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In the world today, we as humans tend to focus
on everything we can see, touch, smell and hear.
Our lives revolve around how much money we can
make, what type of car we can buy, and how big
of a house we live in….keeping up with the
Jones’s as we call it. There are so many
Jones’s in the world but many things continue
to remain the same. As humans, we are still living
in a self destructive world, whether to ourselves,
someone else or to the environment. The divorce
rate is higher than ever, people are becoming
sicker and sicker younger and younger, as well
the nutritional and lifestyle habits of America
are more unhealthy and habitual than ever. As
practitioners it is our job to educate our clients
on how to live a life of increased health and
vitality. Too many people think that if we feel
sick, then we must be sick. But what about the
invisible and hidden symptoms that have lead up
to that point? “Everything that is visible,
is the result of the Invisible” (42) Yogananda.
In this article I am going to touch on such topics
as physical sickness, mental sickness, soul sickness
and applying principles of many eastern disciplines
(qi gong, self massage, holistic nutrition and
lifestyle principles to cultivate qi through meditation
and nutrition.
Everything in the universe has a vibration, from
the cosmos, to our thoughts, down to the earth
that you walk on, and the blades of grass that
you walk by. Vibrations as we perceive them are
felt, seen, smelt or heard. But there is the other
side to that coin that most people never care
to think about. Is everything in the world felt,
smelt, seen, or heard only if you can physically
see it? “Eating, smelling fragrances, listening
to music, beholding beautiful objects, touching
pleasing things—these are evanescent pleasures,
lasting only as long as the sensations of tasting,
smelling, hearing, seeing and touching last, or
until the mind becomes bored with a sensation
and is temped by a new stimulus” (44) Yogananda.
If not, how can we tap into this invisible or
unknown so we can be one step ahead in the game
of life?
When I say that everything has a vibration, I
am saying that everything in the world, whether
visible or invisible, is always present, is resonating
at a specific frequency and is creating or receiving
energy. God, light, energy, life force or chi
is in everything and is everywhere. Can you see
atoms while you walk down the street, no! “From
no-thing comes everything. “ Einstein. So
what Einstein is saying that even though we don’t
see, smell, feel, or hear anything, energy is
always moving around us creating life and sustaining
life?
This concept might be hard for some people to
grasp. If you really break matter (humans, plants,
animals, etc.) down, we are all made up of a lot
of the same chemicals and atoms. “The body
is made up of 72% oxygen, 13.4% carbon, 9.10%
hydrogen, 2.5% nitrogen, 1.3% calcium, 1.25% phosphorus
and many other
elements in very small quantities; so is man just
the sum of these elements?
No, of course not, but you cannot find a double
blind study or simple
explanation to prove life! (You could however,
if you consider the subtler
energies that cannot be seen). By the way, commercially
that whole collection of elements would be valued
at one do dollar!” (Jackson). We all encompass
various types of energy, but similarly we all
need this life force to stay healthy and thrive
on this planet. For example, we require the intake
of oxygen, movement of blood, and intake of water/food
to stay alive. Just as a plant requires the intake
of nutrients, water and micro organisms from the
soil and atmosphere to stay alive. From plants
to humans, we all require some sort of chi (life
force, energy) to stay alive on this planet. All
of life is based on movement, “no movement,
no life” Sills (3).
If you begin to think about the organs, you will
notice that they all give (yang) or receive (yin)
many forms of chi. They are all designed to adsorb,
assimilate, eliminate, move or transmit energy
in some way or another. If any of these functions
become blocked, then the body’s energy systems
can become toxic. “When obstructed the internal
organs store unhealthy energies that can overflow
into other bodily systems and surface as negative
emotions and sickness” Chai (1). Whether
it is physical, emotional, EMF, environmental,
or chemical stress, “stress is very often
the root of many people’s problems, whether
they recognize it or not” Chek (189).
If we take a look at stress, it comes in many
shapes and sizes. Most of society has the belief
that stress equates to emotional stress at home
or at work. Yes, that is one of the common ones,
but there are 4 others that they are missing because
they can’t see, hear, smell or feel them.
If you look at Figure 1 (Chi Nei Tsang Pg. 2),
you can see how stress of any kind can lead to
not just a problem in one organ, but how it manifests
itself through the entire body.
