9

Chi Kung, Health, and Healing

THE BODY’S WISDOM

In order to create and preserve internal pressure and Chi power in the lower Tan Tien, it is essential that we turn inward and begin to listen to our body and its natural wisdom. We need to learn to understand and interpret its signs and processes.

As a rule, various “sediments” accumulate in our organs and glands from early traumas that we have not been able or willing to give up. We may even have cherished them, as they give us reason to continue living in a state of separation and depression, so that we can justify our state of “dis-ease” and negative emotions.

Disease may be a sign calling upon us to awaken, and an invitation to turn inward. The vision and theory that inspires Tan Tien Chi Kung and that lies at the very root of Chinese medicine is that health is the natural outcome of self-reliance and the assumption of responsibility for one’s own life, attitudes, and conduct. The practices of Tan Tien Chi Kung can help us to become aware of energy patterns in our bodies, and to work through blockages.

Unlike the Western approach to health and medicine, Chi Kung does not focus on particular parts of the body when sickness or pain are experienced. It looks at the totality of the processes taking place in the relations between the five elements and phases, so that imbalances are holistically treated.

Chi Kung is based on premises that are qualitatively different from those inspiring modern Western conceptions of medicine. It is a process and method to increase Chi pressure to enhance health, self-healing, and energy transformation.

BALANCING THE FIVE ELEMENTS AND PHASES

SUBTLE WONDERS

Subtle wonders lie in the small spaces of awareness that arise every day. Subtle wonders may arise at any time under any circumstance as moments of awakening to our inner powers and potentials. In these moments of awareness, we may be awakened to the Chi Kung state, a meditative state that can also be called “entering silence.” In the Chi Kung state, we can tap energy from the cosmos.

Subtle wonders arise from the deep-down longing for infinity, from which a sense of curiosity arises. In this curiosity there is an open-mindedness that enables us to see reality from a new angle. Our energy changes and we begin to feel and see ourselves and the world in a new way.

Chi Kung, and especially Tan Tien Chi Kung, through all the exercises of grounding and centering, can help in reconnecting with ourselves, the earth, and the universe. A sense of belonging arises in our body, as well as a sense of the unity and interconnectedness of all phenomena. Humility is a state of being truthful and sensitive to this insight.

To the extent that we are able to forgive and accept ourselves, others, and the world, we create an ability in ourselves to return to our prenatal breathing pattern, and not only create peace within ourselves but also around us. Such an attitude will help us to view problems not as obstacles but as opportunities for learning and solving them “from within.” It is significant in this context that the Chinese word for “crisis” has at the same time a negative as well as a positive connotation. What is a problem, a “negative” occurrence, is at the same time an opportunity to learn.

This is precisely the deep sense of the yin and yang symbol, in which there is a light spot in the dark and a dark spot in the light. This insight honors the inherent reality of the unity of opposites in everything in the universe, including ourselves.

YIN AND YANG SYMBOL

All genuine transformations invariably start as small awakenings, subtle wonders that were hardly perceptible. We may experience some of these subtle wonders as we begin to practice Tan Tien Chi Kung. For example, one subtle wonder is the discovery of the ability to differentiate and activate the different points of the anus. You learn to coordinate the contraction of the anus and the perineum so as to seal the pelvic floor. This creates internal pressure through the creation of the Chi ball, and this opens the way for self-reliance, self-healing, and self-realization.

Another subtle wonder is the discovery of the numerous benefits that arise from the squatting practices. We feel the opening of the kua, which makes us more grounded and lighter at the same time. We find that we can walk straight and tall, and see the world with new eyes.

CHI KUNG AS ACTIVE ENERGY MEDITATION

Chinese Taoist practice took a different approach from spiritual paths that emphasized a separation between body and mind. In some of these traditions, “mortification” of the body was practiced, as well as forms of meditation in which the mind is disconnected from the body. The Taoist approach emerged because it was observed that some of these traditions led to a serious contempt for the body, thereby undermining balance, ease, and well-being.

The Taoist approach focuses on the integration of mind with Chi and the cultivation and transformation of Chi as an internal active meditation. In this it is different from all other approaches to meditation. Undoubtedly this Chinese innovation is deeply connected with the pragmatic sense of life that is so characteristic of Chinese culture. At the same time, with its emphasis on the integration of action and contemplation, Taoist practice has had a pervasive influence on the flowering of Chinese civilization in all fields, particularly science, medicine, and the arts.

