Chi-Gung and the Three Treasures: The Alchemy of Essence, Energy, and Spirit
The Three Treasures (san bao) are the fundamental foundations of human life and the indispensable assets of existence. They also constitute the triunal link that connects each and every human being to the infinite power and wisdom of the universe, and comprise the basic working components in the ‘internal alchemy’ of the nei-gung (‘internal work’) school of chi-gung.
The Wen Tze Classic, written about 2000 years ago, states, ‘The body is the temple of life. Energy is the force of life. Spirit is the governor of life. If one of them goes off balance, all three are damaged.’ As the governor of life, the spirit resides in the temple of the body and commands the life force of energy, ‘and this arrangement benefits all Three Treasures’. But if the temple is not properly maintained due to negligence, or if the force of life is wasted by harmful habits, or if the governor is corrupted by worldly desires and becomes derelict in duty, then spirit loses command over energy, the body degenerates, ‘and this harms all Three Treasures’. Thus the purpose of internal alchemy in chi-gung is to put spirit firmly in command as the governor of life, to restore and carefully maintain the temple of the body, and to conserve and control the vital force of energy, particularly the precious supply of power provided by yuan-chi, ‘primordial energy’.
Prior to birth, the Three Treasures are bound in a seamless undifferentiated unity, which is known as their ‘prenatal’ (sian-tien) aspect. This is the primordial facet of life that precedes incarnate existence, the seed of life slumbering in the vast ground of the universe, like a drop of water floating in the sea (Fig. 4). This seed begins to sprout at the moment of conception, differentiating itself from the rest of the universe like a drop of water spraying loose from a wave in the sea. Although the seed for ever retains its primordial links to the universe from which it sprang, once it sprouts and takes on an individual life cycle, the Three Treasures separate into their distinctive postnatal manifestations of body, breath and mind, while their prenatal roots are held in deep reserve as primordial essence, energy and spirit.
Fig. 4 Prenatal and postnatal aspects of the Three Treasures of Life: the primordial unity of essence, energy and spirit divides into the temporal functions of body, breath and mind
As a prelude to our discussion of how the internal alchemy of chi-gung regulates and transforms the Three Treasures of essence/body, energy/breath, and spirit/mind to protect health, prolong life and promote awareness, let’s briefly review their prenatal and postnatal aspects and see how they manifest in human life.
Prenatal essence is the primordial creative force of the universe, the primal urge to procreate and proliferate life in material form, the polar power of gender that ensures perpetual regeneration of all species of life. Every human being receives a measure of the universe’s primordial essence from the fusion of sperm and ovum, and this essence manifests in life as gender and sexuality and as vitality derived from sexual hormones. It is stored in the sexual glands of male and female and in the adrenal glands of both genders, and it is transmitted perpetually from one generation to the next by sexual reproduction. This primordial spark of life, which manifests in the temporal body as sexual plasma, is therefore the only form of human essence that is truly immortal, for the sexual seed carries the genetic code of the body from generation to generation.
Postnatal essence refers to the body of flesh and bone that develops from the fusion of male and female sexual essence after conception. Synthesized from the material nutritional essence of food, water and air, its most important forms are the vital bodily fluids, such as blood and hormones, neurotransmitters and cerebrospinal fluid, enzymes and electrolytes. The seat of postnatal essence is the sacrum, and its related energy resides in the lower elixir field below the navel. In men, it is most easily damaged and depleted through excessive loss of semen in sexual activity, and in women through excessive loss of blood and bodily fluids in menstruation. In men and women, essence is also depleted by stress, fatigue, malnutrition and chronic diseases.
Prenatal energy is the primordial power of the universe, the movements and cycles of the stars and planets, the vibration of atoms and molecules, and the universal energies of the cosmos, such as light and heat, electromagnetic and nuclear forces. Its nature is constant activity and perpetual transformation. In postnatal life, prenatal energy manifests as the primordial energy of yuan-chi, which serves as a back-up battery of reserve energy and a basic barometer of health and vitality. It resides mainly in the adrenal cortex and the marrow and is closely associated with prenatal essence. The primordial energies of the cosmos may also be assimilated into the postnatal human system from light and other wave energies that radiate from the sky by opening the body’s energy gates with chi-gung practice.
Postnatal energy refers to the energies of earth derived from natural resources, such as food, water and air, the Five Elemental Energies of the vital organ systems, breath and speech, bodily movement and cellular metabolism, and the energies of emotion. This energy is focused in the middle elixir field at the solar plexus, and it may be directly controlled and balanced by the regulated breathing methods used in chi-gung.
Prenatal spirit is the primordial ‘Mind of Tao’ which permeates the universe and endows every sentient being with the original light of awareness. Immortal, immaterial and luminous, primordial spirit is the infinite ocean of consciousness from which the eternal spirit of each individual springs. If the infinite space of the universe were compared to the vast expanse of an ocean, then the omnipresent awareness of primordial spirit may be compared to the wetness of the ocean’s water, such is its all-pervasive, all encompassing quality throughout the entire universe. As the transcendent ‘mind of the universe’, primordial spirit is the source of wisdom, compassion and all spiritual virtue, the guiding light that governs the powers of creation, the master architect of every atom and molecule, star and planet in the ever-expanding temple of the manifest universe.
Prenatal spirit lies hidden like a precious pearl deep within the temporal shell of the postnatal human mind. Like a restless nomad, it wanders from lifetime to lifetime, pitching camp in this body then moving on to the next, without ever being recognized or remembered by its temporary hosts – until the day in the life of a particular being that the temporal human mind awakens to primordial spirit’s subtle presence and sets it free from the delusions that bind it to mortal flesh. It is this prenatal aspect of the human mind that is immortal, and therefore recognizing it is the key to overcoming the instinctive fear of death and finding peace of mind in life. This is the ultimate goal of all spiritual practice.
