The Stomach

By Rohanna Salom


For the Amazons Indians, the age of a person is measured in the stomach. They consider the stomach the reservoir where the physical self resides.

This physical self is our body, the way we see ourselves and the capacity we have to withstand the 'other'.  It is the ability to 'stomach' the life in the physical plane.

The stomach is literally next to the heart and this little fact, gives it much more importance that normally one would think.

The majority of adults have impaired stomach function.  Mostly, the ability to produce hydrochloric acid is gone and people develop infections, parasites, ulcers and the worst, most unknown and most common:
diaphragmatic hernia.

Since the stomach is the residence of the self,  having stomach problems could be associated with low self esteem.  This is mostly due to the fact that the person does not care for his/her well being, to the point of denying ones needs.  The presence of a diaphragmatic hernia talks completely about parasitic infestation, since the low hydrochloric acid does not act as an immune barrier any more and any infection coming from the food, passes through freely.  The ability to 'stomach' stuff is overridden by 'the other' persons wishes.

Energetically, the proximity of the Stomach to the Heart gives to the Stomach the possibility to stop the upward flow of energy that the heart needs in order to accomplish its meridian pathway, which is to go to the root of the tongue.  So the energy gets blocked at the level of the heart and it does not have other place to go but to the hands and arms.

That energy in the hands can be transformed into healing energy or creative energy.  Some people can never stop moving their hands.  The heart energy is going to the arms and probably it does not reach the tongue.  In these cases we have people that are good with their hands but can't talk much. Then, the need to satisfy 'the other' is finally taken care of and after a while, the healing ability might disappear altogether when this karmic stomach problem is taken care of.

The heart, in Chinese Medicine, has 5 orifices which correspond rather well with the worlds of mineral, vegetable, animal, human and rohanni levels. Most people only have one orifice open, some only two, rarely three and mostly never four.  So, the Stomach, given that it is the self and that it generally has a guest in the presence of a diaphragmatic hernia, instead of producing what it needs for itself, in the form of hydrochloric acid, is weak, undisciplined and with low self esteem.

This way leads to disease and premature aging.  It should be obvious by now that discipline about one's own health begins in the stomach and is just about the smartest thing one can do.

One can take Hydrochloric Acid tablets.  Perhaps this is the most direct way to strengthen the stomach function, until it learns again to 'do its own thing"

Being that the stomach is on the left side of the body and so is the heart, they touch each other.

About 95% of people that have a Heart Attack do it with a full stomach. Even more, after a big meal often people have shortness of breath and feel terrible.

The stomach, being on the left accompanies the pancreas and spleen while the liver is on the right together with the gallbladder.

These facts contribute a lot to more than the eyes can see.  In Chinese Medicine, where things are seen on right and left side, feminine and masculine types of energies, the liver ascending energy attacks the stomach-spleen descending energies often, making digestion difficult with burping and distention.

The stomach and spleen in their turn, also attack the liver and gallbladder with yellow color, like in hepatitis.  This medicine is so ancient that some concepts are amazing given that in fact, the color of the stomach-spleen energy is yellow and the color of the liver is green, meaning the energy of renewal.

But even thinking further on the right-left connections, we have to think that the inner heart is situated on the right, next to the liver, while the physical heart is on the left.  Again, in Chinese medicine, we often treat the right using the left side and vice versa and so do the Chiropractors and Kinesiologists that treat the muscle on the opposite side to correct the one that hurts.

It is most amazing. And even more, the liver is in charge of the dispersion of energy and of the emotions. It is next to the inner heart.  So it is of no surprise that when the liver is toxic with so much trash, the heart feels down and angry, or even worst, a toxic heart full of bad thoughts makes a toxic liver.  Your pick.  Nevertheless, proximity in this case counts for a lot too.