The Life Cycle of the Amoeba - Stage Five

Stage Five - Circulation and Protection

Sudden attack is not the only danger threatening the amoeba; it has a day-to-day struggle to adapt to the environment, temperature changes, pollutants, and other outside influences. We to need to shield ourselves from the same factors as well as from unwelcome intrusions into our emotional space. Stage Four is the impetus that saves our backs; Stage Five is the provision of constant protection for the different layers of our being. Coexisting in a group is a form of protection, and yet this to requires adaptation. Each being in a group has it's own individual identity and function; and yet it also needs to extend its consciousness outwards to make contact with others and contribute to a group identity. We therefore need social and emotional mechanisms which can both extend the influence of the core self and withdraw it for greater protection when necessary. The Triple Heater and Heart Protector, currently not considered in TCM as having any major energetic identity, embody these mechanisms in Zen Shiatsu theory. The Triple Heater protects the surface from the hazards of the environment, including the influences of other personalities; the Heart Protector forms a "lining" so to protect our emotional core.

These two zones of our energetic being, mentioned in the Chinese classic the Nan Jing are physically embodied in the arrangement of the meridians. If we adapt an enclosed protective posture, sitting with our knees raised, our head lowered and our arms crossed over our knees. the extended meridian of the Triple Heater is visible in its entirety, protecting our whole body surface. The Heart Protector meridian, on the other hand is invisible to an observer, but visible to ourselves, since it forms the "lining" of the enclosed capsule formed by our protective body posture.

In TCM the main function of the Triple Heater is to distribute the Source Ki and circulate fluids and that of the Heart Protector to assist and protect the Heart.

The psychological system which best approximates to these functions is the circulatory system and Masunaga's catchphrase for this stage of the cycle is "circulation and protection".