Why Smile to our Organs
Why Smile to our Organs
How much attention do you pay your face, hair and body each day?
How many times do you look in a mirror a day?
Do you know where your organs are in your body or what they look like?
In a Western world obsessed with looks, appearance and the exterior body, we are neglecting the most important parts of ourselves; the organs that sustain our life. Most organs you cannot live without, but we tend to focus on our external bodies, hair, face, abs and biceps. We can surely live without those. What would happen if we spent as much time attending to our internal body as we do our external?
The Classical Chinese movement arts of Tai Chi and Qigong are a great way to aid your internal organs in their function, health and productivity. Tai Chi and Qi Gong are internal physical practices that move the body through spiralling, coiling and compressive and expansive movements. This helps to massage the internal organs, flushing out toxins and waste, activating the lymph pump system, increasing blood flow and drawing in of nutrients.
The Taoist meditation of the inner smile helps the organs relax, aiding improved function, and recycling emotions held in the organs, whilst clearing any Qi blockages. The inner smile is a way to thank you organs for the work they do, by smiling down into them with warmth. 'Where the mind goes, the Qi goes'. A true smile helps to activate the parasympathetic nervous system in the body, which is the automatic relaxation response. Smiling reduces tension, relaxes the body and helps the body systems work more productively.
Well if somebody did all of the following work for you 24 hours a day just to sustain you, wouldn’t you be grateful?
In The Inner Smile, we smile to the following organs:
Circulatory and cardiovascular system
- Heart - Pump blood to deliver oxygen to the brain and body. Circulation, blood flow, viscosity and temperature.
Respiratory system
- Lungs - Carry oxygen from the air into the bloodstream, expel carbon dioxide from the bloodstream into the air.
Digestive system
- Pancreas - Secrets digestive enzymes to help the small intestine
- Stomach - The second phase of digestion
- Small intestine - Digests and absorbs nutrients from food passed through the stomach
- Large intestine - Absorbs water from indigestible food and passes waste from the body
- Liver - Detoxification, filters blood, eliminates waste from the body, protein synthesis, digestion, metabolism, decomposition of red blood cells and produces bile as a waste by-product
- Gallbladder - Fat digestion, stores bile produced by the liver until needed by the digestive system (the original recycling!)
Excretory system
- Kidneys - Filters the blood, produce hormones, remove waste and excrete via urine
Immune and Lymphatic system
- Spleen - Immune system, aids the body fight infection, removes old red blood cells
Endocrine system
- Pancreas - A gland producing insulin and hormones
- Pituitary gland - Secretes nine hormones that regulates Homeostasis (a constant, stable state). Also known as the third eye
- Pineal gland - Produces the hormone melatonin (derivative of serotonin)
- Adrenals - Releases hormones from the stress response (sympathetic nervous system)
* Please note that the Taoist practices are not a replacement for conventional medical treatment. Please speak with your doctor prior to starting a new exercise programme. This article is for information purposes only and must not be taken as medical advice. *
