Loosening up the Self-Image, a Kum Nye Practice:
We all have our own mental patterns—beliefs—about what we’re good at, what we’re bad at, what we like, what we dislike, what others think about us, and so on. Together, these ideas coalesce into the ‘image’ we have of ourself. For example, a person might think, “I’m too scared / old / young / inflexible etc. to try yoga and meditation, it’ll never work for me, other people will laugh at me if I do, how could it possibly benefit me, so I won’t try.” This then becomes a limiting belief, a part of one’s self-image, which constrains what one does way beyond trying a local yoga class. But these beliefs that someone might have are just ‘labels’, not person themself, who they really are. They’re like stickers plastered all over the lovely portrait of the ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’, obscuring her beauty.
What can we do about this mismatch between what we think we are, and what we really are at heart—basically good, open, and decent—despite all the difficult circumstances that are an inevitable part of our life’s journey? it is not practical to try to remove all the labels one by one, like trying to peel off stickers from a vandalised picture, which will only damage it further, tear by tear. No, we need a universal solution that works for any mental problem, like dipping the picture into gentle solvent that dissolves the stickers, and reveals the original paintwork in all its glory.
This is where the practice of ‘Loosening up the Self-Image’ comes into the picture. Through guiding the body into an unusual position that it is unaccustomed to, where our sense of proprioception is challenged, we summon up qualities of trust and balance, and learn to relax into the feeling this evokes. We may thereby get a glimpse of our natural state, which is one of basic goodness and fundamental openness: who we really are beyond the limiting beliefs of our self-image. We loosen up.
Written by Jonathan Clewley
