Bhava ganga,
The Devi Bhagawatam, talks of Navadurga each aspect of Durga talking of one quality. On saptami the mother Goddess is worshiped in her form as Ganga. Ganga is also the Bhava Ganga, the flow of emotion that is so torrential and difficult to withhold, once she flows out she leaves us calm and cleansed. Somewhere the rains do the same.
Sometimes taking the time to sit down with our feelings and acknowledging them saves us distress down the road. believe me the best time to do it is now.
What I did learn that it takes courage to really sit our feeling, allowing us to surrender to their powerful energies. All too often we set our feelings aside, thinking we will deal with them later. If we don’t deal them, we end up storing them in our minds and bodies and this is when anxiety and other health issues can arise. Denial eventually causes trouble; we either break down or manifest it as physical illness.
Why we wear a mask, or hide our feelings, could be a cultural issue, the glorified hero who puts his personal issues aside to serve the nation. The stiff upper lip, or even an early exercise in demarcating personal and public spaces. I remember being told, “Don’t cry in public.”
I realized that as I simply allowed myself to fully feel my feeling as them come, without being judgemental about it, I could let them go easily. No elaborate analysis, all I did was just let it go. The feeling was exactly like after the rains. Just as the earth responds in a multitude of ways sometimes emptying out to form a great canyon, sometimes soaking it up to nourish the infinitude of plants. In the same way the deeper purpose of our feelings is to transform the terrain of our inner world, sometimes creating space for more feelings to flow, sometimes providing sustenance for growth. All we need to do is allow the process by relaxing, opening and receiving the bounty of our emotions.
However there is a connection between mind and body, the trigger for a migraine, that emerges with lack of sleep, or improper eating. I know times when I have been emotionally stressed my body has translated it to a challenged stomach, or when I have kept myself in leash I have had vomiting bouts to deal with. Actually it is not the emotion that causes pain, but the resistance or suppression of emotion that causes pain.
Books, classes, workshops retreats do help us reactivate our emotional intelligence. In my clinic I have two paths that I found very useful, one the hands on CBT, or CTRT. The other is using the river meditation. The river meditation I find brings more sustained harmony. What we are talking about here is not cure, because what is required is healing and strengthening.
“When time and emotions gel, a new awareness forms.”
― Joel T. McGrath
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