Belt Channel – Dai Mai
The Eight Extraordinary Meridians represent the deepest energetic structure of the body. These are the meridians that form first in utero (before the twelve-organ specific meridians.) The Eight Extraordinary Meridians are said to carry Yuan Qi, the ancestral energy that is our genetic inheritance. These meridians are also called The Eight Curious Vessels, The Eight Psychic Channels, and the Eight Great Rivers. These channels can be activated through acupuncture, but they are mostly deeper than cutaneous needles can reach.
In Taoist movements and meditations, these can be channels can be awakened and strengthened from the inside. Today, let’s focus on the belt channel, or Dai Mai. It is the only horizontally flowing meridian and acts as a belt. The other meridians are vertically flowing. Meditation imagery can be a cocoon wrapped around the practitioner, a cyclone that encompasses the body and is burrowing into the ground for stability, or up into the heavens to connect with the energy of the sun, moon, stars, planets, and galaxies.
The belt channel can be most useful in our everyday lives. It interacts with the horizontal plane and our interactions with other humans, our survival needs, and the five phases of energy on the earth. For healers, it can create a buffer between the healer and the patient. For people that deal with the public, it can keep one’s energy closer to one’s body and not pulled into the dramas of others. For meditation, it can create a sacred ‘do not disturb’ space while focusing on inner processes. Lastly, it can surround the body and psychic space like a golden bubble wrap to protect against the winds and storms of life.
Even though the channel is called the belt channel, it encompasses more of the body than just the belt area around the waist. As mentioned earlier, the cocoon visualization can cover the entire body. The channel can also go above and below the body to connect to the energies of nature.
TheTaoBlog.com