Fig. 5. Using the diaphragm to drive the breath: A) Inhalation; B) Exhalation.
AIR: THE BREATH OF LIFE
Most health-conscious people take a lot of time and trouble each day about the quantity and quality of the food they eat and pay only scant attention to drinking sufficient amounts of good water, while taking air and breathing almost entirely for granted. In terms of life’s essential requirements, however, most people have their priorities backwards. As chi gung Master Hung Yi-hsiang of Taiwan often reminded his students, “You can live two months without food and two weeks without water, but you can only live a few minutes without air.”
Air contains essential elements that are at least as important as those derived from food and water as sources of nourishment for life, and proper breathing contributes even more to health and longevity than proper eating. The fact remains, however, that very few people today know how to breathe correctly. Add to that the fact that most of the air in the world has now become as denatured and contaminated with pollutants as food and water, and it becomes clear that most people these days do not take in sufficient supplies of good quality air, depriving their bodies of the essential airborne elements that are required to sustain optimum health and vitality. Even when air quality is good, unless you breathe correctly, your body cannot properly assimilate, circulate, and utilize the essential elements contained in air, nor can it properly perform a wide range of other vital functions that are directly dependent on correct breathing.
Breath is the bridge that links body and mind. As the only vital autonomic function that can be consciously controlled by the mind, breathing may be utilized as a sort of tuning device to balance and harmonize all of the other functional systems in the body, and as a pump to replenish all the vital organs and tissues with fresh supplies of blood and energy. Thus, by consciously regulating the breath, the mind becomes capable of directly regulating the conditions and balancing the functions of all the internal organs and glands in the body. Moreover, by correcting imbalances in the human energy system and increasing the supply and flow of energy, breathing exercises manifest therapeutic benefits for the mind as well as for the body, enhancing mental clarity and improving cerebral functions, because body and mind are both dependent on the same basic energy of life.
Fifteen minutes of slow, regulated deep breathing gives an immediate boost to blood circulation, lowers blood pressure, alkalizes and oxygenates the bloodstream, stimulates glandular secretions, improves digestive functions, and activates detox and immune responses throughout the body by switching the nervous system into the healing parasympathetic mode. At the same time, it calms the mind, pacifies the emotions, and banishes stress by switching off the “fight or flight” action circuit of the autonomous nervous system, thereby stopping secretions of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.
If you doubt the direct connection between the way you breathe and the way you feel emotionally and mentally, then try this: next time you find yourself all wound up in a state of anxiety, stress, or anger, pause for a moment and check the condition of your breathing. You’ll discover that whenever you feel tense from anxiety or anger, your breath grows very short and shallow and remains lodged high in the upper chest, while the diaphragm and abdomen remain frozen stiff. Now sit up straight, with spine erect, and do a few minutes of slow, deep breathing, using the diaphragm to draw and drive the breath from below and pulling air deep down into the lower lobes of the lungs, thereby causing the abdominal wall to expand. Presto! Anxiety and anger evaporate into thin air, body and mind immediately relax and release their tension, and a soothing state of calm flows like a wave through the entire system. A state of anxiety or anger simply cannot be sustained when the breath is consciously kept slow, deep, and diaphragmic, because deep breathing immediately switches the nervous system off the “fight or flight” action circuit, shutting off the secretion of stress hormones and their related neurotransmitters.
Good air and correct breathing may therefore be utilized as effective therapeutic tools to prevent and cure disease, to assist and accelerate detoxification and regeneration of the body, and to harmonize both body and mind by balancing the entire energy system. In Precious Recipes, the centenarian Tang dynasty physician Sun ssu-mo states:
When correct breathing is practiced, the myriad ailments will not occur. When breathing is depressed or strained, all sorts of diseases will occur. Those who wish to nurture their lives must first learn the correct methods of controlling breath and balancing energy. These breathing methods can cure all ailments great and small.
First let’s review the basic principles involved in learning “the correct methods of controlling breath and balancing energy,” and see how these methods may be applied to support the detox process. Then we’ll take a closer look at air itself and find out what makes it such an essential element of life, and how it may be used as a supplement to help detoxify and regenerate the body.
THE ART OF BREATH CONTROL
The key to mastering the art of breath control is to actively engage the diaphragm to serve as a pump to drive the breath. If you observe the way an animal or a baby breathes while sleeping, you’ll notice that the abdomen expands on inhalation and contracts on exhalation, while the chest itself remains still. That body response is due to natural diaphragmic breathing, which is the way our bodies were designed to breathe. Due to sedentary lifestyles, poor physical posture, obesity, and the inhibiting effects of chronic stress and fatigue on respiration, adults tend to breathe high up in their chests, using the clavicles and upper ribs to suck air into the narrow spaces at the top of the lungs, rather than using the diaphragm to draw the breath down toward the abdomen and fill the large lower lobes of the lungs with air. Clavicular, upper-chest breathing, which is extremely inefficient, is an emergency response to anxiety and stress, and it is the mode of breathing associated with the hyperactive “fight or flight” instinct. For most adults today, this mode has become their habitual way of breathing.
Fig. 5. Using the diaphragm to drive the breath: A) Inhalation; B) Exhalation.
In proper diaphragmic breathing, the diaphragm descends downward into the abdominal cavity on inhalation (figure 5A), expanding the lower lungs and allowing them to draw air deep down into the spacious chambers of the lungs’ lower lobes. On exhalation (figure 5B), the abdominal wall is drawn inward and the diaphragm rises upward, driving air out of the lungs in a strong, steady stream. Not only is diaphragmic breathing the most efficient way to breathe, it also utilizes the diaphragm to perform another vital function for which it was designed: to assist the heart in pumping blood through the body, thereby taking a huge workload off the heart muscle and prolonging the life of the whole organism. Respiratory expert Dr. A. Salmanoff describes the cardiovascular functions of the diaphragm as follows:
It is the most powerful muscle in the body; it acts like a perfect force-pump, compressing the liver, the spleen, the intestines, and stimulating the whole abdominal and portal circulation. By compressing the lymphatic and blood vessels of the abdomen, the diaphragm aids the venous circulation from the abdomen toward the thorax. The number of movements of the diaphragm per minute is a quarter of those of the heart. But its haemodynamic power is much greater that that of cardiac contractions because the surface of the force-pump is much greater and because its propelling power is superior to that of the heart. We have only to visualize the surface of the diaphragm to accept the fact that it acts like another heart.
When the diaphragm descends into the abdominal cavity on inhalation, it exerts strong internal pressure on the vena cava, a major vein that drains stale blood from the abdominal organs and delivers it up to the heart and lungs to discharge carbon dioxide and replenish the blood with fresh oxygen. The descending diaphragmic pressure acts like a force-pump to drive stale blood from the internal organs through the vena cave up to the chest. This saves the heart an enormous amount of energy and effectively transforms the diaphragm into a “second heart” to help drive circulation.
