The Nature of Man
Primitive men were able to survive thanks to their ability to produce weapons and tools, but also due to their instantaneous emotional responses to danger. Adrenaline stimulates pulse and breathing, boosts blood coagulation in preparation for an eventual wound. Digestion is interrupted, arterial tension increases, brain and muscles receive both sugar and fat. Thus flared, prehistoric man was ready to attack the beast with arrows and spears, or to run to safety. Today, man has developed and improved those weapons and tools, but in the same measure he has repressed instantaneous emotions, thanks to “good manners and habits”.
The same threats of pre historic man continue to date in other contexts like work and
family, etc. However, the social way of expressing has caused man to turn his worst
weapon against himself. By not being able to channel those emotions out, he sentences
himself to stress and so many modern illnesses, created from the moment we direct all
that repression to our own system, which is our mind and body. It is interesting to see
how my clients’ greatest problem is linked to this. Short, shallow breathing that doesn’t allow for air to come in or go out, loss of sleep, excessive sleep, chronic fatigue, etc. All of these situations are different expressions of the same: the lack of physical release of the stressing situation being lived and the lack of possibility to express, say, shout, stomp your feet, cry, punch, run, etc.
Exercise is one of the ways to unload all this torrent of blocked emotions that short-
circuit inside an individual … move, move, move.
By means of physical expression we dispose of physical and mental emotions, we level
up the normal flow of our alert system. This is why exercise helps us fight lack of sleep,
and recover a normal, relaxed breath, to expel accumulated fatigue, along with and so
many other benefits.
Within our weekly activities, we must remember to make room for exercise and
entertainment, book some time to break structures, both labor and family. Do things
physically, act things and forms to be drawn out of the normal pattern of daily movement.
We must not forget that the source of all energy lies within us and it is primordial to learn
to manage energy charge and release.
