The Liveliness of Stillness – How Stress, Inflammation, and Breath Interweave
- Brainz Magazine
- Nov 13
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 14
Jamee Culbertson integrates Taoist practices, the Alexander Technique, and spiritual healing for transformative experiences. She is a Senior Healing Tao Instructor teaching Tai Chi, Qigong, and Taoist meditations at the Universal Tao Boston School of Taoist Practices. Jamee is a teacher trainer certifying teachers in both disciplines.
Our bodies are living ecosystems, complex, responsive, and deeply intelligent. In the Five Element theory of Chinese medicine, we can look at our health and internal functioning as weather, the climate inside our bodies that determines our health. Is it too damp, like a rainy or cloudy day? Is it too dry inside, like a desert climate? Where’s the balance? In our modern lives, this ecosystem is often under siege from a subtle but persistent wildfire, stress.
The cycle of stress and inflammation
Stress and inflammation are a self-perpetuating loop. When we feel threatened, emotionally, mentally, or physically, the body releases cortisol and adrenaline to help us cope. In small doses, this response is protective. But when stress becomes chronic, the body never fully resets. It begins producing pro-inflammatory molecules, the equivalent of tiny sparks that never stop flying.
In Chinese Five Element medicine, inflammation is not seen as a single disease or isolated event, but as a pattern of disharmony, an imbalance in the movement and transformation of Qi, blood, and fluids. This pertains to what is called the Five Elements and their correspondence to our internal organs:
Wood - Liver
Fire - Heart
Earth - Spleen
Metal - Lungs
Water - Kidneys
An imbalance is often described in terms of heat or stagnation, but the specific root and manifestation depend on which element(s) and organs are involved.
Over time, the spark of excessive heat or stagnation ignites chronic inflammation, influencing everything from immunity to mood. And because inflammation itself affects brain chemistry, it can lower serotonin and increase anxious signaling. It fuels the mind’s distress, creating a feedback loop that burns both ways.
The deeper view: Inflammation as an inner message
At the energetic and spiritual level, inflammation says, “Something burns within me, pay attention.” It may be:
The anger of a dream not lived (Wood)
The exhaustion of overextension (Fire)
The over-sweetness of care turned heavy (Earth)
The pain of boundaries too rigid or violated (Metal)
The fear that has dried the waters of rest (Water)
In this view, inflammation is not an enemy but a call to harmony, an invitation from Qi to return to balance, to restore the natural dance of the Elements, where Fire warms but does not scorch, Water cools but does not drown, and all movement serves the unity of the whole.
In the Five Element view, inflammation is Qi that has become hot, congested, or overactive. It’s the body’s way of saying, “Something is stuck or overworking.” The task is to cool, move, and harmonize, not just suppress the fire, but understand why it’s burning.
The cooling rain of breath
Within this storm, the breath offers the most immediate path to restoration. Every slow, conscious breath activates the vagus nerve, a great river of calm flowing between brain and body. The vagus tells the heart to slow, the organs to rest, and the immune system to move from defense to repair.
With each gentle exhale, a cooler rain emerges:
Inflammation cools.
Cells resume communication.
Energy becomes cleaner, steadier.
The inner forest begins to green again.
Key resolutions
Cool and move: Inflammation always needs movement (of Qi and emotion) and cooling (of mind and body).
Nourish Yin: Modern life burns Yang, rest, hydration, sleep, and quiet restore balance.
Harmonize the elements: Work not just on symptoms but on restoring rhythm, breath, digestion, and emotion all move together.
Practice moderation: Even healing can create “heat” if pursued aggressively, go gently.
Stillness and the mind
Thoughts are like weather systems passing through the sky of awareness. When we identify with them, we chase every cloud. When we rest in stillness, we rediscover the vastness behind them. Meditation is the practice of remembering that sky, of returning to the quiet, unchanging space behind mental motion.
As meditation deepens, breath and awareness synchronize. Brain waves slow, the vagus nerve hums, and inflammatory signals quiet down. The body begins to feel what the mind realizes, I am safe. This safety is not merely psychological, it’s biological. It allows cells to repair, mitochondria to generate clear energy, and genes to shift from stress to renewal. Depending on the recurrence of the stress stimulus, it may take time to settle down, but with the right support and guidance, we can.
Stillness as medicine
In the Taoist traditions and in Alexander Technique disciplines, we come to the same truth, when we stop interfering, nature self-organizes. The Taoists call it "wu wei", effortless action. F. M. Alexander called it “a conscious inhibition of the wrong thing.” By “wrong thing,” I believe he means the way we carry ourselves and adapt to the pressures of modern living. How we might interfere with our best coordination in body, mind, and spirit can overshadow our sense of being-ness versus acting as a doing machine bent on getting things done.
Stillness here means freedom within activity, the quiet that allows movement to flow rather than be constantly driven. In both disciplines, stillness is not emptiness but a living intelligence. It’s a dynamic balance of focused quiet where breath and life interweave unencumbered.
When we cultivate presence through breath, awareness, or gentle movement, we become the cooling rain that nourishes the storms of stress. Stress and inflammation may still arise, but they no longer dominate the landscape. The cycle of reaction becomes rhythm, and rhythm becomes harmony.
Through conscious awareness, the Alexander Technique gives us access to more of a sense of being. As layers of reactive tension unwind, inflammation and over-activation in our system can subside, the physiology of fight or flight gives way to rest and repair.
Stillness is not an achievement. Stillness is revealed when excessive tension becomes unnecessary. Stillness is not silence, it is not held or stiff, it’s presence. When our nervous system is settled, breathing feels free and our mind also rests. This leads to what F. M. Alexander termed psychophysical unity, body, mind, and breath functioning as one awareness. Stillness heals because it remembers wholeness.
Read more from Jamee Culbertson
Jamee Culbertson, Senior Instructor, Teacher Trainer
Jamee is a Senior Instructor at the Universal Tao Boston School, teaching Tai Chi, Qigong, and Taoist meditation. With nearly 40 years of experience, she integrates Taoist practices, the Alexander Technique, and spiritual healing. She is an internationally certified Alexander Technique Instructor and teacher-trainer at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Jamee has taught at Harvard University, Mass General’s Home Base program for veterans, and community wellness events like Rosie’s Place. Her work blends ancient wisdom and modern techniques to support healing, balance, and self-awareness.
