Meditation – Inner Smile
Introduction
Inner smile meditation teaches us how to transform our negative emotional energy into vitality and healing.
This meditation is part of the ancient science of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The simple act of smiling inwardly calms the autonomic nervous system and revitalizes the internal organs, increasing the flow of blood and energy.
Healing the internal organs is a necessary first step towards physical health, emotional stability and spiritual development.
In ancient China, the Taoists taught that a constant inner smile ensured health, happiness and longevity.
These sages used the power of smile energy to achieve health and to transform negative thoughts and emotions.
Why?
Smiling at yourself is like warming up to love: it becomes your best friend.
To live with a smile on your face is to live in harmony with yourself.
Today we know that the simple act of opening your lips to smile moves 73 muscles in your face and sends a command of well-being and security to your brain.
We all know the power and strength of a genuine smile and the positive responses it attracts.
What the sages have discovered is that we can direct our smile to the vital organs of the body, and that an internal smile brings a sense of well-being and relaxation to our vital organs.
The simple fact of smiling at our organs has powerful rejuvenating and purifying effects.
Objectives:
Learn how to direct the energy of smiling to vital organs, transform negative emotions, increase vitality and activate your immune system.
The inner smile is a simple but powerful meditation for healing and transformation.
It helps transform negative emotional energy and stress into vitality and healing,
It’s an excellent resource for the modern lifestyle.
Preparation:
Sit with your spine elongated, in a chair or on a cushion, make yourself comfortable, this is the most important thing, your chin should be pointing towards the floor and your neck elongated.
Place the palm of your right hand on the palm of your left hand and rest your hands in your lap.
Slowly turn your attention inwards, lengthen your breath and invite your body to relax.
Start with the riding motion:
Rock your spine sideways from the base, feel and rock each vertebra from the base to the skull.
Feel your spine slowly becoming more relaxed and warm.
Swing your spine back and forth, tilting your head slightly.
Feel like a hollow bamboo.
(When you tilt your head, push your chin against your neck, feel the connection between your head and the first lumbar vertebra).
Before you finish, smile at the entire column.
The movement of riding and smiling at the spine is a very important exercise for relaxing the spine and nervous system.
Smile for the eyes
After relaxing your spine slightly, close your eyes and think of someone or something that makes you smile.
Sketch a slight smile: your lips are closed and the corners of your mouth are slightly raised.
Slowly turn your attention and your smile towards your eyes.
This is the first movement of the inner smile, smiling at the eyes.
Feel the eyeballs, how round and full of life they are, pay attention to the eyes, even with your eyes closed, they start to shine.
Initially, it will take some time for you to feel the energy of the smile in your eyes.
Take your time and simply smile.
The simple act of smiling into your eyes will bring a warm feeling to your heart and spirit.
Stretch into this inner smile.
At first, you can just do this meditation, keeping your attention on your eyes, that’s fine.
With some practice, you’ll feel your eyes filling with energy, it’s the same feeling when we get emotional, we feel our eyes filling with emotion.
The eyes are connected to the autonomic nervous system, which is divided into two parts: the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
The sympathetic nervous system controls the internal defense reaction.
The parasympathetic allows the body to rest and feel safe.
It produces calm, loving feelings and is, in turn, activated by similar feelings of love and acceptance from other people.
Hence the benefit of smiling into your own eyes.
The headWhen you feel your eyes filled with the energy of the smile, you will begin to consciously feel the power and energy of the smile and gain a new perception.Now that you can feel your eyes full of energy, they will begin to overflow with this loving energy and you will be able to smile from your eyes to other parts of your body.From the eyes you start to smile at your tongueYou will feel the energy accumulated in the eyes gently flowing down to the tongue.
The tongue is the connecting bridge between the posterior (yang) and frontal (yin) channels.
Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth.
Don’t force the energy down or imagine the energy going down, simply keep your attention on your tongue. This is very important for successful meditation, because the energy can’t be forced anywhere.
Where your attention is, the energy will accumulate there.