Postnatal spirit manifests itself in human life as sensory perception and rational thought, personality and ego, and the dualistic delusions that separate individuals from each other. It expresses itself in the mental faculties of reason and intuition, learning and memory, and other cerebral functions. Postnatal spirit resides in the upper elixir field in the centre of the head, where it governs the body and the breath below and maintains a link with primordial spirit above. This link is the springboard for the final ‘leap into space’ in the highest stages of practice leading to total spiritual liberation.
There is a deep significance in the use of the term ‘Three Treasures’ to denote the primordial triune of essence, energy and spirit and its temporal expression in the body, breath and mind of postnatal life. It correctly implies that these three attributes are the most precious assets of life, and that they should therefore be treated, quite literally, as genuine treasures: conserved, protected, loved and valued, i.e., ‘treasured’. Most people, however, take their bodies for granted and wear them out as engines of pleasure, rather than taking loving care of them as sacred temples of life. They spend their energy like money, rather than conserving it as a precious treasure of life. They apply their minds entirely to the acquisition of temporal fame and fortune and management of worldly affairs, disregarding the higher yearnings of their own spirits and paying mere lip-service to the wisdom of saints and sages. They let material concerns rule the mind and squander their precious resources just as commerce and industry squanders the resources of the planet. The purpose of the internal alchemy of the Three Treasures is to reverse this tendency by conserving and cultivating the precious treasures of life. And in the long run, the time and effort spent in such self-cultivation always proves to be a sound investment, for it reaps the rewards of health and longevity without which nothing else in life can really be enjoyed or accomplished.
Nei-Gung: The Internal Alchemy of Energy Work
When you watch someone practising chi-gung, what you see are the external facets of the practice, the wai-gung (‘external work’). This includes rhythmic movements and balanced postures of the body designed to work on the physical body. What you don’t see, but what the practitioner feels and focuses on most, are the internal aspects of the practice, the nei-gung (‘internal work’), often referred to in English as ‘internal alchemy’. While wai-gung establishes the physical framework for practice and helps build the body, nei-gung is the major focus and the primary source of benefit in chi-gung practice.
During ancient times in the Eastern as well as Western worlds, misguided alchemists spent their lives searching in vain for a way to concoct the ‘Elixir of Life’ or ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ from base metals and other minerals. Many lost their lives in these experiments, which eventually discredited the entire field of alchemy, until finally the momentous discovery was made that the secret formula and all the essential ingredients and equipment required for the alchemy of physical longevity and spiritual immortality lay locked deep within the terrain of the human body, not in minerals, herbs and the alchemist’s lab, and that every human being is born fully equipped to practise this alchemy. As the Union of the Triplex Equation states:
Let the void be your cauldron; let nature be your furnace; for your primary ingredient, take stillness; for your reagent, use quietude; for mercury, take your vital essence; for lead, use your daily energy; for water, use restraint; for fire, take meditation.
In Taoist literature, the internal alchemy activated by chi-gung is referred to as the ‘Triplex Unity’ of essence, energy and spirit, while the external method of practice used to set this process in motion is called ‘balancing body, breath and mind’. Like the Five Elemental Energies in nature, the internal alchemy of the Three Treasures involves two complementary cycles – the nurture cycle of transformation and the command cycle of control (Fig. 5), and each of the Three Treasures resides in one of the ‘Three Elixir Fields’. In Taoist Yoga, Master Chao Pi-chen describes the transformation cycle of internal alchemy in relation to the elixir fields as follows:
The lower Elixir Field under the navel is where generative force [essence] is sublimated into vitality [energy]; the middle Elixir Field in the solar plexus is where vitality is sublimated into spirit; and the upper Elixir Field in the brain is where spirit is sublimated for its flight into space.
Fig. 5 The ‘nurture’ and ‘command’ cycles in the ‘internal alchemy’ of the Three Treasures
In other words, the vital essence of hormones, particular sexual secretions, are transformed into energy in the second chakra below the navel. This energy is then raised to the third chakra, where it is transformed and refined into spiritual energy, which in turn is drawn up to the sixth chakra in the brain as fuel for the highest stage of practice – relinking the finite human mind with the infinite wisdom and power of the universe by plunging human consciousness back into the vast ocean of primordial spirit. In order to do this, the practitioner must conserve all of his or her resources of essence and energy and transform them into ling-chi, the highly refined energy associated with spirit. As another Taoist text puts it, ‘It is ling-chi [spirit-energy] that reaches the top.’
The nurture cycle, which refines spiritual energy from the essential energy of the sacrum, is the Yin aspect of internal alchemy. The command cycle, which exercises the power of ‘mind over matter’ through conscious control of breath and energy, is the Yang aspect. Like all polar aspects of Yin and Yang, these two cycles are interactive and interdependent. In order for spirit to gain command over the body and its energies, it must first be nurtured with energy refined from essence, and in order to conduct that subtle alchemy, spirit must exercise firm command over essence and energy. Throughout all phases in both cycles of internal alchemy, stillness, stability and concentration constitute the basic pillars of practice. As Master Chao Pi-chen states in Taoist Yoga:
The generative force [essence] changes into vitality [energy] when the body is still; vitality changes into spirit when the heart is unstirred; and spirit returns to nothingness because of immutable thought.
There are eight progressive stages of practice in the internal alchemy and Triplex Unity of the Three Treasures:
1. Conserving Essence: for men, this mainly means conserving semen, either through periodic celibacy during times of intensive practice, or else by integrating the Dual Cultivation method of Taoist sexual yoga as part of one’s practice. This involves prolonged sexual intercourse without ejaculation, preferably with a partner who understands the practice. For women, it means regulating menstrual cycles so that a minimum amount of blood is lost each month. For both genders, it also means avoiding stress, emotional turmoil, physical exhaustion and obsessive thought, all of which deplete essential hormones and neurochemicals, particularly in the adrenal/pituitary axis of the endocrine system. ‘When the oil is used up,’ notes an old Taoist saying, ‘the lamp goes out.’ Since essence constitutes the basic oil that fuels the lamp of life, the first step in the internal alchemy of the Three Treasures is to conserve essence.
