Fascia, Sitting and the Micro-cosmic Orbit

Posted on July 12, 2018 by admin

A key realization of our somatic explorations, in whatever form they take, is that fascia is both connective tissue and an integrated system facilitating the flow of energy and information throughout the body. The second part sound’s a lot like the definition of mind postulated by Dan Siegel: a self-regulating process that organizes the flow of energy and information,” which is why the Taoist model of Qi flow is directly related to fascia. And remember Taoists work with verbs, processes and wholeness, not nouns, objects and duality. And please check out Jean-Clause Guimberteau’s mind boggling “Strolling under the Skin”, here on YouTube, to see the fluid component of our amazing fascial matrix. Even if you have seen this many times, it is still ….wow!

The fascial system, along with the circulatory and nervous systems are the three anatomical systems, that, in isolation, show the fullness of our 3-D embodiment. If we consider fascia, in addition to being structural, as an organizing and integrating aspect of embodiment, we can begin to deepen our inner sense of its 3-D presence and its crucial role in maintaining the dynamic postural relationship Patanjali calls ‘sthira sukham‘. As we discover in our seated meditation practice, this ongoing balance between stability and mobility in the tissue is directly related to the stability/mobility relationship of the ‘mind’ as a whole. And, as mentioned in the previous post, the fascia also stores trauma in the form of ‘trapped’ energy.

How can we relate our meditations on the microcosmic orbit with our embodied feel of the fascia? We see on the left the ‘thoraco-lumbar fascia’ circled, and we will come back to this soon. But first notice the yellow connective tissue running from the skull down the length of the spine to the coccyx. Imagine that line as an entry point into more and more interior expressions of the three dimensional fascial web. This is the path of the Governing Vessel, right on the median line. Also notice (or even better, feel in your own body) the large latissimus dorsii and trapezuis muscles that span the same length, and check out the region of overlap.

On the right we have the linea alba, a thick band of connective tissue running up the mid-line of the front body, from the pubis to the xyphoid process of the sternum. The connective tissue continues over the sternum and up the throat to the bottom jaw. Feel this as a tangible entry to your Conception Vessel. Notice all the branches of muscles and tendons coming together at the mid-line. Hard to see in 2 dimensions, but there are connections to three dimensions to be felt here.

Our next leap is to add the Dai Mai, or Girdle Vessel, to the Microcosmic Orbit, to bring in the horizontal plane to our upright posture. The gyroscope gives us a great example of the first four Extraordinary (or Curious) Vessels. The central axis is the Chong Mai or ‘Penetrating Vessel’. This is the ‘blueprint or chakra line of the body and also provides ‘lift’ to the organs. (Here is a fascinating article on the Chong Mai and Non-dual medicine.)

In our gyroscopic metaphor, the Conception and Governing Vessels create the vertical circle. (Below, they meet at the root chakra, but above, they meet at the mouth, not the crown chakra. The horizontal circle is the Girdle Vessel and this stabilizes the vertical axis in gravity (by spinning in a gyroscope.)

In the human body, we have girdling fascia and musculature which converge on the mid-lines of the front and back bodies. Patanjali has another ‘unique’ Girdling Vessel, none other than the Divine Serpent, Adhisheysa. This drawing of Patanjali*, (autographed by BKS), sits above my altar where I do my sitting and I am always fascinated by his lower body support. It’s hard to see the mid line, but you can feel the support of the snake as it surrounds him.

And I have just discovered some new information on the girdling fascia in a wonderful book entitled “Fascia: What it is, and Why it Matters”, by David Lesondak. I’m an esoteric anatomy nerd, and I have a new favorite, the ‘Lumbar Interfascial Triangle’ ak LIFT, as seen in the diagram below, from David’s book, and based on the fascial research by Frank Willard et al. (Frank was one of my favorite presenters at the First Int’l Fascial Conference in Boston in 2007, where ‘Strolling Under the Skin was first presented.)

