Shen Training | Train the spirit
Do you train your spirit?
Oddly enough, when you take the time to focus on your breathing and movement, you DO train the spirit. But I want to take you further into what could be considered Shen Training - the ultimate brain training.
Shen is stored in the Heart.
The Summer time is the easiest season to talk about the organ system correlated to the 4 Seasons from a Chinese Medical standpoint.
Why? Because we speak Chinese Medicine when we speak of the Heart. We use colors, shapes and emotions based around an organ. We know that your heart isn’t literally broken when someone has a ‘broken heart’. We connect the ideology of love and excitement around an organ that pumps blood. And yet, we still speak highly of someone with a ‘big heart’ without thinking of the medical implications if that were literally true.
And so, we begin to understand the system of the Heart.
The spirit of the Heart is called the Shen and within the philosophy comes the emotional, physical and mental training for how we can find balance in our health.
This is a COMPLEX area of study in Chinese Medicine but to narrow down the logistics, I have highlighted 4 ways you can begin YOUR Shen Training so you can be happy, mentally clear and physically well in your everyday lives!
Let the Shen Training Begin!
1. The Heart Needs To Be Calm
Calm the heart (that shouldn’t seem too foreign to our ears) so the Shen (the mind, the spirit, the consciousness) can see clearly. Like looking through a jar full of water and sand, when you are still. Sit with your emotions. Sit with silence. Sit and forget. The sand begins to settle and we can see through the jar with clarity. The Shen settles and is no longer in flux.
A busy heart and out of control emotions harm the Shen. We can view this similar to the Western understanding of sympathetic tone affecting the nervous system sending us into a constant state of threat. Affecting the gut and mind, we can find ourselves neurologically and physiologically unstable leaving us prone to injury or illness.
WHAT CAN I DO?
Avoid the news before bed. Turn off your cell phone notices. Watch less intense movies and instead find something funny to watch. Go for a walk outside. Get together with your community - however big or small - community is important for overall wellness.
If the Shen is damaged or leaves, we cannot cure the disease.
- Kiiko Matsumoto
2. Come Into Your Breath
A powerful notion when we realize how flawed we are in our breathing habits. The System of the Lung helps council the Heart. When we’re upset, what is our “Chinese Medicine” Western response? You need to BREATHE! Shen is formed from the Qi of our Breath. Specifically known as Da Qi. (more on this later!)
Piggybacking on the sympathetic tone understanding from the previous point. When we don’t breathe properly, we are actually creating multiple areas of stagnation and immobility which can also result in poor health.
SO WHAT CAN I DO?
Breathe through your nose as you massage your ribcage. Take 4 counts to inhale and then double the exhalation as you count to 8. Pause here for 7 counts as you relax, soften and inhale for your 4 counts to repeat 4x.
3. Adapt Food & Drink to the Seasons
Many of my acupuncturist friends and colleagues LOVE me for saying this because your nutritional habits can make them look like magicians when their clients are practicing balance diets that pertain to the season. Good Food Qi (Gu Qi) is pivotal when acupuncture and herbs are applied for healing. It can truly make the difference. Your food also has a grand affect on your mental and emotion state.
Your food should reflect what season it is on your plate. Shrimp and roasted cauliflower tacos with mango cabbage slaw is EXCELLENT during the summer season but we need to look at more warming and nourishing foods for the Winter like a warm squash & quinoa salad with goat cheese and garlic/ginger roasted brussel sprouts. YUM!
When the two Jing meet, Shen is formed.
- Kiiko Matsumoto
4. Do Qigong
As my Qigong Master always says “Just do Qigong!” This form of Nei Gong movement is about intention, breath and movement. Mindless movement doesn’t create change and Shen Training sets us forward to create neuroplastic change. Our nervous system needs to be out of threat for change and healing to happen. Qigong is a reminder of intentional and natural movement.
Often Qigong movement creates a new cognitive behavior within us and can renew the totality of our experiences (how we eat, how we move and how we react). Qigong can clear our Shen!
SO WHAT CAN I DO?
Well… you can begin right now! Since you’ve been such an attentive reader, I am offering you 40% off the 5 Element Qigong form from the Body401k Shop! Just enter JUSTDOQIGONG in the discount code and hit apply! You can instantly get access to a BEAUTIFUL Qigong form that is geared to help you with Shen Training! PDF and ability to download video so you can practice offline!
Train for clarity. Train. your spirit. Train your Shen!
Credits:
Kiiko Matsumoto & Stephen Birch, Five Element and Ten Stems
