Circulating from the Heart
rather than the Brain
"By definition, LIQUID
is what seeks to obey gravity rather
than maintain its form,
forgoes all form to obey its gravity."
- Francis Ponge, The Nature of Things
The average adult body is made up of 50 - 65% water. The nature of liquid is that it flows down. Francis Ponge observes the properties of water in his poem, appropriately titled, "Water", and his poem has inspired me to internally gaze at the liquid of my body in a passive, formless way.
I think of the days of Lifting and Spreading the toes in yoga classes. The experience of this is quite electric. It utilizes the brain, to send signals through the nervous system, to will the toes to spread. I suppose this is beneficial. It is establishing mind - body circuitry.
However, there are other ways to bring circulation and aliveness to the feet. Rather than through the Brain, we can circulate to the feet through the bloodstream, the liquid of the body,
and therefor move from the pumping of the the Heart as we practice, rather than the will of our mind. Something to play with and try.
"Below me. Forever below me. There's water...
Water endlessly ravels in
upon itself, constantly refuses to assume any form, tends
only to self-humiliation, prostrating itself, all but a corpse,
like the monks of some orders. Forever lower: that seems to
be its motto - the very opposite of reaching for the heavens."