Lynne Pflueger offers an article in The Main Central Jin Shin Jyutsu Newsletter issue from Summer 2010, Number 69 about her understanding of the exhale-inhale. This, and all issues of The Main Central, are available at http://www.jsjinc.net.

IT REALLY IS SIMPLE

“Are you all here ready with your back pack? Did you bring a big back pack to fill? Well, sorry about that, throw it away. We are here to leave with an empty back and no shoulders.”

~ from Mary’s introductory notes to herself in preparation for a class.

When I first began my studies with Mary in 1979, she said, “Up the back, down the front.” Looking at the Answer Sheet, or what I like to think of as our Perfect Blueprint, “Up the back, down the front” appeared at the top of the page. We all arrived for the class in Santa Rosa one year to hear Mary share a new perception, “Down the front, up the back“. We exhale all dirt, dust, and greasy grime first. Masculine energy scatters out. What is not mine will simply disappear. A void is created, providing the space for divine energy to enter supplying us with vigor, passion, and enthusiasm for life. Next, we inhale to receive the divine energy that will nurture and nourish our physical being. Ascending energy up the back is the feminine breath essence to nurture and nourish. At the time of birth, all that we need for this life is in place for us to receive when we are born. Are the energy locks on the back open to receive?

Exhaling down the front, inhaling up the back…Unloading, receiving.

Exhaling down the front (descending) is the Energy of Generation. To generate means to bring something forth, cause to arise or come about, to produce energy for manifestation. Inhaling up the back, (ascending) is the Energy of Regeneration. Regeneration means to be reconstituted especially into a better or higher form, to re-grow, to bring new and more vigorous life (new tissue). In theology, the word “regenerate” means to be born again spiritually.

Generating (masculine) is manifesting energy. Regenerating (feminine) is spiritualizing energy, helping to create the spirit body, the harvest.

For a long time I pondered the exhale occurring first. I wondered: Do we need to receive something before there is enough energy to exhale? Sages over time have said the exhale comes first. My answer came as I thought about our reproductive system. First, the male scatters out the sperm. Second, the female receives the sperm to fertilize the egg and nurture and nourish the developing fetus. The exhale does indeed occur first.

“Just BE and the answer will come.” ~ Mary

Think of this principle as it applies to all things. First comes the exhale down the front, emptying all excess, creating space for divine energy, inspiration, ideas. The left side of the body is masculine, exhaling, fire. The right side is feminine, inhaling, water. So, ideas and inspiration are fed by fire, materializing – then nurtured, nourished, and looked after by the inhale. If I take a cue from my garden, water helps things to thrive.

To be continued…