Furthermore, when you consider the fact that the brain is irrigated by about 1,760 quarts of blood per day, and that the cerebral cortex contain thousands of yards of microcapillaries, you begin to realize how important it is to keep blood flowing freely through the brain. What a hard job that is for the heart, a job made even harder by working against the force of gravity. Deep abdominal breathing takes the bulk of this workload off the heart and transfers it down to the diaphragm, which helps pump blood up to the brain with each and every breath.
As the diaphragm descends down into the abdominal cavity, it increases internal abdominal pressure, providing a stimulating therapeutic massage to all the internal organs and glands, especially the kidneys, adrenal glands, and liver, which are seated directly beneath the diaphragm. Listed below are some of the additional health benefits enjoyed by those who practice deep diaphragmic breathing:
All of these benefits have obvious applications for the detox process and may be easily utilized at any time and in any place during the course of a detox program, to relieve discomfort, assist the detox and healing process, alkalize and oxygenate the blood, eliminate bad moods, relax body and mind, and keep the entire system in an optimum state of internal harmony and balance.
Deep diaphragmic breathing is performed in four distinct stages, and its therapeutic effects may be further amplified by the three maneuvers known in chi gung and yoga as the “Three Locks,” which are applied during the retention stage. The four stages are as follows:
Inhalation: Relax the diaphragm and let it expand slowly downward into the abdominal cavity, while drawing in a steady stream of air through flared nostrils and sending it down into the lower lungs. When the lower lungs are full, expand the rib cage and clavicles a bit to allow air in to “top off” the narrow upper portions of the lungs, then gently press the entire “bubble” of inhaled air down into the diaphragm, which causes the abdominal wall to bulge out.
Retention: Apply the Three Locks to “lock up” the breath and increase the internal pressure within the abdomen and sacrum, retain the breath and hold the locks for three to ten seconds, no longer, then relax the locks and release the breath.
Exhalation: Draw the abdominal wall inward and let the diaphragm rise upward into the chest to drive the breath out of the lungs in a long, slow, steady stream of air, either through the nose or through the mouth, depending on the exercise.
Pause: Pause briefly after exhalation is complete to allow the abdominal wall and diaphragm to relax again and fall back into place, before commencing the next inhalation.
It is the retention stage that produces the strongest therapeutic benefits in four-stage diaphragmic breathing, especially when the effects are amplified with the Three Locks. Retentions of longer than ten seconds should never be attempted without prior training from a qualified teacher, but even short retentions of three to ten seconds, which may be safely practiced without supervision, provide profound therapeutic effects throughout the body.
Breath retention triggers what’s known as the “dive response,” or “cellular respiration,” whereby heartbeats slow by half and blood pressure drops, while the cells start “breathing” spontaneously to produce energy by breaking down sugars and releasing oxygen to generate internal body heat. Seals use this mechanism when diving for fish in freezing cold seas, and infants instinctively apply it when submerged underwater, but adults lose it due to incorrect breathing habits. Practicing four-stage deep breathing with retention gradually restores this innate metabolic response.
Breathing deeply and briefly retaining the breath instantly calms the nervous system by switching it over to the parasympathetic branch and quickly lowers blood pressure by reducing the pulse. Activating cellular respiration prompts the cells to discharge toxins and produce energy. Breath retention increases the partial pressure of oxygen in the blood against the capillary walls, thereby enhancing the exchange of gas between the bloodstream and the cells. It is also the retention stage of breathing that signals the stomach to secrete pepsin and other digestive enzymes, and stimulates peristalsis in the intestinal tract. In addition, retention applied in conjunction with the three locks squeezes stale blood from the internal organs by increasing abdominal pressure and drives it up through the vena cava to the heart and lungs for replenishment. It also disperses stagnant energy from the organs through the meridian system.
To amplify internal pressure within the abdominal cavity and seal it up during the brief retention stage, you may apply the ancient Asian breath enhancement maneuvers known as the “Three Locks.” Here’s a quick review of how to do it:
Anal Lock
The bottom of the sacral cavity is supported by a web of muscle and sinew known as the “urogenital diaphragm,” which controls the activities of the anus, rectum, bladder perineum, and urogenital canal. As the lungs fill and the diaphragm descends into the abdomen during inhalation, the pelvic floor below is pushed down by growing pressure from the diaphragm above, stretching the tissues of the urogenital diaphragm downward and reducing internal pressure on the abdominal organs and glands. The downward pressure on the urogenital diaphragm also causes internal energy to leak out through the anal and urogenital orifices.
To prevent this loss of internal pressure and energy, apply the anal lock as soon as inhalation is complete, by deliberately contracting the anal sphincter and extending the contraction to the urogenital orifice, as though you needed to pee and poop but couldn’t find a toilet. This tightens all the tissues of the urogenital diaphragm and lifts up the entire pelvic floor. Known in yoga as mula banda and in chi gung as ti gang (literally “lifting the anus”), the anal lock effectively seals in and prevents the loss of internal pressure and energy from below, thereby helping sustain elevated diaphragmic pressure within the abdomen and sacrum and amplifying the therapeutic effects of breath retention. Contracting the anus and lifting the pelvic floor at the end of inhalation counteracts the downward push on the urogenital diaphragm and prevents the escape of internal energy and therapeutic pressure from the abdomen and sacrum.
Applying the anal lock flexes the myriad muscles and tendons, nerves and blood vessels of the sacrum, including those involved in urination, bowel movements, orgasm, menstruation, and prostate and ovary functions. All of these functions are stimulated and balanced by anal contractions because their tissues are all interwoven within the urogenital diaphragm. Practicing this maneuver also helps prevent and cure hemorrhoids, by flushing stagnant blood from the clogged capillaries of the anal sphincter and irrigating them with freshly oxygenated blood. In fact, if you carefully observe animals, such as cows and horses, dogs and cats, you will notice that they rhythmically contract and relax the anus a few times immediately after every defecation. This helps propel residual feces from the rectum at the end of a bowel movement, and replenishes the anal tissues with fresh circulation of blood and energy.
The anal lock should be held until the end of the retention stage, for three to ten seconds only, and released at the beginning of exhalation.
The abdominal lock is applied immediately after the anal lock is set, by deliberately drawing the abdominal wall slightly inward toward the spine, thereby preventing the loss of internal pressure from the front. As the lungs fill up and the diaphragm descends, the abdominal wall balloons outward due to growing internal pressure within the abdominal cavity. Unless you pull the abdominal wall back in a bit at the end of inhalation, its outward expansion reduces internal pressure within the abdomen, and some of the therapeutic benefits of retention are lost. Applying the abdominal lock seals internal pressure in from the front, while the anal lock prevents it from escaping below. From above, internal pressure is firmly locked into the abdomen by the descending diaphragm, and the spine provides a strong retaining wall in back. The abdominal and anal locks thus complete the sealing in of elevated pressure within in the abdomen and sacrum, and the therapeutic benefits of this enhanced internal pressure on the organs and glands continues until the locks are relaxed and the breath released.
