Receivers

There is a kind of person in the world who, very often unknowingly, is a “receiver”.  By that I mean, that the person absorbs the affect and energy of those people and situations around them.  A woman tells of her grief stricken friend who upon hugging her, finds that she has become instantly exhausted and anxious.  What has happened is that she has received a portion of the overwhelming affect being carried by her friend.  It has quite literally been transferred into her biological system as an electromagnetic charge and the resulting emotional and energetic response.

In our modern, western culture we usually relate to affect as a personally contained experience.  I feel sad.  I feel angry.  I feel scared.  It is designated to a specific person, most often you or me.  However, a more true understanding of affect necessarily includes the field within which the experience takes place.  If you have ever cried while listening to another’s sad story, you know the sadness is “in the field”, it is “in the room”.  Therefore, we can pick it up, carry it around, burden ourselves with it and unconsciously claim it as our own.

One of the methods for finding greater ease in our lives is to allow ourselves some time each day to settle our minds, ground our bodies and release tension through breath and intention.  These tools are indispensable for the receiver and will inevitably allow a greater, happier, healthier and more pain-free experience of life itself.

Common signs that you may be a receiver include the following:

• Finding yourself anxious for no clear reason

• Finding yourself anxious often

• Having chronic pain flairs that seem to have no discernible trigger in the moment

• Constant worry and obsessive thought

• Poor sleep patterns marked by waking, teeth grinding and restlessness

TRY: Sitting quietly for 5 minutes in the morning, and 5 minutes in the evening.  Set a timer so as not to watch the clock.  Gently, effortlessly, allow the breath to become slow, even and steady.   Allow all tension, anxiety, worry and emotion to leave your body with the out breath.