Now feel your tongue gaining new energy.When you feel that your tongue is well energized, turn your attention to your eyes, and from your eyes start smiling at other parts of your head, your teeth, the skin of your face and your ears.Spread the smile across your jawsWhen you allow the energy of your inner smile to penetrate your jaws, you can feel your body relaxing and the tension fading. Neck and throat: The neck is another reservoir of tension.
The neck is the bridge between the brain and the body.
Smile now at your neck and throat and feel tension slowly dissolving.
Heart: the heart pumps blood and energy through its veins and arteries.
The heart is also a great transformer of energy and feelings, it can both raise your energy levels and purify your feelings.
Smile at your heart from your eyes and brain.
This smile will relax the heart and the blood will flow more freely.
Feel the current of relaxation flowing from your eyes, face and neck to your heart.
You’ll end up feeling your heart soft and calm as well as your physical substance.
People who are nervous or get angry easily often feel pain and tension in and around the heart.
Smiling relieves stored tension and enables a new kind of functioning.
Fill your heart with love, and it will begin to radiate love that naturally transforms negative feelings.
A heart that radiates love has the power to transform your life and attract everything you need to be happier.
Lungs: Radiate love from your heart to your lungs.
Feel your lungs soften and feel a new comfort as you breathe.
Feel the air lighten as it enters and leaves your lungs.
Try to feel its moisture, its spongy quality as it relaxes and fills your lungs with energy.
Abdomen: Now smile at your liver, which is located on the right side just below the rib cavities.
If the liver is hard and difficult to feel, soften it with your smile.
With time, you’ll be able to bring it back to life, rejuvenate it with your smile and love.
Now, direct your smile at your kidneysThey are located on the back, on both sides of the spine, below the rib cage.
Smile at the adrenal glandsand they sent out a burst of adrenaline.
The kidneys are responsible for a large part of the body’s cleansing.
Smile and fill them with love.
Like the heart, it will increase the flow of energy in the kidneys and the body.
Allow the smile to flow through the central abdomen, pancreas and spleen, then rest your smile on your navel.
It is possible to smile at all the organs.
The process of smiling at the organs relieves their workload and internal tensions.
Midline: Now direct your smile towards your stomach.
With your inner smile, follow the saliva down the esophagus, all the way to the navel.
Saliva is a lubricating nectar and contains vital energy that disperses throughout the body from the center of the navel.
Smiling will expel nervous energy from your stomach, you’ll eat better food and find it easier to digest.
Now relax the energy of your smile through the small intestine, the large intestine and finally the rectum.
Back Line: The Spine: Smile back into your eyes until they are filled with the energy of the smile, then smile into your tongue and start smiling down the inside of your spine.
With your back straight, go down one vertebra at a time, smiling at each one until you reach the coccyx.
The spine protects the central nervous system and is crucial for increased circulation.
Starting with the neck, there are seven cervical, twelve thoracic and five lumbar vertebrae, plus the sacrum and coccyx.
With practice, you will feel a tranquillity, warmth and comfort in each vertebra.
When your spine is more relaxed, you’ll feel more vigorous and the internal fluids will flow up your back more easily.
Finish: collect the energy in the navelWith practice, the inner smile meditation can be done in just a few minutes, although at first it may take a while to feel your inner smile.
When you finish meditating, it’s not good for the energy to be circulating around the higher centers such as the head and heart.
The best place to store energy in the body is the navel area.
To store the energy in your center, focus your mind on your navel and imagine the energy spinning like an inner spinning top slowly, with outward spiral movements, about 1 cm deep from your navel.
With your palm facing your navel, turn 24 times.
For men, the direction of the spiral movement should be clockwise first; for women, anti-clockwise at the beginning.
Then reverse the circle of energy in the opposite direction 12 times.Finish the practice.Practice the inner smile every dayLearn to see your home, your body as a community of many workers, devoted members who are not recognized and who are often the targets of abuse. Learn to behave towards its various parts as if they were your children who deserve respect and affection.And smile a lot at life and the world.