The Taoist, active approach to meditation has its roots in a positive relationship to the entire body and in particular to sexuality. Sexuality is, in most religious traditions and “high” cultures (in contrast to indigenous and folk cultures), treated with contempt and fear, as it is associated with the “lower” part of the body. It is seen as the locus of animal instincts and therefore an obstacle to “higher” pursuits.

The practice of Chi Kung enables people to take care of themselves—body, mind, soul, and spirit—and make use of their own innate potential to cultivate total health, growth, and transformation. In the process of Chi Kung practice, new forms of consciousness/spirit arise that we are able to direct for the healing and well being of ourselves, others, and the environment around us.

SELF-HEALING AND WHOLENESS

In the Taoist tradition, the lower body and its organs and functions are associated with the earth, and the upper body and its organs and functions are associated with heaven. Yet the spiritual body cannot be born and grow without being nourished by an unceasing supply of fresh Chi, generated in the lower body by the practice of Tan Tien Chi Kung.

Tan Tien Chi Kung, as one of the basic practices of the Taoist approach to health and self-healing, has its roots in a particular worldview that is at the very heart of Chinese civilization and science. In this view, human beings, like all other creatures, are seen as part of nature.

Human beings are not above and on top of nature, but need to serve and honor it. Nature is not to be conquered but to be treated with reverence and respect. People have to live in harmony with the universe and with nature as its manifestation. If not, the universe will turn against humans beings and destroy the very foundations of their lives.

In this ancient Taoist vision, at the heart of Chi Kung and Tan Tien Chi Kung, the universe and the earth are seen and experienced as sacred. Also, the human body is seen as a sacred vessel and a microcosmos in which the macrocosmos is mirrored and reproduced.

TAN TIEN CHI KUNG

In the same vein, all that exists is holy, and life is seen as a process of return to the original state of holiness/wholeness in which the primordial unity with the universe is regained. Healing, wholeness, and holiness have the same etymological root.

Heaven and earth, dark and light, the sacred and the profane, the material and the spiritual, body and mind, the physical and the metaphysical, thinking and feeling, what is above and what is below, are not seen as irreconcilable or inimical opposites but as natural polarities and partners between yin and yang. This manifests the relations between heaven/fire and earth/water, at the root of the energetic processes of imbalance and balance within the body.

The lower Tan Tien is not a physical phenomenon but an energy field of the subtle body. It has therefore not a precise physical location but varies with each person, depending on sex, age, and life history. It functions in the area just between the navel, the door of life, and the sexual center, just above the pelvic area.

In view of the above, Tan Tien Chi Kung may be defined as an energy meditation or inner fitness practice, designed to enhance a Chi Kung state of being in ourselves by awakening, activating, and sustaining processes, rhythms, flows, and transformations of energy in the body.

As discussed throughout this book, the lower Tan Tien is the center of activation and balancing of the Chi in the body. Tan Tien Chi Kung, like other forms of Chi Kung, is not only a source of self-healing but may also serve as a source of healing others. However, its effectiveness depends on the energy of the healer. To practice healing others by way of Chi Kung, healers need first to raise their own energy, so that they can share their abundance.

Through the practice of Chi Kung, a high energy field is created that may then serve to activate the energy fields of those who seek to be healed. If the person who seeks healing were to have a higher energy field, it may well be that the healer would drain that person. Thus for any healer, the first responsibility lies in healing themselves so that their work will be a blessing. For this reason, energy meditations are the first responsibility of the Taoist practitioner who intends to be a healer. To raise energies, Chi pressure is indispensable. While an abundant Chi supply is essential for health, inversely, good health is also a condition for an abundant Chi supply.

Thus, to ensure both physical health and spiritual growth, an abundant supply of Chi is needed. This accumulation of Chi is indispensable for creating the right kind of pressure to sustain and enhance the free and optimal flow of energy throughout the whole body. Chi is needed to activate the blood and lymph flows, the flow of the cerebrospinal fluids, the nerves, the endocrine glands and hormones, the fascia, and the tendons, bones, muscles and all the cells of the body.

COSMIC HEALING

As an electromagnetic force, Chi is the source of all movement and power in the universe. It is also the source of life and empowerment of the whole body and all its functions. It can only be properly used and serve body and spirit if it is activated, guided, and directed by the mind.

CONSCIOUSNESS AND RELAXATION

In recent brain research, it has been found that the average person uses only four to five percent of his or her brain cells. This small portion of active brain cells lies at the surface of the cerebrum. It means that the vast numbers of brain cells in the deeper layers of the cerebrum are asleep.

