Here's something that I want to try soon:

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The Benefits of a Belly Pouch

Yesterday I stuffed my camera into a pouch, strapped the pouch around my waist, and went woods-walking.

The pouch? No subtle earth tones for me. It's bright green with yellow zippers.

The camera? It's been leading me into new directions for creativity. Literally.

As I hiked with the camera bag protruding many inches from my middle, I considered the camera inside to be the eye, the sensor, of my body's center.

Making my body's center the origin of my woods-awareness eased me into being present — to the spaces between leaves, the texture of bark on trees, the way a bee inserts itself into the foyer of a flower.

With the pouch bulging out from my middle, I also felt my belly relax. As in the Shield Yourself in Style inquiry (in Chapter 8 of The Woman's Belly Book), the camera bag gave me a sense of being sheltered, protected.

In the past few years I've been studying qigong, an ancient Chinese practice that cultivates the body's center and develops its capacity to circulate life force (chi, ki, prana).

I've been learning how the energy of the body's center expresses through five elements, also imaged as animal spirits, each with distinctive associations regarding organ, color, season, direction, emotion, and virtue.

In some cultures, the Sacred Feminine has been known as Lady of the Animals. I'm looking forward to exploring connections between the five animal spirits (tiger, bear, deer, crane, monkey) and images of goddess.

Deer, for example, relates to the wood element, spring, the color green, and the virtue of kindness. Monkey relates to earth, late summer, yellow, and trust.

Walking with the green and yellow pouch strapped around my waist, I'm on a belly-led late summer safari into realms of compassion and confidence.

--- By Lisa Sarasohn
www.loveyourbelly.com/bulletin/