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Golden Elixir Chi Kung Foundation Practices

As we have discussed, the practices of Golden Elixir Chi Kung use the energies of the saliva, hormonal fluids, and Chi to create the potent Golden Elixir for health, healing, and spiritual transformation. Taoists also use the hair and sense organs to collect Chi for this alchemical process.

We use the senses to perceive the physical world. The Taoists discovered that if we could collect the energies that power the senses, instead of just using these energies for physical perception, these energies could be used to heal and strengthen the body’s whole energetic system. By strengthening your energetic systems, you can facilitate the self-healing process in yourself and others.

In a number of the practices of Golden Elixir Chi Kung, we cultivate and collect energies in the saliva, which we then swallow. Swallowing the saliva after we have collected the energies in the proper way causes the energy to descend to the navel and the lower Tan Tien. The lower Tan Tien is the primary energy center of the body. There are two other Tan Tiens, or energy centers, in the body: the middle Tan Tien and the upper Tan Tien. The three Tan Tiens each have specific energetic functions.

The lower Tan Tien is the center of the physical body and of physical strength. It is located behind and below the navel—in the triangle between the navel, the “kidney center point” (in the spine between the second and third lumbar, also called the “gate of life”), and the sexual center. For men, the sexual center is the prostate gland and for women it lies in the top of the cervix between the ovaries. The lower Tan Tien is the body’s main energy generator and storehouse. Feeding the Chi to the lower Tan Tien will increase your energy level and thereby increase your healing power.

You may wonder how saliva energy swallowed down the throat into the stomach can then travel into the lower Tan Tien. Chi energy, which exists in the air, food, and, in this case, the saliva, does not need to respect the physical boundaries of the body. It can pass through tissues and cells.

For instance, in the teachings of the Universal Tao, we have many “deep breathing” meditations. We teach how to fill the intestine and lungs to a capacity that exceeds normal breathing. This is desirable because air and oxygen also contain the energy of Chi. The air fills the lungs and intestines and does its appointed job of providing oxygen. However, the Chi that is in the same breath of air is not contained by the lungs, but passes through the cells of the lungs and intestines directly into the lower Tan Tien and other energy centers in the body where it is needed. This is what we mean when we say, “breathe into the lower abdomen.”

Similarly, the saliva we swallow does not go past the stomach, although it will eventually pass through the small and large intestines like all other contents of the stomach. But the energy we are able to collect in the saliva passes through all membranes and goes directly into the lower Tan Tien.

Moreover, the Chi energy of the saliva is much more powerful than the normal Chi energies gathered through breathing and eating, for the saliva carries an energy that is whole. It is a perfect balance of yin and yang and the five elements or phases of energy.

CHI IS CONDUCTED FROM THE SALIVA TO THE LOWER TAN TIEN VIA THE STOMACH, SMALL INTESTINES, AND VILLI, WHICH ARE THE CELLS IN THE SMALL INTESTINE THAT ABSORB DIGESTED FOOD. THE VILLI ALSO ACT AS “BATTERY CELLS” IN ABSORBING AND STORING CHI.

Taoist masters understood that it is possible to replenish the body’s prenatal Chi, which is considered the most precious and powerful form of Chi. If preserved and nurtured, prenatal Chi can keep you young and healthy.

Prenatal Chi is stored in the kidneys and powers the entire body. Women can lose part of this Chi, which is actually a gift from the parents, during ovulation and childbirth; men lose theirs as a result of excessive ejaculation of sperm. When one loses too much, it means death is near. But there is a way to replenish this shrinking reservoir.

The ancient male and female Taoist masters knew that anyone could replenish the prenatal Chi by swallowing lots of saliva. The saliva, when fortified with hormonal fluids and aroused orgasm energy and yin and yang energies drawn from the earth and heavens, is identical to the prenatal Chi.

BABY PRENATAL CHI

It is important to understand that saliva is an important “medium” for collecting and unifying the various important energies. Saliva works in the same manner when you are eating food. It helps you collect, swallow, and predigest food. We also use the saliva to help digest ethereal energies. The more you practice the Golden Elixir Chi Kung exercises, the more you can turn your saliva into an elixir and greatly extend your life. You will also become a more powerful healer.

BASIC ELIXIR PRACTICE

We will start by learning a simple variation of the Inner Smile practice (discussed in detail in Taoist Cosmic Healing) to help activate the saliva. We will mix the saliva with nature essence, universe essence, the aroused sexual energy, and the hormonal essence of all the glands. We will “knock the teeth” to activate the bones and bone marrow. Finally, we will swallow the saliva and its accumulated Chi down to the lower Tan Tien. The many steps of this practice, outlined below, will be used in all of the practices of Golden Elixir Chi Kung.

SIT IN A COMFORTABLE POSITION

1. Stand, or sit in a comfortable position on your “sitting bones,” with the back straight. Sit on the edge of the chair, so the sexual organs hang free and can breathe. If standing, stand with the feet shoulder-width apart, placing all nine points of the feet on the ground and gently rocking between the soles and the heels.

