4

The Twelve Elixir Chi Kung Practices

In addition to the foundation and initial exercises presented in Chapter Two and Chapter Three, Golden Elixir Chi Kung involves twelve practices utilizing different postures, which can be done on successive days. Ten of these involve gathering energy through the hair to mix with saliva to fortify the Golden Elixir. The remaining two exercises, “tiger out of the cave” and “pull the silk and swing the leg,” are tendon stretching and strengthening exercises. All of these practices build on the skills developed in the exercises in the preceding chapters. Familiarize yourself with the foundation and initial practices before beginning to work with the twelve elixir Chi Kung practices presented in this chapter.

DRAGON GAZES AT THE PEARL

1. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Press the top of the thumb and index finger pads together, creating a small oval hole to look through. Hold your hands in front of you a few inches apart, at eye level, with the thumbnails lined up with the pupils of the eyes. The two ovals are next to each other like a pair of eyeglasses. The other fingers point straight up. The eyes look into the oval holes, the left eye through the left hole, and the right eye through the right hole. Focus in the middle, between the two thumbs. The eyes will be slightly crossed. Eventually the two hands will appear to merge.

DRAGON GAZES AT THE PEARL

2. Close your eyes, and relax your whole body, and gently practice “reverse breathing.” To practice reverse breathing, pull in the lower abdomen as you inhale, and expand it as you exhale, keeping the chest relaxed. Relax your mind; breathe in this way for at least a minute.

3. Now, focus your awareness on the hair of your head. (If you are bald, focus your awareness on the hair that you do have or on the follicles of the scalp.) Try to sense or feel your hair. Lightly touch your hair to increase awareness. Feel a tingling on your scalp and let your awareness move randomly over your head, wherever you have hair. Soon you should feel the hair itself. It may feel fuzzy, like a cotton ball or like tiny antennae drawing in air. You should definitely feel some form of energy coming through your hair as you inhale. As you exhale, you can send the energy back out of the hair, or you can just leave it there. The energy will move where you want it to.

TOUCHING AND BEING AWARE OF THE HAIR

4. Become aware of the heart and the tongue. Feel your hair like antennae extended into space.

5. As you inhale, imagine that you are drawing in universal and nature Chi through your hair and into your head. It should feel as if each hair is an antenna, drawing energy into each strand. Let your awareness move over your entire scalp, from the top of your head to the back of your neck.

6. Exhale, relaxing. Feel energy begin to filter through the hair and transform from the raw nature and universal Chi into more usable energy for the organs and body. Continue inhaling and exhaling. It will feel as if your hair is breathing, that energy is moving in and out of the strands of hair.

7. Gently pull in on your eyes, and gently pull up on your anus as you inhale. Try to feel a connection with your mouth and tongue.

8. Become aware of the hair under the armpits and feel the connection between the spleen and the mouth. If you shave your armpit hair, just put your concentration on the follicles in the underarm area.

FEEL YOUR HAIR LIKE ANTENNAE EXTENDING INTO SPACE

FEEL THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SPLEEN AND THE MOUTH; FEEL THE ARMPIT HAIR LIKE ANTENNAE EXTENDING DOWN TO THE GROUND

9. As you inhale, imagine or feel that you are drawing energy through the armpit hair (or follicles) and into your underarms.

10. Continue to pull in gently on your eyes and pull up on your anus and perineum as you inhale. As you exhale, relax your eyes and anus. At the same time, continue to feel the sensation of the armpit hair breathing in and out.

11. After about thirty seconds to a minute, mentally direct the energy from your armpits up your shoulders and into your mouth. Moving your lower jaw slowly forward and back, while sucking gently on your tongue and drawing in your cheeks, helps draw the energy into your mouth. Feel that you are drawing in nature and universal Chi.

12. When you feel that the energy is ready, place your hands in the dragon-eyes position described in step one. Inhale; raise yourself onto the toes, gently pull up the middle part of the anus toward the head.

13. Draw in the head hair and armpit hair energy that you have been gathering into the mouth. Suck in your eyes into their sockets. Inhale; draw your tongue in toward the throat. Draw the ears in toward the ear canals. Draw all the senses into the mouth and suck in your cheeks. Hold your breath and continue pulling in tighter, feeling a suction draw all the energy into the mouth.

