> [!NOTE] Samatha Meditation Anchor: Lower Belly Center > The Lower Belly Center is a popular [[💡 Meditation Anchor|meditation anchor]] because it is always there and is a dynamic anchor rather than a rigid or inflexible one. If focusing on the breath or body evokes [[💡 Parts|Parts]] who react with challenging [[⭐️ Emotions]], it may be worth [[🕯️ Pendulation|🕯️ pendulating]] between the Lower Belly Center and another [[💡 Meditation Anchor|meditation anchor]] to see if those [[💡 Parts|Parts]] can get more comfortable with it. If they can't, just use another anchor and ignore this until it feels safer. > > We can find the Lower Belly Center about three finger widths below the navel, in the center of our body. We might imagine a beam of light shining from the crown of our head, through the core of our body, down to our seat. The Lower Belly Center is in that central channel – just in front of the spine, at three finger widths below the navel. > > Don’t just observe the Lower Belly Center, inhabit it. Many of us westerners have a sense that “we” are somewhere in our head and behind our eyes, and from there we observe various somatic sensations. This is a kind of fragmentation, but [[🔑 Psyche and Soma are not separate]]. To re-integrate [[⭐️ Body]] and mind, we might think of the body as a house to be moved through, and it’s possible to “drop down” from behind our eyes and inhabit our Lower Belly Center from the inside. This will likely take practice. Feel the sensation without visualizing the belly in your mind's eye; feel it as an "in here" and not a "down there." > > It's normal to not feel anything when we bring our attention there. Many of us are not accustomed to having much of any awareness of the interior of our body, so we may not be able to feel it yet. That's okay, we're likely to feel more over time with practice. > > The gap between exhale and inhale is often where our mind wanders. By making a three-part anchor, we have a continuous object of focus that is both static and dynamic. We stay focused on the Lower Belly Center throughout and then on the inhale or exhale when it's there. > > The anchor comes in three parts: > 1. The feeling of the Lower Belly Center at rest. > 2. The inhalation, as it's felt in the Lower Belly Center. > 3. The exhalation, as it's felt in the Lower Belly Center. > > In Practice: > - Begin by settling into the Lower Belly Center. > - We don't have to control our breathing. We just wait for the breath to naturally arise. > - On the inhale, we feel it from the Lower Belly Center. > - On the exhale, we feel it from the Lower Belly Center. > - In the natural gap between exhale and inhale, we feel into the Lower Belly Center at rest, and wait for the next inhale to naturally arise. > - Repeat. [^1]: