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The literal translation of qi gong is "energy work." It is an Asian form of yoga that has been around for thousands of years. Much of it is performed while standing, though there are a number of seated sets as well. There are hundreds of systems of qi gong that have come from various lineages, and many of them focus on different fields.Many are health oriented, while a separate group comes through the martial arts lineages.
These systems act to harness willpower, to focus, and to help practitioners channel their energy through their palms. There are also a number of systems from the temples and monasteries that are more focused on spiritual cultivation and depth of meditation. Some involve moving, and others are visualization based. Almost all of them involve specialized breathing, which is coordinated with the activity at hand. The guiding principle of all these practices, however, is the coordination of the eyes with the body movements, the focus of the mind, and the breath, especially for the moving practices. For the more passive, non- movement exercises, we focus the vision inward and explore the inner realms as we guide the breath to various inner chambers.
In the West, the eyes are considered the gateway to the soul and, in Taoist theory, are believed to guide the shen, or the spirit. It is said that the qi (energy) follows the shen (spirit), and the blood and body fluids, in turn, then follow the qi.
Therefore, the eyes become the "command center" for the spirit to control and guide the movement of the energy in the body. Later on, we will use the same system to direct energies outside of our body to effectuate healing and exert our influence on the environment around us.
These are the actual sequenced movements of the qi gong exercises. Many of these follow the pathways of the energy meridians that run through the body. They also often trace the outer edges of our energy fields, smoothing and caressing the potency of the energy flow in our Light Body. These movements often involve various degrees of exertion, and depending on the system you are training in, they can actually be quite rigorous.
Recall the story of Bodhidharma and the Shaolin temple. He created a routine (called the Famous Tamo's Eighteen Hands of the Lohan) that fully mixed kung fu with qi gong with relatively high levels of exertion. This aspect is very much like the physical yoga systems in the Indian traditions. Some hold static postures, while others emphasize more dynamic flow and continuity of motion.
This is a critical aspect of the practice and is the one that students most often overlook. Paying attention is a critical component to any energy work, as it engages the fire energy of the heart and ties the spirit in with the actions at hand. The ancients say the linking of attention and intention creates mastery in life. Here, we are asked to focus on the action at hand and to stay engaged in the body movements, tracking them with the eyes. Doing so demands our mental focus and presence, and the reward is immense. This aspect also draws on the yi, or shen, of the earth element.
It is the vital breath that is said to circulate through the various meridians, and it is the energy from the air, if you recall, that mixes with the food qi to create the functional energy of our body. The coordination of breath with body movements and attention drives energy through the designated pathways and opens blockages. We use breath not only to open these pathways but also to gather and store the breath and energy in specific reservoirs (called dantiens) in the body. An adept student learns to extract vital energy from the air through breathwork.
As simple as it seems, it is this framework that sets the precedent for all the magic to occur in qi gong. Now, there is much to be said about the specific movements and the deep understanding of the energy path- ways and how they affect us, but even if we were just to take this level of focus and coordinated thought and breathing into our day-to-day lives, we'd be far ahead of the game.
The good news is that we are about to learn about these pathways, and we are going to unlock and understand the mechanisms of action here. We will engage the intellect (yi) and the attention (shen) with the intention (zhi). Once this "vertical axis" of fire-earth-water has been activated, we'll have finally unlocked the first hints of our tremendous potential, and a number of powerful changes will start to happen.
This vertical axis gives us the mental and spiritual alignment we need in order to connect all aspects of our being into our body while in our practice. The connection of all the various aspects of ourselves through the practice really begins to snap us out of our trances. Once we correct the flow of energy and divert it away from all the wasteful patterns of our past, we can start to gather and accumulate power in our reservoir and use this as a buffer against disease, fatigue, or simply falling back into a sleepy trance. When we speak of accumulating power or storing energy, we are speaking of creating places where we condense and refine the quality of the energy that is moving through us. We condense it to nourish our essence, and we refine it to illuminate our spirit.
However, we want to be careful to not think of it in capitalistic terms. This is critical in our understanding of qi gong—or life, for that matter. There is actually no need for more energy at all because there is an infinite amount of energy available to us right here and right now. In fact, all the power that ever was or ever will be is here and now.
The goal of qi gong isn't an addition process; it is more a subtraction process. The more we can get out of our own way, the more we can let the universal flow of energy move through us. We become an agent of its goodwill, and we take our rightful place in eternity. This is not in some far-off heaven but here and now. Qi gong helps us wake up to the living, breathing moment in which we can finally take part. An important aspect in "getting out of the way" is reconciling the stuck energies in the "horizontal axis" of grief, anger, and frustration. This horizontal soul axis of emotions is intimately involved in the rising and falling trends of our mental and emotional upheavals. It is simultaneously tied to the cycle of life and all the trials and tribulations of the soul. It is important to not be deferential about this and to be engaged in the process of reconciling imbalances on this axis.
It is at this point in the process that most people get stuck because this is where they store the majority of the repressed charge in their shadows. Our desires for addition (wood) and our reluctance to let go (metal) lead to a great deal of clinging and suffering. In playing this game, we get out of balance and unconsciously pour more and more energy into creating "monsters" here.
In Chinese medicine, the lungs represent the metal element, which descends energy naturally, while the liver represents the wood energy, which naturally rises. The lungs sit above the liver in our body, and it is the dynamic tension of trying to maintain this inverted energetic flow that is the essence of life. One pushes up from underneath as the other pushes down. Upon death, the shen of the liver, the hun, ascends to heaven, and the shen of the lungs, the po, descends into the earth. We need them to check each other in dynamic tension; otherwise, they will separate, and we will perish.
Bringing harmony to the proper flow of the horizontal axis is what keeps our lives running smoothly and plugs us into the power of the vertical axis. The proper alignment of attention and intention requires a healthy understanding of the human condition; far from running from it, we are to be engaged, aware, and awake moment by moment.
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