Chapter 8
Supplemental Energy-Development Exercises
“I’ve noticed a difference in my energy level since starting the Nine Energizing Breaths,” says Jen Pezzani of Missouri. She was in the process of moving and also had experienced some medical issues, so Jen had to reduce her regular medications and cut back on caffeine just prior to beginning the Nine Energizing Breaths. But since taking them up, she says, “I haven’t felt as sleepy or tired, and I actually feel more awake and alert. You can actually feel the energy moving through your body when done properly.”
The Nine Energizing Breaths are a succinct, focused, life-force-enhancement routine. However, some practitioners often like to augment them with other complementary practices that help push the prana further throughout the energy and physical bodies. Thus, we present in this chapter four more simple, effective exercises that give you some additional options and a way to vary your daily energy-generation routine. These four extra exercises can be added to your daily routine in the places suggested (see later in this chapter and chapter 9), or as you are able to perform them. They’re just like the rest of the Nine Revitalizing Breaths: very simple to perform, very effective, very powerful. But the emphasis with these supplemental exercises is less on generating additional energy—though they will do that—and more on assuring appropriate balance and assimilation of the energy in your aura. For instance, the Physical Balancing Exercise and Five Points Energy Distribution help to get the prana into all the “nooks and crannies” of your aura. The Tiger Breath cleans out any dirty or congested energy in your head and upper torso. And the Ritual of Forgiveness gives you a way to release energy that’s been trapped by lingering resentments, anger, and other negative emotions.
PHYSICAL BALANCING EXERCISE
The Physical Balancing Exercise is a very quick way to adjust and normalize the flow of energy through your aura. In fact, Grandmaster Choa said that if he was pressed for time and couldn’t do a full routine of Cleansing Physical Exercises, Breathing Exercises, meditation, and the Nine Energizing Breaths, he would just do this exercise ten to twelve times. This routine (refer to figure 8.1 for the sequence of movements) can be performed after the Cleansing Physical Exercises or, really, any time you feel out of balance energetically.
Exercise 8.1 Physical Balancing Exercise
1. Stand with your feet about two to three feet apart.
2. Inhale and lean backward slightly from the waist while pivoting your head backward. As you do so, lift your arms in front of you until they are comfortably overhead, and keeping your wrists loose, your hands open, and your palms facing away from you, simply rotate your hands around each other three times in a reverse paddling motion, while keeping your head back (see the first position in figure 8.1). This movement will loosen up both your shoulders and your hands. Throughout this movement, keep your arms relaxed and slightly bent at the elbows. Your back is just slightly hyperextended backward. This should be an easy, loosening stretch. Don’t hold your breath. Exhale and inhale normally throughout.
3. Next, in one smooth, continuous movement, return your torso to an upright position, bring your arms down past the front of your body, and bend forward from the waist until your fingertips touch the ground just about in front of your toes (see the second position in figure 8.1). (Note: If you have back problems or are inflexible, adjust your posture accordingly. For instance, you can bend your knees or spread your legs wider. This exercise should not cause pain or discomfort. If it does, either make postural adjustments or don’t perform this exercise.) Touch the ground at that point lightly, bouncing three times.
4.
While still keeping your legs spread, raise up slightly from the waist, then reach back a little farther between your legs, stretching for your
heels. Touch the ground near your heels lightly, bouncing three times. After the second series of three touches, stay bent over but return your hands to near your toes.
5. Staying bent over, pivot sideways from the waist to your left while at the same time touching your left toes with your right fingertips. Keep your arms straight. As you make this pivot, turn your head to the left. Then, staying bent over, reverse the motion, and touch your right toes with your left hand, swinging your head to the right. Swing left, then right, left and then right, for a total of three times each way. This swinging, windmilling movement should be made smoothly but not rapidly. Breathe normally throughout the movement, but you will probably find it natural to inhale to the left and exhale to the right, or vice versa. That breathing pattern also helps you time the movement.
Figure 8.1 Physical Balancing Exercise
6. Return to the bent-over posture, and touch the ground three more times in front of you, as you did in step three.
7. Next, bending from the waist and leading with your fingertips, bring your arms up from between your legs. Inhale as you come up. As you return to an upright posture, pass your arms in front of your body until they are all the way up over your head. In the same slightly bent backward position, repeat the overhead hand rotations that you performed in step 2.
8.