The LIFT connects the thoracolumbar fascia (see above) with the Transversus Abdominus, the inner most of the abdominal layers running parallel to Adhishesa. This is a fulcrum region, balancing both front and back, vertebral segment by vertebral segment, but also balances the horizontal force of the transversus abdominus with the vertical fibers of the quadratus and erector spinae muscles. Find the LIFT in your practice.

When you find the energetic field in the body that supports the fascia that engages this balance of vertical and horizontal, you begin to feel like a coiled spring. Because we are even more complex, there is actually a right coil and left coil, a spiral right and spiral left the wrap around each other. This is of course symbolized by the caduceus of Hermes, with the bonus of extended wings. We are going to keep our wings into the body for the time being as we return to our sitting practice.

I have been experimenting with my hands and arms behind for extended periods of time me while sitting. Sometimes separate, sometimes interlocked. It seems to work better with my elevated virasana, (all my knees and hips will allow at the moment.) With the slight height to the pelvis, I have more room for my arms. This engages the latissimus and traps and allows me to engage my deep abdominals. With help from the Lumbar Interfacial Triangle, this action widens the spinal column from the inner back body.

The deep abdominals do not contract in isolation, but maintain a vibrant and integrating tone through the pelvic floor and into the lower back fascia, and hopefully throughout the whole body. The LIFT is very helpful here. The pose is a bit more ‘yang’ than with the arms and hands forward and the pelvis elevated, but because there is an engagement of the front body ‘yin’ through the lift, the yang stays internal, is integrated and not distracting.

If you feel your way around inside you may find the coils easier to find down below and more challenging in the area just below the sternum, right at the middle burner and kidneys. Use your imagination to fill in the field of coiling expanding energy so the whole abdominal/pelvic area, from the diaphragm to the pelvic floor, feels balanced in energy and tone.

Up inside the upper ribs and the sternum are the transversus thoracis muscles. They continue analogous to the transversus abdominals, and then begin to veer diagonally. Use them to lift and open the sternal area by engaging them opposite to the t.a., that is away from the midline. This will help keep the the kidney region of the back body relaxed and dropping, along with the inner shoulder blades. We habitually use the kidney area to hold ourselves upright, leading to a blockage in the Governing Vessel and tension in the spine, so this is a good antidote. Now feel how the diaphragm has more room to move, especially the center dome rising up to lift the heart.

On the outside of the sternum you can fine the continuation of the rectus abdominus fascia travelling up to the back of the skull, as shown as part of Tom Myer’s ‘Superficial Front Line’. Here, the back of the skull can release up as the kidneys drop down. Feel the sternum bone floating between the fascial tissues in front and behind and connect the tail of the sternum, the xyphoid process, with tail of the spine, the coccyx, in both directions. This will open and stabilize the connection between CV-1, the seat of the yin, and GV-1.

Release the open coiling feeling up through the neck/throat to the base of the skull, relax the skull bones and soften the crown chakra. When I sit in sukhasana, my other pose of choice, my pelvis is lower and there is not the same feeling, but as I go back and forth, each position informs the other. And in the deep background, the ever-present ‘Awareness’, your drashtuh svarupe, awaits your surrender. As the body stabilizes in an effortless (relatively) vibrancy, just enjoy the Being’ and stabilize your presence there.

And all of this carries over into all of your poses, all of your postures, all of your movements, all of your life. Enjoy the ride. Not always fun, but always moving into deeper and deeper clarity and awakening.

Trauma, Neuroscience and the Microcosmic Orbit

Posted on July 3, 2018 by admin

The microcosmic orbit encompasses two of the eight extraordinary vessels recognized in Chinese Medicine; the yin Ren Mai or Conception Vessel, and the yang Du Mai or Governing Vessel. These two complete a balanced circuit linking both front and back, and inner and outer bodies, and also hold energy in support of the traditional twelve organ channels commonly used in acupuncture. (These include the six yin organ channels: lungs, spleen, heart, kidneys, liver, and heart protector (pericardium); and the six yang channels; large intestine, stomach, small intestine, bladder, triple heater (sanjiao) and gall bladder.)

