Committing to Digestion in the Information Age

I’ve been sitting with the whole concept and practical application - the embodiment - of committing and tending to digestion in the Information Age. And now that we’re in the autumn-winter nexus, I’m feeling the seasonal support.

Also, I received some messages from some of you after my last missive about issues that you have been experiencing from being too in up in your heads, so I hope this helps to bring some insight.

But first, what in the world do I mean by committing to digestion in the Information Age? Here’s some initial context.

In energy medicine, a healthy, robust and resilient energetic and nervous system rests on having a cool head and a warm belly.

                                     Image courtesy of Magic Markings

This also aligns with the ancient Indian system of Ayurveda, where the overall health of the body-mind is crucially dependent on the state of our agni, our digestive fire.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) also places much emphasis on the digestive fire’s power in governing the health of the whole human. The symbolism for this in TCM is beautifully alchemical: a cauldron or pot resting over the flames of a fire which is not too strong and not too weak. The discerning precision of balance that creates the regulating thermostat of a warm belly required for robust body-mind health.

So with that said, let’s zoom out to take a look at what’s going on in our bodies, nervous systems, psyches and energy bodies in this Information Age.

When we’re taking in information through whatever medium - reading, watching, listening - we’re up in our heads. Our awareness, attention and energy is up in our heads, creating heat and warmth in our heads, and in the upper energy centers.

In our global Information Age, the rate at which information is available to us, and is propelled towards us is relentless. There’s no break. The incessant consumption of information has become hyper-addictive and completely normalized- to the point when, if we consciously make the decision to stop and not intake any information, to just do the dishes or go for a walk or a run or a drive, or eat a meal or whatever, to be with life without a screen to distract or document, and feel and taste life in and through our bodies in the here and now, without simultaneously taking in information, our systems go into a sort of overwhelm of withdrawal.

(After a few days of uncharacteristic unregulated screen use, I experienced this myself when I decided to just sit outside and enjoy the temperate early autumn sunshine, and my hand kept reaching for my phone to listen to a podcast or read something or take a photo of the rosemary bushes glimmering lovely light. Existential inquiry: Who am I without my screen?!)

Meanwhile, what’s happening in our bodies and nervous systems is that because we’re consistently up in our heads and disconnected from our bodies, we have warm or hot heads, and cool bellies.

Remember, the optimum state for our bodies, and our energetic and nervous systems is a cool head and a warm belly.

The consequence of this inversion, this state of warm or hot heads and cool bellies and bodies is psychological, emotional, and often physical indigestion and discomfort. We’re constantly eating up information without taking the time to bring that information down into our bodies to digest, process, and integrate what we’ve consumed. We’re not pausing to feel and allow what’s not nourishing or not in alignment for us to be released.

It’s like going to an all you can eat buffet, eating as much as you possibly can and then going onto the next one, and the next one, and stopping for snacks along the way. All consumption, no digestion.

Recently, I’ve had a few clients bring up the common theme of anxiety and panic attacks around compulsive screen use and information consumption, with their systems in a state of overwhelm and overload when they’re on and off screen. A couple of them are artists and creatives, and they’re finding that they’re feeling uninspired and unmotivated, and that when they do sit down to make or create something, they’re “blocked” or what they do come up with feels flat and inauthentic. When I ask them how their physical digestion is doing, it turns out that they’re experiencing imbalances there too.

Agni, our digestive fire - which is also our creative fire - that’s responsible for keeping the belly warm and the head cool, that’s responsible for overseeing processing, assimilation and release has been completely neglected.

It’s common knowledge these days that our gut is our ‘second brain’. (Although I would contend that it’s our first brain.) Physiologically, the gut houses the neurological network known as the enteric nervous system, which communicates directly with the brain. For this essential communication to take place properly, we require warm bellies.

If we’re always up in our heads consuming information without taking the time to digest and process, the accumulation of heat in the head creates the experience of being ‘blocked’ - an emotional, physical and energetic stagnancy, which we’re trained to override with excessive caffeine and gut-microbiome degrading pharmaceutical drugs. There’s a superficial and temporary relief so we can continue to take in more information and heighten the output of our disembodied doing - but the fundamental malaise is not addressed. The soil continues to be neglected/poisoned.

Meanwhile, a cool head is synonymous with the flow state. If we do creative work of any kind, we know how important and delightful it is to be able to access this state. A cool head relies on the balanced agni of a warm belly; of us inhabiting our bodies, of feeling at home in these magnificent and wise vessels. The cool headed flow state can then emerge naturally. But first, we have to start learning to feel safe + easeful in allowing the space + time for the information we consume to be processed and where necessary, eliminated. So we’re not running energies in our system that are not meant for us, which create overwhelm and disassociation.

We’re also less likely to be coerced and manipulated into fear-based ways of making decisions and living our lives. We’re essentially reclaiming our own agency and autonomy - which is deeply dangerous to this dying era.

I mentioned earlier that we’re seasonally supported by autumn, and also winter, to start flexing the muscle of paying attention to our digestion in this Information Age. The seasonal invitation of autumn into winter is to begin the descent into the earth-body, to slow down and tend that central fire with balance.

The invitation here is to become gently curious delicate and powerful alchemy of cultivating cool heads and warm bellies - a radically disruptive act in this age of information overload and overconsumption.

Or, otherwise put: “I wish I’d spent more time scrolling on my phone,” said no one on their deathbed, ever.)