Neck Lock
The neck lock is not directly involved in maintaining enhanced pressure within the abdomen. Instead, it is designed to help press the breath down into the lower lungs and hold it there, and to prevent enhanced internal pressure in the abdomen from causing a sudden surge of blood to rush up into the brain during the retention phase. The neck lock also pulls on the spinal cord from above, giving it a stimulating stretch. To apply the neck lock, contract the muscles of the throat in front and close the glottis over the bronchial entrance inside, while also tucking in the chin a bit and slightly stretching up the back of the neck, without bending the neck forward. The neck lock shuts the entrance to the throat, making it much easier to press down and retain the breath, while also partially constricting the carotid arteries to prevent blood from flooding up into the brain. While contracting and closing the throat in front, the neck lock gives a slight stretch to the neck in back, opening the nerve and energy channels that enter the head from the spine and giving a therapeutic tug to the entire spinal cord. This stretch activates energy flow in the spinal channels and encourages it to rise up through the meridians from sacrum to brain, where it energizes all cerebral functions. Partial pressure on the carotid arteries also regulates the heart by slowing and deepening the pulse, greatly increasing cardiovascular efficiency.
Like the other two locks, the neck lock is held until the end of retention, then relaxed with the release of breath at the beginning of exhalation. When applying the neck lock, there is a tendency at first to hunch up the shoulders, which causes tension in the neck and upper back and obstructs free flow of nerve and energy pulses there, so check your posture after the neck lock is set and make sure your shoulders remain relaxed.
The Three Locks are applied only when practicing complete, four-stage deep breathing exercises in still sitting or still standing postures. When practicing moving forms of chi gung breathing exercise, such as Tai Chi or the Eight Pieces of Brocade, which involve continuous rhythmic movements of the body, natural two-stage breathing is used, without retention or pause. Each inhalation and exhalation follows and flows smoothly into one another in seamless succession, like the swinging pendulums of a clock. Four-stage breathing in still postures, and two-stage breathing timed to rhythmic bodily movements, each have their own respective therapeutic benefits. Four-stage deep breathing with retention is particularly effective for assimilating essential elements from air and discharging toxins from blood and tissues, and for stimulating cellular metabolism. Slow rhythmic body movements, synchronized with two-stage deep breathing, is best for giving a strong boost to circulation of blood and energy throughout the system, clearing blocked meridians, transforming stagnant energy, draining lymph channels, and activating all the “hinges” of the body.
Let’s take a brief look at both styles.
BREATHING IN STILLNESS
Still breathing exercises may be practiced either sitting or standing. The traditional standing posture used for practicing Chinese breathing exercises is called the “Horse” stance (figure 6). Feet should be placed parallel and shoulder-width apart on the floor or ground, with knees slightly bent, pelvis tucked forward, shoulders relaxed and neck straight, arms hanging loosely down with palms facing toward the rear. There should be a straight line running from the crown of the head through the center of the body to a point midway between the navel and spine, then down through the perineum to a point midway between the feet on the ground. Body weight should rest a bit forward on the balls of the feet, not back on the heels, with the body’s center of balance located in the middle of the lower abdomen, two inches below the navel. This point lies in the second chakra and is known in Chinese as the dan-tien, or “Elixir Field.” This is the body’s “sweet spot,” the place where energy collects when doing breathing exercises and the best place to focus attention while practicing deep breathing.
Fig. 6. The basic Horse Stance for chi gung practice.
Fig. 7. Two basic sitting postures for still sitting chi gung and meditation:
A) Sitting flat with legs crossed; B) Sitting erect on a stool, feet on the floor.
Most people prefer to practice still breathing exercises in the sitting position, which has two basic forms (figure 7). One way is to sit with legs crossed on a cushion or mat placed on the floor, either in full- or half-lotus posture. The half-lotus posture, as depicted in the illustration, is much easier to hold for prolonged periods of practice and is therefore recommended for beginners. Alternatively, you may sit on the edge of a low stool or chair, with both feet planted firmly on the floor, parallel and shoulder-width. If sitting crossed-legged on the floor causes your legs to go numb and strains your lower back, choose the stool posture, which is very easy to maintain without straining any part of the body. In both forms, the hands should rest relaxed and open on the thighs, with palms up, just above the knees. This permits energy to flow freely through the powerful lao gung points located in the center of the palms.
Regardless which posture you prefer, it is very important to pay close attention to proper alignment of the spine. Otherwise much of the therapeutic benefit of the breathing exercise is lost. The spine must be held as straight as possible, with neck and sacrum aligned with the spinal column. To align the neck, tuck your chin slightly down toward the throat in front, while straightening up the back of the neck a bit, as in the neck lock but not quite as stretched as in that posture. To align the sacrum, tuck the pelvis forward to take some of the curve out of the lower spine. As noted above, you should be able to trace an imaginary line from the crown of the head down through the throat and chest to the dan-tien point in the center of the lower abdomen. This is the path of the Central Channel (also called the Thrusting Channel), through which the cosmic energies of the sky (“Heaven”) and the elemental energies in the ground (“Earth”) travel and mix with the organic energies of the human system (“Humanity”).
Heaven, Earth, and Humanity (tien, di, ren) are known as the “Three Powers” in Taoist internal alchemy, and they represent the sum total of all the vital energies in the universe that contribute power to life on earth. Chinese breathing exercises are designed to tap into these infinite sources of primordial energy, and to harmonize and circulate them through the human system to protect health and prolong life. The spine, known as the “Ladder to Heaven,” links the earth energies that rise up from the ground with the cosmic energies that rain down from the sky and transforms them into frequencies and patterns that may be utilized by the human energy system. If the spine is blocked or kinked, or misaligned with the head and sacrum, the spinal energy channels cannot properly conduct and transform the various energies that the breathing exercises generate.
Three distinct types of energy travel through the spine, each within its own respective channels (as you will see in figure 8). The most obvious is nerve-signal energy, which travels through the spinal cord and links the brain to the peripheral parts of the body. During deep-breathing exercises, the calming parasympathetic branch of the nervous system is activated, which then links the brain directly with the endocrine glands that govern detoxification and immune responses. Another form of energy that travels along the spine is the energy that controls the various internal organs. This energy moves through major meridians located along the spine. The meridians then distribute the energy to the organs and other tissues of the body through a network of twelve main organ-energy channels and countless smaller branch channels. The third type of energy associated with the spine is the cosmic energy that enters the human system through the crown of the head and moves down through the chakra system to the sacrum. The chakras, known as “elixir fields” in Chinese, function as energy transformers to “step down” the subtle high-frequency energies that enter the human system from the sky, so that they may be utilized by the human body and mind. All of these various vital energies flow first through the main spinal channels, which then disperse them via branch channels to the organs and tissues. If the spine is misaligned, cramped, or blocked due to injuries or habitual poor posture, all three forms of energy are obstructed and become stagnant. Then the entire system grows weak and sluggish and becomes vulnerable to disease and degeneration.