RISE UP ONTO THE TOES

SUCK THE EYES, EARS, NOSE, AND ALL COLLECTED ENERGY INTO THE MOUTH

14. Exhale, lower your heels down to the ground, and relax. Become aware of the senses and all the hair and breathe in Chi from nature and the universe. Move your tongue around and suck and mix the all the energies with the saliva six to nine times. Rest without swallowing the saliva you have collected.

BLEND THE SALIVA WITH THE COLLECTED ENERGIES

15. Repeat the above exercise twice. You have collected the energies three times and your mouth is full of saliva.

16. When you are ready, put the pinky fingers in the middle with all the other fingers pressing on the pinky. This will give the fingers more power.

PINCH FINGERS AND SWALLOW

17. Now, inhale, pull up the middle part of the anus, and press the tongue to the roof of the mouth. On the next inhale, pull up the left and right sides of the anus up toward the left and right kidneys, and continue to pull up toward the tongue. Feel the kidneys push up to the tongue.

TIGHTEN THE NECK AROUND THE THROAT MUSCLE, AND PUSH THE TOP OF THE CROWN UP

18. At the same time, lock your neck (see above), press your tongue hard against the palate, and squeeze the fingers hard to the pinky fingers. Then squeeze all the muscles of the body, continuing to squeeze the fingers together and continuing to press the tongue against the palate, and swallow the saliva in one gulp down firmly into the abdomen.

19. Swallow fast and hard. Swallow and gulp very forcefully at the same time. Smile to the organs and feel the Chi-saliva Elixir spread to all the organs. The idea is to deliver the Elixir to the stomach while it is freshly oxygenated and not have it dripping slowly down the esophagus. If the saliva is not swallowed down to the lower Tan Tien, the Chi will be congested in the chest. Swallow and squeeze the fingers three times. All of the external openings of the five major internal organs are joined together in the mouth and tongue, so when we draw in the surplus energy of the hair and external Chi and mix it into the saliva and swallow it, we are strengthening all of the internal organs.

SMILE TO ALL THE ORGANS AND FEEL THE CHI SPREAD OUT TO THE ORGANS

20. Rest and cover your navel. Feel it grow warm.

21. Now, guide the Chi down the front of the legs to the big toes, down to the soles of the feet. Gradually sink down, into the ground; feel you are sinking deep into the earth.

SLOWLY SINK DOWN INTO THE EARTH

22. Next, scoop the earth Chi up with your arms, guide it up to your crown, and pour the Chi down through the crown into the whole body.

23. When Chi moves, some people will belch. This will expel the old Chi, help detoxify the body, and let in the fresh Chi.

24. If you are ending your practice session after completing this exercise, finish with the ending exercise described at the end of this chapter.

SCOOP UP THE CHI FROM THE EARTH

POUR THE CHI DOWN THROUGH THE CROWN INTO THE WHOLE BODY

LOOKING BACK AT THE MOON

1. Stand with feet together. Place both hands in loose fists, with a circular space between the fingers, as if holding a steel rod. Place your right hand at your forehead, palm out. The back of the hand is at, but not touching, the forehead. The left hand is held with the palm facing the body at waist level, directly under the right.

HOLD THE HANDS IN LOOSE FISTS

PLACE RIGHT FIST AT FOREHEAD, PALM OUT; PLACE LEFT FIST AT WAIST LEVEL, PALM IN

ROTATE TO THE LEFT AND LOOK OVER THE SHOULDER DOWN AT THE LEFT ANKLE

2. Turn to the left by rotating the body at the spine and look over the shoulder at the back of the right heel. As you turn, the right hand will move toward the left eyebrow, the left hand moving with it to the left side of the waist. Look at the ankle. This is “looking back at the moon.” You will feel this stretch at the waist.

3. Bring your attention to your armpit hair (or follicles) and gather the energy in through the armpit, as discussed in the previous exercises.