The end result is a negative cycle of energy loss,
disrupted organ functions, neurological sequencing,
and physiological toxicity. Just as a thought
is invisible, but turns into an action (visible),
stress begins out as invisible and when becomes
chronic, we see the visible (symptoms).
TO CHI OR NOT TO CHI, THAT IS THE QUESTION
So what is Chi, you might be asking yourself at
this point? “The circulating life energy
that in Chinese philosophy is thought to be inherent
in all things; in traditional Chinese medicine
the balance of negative and positive forms in
the body is believed to be essential for good
health” (www.cogsci.princeton.edu). It is
the invisible universal life force that permeates
and nourishes everything in the universe, even
the universe itself. Even though this force cannot
be seen, it can be felt. Hang around with some
depressed individual for a day or two. Then ask
yourself if you felt their chi and what type it
was?
Chi flows through our bodies in channels (meridians)
and activates our bodily processes. We collect
Chi by eating foods and breathing air, but at
various times in our life, we will need to cultivate
more chi. This can be done by visceral massage
and meditation, which I will be explaining in
greater detail later on. Chi never goes away and
it is always moving, expanding, revolving, and
condensing energy into more energy, or into matter.
The body is condensed matter of the Universal
Chi (yang) and Earth Chi (yin). Good chi is flowing
energy and bad chi is blocked energy that creates
toxic build up. For example, blood in the body
is formed by combining food with chi energy. Problems
arise when both yin and yang become too hot (yang),
too cold (yin), or become stagnant/blocked. “The
Taoist sages of ancient China observed that humans
often develop energy blockages in their internal
organs that result in knots and tangles in their
abdomens. These obstructions occur at the center
of body’s vital functions and constrict
the flow of Chi (energy), our life-force.”
(1) Chai
THE YIN AND YANG IN YOU
“In Chinese philosophy, there are two opposing
forces in the universe. Both are equal and necessary
for harmony. Yang includes such principles as
strong, active, bright, and male. Yin is weak,
passive, dark, and female. The concept of Yin
and Yang is represented by a circle with interlinking
black and white halves.” (www.ket.org) Yin
and Yang are a duality or two different polarities
that form from Original Wu Chi (refer to Awaken
Healing Light of the Tao by Mantak Chia) to form
matter, the human body. For example, if you think
of how babies are formed, they come from nothing
and everything is created from the egg (yin, female)
and sperm (yang, male) uniting. It is about the
synergy of two opposing forces working together
and creating harmony, not dysfunction. In order
to discuss Chi in the human body, I need to first
define yin and yang more in detail.
Yin is hidden deep within the body and contracts
down the body and inward. It is expressed as female,
passive, interior, cold, water, dark, rest, moon,
and earth. Your left side of your body is yin,
receptive and the female part of you. There are
certain organs that are yin: liver, heart, spleen,
pancreas, lungs, and kidneys. Yang is more superficial
than yin and expands upward and outward of the
body. It is expressed as male, creative, full,
active, day, motion, hot, exterior fire, heaven,
and sun. The right side of your body is yang,
giving and the male aspect of you. There are certain
organs that are yang: gallbladder, small intestine,
stomach, large intestine, and bladder. Even though
you are a duality, yin and yang are expressed
together, not separately. They are consistently
influencing each other, harmonizing the body when
in balance. It is when they are out of balance
(too hot or too cold) that the chi becomes disrupted
and one will manifest more than the other. Dysfunction
is the end result and the visible symptoms are
our creator’s effort to alarm us of our
ignorance. “Man suffers because of his errors;
and the root-cause of error is ignorance”
(49) Yogananda. Illness can thus be understood
as a lesson you have given yourself to help you
remember who you are.
According to A.E. Powell in The Etheric Double,
“great an exuberance of it in the nervous
system may lead to disease and death, just as
too little leads to exhaustion and ultimately
death” (10). Pertaining to this article,
chi can be balanced or too yang or too yin (the
latter). If you are a negative person secondary
to life doing you (chronic pain, poor posture,
poor nutrition and lifestyle, i.e. “victim
mentality”), do you really think that your
chi can move fluidly in, out and throughout the
body? Now if you break that down and think about
our obese, ADHD, and diabetic world of robotic
human do-ings and not human be-ings, do you think
people have too much or too little chi in their
life? A basic example to understand this is to
think of our highway systems. If the pavement
is not taken care of, then the travel on them
will become difficult. Eventually roads will close
and people will have trouble getting from point
A to point B. In conclusion, energy or humans
will not be able to flow from point A to point
B. People will be stuck walking around, riding
bikes or staying at home. Civilization will be
come slower and more stagnant, just like toxins
will in the body when we have energy blockages
and the lack of synergy between yin and yang.