In the yoga tradition of India, deep-breathing exercises are known as pranayama and are practiced in conjunction with various yoga postures called asanas, or sitting still with legs crossed. However, pranayama should only be practiced under the guidance of a qualified teacher, because some of the breathing techniques it employs are quite powerful and complex and, if not performed precisely right and in correct sequence, can cause serious internal energy deviations.
Fig. 8. Channels, Chakras, and Nerve Plexus: A) The Central Channel of the meridian network and its major power points; B) The seven “energy wheels” of the chakra system; C) The spinal cord and the major nerve plexus of the central nervous system.
In China, deep-breathing exercise is a branch of chi gung and is practiced in both still and moving modes. Chi gung, which literally means “energy work” or “breathing skill,” is usually practiced in synchronized conjunction with slow body movements, but there are also still forms that may be practiced standing or sitting. Basic chi gung breathing exercises may be safely practiced by beginners from a book, without prior instruction from a teacher, as long as the basic guidelines on form and posture are followed, and breath retention never exceeds ten seconds. Detailed instructions for a variety of such exercises are introduced in several of the author’s previous books, including important precautions and points of attention for each exercise. As a result, we’ll limit our discussion in this book to one simple breathing exercise that anyone can easily practice anywhere and at any time, to facilitate internal cleansing, alkalize and oxygenate the bloodstream, calm the mind, soothe the nerves, and rebalance the entire energy system. This form of breathing is called tu na, literally “expel and collect,” and it is both safe and easy to do.
Tu na breathing has been practiced in China for thousands of years as a simple and effective means of healing and preventive health care. It involves the four-stage breathing sequence, with the three locks applied during a brief retention. The idea is to first “expel” stagnant air from the lungs and stagnant energy from the meridians with a long, strong exhalation, and then “collect” fresh air and energy with a long, deep inhalation. During the retention stage, the bloodstream “collects” oxygen and negative-ion energy from air in the lungs. The cells, in turn, “collect” the oxygen and energy from the blood through the capillaries. Thus the whole system is completely recharged. To insure balance and stability, tu na should be practiced in one of the still sitting postures, not standing, at least until the body grows accustomed to the enhanced circulation of blood and energy. After that, tu na may be practiced standing in the “Horse” stance, as well.
Adopt a stable sitting posture, with spine erect and head aligned with sacrum, then flare open the nostrils and commence a long, slow inhalation, drawing the air down deeply into the lower lungs, then “topping off” the upper lungs and gently sinking the entire breath as far down into the diaphragm as possible. Immediately apply the anal, neck, and abdominal locks, relax the shoulders, and retain the breath for just three to five seconds. (Later, you may work up to longer retentions of five to ten seconds, if you wish.) Next, relax the locks and release the breath, exhaling in a long, steady stream while gradually drawing in the abdominal wall and letting the diaphragm rise up into the chest cavity to completely expel the breath. Pause briefly and allow the diaphragm and abdominal muscles to relax again, then start the next inhalation. To obtain effective therapeutic results, tu na should be practiced for at least fifteen minutes per session.
Exhalation may be done either through the nose or mouth, depending on which aspect of the exercise you wish to emphasize—elimination or assimilation. Exhaling through the nose places primary emphasis on the “collect” aspect, allowing the blood and tissues to rapidly assimilate and store fresh supplies of oxygen and energy. Exhaling through the mouth shifts the emphasis to the “expel” phase, increasing the discharge of carbon dioxide from the blood, expelling residual stale air from the lungs, and driving stagnant energy from the meridians. Both types of exhalation may be practiced at the same sitting. Exhaling through the mouth can be done in two different ways. One way is to purse the lips and blow the breath out in a long, steady stream through a narrow slit in the mouth, as though trying to move a candle flame a meter in front of your face without blowing it out; the other is to constrict the top of the throat by partially closing the glottis, then exhaling the breath slowly and strongly from the back of the mouth while making a low, hoarse “haw” sound.
Another form of this breathing exercise is to combine it with long, rhythmic extensions of the spine (as you will see in figure 9). To do this form, sit properly on the edge of a stool or chair, with feet planted firmly on the floor and hands placed palms down on the thighs above the knees. Inhale, applying the three locks, and briefly retain the breath while sitting with spine erect. Then relax the locks and jut the chin out in front, extending the spine as you slowly stretch forward and down in synchronicity with exhalation, timing it so that your body is extended fully forward at the end of the exhalation stage. Then relax the neck and let the head hang down naturally for a brief pause, before commencing the next inhalation. As you inhale again, return the spine back to the erect position by pushing the body up slowly, with your hands pressing on the thighs for support. Apply the three locks again, retain briefly, and start another round. This exercise flexes the entire spinal cord and all its supporting muscles and tendons and realigns the spinal vertebrae, stimulating all the major nerve networks and energy meridians located along the spine, and activating free flow of cerebrospinal fluids within the spinal shaft. The rhythmic arching and bowing of the spine also activates the seven chakras and stimulates secretions of vital hormones from the respectively related glands—pineal (crown chakra), pituitary (“Third Eye” chakra), thyroid (throat chakra), thymus (heart chakra), adrenals (solar plexus chakra), testicles/ovaries (lower abdomen chakra), and prostate/vaginal glands (root chakra). A good way to combine still sitting tu na with the moving spinal extension form is to start with a few minutes of the moving form to stretch and align the spine and stimulate the nerves and chakras, then finish with ten to fifteen minutes in the still sitting form, focusing on expelling and collecting air and energy.
Fig. 9. Tu na chi gung breathing with spinal-stretch movement: A) Starting posture, inhale; B) Extend chin and stretch forward, start exhalation; C) Full stretch forward, complete exhalation; D) Tuck chin in and arch spine up, breath, pause; E) Straighten back up, start inhalation; F) Return to start, complete inhalation.
BREATHING WITH BODY MOVEMENT
Deep diaphragmic breathing synchronized with slow, rhythmic body movements, performed in a state of physical relaxation and mental calm, has been practiced as a form of preventive and curative health therapy since ancient times in China. As the great Chinese alchemist and healer Ko Hung explained back in the fourth century ad, “The onset of illness is a sign that energy is not flowing. One must exercise in order to unblock the myriad meridians and facilitate the free flow of energy.”
Synchronized breathing and body movement provides a powerful dynamic boost to the circulation of blood and energy throughout the body. Since these exercises are always practiced slowly, softly, and smoothly, with minimal muscular exertion, they do not cause a buildup of lactic acid in the tissues, as hard exercise does. Deep diaphragmic breathing enhances the free flow of blood and energy, driving them through their respective channels, while the long extensions of the limbs and gentle twists and turns of the torso guide this enhanced circulation out to the farthest extremities of the body and into the deepest tissues of the internal organs. This quickly clears the meridians of stagnant energy and purges the organs and other tissues of stale blood, suffusing every cell in the body with fresh supplies of both. TCM has always viewed the free flow of blood and energy as the primary foundations of health and viewed imbalances in either as the basic causes of disease. The famous physician Hua To, who lived a century before Ko Hung and who treated princes and peasants alike, stated this principle very succinctly, “When the blood pulses unobstructed through the veins, illness cannot take root.”
