The five element or five phase theory of Chinese medicine says that all things go through a predictable cycle of beginning,
Growth,
Stability,
Decline and rest.
These phases in the cycle are described by the elements of wood,
Fire,
Earth,
Metal and water.
The fire phase is the phase of rapid growth and peak activity.
It's the energy that makes your popcorn pop,
It makes your tomatoes and zucchini ripen as fast as you can harvest them,
That brings you joy as you express yourself.
Sometimes we use the phrase of fire in our belly to describe the drive that pushes us to work hard and create what we want to create,
Change what we want to change.
Summer is the fire phase of the cycle of the seasons.
In the cycle of our lives,
The transformative time of adolescence and early adulthood is the fire phase.
In creative endeavors,
The fire phase may be the time when the paint is just flying onto the canvas or the words are flowing onto the page.
In Chinese medicine,
All phases are associated with a pair of organs and their meridians or energy channels,
One that is more active or yang and one that is more receptive or yin.
These organ meridians are complementary and work together to perform related physical,
Emotional and spiritual functions.
Fire is special though and has two associated pairs,
The heart and small intestine and the pericardium and triple warmer.
The heart is the seat of shen which can mean spirit,
Mind,
Consciousness or insight.
It is the part of us that recognizes,
Feels and examines our emotions.
Physically,
Of course,
The heart is responsible for circulation.
The small intestine is in charge of assimilation and transformation.
Physically,
The small intestine is where nutrients and fluids are absorbed into the body to be transformed into whatever it is that we need.
It is also what helps us take in new ideas and figure out how they work for us.
The pericardium is the sac around the heart and it literally and figuratively protects the heart.
And finally,
The triple warmer is kind of a function without an organ.
There isn't any one exact physical organ in our body that we can point to and say that's the triple warmer.
But it has the function of holding and distributing chi or energy from the food we eat,
The air we breathe and the movement or exercise that we do.
It has three parts or three burners.
The upper burner is in the chest cavity.
The middle burner is in the stomach area of the abdominal cavity.
And the lower burner is in the lower abdominal or pelvic cavity.
We often tend to glorify this activity,
Expansion and growth.
We live in a go-go-go kind of society where our schedules are bursting at the seams and we've always got something else that needs to be done,
Somewhere else we need to go.
We might feel the need to always be growing our business,
Always be training for the next marathon,
Always be signed up for classes and camps and workshops and doing,
Doing,
Doing.
There is a time for this growth and action,
But balance is the key.
Any of the five phases can be unbalanced and unbalanced excessive fire can lead us to literally burnout and exhaustion.
Meditation in and of itself can help to modulate that fire.
And today I'd like to work with some visualization and breath work to help us ensure that our fire energy is a well-cultivated tool like a furnace or a hearth fire.
We'll begin by settling into whatever meditation position works best for you.
Sit or lie down with your spine straight and long.
Let your shoulders soften towards the floor.
Feel the weight of your hips and legs anchoring you in place.
If you'd like,
Close your eyes.
Take a few minutes to become aware of your breath just the way it is.
You don't have to change anything right now.
Just notice.
Begin to deepen your breathing nice and easy.
There's no need to force the breath.
Just let it fill you and then let it go.
Imagine that your body is a glass and your breath is water.
Let your breath fill up from bottom to top into your belly and the bottom of your rib cage and then your chest.
When you exhale,
Let the breath pour out of your body from the chest through your rib cage and finally letting your belly empty.
Now rub your hands together until you feel a nice warmth in the palms and place one hand on your chest over your heart and the other hand on your belly at or just below the belly button.
Right now your hands are over the heart,
The pericardium,
The small intestine and at least one of the three burners of the triple warmer.
For just a moment,
Feel the heat of your hands over these areas.
Imagine that just under your lower hand,
There's a fireplace in your belly.
Take a moment and just observe the flames.
How's your fire burning?
The fire is what drives you.
It's the physical energy that you need to get through the day.
It's your unique creativity.
It's the spark that makes you,
You.
Maybe a roaring fire,
Hot and bright or it may be just grown coals or maybe it's somewhere in between.
Now we're going to adjust the breath again.
We're going to breathe in through the nose,
Filling our belly like we have been and at the top of the inhalation,
Pause for just a moment.
We're not holding our breath exactly,
But rather taking just a moment to let that breath,
That oxygen settle in our bodies in all of those three energetic burners.
Let that air feed your fire energy.
Open your mouth just a little bit and slowly let that air softly escape your lips.
Gently,
Gently.
If a piece of paper was placed in front of your mouth,
It would barely flutter.
When you get to the bottom of your exhalation,
Pause again for just a moment.
When you feel the need to inhale again,
Repeat the process.
Breathe in through the nose,
Down into the belly.
Pause.
Exhale slowly and gently through the mouth and pause again.
Repeat this breath pattern for several breaths.
You may start to feel warmth in your belly or hands.
After several breaths,
Imagine that you're redistributing this fire energy throughout your body.
On those slow,
Gentle exhales,
Send that fire energy out to where it's needed.
Is there a physical space in your body that feels cold or stiff?
You can imagine sending the warmth of that belly fire to the parts of your body that need it as you exhale.
Are you feeling conflicted about something or not quite sure how you feel?
You can imagine turning up the flame of your lamp so that your heart,
Your shen,
Can see it a little better and recognize it.
If you're not really sure where you might need the fire energy in your life,
That's okay too.
Okay.
When you feel complete and energized,
Take one more deep breath and exhale.
Open your eyes,
Shake out your hands and arms,
Stretch your legs or whatever type of movement feels good to you right now.
Put that active energy to use.
Take a moment and direct some gratitude towards yourself for making time for you.
Remember to drink some water and find some joy today.
Thank you for joining me.