AS YOU THINK, SO YOU ARE
To simplify this explanation, let us use the simple
topic of thought (a catalyst in everything that
we do: thought-? words-? action) and relate it
to chi within the body. Liz Simpson, author of
The Book of Chakra Healing, affirms “…that
thoughts and the mind precede and affect physical
matter. After all what is thought but a form of
energy” (12). If we bury our thoughts about
something or someone and do not express how we
honestly feel, this can have a negative effect
within the body’s energy systems. Most of
the people that we deal with are surrounded by
negativity (either internal or external) within
their personal and professional lives. This manifests
itself within them and before they know it, they
become a product of their environment. Like attracts
like! When we hold in or express our thoughts
in a negative way, we create those vibrations
through our body. “Negative feelings, thoughts
and attitudes eat at our body. Positive feelings,
thoughts and attitudes feed our body—nourish
our body—sustain our body” (Truman
114). Thoughts vibrate through the entire body,
but to be specific, they relate to the Third Eye
or 6th Chakra. This chakra accepts energy from
the universe through the brow center, between
the eyes. This energy then moves through the body
creating what is called the Governor and Functional
channels of the Microcosmic Orbit. When we hold
thoughts in, these channels will become disrupted,
toxins will build up, become stagnant and not
allow chi to flow to the higher self (creators,
gurus avatars, God, etc.) Our thoughts are the
drive and motivation of movement, as well as the
life force of our mental well being.
CHANGE YOUR NEGATIVE THOUGHT TO AVOID UNPLEASANT
BEHAVIOR
How does this relate to life? When it comes down
to it, within the universe, like attracts like.
As John McMullin says in …... we vibrate
at the frequency of our beliefs. If you are a
positive person, than you will create positive
energy, good things will happen, goals will be
achieved, and you will control life, and vice
versa. Practitioners sometimes wonder why they
have so many complaining clients that are not
motivated, well like attracts like. “You
are what you think, having become what you thought.”
Buddha
AS ABOVE, SO BELOW
Before I go any further, let me explain to you
the three types of basic energy that make the
microcosm (man) and the macrocosm (universe).
The first type is Universal Force or Heavenly
Energy from above (cosmos, stars, and planets
energies). This energy connects our organs to
energy above, providing constant nourishment to
the mind, body and soul. This force comes down
(yang, giving, male) from above to feed the brain,
spine and reproductive system. It is also the
Governors Channel that begins at the head, enters
through the brain, runs over the crown (top of
head), down the midpoint between the eyes, and
ends at the roof of the mouth where it connects
with the Functional Channel. This brings us to
the second form of energy, Earth Energy from below,
earth, nature (yin, receiving, female). This,
force is yin (receiving, female) energy that comes
up from the earth, running up the front of the
body from the perineum to the tip of the tongue.
At this point, this is where is connects with
the Governor Channel above. This channel governs
the fetus or menstrual cycle. The last force of
nature is Human Plane or Cosmic Energy that flow
in space (cosmic dust, light particles). This
energy to taken in when we breathe to nourish
the glands, organs, and senses. It can be felt
very easily when you collect it during meditation.
Figure 2 (Pg. 33 in Chi Nei Tsang).
All three of these forces of nature are constantly
pervading in, on, through, and around us. “The
microcosm is a mirror image of the macrocosm.
The universe within is the same as the universe
without” Chai (14). To some all this up,
as above, so below!
ETHERIC BODY = PHYSICAL BODY
Let’s start with the most common part of
the human that we tend to focus on, the physical
being. Every single client that walks through
your door, most of the time has the same goals
as the last client that walked through your door.
They want to tone up, loose weight, get rid of
their low back pain and just want to feel better.