2. Restoring Essence: Since most people have already spent many years squandering their precious supplies of sexual, endocrine and cerebral essence prior to taking up the practice of internal alchemy, it’s important not only to stop wasting and start conserving this essence, but also to take steps to restore it to its original state of purity and potency. This can be done by applying supplemental yang-sheng (cultivating life) methods such as nutrition and dietary reform, tonic herbs, proper exercise, correct breathing and careful attention to the daily habits of life.
3. Transforming Essence: When essence is full and sufficiently pure and potent, it may be transformed into jing-chi, or ‘essential energy’. This process takes place in the lower elixir field energy centre below the navel, using breath as a bellows to steam the essence and sublimate its energy in the cauldron of the abdomen, and using the mind to control the process and draw the harvested energy upward through the Governing Channel into the head.
4. Nourishing Energy: This stage involves the enhancement of one’s overall vitality by continuously refining energy from essence and improving the efficiency of one’s basic metabolic functions, so that supplies of yuan-chi (primordial energy) are conserved, thereby elevating the potency of one’s basic life-force in preparation for the higher stages of practice. Primordial energy is further nourished by learning to tap into the energies of nature and the cosmos and drawing them into the system through the energy gates, circulating them through the meridiens, and storing them in the body’s energy centres.
5. Transforming Energy: When the adept has accumulated sufficient supplies of energy in the lower elixir field, it is ready to be raised to the upper elixir field and transformed into the more highly refined energy associated with awareness and other spiritual faculties. This type of energy is luminous and partakes more of the wave nature of light than the pulsed electromagnetic currents associated with the physiological functions of the body. Esoteric spiritual powers such as telepathy, extra-sensory perception, clairvoyance, psychokinensis and so forth utilize this form of energy. These powers, known as shen-tung (‘spiritual breakthroughs’) in Chinese and siddi in Sanskrit, are regarded as signs of progress in advanced spiritual practice, not as goals in themselves, and they are only utilized with the utmost discretion when absolutely necessary for the benefit of others, never for personal profit, power or fame. Indeed, there are countless stories in China and India of practitioners who deviate from the path in order to use such powers for personal gain, then promptly lose them all and end up back at the bottom of the ladder. At this level of practice, spiritual power must always be used in close conjunction with the wisdom and compassion to which it is inextricably linked in the universal order.
6. Nourishing Spirit: This stage of practice concentrates energy in the upper elixir field in the centre of the head, where it awakens and illuminates the dormant primordial facets of spirit. ‘Nourishing the spirit is the highest task,’ states the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine. This practice requires the adept to totally still the postnatal mind of discursive thought, tune out all sensory distractions and pacify the ‘Chief Hooligan’ of conflicting emotion, shrinking the role of the ego to that of a silent, passive bystander rather than the loud, demanding spoiled brat it normally plays in daily life.
7. Transformation Spirit: When the prevailing consciousness of the mind shifts silently and effortlessly away from the dualistic awareness spawned by words and rational thought, sensual desire and sensory perception, and subsumes itself instead in the radiant awareness, universal wisdom and infinite power of primordial spirit, then the finite awareness of the ordinary human mind transforms and expands spontaneously into the boundless transcendent awareness of the immortal ‘Mind of Tao.’ This transformation, known variously in English as ‘enlightenment’, ‘transcendence’, ‘liberation’ and ‘awakening’, in the Zen tradition of japan as satori, in Sanskrit as nirvana, and in Taoist parlance as wu-dao (‘awakening to the Way’), usually occurs suddenly and unexpectedly after long and persistent practice, in a brilliant flash of universal insight that transports the mind beyond words and concepts to a higher place of awareness that answers all questions and resolves all doubts with a singular luminous vision. Emerging from this experience, the adept is forever transformed, still in the world but no longer of it, with nothing to do in life but help others reach the same sublime state.
8. Returning to the Source: This is the ultimate and final stage of practice, the proverbial ‘flight into space’. When an adept who has already dissolved the ego and experienced enlightened awareness feels that it is time to shed the material body, he or she prepares to leave the world consciously in a pure adamantine vehicle of energy and spirit sometimes referred to as a ‘Rainbow body’. Known in Taoist tradition as ling-tai (‘spiritual embryo’), its gestation may be fostered through specific practices, which include techniques such as projecting consciousness into space in order to let spirit roam free and ‘rehearse’ for its final departure from the body, and to familiarize the adept’s awareness with the terrain of primordial spirit. As a fusion of luminous light and pure awareness forged from the adept’s essence, energy and spirit, the Rainbow Body restores the primordial unity of the Three Treasures and returns them to the universal source of all creation, ‘like a drop of water slipping into the shining sea’.
However, unlike the dissolution of a drop of water when it slides back into the sea, the spirit of an enlightened individual expands to embrace the universal awareness, infinite space and boundless energy of the source to which it returns. The spirit becomes one with the universe rather than being dissolved by it, and remains there for ever in a luminous state of exalted universal awareness rather than tumbling blindly through it in the fear, anger and other karmic hangovers of life – only to be reborn once again on the same old merry-go-round of reincarnation. Very few practitioners complete this stage of practice, but those who do become ‘immortals’ (shian), forever free from the ceaseless rounds of birth and death that characterize incarnate existence, although some choose to return to the suffering of corporeal life of their own accord to help others attain the same state of self-liberation.
