We are a social species, our bodies only move
relative to others, every thought and feeling has a social cue in the present
moment. Emotions act like a tag, as a start and a stop to every thought, at the
connection to every other thought. It happens because all sense data passes
through the remaining reptilian, then mammalian structures of our ever evolving
social brain before reaching the uniquely large human part, the neocortex. Our extra-large
cognitive processing capacity grew as a response to the increasing size of
human groups.
Natural
human groups have a maximum size of around one hundred and fifty, made up of
our closest genetic relatives, but with an increasing tendency to break into
two from about one hundred. The size of all primate groups is directly related
to brain capacity. Whilst the human brain may be capable of recognising
thousands of faces, we are limited in the number of people we can feel an
emotionally attachment for. We must fear strangers, for our lives depend on the
group. In the past our human herd was our only social network and the group
dynamics within it our principle concern, and over the better part of two
hundred thousand years a collective brain evolved. Grooming - touch - forms the bonds in childhood and maturity. Leadership
goes to whoever is the strongest in a particular space at a particular time,
the best able automatically volunteer. With such a legacy, who's on your team?
You have, in the modern world of constant strangers, perhaps three seconds to
decide or feel - we need our instincts. Would you, ‘take point’ for him? Would
you want him taking point for you? When you lock-on to the strongest person in a
particular environment or situation you know your degree of freedom.
 |
| 2016 (photo by Nick Hewling) |
One
should never empathise with the unhealthy. In the context of mental health that
often means refusing the anxiety and fear of others. Disgust is the natural emotional response to any danger to health,
we might ‘catch’ something physically (infection, disease) or mentally we may
learn (copy, imitate) something disabling (fear). The instinctive emotional
response of disgust causes us to turn away. Exclusion from our group has a purpose. Ultimately, we leave death behind
by walking away, the natural human group moving constantly through a landscape
allows nature to reclaim the fallen almost immediately, they do not cross the
river - we do.
With
the success of the large human group came greater longevity, the need for
monogamy and the family unit. Penetrative sex became marriage, non-penetrative
sexual activity the search for high compatibility, nature’s fertility test.
Extreme genetic closeness repulsed, whilst towards the edge of the natural
human group were the individuals with whom one had the greatest possible
compatibility. In the modern world we are staggeringly incompetent in mate
selection. In mate selection it is points of similarity which attract, it is the person of the opposite sex who
appears to you to be the strongest in your group who wins. Our health, living
healthily, depends on us recognising and learning from what is healthy in
others; the shape of the body seen from behind in movement. Natural groups
inherited the instincts of their ancestors to mate in positions where the male
is behind the female. Prolonged eye contact is oppositional! The strongest
social bonds follow when individuals look out upon the world from the same
perspective. So men follow women and women following men. Yet, in natural
behaviour it is men who display, whilst women choose.
The
essential pre-condition of all social contact, of all relationships is that
those present, feel safe. What we look for in others is the combination of
competence and warmth, only then for achievement or the ambition to achieve.
Originally all knowledge was shared because everyone learnt the multiple skill
sets required for survival. At some point a division of labour began to emerge,
possibly building upon different amounts of time committed to child rearing by
men and women. Equally, specialisation in tasks may have been driven by
technological innovation based on different levels of aptitude or a conscious
decision not to share expertise. In time a collective or social consciousness
gave way to an emerging ‘self’, a perception of individuals. If orientated to
nature, then what others provide will be what you need; therefore it is always
your degree of comfort or discomfort with the social activity of food, shelter,
rest, warmth, storytelling, dance, song, sex and healing that counts. Modern
society, from agriculture onward, has become characterised by de-socialisation
and dislocation, an increasing inability for natural group formation.
Healing is a group
process too. The roots of shamanic practice have been traced back about forty
thousand years so far. It is both the oldest spiritual, and the oldest medical
practice known in human cultural evolution. In our migration out of Africa the remains
of the trail appear first in central Asia, whether shamanism came out of Africa
much earlier, or simply spread back there, is unknown. At heart the focus of
practice is not the immediate distress of an individual but that of the
community as a whole, its harmony and healing. The fundamental assumption is
that everything in the known (visible) universe is alive with a soul or spirit
and therefore capable of transformation, whether we feel we understand it or
not. Our responsibility is therefore to remember (knowledge) and respect our
connection to all the people and things we know.
