Here's the Best Beauty Secret....
Yesterday in class, we were holding our standing poses for a minute each, which is no joke.
While holding triangle pose and breathing deeply, I was adjusting a new student who was shaking in the pose. I reminded her that shaking is beneficial, as it helps build strength and improve the flow of chi (energy).
As we hold poses for longer than our normal time, we not only build physical strength but also increase our mental stamina.
It's a strength-building time of year, as traditional Chinese medicine suggests that the late summer energy of the earth element corresponds to the large muscle groups of the legs and abdomen, making it an ideal time to build strength.
And our mental capacity, or intellect, is also associated with the earth element's consciousness, referred to as Yi, or acquired knowledge, making it the best time of year to learn and strengthen our intellect.
While holding poses for a considerable amount of time, I cue the class to lift the corners of their mouth into an inner smile. The inner smile is one of the best emotional hacks. It changes our brain chemistry! And most of all, it helps us build endurance and willpower.
In seasonal transitional times, such as this week, as school begins again, we're hard-wired to recall the anxiety and/or excitement of new school year beginnings. One of the best ways to deal with the emotions that arise this time of year is to build strength and learn how to stay with what's difficult - and smile, rather than quickly getting out of the pose when it's challenging.
It's incredible what an inner smile can do for our mental health. It helps us move from being entrapped in difficult emotions to observing them.
Studies on the inner smile have shown that participants who were timed when submerging their hands in ice water doubled and tripled their time when they smiled, compared to when they didn't.
The Inner Smile (a Taoist qigong and meditation practice) has surprisingly concrete effects on the brain and nervous system, even though it sounds very simple.
When you generate a gentle, warm smile inwardly—toward your organs, your body, or even just in your mind—it changes your physiology in several ways:
1. Activates the Parasympathetic Nervous System
Smiling inwardly (even if it’s subtle and not on the face) stimulates the vagus nerve, which runs from the brainstem through the heart, lungs, and digestive system.
This signals safety and relaxation, shifting you out of “fight or flight” (sympathetic dominance) into “rest and digest.”
2. Boosts Feel-Good Neurochemicals
The act of smiling—real or imagined—triggers the release of dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins, which regulate mood and pain perception.
It can also lower cortisol, reducing stress and inflammation.
3. Rewires Emotional Patterns
By directing a smile toward areas of the body or specific organs (as taught in Taoist inner alchemy), you pair a positive emotional state with parts of yourself that might usually carry tension, fear, or fatigue.
Over time, this creates new neural associations between safety/joy and those areas, easing chronic stress loops in the brain.
4. Enhances Emotional Regulation
Imaging studies on compassion meditation and loving-kindness practices (which are neurologically similar to the Inner Smile) show increased activity in the prefrontal cortex (self-regulation, positive focus) and decreased activity in the amygdala (fear and threat response).
This means you become less reactive, more centered, and more resilient emotionally.
5. Improves Body–Brain Communication
When you “smile” into the heart, lungs, liver, or belly, you’re heightening interoception (awareness of internal states).
This builds a stronger feedback loop between the body and brain, which is linked to better emotional intelligence, decision-making, and well-being.
In short, an inner smile is like a gentle neurological reset button. It tells your brain: “You’re safe, you’re cared for, you can relax.” This small shift cascades into better moods, clearer thinking, calmer physiology, and even better immune and digestive function.
And it's an ancient beauty secret! We are our most beautiful with an inner smile, as beauty radiates from our calm, centered self outward. Beauty is so much more energetic than physical.
So SMILE! It will do you so much good on so many levels.
From my heart to yours~
Namaste,
Maggie