Thus the only true ‘elixir of life’ is energy, and the only immortality a human being can achieve is purely spiritual. Cultivating the primordial energy of life and achieving the enlightened state of primordial awareness are the ultimate goals of the ‘internal family’ (nei-jia) of chi-gung practitioners. However, cultivating primordial energy (yuan-chi) also has practical benefits for the more immediate, less lofty goals of protecting the health and prolonging the life of the physical body.
Most people are not even aware that they possess such a thing as primordial energy and that it plays such a decisive role in their physical well-being. Consequently, they carelessly squander this precious asset without even realizing it. Every time you lose your temper, subject yourself to stress, overwork your body, neglect your health and let your system get run down, you overtax your normal metabolic sources of postnatal True Energy derived from food, water and air, thereby forcing your system to dip into precious and irreplaceable reserves of primordial energy, most of which is stored in the adrenal, pituitary and other glands. If this happened only rarely in life, it wouldn’t have much negative impact on health and longevity, but for most people this sort of ‘deficit spending’ has become par for the course in daily life, both at work and at play, and the endocrine system and our immune response are the first to malfunction as a result of such overdrive. This is the light in which traditional Chinese physicians view the condition currently known as ‘acquired immune deficiency syndrome’.
The quality and quantity of primordial energy that one receives at birth depend on three main factors: the purity and potency of the parents’ genetic plasma; the condition of the parents’ health and vitality and the state of their emotional relationship at the time of conception; and the spiritual factors such as karma that are brought into this life by the incoming spirit. Karma, which refers to specific conditions that arise in this life as a cumulative result of the activities and habits cultivated in former lives, and reincarnation – the cyclic transmigration of the immortal spiritual seed from life to life, body to body – are taken as basic facts of life in traditional Eastern thought, not as doctrinaire tenets of any particular religion, and therefore they are also regarded as fundamental factors in health, longevity and spiritual development. Indeed, until they were erased from the scriptures by church decree during the ninth century AD, karma and reincarnation were also integral elements in Christian thought. Since these factors often unravel the little mysteries and explain the persistent problems in life that defy any other explanation, including matters of health, it behoves one to at least keep an open mind on the subject of karma and reincarnation, particularly when it comes to energy, which is closely associated with spirit.
Yuan-chi is thus the basic life-force that every human being brings into this world at birth. It is something that cannot be replaced, traded or purchased, nor can it be obtained from supplements or transplanted from other sources. It can, however, be conserved, cultivated and controlled, and its purity and potency may be enhanced through the practice of chi-gung and other yang-sheng regimes, such as diet and supplements, exercise and sexual yoga, relaxation and meditation. These practices ensure that there is always a sufficient supply of postnatal True Energy to support the daily energy requirements of body and mind, while also counteracting the effects of stress, malnutrition and exhaustion that so quickly deplete True Energy, thereby conserving reserve supplies of primordial energy to support the higher stages of internal alchemy. Whenever yuan-chi is borrowed to support physiological functions in times of stress, illness and other conditions of deficiency, it is irretrievably lost, but when it is incorporated into the internal alchemy of the Three Treasures, it is reinforced, refined and recirculated throughout the system, thereby preserving it.
The conservation and cultivation of primordial energy through internal chi-gung amplifies the power of the entire human energy system, like stepping up the current in an electrical circuit so that all the lights suddenly get brighter. This is the proverbial ‘glow of good health’ – the rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes, the spring in the step and the radiant clarity of spirit. When conserved and amplified through practice, primordial energy has a bright radiant quality that it imparts to the whole system, suffusing every organ, tissue and cell with the protective aura of its force field and enveloping the whole body with a luminous shield of energy that guards against invasion by aberrant environmental energies and harmful electromagnetic fields and wards off the negative influences of malevolent spirits, ill intentions and demonic forces. The latter benefit, known in Chinese as bi-shieh (‘to repel evil’), may strike Western readers as arcane and superfluous, but in Asia, protecting oneself from hostile energy and spiritual malice projected unconsciously or deliberately by others and from the parasitic influence of malignant entities are regarded as highly important dividends of chi-gung practice. Like karma and reincarnation, unless you’ve seen conclusive evidence that such forces do not exist, it might be a good idea to give the benefit of the doubt to the experience of spiritual masters who say that they do, and therefore take them into account as factors in your life and practice.
Now let’s take a quick look at some of the practical benefits of practising chi-gung and the internal alchemy of the Three Treasures in terms of human health, longevity and awareness.
Chi-Gung and Essence
As we have seen, essence manifests itself in postnatal life as the physical body in general, and its various vital fluids in particular, while energy manifests as breath. According to the principles of internal alchemy, ‘energy commands essence’, so it follows that breath controls the secretion and circulation of vital fluids in the body. The deep, diaphragmic breathing used in chi-gung gives a powerful boost to the circulation of blood throughout the body by alternately compressing and releasing pressures in the abdominal and chest cavities, with the diaphragm acting as a ‘second heart’ to pump blood through the vessels. Every deep abdominal breath you take helps pumps blood through the system and takes a big load off the heart. When this sort of breathing is practised throughout the day, it serves as a highly effective preventive against heart disease and helps prolong life.
The long, rhythmic extensions of the limbs and torso performed in moving chi-gung exercises stimulate the movement of lymph throughout the body. Since lymph helps purify the blood and intercellular fluids, chi-gung exercises promote detoxification of the entire body, right down to the individual cells.
Another way that chi-gung breathing stimulates bodily fluids is by massaging the abdominal organs. As the diaphragm descends on inhalation, it squeezes stale blood, bile and other stagnant fluids from the liver and other organs, and when the pressure is released on exhalation as the diaphragm ascends, fresh blood rushes into the organs and replenishes them with oxygen and nutrients. This internal diaphragmic pressure also stimulates secretions of vital hormones from the glands located in the abdomen and sacrum, particularly the adrenal cortex on top of the kidneys.
