Back from vacation and back to the meridians. The spleen and stomach meridians are up for discussion today. Your spleen is about the size of your heart and is located behind the stomach on the left side under the diaphragm. The spleen is an organ of digestion. It gets the nutrients from what the stomach digests and processes the nutrients for the body to utilize. Also, the spleen destroys and recycles old red blood cells and is the location where white blood cells trap infectious organisms. The stomach is located to the left of the diaphragm, between the esophagus and the intestines. Food stays in the stomach for 3-4 hours sending the nutrients to the spleen and the waste to the small intestine. This meridian pair is highly dependent on a healthy diet. Pure foods high in nutrients keep our spleen and stomach healthy which yields health to the rest of the body. When we eat poorly we throw our bodies into imbalance. How can we expect our bodies to perform physically or mentally without the nutrients it requires to function? We can expect for our body's rhythms to be off, such as sleeping, thinking and breathing, which make us lethargic and dull. We need food to ground us so when we eat well we feel earthy and full. When the spleen-stomach meridians are not flowing freely, we can feel anxious, nervous, pensive, worried and may tend to obsess or be inflexible. The spleen connects us to the outer world so when balanced we feel at ease to respond appropriately to anything that comes our way and our minds are clear to make connections and insights.
The path of the spleen meridian begins at the big toe, moves up the inner leg, next to liver channel, enters the body at the groin, goes through the spleen and stomach, up through the diaphragm and chest and ends at the root of the tongue. The stomach path starts at the nose, moves down the face and neck, entering the body, going through the diaphragm, stomach and spleen, moves down to the top of the leg and ends at the second toe. Postures to get in tough with these meridians are ones that open up the front of the body and thighs, stretching the inner line of the leg, twisting the torso and stretching the groin area. As mentioned before, at the end of this yin/meridian series I will post pictures or a video of yin postures. Safety is very important so I take presenting this information seriously and want you to be able to receive the most benefits without injury. So, go feed your spleen so it can feed you!
