The Abdomen, resting above the sprung pelvic floor and beneath the great dome of the diaphragm, contains the alimentary viscera of liver and kidneys, stomach and intestines.
In this chamber is the flask where matter Is metabolized, where food is separated and refined, to be remade as the tissues, fluids, and energies of the body.
The dance of the belly is undulation, peristalsis, a wave that squeezes matter through.
Here hunger drives us with its stinging whip, and here food floods the bloodstream with happy warmth. Absent hunger’s goad, satiation’s euphoria may take the wheel to drive us.
This belly is a pet predator purring in our lap. Like a cat or a dog or a child, it gives us warmth and comfort, and looks to us to meet its needs, even as those needs include killing.
The abdomen is woven through with dense clusters of nerves, a solar plexus. This plexus is a primal gut brain. It reacts to all it encounters with chemical senses inherited from plants and bugs. In the gut we feel nausea or fear, attraction or revulsion.
Sometimes the gut can sense what the higher brain would miss. It is the seat of hunches, vibes, inklings, instinct. It knows what can only be known, never figured out.
Appetite and desire need to be reined. Will your gut be a tight corset or a shapeless bag? Alas, my will is weak and my appetite strong.