It is difficult for these cells to be activated if one is too stressed and overactive. Our competitive modern cultures make stress and tension an essential condition for “keeping up.” Such stress makes it difficult to nourish and maintain Chi pressure.

Chi Kung serves to create a state of relaxation that enables the practitioner to return to his or “natural state.” Then the deeper layers of the brain can be opened up and the creative powers of the unconsciousness mind, where all originality and creativity lie hidden, become available. Chi Kung practice can serve to significantly activate dormant electromagnetic currents in the deep brain and thereby bring about a major change in the nature of awareness.

Relaxation is not static. Rather, it is an expression of the dynamic balance that comes about when one is aligned with the force of gravity. We experience the pulls of the opposite forces within ourselves: the force that pulls up, the force that pulls down, and the various forces from the electrical and magnetic fields in the universe. Chi Kung is the art of being in balance with all these forces through the process of mutual adjustment of body, mind, and breathing. Our posture facilitates this balance as internal pressure and power are generated.

The ability of the lower Tan Tien to activate Chi significantly depends on the degree to which the chest diaphragm retains (or regains) its flexibility and becomes relaxed so that it can freely move up and down. The chest diaphragm has a pumping function that can exert pressure on the lower Tan Tien through practices that pack and release Chi. (The perineum power practices, discussed in Chapter 7, rely on this action of the chest diaphragm.) Chi pressure is raised and condensed through the packing process.

Through the practice of packing and releasing, the whole lower Tan Tien receives a massage. This activates the organs and expels toxins and sediments from the organs in the abdomen, so that blood and Chi flow are restored.

The small and large intestines also share in the benefits of this packing process, as they are massaged and the natural peristaltic movement is reactivated. It is well known that many chronic diseases originate in the bowels. The Tan Tien Chi Kung exercises designed to open the kua work on pressing the bowel into proper movement.

REACTIVATION AND REGENERATION

The activation of the abdomen plays a major role in the creation of a state of ease and the prevention of “dis-ease.” If the abdomen is at ease, the whole body comes to rest. If not, the whole body suffers, as the basic metabolism is affected. In the process of aging and as a result of an agitated lifestyle, the abdominal organs tend to sag and thereby lose their vitality. These organs, thanks to the rise in Chi pressure in the lower Tan Tien, can be uplifted and brought back in their original position, so that once again the Chi flows.

After giving birth, the uterus may sag and interfere with the proper functioning of the transverse colon. If undue pressure is placed on the fallopian tubes and the ovaries, proper blood and Chi flow is prevented and toxins cannot be moved out. This in turn may lead to serious diseases. Thus, women can receive particular benefit from Tan Tien Chi Kung.

The chest diaphragm can move down if the lower Tan Tien is freed from mental and emotional stress and tension. This is a principal cause of constipation and degeneration of the digestive and eliminative system. Constipation can also be relieved by the lengthening the psoas muscles.

By generating Chi in the lower Tan Tien, we dissolve tensions in the body, and bring down and cool excess fire energy, which always rises up and tends to overheat the brain, heart, and lungs. This cools the body, reestablishing the natural balance between fire and water energies.

By concentrating attention on the lower Tan Tien, we also bring down the point of gravity in the body so that stability increases and the earth connection is enhanced. As we become more rooted, a sense of coming home may arise. This has a further cooling and refreshing effect on the body.

With the downward movement of the chest diaphragm, the lungs also get new space. They have suffered from the stress and tension that has caused breathing to become short and shallow. When the lower Tan Tien enters a state of ease and the chest diaphragm is able to relax and returns to its natural rhythmic up-and-down movement, the lungs can ease into their natural function.

Then one can start again to breath deeply, slowly, and gently. This regenerates the whole body, as its cells, organs, glands, and bones become toned and energized as a consequence of the fresh Chi pressure. Nose breathing becomes less necessary and can gradually give way to breathing from within.

As a result of this process toward inner relaxation and balance, the body can start to function in a qualitatively new way; it needs to rely less on external air intake and more on the Chi from within, the original or prenatal Chi. Breathing becomes again a natural rhythmic process that occurs by itself and that creates the right pressure needed for the body to function optimally.

The reactivation and regeneration of the body, and the emergence of new consciousness, is indeed a real possibility. But it does not come about by itself; it requires continuous exercise and practice that is light and playful, as if it were a child’s game.