Return smoothly to an upright position. Place the back of your left hand at the small of your back, on the meng mein chakra, and bring your right hand over the top of your head as you bend from the waist to your left. The hand passing over
the top of the head can be either palm up or palm down, though palm up—or away from you—gives you a better stretch. Stretch gently to the left in that posture (see the third position in figure 8.1). Reverse the hand movements, putting the back of your right hand on the meng mein chakra and bringing your left hand over the top of your head as you bend from the waist to your left. Perform this movement two more times in each direction for a total of three times to the left and three to the right. Breathe normally for this movement, but you may find, as you did in step 5, that it lends itself naturally to a rhythm of exhaling in one direction and inhaling in the other direction.
9. Return your torso to the upright position and bring your hands down, but stop in front of your chest. Now twist your torso from the waist to your left, and as you do so, push your right hand as far as you can across your body to your left, palm facing away from you as if you were giving someone a stop sign with your hand (see the fourth position in figure 8.1). Just feel a slight stretch; don’t strain. As you stretch your right arm to the left, place your left hand once again on the small of your back, at the meng mein chakra. Now, reverse the motion, twisting your torso to the right and pushing your left hand to the right, while placing your right arm behind your back on the meng mein chakra. Repeat both sides two more times for a total of three times on each side.
10. Perform steps 1 through 9 three to twelve times.
11. Stand up straight and take several pranic breaths.
This exercise should be performed briskly and smoothly. However, as you can see, it has several components, so you may want to practice them separately until you have the individual parts down. Then, you can integrate them all and do the whole exercise in one continuous movement.
TIGER BREATH
The Tiger Breath takes very little time to learn and perform, but it is remarkably effective at expelling dirty energy from the aura, especially the jaw, the brain, and the front and back solar plexus chakras. And because you are expelling a lot of dirty energy, you should perform this exercise either outside or in front of an open window. You can perform the Tiger Breath after the Physical Balancing Exercise at the end of the Cleansing Physical Exercises. (See figure 8.2 for the sequence of movements for the Tiger Breath.)
Exercise 8.2 Tiger Breath
1. If you are familiar with traditional martial arts, this exercise begins in what is called the “high horse stance.” This means your feet are a little more than shoulder-width apart and flat on the floor, knees slightly bent. Extend your arms out in front of you, palms up and facing outward. From this stance, take a deep abdominal breath, and pull your hands back toward your body. As you pull your arms in, begin rotating your hands outward and balling your hands into a fist. As you reach the end of your inhale, your fists should be tucked into your sides, just below your ribs, with your fingers and thumbs facing up and the back of your hand toward the ground (see the first position in figure 8.2). Your body should be slightly tense but not rigid.
Figure 8.2 Tiger Breath
2. From this position, open your hands and move your arms up and slightly behind your head, almost as if you were cupping them behind the ears to hear better (see the second and third positions in figure 8.2).
3.
Now begin to bring your arms smoothly forward from behind your head and past your ears and jawline. As you make this forward pushing movement, begin a slow, controlled—but forceful—exhale, while at the same time rolling your eyes slightly upward, and opening your hands. Exhale with your mouth wide open, your eyes wide open (looking slightly upward), and your tongue fully extended. Exhale your breath with an audible “HAAAA” sound (see the fourth position in figure 8.2). When your arms are fully extended,
your fingers should be stretched wide, as if you are giving someone an exaggerated stop sign. Time your exhale so that, when your lungs are empty, your hands are fully extended.
4. For the next repetition, inhale through your nose, pull your arms back to your sides in fists, and return to the horse stance in step 1.
5. Perform the exercise ten to twelve times.
6. Stand up straight and take several pranic breaths.
FIVE POINTS ENERGY DISTRIBUTION
The vigorous muscle tension and breathing actions of the Nine Energizing Breaths spread the energy throughout the body quite well. If you have a few more minutes in your daily routine, however, you can add another brief exercise after the Nine Energizing Breaths to really drive the prana into all of the body’s tissues. It’s called Five Points Energy Distribution and involves standing in a relaxed position and performing pranic breathing while keeping your awareness on five key points: the top of the head (crown chakra), the centers of the palms of the hands (palm chakras), and the soles of the feet (sole chakras).
In Chinese Taoist practices, these points are known as the ba hui, or “100 lines meeting” (crown chakra), the lao gong, or “labor palace” (palm chakras), and the yong quan, or “bubbling springs” (sole chakras).
The posture is similar to those used in tai chi chuan or certain styles of chi kung. It’s designed to soften and relax the body’s musculoskeletal system in order to facilitate the flow of prana or chi. You can perform Five Points Energy Distribution after any other prana-generating exercise, but the ideal time is right after the Nine Energizing Breaths.
Exercise 8.3 Five Points Energy Distribution
1. Begin with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Bend your knees slightly, no more than a quarter squat.
