Go for the Buddha Belly!

Why is the Buddha frequently depicted with a massive belly laughing his head off? In my opinion, its because he doesn’t care whether hes got six pack abs.

Our culture’s insatiable drive for fitness and the “perfect body” is sadly one of the forces that is alienating people from themselves. While there are surely many well intentioned fitness junkies out there, the images we recieve through pop culture and the media promote creating a good looking body at the expense of functionality and freedom. The energy of the popular drive for fitness comes from the desire to create a more appealing self image, rather than a fuller experience of the self moment by moment.

Perhaps the epitome of this drive can be seen in the craze for “six packs” in men and “washboard abs” in women. This is the kind of muscle that is created when the abdominals are repeatedly contracted until they remain in a state of perpetual tension, which our culture labels as attractive. While core strengtheining is extremely important, the tightness that exists in an overdeveloped abdomen actually restricts the movment of the diaphragm, inhibiting breathing and energy flow.

From a metaphysical standpoiont, the abdomen composes the third chakra, which on an emotional level mediates one’s self identity. Consequently, having a very tight abdomen effectively hardens one’s self image. There is no freedom or breathe-ability, just a rock hard chunk of muscle that serves as personality armor!

As far as energy goes, the abdomen connects the heart with the pelvis, love with sexuality. In an open, integrated individual there is a softness in the belly that allows for the possibilty of making love– the free flow of energy between the heart and the sexual center. However, in our image crazed culture the self image (and the belly) becomes so hardened that this is no longer possible and making love degrades into meaningless sex. And there we have the “ideal” man of the 21st century- a hunk of muscle that gets a lot of women but tragically can’t feel connected to any of them.

So, what should we do? Go for the Buddha Belly!

Core strengthening, like I metioned, is extremely important– but it needs to be balanced with flexibility and with functionality. Particularly, it is the transverse abdominal muscle, which lies beneath the “six pack” rectus abdominals, which needs to be developed. The transverse abdominal is responsible for maintaining posture and thus for preserving the integrity of the spinal cord, yet it does not create the blockage of energy that is characteristic of strong rectus abdominals. As such it is perhaps the most important place to strengthen for physical integration.

The best exercises for the deep core are ones that synergize the entire body through the core muscles. For example, plank pose (the top position of a pushup) is a wonderful pose that requires the use of the whole body, particularly the legs and the core. Any exercise that incorporates the whole body simultaneously is great for this purpose. To engage the tansverse abdominals, make sure to pull in the lower belly rather than crunch the abdomen–you should feel the support coming from below the navel, not above. However, care must be taken to breathe smoothly throughout the exercise (no holding or groaning!) and to balance strengthening poses with ones that stretch the same areas, so that strength and openness may exist simultaneously.

When your deep core is strong, then you can let your belly breathe free! Your body can be both strong and open, and so can your identity!  No longer a slave to your six pack, you too will let out that big, Buddha belly laugh!

~ by yogibenji on October 13, 2009.