Photo by Jill Clardy

It’s only because I am consciously rocking the gut this summer that I noticed:  I have been continually holding tension in my abdomen.

Tight in my center. That’s me.

This unfortunate side effect of staying in shape has created energetic blocks between myself and what I want to manifest.

By staying tense, pulling in my gut whenever I’m in public, keeping the habit of tension when I’m in private, I have kept myself from fully relaxing into the present moment.

The gut is, in emotional terms, what guides us. Charles Haanel believed that the subconscious mind had its focal point in the solar plexus, and it is through understanding this potent force of energy that we are able to use his “Master Key System” and manifest positive results in our life.

By holding tension here, I have been manifesting the wrong results. (2010 was a hell of a year for me, and I took a lot of hits, financially and professionally. I was also, coincidentally, in the best shape of my life.)

This has been an extraordinary exercise, taking time to relax into having more than enough. My gut houses more than I need, in terms of fat content, stored energy, and intuition.

It was when I was rationing this area of myself, starving it, modifying it so it looked the way I wanted to in public, that I was having such a hard time getting things to happen the way I wanted them to.

My challenge, when I go to Costa Rica and resume my yoga practice, will be to allow myself this same expansion without the egocentric desire to shave myself down to a slice of what I could be.

I think there is a way, to maintain fitness and at the same time allow relaxation and flow. But for now, I am preparing for a three-day Organic Brew Festival to aid me in my journey.