The microcosmic orbit meditation awakens the flow of Qi in the two vessels, but can also point out blockages in the circuit. And these circuits and blockages have layers and levels. One of my first awakenings when I began exploring this was the amount of glue I felt along the back or Governing Vessel. Using the clock image below, my key areas of tension are around 2 o’clock behind my heart, and around 4 o’clock, or the region of my kidneys.

To no surprise, this tension is manifesting as an elevation of my blood pressure. And there are similar regions of tension on my front, along the Conception Vessel, between 8 and 10, up into the 5th chakra.

When my PTSD was activated in January, after the fire, the primary locus was on the front, near CV-12, the center of centers, (nine o’clock above). My yin blocked up and the yang tightened even more, preventing me from sleeping normally and doing a number on my nervous system (yang) and psyche. It took about a month, with lots of help from friends and various therapies, for my sleep pattern to settle back to some sort of equilibrium. It has been re-triggered twice since then, once in May and then again last week, and on both occasions, the initiating factor was acupuncture needling at CV-12.

PTSD activation is a very unpleasant experience filled with fear-based, chaotic energies disrupting my moment to moment experience. Fortunately, my process is mutating, the energy is finally moving, and my overall capacity to make sense of the process and hold it in open awareness is evolving. I am grateful for the Somatic Experiencing work I did years ago with Caryn McHose. This therapy, first articulated by Peter Levine, requires building strong ‘resources’, or regions of somatic strength and stability, that can anchor you during the release of the trauma. Other key principles in SE include not releasing more trauma than you can handle with your resources, and finding the support and guidance of an SE practitioner who can hold the space of open awareness and presence, help you track the sensations, and recognize that they are memories from the past that you are feeling in the present with some spaciousness.

I’ve been my own SE support this time around, which is challenging, but there is progress and it is my on-going sitting meditation practice that is my primary resource. Resting in Pure Awareness, even as the mind/body are doing their dance, requires a lot of trust, because most of the ‘time’, the practice doesn’t seem very ‘silent’. The mind field is a busy place. But the silence is ever -present, independent of what is arising, and this trust/faith that you are being held by the Divine, called shraddha by Patanjali (sutra I-20), is your most important strong resource. As a meditator, this begins as a ‘non-judgmental witnessing consciousness’

As Swami Dayananda taught me years ago, our moment to moment experience, observed formally in meditation, has two components. The first is Awareness, aka Pure Awareness, Purusha, Ground of Being, Luminous Emptiness, Stillness, or Witnessing, etc. The second is ‘What is arising in Awareness’. This includes all the transitory phenomena of sensation, perception, action and thought, or what we call ‘reality’. If we can sustain some dimension of the witnessing, then what arises doesn’t fully take over the mind field, but can be held and examined by the intelligence, known as buddhi in Sanskrit.

‘What arises’ has layers and levels and this is where the suffering and/or liberation takes place. Awareness is always free and unbounded. The first level of ‘what is arising’ is pure sensation, a triggering of the sensory nervous system by an impulse of energy. At the reflexive level of the nervous system, this sensation may immediately trigger an an action, as when a doctor taps your knee to check on your ‘mono-synaptic’ response. The knee-jerk tells the doctor your spinal nerves are working.

A fun piece of trivia I’ve retained from my MIT biology days is that frogs have a neuron in the retina that only fires when a black dot moves horizontally across the visual field. If triggered, a muscle at the root of the tongue fires and the tongue extends out to ‘capture’ the dot. No interpretation or deliberation is required. More primitive creatures have mostly reflexive nervous systems. Not a lot of thinking or analyzing goes on in the lower brain.