Deep breathing greatly enhances the oxygenation of the blood and the elimination of carbon dioxide in the lungs by increasing the surface area of the alveoli involved in gas exchange with the bloodstream. In conjunction with the enhanced circulation and distribution of blood provided by the pumping of the diaphragm, the net result of this improvement in respiratory efficiency is a significant increase in the oxygenation and detoxification of tissues and cells throughout the body.
This cellular oxygenation is more important to human health today than ever before, especially in big cities, where most people live. Due to relentless deforestation, nonstop burning of fossil fuels, and industrial pollution, the air people breathe in the crowded inner districts of mega-cities such as Tokyo, Shanghai, Bombay, Los Angeles, and Chicago contains only half the oxygen of air in mountain and rural regions, and more than double the carbon dioxide, which is a toxic metabolic waste. Therefore, each and every deep, diaphragmic chi-gung breath you take in a big city helps compensate your body for deficient oxygen and excess carbon dioxide levels in urban air by increasing assimilation of oxygen into the bloodstream and elimination of carbon dioxide. This fact alone justifies the time and effort required to maintain a regular daily chi-gung practice.
In 1931, Dr Otto Warburg received the Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery that the primary condition associated with all forms of cancer is severe deprivation of oxygen to the cells of the affected tissues, and that cancer cannot occur in tissues that are sufficiently oxygenated. This finding, which has been ignored by the medical establishment, is further supported by the fact that the worldwide increase in the incidence of cancer has closely paralleled the concurrent decrease in oxygen levels, and that cancer is spreading fastest in the most industrialized regions of the world, where oxygen levels are lowest. The obvious conclusion here is that the best preventive measure against cancer is to make sure that all of the cells and tissues of the body receive sufficient supplies of oxygen, and the simplest, most effective way to do that is by daily practice of chi-gung, which not only increases oxygenation of the blood but also ensures its complete distribution to every cell in the body, while also eliminating the toxic wastes whose accumulation in the tissues further predispose them to the development of cancer.
When people in the Western world think of ‘exercise’, what usually comes to mind is gruelling workouts in the gym ‘pumping iron’, jogging till you ‘hit the wall’ from exhaustion, and other physically demanding sports that fulfil the axiom, ‘no pain, no gain’. In fact, however, this sort of exercise usually does more damage to the body than it does good, particularly when performed sporadically, without stretching and loosening the body first and reoxygenating the blood and tissues afterward with deep breathing. After the age of thirty, this type of strenuous exercise is even more harmful.
This kind of exercise tends to compress muscles, tighten tendons, stiffen joints, and acidify the blood and tissues with excess lactic acid, carbon dioxide and other metabolic wastes. While professional athletes take elaborate measures to counteract such deficits, very few amateurs bother to do so, and most people are not even aware of the cumulative damage caused by such activity.
By contrast, chi-gung exercises, which involve soft, slow, gentle flowing movements harmonized with deep diaphragmic breathing, stretch and tone the muscles and tendons, loosen and limber the joints and ligaments, increase the flexibility of the body’s moving parts, and stimulate all of the internal organs and glands with the deep therapeutic massage provided by the contraction and expansion of the diaphragm. At the same time, the blood and intercellular fluids are oxygenated and alkalized rather than carbonated and acidified, the endocrine system is balanced rather than excessively flooded with adrenaline, the nervous system is relaxed rather than overworked, and energy is accumulated and stored rather than scattered and depleted. The bottom line in chi-gung may be summed up by the Taoist axiom, ‘less strain, more gain’.
Moreover, chi-gung requires no expensive equipment and exclusive club memberships, no competition and score-keeping, hardly any training and very little effort, and a lot less time and trouble than sports and games, delivering a maximum dividend in health for a minimum investment of effort. Such are the bodily benefits of practising chi-gung for physical fitness at home.
Chi-Gung and Energy
Breathing is the primary method of controlling the balance and flow of energies in the human system, but only when we take conscious command of our breath and train it to regulate energy.
When we breathe unconsciously on ‘automatic pilot’, as most people do twenty-four hours a day throughout their lives, our breathing patterns are determined by various internal and external energy factors, such as thoughts and emotions, tension and stress, weather and environment, and the unnatural forces and fields produced by power lines, broadcasting towers, televisions, electrical appliances and other gadgetry. In this passive mode of breathing, energy is not regulated and balanced by breath; instead, it takes on the erratic patterns of the breath and is subject to the same disruptive factors.
On the other hand, when we learn how to breathe consciously and correctly, as in chi-gung practice, breath becomes the master regulator of every energy in the human system, balancing emotional and cerebral energies, controlling the Five Elemental Energies of the organ systems, and harmonizing the human energy system with the powerful force fields of nature and the cosmos. This is done through the command cycle of internal alchemy, whereby the mind controls the body through its command over breath.
One of the most important benefits of chi-gung in terms of energy is emotional equilibrium. TCM views the emotions as forms of errant energy moving uncontrolled through the system rather than as mental phenomena, as in Western medicine. In this view, emotion is nothing more than ‘e-motion’, or ‘energy-in-motion’. When allowed to run rampant through the system, emotions are regarded as the primary internal causes of disease in TCM. Thus, the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine states:
Anger causes energy to rise, joy causes energy to slow down, grief causes energy to dissipate, fear causes energy to descend, fright causes energy to scatter, exhaustion causes energy to wither, worry causes energy to stagnate.