4. Dim your eyes. Lightly contract and pull up on the anus, perineum, and sexual organs.

5. Inhale, and rise up onto the toes. Suck in the eyes, ears, and nose, as discussed in the previous exercises. Continue to pull up on the anus, perineum, and sexual organs. Tighten your fists.

TIGHTEN THE HANDS INTO CLOSED FISTS

6. Press the tongue into the palate. Hold the breath for about ten seconds. Feel the energy being collected by the hair.

7. Exhale and collect and beat the saliva in the mouth with the tongue. Do not swallow yet.

8. Repeat the whole sequence to gather the energies three times.

9. Now, prepare to swallow the saliva. Squeeze the fists firmly and swallow the Elixir forcefully down to the navel. The saliva descends quickly and simultaneously. Swallow hard three times.

10. Now reverse, placing the left, loose fist at the forehead, palm out, and the right, loose fist at the waist, palm in. Rotate to the right, gazing over the shoulder at the left ankle. Repeat the sequence to collect the energy (steps three through seven) three times, then swallow forcefully down to the navel.

WAI T’O OFFERING THE ROD

1. Stand with the feet shoulder-width apart. Place arms and hands straight out to the sides, palms facing the earth.

2. Press the wrists down slightly. Feel your body as heavy as a mountain. Feel the weight pressing down to the sacrum and the feet and down into the ground.

3. As you gather energy and breathe in, stretch the fingers toward the sky, stretching tendons, elbows, and wrists.

4. Gather the surplus energy from the head hair and armpit hair, as previously described. Become aware of the heart and the tongue. Feel your hair like antennae extended into space.

EXTEND THE ARMS, PALMS DOWN

5. Feel the energy from the hairs on your arms, beginning at the back of your wrists and flowing up your forearms and upper arms and into your armpits. You might experience a tingling feeling as the energy flows through the hair and up the outside of your arms.

6. Draw the energy from your armpits into your mouth. Lightly suck on your tongue and gently draw in the sides of your cheeks and pull in on the eyes. You might note a metallic taste, or some other change in taste inside your mouth as the energy flows into it.

7. Bring your attention to your pubic hair. It should almost instantly begin to tingle.

8. Gently inhale a reverse breath, pulling in the lower abdomen as you inhale. Feel energy flow into your groin area from the pubic hair. This is surplus sexual Chi.

9. Exhale and feel the energy exit your body through the pubic hair.

10. Feel the connection between the pubic hair, lungs, and nose. Breathe through the pubic hair. Feel that you are drawing the energy up from the earth and the universe below you. Feel the energy from your head hair, arm and armpit hair, and pubic hair mixing into the saliva. Hold the breath for a while.

11. Continue breathing in and out of your pubic hair for at least a minute. You might experience some arousal as you do this.

12. Draw the energy up toward your mouth. When your are ready, stand on your toes and lightly suck in on your tongue, gently draw in the sides of your cheeks, and pull in on the eyes, drawing all the energy into the mouth and saliva. Stretch your palm and fingers upward, stretching the tendons in the hands, and suck in more energy. Then lower the heels down.

13. Feel the energy from your head hair, arm and armpit hair, and pubic hair mixing into the saliva. Hold the breath for a while. Exhale and relax the hands.

BREATHE THROUGH THE HAIR

14. Repeat the preceding sequence of step three times, gathering more and more energy. Do not swallow yet.

15. Now inhale, rising up on the toes. Pull up on the anus and press the tongue to the palate.

STRETCH THE FINGERS AND PALMS, STRETCHING THE TENDONS IN THE HANDS; PRESS DOWN WHEN YOU SWALLOW

16. With the arms outstretched, press the shoulders, arms, and hands downward. Swallow the saliva hard down into the navel. Feel the hot saliva and energy press down into the abdomen. Experiment with the timing of the swallow to see where you get the most power. Finish with the ending exercise at the end of this chapter.

GIANT RAISES THE TOWER

1. Stand with the feet shoulder-width apart. Bend the knees slightly and feel your weight sinking into the ground. Place both hands in loose fists at the waist, with palms facing up.

2. Now, slowly raise your left arm as if you are raising an imaginary tower or platform until it is above your head. Your palm faces the sky, with fingers together. The elbow is rounded, shoulders relaxed.

