01 Oct Energy clearing in Yogi Power

The word yoga means “to connect.” A yogi consciously lives in connection with everything and everyone. In reality, it is impossible not to be connected to everyone and everything, for this underlying unity pervades all living things. As part of the human experience, however, we forget this oneness, and we consciously or unconsciously seek to rediscover it.

Yogi Power by Tijn Touber is a remarkable exploration of the origins of yoga in the West and of the power of reconnecting with oneself, with others, and with one’s most natural state of being. In Yogi Power, Tijn devotes considerable attention to clearing, the path of the compassionate, open heart:

ENERGY CLEARING

How can we free ourselves from ingrained thought patterns that cause us to act from a place of tension and fear rather than love and trust? Many of our actions stem from unresolved suffering—information stored within what the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung called “the shadow.” One of the most important aspects of the yogic life is learning how to engage with this shadow.

For this reason, I often collaborate with my good friend Juno Burger, particularly during silent retreats, where participants frequently encounter a great deal of unresolved pain. Dealing with the shadow is part of his daily work. What he does is so simple that, paradoxically, it can appear almost difficult: he sits next to someone, attunes himself to the information presenting itself, and simply allows it to be. He does not attempt to solve, fix, change, or understand it. He simply permits it to exist fully. And—here lies the paradox—in allowing whatever arises to be, the problem or charge dissolves of its own accord. He calls this process “clearing,” which takes place in the heart.

Juno explains: “The heart is where life is perceived in its true form: raw and unfiltered. The heart operates beyond time and space, experiencing life in its broadest sense as it unfolds in each moment. It feels no compulsion to look for an explanation or solution for what is being experienced; it simply is. This contrasts with the mind, which operates within time and space and, in response to any given event, seeks meaning, strategy, or a solution. Searching for a solution generates a tremendous amount of energetic tension, which is stored as stress. This tension is toxic to your system.”

NINETY SECONDS

Like Gregg Braden, Osho, and Fantappiè, Juno Burger has, in his own way, concluded that the heart holds the key to creation. “The heart has the ability to embrace life in its entirety,” he says. “Not only the pleasant experiences and people, but every facet of life. Without moving away from what is being experienced, the compassionate heart can be fully present to it, without needing to know in the way the mind does. The energetic shift that occurs when one consciously experiences and allows is a transition from constriction to boundlessness. Old tension is released, and you learn an entirely different way of relating to your experiential world. This prevents you from accumulating new tension in the old manner and simultaneously makes you available to release tension from your surroundings through your presence.”

Research by the American neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor demonstrates that our system is designed to resolve tension in exactly this way. Her findings show that when people experience various emotions, feelings, and sensations without taking them personally, the body needs only ninety seconds to break down the physiological response—for example, the experience of fear. After that, no trace of that experience remains in the body.

Burger adds, “Your body can eliminate toxic information in a minute and a half. If you became angry an hour ago and still feel that anger, you have been personalising it for precisely one hour minus ninety seconds. You have turned it into a story and are carrying it around as toxic information. The mind and the ego take life personally and draw that information inward. The heart, by contrast, allows life to remain as it is.”

FLOW SHOW

For the past twenty years, Juno Burger has sought out the shadow every day, inviting it in and bringing it from darkness into light. This approach can be applied not only to individuals but also to houses or entire estates. “By consciously feeling and compassionately embracing,” he notes, “I can discharge the tension so these shadow aspects no longer impede us.”

Carl Jung, who pioneered our understanding of the shadow we carry within, reached the same conclusion. “One does not become enlightened,” he observed, “by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

According to Juno, no one has ever died from the act of feeling fear. “What can be lethal,” he clarifies, “is avoiding the feeling—resisting it. Judgement, the fear of fear, and denial are the mechanisms that create tension and drive fear into the dark.”

After a consult, people often make drastic changes in their lives because they experience the effects of clearing. “The impact of this way of life is infinitely profound,” Burger says of his own journey. “I feel grounded, fully aware of what is unfolding in my experiential world, and I have the capacity to allow whatever arises to be and to see it for what it truly is. This enables me to exist anywhere, with anyone, and to experience a wide range of energies and information without feeling burdened. From this perspective, I don’t need to shield or protect myself from anything; life is full on. That is what I call freedom—one grand flow show!”

Juno and I regularly experiment with these forces. When my mother recently broke her hip and was taken to hospital, her condition did not look promising after surgery. The wound was red, she had a fever, and her leg became swollen. It seemed that further surgery might be necessary. At that point, Juno and I got to work. The next day, my mother rang to tell me the swelling had subsided. In the days that followed, her fever also diminished. When she saw her specialist, he was astonished at her progress; another operation was no longer needed. Of course, this could have been mere coincidence—or perhaps not.