Why you may not be assimilating nutrients (even with a perfectly healthy diet) and a Taoist solution

In today’s society, it’s always go-go-go with a constant stream of information coming into our life through social media, email, the news – every medium really. Worldwide, it seems people are working longer days than ever before.

When we are on this fast-paced cycle of life, it can be so difficult to take a break and truly relax the mind and body. This is our challenge, but we must make this a priority for our health and well-being and here’s why…

Master Chia has improved his teachings once again and now he is focusing more on the vagus nerve, the longest cranial nerve in the body, and the importance of the Inner Smile meditation.

The vagus nerve acts as the captain of our inner nerve center and oversees many crucial functions sending out fibers from our brainstem to all of our visceral organs. One of those crucial functions is providing a direct link from our gut to our brain connecting our emotions and feelings in our body to our digestion.

When we experience too much stress, over-stimulation, burn out, fatigue or exhaustion – mentally, physically or both – the vagus nerve constricts and tightens, which stops the proper digestion and assimilation of food that we eat. Then, people often experience bloating, gas, constipation or other digestive abnormalities.

Even if you eat the right amount of balanced healthy foods at the correct times of day, you will still be undernourished because the stress in your body is not allowing you to absorb that nutrients properly.

When we practice the Inner Smile meditation, tuning into our body and focusing on growing positive virtues in each of our main organ systems, do you know what happens? The vagus nerve relaxes. The food we eat then is easier to process and absorb. Our body functions at a more effectively and efficiently. We feel healthier and more energized.

Calming the mind is difficult, but we must make space in our life to practice this with our positive intention honed into our body. If you’ve had difficulties digesting food properly, this will allow you to be healthier with more energy. But, regardless of the state of your health, we could all use this practice in our regular routine for more mindfulness, positivity, relaxation, stress relief and energy. See the video below of the Inner Smile meditation.

Happy practicing :). With many upcoming retreats at Tao Garden and workshops abroad, I invite you to join me and learn more about Master Chia’s new teachings, practice the Inner Smile with our group among other meditations and exercises and generally learn new ways to heal yourself or others and enhance your life.