The Sovereign Throne

In the Japanese arts the hara is the body’s center of gravity, a point about two inches below the navel. Sit from there and you become hard to push over, in body and in temper. This working builds the throne, then fills you from the waist down with something heavy enough that the noise of the day breaks around you like weather on stone.

The working

1. Sit upright on a sturdy chair or the edge of a bed. Plant your feet flat and a little wide. Let your hands rest heavy on your thighs.
2. Grow tall through the spine without leaning back or forward. A sovereign doesn’t slouch, and doesn’t strain either.
3. Breathe in for a count of 4, low and deep, into the belly just below the navel.
4. Hold for a count of 2, gently firming the belly, as if bracing for a friendly shove.
5. Breathe out for a count of 6, slowly, letting your shoulders drop a little further each time.
6. As the breath settles into its rhythm, picture your body from the waist down filling with molten gold, or liquid lead. It pools in the hips and legs and sets there, warm and immovable.
7. When a thought or a worry arrives, let it strike the cliff and fall away. The throne stays where it is.

Closing

Take one last slow breath out. Before you stand, notice how much of your weight is still low in the belly, and see whether you can carry a little of it with you into the next hour.