Qi Gong has a 3000-5000 year history in China. Wu Dang Taoist Qi Gong for health dates from the Tsung Dynasty – around 700 years ago. (24 generations). The term Qi Gong came into use around 1980 bringing together diverse but related practices: Dao Yin is the first form of Qi Gong which is physical exercise, stretching and self-massage; Jing Zhuo is sitting in tranquility or meditation; Nei Guan is to look inside; and Tu Na is to breathe in and breathe out. Together these are included in Qi Gong. Qi is vital or mystical energy. Gong is practice or training of the energy.

There are three sets or levels. The first level of Qi Gong practice is for self-healing, the second is for intuited healing of others and the third is for internal alchemy transformation. We each need to heal 3600 others in order to progress. When we achieve ultimate health, we become immortal. There are over 360 different styles of Qi Gong: Taoist, Buddhist, Traditional Chinese Medical, Martial Arts, Confucian, and more.

There are three Qi in the body: Wei Qi – defensive Qi, Yin Qi – nourishment Qi, and Zhong Qi – which protects the heart and lungs.

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, there are the three regulations of the body: mind, breath and body. The levels of breath regulation include: natural or abdominal breath, reverse breathing which massages the organs, Womb breath or auto reverse, and immortal breath. Regulation of the body has many styles but with the same principle – to relax the body. The regulation of the mind is to go beyond reality and go beyond learning and perception of the five senses.

The primary Qi Gong traditions of Wu Dang are Shen Dian and Zhong He. A third key tradition is Wu Xing (Five Element).

The first movement of Shen Dian is to collect Qi. You see yourself as inside an eggshell. Go beyond your imagination and beyond the ordinary five senses of sensing, knowing, seeing and feeling. Try to see you internal body, go to the ethereal body. Clean out toxins in the ethereal body by washing out the body with fresh Qi – put the “dirty” energy into the earth. The Aura or “Chang” or field is the ethereal body. The Qi Chang + me is Qi is Tao.

To let go of the self you must first feel and become aware and heal the self. Then you lose the self, extend the self, the field becomes the self. Intuition, or the 6th sense becomes activated and sound, color, vision and other experiences manifest. Once you can intuit and move into the field self on a regular basis you are at the intermediate level.

To heal you create a better internal environment. Bring in fresh energy, fresh “water” to cleanse and push toxic cells or energy. Refined oxygen is the killer of bad cells, it makes order in the cells. Increasing oxygen in the blood improves the immune system.

The Chong channel is the most important channel of the body. It regulates people’s pre-heaven energy. The channel begins to shrink around menopause. It is in charge of the aging process. Qi Gong helps to regulate the flow of energy in the channels and to reverse the aging process.

Stillness is the key to open the gate to the mystical world. With stillness, the mind and body fall in love, yang and yin. The enemy of stillness is motion. How do you deal with motion in the right way? You must learn to deal with it in a philosophical way. Physical motion is the first test for everyone. You need a very wise mind to not attach to it. Once you attach to it, you are back at square one.

Wu is the character for Enlightenment or Breakthrough and has the inner radicals “heart ”on the left and “self” on the right representing the relationship between you and the cosmos.

To meditate bring the mind back to look for tranquility. Do nothing and leave nothing undone. Move into “Ting”, stop, be still, frozen, have no need to move. No one can distract you unless you want or allow yourself to be distracted. Withdraw the senses.

Regulate your body:
A. Seal your hands
B. Eyes on the tip of the nose
C. Arms rounded
D. Sit cross-legged, females with the right leg outside, males the left leg. If you must sit on a chair then sit on the front 1/2 – 1/3 of the chair with your feet shoulder width apart and facing ahead.
E. Let your armpits be empty and the belly soft
F. Wear no jewelry, no watch, be natural
G. Wear loose clothes, nothing binding

The usual pain sequence for the body to follow when you start sitting is:
1) Legs ache
2) Kidney/low back aches
3) Shoulders ache
4) Neck aches
5) Forehead aches
This is a natural sequence as the energy starts to move up. Just take it, do not attach.

