Belly Brain

Here is something fun to try. Pull your stomach in really, really tight. Now totally relax it. What? It didn't totally relax? Well, try it again. Still not? Ok. Not to worry. Just push it out as far as you can. Now try to relax it. What is the deal? Why is relaxing your belly kind of challenging? The solar plexus is the seat, so to speak, of our personal power and intuition. It turns out we have a "brain" in our bellies, complete with neurons and neuro-choemicals. 95% of the seratonin in your body is in your gut. No wonder we have such activity in our sweet bellies. Feelings! Emotions! Action! Movement! WaaaHoooooo! Yet, when we are scared, it is a great place, our bodies say, to clamp things down. Tight. Digestive problems ensue. Back problems. Breathing problems, even emotional issues can occur from how we respond to our belly. Fear and anger both show up in our bellies. Many of us use anger to cover our fear, or try to control others or tightly control our own selves. My favorite definition of fear is the belief that we will not get what we believe we need. But most of us do. Get what we need, that is. We even get a lot of what we want. So why the fear? Habit! The super villain of our lives. One way to address this is to change the feeling in our belly. We feel less scared when we relax our abdominal muscles. Push out that belly as far as it will go. Breathe big, soft, deep breaths. Soft, gentle, reassuring. When we can relax into the flow of our life, things get easy. It’s challenging when our abs are so tight to relax into anything. This goes along with being playful. It is easy to struggle when your body is all crunched up. It is easy to ache. The crunched up muscles pull everything out of whack, all our joints. Oh, sweet, poor little you. Start with your belly. Whenever you are alone, for example, practice sticking that dear little belly out as far as it will go, and pull it in tight. Repeat until the muscles tire, then just let it go, flop! And start listening to your belly brain! Notice when it is suggesting that you should be afraid. Most of the time, that fear is an old habit. You know how to break those, you brilliant Creative Questioner! Love your belly! Listen to it, but remember that it is kind of like a puppy. Your belly needs to have you stay on top of it. Relax those abs of steel. Allow life to flow through you and for you. Be soft like water. What makes me live so easily?