BEGINNING POSITION

3. Gather the energy of nature and the universe from your hair, as discussed in the previous exercises. Focus on the hair under the armpits and feel the connection between the spleen and the mouth. Breathe the energy through the armpit hair. Now put your attention on your facial hair.

4. Gently inhale a reverse breath, pulling in the abdomen as you inhale. Feel energy pouring through the hair on your face and chin into your mouth.

5. Exhale and feel the energy pass out of the mouth through the skin on your face and out through your facial hair.

6. Continue breathing with your facial hair for at least a minute.

7. Next, when you exhale, feel the energy remaining in your mouth. When you inhale, the energy continues to come in through the facial hair. Lightly suck on your tongue and gently draw in the sides of your cheeks to draw the energy in. Do this for thirty seconds or more.

8. Increase the amount of saliva in your mouth by swirling your tongue around nine times between the back of your lips and the front of your teeth in both directions. Then swirl nine times in both directions with the tip of your tongue behind the front teeth. This should cause your mouth to fill with saliva.

9. Feel the energy from your scalp hair, arm and armpit hair, pubic hair, as well as your facial hair, mixing into the saliva. Move your lower jaw backward and forward as if you were chewing the saliva to assist you in mixing.

10. Be aware of the hair follicles all over the body, and feel the connection between the lungs and the nose. Breathe through the body hair follicles; feel that you are drawing the energy from all above, below, front, back, left, and right.

BODY HAIR ABSORBS UNIVERSAL CHI AND STORES SURPLUS ENERGY FROM THE BODY

THE LEFT HAND HAS BEEN PALM UP, RAISING THE TOWER; NOW TURN THE PALM AND FINGERS SO THEY ARE POINTING DOWN

11. When you feel that the energy is ready, inhale; raise yourself onto the toes. Pull up the middle part of the anus toward the head. Draw in the hair energy that you have been gathering. Suck your eyes into their sockets. Inhale, draw your tongue in toward the throat. Draw the ears in toward the ear canals. Draw all the senses into the mouth and suck your cheeks in. Hold your breath and keep on pulling tighter until you feel a suction drawing all the energy into the mouth.

12. Exhale, lower your feet down to the ground, relax, and become aware of the senses and all the hair. Breathe in the Chi from nature and the universe. Move your tongue around and suck and mix the surplus energy of the hair and the outside energy with the saliva. Repeat this whole sequence three times, collecting more and more energy.

13. Now, inhale. Pull up on the anus and press the tongue up into the palate. Turn the upraised left hand so that the fingers and palm are pointing down, toward the body.

14. Now, swallow hard down into the abdomen. At the same time, thrust the left hand down across the front of the body toward the earth. Feel the saliva burn in the navel and turn into Chi.

15. Repeat the whole exercise with the opposite hands: the left hand is held in a loose fist at the waist, palm up; the right hand is raised above the head, palm facing the sky.

16. Repeat the whole exercise a third time, with both arms raised above the head. Raise both arms as if you are raising a heavy tower or platform. At the end of the exercise, both hands thrust down as you swallow hard.

17. Finish with the ending exercise described at the end of this chapter.

AS YOU SWALLOW, THRUST THE LEFT HAND DOWN ACROSS THE FRONT OF THE BODY

NOW THE RIGHT ARM IS RAISED, PALM UP; THE LEFT HAND IS HELD IN A LOOSE FIST AT THE WAIST

RAISING THE TOWER AND PREPARING TO SWALLOW, USING BOTH HANDS

BOTH HANDS THRUST DOWN AS YOU SWALLOW HARD INTO THE ABDOMEN

IRON BRIDGE SWALLOW

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, with straight knees and ankles locked.

2. Rub the palms together. Place the hands behind the back at the level of the kidneys. The thumb and index finger form a circle; the other fingers remain straight.

THUMB AND INDEX FINGERS TOUCH, THE OTHERS REMAIN STRAIGHT

BACK VIEW

BEND BACKWARD FROM THE WAIST WHILE TUCKING THE CHIN

3. Keeping the legs straight, bend backward from the waist at the lower lumbar. The chin is tucked in, almost resting on the chest. Caution: Do not throw your head back when you bend backward from the waist, as it can cut off circulation to the head and you may fall backwards. Instead, keep the chin tucked into the neck.