3.
Keep your spine straight, your head up, and your pelvis rotated slightly forward. The best and easiest way to get an idea of what this feels like is to place your back against a wall with your knees slightly bent; then attempt to gently flatten your neck and lower back against the wall. This will lower your chin and raise your head and rotate your pelvis slightly
forward. Don’t scrunch your chin down or mash your back against the wall. You don’t want to strain. (In fact, your neck and lower back are naturally curved so that it will be difficult to actually place them flush against the wall.) You simply want to stretch out or elongate the spine to enable the prana to flow smoothly up and down your back. A metaphor sometimes used in tai chi chuan practice is to imagine all your vertebrae linked together with a string that comes out the top of your head. If you imagine that you are lifting the string gently, you can see that you will produce the same effect as standing against a wall: the top of your head raises, your chin drops, and your lower spine slightly flattens out. Try both and see which works better for you.
Figure 8.3 Five Points Energy Distribution
4. After you establish a relaxed standing position, extend your arms out to your sides, palms up. Keep your entire body relaxed. Your head should be up and your spine straight, but your joints should not be locked, especially your knees and elbows. Your posture should be erect but not tense (see figure 8.3).
5. Place your awareness lightly on the five points: the crown, the two palm chakras, and the two sole chakras. Remember that awareness isn’t focused concentration. In fact, it’s not a visual sense. It’s more that you’re simply lightly “feeling” these points.
6. Now perform three to ten cycles of pranic breathing in a 6-3-6-3 pattern of rhythm and retention while keeping your awareness on these points.
As noted throughout this book, the chi follows the yi. When you place your awareness, or intention, on those five points, the energy will be led to them. And since those five points roughly form an outer perimeter of your body, the prana you accumulate during the Nine Revitalizing Breaths will flood your body and your aura.
RITUAL OF FORGIVENESS
It may seem odd to include a forgiveness ritual as part of an energy-development program, but the truth is a tremendous amount of our personal energy supply is tied up in negative emotions such as anger, resentment, and hate. Why? Because it takes a lot of work, attention—and energy—to hold a grudge and stay angry. The chi follows the yi. And if your yi, your attention, is concentrating on harboring old resentments, a good supply of your energy is tied up with maintaining those resentments, too. Some people have been angry for so long and so automatically, they don’t even realize it. But it’s easy to tell when you scan their aura: you feel heavy congestion and/or depletion of the front and back solar plexus and heart chakras.
So, to help alleviate some of these negative emotions, we frequently do the following exercise, the Ritual of Forgiveness, prior to meditation. And we do it regularly as well because we’re all imperfect, and it’s tough to go through life without getting mad at someone or feeling slighted or resentful. It’s just one more tool to help you keep your energy supply clean and plentiful.
Exercise 8.4 Ritual of Forgiveness
1. Sit quietly with your eyes closed and your hands folded in your lap.
2. Visualize a person who has hurt you or wronged you in some way. As you see the person, really conjure up the feeling of hurt as you recount what he or she did to you.
3. Now, fold your hands in front of you with your thumbs touching your heart chakra at the center of your chest.
4. With your eyes closed, imagine looking the person in the eyes while silently saying: “The divinity in me salutes the divinity within you.” This establishes mutual respect for the spiritual nature in all of us. Then continue: “We are all human. We are all evolving. Evolution means we sometimes make mistakes. Some of these mistakes hurt other people, even if we didn’t intend for them to be hurt. I send to you my forgiveness.” Pause for a moment, then continue: “God’s peace be with you. You are forgiven.”
5. Then pause and reflect on forgiveness. Really feel yourself letting go of the anger, resentment, or hurt you were feeling. Smile inwardly at the person.
Repeat three to seven times or until you feel the negative emotion lift. One way to tell if you’ve truly begun to let the negative emotion go is the ability to think about the person or the original episode without feeling angry or hurt. This is a simple exercise, but practiced regularly, it can be powerful in releasing trapped negative emotional energies.
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These four additional practices will round out your “portfolio” of energy exercises and give you some options for varying your routine. The Tiger Breath is primarily a cleansing exercise, helping you to expel dirty energy from your aura. The Ritual of Forgiveness helps free up emotional attention—and energy—that is stuck because of our inability to let go of lingering resentments. (If you practice this regularly, you will be surprised how much energy you’ll get back or recover.) The Physical Balancing Exercise helps regulate your aura. Five Points Energy Distribution gives you another method of making sure the clean prana you generate is dispersed thoroughly throughout your aura. Each has a slightly different use and application, and most people like one or two more than the others. Add them as you have time or are able.