Practice tips - recovering from burnout/fatigue

[markern]

I have written in an earlier thread that I am struggling with memory problems. This has gotten a bit better due to some healing sessions but there is still a long way to go. Some of it has clearly been connected to the solar plexus being out of balance because after healings focusing on the solar plexus and spleen I can feel a lot of fog leave my head and I get a bit clearer. I have also had some rounds of feeling my kidneys getting stronger and producing a certain type of energy that seems to boost my brain. However, after consulting JA MU which felt that deep fatigue was the core problem I have become convinced that that is also a huge part of the equation. I`d say that for the past 10+ years I have been pushing myself constantly under very hard conditions. After thinking this stuff through it seems like to me that more or less all my motivations for doing stuff has a big MUST in it I MUST do this or else... and chains of thought that end in disaster follow the must. There is very little room for balance in my thinking and through this I think I put myself under a lot of pressure. What I actualy have to do in a normal day is not that hard but the way I push myself and the perspective I have on things make my daily life very draining. So, I am trying to change this mindset, trying to get more rest and realxing on my free time and this weekend I am going to the mountains to relax. I feel drained in the head in the perinium and genital area and in the kidneys and my navel and drive is not as it used to be. It feels like I have used up most of my will power and "juice" by forcing myself and forcing concentration and effort out of my body.

 

My question to you is what practices I should do to best address my fatigue. What I would most like to do is attend Ya Mus stilness/movement workshop but I am unable to do normal sitting meditation these days because energy rushes to my head and leaves me feeling sick no matter what I do so the owrkshop is out of hte question until I get grounded enough . The only thing that works is doing the secret smile with eyes open and without going to deeply within. My hunch is that just normal breath based meditation would do a lot to fix my problems and if not enough stillness movement could do the rest so getting grounded is a high priority in addition to doing stuff that helps my fatigue.

 

Freeing the breath seems to help a lot because it takes me out of my chronically tense mode. Doing this is tricky because if I sit down and meditate on my breath energetic disaster follows and doing belly breathing in a structured way although less risky also often leads to energy going to the head. I have found that I can do very small sessions throughout the day and massage etc. to loosen the breath so that is a priority.

 

My practice plan looks like this: Morning do ocean breathing 15 min (essential for relaxing me and builds energy in the dan tien and centers me there a bit and helps on breath release) 10 m embracing the tree to ground, 10 min secret smile, 7 min slapping my foot in a way that boosts the kidneys. During the day studying in the library I get one round of secret smile in the and a few smaller sessions of ocean breathing in the toilet. In the afternoon I do 10 min secret smile 10 min embracing the tree and 7 min of foot slapping. In the evening I do about 20 min of six healing sounds (this has stayed with me for many months now and has given me sooo much, including a feeling of balance unbeknown to me) I try to do male deer exercises whenever I feel up for it (recharges me) When I get a trampoline I will start rebounding int he mornings. I have ordered the unwinding the belly book to help with freeing the breath. Normally I would do pilates on many of my afternoons but these days I feel like just relaxing because of the fatigue. Not pushing myself seems more important than conventional exercise. Healing sounds, foot slapping, and secret smile I am going to stick with no matter what. Ocean breathing I can easily exchange for something that works better, grounding is essential for me so I can exchange embracing the tree for something that does this even better but I am happy with the way it is working. I can also use a bit more time in the morning and a bit more in the afternoon if I find something really good. I have cut my ejaculation frequency a lot. Last month between 8 and 11 days in between and no I am on day 16 and going for at least a month. Reducing ejaculation seems very helpfull, I have had some incredible surges of energy because of it. In a couple of weeks I will see an expert medical qigong practioner so she will give me some good qigong I am sure but all suggestions for changes in my daily program or other ways to fix this are very welcome.

[JustARandomPanda]

Marken I'm bumping this thread for you. I hope you find the answers you seek. I'll be listening to any replies as I too have problems with fatigue.

[King Kabalabhati]

My fatigue is long gone.. After learning Ayurvedic diet, Taoist yoga incl. sexual kungfu, Inner Smile, Microcosmic Orbit and, very importantly, Tao Yin Qigong, I finally seem to have more energy than my work, three kids and tricky relationship can drain from me. Thank God for that.

 

One thing to consider is your psoas muscles and the ring muscle network in your body. These are closely connected to chi flow, the psoases don't usually get enough exercise in regular training. Check out "Energy balance through the Tao" by Mantak Chia, these are very easy exercices with much energizing effect. I can't say which Taoist technique has helped me the most since they're all beneficial but after I begun the Tao Yin things started happening and that was the most dramatic change in my energy levels so far.

[Sloppy Zhang]

I find that sleep, and abstaining from whatever draining (mentally or physically) thing I am doing. Also eat food that you enjoy (doesn't necessarily have to be healthy). I love Chinese takeout, and whenever I'm feeling down, I go to my favorite Chinese restaurant and get a bunch of stuff, I feel great after, very energized

 

Sometimes we just need a vacation, and trying to force ourselves into some "breathing/relaxation" routine is just adding more clutter than it takes away.

 

Not to say that you shouldn't do it if it works for you, but if you're still having trouble, maybe you should drop everything and just veg out for a bit

Edited September 25, 2009 by Sloppy Zhang

[Dainin]

Hi Markern,

 

After reading your post, my feeling is that you might benefit from integrating savasana (the yogic corpse pose) into your morning practice. Do not try to control the breath in any way while doing this, just relax your body and breath and sink into the ground.