4. Gather the energy from the head hair, the whole body hair, and the senses into the mouth and into the saliva, as discussed in the preceding exercises.

5. Draw in the sense organs. Lightly contract the sexual organs and the perineum. Feel the energy collected through the hair. Inhale. Collect and beat the saliva in the mouth. Exhale and relax the face. Repeat the whole sequence twice.

GATHER CHI THROUGH THE HAIR

6. Prepare to swallow. First, lightly straighten up the neck so you can easily swallow. At the time you are swallowing, the other fingers surround the little finger of each hand. The fingers and thumbs press hard against the little finger. Press the fingers together and swallow simultaneously. Swallow the saliva forcefully in one gulp.

7. Rest and gently brush the energy down the chest. Finish with the ending exercise at the end of this chapter.

ALL FINGERS PRESS ON THE PINKY FINGERS

SHAKING THE HEAD AND WAGGING THE TAIL

1. Stand with the feet shoulder-width apart.

2. The next five movements are done simultaneously:

• Extend the arms straight out in front of the chest. With the arms extended, make “thundering palms” by rubbing the palms together back and forth against each other to generate heat.
• Shake the head to the right and left.
• Wag the pelvis and sacrum in the opposite direction of the head. Feel like you are wagging a tail attached to the coccyx.
• Draw the sense organs into the head.
• Collect and beat the saliva until it is very thick.

RUB THE HANDS, SHAKE THE HEAD, AND WAG THE TAIL

MOVE THE HEAD AND SACRUM IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS

3. Continue these movements for two minutes.

4. With the heat collected in the palms, cover both temples. Cover and massage the face.

GATHER THE CHI TO THE FACE

SWALLOW THE SALIVA DOWN THROUGH THE CHEST TO THE LOWER TAN TIEN

BRUSH THE HANDS FROM THE CHEST TO THE PELVIS

5. Move the hands to cover the upper chest. Now swallow the saliva through the chest, heart, belly, and navel down to the lower Tan Tien.

6. At the same time, brush the hands from the chest toward the pelvis. This will rub away all the heart’s worries.

PULL THE SILK AND SWING THE LEG

1. Begin standing with the right leg one stride behind the left, as if a step had just been taken with the left leg. Cross the arms over the torso, palms facing the body, with the right hand in front of the left shoulder, and the left hand stretched around to the right side at waist height. Tuck the chin and lower the head slightly.

STARTING POSITION; PREPARE TO SWING RIGHT LEG

SWING RIGHT LEG AND FLING ARMS OPEN

2. Swing the right leg out straight, shifting the weight forward from the right leg to the left. At the same time, press the waist and the eleventh thoracic vertebra forward, arching the back. Fling the arms open and back, straightening the elbows and expanding the chest. The palms are in the yin/yang position: left palm turned toward the sky; the right palm toward the earth. Turn the head to the right, eyes following the downturned palm.

3. Now reverse and practice the leg swing with the left leg. Stand with the left leg one stride behind the right, as if a step had just been taken with the right leg. Cross the arms over the torso, palms facing the body, with the left hand in front of the right shoulder, and the right hand stretched around to the left side at waist height. Tuck the chin and lower the head slightly.

STARTING POSITION; PREPARE TO SWING LEFT LEG

4. Swing the left leg out straight, shifting the weight forward from the left leg to the right. At the same time, press the waist and the eleventh thoracic vertebra forward, arching the back. Fling the arms open and back, straightening the elbows and expanding the chest. The right palm is turned toward the sky, the left palm toward the earth. Turn the head to the left, eyes following the downturned palm.

5. Repeat each side fifty times. This exercise stretches the tendons, opens the lungs, stimulates and balances the thymus and adrenal glands, aids flexibility of the spine and joints, balances the yin and yang meridians, and distributes internal Chi.