As evolution expanded the brain, a new type of brain cell, the inter-neuron, appeared, allowing the possibility of pausing, deliberating and/or analyzing the sensation before acting. This allows learning, and more and more nuanced responses to take place. Humans have lots of inter-neurons, and this scientific reality is what allows us to get lost inside our own heads. Our attention is drawn to the various loops of non-stop thoughts, beliefs and confusion flowing through neurons not directly connected to our moment to moment experience and this inner dialogue become our day-to day reality. This is the monkey-mind noticed by mediators. What is actually arising moment to moment is totally missed. When the PTSD kicks in, the mind reels in desperate attempts to escape, and the practice is to just notice the actual sensations, in the moment, however, wherever. The body wants to process and return to balance, but staying present to its information allows the body to reveal its innate intelligence

Any mindfulness practice will help develop the capacity to stay present so matter what by directing the attention to the sensations of the body as they arise, before interpretation kicks in. B. K. S. Iyengar did his best to teach me this. His constant lesson to me: Stop thinking about what was supposed to be happening in a yoga pose, or how it felt yesterday. Start actually feeling the sensations and tracking them and let them dictate the action of the pose. That did not happen over night for me! (A full articulation of his teaching on this is included in the 2 part ‘Samyama in Asana’ posting. Part1 and Part 2.)

Our use of the micro-cosmic orbit is a great way to organize and train our attentional field to lock into the flow of energy (qi or prana) and track it in and through regions of the human energy field. This practice builds stability of the mind (abhyassa) and frees up the organic field to improve not only health, but spiritual sensitivity through cosmic resonance with the life forms and energy field of Mother Earth and the celestial realms of the sun moon, stars and galaxies. To the Taoists, the micro-cosmic field is an immediate and conscious expression of the macro-cosmic field including all layers and levels of creation.

What other resources can we find within the micro-cosmic orbit? In previous posts we have explored the whole circuit, with the lower dantien as the root of our practice. We want to continue to deepen the connection to the lower dantien by breathing with the 4 points on the diagram below, CV-1, GV-4, CV-12 and CV-6, as if this is a small circle, and then expand into a dynamic sphere. Feel your tail and lower limbs being embraced by this to strengthen the grounding. You can do this as a meditation or breathing practice, or even add it to any asana you may be exploring. We are working with 3 dimensional volumes here!

Next, join the lower dantien with the middle dantien in your breathing practice. You can do this in two sections like this: inhale lower 1-2-3, upper 4-5; exhale lower 1-2-3, upper 4-5. Feel the diaphragm softening as it is supported above and below. Try other combinations until you find something that feels right for you. Upper dantien stays quiet, like in any breathing practice.

A more challenging, but fascinating option is to have three sections/parts, like Viloma Pranayama. Section 1 is the lower burner, or the bottom 2/3rds of the lower dantien; section 2 is the middle burner which is the liver/stomach/spleen/pancreas, or the abdominal organs inside the lower ribs. Section three is the area of the chest above the diaphragm, heart and lungs etc. Keep the primary in the lower. Inhale lower 1-2-3, pause middle 4-5, pause upper 6; exhale lower 1-2-3, pause, middle 4-5, pause upper 6. Or something like that. Like the shape of a snowman, only no head, three torso sections.

Working in Segments:
Another option is to use the circuit to look more closely at various segments or arcs to see the where obstructions manifest in our embodied energy field. If we imagine the circle as a clock face, we can use the numbers to define some of these regions. Looking from the left side as above, 9 is the front and 3, its complement at the back, passing right through the third chakra, or more specifically, CV-12, the ‘center of centers’ directly connecting with the middle burner. What has worked best for me is to by-pass CV-12. When I can link GV-9 to GV-4 and GV-1 ( not shown but at the tip of the coccyx) and through to CV-1, my back softens and opens somewhat. As a down the back inhalation, I can feel the kidneys grasping the qi as GV-4 and GV-9 work together to ground the breath at the root.