Hua To developed a series of gentle rhythmic breathing exercises based upon the movements of animals in nature and prescribed them as curative therapy for a wide range of ailments, including arthritis, rheumatism, digestive difficulties, heart and circulatory problems, nervous system disorders, and many other conditions. Known as dao yin (“induce and guide”), these exercises induce the flow of blood and energy and guide them as they circulate through the system. Because these forms were based on the way animals naturally move, they were also called wu chin hsi, or the “Play of the Five Creatures.” Cheng Yuan-lin, a contemporary of Hua To, commented on this form of therapy, saying, “Breathing practiced together with the movements resembling a bear, bird, and other animals helps move our energy, nourishes our bodies, and builds our spirits.”
This type of therapeutic breathing with synchronized body movement is the basis of all moving forms of Chinese chi gung exercise, which brings body, breath, and mind into a unified state of harmony. In Chinese, the ideogram for chi may be used to denote “energy” as well as “breath” and “air” and reflects the view that vital energy, not oxygen, is the most essential component in air and that breath is the vehicle for bringing this essential energy into the body. Gung refers to any skill or work that takes a long time and lots of practice to perfect. Chi gung was originally developed about five thousand years ago as a sort of therapeutic dance to ward off rheumatism, energy stagnation, respiratory disorders, and other ailments caused by the excessively damp climate in the flood-prone plains of the Yellow River valley, where Chinese civilization first evolved. In a text entitled Dance Verse, written in the second century ad, scholar Fu Yi states, “Chi gung is an art that pleases the spirit, slows the aging process, and prolongs life.”
The most widely practiced form of moving chi gung today is Tai Chi Chuan, the graceful, flowing form of martial art inspired when a Taoist sage observed a snake and crane locked in mortal battle. But Tai Chi is a complex form that requires special training from a qualified master and takes many long years of practice to reach a level of proficiency that delivers concrete therapeutic benefits. Very few people these days are willing to commit that much time and effort to practicing anything until they reach perfection of the form. Fortunately, much simpler chi gung forms exist, many of which may easily be learned from a book. These forms provide equally beneficial therapeutic benefits when practiced daily, but they take a lot less time and patience to learn to perform properly. These simpler forms include the “Eight Pieces of Brocade” set, the “Six Healing Sounds” set, the “Five Elements” set, and even easier single-step forms.
A brief review of some of the major health benefits provided by regular chi gung practice is in order here, so that readers understand why millions of Chinese people having been practicing it continuously for thousands of years, and why it is such a suitable system of therapeutic exercise for people today. About three hundred years ago, the Taoist adept Shen Chia-shu remarked, “Breathing and related exercises are one hundred times more effective as medical therapy than any drug. This knowledge is indispensable to man, and every physician should study it thoroughly.” The leading edge of modern medical science is finally beginning to awaken to the truth of this statement, which has been verified with concrete scientific evidence. Here are some of the facts:
Blood and Marrow
Red blood cells, which deliver oxygen to the cells, and one type of white blood cell essential for immune response are produced in the marrow of bones. Healthy marrow produces 480,000,000 red blood cells per minute. In The Root of Chinese Chi Kung, contemporary chi gung master Dr. Yang Jwing-ming explains the significance of this as follows:
According to Chinese medicine, your body deteriorates mainly because your blood loses its ability to feed and protect your body. Your bone marrow produces the red blood cells and one type of the white blood cells, but as you grow older, the marrow . . . produces fewer and fewer useful blood cells. . . . To keep marrow fresh and alive and functioning properly, chi must be plentiful and continuously supplied. Whenever there is a shortage of chi, the marrow will not function properly.
The best way to insure a continuous supply of fresh chi to the marrow is to practice chi gung on a regular basis. During a detox program, sufficient production of red blood cells is even more important than usual, because the bloodstream requires a very high red blood cell count to supply the additional amounts of oxygen the cells need during detox, and extra white blood cells are needed to keep immune response strong.
Brain and Central Nervous System
As we have already seen, deep breathing synchronized with slow body movements switches the autonomous nervous system over to the calming parasympathetic branch, which governs the body’s natural self-cleansing and healing responses. During detox, it is essential to keep your nervous system at rest in this healing mode throughout the program, and there’s no better way to do that than by practicing chi gung every day.
Electroencephalographic (EEG) devices have shown that chi gung energizes and activates the 90 percent of the brain that in most people lies perpetually dormant. We’ve all been told that on average we use less than 10 percent of the more than fifteen billion brain cells in our heads, but after a session of chi gung the entire brain is brought “on-line,” whether you are consciously aware of it or not. This significantly improves all cerebral functions such as memory and learning, and in some cases, when diligently practiced, it also awakens some of the more extraordinary mental powers that lie dormant in our brains, such as telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, and so forth. Even more significant, EEG scans of elderly adults in China who practice chi gung daily show a pattern and frequency of brain waves that are normally found only in young children, indicating that those who practice chi gung can restore their cerebral functions to those of youth and rejuvenate their minds. Chinese medical literature abounds with references to the fan lao, huan tung (“resist age, restore youth”) benefits of chi gung practice, and these studies using modern EEG technology shed scientific light on this claim.
Chi gung not only charges the brain with energy, it also increases supplies of “vital essence” by stimulating secretions of important neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and encephalin. This effect balances all brain functions, enhances mental clarity, and facilitates communications between the brain and peripheral nervous system.
Immune Response
We’ve already seen how chi gung enhances immune response by switching the nervous system to the parasympathetic healing mode and by stimulating production of red and white blood cells in the marrow. But it also boosts immunity in several other ways. Chi gung stimulates the thymus and other glands to secrete the full spectrum of immune factors, while inhibiting secretions of the adrenal stress hormones released by the “fight or flight” response, which have strong immunosuppressive effects. Chi gung also increases production of natural steroids, thereby relieving arthritis without the need to resort to the toxic synthetic steroids that most doctors prescribe for this condition.
One of the most significant recent discoveries about chi gung is the fact that it activates the PNI response, or “psychoneuroimmunology.” PNI is one of the body’s most powerful healing mechanisms, whereby specific neurotransmitters secreted in the brain communicate directly with the glands of the immune system to activate detox and healing responses throughout the body. In a May 1992 article that she wrote for Omni, the magazine’s editor Kathy Keaton describes the response as follows:
It has been discovered . . . that there are nerve fibers 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. . . . In other words, there’s a growing body of evidence to suggest that the brain talks directly to the immune system via this electrochemical version of AT&T.
For the brain to release the neuropeptides that activate the body’s glandular immune responses, the mind must remain calm, the body relaxed, and the nervous system switched over to the parasympathetic branch. Chi gung produces this balanced state of mental calm and physical relaxation quickly and efficiently, providing a convenient tool to activate the PNI healing response and open a direct line of healing biofeedback between the nervous and endocrine systems.
