Sean felt a desperate longing to have someone in his life during his teens and twenties. What made it even worse is that he could see that so many of his peers were coupling up. But Sean’s attempts to find love were often met with rejection. In more recent years he has experienced a growing sense of resignation. After so much disappointment Sean tells me that he’s feeling “What’s the use?”

There was a very heavy and even oppressive quality to Sean’s presence. Feelings of hurt, sadness, disappointment emanated from his body, and yet he has become largely numb to his feelings. Sean doesn’t have the understanding or resources needed to process all of that. And he certainly doesn’t have the time because he’s working eight hours a day while attending graduate school during the evenings.

I was surprised that Sean actually scheduled an individual session after attending one of my classes. He felt restless and found it difficult to access his feelings during class as I guided him through the meditation practices. Sean began to feel a range of bodily sensations in response to the Chi Gong practices I had him doing during the preliminary stage of the individual session. But he told me that he couldn’t feel much happening while he was on the table during the actual healing session.

I was disappointed, but not at all surprised when Sean told me that he didn’t feel much happening. Much of what he said and his whole expression indicated that he had become very desensitized. Sean’s body had a very dense quality resulting from the backlog of painful emotions and other stresses that had been congealing within. Sean’s body was responsive to the work. I could feel the stagnant emotions and armoring beginning to soften and dissolve.

I could also see that Sean has a lot of potential if he were willing to actually do the work necessary to facilitate change. I tried to encourage Sean to do at least twenty to thirty minutes a day of the Chi Gong practices that I has showed him when I called to follow up. I told Sean that I would even be willing to look into his aura to monitor the changes that would be taking place as a result of working with these practices. I also told him that twenty to thirty minutes of practice a day is a small investment. But Sean said that he wasn’t sure that he could find the time to do the practices I had taught him because his work and studies were taking up so many hours of the day.

Sean, is like so many other people nowadays are working and studying such long hours that they don’t have time to invest in their health or to have much of a life outside of work and school. What concerns me is that the experience of not connecting in relationships and the resulting depression will only become that much more deeply entrenched.

Many of us are working, going to school or both. It’s common for people certain in professions such as medicine to work inordinately long hours. We may have to do that for periods of time, but it’s not something we can do indefinitely without suffering the consequences.

Our emotional development gets put on hold when we’re working and studying such exceptionally long hours because we don’t have time or resources needed to process our life experiences and any subsequent feelings that arise. The feelings and stresses of work and other aspects of our lives that we fail to process can remain trapped within the bodies indefinitely. These accumulated stresses have a very numbing or deadening effect. Our life force becomes very stagnant and the physical and subtle bodies begin to break down. Many of us are only making matters that much worse when fail to get adequate sleep, when we spend too much time online, consume alcohol and other recreational drugs or rely on medications to alleviate our depression, anxiety and panic attacks.

The mental tasks that many of us are performing during the work day and night keep our awareness centered in our heads. The problem with being overly focused in our head for so many hours of the day and night is that it dissociates us from our feelings and physical bodies. We start losing touch with crucial aspects of ourselves.

Working such exceptionally long hours on a regular basis can stunt our emotional and interpersonal development. We’re actually losing the resources we need to experience a truly intimate relationship with ourselves and others and to cope effectively with the challenges of everyday life. Crises that occur in our lives such as a breakup, divorce or the loss of employment can leave us that much more devastated because we don’t have the resources or faculties needed to process them.

The life force within our bodies becomes very stagnant when we’re living in our heads, and even more so when we’re sitting in front of the computer for such long periods of time. We become less attractive as we become more dissociated and hold lots of stagnant energies in our bodies. And that makes it considerably more difficult for us to attract or maintain healthy and loving relationships.

It is critically important for us to balance our work with other activities that encourage us to connect with our feelings, physical bodies, other people and the world in which we live. We need to be making time to engage face to face with other people in a social or deeply personal context.

We need to be moving our bodies whether it be through walking, running, sports or some other physical activities. Disciplines such as yoga and tai chi can be especially helpful because they encourage us to be more mindful of our bodies. Mindfulness practices such as the ones I teach help to develop a stronger connection to our feelings and physical bodies while awakening the body’s own natural healing intelligence. These practices cleanse the body of stagnant energies and increase the life force while helping us to become more fully present.

The stresses and demands of everyday life can wear us down over time. We all need to be making use of various therapeutic interventions to facilitate healing and reconnect us with our physical bodies. Deep tissue massage and other forms of body work provide a wide range of health benefits while giving us a very enjoyable experience of being in our bodies.

I see the effects of the adverse effects of what people have to do just to make it in this world as I look into their bodies and minds. The presence working through me during the individual healing sessions restores the body-mind connection by helping people to process the backlog of stagnant emotion and other stresses held within the body. Damage is also repaired in the physical and subtle bodies. Their bodies and minds become more resilient. Some are at a place in their lives where they have no choice but to keep up with the grueling pace. The sessions help to sustain these individuals by mitigating the wear and tear of work, school and other demands until they can get to a better place. Others are able to make changes in their lives that enable them to better care for themselves.

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