healing would come without involvement from the head. In today’s society there seems to be a lot of people suffering from mental and emotional disconnection – do you think that this is due to a disconnection from some of the vital lower body elements in some people?
A. I believe that the same level of consciousness that created a problem cannot fix that problem. However, I would not solely rely on creative physical activity for healing although it may be the first swing of the pendelum for many people in the healing process and indeed creative activity can take us beyond if we can go through the harmony level to transcendence. An “earthy” person will be more likely to want to take this approach and will likely be more successful at it. Also, a person who is too caught up in their head, in seeking balance may want to engage in this approach but may be less successful.
It will provide the grounding of the brain as you point out and as such will make a significant contribution to the healing process. In terms of energy, whatever imbalance was brought about by lower chakra energy rushing to the head (where it causes problems), such as in a fit of anger, the physical activity will help to rebalance this. That is not the whole story though – a “trace” or “imprint” will have been left by the disturbance and this will not be dealt with fully by the grounding. Worse still, if these traces are “deep” they can give rise to almost involuntary thoughts, emotions and actions if left uncorrected. This is where psychological work and the violet flame are important.
The connection to the female earth enhances the flow of Kundalini upwards from its base. Kundalini energy acts more on the lower body and chakras including the immune system but it will also flow up to meet the male energy (which acts more on the upper body and chakras) entering through the crown chakra so prayer and meditation are important to increase the downward flow to our Heart through the Crown from our Higher Self. This is also a way to transcend the consciousness that created the problem in the first place, transcend being the operative word. We need to go beyond duality into the realm of the undivided for true healing to occur.
To sum up, as in all things balance is best but we can rarely begin the healling process from a position of balance so if the pendelum swings one way or another at first that is good – the process has begun and balance will be arrived at in time.
Note: the throat chakra is the creative centre so creativity has a beneficial effect on the on one’s energy as has the spoken prayer and “good words”.