This is an adaptation of the third part of Chapter 1 of The Dynamics of Standing Still. Read here the previous section.
The performance has ended and the theatre is emptying. It's not going very quickly. The audience was comfortably spread out throughout the auditorium, but now they are standing in line like sheep, waiting to exit one by one through the door. A narrowing leads to congestion, a delay to a traffic jam. At least, that's how it works with theatregoers, sheep and cars.
More cars lead to more traffic jams, which call for more roads, which in turn encourage more cars. This self-perpetuating phenomenon can be mitigated by driving closer together when a traffic jam threatens to form, rather than braking and increasing the distance between vehicles, as is customary. Cars equipped with thick rubber bumpers all around would offer a solution. Just like bumper cars at the fair. No one would be afraid of tailgating. A narrowing of the road would compress the traffic flow, causing cars to accelerate.
Traffic like water: if you squeeze the end of a water hose, the water sprays out with more force. Traffic like air: if you purse your lips, you hear a higher tone.
Chi behaves like water and air. Compression makes it flow faster.
The transition areas between the three fundamental body cavities determine the speed of circulation. They function as valves. If they are closed slightly, the speed increases. If so much tension builds up in the intermediate areas that the valves are effectively closed, circulation stops.
IIn the straight sections of one of the longer channels of chi, the zu yang ming meridian, circulation flows easily. This can be compared to traffic on a straight road, or water in a canalised river.
However, curves create turbulence and possibly stagnation. Nevertheless, chi finds its way where it cannot go. Ants never get stuck in traffic jams.
Study the winding path of the zu yang ming channel at the level of the collarbones, in the transition area between the upper and middle cavities. And do the same for the one at the bottom of the rib cage, between the middle and lower cavities. A third sharp bend in the meridian can be found at the bottom of the lower cavity, at the level of the groin.
You can read more about the curves in the clavicular and groin areas in Four Gates.
To be continued …