Rather than dismissing emotional disturbances as mental aberrations and sending emotionally disturbed patients to see psychiatrists or psychologists, as in modern medical practice, TCM diagnoses emotional imbalance more in terms of organic disfunctions in the body, nutritional deficiencies, environmental factors, and the disruptive effects of external forces and energy fields on the human system. In this analysis, the mental disturbances associated with emotional imbalance are usually symptoms rather than causes of the problem. Schizophrenia, for example, has recently been found to respond very well to mega-doses of niacin (vitamin B3), an essential nutrient involved in producing vital neurotransmitters in the brain, and this sort of nutritional therapy has demonstrated a far better cure rate than conventional psychotherapy. In this case, the emotional energy imbalance associated with schizophrenia is caused by a simple nutritional deficiency, not by a mental problem, and no amount of ‘counselling’ can ever correct such a condition.
As we have seen, each of the Five Elemental Energies governs the functions of a particular pair of internal organs, and each is also associated with a particular emotional response (see discussion in the Introduction). When an emotional response becomes extreme or habitual and is allowed to erupt and run its course without control, it invariably comes to rest in the related organ, where it disrupts that organ’s functions and, if allowed to continue, damages the cellular matrix. Extreme anger, for example, inflames the liver, making you feel ‘livid’. If anger becomes a habitual response in life, it can easily lead to chronic liver disease, and such disease in turn further predisposes one to frequent anger, creating a vicious cycle of self-destruction. Fear impairs kidney function, and as we all know, when fear grows extreme and becomes fright, it can cause such a radical shift in kidney energy that the bladder spontaneously evacuates itself. Emotion, therefore, can be a major factor in the development of chronic disease in the body, although it is not recognized as such in modern conventional medicine.
If you observe your own or others’ breathing patterns during moments of emotional imbalance, you will note that each type of uncontrolled emotional response causes a specific imbalance in the breath. Anxiety causes the breath to grow short, shallow and fast, like a panting dog, and to rise to the top of the lungs. Anger brings on an erratic huffing and puffing and shifts the breath from nostrils, where it belongs, to mouth. Fear causes a gulping, swallowing, withholding pattern of breath, with long retention and short, tentative exhalation. Grief grinds the breath down to a very short, slow, shallow sigh and sometimes draws it to a complete halt. Therefore, not only do emotional imbalances cause damage to the associated organs, they also suppress breathing, thereby depriving the body of sufficient supplies of oxygen while allowing toxic cellular wastes to accumulate, inhibiting the circulation of blood and energy, and stagnating the entire energy system.
Regardless of what causes a particular emotional imbalance and where it comes to rest in the body, in the final analysis it is nothing more than a runaway ‘energy-in-motion’, and therefore it can always be easily controlled and rebalanced with a few minutes of deep diaphragmic breathing. It’s important, however, to do this as soon as the emotional response arises, before it has a chance to cause damage and upset the whole system. This sort of timely ‘damage control’ requires conscious recognition of extreme emotions for what they really are – runaway energies triggered by external stimuli – rather than confusing them with ‘feelings’, which are intuitive forms of thoughts that can be quite useful. By being vigilant and catching emotional outbursts in the bud, you can prevent a lot of health problems and save a lot of precious energy. You can easily demonstrate the efficacy of breath control as a means of emotional control for yourself simply by doing a few minutes of deep abdominal breathing next time you feel anger, anxiety, fear or grief arising in your system. It works immediately and without fail to calm the emotion and rebalance the entire energy system. Furthermore, if chi-gung is practised daily, it serves as a preventative against emotional outbursts because after a round of practice, one tends to breathe properly throughout the day, precluding radical swings in emotional energy.
Another beneficial effect of chi-gung practice on energy is that it establishes harmonic resonance between the human energy system and the ambient energy pulse of the planet. The prevailing frequency of the earth’s electromagnetic field pulses at a rate of 7.8 hertz (cycles per second), and numerous studies have shown that this frequency is highly conductive to the activation of healing responses in the human body. Known as the Schumann Resonance, 7.8 hertz is the precise frequency at which the human energy system activates the body’s own innate immune responses. By tuning the microcosmic human energy field into synchronicity with the macrocosmic field of the earth, chi-gung clears the entire human energy system of all negative energies and aberrant energy patterns and establishes the ideal conditions for internal healing and repair work. This effect is also a very good antidote for the constant influx of imbalanced energies and harmful force fields to which the human body is exposed by power lines, transformers, microwave radiation, electrical appliances, broadcasting towers and other forms of ‘energy pollution’ produced by modern technology.
The physical relaxation, mental tranquillity, emotional equilibrium and deep abdominal breathing that prevail during chi-gung practice allow the opening of the Twelve Organ-Energy Meridiens and the Eight Extraordinary Channels and permit energy to flow freely through the entire system. This serves as a general tune-up for all of the body’s vital functions, balances all energies, and draws supplemental energy supplies into the system from nature and the cosmos, while clearing the channels of stagnant energy. Since energy is the foundation of both physical and mental health, chi-gung recharges and rebalances body as well as mind and harmonizes them both with the rejuvenating powers of Heaven and Earth.
Chi-Gung and Spirit
The great advantage of practising chi-gung as a form of daily exercise and preventive healthcare is that it works on so many different levels. While protecting the body from disease and degeneration and keeping the whole energy system in balance, it also enhances all the faculties of spirit, improving the postnatal cerebral functions of the brain and awakening the inherent link between the human mind and the primordial spirit of the universe. Every human being is born with the ‘precious pearl’ of primordial awareness – a ‘Wish-Fulfilling Gem’ of infinite power and wisdom – but very few have the time or inclination for the rigorous spiritual disciplines traditionally employed to awaken this insight and power. Chi-gung offers a viable compromise, paving a gradual and far less demanding path to the same goal, while still permitting the practitioner to pursue worldly life. While chi-gung alone may not carry you all the way to spiritual enlightenment, it certainly will propel you strongly in that direction. Furthermore, while chi-gung cultivates the energy required for practical goals such as health and longevity, productivity and pleasure, it simultaneously provides the energy needed for spiritual purposes, because energy is the basic fuel for body as well as mind.
