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 Stop blushing with Hara - A Technique from Aikido  

Also another technique used before trance to teach an Aikido technique (don't worry, it doesn't involve throwing people round the office). This is One Point or Hara.

Most people nowadays are familiar with the notion of Chi or energy and some awareness of Meridians and Acupuncture. Based on this, you can explain that in Aikido, there is a belief that Hara or One Point (approx three fingers below the belly button) is the centre of balance, strength and calmness.

Get the person to stand up, feet hip width apart, and look straight ahead. Stand at a 90 degree angle and test their centre of balance by gently (very gently to start with) rocking them from the shoulder from front to back and side to side.

The person will probably wobble a little. State that the belief is that, in the West, we focus all of our attention from the forehead. Ask the person to imagine that it was possible to drop the focus of attention down to Hara.


Aikido was created by Morihei Ueshiba,
a master of martial arts who is known as aikido’s
founder and O-Sensei.

Then ask the person to take a deep breath in and as they breath out to imagine the focus of their attention going down to Hara. If they struggle at this point, ask them to imagine breathing in light and that light moving down into a ball at Hara.

Test the client... they should be more balanced. If they manage to focus on Hara they will feel calmer and test more strongly. Once you have Hara, ask the person to think of something mildly unpleasant. Test again... they will be far more wobbly... literally off balance.

Get Hara again. Tell them that it is very important that they focus on Hara, keep Hara and concentrate on Hara then ask them to think about the mildly unpleasant memory/event whilst keeping on reminding them to focus on Hara. They will test stronger again.

Ask the person what the difference was. They will most likely say they felt much calmer and able to cope. Ask them to get Hara and then test the blush out... it is likely to be reduced. At this point you can introduce the presupposition that, if they can achieve that much reduction at this point in the session, you wonder just how much more they will achieve by the end of the session.

How much of Hara is useful because of the deep breathing and carbon dioxide intake how much is placebo and how much is the x factor I don't know... I just know that I've found it very useful with many clients. Hope you find this useful - have fun!  One tip I've had with Hara is that it can be useful to click your fingers at around about the point of Hara (keeping a decent distance, obviously). This gives an auditory clue to the person in the initial stages.