The Inner Smile Mediation is an excellent antidote to overthinking. If you are prone to getting stuck in your head in an analysis-paralysis mode, then you are in luck. The Inner Smile meditation will not only help you release your mental stress but also help cultivate emotional freedom & inner peace.
How I came across the Inner Smile MediationÂ
Back in April of this year, I was browsing through Qigong books on Amazon when I came across Mantak Chia’s book on the ‘the Inner Smile – increasing Chi through the Cultivation of joy.’
The title of the book intrigued me. So, I hit ‘Buy Now.’ And once I started reading it, I literally inhaled the book in one sitting – it was that good & a quick read.
The core idea in the book is: Our smile has a healing power. And a true smile can transmit a warm, healing energy. Quite honestly, it sounded too good to be true – So I decided to give it a try. I figured I got nothing to lose & started practicing this meditation daily. Within a few days, I started feeling a much deeper connection with my body & even the vital organs. Mind you, I have been a meditation student for over 10 yrs – so it wasn’t like the first time I was learning to connect with my body. But the simplicity and potency of this meditation amazed me.
When was the last time you time off your busy schedule to think about your heart or liver or kidneys? Hardly ever. Right? And so, when you smile at your liver, heart, and all the other major organs, it starts creating a bond of intimacy & love with our organs.
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Inner Changes from practicing the Inner Smile Meditation
The Inner Smile mediation gave me a new-found appreciation & love for my body & body organs in ways I didn’t experience before. After three weeks of consistently practicing the Inner Smile mediation, something unexpected happened. That is, when I smiled at my organs – my organs smiled back at me. Some of them were even talking to me!
I was shocked, to say the least. Because one tells you that you can communicate with your organs, you can develop a relation with them. At that point, I knew without a shadow of doubt that this meditation was potent & I needed to share it with others.
But what truly sealed the deal w.r.t to the Inner Smile meditation was that my overthinking tendencies exponentially decreased. It surprised me at first, because despite being a meditation student for over a decade, this was one area I constantly struggled with.
So to come across a meditation practice that makes it easy to turn off the mental chatter – felt no less than a gift from God.
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How the Inner Smile Mediation counteracts overthinking
Let’s discuss the mechanics of how the Inner Smile meditation counters overthinking.
When I reflect on the Inner Smile meditation through the lens of the Four Body Model System, things start to add up & make sense. According to the Four Body Model System, at an energetic level, we have four bodies. Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
The majority of us have an overdeveloped and overstimulated Mental Body. But an under-developed & undernourished Emotional Body. This inherent imbalance bolsters overthinking/OCD thought patterns.
When you practice the Inner Smile mediation, you are learning to step out of your mental body by reconnecting with your body, and breathing through the uncomfortable emotions. In essence, you are learning to tap into all the wisdom & intelligence of all four bodies. This is at the heart of how The Inner Smile meditation counters overthinking.
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My definition of the Inner Smile Meditation
A gentle (yet, potent) tool that helps you cultivate physical body awareness, helps you heal your emotional body & helps you release the excessive reliance on your mental body (which outwardly manifests as overthinking).
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Benefits of the Inner Smile Mediation
Tangible Benefit #1
The Inner Smile Meditation is an excellent antidote for stress. Often we don’t realize that stress is not just in our head. It is also in our body, shoulders and neck. Even our organs hold on to stress. Our organs work 24×7, 365 days a year without breaks or any time off or any vacation. And so when you sincerely smile at your organs, the body starts releasing excessive stress & tension so it can deeply relax.
According to the TCM, excessive negative emotions like anger, fear, AS WELL AS excessive positive emotions like too much joy or excitement can injure the organs & over time, cause sickness & disease in the body.
So when you practice inner smile meditation, you can transmute any excessive negative energy logged in your organs & in the process, improve health & vitality of your physical body
Tangible Benefit #2
One side effect of this meditation is that à when you consciously start connecting & develop a relation with your organs – you stop abusing them. You know, you can’t smile at your body & organs and also abuse them; those two are mutually exclusive.
And this is something I can vouch through personal experience. When I started practicing this mediation – I really got present to the high levels of stress my adrenals were holding on to. And so, I learned new techniques to destress – that was my way of showing love to my adrenals. Perhaps once you start practicing this mediation – you might give up on sugar or fried food or anything else you might be addicted to.
Tangible Benefit #3
You can use the principles of this meditation & apply them towards your daily challenges. Imagine smiling at any obstacle or challenge that comes your way. I bet you’ll have far more ease in navigating that stressful situation.
Mantak Chia often compares negative emotions to garbage – and says, they can cause a great deal of damage to both your internal and external environment. With inner smile meditation – So can shift these stuck energies & consciously cultivate positive virtues.
Tangible Benefit #4
Another benefit is – Inner smiling meditation instantly uplifts your mood. You can’t smile & also frown at the same time.
Tangible Benefit #5
Inner smile meditation also increases chi, or the life force energy that reaches your organs
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The Why? Making a case for Inner Smile Mediation
When I have to make my case for the inner smile meditation – I often tell folks – imagine something is an intimate part of your life, dies with you, accompanies you from your first breath until the very last breath you take. Wouldn’t you dedicate even 5 mins to it? I rest my case.
You know – without your body, your organs -you won’t be here in this reality and enjoying what life has to offer – including your family, your kids, your job & every aspect of your life. That’s how important your physical body is.
The best part about this meditation is that you can do this meditation whenever you want – on your way to work, or while grabbing a cup of coffee, or waiting to pick up your lunch or even driving home from work. Unlike other meditations – you don’t have to carve a special time or sit at one place with eyes closed. This one bypasses all those requirements
Clearly, you can tell, I love inner smile meditation. Because it works beautifully. When I find something that is easy, simple & actually delivers result – then I want to share it with my people.
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Resources
- Link to the book, The Inner Smile by Mantak Chia: https://amzn.to/3LA6CTc
- Excellent Qigong meditations by Robert Peng
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