Is this really the answer to being healthy? With
age, people encounter physiological changes including:
1. Decline in aerobic capacity
2. Decrease in the elasticity of connective tissue
3. Decline in bone strength and density
4. Loss of neural functioning
5. Decline in muscle fiber number and size
6. Changes in metabolic health (insulin/glucose
tolerance, decline in metabolic rate)
7. Major changes in posture with an increase in
degenerative joint disease
The physical being is your creator’s last
effort in communicating to you that something
is seriously wrong. Today there are more and more
children and young adults with serious health
issues. Many years ago, the majority of people
with major health issues were the elderly. Years
of damage through various types of stressors (physical,
mental, emotional, chemical, environmental, and
EMF) will result in energy blocks from these negative
vibrations into the emotional, mental and spiritual
bodies, creating the physical body. This will
in turn have a profound affect on the body’s
energy systems/organs, creating poor posture,
chronic pain and lack of sense of self. Here is
a quick example, when you are young, most of the
time we are always being told what we can’t
do. As well as being told “NO!” for
things we have done. Deep down these negative
vibrations get stored over time and eventually
end up creating dysfunction from all it toxicity.
Being controlled and pushed down in that fashion
can decrease one’s self esteem and self
worth. How would you stand if you felt this way?
Would it be with good upright posture or with
a slouched, world bearing down on you, trying
to hide posture?
When it comes to being healthy, focusing all your
time and energy into your physical being is one
piece to the puzzle. “Health is not merely
of the body. It is the natural expression of the
body, mind and soul when they are in rhythm with
the One Life. True Health is the harmony of life
within us, consisting of peace of mind, happiness
and well-being. It is not merely a question of
physical fitness, but is rather a result of the
soul finding free expression through the mind
and body of that individual. Such a person radiates
peace and happiness and everyone in his presence
automatically feels happy and contented.”
Dr. Stone (Sills, 92). By focusing all your time
and energy into the physical being, Americans
tend to begin to identify themselves through how
good they look or even worse, what types of clothes
they buy or cars they drive. The exterior aspects
of life start to define them, rather than the
internal. “Material objects that give pleasure
remain outside the mind” (45) Yogananda.
What this means is that we perceive their to be
joy, happiness and fulfillment with buying a Porsche,
Prada shoes, or a Gucci bag. When these external
objects of gratification become destroyed or become
no longer of value, the joy, happiness and fulfillment
go out along with it. So, if you focus all your
time and energy on gratifying the physical being,
eternal health and bliss will never be reached.
Focus your joy inward at the mind and inner body
to create soul gratification.
If you begin to start to understand and learn
that there is much more to us than we know, you
will begin to focus your time on the journey to
health, not the destination. Health is not having
a six pack, tanned skin and eating chicken breast
all the time. Health is taking responsibility
for yourself in all aspects of your life.
As a CHEK Practitioner, I would have to say
99.99% of the clients that I see from all over
the world (in which most of the time make a six
figure salary) have some of the same things in
common:
1. Lack of self esteem (what they think about
themselves) and self worth (what they think others
think about them)
2. Are mentally and emotionally needy
3. Are in some type of relationship were they
are the rescuer or victim
4. In many ways are self destructive
5. Have lots of money and continue to be unhappy
and/or in some type of pain secondary to believing
money would bring true happiness
6. Have tried every diet and exercise program
made for man
7. Their goals are all aesthetic
8. All have GI problems among other things and
I could keep going!
When working with clients like this, it is somewhat
simple to get to the bottom of things. Educate
and coach them on the mental, emotional and spiritual
aspects of their life. The process can be lengthy,
but the outcome is always the same. Their physical
being begins to morph into a bright, vibrant,
energetic, goal oriented, physical fit individual.
Just by re-establishing or creating the chi flow
in the body. The physical body is actually a representation
of every thought, feeling, and emotion in your
body. If this is not something you feel you can
work with a client with, “when in doubt,
refer out.” Cultivating chi by meditation
and massage are one of the many ways to help clients
with mental, emotional, and spiritual sickness.
DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER
One of the more important things that I do immediately
when talking to or meeting with a client’s,
is to begin assessing them. Using your eyes and
ears is a simple, but very effective initial assessment
of tone of language, facial expressions and body
language of your potential or new client. You
can gather a lot of information just by interviewing
a client and visually getting a picture of what
the physical body is actually expressing. As you
begin to become more of a grounded human being,
you will feel the energy of the client. Most of
the intuitive thinking that you do initial when
you meet a client is energy moving into your auric
field.
The simplest way to cultivate chi in the body
is by doing chakra or zone balancing exercises.
