Day 2 – Soft Belly Meditation

As a culture, we Americans, along with our western world neighbors, tend to hold lots of tension in our bellies. With our emphasis on the lean look, we are taught at an early age to suck in our guts. Also, on a psychic level, the belly is an area where we hold feelings of fear and anger. In fact, we might fairly say that tension equals fear. By consciously softening the belly, we are taking the first step toward opening the heart and letting go, of tension, of anger, and of fear. Physically, when the belly softens, the up and down movements of the diaphragm are lowered, literally allowing the heart more space in which to operate. Do you feel the heart also relax as you relax your belly? Try it. That physical opening of the heart in turn leads to its spiritual and emotional opening.

“Softening becomes a call to the heart that it’s safe to be alive in the body once again.” ~Stephen Levine