First, let’s see how chi-gung enhances the practical cerebral functions of the brain. The brain is irrigated by thousands of metres of minuscule capillaries that pump hundreds of litres of blood to and from millions of neurons. Of all the body’s tissues, the brain suffers the most damage from the chronic deficiency of oxygen that has become such a common condition throughout the world today, particularly in industrially developed regions. The brain normally consumes about 25 per cent of the body’s total metabolic energy, all of which depends upon adequate supplies of oxygen. Therefore, it is the brain that realizes the most dramatic improvement in function that results from the increased oxygenation of blood and tissues and the improvement in microcirculation produced by chi-gung practice. Studies at several universities in China have shown marked improvement in memory and recall, learning and concentration, and other basic cerebral functions after only a few weeks of daily chi-gung practice, and these benefits continue to accumulate with long-term practice. Attention disorders in children, which in America are often treated with amphetamines, have also responded well to chi-gung therapy.
When the autonomous nervous system switches over to the restorative parasympathetic circuit during chi-gung practice, the brain begins to synthesize and secrete fresh supplies of the essential neurotransmitters required for normal brain functions and proper cerebral balance. When the brain is kept running non-stop on the active sympathetic circuit, as most people do these days, it soon uses up all reserves of vital neurochemicals, resulting in such symptoms as fatigue, irritability, memory loss, confusion, depression, insomnia and other cerebral malfunctions. Many people resort to drugs such as Prozac, amphetamines and barbiturates, or stimulants like caffeine and nicotine, to counteract these symptoms of cerebral imbalance, but this approach provides only temporary relief, leads to addiction, and ultimately makes the situation worse by further suppressing normal secretions of vital neurotransmitters. In fact, recent evidence indicates that the real reason why some people use so-called ‘recreational drugs’, such as cocaine, heroin and cannabis, is not for their intoxicating effects but rather as a way to counteract inherent or acquired imbalances in neurotransmitters. Half an hour of chi-gung practice every morning and evening supplies the brain with all the oxygen and nutrients, as well as the cerebral energy, it requires to replenish supplies and rebalance secretions of the full spectrum of neurotransmitters it needs to function properly. This effect is even more pronounced in conjunction with a properly balanced diet and synergistic nutritional supplements.
Another way in which chi-gung promotes mental clarity, cerebral balance, and spiritual awareness is by drawing energy up the spinal channels into the upper elixir field centre in the head. Even if you are not consciously aware of this process as it occurs during practice, you can always feel the results quite clearly after the session is over. As long as the exercises are correctly practised in terms of posture, breath control and mental focus, the internal alchemy they activate takes its course through the system whether you’re aware of it or not, refining and raising energy from the sacral region and feeding it into the higher centres in the head. This is why breath control is a central pillar in the higher practices of all spiritual and mystical traditions. But even for ordinary practitioners with more modest goals, the basic mechanism of internal alchemy works in the same way to enhance the quality and increase the quantity of energy available to the spirit. Whether one uses this energy to enhance the postnatal cerebral functions of the brain for daily life or to awaken the higher awareness of primordial spirit in preparation for what comes after life is up to the individual.
Most people take up chi-gung in order to improve their health, enhance vitality and prolong life, but almost everyone who continues to practise eventually begins to realize the spiritual benefits of chi-gung as well. Slowly but surely, as latent spiritual powers such as intuition, insight and intent begin to awaken, one discovers a growing interest and appreciation for the spiritual aspects of existence. One also begins to realize the power of ‘mind over matter’, and to understand that many of our physical ailments are caused by negative thoughts and ‘bad attitudes’. This alone usually suffices to focus our attention more fully on how the mind works, because no one wants to create unnecessary discomfort, or even fatal illnesses, within their own bodies. All of these insights and inspirations arise from the personal experience of working with one’s own energies. It’s unlikely that playing tennis or lifting weights or jogging will set you on the path of spiritual discovery, but chi-gung, due to the way in which it activates the internal alchemy of essence, energy and spirit and balances body, breath and mind, does just that, even without any particular effort in that direction. In this pragmatic age of convenience and cost-effective considerations, this makes chi-gung a ‘great deal’.
Chi-Gung and Psychoneuroimmunology
When reading books like this, readers who are unfamiliar with the theory and practice of chi-gung and TCM sometimes wonder what things like essence, energy and spirit, internal alchemy and breath control, and other Taoist ideas have to do with the ‘nuts and bolts’ of modern medical science. Recent research on the innate human healing response known in Western medicine as ‘psychoneuroimmunology’ (PNI) has now revealed some very interesting parallels between traditional Chinese paradigms of human health and healing and the latest findings of modern medical science. The discovery of the PNI healing mechanism offers clear scientific evidence which validates the internal alchemy of the Three Treasures as a basis for human health and longevity.
The most celebrated case of PNI was that of Norman Cousins. After enduring the extreme discomfort and debilitating effects of a long and losing battle against a crippling spinal disorder with conventional modern medical therapies, Cousins suddenly decided to switch tactics and literally laughed himself to a complete cure and full recovery by watching all the old Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy films that he could find. He also insisted on moving from the hospital room to a comfortable hotel room, thereby freeing his system from the immunosuppressive effects of the unhealthy energies – and notoriously unhealthy food – to which patients in large medical institutions are subjected. Before long, Western medical science began to realize what TCM has known for thousands of years – that a patient’s state of mind can make the crucial difference between illness and recovery, life and death, and that the mind has the power to heal the body by rebalancing its energies without any assistance from drugs and doctors. As Cousins notes in the book he wrote about his experience, ‘The will to live is not a theoretical abstraction, but a physiological reality with therapeutic characteristics.’