Similarly, if I can link CV-17 with CV-6 and CV-1 in a down the front action and link this to GV-1, I can feel a stabilizing of my front body to help support the softening back body. This ‘abdominal tone’ that arises from this circuit gives a presence to your sitting posture that is yin (internal and front body) which helps allow the witness to rest in stillness. Too much use of the back muscles keeps a yang inner state, a bit less conducive to quietness.

And please add any and all of these suggestions, plus your own that arise when you practice, to any pose, any time, when on the mat, sitting at your computer typing, in your car, walking about. Make it part of your moment to moment awareness. This is the neuro-plasticity that really is the core of the practice we do as awakening humans embedded in the cultural, relational fields. We can change how are brains are wired and this changes the field of the whole, as we are the field.

And, a question for all to ponder, How can we continue to speak-out and protest the stupidity, ignorance and violence being perpetuated by our government and segments of society without demonizing anyone??? This is no simple answer to this, but we have to use our intelligence and spiritual insight to find other options. The demonization of others is the primary problem of our times and the cause of all the suffering. We have political leadership that uses this ‘demonization of others’ to rally its base. As long as ‘liberals’ get sucked into the same insanity by ‘demonizing the demonizers’, there is zero chance of moving into a more progressive society. The first principle of Taoism, and Buddhism, and Vedanta is wholeness. There is no other;ther is only us. And we, the collective are seriously out of balance. The wisdom of the body knows this, and that is why embodied spiritual practice is so crucial to our times.

Keep practicing !!!!!

Taoism and Yoga: The Three Treasures

Posted on May 25, 2018 by admin

Three Treasures: Jing, Qi and Shen

Review

In the previous workshops and posts we’ve been exploring some specific points along the microcosmic orbit and noticing that by bringing our attention to them, and using the breath, we can discover energy lines, planes and volumes, giving us our 3 dimensional sensory/perceptual field of embodiment. In a moment we are going to go more deeply into the volumes, but first we need to add another point to root ourselves more completely. We have been working extensively with CV-1, Hui Yin or the ‘Seat of YIn’, where 4 major yIn vessels meet. (We’ve worked with the Conception and Thrusting vessels. There are two more that link through the legs into the torso.) Our overall imbalance, at all levels, is deficient or repressed yin, which of course represents the feminine, Mother Earth and the inner realms.

In your home practice add GV-1, the first point on the yang Governing Vessel which sits directly in front of the coccyx and directly behind the anus. It is not marked on the diagram above, but CV-1 sits just in front of the anus, making the anal mouth the bridge linking the Conception and Governing Vessels in the lower body. The upper bridge is the upper mouth so we find the gut body a major player in bringing energy balance to the whole.

Imagine the connective tissue surrounding the coccyx converging energetically and radiating from this point, GV-1, through the anus to CV-1, CV-6 and all the way to the tailbone of the sternum, the xiphoid process just below CV -17.

Now, using your attention and perception, feel energy slowly moving in a small circle, starting at GV-4 ‘down the back and up the front’ to CV-12 and back to GV-4. This will help un-block any yang energy trapped in the lower spinal muscles as it merges with the Yin and stabilize the lower dantien. This is a traditional energetic ‘tucking action’ opening the posterior spine. To ‘untuck, moving the energy in a down the front and up the back circle, do not break the circuit at the anus or the spinal muscles will overwork (excess yang). Rather release and lengthen the ilio-psoas opening the anterior spine. You can also do the full micro-cosmic orbit circle passing through GV-20, the crown chakra point.

When we expand the lower dantien in our breathing and meditation practices, especially rooting down into the earth, this integrating action of the GV-1 point is very important in maintaining the organic integrity and tone. As the volume expands, so does the tone so there is no prolapse of the pelvic organs. If you can find and feel this energy link and strengthen it, your sense of ‘tucking’ will be much more subtle and powerful. No contraction of anything, but there may be subtle adjustments of bones and connective tissue as the body readjusts to the new integration of the base of the body. This action will also help us discover the center channel, aka the ‘Thrusting Vessel’, as this is an expression of balance between front and back, yin and yang, right and left.