Heart and Circulatory System
As we’ve already noted above, correct breathing transforms the diaphragm into a virtual “second heart” to assist in the circulation of blood. Studies in China show that twenty minutes of chi gung practice reduces the pulse by an average 15 percent, while increasing overall volume of blood circulated, and further, that this effect continues for several hours after the practice. This enhancement in circulatory power is due entirely to the way chi gung shifts the major burden of work in blood circulation from the heart over to the diaphragm. High blood pressure, which has become a major life-threatening condition throughout the world, can easily be controlled by daily chi gung practice, without the need for drugs. A study conducted on one hundred cases of chronic high blood pressure and hypertension at the Shanghai Research Institute for Hypertension demonstrated that after only five minutes of practice, blood-pressure levels in all of the patients began to drop dramatically, and after twenty minutes, their blood pressure went down to the same level it normally reached three hours after taking the blood-pressure drugs normally prescribed for this condition by modern Western medicine. Ninety-seven of these patients remained permanently free of high blood pressure and no longer needed to use the drugs, simply by continuing to practice chi gung at home every day, while the three who declined to continue their practice soon suffered relapses and had to go back on drug therapy.
Digestion
Indigestion has become such a common condition for people on modern Western diets that gastric distress is almost taken for granted now as an inevitable side-effect of eating. More than half of all Americans surveyed complain of chronic gastrointestinal discomfort, including gas, bloating, constipation, acid reflux, and stomachaches. Studies in China have shown that fifteen minutes of chi gung practice produces a major elevation in secretions of pepsin and other digestive enzymes in the stomach, and lysozyme in the salivary glands of the mouth. Chi gung balances pH in the stomach, thereby helping prevent “acid indigestion,” and the downward movement of the diaphragm in chi gung breathing provides an invigorating massage to the liver, stomach, pancreas, and other digestive organs and glands within the abdomen, expelling gas and moving stagnant fluids and stimulating digestive functions.
Acidosis has become one of the great banes of modern lifestyles. Excessive acidity of blood and tissues is one of the primary preconditions for the onset of all disease and degenerative conditions; conversely, alkalization of blood and tissues is a primary strategy in healing and one of the main goals in any detox program. Chi gung quickly alkalizes the bloodstream, thereby restoring proper pH balance so that the blood can flush acid wastes from the cells and tissues. This helps detoxify the body and immediately raises resistance to disease. As Dr. Charles Gaspard Peschier and Dr. Michel remarked after conducting extensive studies on the benefits of deep breathing in France:
Every organic or functional disorder leading to conditions of illness is susceptible to the influence, if not always the cure, of controlled breathing. Controlled breathing is the most outstanding method known to us for increasing organic resistance. . . . It confers on the balance of the acid/alkaline a regularity that is reestablished with every breath.
Antioxidant Effect
Free radicals are the main culprits in the premature aging and degeneration of the human body, and antioxidants, also known as “free-radical scavengers,” are the body’s primary line of defense against free-radical damage. Most health enthusiasts are already familiar with antioxidant supplements such as vitamins C and E, the minerals selenium and zinc, and various herbs but are probably not aware that deep breathing exercises can also greatly enhance the body’s antioxidant activity. The most potent free-radical scavenger produced in the body is the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD). Laboratory analysis of blood samples taken from elderly practitioners of chi gung show that after a thirty-minute session of practice, the level of SOD in their blood rises to more than double the average found in those who do not practice. This finding is particularly significant for detox programs, because during detox, the body requires abundant and continuous supplies of SOD and other antioxidant enzymes to deal with all the free-radical activity from the toxins released in the tissues. Chi gung is therefore a quick and easy way to double the availability of SOD during a detox program—as well as in daily life.
For further details about the manifold benefits of chi gung for human health and longevity, and for detox in particular, the reader may refer to the author’s previous title, The Complete Guide to Chi Gung. The points discussed above suffice to demonstrate how useful chi gung can be as a therapeutic tool for human health and healing. The many advantages of chi gung as a form of medical therapy include the fact that it costs nothing and is easy to administer; it is safe and effective and has no negative side effects when properly practiced; it can be practiced at any time and place without any special equipment; virtually anyone, including children and the elderly, can learn how to do it; it balances body as well as mind simultaneously to correct problems on both levels; and best of all, as Shen Chia-shu said, it is one hundred times more effective for medical therapy than any drug.
“YIN PARTICLES”
While we all know that we need to breathe air to supply our blood and tissues with life-sustaining oxygen, few people realize that air is more than just oxygen. What counts most in air quality is not its oxygen content but rather a particular form of energy that activates healthy air and gives it the dynamic vitality required to sustain life. The source of this essential, air-borne energy is highly active molecular particles called negative ions, each of which has a negative charge equivalent to that of one free electron. In Chinese, these units of negatively charged energy are called yin li dze, or “yin particles.” In the Taoist principle of yin/yang polarity, yin is always the “negative” pole and yang is the “positive.”
Negative-ion count is the most accurate measure of air quality in terms of its benefits for human health. Negative ions are produced in air by the action of wind and sun, especially at high altitudes, and by the movement of air over large bodies of water. That is why since time immemorial people have always felt so refreshed and rejuvenated after spending a day at the beach or trekking in high mountains: every breath you take in air that is rich in negative ions recharges your blood and cellular batteries with fresh supplies of purifying, energizing negative ions. All air pollutants, such as smoke, dust, and toxic chemicals, take the form of large, sluggish molecules with a positive charge. In urban areas, where the air is especially dense with pollutants, the heavy positive ions slow down and trap the vibrant negative ions in the air, reducing their activity, negating their energy, and robbing the air of its vitality and healing potential. Clean country air, for example, contains an average ratio of three negative ions to one positive, while polluted city air has about 500 positive molecules for every negative ion, a massive 1,500-fold drop in air quality. Negative ions are also removed from air by air-conditioning and central heating, severely degrading air quality in modern office and apartment buildings. The poor air quality is the reason people who work at desk jobs in air-conditioned offices with sealed windows feel more depleted and “wiped out” after a day of doing nothing but “pushing papers” and taking phone calls, than farmers and outdoor construction workers who work up a sweat doing hard physical labor in the sun and open air.
Let’s take a look at the negative-ion count in the various types of air typically found on the earth today:
“Polluted Air,” such as that in factories, airtight urban spaces, chemical plants, and heavy traffic, produces 320–3200 negative ions/cubic inch/sec. Breathing this sort of air causes illness, stress reactions, and toxemia of the blood and tissues.
“Unhealthy Air,” such as that in inner cities, high-rise office buildings, and shopping malls, produces 3200–8000 negative ions/ cubic inch/sec. Breathing this grade air can cause headaches, irritability, chronic fatigue, and various respiratory problems such as asthma.