2. Begin by relaxing the upper, analytical mind and dropping your center of awareness down to the lower abdomen. Allow your sensing and conscious awareness to sink from the head to the navel area. This is called “sinking the upper mind down to the lower mind.”

RELAX AND SINK THE UPPER MIND DOWN INTO THE LOWER MIND

TOUCH THE MID-EYEBROW AND THE EYEBROWS, AND FEEL THEM GROW LONG

3. Close your eyes and imagine that you are in one of your favorite places in the world, a place where you feel safe, relaxed, and happy. Imagine that one of your favorite people is standing in front of you, smiling to you with loving, happy, radiant, shining eyes. Feel yourself responding to that special person’s smile with a smile of your own. Feel your eyes smiling and relaxing.

4. Touch the mid-eyebrow and gently rub in a circle. Smile to it, feel it relax and open, and feel light enter this point. Use the index and middle finger to very gently rub the eyebrows from the middle outward. Visualize them growing very long out to the sides. Your forehead will feel very relaxed.

5. Gently rub your eyeballs with the eyes closed. Smile and relax the eyeballs and feel them sink down and down to the navel area. When the eyes relax, the monkey mind will start to calm down and the eyeball energy will easily sink to the navel.

RELAX THE EYES AND DRAW EYE ENERGY INTO THE NAVEL

6. Smile and lightly turn up the corners of the mouth. Feel the chin bones on both sides rise up and reach to the ears, and feel the ears getting longer and longer, growing up and down and reaching the kidneys.

FEEL THE EARS GROW LONG AND REACH DOWN TO THE KIDNEYS

7. Smile to the jaw. Massage both sides of the jaws, to release tension and anger. Lightly open the mouth, drop the jaw, continuing to smile to the jaw. Feel it relax and the saliva start to flow out.

SMILE TO THE JAW, STIMULATING THE SALIVA

8. Once you feel a lot of saliva flowing out, gently close the mouth. Bring the smiling energy down into the organs and throughout the whole body.

SEND THE INNER SMILE TO ALL THE ORGANS

9. Bring your attention back to your face; smile and lightly lift up the corners of your mouth. Place the tip of your tongue behind the upper teeth. Now press your tongue against the palate, moving it about to find a sensitive spot, the “heavenly pool,” which is a depression or hole behind the teeth where the tongue likes to be.

PLACE THE TIP OF TONGUE ON THE PALATE

10. Smile to the palate; smile until you feel the palate open, like a hole opening into heaven. Feel nectar flowing down from heaven.

11. Be aware of the mouth, the nose, and the eyes. Close the mouth slightly, inhale very slowly, and continue to lightly press the tip of the tongue to the palate. Feel that you are drawing in the smiling energy and the essence of the air into the eyes, nose, and mouth. When you exhale feel that you are condensing the essence of these energies in the mouth. Do this nine to eighteen times until you feel the tongue and the palate connected.

12. Sense a subtle electric vibration in the tongue, palate, salivary glands, and the glands of the brain. This will be the natural way of stimulating and strengthening the glands. Be aware of and picture the pituitary gland. Feel the vibration reach to all the glands of the brain. Be aware of and picture the thalamus, hypothalamus, and pineal glands, and feel the electric vibration stimulate the glands.

THALAMUS, HYPOTHALAMUS, PITUITARY, AND PINEAL GLANDS

13. Feel the saliva flowing out even more and the vibration going deeper and deeper into the brain. The palate seems to become very porous, and the hormonal secretion will drip down into the mouth. Sweep the tongue around to gather the nectar. It tastes differently from the saliva; it is thicker, sweet, and fragrant.

14. You know that you have gathered enough saliva when the mouth is full. Now, chew the saliva loudly, like you are eating delicious food, thirty-six times. This will mix the saliva with air and Chi. Move the saliva back and forth with the tongue, left and right, up and down, mixing it with all the essences and hormones. This oxygenates the mixture, blending air into the nectar. Do this thirty-six times. Move your tongue to massage the gums on the outside of the teeth. This helps strengthen the gums and will produce more saliva. Do this thirty times. Do not swallow yet; hold the saliva in your mouth.

BLEND THE SALIVA WITH COSMIC CHI

15. Now, bring your attention to the nature force. Visualize a beautiful mountain, a river, an ocean, and a beautiful flower garden. Extend your hands out to the universe. Open your palms and feel your arms and the palms grow very large and long as they reach to nature and the universe.

16. Next, practice the dragon breath. The dragon breath is a special way to inhale, drawing or sucking Chi energy into your body. To do the dragon breath, lightly contract and pull up on the anus, perineum, and sexual organs. (See Mantak Chia’s Tan Tien Chi Kung for a detailed discussion of perineum power exercises that work with contraction of the anus, perineum, and sexual organs.) Inhale using the dragon sound. The dragon sound is a highpitched Hummmmm. Feel a pressure, like that of a vacuum cleaner, in the abdominal area and the throat. This vacuum/sucking sensation is a sucking in of nature and universal Chi.

WITH THE DRAGON BREATH, INHALE AND DRAW IN NATURE AND UNIVERSAL CHI

LIGHTLY CONTRACT THE PERINEUM AND SEXUAL ORGAN

17. Eventually the suction will manifest in the mid-eyebrow, the crown, the palms, the soles of the feet, and the eight holes of the sacrum.

