I was recently asked about how the work of transformation proceeds, and in my book, Unleash the Dragon Within, I break it down into three recurring and cyclical phases.
The first phase, you learn and embody the Animal archetype. You train associations between physicality, breathing and mindset (which can include awareness of energy or similar esoteric concepts proper to your culture) so that these three associations reinforce each other into a unified whole, described by the archetype. During this phase, you face internal biases — your thoughts about yourself which are misguided or distorted — and that is why the phase is called the purification stage.
During the second stage, you move from archetypes to, well, phenotype, which is a fancy way of saying you go from practicing a general cookie cutter version of the Animal to making it your Animal archetype. Archetypes are universal, yes, but they are expressed on an individual basis, the same way all birds are programmed to build nests, but each nest is different. That’s why part of the second phase involves a little deconstruction, called the Warrior Exercise, where you define each of the domains of “cognitive integrity” the Animals capture, and how you intend to express each one. So, for example, the physical center, whether you call it hara, dan-tien or manipura, is a center for Tiger and Panther, but of course the other Animals also possess and relate to their bodies. So, what are the characteristics of the physical center the archetypes share in common, and how is the integrity of the physical center maintained — for you. I liken this work to learning how an engine works by taking it apart and reassembling it. It is also during this stage, you confront your assumptions and biases aimed at the outer world, like prejudices of sex, class and race. For what I hope are obvious reasons, I call this the clarifying phase.
Then in the last stage, you keep deepening, broadening and empowering yourself, in what is called the energizing phase. You grow, blossom and express who you are in your fullness. How? Rinse and repeat…it’s not called a “practice” for nothing. You go back to the basics of the first two stages, explore and reaffirm the Animals, reflect on internally and externally directed biases, and replace limiting habits with energized movement, breathing and attention. This stage has its own specific exercises, the Pumps, the Lunar Meditation, the Nectar Meditation and others, which are more advanced, but they rely on revisiting the foundational exercises.
Drawing boundaries among the stages is artificial of course, but a good place to start, and as you progress they may overlap, or follow on each other rapidly, but the cycle continues.