The Ancient Chinese View of the Soul
Sometimes we think our soul is a concept separated from our physical body, but that's not how Chinese medicine looks at our soul.
In Chinese medicine our soul has different aspects called Shen, Zhi, Hun, Yi and Po. And they all live in particular organs in our body and from there communiate with us.
The Shen - the supreme consciousness is our higher self and resides in the heart,
The Zhi - our genetic and karmic inheritance and destiny lives in the kidneys,
The Hun - governs the dream space and influences our emotions and lives in the liver,
The Yi - our intellect and thoughts resides in the spleen and
The Po - our somatic awareness and instincts lives in the lungs.
They all work together and the Shen, our heart, is the overarching authority that feels, understands and interprets our experiences. From that place our soul starts to communicate with us.
You might ask now how can an organ communicate? Those organs and soul aspects are also linked to the circulatory and muscular system of the body: the skin, the muscles, the blood vessels, the nervous system.
And through those the soul communicates with us.
It's the body relaxing and tensing, a raising heart, pain, butterflies in the stomach, sweaty palms etc.
It's the tightness we feel in our shoulders when we carry too much stress, it's the pit in our stomach when we don't speak up, it's the butterflies we feel in our chest when we see our beloved, it's the yes and no that our body sends through relaxing or tensing up.
We receive these signals constantly. The question is though:
Are we listening?
Do we understand what our soul communicates through the body to us?
Usually we know when we pay attention to these signals, we act in more alignment, make better choices and overall feel more like ourselves.
So how can we listen better?
Here are a couple of ideas how we can connect deeper to this wisdom of our body:
body check-ins (where do I feel tension, warmth, sensations etc)
movement (dancing, mindful stretching etc)
touching our skin, massages
breath-work
sensory immersion (concentrating on the taste while eating, smelling flowers, feeling the touch of water on your skin, listening to bird sound etc.)
walking barefoot
noticing how our body communicates yes & no.
In my latest podcast we are exploring together differnt ways to listen and connect deeper with our body's intelligence.
If you want to explore more ways to connect to your body, listen to your needs and find the safety to express express yourself more freely, I invite you into my new course "Woman who sing themselves home". The course starts 7 October. You can read more below.
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