In the body, we ordinarily identify with the head. All of our energy and attention is focused in the head. If you try to sense, where in space am “I”, it is somewhere within the head. The rest of the body is felt to be an extension of this head self, and is mostly neglected. Knowing the brain as the control center reinforces this attitude. So we tend to become head-oriented, and thereby mind-oriented.
In fact, there are two primary centers in the body, and imbalance between these two centers can create great turmoil in the body and mind. The first center is the head, and the second center is, of course, the gut. Some scientists have called the gut the second brain because of its complex autonomy and systemic role in the body. After the brain, the highest number of neurons in the body exist in the gut. The gut-brain axis, the two-way link between the brain and the gut, suggests that both interact with each other intimately.
Ancient meditators somehow realized the significance of the gut center. Chinese Taoist practitioners refer to the gut center as the lower dantian, and the Zen tradition uses the Japanese word tanden. Indian kundalini meditation involves awakening chakra centers which start below the gut and move upwards along the spine towards the brain. Ayurveda asserts that all disease in the body starts in the gut. Fasting cleanses and illuminates the body and mind via the gut, and was likely the basis of meditation for a long before the development of mental insight based meditation.
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As a meditation method, create a conscious awareness in the gut center, in the lower abdomen. Crucially, it is not the head center or the mind which is drawing attention to the gut, but a separate, independent center in the gut which is “awakening”. The head surrenders control and defers to the deeper, second body center, in the gut. This gut center is subtler and quieter, yet more grounded and energetic, than the head center, which is full of noisy thoughts, emotions, desires, and fears. The gut center is the root of the physical body, while the head center is the place of the non-physical body, i.e. the mind. There exists a yin-yang relationship between the gut and head centers.
Be aware of the whole body through the gut as the true center, and both upper and lower body as peripheral extensions. Give no importance to the head at all, but rather draw attention from the lower abdomen downwards into the lower body, down the lower back, legs, and into the feet.
The Zen master Hakuin Ekaku in the 18th century taught a method of drawing Qi energy downwards from the lower abdomen (the “Cinnabar field” or “ocean of Qi elixir”) into the lower body. In his book, Yasenkanna, he relates an intriguing story of how he came to learn the method from a master known as Hakuyu, a cave dwelling sage, after struggling with what he called “Zen sickness” – complex physical ailments which were incurable by any medicine of the time or any mind-oriented meditation methods. Upon practicing this gut center and lower-body-oriented meditation for three years consistently, his persistent physical ailments disappeared. And he credits consistent practice of the method for his physical vitality and health into old age, as well as for enabling him to go deeper into many other meditation methods which were blocked for him earlier.
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It can be difficult for the mind to cede control. Too many important things require your attention, planning, and analysis, so you (i.e. the mind) need to be in control. The mind disbelieves that anything except for itself can be significant. It believes the body is not important, not essential. The body is treated as just a means to the mind’s ends, not intrinsically worthy or meaningful or beautiful. The mind thinks that it supersedes the body, that the purpose of the body is contained within the mind; I (the mind) am the master, and the body is the servant. These kinds of beliefs block the gut center from awakening and keep you head-heavy.
When the head is too full of thoughts and identity, it becomes heavy. The neck and back strain under the pressure, and this causes a drooping, slouching posture. When the awareness drops down to the lower abdomen, your center of balance is restored, the head becomes light, and posture naturally becomes straighter.
Identification with the head prevents awareness of other centers in the body. The head and gut are the primary two centers, but others exist throughout the body. Practices like acupuncture leverage energy points for healing the body and mind. These points and centers may not correspond to anything biological or medical, but their spiritual significance cannot be denied.
Gut-center awareness can only happen if you realize that the mind’s thoughts and any states produced by these thoughts (including feelings of meditative blissfulness) are ultimately a dead end. There is nothing existential in the mind. The mind can’t penetrate into the body, it can only access its own simulations. The body is separate, has its own independent sensitivity — the proof is that physical pain in the body can exist separately from any associated mental pain. If you stub your toe, the pain is felt directly by the toe. Subsequently, if you ruminate over the injury, the pain feels magnified because the mind’s simulated pain has been added to the equation. But there are two separate components.
When lying in bed falling asleep, sleep from the gut center rather than the head. Throughout the night, keep an awareness at the gut center. This quality of sleep will be much deeper and more restorative. Head-sleep is shallow and not as restful.
The gut center has its own kind of intelligence, much older than the mind, and much more deeply connected with nature. From an evolutionary perspective, it may be more accurate to call the gut the first or original brain rather than the second, since even creatures that don’t have brains have a gut, an enteric nervous system. The lowest common denominator, the original intelligence, is in the gut.
The mind becomes ensnared and overloaded by information, culture, and entertainment, and loses its connection to the body. The body is full of an ancient silent mystery, and the gut-center is the gate.