An article in the May 1992 issue of the American magazine Omni describes the PNI response as follows:
Over the past ten years, there’s been an explosion of evidence linking the power of the mind [spirit] to the health of the body [essence], and experts in the new field of psychoneuroimmunology, or PNI, are gaining a greater understanding of how the brain and the body can cooperate to fight off illness. It’s been discovered, for one thing, that there are nerve fibres in the thymus, the immune system’s master gland, as well as in the spleen, the lymph nodes, and the bone marrow – all vital parts of the immune system. Some immune system cells have receptors for neuropeptides, chemicals that are produced within the brain itself . . . suggest[ing] that the brain talks directly to the immune system . . .
The question is: what exactly triggers the brain to secrete the specific neurochemicals responsible for activating the healing responses of the immune system? As Norman Cousins’ case indicates, one way to achieve this is by creating a happy, carefree, positive state of mind, and this indeed is the only approach so far recognized in modern medical circles. Unfortunately not everyone is able to control their minds and balance their emotions sufficiently to activate the PNI response solely through the ‘power of positive thinking’, and many patients, particularly those who are emotionally disturbed or mentally impaired, are therefore unable to switch on their own immune systems in this way.
Virtually anyone – including those suffering from senile dementia – can learn the basic postures and breathing exercises used in chi-gung, or at least be treated with emitted chi by master healers. This activates the PNI response in a way not yet understood by mainstream modern medicine – through the avenue of the human energy system, which links body and mind and can be directly regulated by breath. In other words, chi-gung, whether practised by a patient or applied by a healer, switches the brain and central nervous system over to the mode of operation in which the neurotransmitters responsible for activating the immune system are produced. Since it is a lot easier to control your breathing than your mind, chi-gung provides an easy and effective way to activate the innate healing mechanisms involved in the PNI response. As Lo Te-hsiou, a chi-gung master from Taiwan, puts it,
When properly practised, chi-gung activates the parasympathetic circuit of the central nervous system, thereby stimulating the production of neurochemicals which cause the endocrine system to secrete hormones that enhance vitality and boost immunity.
These healing hormones in turn help sustain continued production of calming parasympathetic neurotransmitters, establishing a cycle of biofeedback that enables the body to heal itself naturally.
In terms of internal alchemy, spirit/mind commands energy/breath, and energy/breath commands essence/body. In terms of Western medicine, the neurotransmitters secreted by the brain when the nervous system operates on the parasympathetic circuit, represent the factor of mind in internal alchemy. The healing hormones which these neurotransmitters cause to be secreted in the glands of the immune system represent the vital essence of the body. The breath, which is not yet recognized in Western medicine as a pivotal control mechanism for activating the healing powers of PNI, represents and regulates the human energy system, which is also not recognized in Western medicine. Nevertheless, it is the breath and the energies it governs that mediates the power of ‘mind over matter’ by causing the brain to secrete the neurochemicals that activate the immune system to heal the body. This is the command cycle of internal alchemy.
The complementary nurture cycle of essence to energy and energy to spirit also comes into play in PNI. Once the positive biofeedback between the nervous and immune systems has been established, the calming neurochemicals and healing hormones (i.e., ‘essence’) secreted in the body have a powerful pacifying effect on the mind (i.e., ‘spirit’) and a balancing influence on the emotions (i.e., ‘energy’). This effect reinforces the entire PNI response by sustaining the conditions of mental calm and emotional equilibrium, allowing the healing process to continue even after the actual practice of chi-gung is over. If the mind gets agitated or the emotions upset, thereby interrupting the healing response, all the patient needs to do to reactivate PNI is simply practise another round of chi-gung and re-establish the requisite conditions through the interaction of body, breath and mind.
Thus the ancient Chinese medical maxim that mind is the master healer of the body and that the elixir of health and longevity lies within the human system, not in a pill, is beginning to emerge as a fact of modern medical science. Two thousand years ago, the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine declared, ‘If one maintains an undisturbed spirit within, no disease will occur.’ In Maximum Immunity, Dr Weiner virtually paraphrases this statement when he writes, ‘By learning how to control our mind, subtle hormone changes emerge that then control our biochemical reality.’ Chi-gung is a simple and effective way to control the mind and balance the emotions and thereby create the subtle hormonal changes that produce the biochemical reality of health and longevity.
Chi-gung engages the Three Treasures of the body, energy and mind in a whole, harmonious healing process that integrates the physical, emotional and mental aspects of health. Modern medicine splits mental and physical diseases into two separate categories, relegating the former to psychology and the latter to physiology, then further fragments both fields into specialized branches of therapy based on symptomology, without even taking into consideration the energy system that links the two in an inseparable, interdependent phenomena. Complete healing of the whole system can never be achieved this way, for it never deals with the basic imbalances of energy that lie at the root of and intersect both the physical and the mental symptoms of disease.
In chi-gung healing, the patient’s mental and emotional states are every bit as important in the diagnosis and treatment of disease as the results of blood tests and X-rays, a point that modern allopathic medicine finds difficult to swallow. The so-called ‘miraculous’ and ‘impossible’ cures achieved by chi-gung in recent years for cancer, cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s disease and other conditions regarded as ‘incurable’ by Western medicine have succeeded because the therapist diagnosed and treated the case on the invisible but ultimately decisive level of energy, rather than just the superficial physical symptoms that appear in the body. When the root causes of such diseases are traced to energy imbalances and those imbalances are then corrected, the physical symptoms they cause, such as tumours or paralysis, simply dissolve or disappear. Many such cures have recently been witnessed in China by visiting Western doctors, who no longer regard them as miracles once they learn how the human energy system functions and see how chi-gung works. ‘Seeing is believing’, and these are the doctors who are beginning to bring the benefits of chi-gung and the ‘internal alchemy’ of healing that it activates to the attention of their peers and patients in the West.