Inner Smile Meditation
(adapted from: https://www.yinovacenter.com/blog/archives/4978/#)
Modern science echos the Taoist’s theories by finding that a smile lowers the stress hormones cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenaline and produces hormones which stabilize blood pressure, relax muscles, improve respiration and increase your sense of well being whilst giving your energy a boost.
I sit comfortably either in a chair or on a mat.
I make my spine as straight as possible and keep my neck and throat relaxed.
I take one or two deep breaths that fill my abdomen and on each exhalation I let go of any thoughts about the past or the future.
I rest my tongue on the roof of my mouth near my teeth.
I smile gently as if I have a delicious secret or a private joke. This isn’t a broad grin but more of an enigmatic MONA LISA type of smile.
I bring my energy to the space between my eyebrows and allow the smile to rest there.
As I continue to smile the energy expands feeling as if it is moving backwards towards the center of my head.
Now I take this energy and direct it in turn to each of my internal organs giving special attention to any area of my body that needs healing.
I smile into my liver and gall bladder. Liver and gallbladder are associated with anger so as I smile into these organs I dissolve anger and resentment. If my liver feels tense when I smile into it I think about whether I need to forgive someone or let go of resentment.
I smile into my stomach and spleen. Stomach and spleen are associated with worry. Smiling into my stomach can bring me back to my center and dissolve anxiety. If I find this hard I may want to work on staying present and not getting too far ahead of myself and worrying about the future.
I smile into my kidneys and bladder. Kidneys and bladder are associated with fear. Smiling into my kidneys can help me release fear and stress. If I find this hard it may be worth thinking about what is stopping me from feeling safe and secure.
I smile into my lungs and large intestines. Lungs and large intestines are associated with grief. Smiling into my lungs can help to relieve sadness or depression.
I smile into my heart and small intestines. Heart and small intestines are associated with joy or the lack of it. Smiling into my heart fills me with compassion. If I find this hard I may want to think about any hatred that I am hanging on to and could now release.
I spend about 5 minutes slowly breathing the smiling energy into each organ.
Finally, I direct my smiling energy to a point about 2? below my naval.
To end – I release my smile (or keep it if it feels good), I release my tongue from the roof of my mouth.
Note: You may find that some organs are particularly stubborn. Some seem to refuse to receive the smiling energy and feel surprisingly tense and tight. In Chinese medicine, according to the five element system each organ has an emotion that corresponds to it and so sometimes it’s worth exploring that emotion if you find one of your organs to be particularly unreceptive.
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