by Will
Laura’s earlier post, “Children’s Games: Shock” has an eerie foresight in light of the bombing events in Boston this past week. It seems that Boston, and the US feels the victim of the perpetrator’s “Children’s Games” and certainly the shock has rippled through our culture.
These events have an intimacy that I didn’t experience with 9/11. I live about 8 miles (13 km) from the event and have walked a hundred times by the space where the bombs ignited. I have a client who lives near the marathon’s finish line, another whose jogging found her a ½ mile from the finish line, and still another who lives 4 or 5 blocks from the event. I know of other friends or colleagues who were within hundreds of feet of the explosion. I have a goddaughter who grew up with the younger perpetrator (since 4th grade) who is processing her disbelief and anger that someone who was “so nice and well liked” could perpetrate something this evil.
When I returned from Nepal last May the first 3 days home I was very sick. I could feel the bacteria and viruses crawling out of me. It was hard to see anything else in the landscape of my experience when dominated by fever, and congestion and my impulse to go to bed at 1 in the afternoon. But just like Laxu’s “dazed” mood my sickness passed and like Laxu, I was latter able to giggle, and tease those around me, a sign of returned health.
I like to think of sickness as an opportunity to slow down. It allows me space to process what I am going through on all levels, physical and emotional. It allows my body to change or even release the physical and emotional discomfort. Several times this past week I have slowed down by doing the very same shock protocol the kids performed on Laxu. At the very least it gives me pause; it allows for a slow moment where my body can decide for itself how to process the shock.
Last week, I found myself lingering over a photo of a police man near the bombing scene. When I slowed down, I noticed my (over) identification with what I saw as the raging Boston police officer was coming more from my own anger. It also led me to cut down my exposure to the media (why would I want to re-injure myself!!?). Another colleague described that when she paused in bed that night, her body shook, releasing tensions leftover from her witnessing the bombing.
So I have attached a copy of the shock protocol we taught in Nepal. Give it a whirl. Might need to do it several times. It can be used for those more ordinary shocks or moods like Laxu was experiencing, or for Boston residents, or for all parties involved in the Afghanistan conflict. It is really meant for everyone.
I realize that some of the basic ideas are not explained but I feel some urgency to get it out to the world. I hope it is simple to understand. I probably need to add a video explanation too. The downloadable PDF below has my email address, so feel free to ask questions. If you can translate the PDF into another language than English, please email me.
Thanks, Will
Shock Protocol HandOverMatter.Org
Shock Protocol HandOverMatter.Org-Spanish – I have Google translated a Spanish version. It will probably have some strange translations but please email any editing suggestions.
handovermatter 