About Conscious Alchemy
YOUTHENIZE
IT STARTS WITH IMAGINATION
& IT ENDS WITH IMAGINATION
E-T, PHONES HOME
YOUTHENIZE YOURSELF: To a great extent we can control our psychobiology by controlling our mental state and vice versa. Under stress we release toxic catabolites into our system which undermine the immune system and age us faster. Without exercise (aerobic, core, strength) poisons accumulate, making the body toxic and mind frustrated and agitated. When we are calm and balanced, body chemistry is non-toxic and immune function improves. Good diet also helps. In fact, it's essential: garbage in/garbage out.
We can return intentionally to more youthful states by doing emotional exercises and visualizations which stimulate the body chemistry of our glory days. The body remembers and mimics that chemical state. Recalling youthful images makes the body produce youthful hormones and more flexible mental and physical states, which improves overall balance and disposition. You get further with power than force. Every access of a memory reframes it.
Kinesiology demonstrates that the mind "thinks" with the body itself. Mindbody is the subtle mechanism behind the disease process. The chemistry you generate with moods and states in your body is crucial to your health and well being. First toxic states of mind affect the energy body, then the physical body. There are hidden determinants of human behavior; subjective and objective experience ultimately share the same essence. You embody the states you experience as corporeal memory. The body is your memory and subconscious.
However, You can learn ways to control that chemistry through mindful self-care and self-regulation. The body is an island of energy/matter and emotions with waves of feelings crashing onto its shores. Body-consciousness can either hide or reveal spirit, depending on how we direct our attention toward our ego, stress (including spiritual distress) and relief. The body and mind must be reunited in a congruent, healthy lifestyle. You must act on what you know.
TIP: When YOUTHENIZING yourself, it is helpful to look through your photos and choose one from a time you felt at your peak, or your happiest, or other 'good chemistry' times. Use the photo as a gateway or portal to that time and state when you do your exercises. Remember, every access is a reframe which modifies the memory.
Normally, the E-system activates during arousal, exertion or in situations of apprehension or danger, while the T-system manifests when danger or anxiety are minimal. We can use a mnemonic to help us remember: the E-system is energized, exalted, or enflamed; while the T-system is tranquil, transformative, and transcendent.
Stimulation of the E-system leads us into the external environment, and is associated with warming. Conversely, stimulation of the T-system leads us into the internal environment, and is associated with cooling. Both systems are mediated through a balancing process which takes place in the hypothalamus, so that an “ET” balance is present in “normal” situations. At extremes, they rebound into one another, like the arousal of orgasm leading to afterglow. The interplay of both processes keeps our organism in homeostasis. Stimulation of one system over the other creates specific physiological and psychological or behavioral effects.
YIN & YANG
The Ergotropic System directs mechanisms which belong physiologically to bodily work and the relevant dynamics of activation and general excitation. It moves our muscular and skeletal systems. Its potentiation can be mimicked by stimulation of the posterior and medial hypothalamus. This augments sympathetic discharges, increases cardiac rate, causes pupillary dilation, and inhibits gastrointestinal, motor and secretory functions. Other effects on the body include dysynchrony of brain wave patterns and increased skeletal muscle tone. It is related to the elevation of certain hormones including noradrenalin, adrenaline, and adreno-cortical responsiveness. There is also a rise in blood sugar and shortening of time required for coagulation of blood. This is the active phase of strength training. In Chinese systems, this arousal syndrome is considered YANG, in nature.
The Trophotropic System relates to physiological mechanisms of recuperation, protective mechanisms, unloading, restitution of achievement capacity, normalization, and healing. Its effects originate in the anterior or lateral hypothalamus, including pre-optic and supra-optic areas and the septum. It augments visceral responses, parasympathetic discharges, including reduction in cardiac rate, blood pressure, and sweat secretion. The pupil of the eye constricts, and there is an increase in gastrointestinal, motor and secretory function with a fall in blood sugar. Brain waves become characteristically synchronized with production of alpha and theta patterns. There is loss of skeletal muscle tone, a blocking of the shivering response and increased secretion of insulin. The t-system is associated with the neurotransmitter, serotonin. Its behavioral effects include inactivity, drowsiness, and sleep. They are associated with meditative states. This is the recuperative phase of physical training. In Chinese systems, this tranquil state is considered YIN, in nature.
The natural cycle of ergotropic and trophotropic processes is governed by the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. They mediate cycles of arousal and calm, and are therefore implicated in a variety of disorders which display states of hyperarousal and hypoarousal. The neurotransmiters noradrenalin and serotonin interact in a variety of states. Interhemispheric balancing mediates the harmonization of the left and right hemispheres of the brainmind. They modulate fight-flight responses, and pain-pleasure cycles. They are chemically related to cycles of inflation, desire, acting out, guilt, remorse, high wellbeing, self-acceptance, and self-esteem. At their extremes, meditative and exalted states reflect as psychological and physiological paradox. They switch into their opposites.
