The location of the Splenic center in the Bodygraph

The Splenic center is absolutely ancient. It is the first kind of awareness that our ancestors developed, the awareness of the Now. This awareness is still the only form of awareness for animals, plants and life as we know it other than humanity. Humans developed two more forms of awareness, mental and emotional, which has made things very complicated for us.

The awareness of the Now has only one interest, to be alive. To see how this awareness functions, think about the awareness that animals have. They don’t see beyond this moment. When there is nothing that helps or threatens their survival in the now, they simply drop their alertness; they relaz. For them, is no need to be aware of anything other than what is happening right now.

We experience splenic awareness as an intuition that processes information to keep us alive and our body healthy and safe. The splenic center preferably transfers its messages gently. A soft voice in the back of your mind or a gentle nudge in your stomach. But when you do not listen, the splenic center can turn up its volume to absolutely unavoidable.

As the immune system is a part of the splenic center, it uses disease, pain and other physical discomforts to get our attention to threats to our health and safety. This discomfort becomes more extreme, the more you ignore the message it is sending.

To be clear, I am in fact saying that sickness and pain are always the message, not the problem. They are signs that draw your attention to what is going on Right Now in your body and in your life and how it is not healthy for you. For example, lain could be sending you the message that you just bumped your toe which is not helpful to the healthy state of your toe. More extremely, a burnout could be sending you the message that your work schedule is not healthy for you.

As a form of awareness, the splenic center and the physical body that it serves are easily and quickly overwhelmed by the other forms of awareness that we have developed more recently – mental awareness (Ajna) and emotional awareness (Solar Plexus). These awareness centers have interest far beyond the now and have, each in their own way, come to dominate our attention. We are overwhelmed in our mind by thought and in our body by emotions and have forgotten how to appreciate the simple, gentle awareness of the Now.

So the Splenic center will sometimes have to go to extremes to get its message across. But in the end it always manages to get our attention, because we can only avoid our physical body for so long and it always catches up with us.

As I sit here writing this post, I am drawn into splenic awareness in two ways. First, my foot that got injured during climbing this week, drawing my attention to the experience of having feet, walking and being grounded. Second, a butterfly and a bumblebee that have landed on my body, asking me to appreciate their gentle touch and intricate beauty right now, before they fly away again. And as my mind is eager to draw my attention back to writing this, I make sure to listen to the message I am receiving here.

The message is clear: be grateful for what is in the Now. Feeling gratitude for every single moment grants you immunity to literally everything. Nothing can ever harm you when you are grateful for it all.

So, whether you have a defined or open splenic center, remember to listen to the gentle messages of your body, before they become louder. They are always there to bring you more joy and gratitude in life.