Once More, With Feeling

Again, this exercise is not an attempt to make us happy. This is simply to show us that feelings, our defense mechanisms, are susceptible to our body moving around. Feelings are biochemical reactions that happen to our body. Their residue can stick in the nooks and crannies like mortar and when we don't move, they harden. That's why we think our feelings are paralyzing us. When we shake them up, our feelings can change and finish themselves. Dancing them out is good. One of my favorite exercises, when I start obsessing about some stupid thing I have done, is to get down on my hands and knees and groan out loud. I mean, really groan and thrash around like an animal. I can howl like a wolf. Of course, I like to do this in private. It doesn't seem the kind of thing to do in front of an audience. (Although I have been in groups where everyone is blindfolded and dancing and groaning out their pain, and it is very powerful.) Your mind, your chief operating defense mechanism, will not want you to mess with your feelings. Do it anyway.

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