“Average Air,” such as that in suburbs and lowland farm areas, produces 8,000–16,000 negative ions/cubic inch/sec. This type of air does not cause any specific health problems, but it also has no positive benefits for health, other than providing basic oxygen requirements.
“Good Air,” such as that by the ocean, in a big forest, or in low to medium mountain regions, produces 16,000–32,000 negative ion/ cubic inch/sec. Breathing air of this quality has distinctive rejuvenating effects and energizes the whole system. It also helps purify the bloodstream.
“Healthy Air,” such as that on high mountains, produces over 64,000 negative ions/cubic inch/sec. This is the purest, most therapeutically beneficial air on earth. It has potent detoxifying properties, invigorates the blood, recharges the human energy system, and accelerates new cell and tissue growth. It also stimulates the brain and activates dormant cerebral powers, which is why the yogins and hermits of ancient India, China, and Tibet often chose to live in remote caves among the wild and wind-swept peaks of Asia’s highest mountain ranges. The ancient Chinese ideogram for “immortal sage” is hsien, which consists of the symbols for “man” and “mountain.”
To remain healthy and strong, the human body needs to breathe air with a count of about 32,000 negative ions/cubic inch/sec. That high a count of negative ions of air is found at unpolluted seashores, deep in pristine forests, and high up in the mountains. Most people today, however, live nowhere near such places, which means that they are breathing air that not only is half as rich in oxygen as it was two hundred years ago but also is critically deficient in the essential energy of negative ions. The only viable way to compensate for the continuing degradation in air quality throughout the world today is to increase the efficiency of our breathing methods.
It is no accident that health resorts and spas have traditionally been located high up in the mountains, or else down along the shores of oceans and lakes. It was discovered by accumulative, extensive experience that the air in the mountains and by the sea has a potent vitality that rapidly cleanses the bloodstream, energizes the nervous system, and regenerates the body. That vitality comes from the high negative-ion count in the air at such locations.
One reason that negative ions are such an important factor in air, especially for purposes of detox and healing, is that they function as powerful antioxidants to scavenge free radicals in the blood and tissues. Considering how toxic most people are and how polluted the environment is, these days, this protective factor in air is more important than ever for those who wish to live long in good health. Besides scavenging free radicals, negative ions help eliminate all sorts of other toxins as well, by binding with their positive charge and allowing them to be carried away for excretion.
Air that is rich in negative ions continuously purges tissues of toxins and purifies the bloodstream with each and every breath. During detox, when the blood must carry an overload of toxic wastes from the tissues to the excretory organs for elimination, negative ions become an important ally, because they help to keep the bloodstream clean, thereby facilitating the blood’s capacity to continuously flush toxins and acid wastes from the internal organs and tissues and deliver them to the excretory drains. Negative-ion energy from air also increases the electrical potential of each and every cell in the body, and collectively this boost amplifies the power and vibrancy of the entire human energy field. Not only does this amplification increase the body’s overall resistance to disease, it also helps to shield the body from invasion by aberrant, external energies such as those produced by artificial electromagnetic fields, microwaves, atomic radiation, and other forms of “energy pollution.”
The most convenient and effective way to increase your assimilation of negative ions is to practice deep breathing exercises in good quality air on a daily basis. The fact remains, however, that most people are unwilling to take the time and effort required to learn and practice chi gung. For such individuals, modern technology has come up with some electronic devices that effectively recharge the air in a room, office, or automobile with high concentrations of negative ions, so that the people may assimilate abundant amounts of this essential energy, even while lounging in a hammock or armchair.
One such device is the negative-ion generator, which emits a constant stream of negative ions into the air from electrically charged metallic pins. These devices, which come in a variety of sizes and output capacities, may be placed in any office, bedroom, work space, or other human habitat to compensate for negative-ion deficiency in the air. Many modern office buildings and high-rise hotels and apartment blocks in Japan are routinely equipped with negative-ion generators to purify and energize the air that people must breathe inside, and perhaps this helps account, at least in part, for the fact that the Japanese people continue to lead the world in longevity. Special units are also designed for use in automobiles, as are compact battery-operated units that may be taken anywhere, including on airplanes.
The commercial airline industry has for years resisted the call to install negative-ion generators on all flights, apparently because doing so would acknowledge the basic problem with the air on airplanes that has existed all along. This problem became even worse once we entered the jet age, when the commercial airline industry decided to stop drawing fresh air into aircraft to save the costs of pressurizing and heating it at such high altitudes. Instead, the air on all commercial airliners is now recycled throughout the duration of all flights, forcing passengers to breathe and rebreathe the same stale, germ-ridden air exhaled by other passengers. On long flights, this situation can pose serious health hazards for unsuspecting passengers, especially those with weak immune systems.
The need for negative-ion generators in aircraft was first discovered during the early days of the space program, when it was noted that early astronauts such as John Glenn could not remain aloft in space for more than one day without experiencing debilitating fatigue and mental confusion. It was the Russians who first recognized that the source of the problem was negative-ion deficiency, and they solved it by installing negative-ion generators in their spacecraft, which immediately enabled their cosmonauts to endure much longer space flights. Today, airline passengers throughout the world are complaining of circulatory problems, jet lag, virulent diseases contracted in flight, breathing difficulties, and other health problems, all of which are due primarily to the critical deficiency of negative ions in the air within aircraft. A negative-ion generator of sufficient output to infuse a large room with life-sustaining negative ions draws less power than that required by a 60-watt light bulb, so expense is certainly no excuse for not installing these devices on all airplanes. Nevertheless, until the airline industry is compelled by public demand to make the air in aircraft safe and suitable for human consumption by installing negative-ion generators (or offering passengers portable units at the beginning of all flights, as they offer earphones for in-flight entertainment), your best bet to protect yourself from the dangers of the dead, contaminated air that you’re forced to breathe on airline flights is to bring along your own portable, battery-operated negative-ion generator. Such units are now available.
During a detox program, it is very helpful to keep a negative-ion generator going in your bedroom while sleeping at night. Not only does this neutralize and precipitate all dust, smoke, and other pollutants in the air of the room in which you sleep, it also provides strong, continuous antioxidant activity in your blood and tissues while you’re sleeping, so that the detox process may continue efficiently and without interruption even while you’re asleep. In addition, it protects you from bacterial infections: the natural decay rate for bacteria in ordinary air today is about 23 percent, but when air is charged with negative ions, the bacterial decay rate rises more than threefold to 78 percent. In light of how many patients contract deadly bacterial infections in hospitals today, installing negative-ion generators in all hospital rooms would save a lot of lives at negligible expense.
“ACTIVATED AIR”
A new device has recently appeared on the market in Australia that generates a stream of air with a negative-ion count of eighty million ions/cubic inch/sec. Known as an “Activated Air System” and manufactured by “GEOMED Biomedicine,” this new technology is showing great promise as a swift, powerful, and totally safe therapeutic tool for treating a wide range of ailments and degenerative conditions that are caused by blood and tissue toxicity. This is one of the most effective electronic detox technologies on the market today.