SUCTIONS IN MID-EYEBROW, CROWN, PALMS, SACRUM, AND SOLES OF THE FEET

18. Now, exhale with the tiger breath, a special way of exhaling that builds Chi pressure in the lower abdomen. To do the tiger breath, exhale with the tiger sound, which is a low-pitched, growling sound, Hummmmm. Push the energy that you have drawn in through the dragon breath down to the lower abdominal area. Practice the dragon and tiger breaths nine to thirty-six times.

WITH THE TIGER BREATH, EXHALE AND COMPRESS THE CHI DOWN TO THE LOWER ABDOMEN

19. Expand your awareness to nature and the universe. Once again, draw the Chi into the mouth and chew and mix the saliva a few times.

20. When the Elixir is ready, prepare to swallow. First, lightly press your chin to the back, so the crown of the head is lifted upward. When the chin is tucked back you will feel the neck lightly tighten around the throat muscle; this will make it hard to swallow. Use your tongue curled like a bridge to press up to the palate, creating a force to help push the saliva down.

21. Now, swallow the saliva. Be aware of the lower Tan Tien and the navel area. Divide the saliva into three parts. Swallow the first part, directing it to the center of navel; swallow the second part, directing it to the left side of the navel; and swallow the third part, directing it to the right side of the navel. You may hear the gulping sound, and the throat or the Adam’s apple will move. This will also help activate the thyroid, parathyroid, and thymus glands.

NECK TIGHTENS AROUND THE THROAT MUSCLE

PRESS ON THE PALATE WITH THE TONGUE TO HELP ACTIVATE CROWN

SWALLOWING THE SALIVA WILL HELP ACTIVATE THYMUS, PARATHYROID, AND THYROID GLANDS

22. Next, practice “turning the wheel.” See a ball of Chi turning counterclockwise in your palms, and see and feel the saliva and Chi turning in a counterclockwise direction in the lower Tan Tien. Feel the saliva turn into Chi. Taoist sages with long years of practice discovered that the saliva has ten times more power to absorb Chi than water.

TURNING THE WHEEL, FEEL THE SALIVA TURN INTO CHI

23. This Elixir can transform immediately into Chi and be used by the body to increase moisture, lubricate the organs and the joints, boost the immune and defense systems, and increase Chi flow so that the blood will flow more easily. Taoists say that when the Chi flows, the blood will circulate faster throughout the entire body and health will be improved. So we do not need to depend only on the heart to pump blood to increase circulation. Using the mind to circulate the Chi will also increase circulation, and reduce stress on the heart.

CHI MOVEMENT ASSISTS BLOOD CIRCULATION

24. Cover your navel and feel it warm; divide this warm energy into two and let it flow down the front of the legs to the big toes, and down the back of the legs to the soles of the feet. Then let the Chi rise, up the inside of the legs. Lightly pull up the anus and the perineum. Draw the sexual organs back towards the coccyx and the sacrum, and guide the Chi flow up the spine to the neck. Here the Chi divides, flowing down the outside of the arms to the middle fingers. Then it continues into the palms, up to the armpits, joining in the neck to flow to the crown, mid-eyebrow, and down to the mouth. Visualize this three to six cycles of this energy circulation. During the Elixir practice, Chi flows like electricity through the palate and the tongue, this vibration goes deep into the brain and down into the chest, and this activates and strengthens the glands. After completing the cycles of energy circulation, rest and feel you have been recharged and filled with energy.

25. This process can be enhanced immensely by practicing the complete Microcosmic Orbit (see Mantak Chia’s Taoist Cosmic Healing for detailed instruction on the Microcosmic Orbit practice). The practice of Microcosmic Orbit practice awakens, circulates, and directs Chi through two important energy routes in the body: the Governor Channel, which ascends from the base of the spine up to the head, and the Functional Channel, which runs from the tip of the tongue down the middle of the torso to the perineum. The Microcosmic Orbit practice allows the palms, the soles of the feet, the mid-eyebrow point, and the crown to open. These specific locations are the major points where energy can be absorbed, condensed, and transformed into fresh new life force.

DIRECTING SEXUAL ENERGY AND CIRCULATING CHI

THE MICROCOSMIC ORBIT

NINE FLOWER GLANDS MASSAGE

The following practices activate the endocrine glands by massaging the area around the nipples, the adrenals, kidneys, ovaries, and testicles. As you practice this massage, feel the glands being activated, and an arousal and gentle sensation of orgasm.

Massaging the area one and a half inches around the nipples will activate all of the glands. The nine flower massage starts from the nipples and moves downward, circling like a flower all the way down to the sexual organs. Gently massage in a circle, as indicated in the next two illustrations, and feel the arousal of the glands along the path. When the nipples, adrenal glands, kidneys, ovaries, and testes are activated, the sexual energy will be activated and will rise to the crown to activate the glands in the brain. The hormones will then flow down to mix with the saliva. This is a good exercise to practice in conjunction with the basic elixir practice, outlined in this chapter.

ENDOCRINE GLANDS

MASSAGE THE NIPPLES