 

Since the beginning of the year, my usual morning practice has been 10 minutes deep breathing (the AYP Spinal Breathing Pranayama), followed by 25 minutes of zazen (counting breaths plus attention to nasal air flow), then 10 minutes of savasana. I usually do a longer session on weekends. I save the qigong, tai chi, and other more energetic stuff for a separate session at night. I haven't run into any problems with this schedule.

 

You are now doing energetic practices throughout the day. It might be beneficial to you to concentrate your energy work into a single daily session and allow your system time to relax and integrate this work during the rest of the day. It works for me...perhaps you'll find it helpful. Good luck!

[Vajrasattva]

Rest

[Birch]

Hey!

 

That's EXACTLY what I was about to say;-)

 

Oh Markern, if you plug at the energy work in the same way that you push yourself elsewhere with the results that you've gotten then maybe your risk is that you'd be adding juice to the very thing that is burning you out!

 

I'd cite something about seasons from Ecclesiastes but can't quite remember it. The gist is that there's a time for everything.

[atena]

My experience is that healing sounds (& 5 animals) can drain you a lot, if done excessively. Maybe you were aware of that possibility already

[Ya Mu]

You have a PM.

[markern]

Thanks to all for your advice. Just came back from the mountains and that helped a little bit. What I have done is postponed some of my classes in law school and that gives me more room for rest int he next 5-6 months. I still need to study though but I can cut back a couple of hours each day and much more importantly I don`t have the same pressure or feeling of crisis because of this adjustment. This has been the most relaxing thing so far. My new day will include a good bit more tai chi as I find it is THE thing that most relaxes me on the "frequency" where my obsessive MUST/HAVE TO/CRISIS thoughts come from. A massage for example does not help but tai chi works and I am learning mantaks shortest form which takes only 7 min so I will repeat that a bunch of times in the afternoon in addition to the other stuff. Tai chis also seems to ground me a lot so I get closer to being able to meditate again. Still I will have more free time to lay on the couch. I will also drop Pilates except when I really feel like it. I will not push myself to do it. Besides leaving more room for myself in the day and long term and so reducing pressure just relaxing just does not do it. I just can`t relax really. I saw that in the mountains. Changing my plans relaxed me 10 times more then being in the mountains doing nothing. This is also why I am increasing the tai chi because That kind of stuff is the only thing that relaxes me and helps me reduce obsessive thinking.

 

YA MU is also going to teach me (online somehow) a restorative qigong form and I think that can help a lot.

 

 

 

 

Marken I'm bumping this thread for you. I hope you find the answers you seek. I'll be listening to any replies as I too have problems with fatigue.

 

Thanks. Has KAP helped with that yet?

 

My fatigue is long gone.. After learning Ayurvedic diet, Taoist yoga incl. sexual kungfu, Inner Smile, Microcosmic Orbit and, very importantly, Tao Yin Qigong, I finally seem to have more energy than my work, three kids and tricky relationship can drain from me. Thank God for that.

 

One thing to consider is your psoas muscles and the ring muscle network in your body. These are closely connected to chi flow, the psoases don't usually get enough exercise in regular training. Check out "Energy balance through the Tao" by Mantak Chia, these are very easy exercices with much energizing effect. I can't say which Taoist technique has helped me the most since they're all beneficial but after I begun the Tao Yin things started happening and that was the most dramatic change in my energy levels so far.

 

Intereseting. I have the book and did it a little bit in Tao garden. I think though that my pilates is helping with the psoas although I am going to cut down on it now because pure rest feels more important.

 

 

 

 

Hi Markern,

 

After reading your post, my feeling is that you might benefit from integrating savasana (the yogic corpse pose) into your morning practice. Do not try to control the breath in any way while doing this, just relax your body and breath and sink into the ground.

 

Since the beginning of the year, my usual morning practice has been 10 minutes deep breathing (the AYP Spinal Breathing Pranayama), followed by 25 minutes of zazen (counting breaths plus attention to nasal air flow), then 10 minutes of savasana. I usually do a longer session on weekends. I save the qigong, tai chi, and other more energetic stuff for a separate session at night. I haven't run into any problems with this schedule.

 

You are now doing energetic practices throughout the day. It might be beneficial to you to concentrate your energy work into a single daily session and allow your system time to relax and integrate this work during the rest of the day. It works for me...perhaps you'll find it helpful. Good luck!

 

Savasana is a good idea. Thanks

 

Rest

 

When both you and JA MU think rest is most important I guess I`d better listen:)

 

 

 

I find that sleep, and abstaining from whatever draining (mentally or physically) thing I am doing. Also eat food that you enjoy (doesn't necessarily have to be healthy). I love Chinese takeout, and whenever I'm feeling down, I go to my favorite Chinese restaurant and get a bunch of stuff, I feel great after, very energized

 

Sometimes we just need a vacation, and trying to force ourselves into some "breathing/relaxation" routine is just adding more clutter than it takes away.

 

Not to say that you shouldn't do it if it works for you, but if you're still having trouble, maybe you should drop everything and just veg out for a bit

 

Hey!

 

That's EXACTLY what I was about to say;-)

 

Oh Markern, if you plug at the energy work in the same way that you push yourself elsewhere with the results that you've gotten then maybe your risk is that you'd be adding juice to the very thing that is burning you out!

 

I'd cite something about seasons from Ecclesiastes but can't quite remember it. The gist is that there's a time for everything.

 

I think you are mostly right but after reducing study time and reducing pressure I think my practice time is ok and actually the only other thing that helps

 

My experience is that healing sounds (& 5 animals) can drain you a lot, if done excessively. Maybe you were aware of that possibility already

 

I did not know that but although I have been practicing it for some years I have only had a consistent practice since after I started feeling drained.

 

To sum up I feel much more relaxed and positive now and I have time to get this sorted out before it creates big practical problems for me. Thanks