6. Complete the practice with the ending exercise at the end of this chapter.

GATHERING THE GOLDEN EARTH PILL

This is a technique for gathering the earth’s energy. Mother earth emits tremendous yin energy, and in almost all of the meditation techniques of the Universal Tao, we work with this energy. When we were born, we possessed a perfect balance of 50 percent earth (yin) energy and 50 percent heavenly (yang) energy. The trickiest part of living is trying to maintain this balance. If we could maintain the natal balance, we could live for an extremely long time. In many of the previous exercises, we gathered yang cosmic energies through the hair to fortify the saliva. In this exercise, we will balance the yang work by gathering the yin earth energy. This technique is playfully sublime and is the spiritual equivalent of the childhood practice of making and eating “mud pies.”

1. Draw two intersecting six-inch circles on a piece of 8¹/2 x 11 inch paper. Draw a dot in the center of the region where the circles intersect.

DRAW TWO INTERSECTING CIRCLES

2. Stand with the feet shoulder-width apart. Place the drawing between your feet. Squat down between your legs so that your buttocks are almost touching the ground. While squatting and with the hands on the hips, practice rotating your left leg from left to right, then right to left. The hip generates the movement. Then practice with the right leg. Finally, practice moving both legs at the same time. This is a very good exercise for the psoas muscles and the hamstrings.

3. Draw a dot in the center of each of your palms. Hold your arms straight down between your two squatting legs. (Your arms are no longer on your hips. This was only a practice position while you learned to move your legs back and forth.) The elbows rest and are lightly locked against the inside legs at the knees. If your armpits are at the level of your knees, you are too low. Straighten your back and adjust.

ROTATE THE LEFT LEG, WHICH PUSHES THE LEFT HAND TO TRACE A CLOCKWISE CIRCLE

ROTATE THE RIGHT LEG, WHICH PUSHES THE RIGHT HAND TO TRACE A COUNTERCLOCKWISE CIRCLE

4. Spread your fingers parallel to the ground; bend your wrists towards your shoulders. Your palms are nearly touching the ground. Try to keep your back straight.

5. First, practice moving the right hip from side to side, so that your leg pushes your hand and the dot on your right palm traces the line of the circle on the right. The right palm is tracing a counterclockwise circle. Stop and then practice with the left leg, pushing the right palm to trace a clockwise circle. Your palms are not moving by themselves, but are moving because the hips are moving. All movement is from the hips. The arms remain locked in place against the inside of the knees. The upper body should not be moving. Focus your eyes on the dot in the center of the intersecting circles.

6. Now try to move both sides simultaneously. Do this for a few minutes. Using the motion of the hips and knees (not the arms or wrists!) gently trace the two circles on the ground with the center of your palms, with the palms about one inch from the paper. The circles overlap at a point where the hands cross. At the overlapping point, a pearl of energy, the “earth pill,” is created.

GATHER THE EARTH CHI

7. When gathering the earth energy, also gather the senses’ and organs’ energy three times. Suck the sense organs into the head.

8. Use the mind, eyes, and palms to gather the earth force. If your hands are sensitive, you will be able to feel them soaking up the energy from the earth. Feel or see the earth pill, a ball of energy, forming. If you are a novice practitioner, just keep working with the practice, have an open mind, and soon you will begin to feel, and sometimes see, the energy you are accessing. The energy is intense.

9. When you feel that you have been able to gather the energy, scoop the earth energy pearl up with your hands as you begin to stand up.

SCOOP UP THE EARTH PILL

10. The action of the hands is similar to the action you might use if you were without a glass and used your palms to scoop up and drink water. The sense of ritual and reverence you might use for this meditation is similar to the respect and gratitude shown by thirsty desert travelers who discover a fountain at an unexpected oasis. Bending down to scoop up water into their palms, they rise drinking and giving thanks at the same time.

11. Inhale. Draw the earth pill into your mouth, sucking it deep into the mouth cavity. Pull up the anus, and mix the earth pill with the saliva that contains the senses’ and organs’ energy. Press the tongue up against the palate. Beat the saliva with your tongue, and swallow using the gulping action we have described before.

