Summer: Fire in the Belly

By Joop Brouwer

As we move towards the season of summer, it is a good time to consider our understanding of the element associated with it —Fire. In this article, I’d like to relate the Fire element to its importance in nature and how it is reflected in human beings on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level, including in our tai chi practise. As is indicated by the importance of the sun in nature, the Fire element is vital for our good health.

Without fire, we would have no life. The fire of the sun is the most important source of energy for life on Earth, and its gravitational pull holds the Earth in orbit. The light radiated from the sun allows plants to grow and, through the production of food and oxygen, allows animals to live. The warmth keeps Earth at life-giving temperatures and creates winds, ocean currents, and clouds to transport water. The enormous effect that the sun has on the Earth has been recognised since prehistoric times, and it is therefore no surprise that the sun has been worshipped in many cultures as a god.

In Chinese medicine, the five elements, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood, are recognised as the manifestations of yin and yang, and form the underlying aspects of all life. Water is understood to be the most yin (winter, cold, dark) and Fire the most yang (summer, hot, light). Summer is the most yang time of the year, which we can recognise in its light, warmth, and abundance, and in our behaviour and emotions – going out, feeling alive, attending music festivals, circulation, interaction, joy, dancing, and romancing. As the days are longer, we can do more. It’s a nice time to meet with friends in the evenings to have a drink while sitting outside in the garden. It’s a time when people go on a holiday, and often the destination will be chosen based on their love and need of sunshine. Nature is blooming to its fullest, and plants and flowers will have reached the peak of their growth.

It is interesting to note that our language embraces our understanding of the fullness of Fire. When we say ‘I’m all fired up’ or ‘they have fire in their belly,’ we show a sense of this powerful life energy. Thomas Browne, a 17^th-century English polymath, made an analogy of fire being the driver of life: ‘Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us.’ We can also relate our emotions to a lack of fire: the flame going out when we feel sad, hurt, upset, down, or unloved.

In many cultures, fire is associated with spirituality. A candle is lit to represent God’s presence, or to represent the light within and through Archangel Michael, who symbolises the power of light overcoming darkness. Archangel Michael is viewed as the angelic model for the virtues of the spiritual warrior, with the battle within viewed as the conflict against evil. The idea of baptism by fire holds a promise of purification and renewal. The word enlightenment reveals the idea of bringing light to our internal process, perhaps by letting go of past negative experiences through self-observation and awareness.

Fire’s ability to illuminate and shine a light gives it a special relationship with the energy behind the arts of film and theatre, as these highlight the drama of life. The presence of the energy of Fire allows an accomplished actor not just to imitate but to become, in the same way that it allows a Chinese calligrapher to convey an emotion or story in a single brushstroke. A comedian shines a light on the audience by metaphorically holding a mirror in front of us and letting us laugh or cry about ourselves. Historically, the jester was the only one allowed to make fun of the ruler and served an important function of encouraging the ruler to reflect. This is also true in Javanese culture, as shown in their shadow puppet shows of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The high point of these performances is the appearance of the four jesters known as Punokawan, which means ‘friends who understand.’ They serve to tint the stories with humour and philosophical interludes that highlight the message of each performance. Although they present themselves as fools, they are understood to be reincarnations of old, wise souls.

In acupuncture, the Fire element manifests as the Heart, which is called the Supreme Controller. It can be compared to the emperor in the empire of the body or like the sun in the solar system. As well as carrying out the physical function of circulating blood around the body, the Heart is understood to house our spirit or unique self. King Solomon wrote in the Book of Proverbs: ‘A cheerful Heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.’ When I asked my acupuncture teacher, J.R. Worsley, whether doing tai chi or meditation before giving a treatment would improve it, he said that the real importance is to come from the Heart.

When considering how this relates to tai chi chuan, we are immediately drawn to the dantian. We can think of the sun shining inside us, or of having fire in the belly, as one translation describes the dantian, the Golden Stove, which is located in our lower abdomen. The association of fire with the dantian is clear. Its function is like the sun being the centre of our solar system, and everything is connected to that centre in the same way that our physical movement is connected to our dantian. The dantian also provides a centre of energetic unity, as the sun creates gravitational fields for the planets to orbit around. Indeed, when we do not have a connection to our dantian, we can see this as being out of orbit and thereby lacking the life-power of dantian fire.

The writers of the tai chi classics encourage us to let the qi (vital life force) sink to the dantian. Cheng Man-Ching further elaborates on this in his Thirteen Chapters on T’ai Chi Chuan, saying that the Heart is the ruler of the whole body and that the core of the learning of the sages is that we should ‘reclaim our true Hearts and reclaim our true minds.’ References to ‘true Heart’ and ‘true mind’ refer to our essential universal nature, without ego. The familiar phrase of sinking our heart/mind into the dantian provides a door into realising this.

The traditional Ch’an Buddhist question ‘Is the master at home?’ is asking: Are you fully present and aware? Is your Heart in it? Is your flame burning? Although we practice the tai chi form in slow motion, it doesn’t mean that we should be asleep. Be present in your moves, be the moves, be aware, learn from others, but be yourself rather than imitating them. Bring to light your own uniqueness, your spirit. Connect with what you love about tai chi, enjoy the movements, shine – take the stage. Start loving your body, be kind to your tensed muscles, and have compassion for your troubled mind. Encourage yourself to be free, bring Fire into your belly, and let it shine throughout your being. Shine your light around you to touch others and open your heart to let love in. Find the courage to be all you can be, blossom into your unique self.

Joop is a senior teacher with the Tai Chi Foundation and a practitioner and teacher of Five-Element Acupuncture. He teaches Tai Chi with his wife Lucy in Lancaster, UK, and in other locations both in the UK and abroad.

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