The Three Treasures

The alchemy of an embodied spiritual practice, whether yoga, qi gong, is a process of cultivating, integrating and refining the basic substances or energies that make up the embodied human form and living a life based on love, creativity and connection. In Taoist practices, the basic substances are known collectively as ‘the three treasures‘ and include Jing, Qi and Shen. Each of these treasures is associated with the subtle energy center in one of the three Dantiens, the bony volumes (pelvis, rib cage and skull) and one or more of the yin organ systems. As we can see from the side, our Microcosmic Orbit linking the Conception and Governing Vessels encloses these three dantiens in a loop.

Dantien translates as ‘elixir field’, implying that there is an alchemical potion stored/hidden in these internal spaces. (A Western perspective would acknowledge each of these spaces has its own ‘nervous system’ as well as hormone secreting glands.) Our embodied spiritual practice awakens, transforms and integrates these three to allow our lives to be radiant expressions of love and creativity, with a large sense of humor to help us deal with the many challenges and limitations of the human condition.

Korean Taoist master Sung Jin Park uses the analogy of a candle to describe the three treasures and Jing, the first is the wax and wick of the candle. The densest of the three, jing is centered in the Lower Dantien and stored in and associated with the Kidney OrganSystem. There is no good English equivalent, but jing can be seen as the essence of vitality, the seed of life, the creative energy immediately involved with eggs, sperm, DNA and reproduction, the primal source of things. As it has an ancestral connection extending back eons it is often unconscious. Jing provides our constitutional strength and gives us our unique expressions of bones muscles, skin etc.

Jing differentiates life from inanimate objects, and comes from two sources. Pre-natal Jing comes directly from the DNA of our parents and is nurtured by the kidney energy of our mother while in utero. It determines our basic constitution, is said to be limited in quantity and to be treasured, not wasted. Post-natal Jing is created through the transformation of oxygen and food by the stomach and spleen systems, and the absorbing of life lessons from the environment. It gives birth to the Qi that moves us through life, like the wax gives birth to the flame. Because of its density, it responds strongly to gravity and helps ground us in the larger Cosmos. We can also make a loose analogy with jing to the 1st and 2nd chakras. In our practice, we can help maintain the vitality of our jing through careful diet, hydration, qi moving exercises like yoga and qigong, herbs and acupuncture. Kidney health is crucial to healthy jing, so keep working with K-1, the bubbling spring on the soles of your feet whenever you remember.

The second treasure, Qi, is the flame of the candle, the energy of movement transformed from the denser substance of the body. Qi is the flow of energy from yin to yang and back again, maintaining and allowing both stability and dynamic activity. Qi includes metabolism at a cellular level and all forms of human movement from dance, vinyasa and qigong to rolling around on the floor or walking. Qi’s home in the Middle Dantien and associated with the Spleen/Pancreas and Liver Organ Systems. Chinese Medicine, for help in diagnosis and treatment, describes many types of Qi, but here we are using the word in a general sense for all of its embodied forms.

Like the Sanskrit word Prana, Qi is a Taoist word that cannot be pinned down by Western conceptual thinking. Qi is the mystery of creation itself, neither exactly energy nor matter, but something in between, in an E=mc2 kind of way. Qi is the essence of all levels of reality from sub atomic particles to galaxies. The Qi as a treasure as noted above is a more limited use of the word, but still reflects back onto its more primordial counterpart. We can find a connection to the 3rd and 4th chakras, the solar plexus, heart and lungs. We all feel energy, whether we consciously recognize this or not. Learn to track the quality of your energy and make adjustments as needed. Like with vitalizing the jing, diet, exercise, sleep and an overall healthy life style all support healthy qi.