There are 7 chakras in the body and they are as
follows: (diagram)
7. Crown (pineal gland)-control center for efficient
functioning of the mental, emotional, and physical
being.
6. Third Eye (pituitary gland)-influences growth,
metabolism, women intuition during pregnancy,
and general body chemistry
5. Throat (thyroid and parathyroid)- metabolic
rate, mental development, linked with forms of
communication
4. Heart (thymus)-stimulates general growth, purifying
role of lymphocyte production, emotional link
to the immune system
3. Solar Plexus (pancreas)-digestion of food,
production of insulin
2. Sacral (testes and ovaries)-development of
sexuality and hormones, emotional balance
1. Root (adrenals)-regulates metabolism of fats,
protein, carbohydrates, balance of salt in our
body, physical survival
When the chakras are spinning too fast or too
slow, you will have emotional, physical, and glandular
dysfunction. For example, if you look at most
of America, we have an overabundance of society
with GI problems. Whether it is IBS, Crohnes or
something less severe such as constipation or
diarrhea, these symptoms would show up in the
Solar Plexus (3rd Chakra). People that have dysfunction
in this area would have difficulty with personal
power and self will.
Their dysfunctions are listed below:
Physical: stomach ulcers, fatigue, lbs. around
the stomach, digestive problems (leaky gut, food
in stool, constipation, etc.)
Gland: pancreas (blood sugar dysfunctions) and
adrenal (chronic fatigue) dysfunction
Too Open (yang): angry, controlling, workaholic,
judgmental, superior to others
Too Closed (yin): fear of being alone, fear of
what others think, insecurity
If you or a client has symptoms in this area,
doing chakra 1 and 3 exercises will assist in
balancing these dysfunctions out. Why do chakra
1 you ask? The Chinese use a system of the Five
Phases of Energy (put in diagram) to understand
the relationships between each ether (earth, water,
metal/air, fire, and wood/ether), organ (yin or
yang), season, and how each one controls or affects
one another.
This can be a confusing system for many, so using
the Chakras and the Law of Creation in my experience
is much easier. With a client that has GI problems
(daughter=symptoms), we need to find out where
the symptoms are coming from. We are looking for
the mother of the 3rd Chakra, which is the Root
Chakra, or the 1st. This chakra is linked to the
adrenal glands, mental lethargy, unfocused behavior,
difficulty achieving goals, self destructive,
being emotionally needy, decreased self esteem,
and lack the “support” or “root”
within their life. Does any of that sound familiar?
If you look at society as a whole, the symptoms
you see that most are within the 3rd Chakra. Even
if you just want to look at it physically, most
people are overweight and have Budweiser tumors.
When it comes down to it, most of society has
a Root Chakra dysfunction secondary to never getting
their physical needs met when they were a child,
nor are they getting them in adulthood. They continue
to marry the personalities of their mom and dad,
who never gave it to them in the first place.
Life to them is a Ferris wheel. Life just keeps
going around and around, while nothing ever changes.
This is a simplified explanation of this.
In order to slow down or speed the chi in each
chakra, you will need to perform balancing or
chi cultivating exercises. The tough part is knowing
which chakra to focus on. There are many ways
to do this, but the easiest and most inexpensive
way would be to use the Law of Creation system
in relation to the chakras. For more information,
refer to works cited or find a CHEK practitioner
by going to www.chekinsitute.com to learn more
about the Chakra system. Below are simple examples
of chi cultivating exercises. These should be
done daily in order to nourish the body full of
chi. From the look of the exercises most would
think that they just focus on the physical part
of the being. For your clients sake, that is fine,
let them think that. From a deeper level, you
are massaging and nourishing various organs, glands,
and emotions within the other bodies (astral,
mental, and causal).
OPENING YOUR GATES IN LIFE
In the beginning of this article I explained the
Microcosmic Orbit Channels and how they related
to the body and life. I want to now explain how
to go about opening these, to ensure the flow
of chi through the organs from the universe above
and the earth below. I have explained what types
of energy there are, but how do you cultivate
this into the body? There are many techniques
that you can do from many different disciplines.
I have found that these work well secondary to
you becoming one with the self through silent
communication with the organs, the heaven above
and earth below. It is the communication between
all of these that nourish, massage, and enlighten
the inner soul.
Before beginning each session that you embark
on, you need to understand how to open the gate
of life and death. This is the perineum or anus
as we Americans know it. The anus is split into
5 parts: middle, right, left, front and back.
