In the preface to The Complete Book of Chinese Health and Healing, I stated that ‘What counts in medicine is its utility in practice, not its theoretical agreement with culturally conditioned concepts’. This is particularly true of chi-gung. The basic Chinese medical premise that energy imbalance is the primary cause of all disease, mental as well as physical, and that energy work is therefore the most effective way to cure as well as prevent disease, does not agree in any way with the chemical/mechanical paradigm of human health and healing to which modern Western medicine still subscribes. Nevertheless, the very fact that chi-gung has worked so well for so long for so many people to prevent and cure disease, retard ageing and prolong life, balance the emotions and ‘please the spirit’, is reason enough to start practising chi-gung today, while ongoing studies to further prove its efficacy in terms of modern Western science continue. Moreover, people who practise chi-gung as a way to cultivate health and nurture life soon discover for themselves, without requiring any further proof, that chi-gung builds the firmest foundation for health and longevity, while also paving an effective path for spiritual development. In chi-gung, the proof is in the practice.
Chi-gung develops conscious awareness of the underlying, over-riding connection between body and mind, and cultivates volitional command over that energy as a pivotal bridge linking the mental faculties of spirit with the physical functions of body. Concurrently, chi-gung fosters acute awareness of the constant interaction between the internal world of blood and breath, bone and flesh, thought and feeling, within the human system, and the external world of land and sea, sky and earth, planets and stars that surround it. Here too chi serves as a functional intermediary between the two, linking the energies of the human microcosm with the forces of the universal macrocosm. Chi-gung thus provides a practical way for each and every individual to establish a direct personal relationship with the universe and tap into its infinite reservoirs of primordial power, while also cultivating the wisdom and compassion that spring from the same source. To those who’ve never felt the uplifting effects of chi-gung on body, energy and mind, all this may sound too good to be true, but those who practise chi-gung daily know from experience that a well-balanced body, dynamic energy system and harmonious spirit attract all good things in life, just as surely as a flame attracts a moth.
Chi-gung teaches the practitioner two practical lessons of manifold utility in life. First, it demonstrates how the mind can control the body by invoking its primordially ordained command over energy in the ‘Triplex Union’ of essence, energy and spirit, and conversely, how the body can nurture the mind by means of the internal alchemy of the Three Treasures, whereby essence is transformed to produce energy and energy is refined to nurture spirit. Second, chi-gung teaches us that the internal world of the human system and the external world of nature and the cosmos reflect and mutually influence one another, and that whatever happens in the macrocosm always has direct repercussions in the microcosm. This knowledge enables us to cultivate a healthy, harmonious homeostasis between our internal energies and the external forces that shape them, and to use our minds creatively to harness the power of the universe for the benefit of ourselves and others.
A long time ago in Tibet, the Fifth Dalai Lama, who understood and utilized the alchemical equation between sexuality and spirituality, remarked, ‘If people practised spiritual work with as much energy and enthusiasm as they devote to sexual pursuits, everyone would become a fully enlightened Buddha in this very lifetime!’ To paraphrase him, if people today spent as much time and effort working with and saving energy as they do playing with and wasting it, everyone would enjoy good health and longevity in this very lifetime.
Energy is life’s most precious commodity, and chi-gung shows us how to manage our personal energy portfolios so that they pay maximum benefits in health and longevity, while also yielding spiritual dividends and providing us with an inexhaustible well of power that, as Lao Tze assures us in the Tao Teh Ching, ‘Draw on it as you will, it never runs dry.’