This chapter will suggest ways that both of you can explore your four basic emotions: fear, anger, grief and joy. These can often be evoked through a combination of breathing intensively and acting or simulating the expression of the emotion. Although acting an expression may at first seem artificial, it can begin to channel real feeling. The best actors, or even convincing court lawyers or orators, deliberately let themselves be carried away by an emotion they at first simulate. Don't be afraid to act out in these explorations. It is not necessary to exaggerate: if you provide the channel, the emotion will usually come through by itself as feeling or active expression.

The underlying concept here is that just as there are blocks to pulsation and streamings by cutting contact or muscular rigidities, so are there blocks to the expression of certain emotions. If for example, the expression of anger has historically made a person very anxious, it will become blocked by chronic muscle spasms. These explorations are thus of both emotional expression and its blocks. For reasons discussed later in connection with sex and orgasm, blocks to emotional expression become blocks to deep contact and fusion.

The time taken to do these explorations will vary according to how easily the expressions tend to come. It may be useful to take an hour in which the explorer investigates each of the four emotions in turn. On the other hand, if it feels right to work on a particular emotion for a whole hour because it causes anxiety or is somehow stuck, this too is appropriate as long as the explorer is not pushing too hard. It is better to draw the emotions out than to push. Do not worry if you make mistakes. Even if these explorations are awkward, they are part of a more general exploration of the contact between explorer and guide.

Explorations

Fear

1:1 Start with the explorer lying in the usual position on the back with knees up and head slightly back; and have them breathe out with an audible sigh and establish a breathing rhythm for a few minutes. Always emphasize breathing out, rather than sucking too much air in.

1:2 While the person is breathing along, you can test briefly to see whether the eyes are mobile. Pass your finger back and forth and round in circles, figures of eight, and curves, about a foot above the explorer's eyes, and ask them to follow it with their eyes, to track your finger. They may stop breathing immediately they begin tracking. Remind them to resume breathing and to sigh out. Have them track for about a minute. Pull your finger outward toward the edges of their vision so that they roll their eyes far out to one side, then the other, up toward the top of the head, then down.

Some people may find tracking rather hard, in which case you will see the eyes having difficulty following and become stuck or immobile from time to time. Ways of working with tracking are discussed in chapter 6. Here you are exploring it briefly to make sure the explorer is capable of the exercise. If the eyes are so immobile that moving them around without moving the head causes anxiety or is impossible, do not proceed with this fear exploration. The person may be holding too much fear to be able to act it without panicking. In this case (which is not very common), you can try some of the tracking procedures and methods of mobilizing the eyes which are described in the ocular segment work of chapter 6, before proceeding with the present exploration.

1:3 Ask the explorer to imitate fear. Note what they do: Some people can look terrified right away, others do not know what to do. No reliable deductions can be made from this but it is useful for them and you to have some idea of their preconception of a fear expression. You may note either of two basic kinds of imitation: the person may "freeze" in an exaggerated way, or they may look "frantic." In freezing, the shoulders will tend to be pulled up, the breath held, the eyes and mouth opened wide. In a frantic reaction the shoulders may actively cower, the breath may be panting, the eyes rolling or darting around, the mouth gaping wide or twitching and moving. Each of these is a valid way of expressing fear.

1:4 Ask the explorer to relax again, for a few breaths.

1:5 Now see if you can orchestrate a freezing fear reaction, as follows: Ask them to open the eyes wide and breathe in sharply. This means to raise the eyebrows as the eyes open, and to breathe into the upper chest with an audible gasp. Ask them to look at the ceiling while doing this. Ask them to hold the breath for a moment, then let it go, at the same time relaxing the eyes to a more closed position when breathing out.

1:6 Ask them, while holding the breath, to either press their hands back into the mattress, or raise their hands with the fingers splayed open and palms outward to a few inches in front of the face.

1:7 Ask them to make a sound. This may be whimpering, or a yell, or even a scream, but do not force anything.

1:8 See if they can show you fear. Ask them to turn their head and look at your eyes. Imitate fear yourself. Open your own eyes wide. This way you are reflecting the fear expression back and forth.

1:9 At the same time ask them to push both palms upward against one of your hands. In other words, you reach across with one hand wide open, and get them to push slightly with both their hands against your hand. Hold your own hand firm or push back a little. Ask them to look at you over the top of the hands and breathe exaggeratedly. It may help, using your free hand, to press your middle finger on one cheek, your thumb on the other, and squeeze gently to get the mouth to open wide.

1:10 This may lead to feelings of panic. Encourage the explorer to show the panic in their eyes, first looking at the ceiling, then looking at you.

To sum up, you are asking the explorer to open the eyes wide—raise the eyebrows—open the mouth wide—gasp sharply into the upper chest—freeze-push against your hand—make a sound—breathe fast and high—show fear in eyes looking at ceiling—show fear in eyes looking at you.

1:11 After perhaps nine or ten breaths like this, ask the explorer to relax again. Be reassuring, holding the hand if this seems necessary.

1:12 Ask the explorer if they "flashed" on any incident. This does not usually happen. But sometimes the explorer will have had a brief image of something frightening from the past, or a brief impulse to push you away seriously. Discuss this, in a way that admits the original incident was frightening, and accepts the fear reaction.

1:13 Take a few minutes break for discussion of what the explorer experienced. They may have felt panic, or not much at all. If they did not feel much, you will probably not have seen much fear in the eyes. Did you notice whether the pupil of the eyes dilated, or alternately dilated and contracted? This is one sign of a lively fear reaction. There is nothing wrong with being able to experience terror. On the contrary, it is a sign of emotional mobility, as well as biologically advantageous, since emergencies are quickly recognized.