DRAW THE EARTH CHI ENERGY PILL TO YOUR MOUTH, MIX WITH YOUR SALIVA, AND SWALLOW

12. The palms are now facing the chest with the fingers bent and pointing downward. Swallow hard and feel the earth pill and saliva rush down to the stomach and lower Tan Tien as you sweep the hands down the chest. This will sweep away congestion and worry from the chest.

SWALLOW SALIVA DOWN TO THE LOWER TAN TIEN

13. Finish with the ending exercise at the end of this chapter.

TIGER OUT OF THE CAGE

This is a tendon strengthening exercise that develops power in the hand and forearm. This is practiced to cultivate strength and to help stretch the tendons and allow for the increased flow of healing energy. The tendons are the fibrous cords or bands that connect the muscles to the bones. It is necessary to stretch and exercise them so that energy flows through them and does not get stuck.

1. Stand with feet about three feet apart. Start with the hands in a fist held at the waist, fingers facing up, elbows bent.

START WITH FISTS AT WAIST; PUNCH RIGHT FIST STRAIGHT OUT; SPREAD FINGERS INTO A CLAW

2. Punch straight ahead with the right fist, rotating the fist so the fist turns fingers-down as you punch. As you punch, lower the right knee a little. After you have thrust forward the fist, the hand forms a fierce claw, spreading and tensing the bent fingers.

DETAIL OF CLAW

3. After you have thrust out the right fist and opened the claw, twist the claw so that it is turned palm up. When you retract, close the hand again into a fist. As you pull back, you are pulling the tail of a tiger. Continue to hold the left fist at the waist.

4. Most of the weight is transferred to the right leg. This will stretch the tendons in the ankle, knee, and hip area.

5. Practice this sequence on the left side.

ROTATE CLAW AND PULL FIST BACK IN

6. Repeat thirty to 108 times on each side.

7. Next, practice the following variation of this exercise. As you are punching, twist your left fist and arm counterclockwise as far as you can. When you twist the fist and arm, you stretch all the tendons of the arm. At the end of the punch, make the tiger claw, but do not immediately draw your hand back to your body.

PUNCH FORWARD WITH LEFT FIST; RETRACT WITH CLAW

TWIST HAND CLOCKWISE

8. Pretend you are clawing the eyes of your assailant. After you have clawed the eyes, the motion of your hand continues as if you were grabbing his nose and mouth and twisting them clockwise. These different hand motions exercise the tendons of the hand.

9. Conclude the motions of the hand by grabbing the imaginary beard or chin of your opponent and pulling him toward you and off balance. At the same time you are pulling him, shift most of your weight back onto your right leg and foot. Draw your fist back, returning to the starting position. Follow the rhythm of the movements and regulate the breathing.

TWIST LEFT ARM COUNTERCLOCKWISE AS YOU PUNCH, CLAW THE EYES OF THE OPPONENT, THEN GRAB HIS NOSE AND TWIST CLOCKWISE

10. Repeat this sequence with the right arm, turning the fist clockwise as you punch, clawing the eyes of the opponent, then grabbing his nose and mouth and twisting them counterclockwise. Conclude by pulling your opponent’s beard, pulling him toward you, shifting your weight onto your right leg and foot. Draw your fist back, returning to the starting position.

11. Repeat thirty to 108 times on each side.

12. Conclude with the ending exercise at the end of this chapter.

DRAW YOUR FIST BACK AND RETURN TO THE STARTING POSITION

IRON BUFFALO PLOWS THE LAND

This exercise strengthens the fingertips, toe-tips, back, and belly. When you begin to practice these postures, start in step 1 by placing the palms on the ground and then progress to rising up and supporting your weight with only the fingers. As you become more proficient at this exercise, gradually reduce down to four fingers, then to three fingers, then two fingers, and eventually to one finger.

IRON BUFFALO STARTING POSITION

1. Bend down and walk your hands forward, keeping your knees and elbows straight, hips raised higher than the back, so as to form a “triangle” (see figure above). The feet are four to six inches apart. Start by supporting your weight with your hands flat on the floor; eventually support your weight with your fingertips.

2. Begin to gather the energy in your mouth and mix it with the saliva. As you prepare to swallow, bend your arms and scoop your nose forward, about one inch off the ground.

