The center consists of the spleen, the stomach, and the pancreas. But the spleen is the pivot around which the mind, body, and spirit rotate. Very importantly, the spleen is in charge of turning the food we eat into qi, blood, and other forms of usable energy and sending nutrients to the other organs, tissues, and cells. Spleen energy manifests in the gastrointestinal system and is markedly affected by what we eat.
The center governs what gets absorbed and what gets expelled by the body, separating the pure from the impure, the healthy from the unhealthy. It tells us when the food we eat isn't good for us and it also tells us when our thoughts are damaging our well-being. In traditional Chinese medicine, thought is governed by the same energies that govern taking in food and releasing its byproducts. Just as our bodies become what we eat, our lives reflect what we think. Thoughts that follow negative patterns - such as feeling inadequate - lead to depression, stress, and hopelessness, and ultimately damage health.
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Reinforcing a negative self-image prevents the self from expanding its image and telling a new story. Pain in the gut, ulcers, or an irritable bowel are symptoms that may develop when someone spends more time listening to negative voices inside her head and out in the world than listening to what her gut is saying. When our thoughts support our highest mental and emotional functioning, our lifestyle and dietary choices tend to support our greatest physical health. Fertility Days To Get Pregnant
Beverly came to see me after her doctor told her that her thirty-six-year-old body was acting like that of a fifty-year-old woman. She later said it felt like he kicked her in the stomach. In other words, she internalized that message within her center. It reflected back in her beliefs, and she literally become like an old woman - her hair thinned and turned gray and her skin became wrinkly within a month of her doctor's devastating pronouncement. Working with Beverly, I helped her reprogram the message of decline by suggesting that she magnify her youthful properties and focus on her juicy qualities, like the way her body moved. Her body became younger by the day once she started listening to the messages of her own center.
Physical manifestations of imbalanced spleen or earth energies often show up in the digestive system. To discover whether your body is giving you signs that your earth energies are out of balance, ask yourself the following: Do you have a poor appetite or feel bloated after eating. Do you experience abdominal pain or loose stools? Do you crave sweets or tend toward low blood sugar? If you are fatigued, have low energy or low blood pressure, are prone to feeling heavy or sluggish, don't exercise, or have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, look to your spleen system.
If you bruise easily, have varicose veins or other bleeding problems, including thin, watery, profuse, or pinkish menstrual blood, also look to your spleen system. Weak musculature, excess (whole body) sweating without exertion, organ prolapse, hemorrhoids, polyps, diverticula, and poor circulation also indicate that the spleen energies need to be nourished.
Spleen energy is called earth energy because, just as the earth draws energy through its core, we draw energy from our core, or spleen. Like the earth, the spleen can become too dry or overly wet, and then, like the earth, cannot properly nourish those that rely on it: When it is too dry from lack of fresh, whole, nourishing foods, the spleen can no longer absorb necessary water, which leaves the body quickly in the form of urine. When it is too wet because of taking in too much damp-producing food, such as sweets, dairy products, and refined carbohydrates, it becomes sodden and swampy, like a saturated field. People with a strong spleen system have a lot of physical energy; those with a weak spleen feel tired and depleted.
Your center also governs which thoughts and memories you pay attention to and which you let go. Just as it separates what your body needs from what it doesn't in the digestive tract, your center takes in thoughts and experiences, digests and analyzes them, and then discards what is not necessary and nourishing. Fertility Days To Get Pregnant
A healthy center receives thoughts and then induces action on those thoughts or lets them go. But an unhealthy center may not process these thoughts properly, causing mental reflections to become stuck "overthinking." The Chinese believe that overthinking, which includes excessive thought, studying, concentrating, memorizing, pensiveness, worrying, and brooding, can, over time, weaken the spleen and inhibit the optimal functioning of its energy processes. This is why excessive worry causes digestive disturbances such as stomach ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome - too much information clogs up our mind and obstructs the earth energy flowing through our center, preventing us from making proper decisions, and causing disharmony. Always return to your center where pure awareness resides.
The Healing Power of Dance and Song
Exercise contributes to the proper functioning of the spleen energies. But I don't only mean the kind of exercise you do in a gym, like running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike. The kind of exercise I'm referring to is expressive movement that comes from within - dancing to the song inside you.
Dancing is healing. At Fertile Soul retreats we practice free, vibrant, creative movement. I encourage you, too, to dance, drum, sing, and move to express your innermost self and become an instrument of a greater song. While you dance you will resonate with life and sing a song no one else can sing. As the Persian mystic poet Rumi said:
You are a song, a wished-for song.
Move to the center,
Towards the sky and wind,
Towards silent knowing.
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Accept the wished-for song that you are. Then sing not only with your voice but with your heart and soul and spirit. Until you find the link and open the path between all the sacred parts of you, you will be singing a made-up song, someone else's song, But when you let life live through you, you will sing your own.
Voices express the words we think. Do you like your voice? If you don't, it may be telling you something important about yourself. For example, when I was a child I constantly felt lonely and in emotional pain. My voice had a quaver to it, which embarrassed me horribly. That quaver expressed my pain and unhappiness. At first I tried to cover it up by staying silent, but eventually I learned that alcohol and medication made it go away. Once the medication wore off, though, my sadness and hurt, my soul's song, were once again revealed in the quavering of my voice.
When I went deep within myself to my personal place of darkness, I heard what my voice had been telling me all along: that I was sensitive and compassionate and in unbearable emotional pain, which I was trying to hide. And when I accepted this aspect of my being, the pain started to fall away, all on its own. Acknowledging the makeup of my source allowed me to accept and let go of my pain. Though my voice still quavers from time to time, especially if I'm nervous or overstressed, now I have compassion for the little gift who developed that quaver as the result of a distressing childhood. By listening to the song of my voice and my soul I healed myself. To learn more, you can check out Fertility Days To Get Pregnant.
