Taoist Mood Management Advanced Version

So the deal here is to know you are not your mood and then to step back enough from the mood, which if you’re observant is actually only going in the front part of you – specifically front of brain and front of belly and chest.

And the art is to drop back behind it all, by pulling the mind back into the midbrain and from the front of the chest and belly, all the way back to the frontal aspect of the spinal column.

And breathe – slowly, mindfully and on each exhalation, use the outgoing breath as a lever to release you progressively more from the grip of the mood.

Generally within no more than three hearty out-breaths, the mood has dispersed and you’re back in command of yourself.

During premenstrual or menopausal hormone-flux times, this may require anything up to 36 breaths.

The nub of all this though is that you are in command of your own experience – no one or nothing else and it's you who chooses whether to indulge a mood or dissolve it.

May you be free of all moods save the most elated and magnificent today and tonight.

Love, B