A shaman is the person
chosen by the group (band or village) to act as messenger between the visible,
known or understood world, and the invisible, unknown, or as yet unknown - or
possibly unknowable, world of the spirit! Therefore in any one moment the shaman
may be acting as healer or doctor; using the most fully understood medicinal
remedies at the same time as presenting him or herself, verbally and
nonverbally through ritual, in such a way as to have the greatest positive
psychological effect on all those present. Equally, insofar as he or she is
dealing with the unknown or untouchable they may act as priests. It is at this
point that the way a community traditionally chooses their shaman is of
paramount importance. When a shaman is seeking an apprentice the one
fundamental qualification is someone who can access knowledge which is beyond
the normal reach of the group. For this reason the person chosen is someone who
has survived an experience which would have been expected to kill, physically
or mentally, any ‘ordinary’ member community.
When discussing
shamanism the convention has evolved to use the languages of central Asia,
reflecting the dominance of Russian anthropology in the early 20th
century. ‘Shaman’, comes from the Tungus tribe of Siberia, translating into
English as; ‘one who sees in the dark’ or ‘into the darkness’. The shaman looks
at the spiritual, the emotional and the physical aspects of what we have come
to call an individual’s ‘illness’, yet their explanations and treatments give
primacy to the social and environmental dimension. They seek to unblock as well
as remove, to retrieve the lost or wounded part following a physical or mental
trauma – so that the group may (literally in the case of hunter-gatherer or
pastoral nomadic bands) find their balance again and move on together to some
other place.
Modern accounts of
shamanism still suffer from the assumption that ‘we’ must be practicing healing
more effectively than our ancestors did. This is to misunderstand evolution by
natural selection, biological or cultural - there is nothing necessarily ‘progressive’
about it. As a consequence the practical medicinal resources and knowledge
available to our ancient ancestors tends to get down played, with many taking
it for granted that the psychological and spiritual components were all they
had. Unfortunately the bias of modern medicine has often been uncritically
accepted by many alternative therapists – they too assume that it is only their
ability at spiritual connectedness which counts, or needs to count, in any
healing process. Archaeologists continue to be surprised by the discovery of
bones which healed many years before death; psychiatrists remain blind to the
changes in mood, emotion and pain brought about by the rapid nonverbal direct
touch interventions of hypnotists.
The shaman is seeking
to heal the soul, the source of the energy or power which is lost with illness
or distress. They journey to the realms of the spirit in order to be guided by
ancestral expertise. It is the human spirit which suffers from fear, loss,
grief, abuse or trauma; it takes flight to somewhere else to survive, but at
the cost of isolation from others. To bring someone back into the community of
others the shaman performs soul retrieval rituals, often localised to specific
areas of the body to extract the harmful energy or force. Naturally enough
there are also ancestral wounds living on through successive generations, again
the shaman’s practice is holistic and doesn’t try to separate mind and body, or
the cultural inheritance from the biological (the epigenetic perhaps?) The only
question is; what works from the past and what should be let go? When death
occurs, they seek to aid the living to accept the transition of the departed to
the spirit realm. Beyond the community of ancestors in the spirit world there
are also powerful animal allies with whom maintaining a strong connection is also
a path to health - the wolves and predatory birds which once patrolled the constantly
moving boundaries of our earthly territories.
The shaman creates the
scared space for healing and transformation in the face of change by calling on
the knowledge of the spirit world, where all possible future outcomes are known
because all possible outcomes have occurred to our ancestors in the past. To
connect to the spirit world the shaman purposefully alters their state of
consciousness whilst creating enough trust and relaxation in the sufferer for
them in turn to let go and move to an altered state. The most ancient
techniques use focusing on the breath, leading to an awareness of the changing
rhythm of the heart, over which is layer the simplest of drumming. The rituals
undertaken by shaman from across the world have been found to include the fundamental
aspects of meditation, of massage and of yoga. When the recipient emerges from
one altered state to another, what change has occurred is visible to all in
their behaviour and body language.
But the shaman is only a facilitator; much
restorative practice may be built into the daily activities of the group. Focused
and systematic massage increases awareness of the body, its organs, muscles,
systems and structures for everyone. Remote stimulation (by someone other) helps
in the identification of physical and emotional pain. It feels like a natural
equilibrium is being restored. Sensitive and sensitizing, good massage treatment
makes you feel safe. It mimics the lost, embodied skills of social grooming.
Many of our routine physical movements are unconsciously directed, but have
clearly been learnt; therapeutic touch is the fast way to break old patterns
and start installing new ones.
