Po: The Spirit Who Dwells In The Canopy

Within each of the 5 yin organs resides a spirit.

Chinese medicine describes the Lungs as the “tender” organ. They are often referred to as “the canopy,” commonly portrayed as a misty forest.

This metaphor is fitting: the interior of the lungs is a moist, humid realm where air blows through alveolar-tipped branches that exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. Lungs are our own personal forest, an enchanting microcosm where a spirit named Po dwells.

At home within the canopy, Po brings in the pure qi of nature and releases what our body no longer needs. Po gifts us with discernment, that ability to keep what is useful and let go of what is not. This is occurring all the time, with every breath, in every moment. Focusing on the breath will always return us to the now, Po's temporal domain. Our Lungs are the present moment given form. Because where there is breath, there is life.

Po is the yin aspect of our soul, the “corporeal soul”: the part that is woven into the fibers of our physical being; the piece of our consciousness which animates our body; the aspect that returns to the earth when we die. Po excels at organization and uses our respiratory arboretum to direct the physiological activities of the body in harmonious synchronicity, like the conductor of a grand orchestra. Po governs all 5 of our physical senses and uses that information to oversee our connection to and interaction with the natural world. Po gives us our individual sense of self, rooted within our earthly form.

Po resides in every breathing creature, spiritually connecting us to every animal and every plant. Somehow it seems easier to exhale the troubles of our world when we walk among the forest's boughs, breathing with the trees.

The Lungs and their spirit contribute to our mental and emotional wellbeing. When the Lungs are in balance and Po's grove is healthy, their function of bringing in the pure and releasing the turbid contributes to a peaceful mental state. However, our Lungs are susceptible to sorrow and can become overwhelmed by sadness and worry. Worry pulls our consciousness toward an uncertain future, uprooting us from the stability of nurturing soils. When we are grieving a loss – a loved one, a home, security, normalcy – despair settles in the Lungs, refusing to leave, weighing us down into the past, which quietly, privately, torments us.

We've all received this advice at some point or another: let it go. Easier said than done, isn't it? We can't always let things go as effectively as we'd like. Anguish and rumination come easily – letting go takes work.

The first step of restoring Po's realm is always through the breath. Concentrating on our breathing returns us to the now, mooring us to the present. Po teaches us the importance of letting go of all that does not serve us and keeping close, in appreciative gratitude, that which enriches our experience of this life.

Use breath to anchor to the now. Give thanks for all the now offers. Because breath is life.