There are three main points to integrate in your body when you want to do long term development: The head (wisdom), heart (compassion) and hara (your gut intuition). When you get these three points lined up and working together, you bring your entire life force and energy to the issues at hand. Making changes to your existing habits/patterns/thoughts is tough, getting these three centers aligned can help you make a successfully transition into new behaviors and thinking. Most of us get the head and heart connection, but the hara is a often unexplored in Western culture.

Hara? What in the world is hara and where is it?

From Wikipedia "Haragei (Japanese: 腹芸, literally: "belly art/performance") is a Japanese word referring to the art of exuding one's personal energy, ki(Chinese qi) primarily from the hara, at base of the abdomen, three finger widths below and two finger widths behind the navel"

Your hara is physically located between your navel and your pubis, maybe half way in between. It is the center point for your somatic body, both for balance and energy. This is the spot martial artists call upon to do such incredible athletic actions. It is also the point they connect with when they need to draw and focus their energy. Hara is also the life force we have to get things done. Check out the Daily Exercises article for a couple of fun practices to develop awareness of your hara.

We spend 12-20 years in school to develop our wisdom. Some get awareness around compassion from their temple/church, families or communities they support. But most of us never connect with the power of the hara. This also is a learned skill that can be developed and leveraged.

The hara also contains the "gut feel" or intuition we bring to life. Too often this is suppressed and overridden by the mind (wisdom!), putting us down a path that we instinctively know is problematic. Getting back in touch with this source of knowledge can be so important for leaders and executives. How often have you been pitched an idea at work, complete with extensive data analysis that seems compelling, but your gut says "danger, this feels all wrong!".  What decisions do you usually make at that point?

Try spending the day in your hara vs. in your head. Live in your hara, what does it tell you? Can you identify people that bring a strong hara forward?

Good leaders always have wisdom. Great leaders integrate compassion and the energy of the hara. Align these up and you will be amazed on how much progress you can make.