Yin Yoga for The Urinary Bladder

This week we dive in to the Water element starting with the Yang channel, the Bladder. Fire may animate, warm and invigorate us but water is the basis of life. The Yin Yang pair of Kidney and Bladder work together to preserve our deepest essence. Interestingly, it is the Bladder channel that contracts when we are exposed to cold weather or a cold or flu virus. Sometimes one of the earliest signs of catching a chill can be more frequent urination, stiff neck or painful upper back.

The bladder is responsible for storing and excreting the urinary waste fluids passed down from the kidneys.  It is the Yang partner of the Yin Kidneys, associated with the element of Water. As an organ the bladder has only this one function.

However, as an energy system the bladder channel is intimately related to the autonomous nervous system. That’s because the Bladder meridian runs from the corner of the eye, over the top of the head and down the back of the neck before running either side of the spine and down the back of the legs, along the outside of the foot and exiting from the little toe. These four branches of the bladder meridian directly influence the sympathetic and parasympathetic trunks of the autonomous nervous system, which regulates our fight-flight response and in turn all the body’s basic vital functions. 

In the pressures of modern life many people suffer an overly-activated sympathetic nervous system, causing a constant state of apprehension, fear or worse. This can be accompanied by headaches, tension and pain along the spine and its periphery. Tension and pain can be relieved by stimulating the energy flow along the spinal branches of the bladder meridian. Such stimulation induces total relaxation by switching the autonomous nervous system over to the restful, restorative parasympathetic mode. Really notice how the poses in this flow bring gentle stimulation to these energy lines. If you want to enhance this practice, try the below meditation as you come to rest in Savasana.

VISUALISATION MEDITATION TO CLEAR THE BLADDER MERIDIAN:

Set a clear intention to build physical and mental health. In your mind's eye, trace backwards once from the end point at the outer edge of little toe, up the outside of the foot, up the back of the leg to the hip and sacrum, up the back to C-7 at the centre of the spine. Finish by tracing up forward around the back of the head and over Baihui to BL-1 accupoint, the inner corner of the eye. Then trace forward 3 times, both sides together or one at a time.