Photo of Qigong teacher Robert Bergman
Dr. Elson Haas
written by
Dr. Elson Haas

Aug 28, 2024

Article Tags: Qigong | lifestyle | health education | healing | emotions

Three Disturbances of a Healthy Life

This was from my discussion during a recent Qigong class, 8 Elementals/ Taoist Longevity Exercises, with my longtime teacher Robert Bergman, aka Spiritboxer.

The three disturbances are:

  1. Obsessive Mentalization—we get fixated on old stories and can’t calm or change our mind, our important mental state. This affects our energy and sleep, which disturbs our well-being. The inability to release ourselves from the overactive mind and the attachment to a narrative in turn triggers our emotional reactivity and instability.
  2. Emotional Destabilization—this is upsetting and stressful and often can stress our relationships. Can we meditate and calm our anger, fears and worries to improve our peaceful well-being? The inability to regulate and manage our emotions creates stress and anxiety, and impacts our overall mental health.
  3. Spiritual Lethargy—aspire to be your highest self and envision how you can be to feel free and on purpose in the one life you are given. This is important at any age, yet especially so in our later lives. The lack of desire or interest in cultivating a spiritual practice for grounding and stability affects our general peace and pleasure in life.

All three of these areas can help us move our multileveled health track higher and higher and definitely help our physical well-being. During my new course, Whole Self Detox, we address all of these areas—physical, emotional, mental and spiritual—for our best overall health.

It is important to note that each one of these disturbances affects the next one. So, exploring breath practice with meditation and mindfulness soothes us (whether or not they are combined with Qigong, Tai Chi or Yoga). Then when the mind is level and steady, the emotions don’t get triggered by the overactive mind and they return to balance; the spirit is restored and a sense of gratitude arises naturally.

When Body, Mind and Spirit (The 3 Essentials) are in alignment, it helps balance all of our dimensions and supports us in Staying Healthy.

Blessings

Dr. Elson