Adults are more ‘tense’ than children and have a
diminished sense of fun. Just as our eyes are dependent on our hands to confirm
reality, they too can be relied upon therapeutically. But massage is not
immediately acceptable to everyone in the modern world, if you were not handled
agreeably as a child you are unlikely to trust being handled as an adult. But,
the body can often massage itself; core muscles compress and release the
digestive organs with each deep breath, the slightest movement of limb muscles
relieves pressure on nearby veins which maintain circulation, the arms when
free to swing, relax back muscles. When tired or unwell, natural body movement
becomes depressed, but then the natural massaging of the legs is inhibited by
sitting too. Gravity slows circulation at the extremities. There are benefits
in both the giving and receiving of massage, and always an immediate emotional
pay-off in the rediscovery of the connection between touch and movement. The spinal
column is the pivotal structure of all movement, yet we have come to think of
the buttocks as a seat rather than the reason we can stand upright for
prolonged periods. Crossing the legs undermines the spine and is often
accompanied by the forward projection of the head. Muscles are a record of our
feelings, yet their tension and release ought to ease stressful situations.
Much of this essay might be described as ‘naturopathy' a harmonious philosophy of life which does not separate mind and body or the individual from their social and physical environment, placing wellbeing within a universal order. A view that nature cannot be 'bettered' and that wisdom which has survived the longest is the most reliable. It invites us to discover how nature finds equilibrium (or homeostasis) in the body; producing vitality, creativity, regeneration and spiritual awareness. If massage can be said to have a practical objective it might be stated as achieving a confident composure without fearfulness. With that, wider ambitions are possible such as the 'rewilding' of an over-civilised society lacking in natural stimulation and strong connections with others. The
parts of the body with the greatest numbers of nerve endings are the hands,
feet, face and genitals. The more comprehensively these areas are massaged the
more connected the recipient feels towards the giver of the massage and the
world around them. Grooming is belonging. An Indian head massage; running
fingers through the hair and massaging the scalp to relax the mind, boosts the awareness
of all the senses. When done well it includes many ‘pressure’ or ‘acupuncture’
points - argument over what connects to what, matters little if all
possibilities are covered! Similarly, to judge reflexology on whether a
particular area of the foot, the hands, or ears connects directly to particular
organs is a distraction, thoroughness is all.
The philosophy known as Tantra emerged as a counter
to the asceticism found in traditional Hinduism, it sees sexuality as one route
to enlightenment, along with other everyday earthly tasks such as eating,
dancing and creative expression. Each commonplace activity is seen as a sacred
act in and of itself. Tantra (meaning to manifest, expand, show, weave),
maintains that sexual behaviour can expand consciousness; weaving together the
male (embodiment of Shiva) and the female (embodiment of Shakti) into a
harmonious whole. With the right partner, you revere them as the embodiment of
either side of the deity. Sexual energy can create health and be a means to
transformation. Sexual experience is a dance, but with no beginning or end, and
no goal beyond the present moment; a union between a couple which is meditative,
expressive and intimate. Extending arousal with many peaks of ecstasy (which
may or may not include orgasm) within a single encounter is the focus, rather
than sexual intercourse. Giving pleasure takes precedent. In the first instant
it requires making time for each other, creating sacred spaces with an inviting
atmosphere. You create ritual to develop intimacy around bathing, massaging, and
feeding the other person. You pay attention to the breath of the other; pacing
them, maintaining eye contact. Tantra seeks not to judge, but by maximising the
simple pleasures of the day-to-day it achieves, counterintuitively, an
unstructured and timeless experience. The Tantra approach may well focus on the
most mundane but that includes the most fundamental. Of course the most basic
of energy must emanate from the base of the spine – the most crucial functions
of ‘pissing, shitting and fucking’ should, along with all else, be regulated
and awakened by the breath and our core muscles through yoga, meditation and
massage.
Such processes are both active and passive because
they are social. They are active in the sense of being a systematic exercise of
the techniques of meditation with the guidance of someone who has already had
the experience; passive because ultimately it is a path that allows an
individual to surrender to nature, to let go of impediments to awakening. A
pathway which gives greater access to the unconscious by setting aside the
‘self’, and so allowing for selfless service within the family, the group and hence
a true belonging. There
is something we can call a natural mind, but it is part of a collective of
brains in natural human groups.
Acknowledgments
Armstrong,
K (2000) The Buddha. Blackmore, S (1999)
The Meme Machine. Blackmore, S (2011)
Zen and the Art of Consciousness. Ekman,
P (2007) Emotions Revealed. Fitzgerald,
M & Fitzgerald, J (2006) Indian
Spirit. Harrison (1994) Teach
Yourself Meditation. Mitchell, S (1992) Massage. Navarro, J (2008) What
Every Body Is Saying. Finally, I owe much to the support and motivation
provided by Leah Bracknell in her occasional blog posts and two DVDs, Yoga and You (2003) and Yoga For Life (2011).
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