During Eight Golden Coins, during some of the toe-to-“reach for the sky” maneuvers called Join Heaven and Earth, I found the “Root”.
The Root is this allegedly-mythical place deep in your lower abdomen, represented in Hindu chakra systems by a red square. It’s at the base of the spine, and helps ground you. There’s no “there” there, As Mae West once famously observed about her hometown of Pasadena, California. Its official location, anatomically, is an intersection of muscles and tendons that at least in theory aren’t intrinsically related to one another. If you asked a Western medical professional to check your Root, you’d probably get some weird looks, and then be given an uncomfortable prostate exam. So there’s not really anything there to find. As I understand it. I am not a medical professional, your mileage may vary, warranty void where prohibited, and so on. This is just what I’ve read and heard, not what I know.
And yet.
And yet, there was a very definite “red square” moment, and not in the sense of visiting Moscow. My deep lower abdomen suddenly ‘tightened’ without tightening. My spine straightened. There was energy flowing up and down my legs. My breathing was deed and prolonged. My movements had an unexpected power behind them. There was a sudden, real sense that the movements I was making were martial in character: that they could save my life in a fight, and that my body was growing stronger and more skilled from the movements.
And the source of this sense, its focal point, was the root.
It didn’t last. But those few minutes were amazing. So, find the root. It seems to be important.