3. When you begin to swallow, swing the hips forward and arch your back. The head raises, neck arching backward, like a cobra. As the head raises, swallow the saliva down.

4. Repeat this exercise three times the first month you begin practicing. Increase to six times in the second month, nine times in the third, and twelve times in the fourth.

SCOOP FORWARD AS YOU PREPARE TO SWALLOW

RAISE THE HEAD LIKE A COBRA AS YOU SWALLOW

GRADUALLY REDUCE THE NUMBER OF FINGERS SUPPORTING YOUR WEIGHT

FAIR LADY JUMPS

In this exercise you will jump straight up into the air from the waist and lower Tan Tien.

1. Begin standing upright, knees straight, feet close together.

2. Swing your arms at your sides and feel that your body is light. Smile to the heart. Make the heart soft; feel happy and light, and feel the lightness spread throughout the body.

3. When you feel so light that you could fly, feel the jump generate from the waist and lower Tan Tien. The tendons of the toes will also spring you upward. The knees and hips only lightly bend. Jump, thrusting strainght up. At the same time, thrust your arms straight up.

RELAX THE WAIST; SWING THE ARMS; FEEL THE HEART AND BODY BECOMING VERY LIGHT

4. After the jump, use the hands to brush down Chi congested in the chest.

5. Repeat the jump nine to eighteen times.

Walk around three times after practicing the jumps. Never sit down at once, or eat or drink immediately.

JUMP STRAIGHT UP FROM THE LOWER TAN TIEN, THEN REST

ELIXIR CHI KUNG ENDING EXERCISE

This is the final exercise in the series of twelve Elixir Chi Kung practices. Complete your practice session, whether you have practiced one or more of the Elixir exercises, with this exercise.

1. Stand with your feet close together. Raise your palms up to the heavens. Feel yourself expanding to be as big as the universe.
2. Feel that your bones are hollow and the Chi from the universe flow in and packs and compresses into the bones.
3. Feel your hands grow very big and long. Scoop up the Chi from the universe and pour it down over the crown. Feel your skull become numb, and electricity run down into and through the bones.
4. Slowly move your hands down; brush from the face down to the lower Tan Tien, and guide the Chi down from the top of the body to the feet. Feel your legs sink deep into the ground, into the center of the earth.
5. Now, gather and scoop the earth Chi from the earth below you. Gradually guide this Chi up the bones of the whole body. Scoop the Chi down from the crown again and move it into the navel and lower Tan Tien. Cover the navel with your hands. Feel nice and warm.
6. Rest by brushing both of your hands down your chest while walking around a little.

It will take regular practice over a period of time for you to become comfortable with and to master the series of twelve Elixir Chi Kung exercises presented in this chapter. It may be difficult to feel the hair breathing and the other sensations of energy movement at first. An attitude of faith that you can do it helps. You must relax to feel the flow of energy. If you are not initially having success and find yourself getting tense or frustrated, please stop and try another time.

Most of this book is devoted to practices for drawing energy into your body. These practices are a vital part of the Taoist teachings on health and long life. However, they are clearly not a part of any mainstream Western medical practice. Therefore, you might need some time getting used to these concepts. The right attitude helps.

When practicing the exercises for fortifying the saliva and swallowing the golden Elixir, in the beginning there will be frequent belching or yawning; this will help make the esophagus smooth. After two months there will be frequent flatulence (farting), as air, which contains Chi, reaches the lower abdomen. This helps the process of replacing old energy with fresh Chi. After three months, the anus gradually tightens, so the Chi will not leak out. As a result, Chi pressure increases, and the stomach will start to make rumbling sounds. With the practice of swallowing saliva, the breath will be eventually controlled by the Yi (the Yi is a fusion of our upper, lower, and middle minds into one mind). When Chi raises and comes to full strength, it enters the lower Tan Tien. Then the mind will become calm and quiet like a pond without ripples that perfectly reflects the moon.

SCOOP UP THE HEAVENLY CHI AND POUR IT DOWN OVER THE CROWN AND THE WHOLE BODY

GRADUALLY BRING THE CHI DOWN AND BACK TO THE NAVEL