Dear friend,
Body Temple Time is a practice that helps us return to our somatic-spiritual wisdom in order to process our life experiences, and become more real, integrated and whole. Last week in Week One of our eight weeks of Body Temple Time, we began by Arriving and Lighting the Heart Fire.
We each set up a physical space for Body Temple Time practice, and we chose a time in our day to practice. On Thursday morning we began. In this 8-week period, I enter Body Temple Time from 5-6AM. I lift the names of those practicing with me, each in your own time. If you want me to add your name, just email me and let me know. I’d be delighted to include you.
Using three of the spiritual “superpowers” that humans have been endowed with (Attention, Breath, and Loving-Kindness), we dropped down and in to the Body Temple. With hands on our hearts, we “stoked the heart(h)fire” by remembering and savoring an experience of limbic connection/resonance, thereby evoking a felt sense experience of love itself (Limbic Connection). We then welcomed this warm presence to fill the core of the Body Temple. Week One’s guided meditation is here: Arriving.
In Week Two, we will deepen into our Arrival by Grounding the Body Temple in the Earth, and Sweeping the Main Central Energy Corridor of Body Temple with a practice called 36 Breaths. First, let’s explore what I mean by the Main Central Energy Channel.
The Main Central Energy Channel: Spiritual Antenna & Seed of Your Soul
In many Eastern spiritual traditions, the Main Central Energy Channel is understood as a central corridor of animating life energy (chi, qi, prana, life-force, animating spirit) that is understood to move up and down the center line of the body. In its most dense layer, the Main Central Energy Channel forms the spine of the body. It is a line of energy that travels up and down the center of the body, forming an oval of light around itself. This line of energy and oval of light moves and circulates with each exhale and inhale.
With every exhale, energy moves down and through the front of the body, clearing away any stale energy, any static, or greasy grime that our body is ready to release. With every exhale, this stale, old energy is dropped down into the Earth, where it is composted.
With every inhale, the body draws revitalized energy up up the back of the spine and back body, replenishing and energizing the main energy channel of the body.
In Jin Shin Jyutsu, the Main Central Corridor—a personal super-highway of life energy—is understood to be present from the very beginning of a life, resonating at a specific vibration that expresses the soul of that individual. Like the seed that grows into a great Oak tree, the main central energy channel (soul) is the energetic blueprint that will inform and direct the development of the embryo, in conversation with the energy of the mother’s body, and the wider environment. The Main Central, the soul, has its own essence, and it comes in with purpose, with trajectory and direction. It organizes its own development, and even has the power to pull in what it needs from its environment (vitamin D from mommy’s bones, for example!).
We can also think of the Main Central Energy channel as something of spiritual antennae, picking up and transmitting meaningful data (energy messages) with other people and living beings. If you have ever gazed upon a new baby, you know that each human seems to emanate their own quality of light, of presence. This is true throughout our lives, but easier to see in babies.
Throughout our lives, our Main Central antenna is giving and receiving transmissions—whether we recognize it or not. Have you ever walked into a a room and felt a charge in the air and you just knew someone just had an argument there? Or maybe you’ve noticed a kind of “after taste” after you spend time with a certain person, perhaps a lingering flavor of insecurity or anxiety seems to have infected you. This is the body receiving a transmission about the state of the other living bodies we’ve come in contact with. We, too, are emanating a charged cloud of data with our very presence, changing every space we enter with what we bring, even as we receive energy data from others.
Human beings are open energy systems communicating with each other in ways far beyond what we sometimes recognize. In a culture that disowns the body, and discourages noticing and processing our bodies’ lived experience, we have shut down awareness of what we are transmitting—but that doesn't mean we aren’t doing it!. Learning to notice, and take care of and responsibility for the energy data we are sending and receiving can make everyday activities less draining and confusing.
Clearing and revitalizing the Main Central Energy Channel is like cleaning off our personal antennae. It also helps us feel clearer about our own soul presence, purpose, and trajectory. It makes it easier to know what we need and to draw into our lives (and sometimes even more important: what we don’t need). When the Main Central is well-attended to, we feel clearer about what is ours to process, and what isn’t, so we can let slide on by. Clearing and revitalizing the Main Central Energy Channel is quick, effective, and free! And it’s as close as your next breath.
36 Breaths
When we breathe with intention, our breath deepens and become more complete and full. This helps our bodies become oxygenated, energized and more sensitive to sensation and data flow with others. Jin Shin teachers would say that this is in part because breathe clear and energize the Main Central Energy Channel of the Body.
Every exhale clears the Main Central, and every inhale reenergizes it. Jin Shin Jyutsu teacher Mary Iso Burmeister was known to say that taking thirty six intentional breaths in a day is enough to improve the quality of every other breath we take in that 24 hours.
We can deepen the effectiveness of our 36-Breaths practice if we simultaneously cross our our arms and place our finger tips in the opposite armpit. In Jin Shin Jyutsu, the hands are understood as “jumper cables” (like what you might use to re-start a car battery): by placing the hands on specific energy centers in the body, our “jumper cables” encourage the flow of energy through the channels . There are energy centers toward the back of the armpit that are called the “26.” When held, they strength the Main Central Energy Channel. The 26’s are thought to align all that was, is, and shall be, with the life Creator.
To practice Thirty-Six breaths, we simply cross our arms, place our fingerstips in the opposite armpit, and exhale and inhale to a count of 36. I sometimes like to count out loud, or even sing—or tone—my counting. This helps my mind focus and seems to further energize my body. Sometimes I prefer to practice 36 Breaths quietly so that I can pay closer attention to the various sensations in my body. Sometimes there are sticky areas where breath doesn't;t want to flow easily, or stiff or numb areas. Warmly noticing the body’s sensations—without trying to force or control anything—can help stuck energies move. Sometimes the things our bodies hold just need to be noticed and acknowledged before our bodies want to let go.
You can also break up the 36 Breaths, doing 18 at the beginning of your Body Temple Time, and 18 at the end. Or you you can do nine breaths at four different times in your day. Perhaps at the start of Body Temple Time, and then at three other times in your day, as a quick refresher.
It’s good to try out different ways of practicing 36 Breaths to see what feels good to you. Your body will show you what feels most supportive. The most important thing is to let your body lead.
I think of 36 Breaths as my way of Sweeping Out my Body Temple at the start of Body temple Time, so in this week’s recording, that’s how we will use it.
I hope you enjoy!
Rev. Angela