The balance between two opposing systems of the brain may account for heightened sensitivity. One system, the yang “behavioral activation system” is hooked up to sections of the brain that propel people into new situations, making us curious and eager for external rewards. Another yin system, the “behavioral inhibition system,” compares present situations to past ones before proceeding and alerts the body to be cautious in risky situations. When the behavioral inhibition system in a person’s brain is the stronger of the two system, sensitivity results. Decreased serotonin levels may result from the stress of repeated overarousal.
Consciousness, Creativity and E/T-systems
The E-system function is analogous to the psychosexual energy known as Kundalini. Its content is perceived sensually. The T-system arousal, on the other hand, is sought through purely mental effort, with transcendence of sensory perception, yet there is still imagery which appears in sensory metaphors.
To reach a ‘bliss’ state (or experience of Self) at either end of the spectrum, requires remaining trophotropically relaxed while ergotropically alert. One moves away from “normal” perception either along the “left-handed path” towards hallucinatory states, or along the “right-handed path” of meditation. Activation of the T-system brings desirousness, mania, ecstasy; while that of the T-system yields satiety, relaxation, serenity, calm. This expressed in the colloquialism “cool, calm, and collected” vs. “hot-blooded, spitfire, burnout.”
There are two nitrogen-containing organic compounds in the brain (called amines) which are significant in the balance of physical and mental processes. They are neurotransmitters, chemicals which are highly significant in the movement of electrical impulses between neurons (nerve cells) in the human Central Nervous System. The electrical charges always jump from nerve cell to nerve cell with the help of a given chemical helper, or neurotransmitter.
Two specific compounds were originally proposed as the chemical mediators of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems of arousal. Newer research shows a myriad of neuromodulators, but these two still take center stage in the complex chemistry.
YANG: Noradrelalin (NA) also called norepinepherine corresponds with the solar Sulpher and works through the sympathetic system. It facilitates adaptation to external reality. When stimulated, it produces an excited anxious state of enflamment which can culminate in ecstasy. Among disorders of this system are manic episodes and hypervigilance. All illicit CNS stimulants (street drugs like spped and cocaine & pharmaceuticals like amphetamines) create chemical hyperarousal and lead therefore to addiction.
YIN: Serotonin (5-HT) corresponds with the lunar Mercury and works through the parasympathetic system. Its influence is felt in a relaxed condition, like contemplation or meditation. Serotonin deficiencies are blamed for a host of disorders, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
In physiology, the sympathetic nervous system produces involuntary responses such as alarm, and the “fight-flight” syndrome. The parasympathetic functions include digestion, and slowing one down. The chemicals noradrenalin and serotonin work in the body as cooperative antagonists; they balance one another in such a manner that we do not get too speedy, or sluggish at inappropriate times.
We can easily recognize the “switching mechanism” in ourselves at various times. The most dramatic switch occurs in orgasm, when the body rapidly moves from a highly aroused state to one of extreme relaxation and torpor, even sleep. Another example occurs in the creative process, at the moment of “A-ha,” when intense concentration gives way to satisfactory solution.
Noradrenalin and serotonin are also the mediators of the pain-pleasure cycle. Have you ever wondered why it is practically impossible to stay on a natural “high,” happy at every moment? The normal functioning of chemical processes in he brain makes this impossible. However, mystical practice can moderate the mood swings experienced by most individuals, and even open a realm of bliss, which is distinctively different from an ordinary good mood. Traditionally this bliss is called “spiritual nectar” and emanates from the pineal gland.
Noradrenalin mediates pleasure, action, excitation, motor behavior, and goal-oriented behavior. When there is imbalance, it contributes to depression or manic behavior. Serotonin mediates inaction, satiety, sleep, feeding, and functions as a punishment/pain system to inhibit and balanced the reinforcement/reward system mediated by noradrenalin.
Serotonin is believed to be a reciprocal inhibitor of noradrenalin’s ability to function as a sexual stimulant. This may, in part, account for traditions of ecstatic enflamment, such as Tantra; and conversely, for the progressively decreasing interest in sex reported by many yogis.
When one encounters the Self internally, a larger consciousness of the world and universe, solutio occurs. The best qualities of the ego survive and are refined - those aspects of the ego which consciously relate to the Self or essence.
This alchemical operations has characteristic stages which relate directly to the phenomenology of transformation:
1. Return to the primal state;
2. Dissolution, dispersal, and dismemberment;
3. Containment of a lesser thing by a greater;
4. Rebirth, rejuvenation, immersion in the creative flow;
5. Purification ordeal;
6. Solution of problems;
7. Melting or softening process (dissolving).
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