The candle flame, the Qi, gives off light, and this luminosity is the third treasure, Shen or Spirit. Associated with the heavens and centered in the Upper Dantien, shen is the spiritual mind. The Yin Tang acupuncture point on the 3rd eye is the point (cavity is a better word than point) associated with the Shen as it connects the the very center of the brain where the pineal gland resides. Buddha is often depicted with his Pineal (Pine cone like) gland enlarged and protruding, indicating his awakened/enlightened Shen. This lovely Buddha lives in Sedona Arizona and we were just visiting him last month. In esoteric Taoism, this inner space of the brain/skull is called the Spiritual Valley with the ‘Mud Pill Palace at the center which includes the pituitary gland as well. This is the spiritual yin center in the yang upper dantien.

Interestingly enough, although Shen resides in the brain, it is associated with the Heart Organ System which, in Taoist philosophy/science governs the brain. In fact, in Chinese Medicine, the brain is not considered an organ but is known as the ‘sea of marrow’, marrow including bone marrow but also all nerve tissue. Shen can be seen as the radiance of the heart showing directly through the eyes. Cultivation of Shen leads to compassion, loving kindness and a spiritual perspective on all aspects of life. Shen is unbounded by space and time and allows the timeless divine presence to manifest on earth in the human form. When cultivated, by converting Jing to QI and Qi to Shen, it impels the human to live an enlightened life.

The Five Shens

Also similar to Prana, Shen is further subdivided into five different expressions, Shen, Zhi, Yi, Po and Hun. Each of these is connected to one of the five yin organ systems, the five elements of Taoism, the five visible planets and five directions of the compass. As in many Chinese models, the Five Shens are related to society, with the heart Shen as emperor and the other four ministers, so there is a hierarchy here.

The ‘smaller’ Shen is centered in the Heart Organ system and rules the others. As its element is fire, it is spiritual passion in an integrated and compassionate way, inspiring one to live a meaningful life. Its direction is South, the planet Mars. Heart Shen is an embodied expression of the spiritual impulse of joy and delight, and guiding the other aspects of Shen to harmony and balance.

Zhi, or will power gives us direction, discipline and perseverance to gets things done. Connected to the Kidney Organ System and the element water, Zhi, when aligned with the Heart Shen, guides our spiritual practice through the many obstacles that pop up along the way. Its direction is North, the planet mercury, the closest planet to the sun. Zhi can also be seen to have a yin and yang aspect. Yang will is more obvious and usually involves conscious choice in the moment. The Yin aspect of Zhi however is much more mysterious and is not usually noticed until well after the fact, usually later in life when we notice that we were being moved in a direction without actually noticing. At a deeper level of practice, Zhi becomes ‘wu wei’, or effortless effort, as the individual ‘will’ becomes one with the Divine Will of wholeness.

Yi is translated as discriminative intelligence. Associated with the Spleen/Pancreas Organ System, Yi helps distinguish between the desirable and the undesirable choices we have presented to us continuously by our experience. Its element is Earth, its direction is toward the center and its planet is Saturn. Along with Shen/passion and Zhi/will, Yi can be refined by paying careful attention to our actions and the unfolding of the world around us. Yi helps calm the mind when the mental states are disturbed by emotional upheavals.

To make life even more intriguing, the next two “Shens’, Hun and Po, come as a yin/yang pair. Po is the aspect of our being that dissolves at death so, lacking the broader vision of the other four shens, is really only concerned with this physical body, this lifetime. Known in English as the corporeal soul, it is the tangible yin counterpart to Hun, the ethereal soul. Po is associated with the lung organ system, the planet Venus, the element metal and the westerly direction.

Hun represents spirit that lives on after death in other realms of existence. It is the yang counterpart to Po, associated with the Liver Organ System. It carries us in dreams and on shamanic journeys

Discover how these ‘Three Treasures” reveal themselves to you. Nurture and integrate them into your life and learn the alchemy of an embodied spiritual practice.