body yawns / heart fire

The instinctive stretch our bodies pour into upon waking each morning (pandiculation) is our body’s way of releasing tension from inactivity. Muscles and fascia like to be moved, and lengthy periods of dormancy allow tension to accumulate, hence why our bodies yawn after stints of stillness. Automatically unfurling from curled up, restful positions allows our muscles to release and restore, plus it informs our nervous system to rebalance and reset. We can witness these releases in cats and dogs (and other mammals) who perfectly limber after rest, legs and arms expanding from centre.

Moving toward spring feels like a slinky, slow body yawn. We can see the daylight slowly inching out. We subconsciously adapt, staying awake longer, allowing our rhythms to fall in sync with sun. Our bodies are nature. And our internal rhythms are rarely wrong. Yet our instinct and understanding to interpret the body language can be warped by outer distractions.

Eastern medicine theorised the internal world as a series or rivers or energetic channels (Nadis) some 3,000 years ago. Each nadi energetically feeds certain body systems and parts, intricately linking parts and places that physically seem disconnected and distant. Traditional Chinese medicine then wrote of meridians and acupressure points about 2,500 years ago. Neither age had imaging devices or technologies to prove or discount such theories, yet now, all these thousands of years later, MRI and other tools display myofascial continuities that directly correlate to about 90% of the nadis/meridians. And spaces in the fascia directly mirror places of acupressure or trigger points; gateways to the deeper fascia beneath.

We don’t need to be told whether something exists. We feel if something is truth in our bodies. They consistently inform us when we’re disconnected, divided or being lied to. The ancient medicines expertly mapped out our inner rivers with no direct proof other than communication and first-hand experience.

Our bodies don’t exist as separate muscles - it’s all one landscape of varying densities and ingredients. Just as a mountain sinks to become an ocean floor, a muscle is linked to a tendon then a bone. To move any part is to move the whole. Our myofsacial maps prove why points in the feet have a direct effect on various points throughout our body.

Our hearts energetically lie at centre; the fourth chakra (wheel/vortex) of seven, with three above and three below. The ancient medicines theorised our heart energy affected everything. Modern days have proven the electromagnetic field of heart to be 5,000 times stronger than that of the head.

Heart leads the way. If our hearts say one thing, yet our head says another, the body’s intelligence dictates that one should follow heart. Chinese medicine associates the heart with the element of fire. Here is where passion, heat, transformation and joy lies. Heat radiates from centre and has the capacity to change everything. When we’re in love, the world lights up and we become joyful and radiant. Energy is contagious and love has the power to positively change us, our community, our immediate and distant world.

The world can seem difficult at times, with many situations difficult to fathom. Ancient wisdom tells us that movement has the capacity to heal. Because moving allows the thinking mind to settle, and our bodies are free to express authentically. We can feel where our boundaries and guards are up. We learn that letting go allows space and freedom. We begin to understand that the body can process emotions and feelings better than our over analytical minds.

To move allows what needs to move through, to be let go. Our nervous systems rebalance in a healthy, held space. Any form of movement helps bring balance to body (mind and spirit) but ones that work in all angles, directions and challenge us, allowing us to feel growth, really create transformation and transition. They rebalance our heart, which in turn realigns the entire body.

In rebalancing these intricate rivers of energy, we get to live more authentically. We have about 4,000 weeks of life if we’re lucky. Pandiculation is proof our bodies dislike stillness; they need to move to feel, to be, to live and experience life. The heart centre may always be moving (whilst we breathe life) but it may not be fully alive.

This month is dedicated to stoking the fire, to moving and breathing and being fully and presently alive.

body yawns / heart fire