Fire Down, Water Up

"The concept of WATER UP, FIRE DOWN explains our bodily energy flow and consumption in a way that’s easy to understand.

Fire energy moves down the front side of your body, and from there, the kidneys play the important role of transforming it to cool water energy to move up along your back and into your head. This flow is what balances your system's energy. 

Think about it intuitively—do you feel better when your head is hot and body is cold or when your body is warm and your head is cool? 

Any active movement that leads to sweat that cycles the hot energy will activate your kidneys and allow them to return to their function in creating water energy to cool your body and move fire energy."

Austin Adams

I don't know why or how my life continues to be so damn full on. As I am still grieving the loss of  my friend Ali, my Nana has begun her own dying process and I'm flying out the East Coast to be with family and say good-bye.
My world just keeps on letting me know that control is an illusion. And impermanence, loving and losing, and groundlessness are the name of the game.
I have no wisdom around how to deal with this at the moment, as more often than not, I find myself quite overwhelmed and mystified how much can happen all at once.
But I have noticed how easy it is for me to spin out only to crash even harder as the day goes on. So I've been doing some research on how to recycle my own energy. It's one thing to receive from the world, from others. I think it's unbelievably important to do that.

But how can I recycle what I give? How can we recycle all the love, attention, care and energy we give so readily to the people we know?

Fire down, water up.
That's how.

As I feel myself extending, reaching out, or even just being really freaking busy and stressed as I navigate death, belongings, emergency plane trips and all the people involved in both....I am visualizing the fire energy, the heat, the busyness in my head moving down the front of my body. I am feeling it, the heat, the sensations of warmth. I imagine that the energy then flows up my back, transformed into cool waters by my awesome kidneys. It brings space, relief, a waterfall of energy up my spine, into my head.

The most effective way I'm experiencing this is by dancing and feeling my kidneys in action. I'm letting my kidneys do it for me as I sway with my hands resting on them, silently thanking them. But in my many frequent moments of 'I can't do this anymore,' I'm visualizing it. Feeling it with my mind-body. So try it on for size, because we all could use a little more of what we give.