The Uninvited Guest

From Ayurveda to Existentialism - Rethinking Injuries and our relationship with them

Ayurvedic Anatomy

 In the tradition of Ayurveda, disease is not considered as something particularly negative but as a foreign entity. Like having a stranger inside your body. The stranger isn't necessarily constructive or destructive, it is simply unknown. Nevertheless, it is fatiguing and tiring for the body (the host) as it needs to adapt to unexpected and new demands. If the guest doesn't leave the body, only a process of making the unknown more known, can bring the system back to balance…

Substance is never good or bad in absolute terms, there are just ones that we haven't encountered yet, and when we open our home to them without a proper introduction – sickness appears.

As strange as it may seem, this theory presents us with a powerful question: how do we relate to the unfamiliar?, and consequentially – how do we get healthy? 

Do we resist that which is different from us, or do we familiarize ourselves with it?

For example, A virus can very easily fit into this idea. Literally a foreign entity or even 'a creature' that entered our body. Antibiotics would help the body resist and fight it off and once it is gone – the house is back to normal. An alternative treatment could be homeopathy, which is based on taking small doses of the foreign source in a gradual process. Until the source becomes 'familiar' and not dangerous anymore.

In wider perspective any life change can become a source for the unfamiliar: change of seasons, moving to a new city, change of diet and even meeting new friends and loved ones. Therefore, knowing how to 'enter' the space of change and the choice between resisting and embracing is influential on many aspects of our lives.

A nuance to consider is that not all outsiders can be embraced, and not all that is within us is familiar. Cancer is a very interesting topic in that sense as it implies for abnormal and 'foreign' development of something familiar that exists within us. To this very day, the cause of cancer is not fully known, whether it's an external substance or internal malfunction. The conclusion here is slightly uncomfortable. Often, what is most foreign to us is actually ourselves.

The Trojan Horse - a gift or an uninvited guest?

Injuries The ayurvedic idea of an uninvited guest has strong relevance to the question 'What's an injury'? Basically, you encounter an unfamiliar experience and don't have the physical resources or sufficient knowledge to react. The result is that your body takes an unbearable toll. Imagine landing from a jump in a direction you've never encountered before. Your lower body doesn't have the previous experience to move efficiently and counter the force of the impact. The weakest link 'receives' the foreign force and suffers a mechanical loss as it is not prepared for the new situation (sprained ankle, torn ligament, etc.).

Until here the idea is clear, but long-term perspective can make it a bit more complex. If you survive landing in 'unfamiliar' ways for many years can the situation remain foreign? The answer is yes. Empty repetition doesn't imply knowing something, intention is also necessary. If there is no 'intention' to learn, learning merely happens by itself. This is similar to the concept of awareness by Moshe Feldenkrais. Intentionally paying attention to the path of force and the proper reaction will bring awareness to the situation. Otherwise, you could mechanically repeat the motion for years and still remain in an unknown land.

Sure, you could avoid potential injury even without intention and awareness by using other available resources - strong posterior chain, ankle mobility, etc. But there's a big chance that they will eventually collapse or run out, as all resources tend to do sooner or later. Then, the unfamiliar will hit the hardest.

No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre

Suffering and 'The Other' “Hell is - other people!” This famous quote by Jean Paul Sartre is taken from a play called No Exit about three people who are literally in hell. Only that this hell is a closed room where they are forced to interact with one another. They create a strange and interconnected web of relationships that reminds of an Argentinean Soap Opera. Rather than learning to deal with one another they unsuccessfully impose their desires on each other. The irony is that there is no physical torture that awaits them, it’s the emotional and mental torture of having to co-exist with other humans who want different things.

The moral is that our relationships with the other is inherently conflictual due to their utilitarian nature. We want to be in control of the other, which actually equalizes us with it as the other want the same thing from us. However, since both of these wantings are rooted in 'imposed image' and not in the dynamic and ever-changing reality, we are in a constant conflict. Are we also 'othering' our injuries?

Our perception of the injury (or the sickness) makes it the 'hellish other'. This should be familiar if you've ever gone through a serious injury and wanted to 'get back to how things were'. Instead of learning the change of the body we treat it as something foreign because we don't let go of its past image. It's a bit like hanging a beautiful painting of our childhood neighborhood that blocks a window to the outside world. We look everyday at the painting and try to adapt our lives according to it, while outside the seasons are changing and life passes by. Hell is caused by blocking the new with the familiar, by holding on too tightly what we already know.

I am not saying that we should all aspire to some Buddha nature that floats above the hardship of disease and suffering, but rather that understanding the constant integration of new experience can lead us to a better synergy with the world. In the case of Sartre's metaphorical hell, if the people would simply listen to one another instead of trying to manipulate, the situation could unfold much better.

Practice and All Is Coming Life is short,[the] art long,opportunity fleeting,experiment dangerous,judgment difficult.”― Hippocrates

Injuries are bound to happen both in intensity and in peace. They are part of the learning process of our bodies. I'd like to propose a general antidote to reduce them: The intentional practice of awareness. Practicing movement with the goal of awareness, even in times of great health can decrease significantly the risk of excessive injuries and staying injured for long periods. And remember, repetition doesn't imply neither intention nor awareness, they are both depending on deeper listening to the changes of our body.

Self-practice and self-learning are not celebrated in our society. They never were. The most groundbreaking schools of self practice were isolated, secular and never in the mainstream. Unlike sports where the path to skill and achievement is accompanied by a social structure and reward; disciplined self-learning doesn't receive much glory. The reason is that the study of oneself doesn't happen in communication and requires a large amount of silence and introspection.

Despite these challenges, the benefit of self practice is immense. The frame work is simple but not easy - Intentionally get to know the ever changing body without imposed preconceptions, so it can adapt and adopt to new experiences. Learning the house in which we are hosting strangers and understanding, that they will always come, despite how wide open or forcefully closed it is.

We must live with unexpected physical experiences, and they can be both enslaving and liberating. And this beautiful paradox explains both our relationship to injuries and maybe also the human condition in general.

If you liked this article make sure to check out our Online Courses!