Imagine a Space where no-one else has walked before. That is uniquely yours. That shimmers and scintillates, shifts and flows, with every movement you make. Every breath you take. A space where ‘All that I Am’ dances with ‘All that I am Not’. Where All that Is flows into you and out of you, and your mind body and spirit move in unison. Welcome to the world of Qigong.
Qigong, pronounced “Chee Gung” is a process by which you learn to observe, experience and ultimately direct the energy that flows through your body.
We all know by now that energy is the common denominator in all of us, like the 1 in a fraction. Even within ourselves, our atoms are no solid object, but instead a compact but dynamic pattern of wave energies vibrating at approximately 1022 times second. A delicate dance of constellations, electrons spinning around protons, molecules interacting with each other, blood cells flowing along to different stations within your body like turtles on an ocean current.
The earth itself vibrates as a resonance of 7.83Hz known as the “Schumann Resonance”. If you hold your hand toward the sunlight for one second, about a billion neutrinos from the sun will pass through. The neutrinos themselves are ancient- originating all the way back from the Big Bang. All is alive with energy expressing itself or returning to Source, within and without.
Back in China at around 300 to 400 BC the Taoists studied nature, humans, plants, and animals to learn how to cultivate the energy that is termed as Chi – the activating energy of the universe. Chi was observed to condense and disperse in alternating cycles of polar opposite energy flows described as Yin and Yang.
Day and Night
Summer and Winter
Male and Female
Heaven and Earth
Empty and Full
Matter and Anti Matter
Out of Oneness emerges Yin-Yang the world as expressed in its infinite forms. All that Is and relative to it All that I Am and All that I am Not.
Chi flows throughout the universe expressing itself. The polarity or duality gives rise to dynamic interaction and constant cyclical change. Chi itself is free and abundant. The same Chi that flows through the universe flows through humans. In the words of Taoist philosopher Zhang Tsai (1020 – 1077 AD)
“Wu Chi (The Great Void) consists of Chi. Chi condenses to become the myriad things. Things of necessity disintegrate and return to Wu Chi. If Chi condenses, its visibility becomes effective and physical form appears. Chi in dispersion is substance, and so it is in condensation. Every birth is a condensation, every death a dispersal. Birth is not a gain, death is not a loss… When condensed, Chi becomes a living being; when dispersed, it is the substratum of change.”
Ergo you are a child of the Cosmos and Earth. You are filled with the creative energy and you express disperse and dispense the creative energy.
Is it not so that when your hand connects with another, you can experience the energy created by this connection? The pleasure, the warmth, the tingling and the softening impact it has on your heart and your biochemical system. Whenever 2 living things interact their energy fields interact too. And they can build each other up (support and harmonize) or they can tear each other down (grab the others energy and put them down). We always have Free Will. What will we choose? How do we express this energy?
In fact our bodies are designed so that our spirit could physically experience the impact of our energetic interactions. The different levels of energy are experienced and expressed as thought emotion and action. All is connected and energy never dies. The earth is a wonderful playground in which to learn this.
The practice of Qigong will teach you how to plug into the primordial energies of Yin & Yang,
Qigong teaches you how to tap into the energies that flow through you. At first you will learn to distinguish between the different types of energy available to you and to increase the flow of life force through you by conscious intent. Then you will start to investigate and experience where in your body the different energies (five elements) are stored released and converted. The object is to learn how to move energy through your body to reach equilibrium, harmonize and detox the organs.
Exercises typically involve gentle stretching, gathering, releasing, spiralling and condensing actions. The pace is slow so as to avoid tension in the muscles and to allow full unity between the different parts of the body and intent (grounding you in the Now). The benefit is that the body burns fat becomes more oxygenated (less acidic) and chronic tension stuckness or stiffness is released leading to greater suppleness, flexibility and ease of movement (grace).
You will be amazed at how much you can pick up by spending time in the present simply observing what happens within. By connecting with the activating energy and spending more time in this space your body’s healing responses will be stimulated and supported. Qi will always flow to where it is needed when given the opportunity. Just like water always finds its way back to the sea, your body and soul will always take you back to wholeness given the opportunity. Qigong is simply one gentle and time proven method through which to support this journey.