Everyone stands in a circle facing the center
Our 3 longest meridians start around our eyes and flow down the front, side, and back of our legs. Starting in our head and flowing from heaven to earth, they are yang meridians, each has a yin partner that flows up the inside of our legs to the area around our heart. The 3 yin meridians in our arms start around the heart, and when we hold our arms up, flow towards the heavens. Their yang partners flow back down into the head, the place where all our yang meridians have a pole, just as the area around our heart is where all our yin meridians have a pole.
According to Masunaga, each pair of meridians share one function of our life force. Those in our legs have to do with going out and getting our food from the earth, how we use the power we got from it, and the return of everything back to the earth. The meridians in our arms have a completely different set of functions. Masunaga says they have to do with the inside and the outside. We are going to stretch each pair of meridians opening them first to the outside and then to the inside. We are going to start with the lung and large intestine pair that have to do with the interchange between the inside and outside. The lung meridian begins in the upper corner of the chest and goes out the arm to the thumb. Cross your arms and hold its first points with your thumbs. Feel your lungs open as you breath into these points. Breathe again. And again. Now open these meridians to the outside by holding both arms up at a 45 degree angle and back. Feel their flow up to your thumbs and back down to under the base of your nose. Feel how open you are to the outside....hold .....
Now we are going to stretch the same meridians to the inside. Reaching behind link your thumbs and, leaning forward, gradually increasing the stretch with each outbreath, feel the inner side of the flow you previously stretched outward when your arms were spread open.
Let your arms drop to your side, knees, hips and shoulders relaxed. The next pair we are going to stretch are the meridians of the surface, Circulation and Triple Heater. The first point is just to the outside of the nipple. Starting there the flow goes out to the middle finger and back into the face. Cross your arms and hook these points with your middle fingers. Between them is the heart center on the surface which is traditionally related to the Circulation Meridian. Hold. Now open this pair to the outside by holding both arms straight up and stretching them back. Feel how open your surface is. Your surface is your direct contact with everything outside. Feel that contact. Feel it in your heart center open on the surface.
Now we are going to sit down and stretch these meridians to the inside. Keeping your back straight, cross your legs. Cross your arms pulling your knees towards each other as they continue pushing away from your pull. Be aware of your whole surface and how you are inside it. Feel how, besides being our contact to everything outside, it protects everything that is inside. Feel everything inside that protection. Hold..
Shake your arms out. Shake your back. Now we are going to stretch the innermost pair: Heart and Small Intestine, the meridians of our deepest inside. The first point is inside the armpit. From there the flow goes out to the little finger and on into the head. Reach across and hook your little fingers lightly into the inside of your armpits. Hold. We can stretch the heart meridian to the outside one arm at a time. Reach behind your head with one arm, pulling its elbow back with your other hand. Feel how open it is. Hold. This meridian is considered sacred in the orient. Stretch the other arm back.
Now to stretch the same meridians to the inside pull the soles of your feet together and holding your feet surrender the straightness of your back rounding it around your inside.. Hold. These meridians of the inside have to do with assimilation and meditation. Since there are six pairs of meridians in arms and legs and five elements, two of the six pairs share one element. The meridian pairs of the surface and the inside are both fire. The surface fire protects the deeper fire within. And just as there is a heart center on the surface there is a deeper heart center inside.. Round yourself around that deepest heart center.
Straighten your back and reposition your legs into a comfortable position for sitting. Straighten your arms out to the sides and roll them in big circles and then rest your hands in your lap, palm up, one on top of the other. Notice whatever flows you feel within your body, in your arms, and in your legs, and how, whatever flow you feel continues and continues. And how the longer you stay in the emptiness at the bottom the breath, the more the flows come to rest and are still. Stay in that emptiness.
©2007 Harold Dull