I’d like to introduce a principle that can serve as the cornerstone of your efforts to have better health, whatever your state of health right now. I call it the “Golden Principle of Health.”
Certain principles, or causes, underlie all natural phenomena. You might also call them “natural laws” since they are intrinsic to the way the world works. The reason the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, for example, is that the earth rotates. And the natural law of gravity makes apples fall from their trees.
Universal principles lie behind our health, too, and failing to live in harmony with them gives rise to illness. With so many people sick these days, illness may seem normal, and it may seem like you have to do an awful lot to keep yourself healthy, but good health is the most natural condition of life. In other words, being healthy is what’s normal. So, to regain and retain good health, you need to understand the principles of health and live according to them.
I think this most central of these principles is:
Keep your head cool and your belly warm.
You’re healthy when you follow this Golden Principle of Health and unhealthy when you don’t. No matter what physical or mental issues you may have, if you apply this principle in your daily life, you’ll be able to make progress toward clearing them up.
You’re healthy when you follow this Golden Principle of Health and unhealthy when you don’t. No matter what physical or mental issues you may have, if you apply this principle in your daily life, you’ll be able to make progress toward… Click To TweetConsider applying this principle to maintain your health as important as social distancing, wearing a mask when going out, and frequently washing hands during the coronavirus pandemic. It works best when you make it a daily habit, like eating, brushing your teeth, and washing your face.
Check Your Condition
Before I describe this principle in detail, try checking your physical condition to see how healthy you are in light of this principle. First, touch your forehead with your hand and then the nape of your neck, sensing the temperature of these two areas. Now try clasping your hands together and feel their temperature. Also try sensing the temperature of your belly and feet by touching them with your hands. Does your forehead or the back of your neck feel about the same as your belly, hands, and feet or cooler? Or do they feel a little or a lot warmer?
It’s great if your forehead and neck feel cool and your belly, hands, and feet feel warm. If that’s your condition, you’re probably focusing well, with your mind at peace and your head clear. You may have enough energy to get through your day, be able to eat and sleep well, and approach life with enthusiasm. You’re better able to be creative and productive.
But if your forehead feels hot or if your belly, hands, or feet feel cold, then the harmony and the balance of your body may be broken, either temporarily or chronically. In this unbalanced state, your senses are duller and your breathing is shallower than they should be. Your shoulders and neck may be stiff, or you may experience headaches. You may also have problems with your digestive system. This condition affects your mental state, as well. Flooded with thoughts, you have trouble concentrating or sleeping. If you try to read in this condition, you’ll have difficulty grasping and retaining details. You may also feel confused or hesitant about making decisions.
Regain Your Balance
It’s not hard to reverse this imbalance, however. Even if your head is already cool and your belly warm, try the following exercise and see how you feel.
- Standing or sitting on the floor or in a chair, make loose fists with your hands.
- Relax your shoulders and tap your lower abdomen two inches or so below your navel using the part of your fists where your little fingers are located. Alternate your fists, tapping 100 times.
- Apply enough force so that you feel the vibration of your tapping in your abdomen, providing some degree of stimulation.
- After you finish tapping, close your eyes for about a minute as you comfortably focus on the sensations you feel in your body.
Do you feel a warm heat developing in your belly? Is your chest more comfortable, your breathing deeper? Does it feel like a kind of pressure or heat in your head is now sinking into your body? Are your eyes moister, and is your mouth filling with saliva? Do you feel better?
The type and intensity of sensations will differ from person to person, but people almost universally feel their bellies growing warmer and saliva filling their mouths. If you’re sensitive to physical sensations, you may get tangible feelings of warm vitality filling your body.
With this simple exercise, you are able to change the condition of your body in a very short time, making your head cooler and your abdomen warmer—in other words, putting your body into a healthier state.
A Principle of Energy
This principle involves more than temperature. It’s also about circulation. An organism is healthy when it has good circulation. With good circulation, nutrients and oxygen are supplied to every cell of our bodies, and carbon dioxide and waste products are fully eliminated.
Many things circulate in our bodies. Blood circulates through our blood vessels, lymph through our lymphatic system, and bioelectrical impulses through our nerves. But there is something crucial circulating through our bodies apart from these things—energy. The circulation of energy is every bit as important as that of blood and lymph, for it is the foundation that makes all other forms of circulation possible.
Keep your head cool and your belly warm. This is the Golden Rule of Health because it is the law of energy circulation, which lies behind our inherent state of good health. If you follow this one rule in your daily life, you can remain in this natural state of vitality.
I go into great depth on this principle and how to apply it in your life in my upcoming book: Water Up Fire Down: An Energy Principle for Creating Calmness, Clarity, and a Lifetime of Health.