Hello,
And thanks for joining me here on this exploration around the navel,
The belly button,
Which holds a key for health and longevity that I have found to be quite impactful in my life through the practice of accessing the wind gates,
Which are points located just around the outside of the navel that energetically connect with the internal organs.
This practice comes from qi nei zong,
Which is a form of abdominal massage in traditional Chinese medicine.
In this talk,
I'm going to guide you through the eight directions of points surrounding the navel so that you can connect with the internal organs to clear trapped heat,
Stagnant energy,
And emotions,
And to nourish the body.
Why do we do this,
And why in such a way?
I'll be honest that I can't really answer that question except to say that it works.
It has worked for me for almost 20 years,
And I'm still surprised to discover how qi nei zong helps to energize me on a daily basis.
It helps to deepen the breath and create relief from anxiety,
And it also supports my digestive system.
I'm sure other folks have found other benefits with qi nei zong,
But these are a few that specifically have been helpful in my life.
And I'll share a personal anecdote here about a hereditary issue that I have with my stomach,
With the organ of my stomach.
I experience something like a knot that is around where the stomach and the esophagus meet.
It runs in my family.
There are at least three or four of us that have the same issue.
Now I discovered that when this discomfort is acute,
I can press on the windgate point that is associated with the stomach,
And the sensation I'm experiencing will immediately disappear.
The unfortunate thing is that when I let go of this point,
The sensation returns,
But it is that immediate and directly connected,
Even though this windgate point is some inches away from the actual organ of my stomach.
As you learn about the windgates,
You can experiment and see what works for you.
Additionally,
Different folks will have learned this system differently from the way that I did.
This just happens to be what I learned and what I've practiced and benefited from in my own life for many years.
I would like to take a moment here to acknowledge and give thanks to my teacher of this modality,
Dr.
Angela C.
Wu.
She pointed me towards this and many tools for maintaining my own health and well-being,
And I'm very happy to be able to share this with you here.
So the points are located just outside of the navel.
To access or activate the points,
You can begin by simply pressing on each point with a finger,
One at a time.
You can use one,
Two,
Or three fingers.
You can actually use a gentle fist while breathing in and out.
I would say a gentle massage is a great way to start because the belly is a vulnerable place,
Delicate and sensitive place.
So start gentle,
And you can play with it and see what position,
What way of accessing the points is most comfortable for you.
So to begin,
Let's find our way around the compass of the navel.
For ease,
We're going to imagine that the top of the navel,
The point just above the belly button,
Is the north.
To the left,
To your left,
Is the east.
Just below the navel will be the south,
And to your right will be the west.
So that means that for secondary directions,
The upper and lower left diagonal points are considered northeast and southeast.
And then to your right,
The upper and lower diagonal points are northwest and southwest.
So there's your eight directions,
The four cardinal directions,
And then the secondary directions.
The order that we'll move in will be a counterclockwise direction as you look down towards your navel.
Going through the primary four directions first in this order,
East,
Which is the left,
North,
West,
Which is the right,
And then south.
Then we'll move through the secondary four directions in this order,
Southeast,
Northeast,
Northwest,
And southwest.
We're actually going around the navel twice,
Four points each time,
So two circles.
The organs that are associated with each point around the navel are as follows,
And you can follow along while I list these by placing a finger on each point,
If that's helpful.
To the left,
Or to the east of the navel,
Is the left kidney,
And that's associated with the water element.
To the north of the navel is the organ of the heart,
Associated with the fire element.
To the right,
Or to the west of the navel,
Is the right kidney,
And that again is the water element.
To the south of the navel are the bladder and reproductive organs,
Also associated with water.
To the southeast,
Which is the lower left diagonal point,
This is where the lungs and the large intestine are connected,
And they're associated with the metal element.
The upper left diagonal,
Or northeast,
Is where the stomach and spleen,
Or the earth element,
Are connected.
The upper right diagonal,
Which is the northwest,
Is the liver and gallbladder.
Those are associated with the element of wood.
And finally,
The lower right diagonal,
Or the southwest,
Is the small intestine,
Which is the fire element.
I'm creating meditations that allow you to practice this and play with it,
So I hope that this background is helpful so that you can pair the accessing of the points with some of the meditations.
You can gently massage the points,
And I invite you to include the breath.
Breathing in,
And then as you exhale,
Press or massage on the point.
Notice which points may be tender,
Which ones may be tense,
Hard,
Or soft.
And over time,
You'll begin to gain a familiarity with the points and with this area of your abdomen in general,
Noticing subtle changes each time that you visit this area.
So you're building a relationship with your belly.
You may notice pretty quickly that your digestion is affected in a positive way.
It may be moving a little more quickly.
You may notice that your energy level changes.
I do this first thing in the morning.
It helps me gain a little extra energy so I can get out of bed.
You may even want to briefly journal each time you explore these points to see how they change over time.
Even a sentence or two each day would be interesting to follow.
However you engage with the wind gates and with this compass of the navel,
I wish for you great health and well-being.
This is a beautiful tool for self-maintenance on a physical,
Emotional,
Mental,
Spiritual,
All the different levels.
And I wish you well on your journey.
