How to smile on the inside:

I was first introduced to the Taoist exercise called the “inner smile” about 15 years ago.   I was studying with an awesome qi gong and Taoist instructor who had spent many years living in China.

Each week we were guided to smile on our face, really feel the smiling energy and then imagine ( in our minds eye )  sending the smiling energy into each of our organs.   Slowly and deliberately breathing the smiling energy fully into each organ.  We spent at least 5 minutes allowing each organ to receive the smiling energy before moving onto the next.  It was calming and an easy way to feel relaxed on the inside.  You’d be surprised how tense and tight organs can get.

Now, this might sound super easy, however  some weeks – to my surprise – some organs simply refused to receive a smiling breath.  The stubborn organ ( with attitude ) generally was tight, hard and tense.  It obviously needed relaxing along with a little bit of attention and love.  To achieve success, I would place my hands on the organ (for a stronger connection) continue to breathe and smile into the stubborn body part; until it finally softened and received the well-being benefits of the smiling energy.

I must say this simple little exercise taught me alot about my organs as I became more and more intimate with them as each week passed.  If the organ being stubborn was the kidney then I made sure I drank more water and used the smiling energy to dissolve any trapped fear in my kidneys.  If the organ being stubborn was the liver  I ate clean simple food – giving the liver a rest and focused on using the smiling energy to dissolve any trapped anger in my liver.