Numerous studies confirm a positive correlation between physical exercise and the psychological sense of happiness and well-being. However, physical exercise represents just the tip of an iceberg, which incorporates such aspects as social relationships, temperament/adaptation, money, society and culture, and positive thinking styles as another psychological study confirms.
Whereas within the scope of social work practice we primarily address support of basic needs, accommodation, occupational health, social inclusion, financial security, and mental health, physical exercise is left to coaches in a gym. There is a high degree of compartmentalisation, which is exercised between the fields of social services, disability services, psychotherapy, and fitness. Even though this kind of diversification contributes to specificity of work done, it sometimes misses the bigger picture of what it means to be ‘human’.
As human beings, we are not only this body and mind, which are important, but also, we are beings of energy, which are endowed with an indivisible Soul and have the potential to connect with Spirit. We have within us another fundamental need, which if left unattended, causes us to wither away and lose the point. This need is to experience, understand and merge with the Divine. Traditionally, this need is left to yet another ‘department’, that of religious institutions, which make spirituality an affair of mundanity that is delegated a particular place in town and a day of the week to go to. In truth, however, energy, Soul and Spirit are ever attainable and to be found within.
In the framework of ‘Be Able’, we give due justice to ‘humanity’ of our participants, attending not only to everyday living needs, mental health concerns, and development of physical state, but also to energetic and more transcendental aspects.
It all starts with the basics: conditions of life and work, mental state, and physical capabilities. Here we help our clients by arranging everything they need assistance with, in terms of household life and workplace. We chat and look into the quality of a person’s mind: is there happiness or distress, is there sadness, confusion, disorientation or joy, clarity and acknowledgment of things as they are.
However, we do not intervene directly with what is there in the mind. Rather, we offer a unique approach based on Dr Evgenii Timofeev’s lifelong research into psychophysicality and self-development. We introduce particular physical exercises, patterns of movement, coordination, agility and stretching drills, strength building exercises and activities that promote presence, uplift mood, foster discernment and engagement of complex neural pathways. By learning how to ‘do’ things with the body, directly, without filtering of mental states and emotions, we assist with the shift that happens incrementally, despite a person’s deliberations and resistances.
Such an approach fosters changes that stay, since when something is done, integrated on the level of motor awareness and conscious management of the body, it becomes a part of oneself, it is ‘embodied’. A person may still have various states of mind that interfere with the stillness and peace of present moment, yet, this foundational ability to find one’s footing amidst the chaos of a dynamic system, which is the body, serves as a refuge. When someone has diverse abilities to move, exert effort, manifest power, adapt to various conditions, express oneself physically outwards, there is little in the way of stagnation that can occur.
There is, of course, a way further than this. Having established foundations within the body and having anchored the mind in the faculties of the body, one can proceed to working with energy. The work with energy should not be attempted prior to having developed a physical ‘anchor’ for the awareness to refer back to. If energy is accessed too early, it can lead to distortion and confusion of the mind, can cause symptoms ranging from mental stress to psychotic ideation. For this reason, we never do energy work, such as Qigong, with anyone under eighteen years old or with people whose mental state is already destabilised.
Energy work is done in a systematic way, which includes learning how to gather, consolidate, mobilise and harmonise Qi – bioelectricity and biomagnetism that are naturally present in the body. We start with moving Qigong exercises to open and prepare the body, to establish necessary foundational circulations within the body, which at this level primarily refers to activating specific lines of stretch in the soft tissues and to untangling of the nerves. Then we proceed to building the key magnetic field in the lower abdominal area, which allows for anchoring Qi, dealing with the excess and, later, storing larger than normal volumes of energy. From here, we work on thickening Qi, such that it starts to tangibly affect the physical body, ‘filling’ and opening the body from the inside, unravelling stuck points, alleviating blockages and, thereby, enhancing efficiency of bodily functioning, which is reflected in the attainment of robust health and levels of mental stability that weren’t there before.
Qigong is never done as a form of relaxation or as a way to calm down. Contrary to that, one ought to be already calm and relaxed, at ease, in order to engage with a pretty demanding form of exercise, which Qigong is.
For those who have brought their energy to a highly efficient level, having increased its volume above and beyond what was there previously, another aspect of self-development opens up: attainment of refined mental stillness that lasts for long periods of time. It is here, having touched upon that stillness of mind devoid of thoughts, emotions and memories, one can absorb into something else, which is no longer body and mind. Strictly speaking, it is only from here that one can speak of spiritual development. Before that, prior to foundations of life, body, energy and mind are established, one can only have accidental glimpses or experiences of unification with the divine, which are cherished and remembered, which one yearns to come back to, yet, without the correct foundations, is unable to access.
Here we can see why the fundamental need of every human being for that which is divine constantly stumbles upon the lack of foundations within more mundane aspects of our all-too-human makeup. Inexplicable yearning, dissociation, sense of being lost, depression, sense of meaninglessness all stem from this lack of fulfilment when it comes to our highest aspirations.
In Be Able we offer an approach grounded in the awareness of these phenomena. From the very basic to more complex and eventually transcendental aspects, there is a clearly traceable linearity of self-development. It is making steps along this line that we help our participants with. Wherever you are at, whichever is your aspiration, we can meet you exactly where you are and help you to create an approach to life and practice suitable for you!
Peace and blessings to all!
Dr Evgenii Timofeev
Disability Support Worker
Recovery Options
1 The following research can be referred to:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10036593/
As well as this one:
2 https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/serious-research-on-happiness