The GEOMED Activated Air System works by producing a steady stream of highly ionized air containing the same natural ratios of oxygen and nitrogen as ordinary air. Ionized oxygen greatly improves the blood’s capacity to cleanse and nourish the tissues. However, nitrogen is equally as important for detox purposes, because it functions as a bonding molecule for the discharge of various waste products such as uric acid and ammonia. The GEOMED generates both ionized oxygen and nitrogen, thereby producing air that has extremely potent detoxifying and rejuvenating properties.
Inhaling this activated ionized air for a period of just thirty minutes produces an immediate, measurable increase in the body’s overall metabolic rate and a huge boost to immune response, particularly antioxidant activity. These effects greatly amplify and accelerate the detox process and facilitate healing and regeneration on the cellular level. Those interested in ordering or obtaining further information about the GEOMED Activated Air System, may contact the appropriate supplier listed at the back of this book.
“THE NOSE KNOWS!”
While the lungs are designed to assimilate oxygen and discharge carbon dioxide through breathing, the more subtle energy elements in air, such as negative ions and the medicinal energies in the volatile vapors released into the air by aromatherapy, are absorbed primarily by special receptors located in the lining of the nasal passages and sinus cavities. To keep their nasal receptors clean and sensitive, the yogins of ancient India developed the Neti nasal douche, to allow the essential energies carried in the air to be freely assimilated. These receptors, when clean and functioning properly, transmit the energy of negative ions and volatile aromatic vapors directly into the energy meridians, blood vessels, and nerves of the head, from where they are distributed to the brain and body.
Aromatic vapors released into the air from essential oils and flowers by evaporation carry the essential energies of those plants and transport their potent therapeutic properties directly into the human system via the nasal and sinus receptors. Medieval Arab physicians frequently noted the fact that when cholera, smallpox, and other contagious plagues periodically swept through the Middle East, perfumers and incense makers, who work daily with the potent aromatic essence of plants, rarely succumbed to these deadly diseases. Their imperviousness to disease was due to the fact that they were protected by the potent medicinal properties of the natural aromatic plants from which they extracted essential scents to make perfume and incense all day long. Today, the same phenomenon is observed in professional florists, who work amidst the fragrant energies of fresh flowers and consequently rarely catch colds, the flu, and other contagious ailments that routinely infect others.
It should be noted that only scents derived from natural plant sources provide medicinal benefits and may therefore be effectively used for aromatherapy. This includes various flowers, seeds, roots, barks, leaves, and other plant parts that contain volatile aromatic elements. Synthetic scents have a “smell,” but they don’t have any bioactive energies with therapeutic properties, and any well trained nose can instantly detect the difference between natural and synthetic scents, not so much by their actual smell but by the subtle effects of their vibrant energy. Those distinctive effects are produced by the ionized energies released into the air from the essential oils of aromatic plants by the process of evaporation. In Taoist terminology, synthetic substances are devoid of the natural “essence” (jing) required to produce the bio-active “energy” (chi) found in the ionized vapors of medicinal plants. The French medical scientist Dr. J. Valent, writing in the journal L’Hopital in 1960, explains how aromatherapy works:
Carried by the bloodstream, the ionized plant aroma impregnates every corner of the body, powerfully revitalizes the polarized and discharged cells, replenishes electronic shortages by recharging the bio-electromagnetic batteries, and disperses cellular residue by dissolving the viscous and diseased substances of body fluids. It oxidizes poisonous metabolic waste products, increases energy balance, frees the mechanism of organic oxidation and of self-regulation, and reaches the lungs and kidneys, whence it is excreted or exhaled without a trace.
Here we see how useful aromatherapy can be when applied to the detox process. The ionized essential energy assimilated from the inhaled vapors of medicinal plants penetrates the deepest tissues of the body and reaches into each and every cell, where, as Dr. Valent says, it disperses cellular residue by dissolving the viscous and diseased substances of body fluids and oxidizes poisonous metabolic waste products, sending them all out to the lungs and kidneys for excretion. The practical applications of aromatherapy for detox are obvious. By keeping an aromatherapy vaporizer operating in the rooms in which you sleep at night and spend the most time by day, you saturate the air you breathe with the potent ionized energies of medicinal plants, which in turn enter your body with each breath, assisting and accelerating the detoxification and healing process.
During the day, you should select essential oils that are known for their strong blood and tissue-cleansing properties, such as sage, rosemary, and juniper. At night, while sleeping, it is best to use aromas with calming nervine properties, such as lavender, frankincense, or sandalwood to help you sleep well. These also have detoxifying properties, but they are gentler than those used by day, so they won’t interfere with sleep.
“SILENCE IS GOLDEN”
We’ve all heard this slogan before, but what does it actually mean? Let’s hear what Master Chang San-feng, the Taoist sage credited with developing Tai Chi Chuan six hundred years ago, had to say about this concept. He advised, “Forget about words and your energy won’t scatter.” The Taoist adept and commentator, Liu I-ming, writing about two hundred years ago, said basically the same thing: “When the mouth speaks, energy scatters.” And in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the word for “speech” is often used to denote “energy,” because speech expends and dissipates a tremendous amount of breath and energy. The only sort of speech that focuses rather than scatters energy is mantra, prayer, and harmonious song.
Today, with all the manifold pressures and chronic stress of modern life, many people seem to have acquired a “motor-mouth” syndrome. They feel compelled to sustain a constant stream of small talk, gossip, and marathon monologues, regardless of whether anyone else is really listening or responding to their words or not. Indeed, some people are so addicted to “blowing off steam” this way that they talk to themselves constantly when there’s no one else around to listen. This book is not the place to speculate on the psychological and emotional implications of the modern motor-mouth syndrome, but it is certainly appropriate to point out the fact that constant chatter drains away vital energy and depletes your “bio-batteries.” Since energy is the fundamental fuel required to detox, repair, and rebalance the human body, especially during an intensive detox program, it doesn’t make much sense to needlessly waste this vital resource by spewing it out of your mouth in a fountain of words. It’s far better to remain silent and focus your energy inward for healing purposes.
It is, therefore, advisable to speak no more than necessary during a detox program and remain as silent as possible, to conserve your limited supplies of vital energy for internal cleansing. Try to resist spending a lot of time on the telephone talking to friends, or making long-distance calls to check on your business affairs. All of that activity can wait until the program is over. Also try not to spend all afternoon scattering your energy to the wind by gossiping with other guests at spas and health resorts; that chatter definitely slows down the detox process and prevents the nervous system from remaining at rest in the healing mode. Instead, have a massage or steam bath, take a stroll in the forest or along the beach, or practice chi gung. Speak only when necessary to communicate something important, and say it softly, with a minimum waste of energy. By “saving your breath” this way, you’ll also be reserving your energy for internal cleansing and healing. That extra supply of energy is “as good as gold” in terms of its value to human health and healing.
And that’s why “silence is golden,” because it conserves your energy assets so that your body can draw upon them in times of need to protect your health and prolong your life.
