You Are a Meeting Point Between Heaven and Earth

Posted: April 16, 2012

Here’s an idea that always makes me stand up a little taller and take a deeper breath when I think it: I am a unique meeting point between heaven and earth. Each one of us connects heaven and earth in a way that no other being does in exactly the same way.

In the taoist perspective, humans represent the third aspect of existence, following One (the undifferentiated Tao), and Two (the separation of the Tao into heaven and earth, or, yin and yang). It is we who define the space between the Two, heaven and earth, material and non-material, above and below. And it is a stamp upon us each, our “heavenly mandate,” that gives us a unique way in which we connect or relate heaven to earth and earth to heaven.

Knowing ones self as this unique meeting point means that we have authentic expression of the Tao – one’s true nature. This arises with relaxed awareness. One of the places that relaxed awareness can rest easily is on the breath, following the rise and fall of the belly. There are many wonderful acupuncture points located on the belly.

Heavenly Pivot, more commonly known as Stomach 25, lies about two inches to the left and right of your navel. (To find this point, locate the lateral border of the rectus abdominus, at the level of your navel). Located at the physical center of the body, half-way between heaven and earth, the name reflects the body’s capacity to pivot left and right from the waist as we move about the earth, fulfilling our destiny. This point is also very helpful in stimulating good movement of the intestines as we return the earth’s nourishment back to its origin.

Remember that you are in fact a unique meeting point between heaven and earth. Notice how this relaxes the posture, the breath, and the mind.