Sit for 20 minutes initially and then gradually add time in 5 minute increments over 1-2 months. Be regular! Do your practice at the same time every day – for example at 11:00 pm every night. Twice a day is recommended for your meditation practice: Mornings between 5 and 7 and evenings between 11 and 1, even when you travel. Twenty minutes of good quality meditation equals 2 hours of sleep.

Regulate your mind:

Kill the self – let go of your self-concept: ego, desire, self-identity, stress and go back to the innocent stage. Desire and emotion are the leading causes of mental motion – monkey mind. The wild horse is the intention, jumping monkey is the heart.

1 replaces the 10,000

Focus on the 1.

Focus on the tip of the nose. The tip of the nose is the pole to tie the wild horse to. When you focus on the tip of the nose during meditation then you bring the consciousness to the Dan Tian. That’s called caging the monkey.

When you focus on the 1, that is the beginning stage of stillness; when you let go of the 1, that is the intermediate stage.

To achieve stillness you must practice self-cultivation of your virtue: remove the masks, be true to your heart, and seek the purity of your own heart. The goal is stillness. You must preserve the root in order to achieve stillness. Practice self-examination. The source of stress is from your own heart. You cause your own stress and you must take responsibility.

Regulate your breath:

Tu Na Gong Fu is the art of regulating the breath. In pure meditation you do not even regulate your breath. It simply falls away.

This is a basic method for regulating breath.

1. When you inhale, gently contract the anus in and up beginning with the intention just under the tip of tailbone (Wei Lu point) and leading it up the inner face of the spine, up the Du Channel, around the skull to just below the nose.

2. When you exhale, gently relax the anus. Allow the intention to lead the Qi down the front of the body to the perineum (Hui Yin point between the privates).

When beginning, practice 36 breaths or rotations and then let go of intention. Then do nothing, keep the mind in the belly, on the Dan Tian. Focus on the third eye; see and not see.

Females can focus the intention on the heart center for around 15 minutes and then bring the intention back down to the Dan Tian.

When you begin this will be a dry river. Use intention to see the path until one day water comes, and energy goes up and down by itself. After 100 days of practice you will achieve results.

People all want to change the world with physical force or emotion. There are very few people willing to change themselves to change the world. The world never functions through your own will. You either become prostitutes (slaves) of the material world or you become masters. You don’t live for others but live for self. The quality of your Yuan Shen sets the measurement for how to see the world. A stronger Yuan Shen gets you to enjoy the world more than the ordinary people. The material world only disturbs the stillness of your Yuan Shen. We can learn to stay in stillness to face uncertainty. We can learn not to take any disturbance from the outside world. Although a pebble may ripple the surface of the water, know that the pond is unfathomably deep. Calm your mind and intent, balance and harmonize the Xing and Ming. Stay focused on the purpose of your life. Detach from the need of the self. Accept and be loyal to the true self and then you will change the world around you forever.

Every person maintains their own destiny, yet it is a unique journey. How they participate, come and go is a unique journey. Never judge nor interfere with another person’s journey. You can be a facilitator and an example, but you can’t be an enforcer for another person’s journey. Each person has their own unique journey to decipher for them self. You can only be a one hundred percent compassionate facilitator in their journey, thereby, turning the wheel to “myself” as to how “I” can be the best facilitator to their unique journey. When each person’s journey finishes they go on to the next journey. You need to learn to let go of people in your life so that you allow them to move on and also, so that you can move on. Let your loved ones finish their journey without the burden of you holding onto them. The world will never dance for you. It has its own rhythm. Can you change the world one iota with your will? No! You can only impact on it. If you can change your world, then the world changes; you must begin with the self. The world will always follow its own way. Change yourself and the world changes.

Find the master within. Don’t assume that you are enlightened to master others! Be the master of your own. Be a personal guide through example but not a teacher. Walk the talk. Ask yourself how you can help. To introduce the tasty apple to others you have to first taste it yourself. Design a program to help another person. “I can do it. I am the master of my own.” Never limit your potential. Dream Big! Don’t limit the creativity of your dream. Continue to be your dream. Be the dream weaver of Tao. When the lion king is absent then the monkey becomes the master. The true master makes masters. You can be a master of your own. You can’t run away from your own devil.