If the gate is not sealed properly, life force
or chi can escape and vitality will suffer. In
order to bring the chi back up into the body,
you will use what is called the Thrusting Channels.
This is an easy process that can be done to open
and detoxify the chi channels to many organ organs
on the middle, right, left, front and back sides
of the body. When you begin your meditation session,
depending on what organ you feel is too hot or
too cold, you will choose one of the below.
MIDDLE:
This part of your anus connects with the organs
below:
a. vagina/uterus
b. aorta and vena cava
c. stomach
d. heart
e. thyroid/parathyroid
f. pituitary
g. pineal gland
h. top of the head
To reopen and detoxify this channel, begin by
focusing yin energy from the earth below up through
the anus. Once you feel the energy at the anus,
contract the middle part which will pass chi into
and through these organs. As well, if you feel
one specific area to be more deficient or congested
than others, stop the chi in the one area, let
is resonate and then pull it up through the rest
of the organs by contracting the middle part of
your anus again.
FRONT:
This part of your anus connects with the organs
below:
a. prostate gland
b. bladder
c. small intestine
d. stomach
e. thymus gland
f. front part of the brain
To open and detoxify this channel, begin by pulling
yin energy from the earth below. Once you feel
the energy at your anus, contract the front part
and direct the energy up through the organs above.
If you feel one area is more deficient of congested,
stabilize the chi in that specific organ and then
contract the front anus again to move it along
through the rest of the organs.
BACK:
This part of your anus connects with the organs/skeletal
structures below:
a. the entire spine
b. cerebellum
To open and detoxify this channel, begin by pulling
yin energy up from the earth to the anus. Once
you feel the energy at the door to the anus, contract
the back part and channel the chi up through the
sacrum to the cerebellum. If you feel deficient
or congested in a particular area, resonate the
chi in that specific area, and then contract the
back part of the anus again to make it proceed
through the rest of the channel.
LEFT:
The left part of the anus connects with the organs
below:
a. left ovary
b. left large intestine
c. left kidney
d. left adrenal gland
e. spleen
f. left lung
g. left hemisphere of the brain
To open or detoxify this channel, begin by bringing
yin energy up from the earth to the left part
of the anus. Contract the left side and channel
the energy up through these organs (only left
side). If you feel deficient or congested in any
particular area, have the chi resonate in that
area, then contract the left part of the anus
again to move the chi up through the rest of the
organs.
RIGHT:
This part of your anus connects with the organs
below:
a. right ovary
b. large intestine
c. right kidney
d. right adrenal gland
e. liver/gall bladder
f. right lung
g. right hemisphere of the brain
To open and detoxify this channel, begin by collecting
yin chi from the earth. Bring the chi up to the
right side of the anus. Contract the right side
of the anus to move the chi up through these organs.
If you feel deficient or congested in any particular
area, resonate the chi there for some time. Then
contract the right side of the anus again to move
the chi up through the rest of the channel.
AS ABOVE, SO BELOW!
The first type of meditation entails collecting
cosmic particle force and joining it into circulation
with human plane energy. This can seem somewhat
corny to most clients, but if explained at a level
where the client will understand the importance
of it, then accountability is inevitable. By opening
the microcosmic orbit, you are enabling yourself
to communicate with the heavenly force above and
the mother earth force below. The combination
of these two in the body creates a synergistic
healing relationship not only for you, but to
use with clients.
Now that you know what Yin and Yang are, as well
as how to open the chi channels, let me explain
how you to receive energy from each to balance
you out. The first is how to receive yang (male,
universal) chi to balance out the yin (female,
earth) chi:
1. This exercise can either be done sitting or
standing. Make sure you do this in a quiet area
preferable outside. The best place to do this
is in nature, at the beach or in some nice garden.
2. Close your eyes and concentrate on your navel
center until you begin to feel warmth accumulating
there.
3. Once you feel the chi intensify, focus on moving
it up to the crown (7th chakra). Project the chi
up and out, while directing it at a slight arc
back towards the ground.
4. As the chi moves down, direct it towards the
third eye (6th chakra) and bring it in. Funnel
it down the nose, through the throat, heart, navel
and resonating into the sexual center (sacrum
area).
5. Let the rest of the chi move down into the
ground. Get a feel for how hard it is initially
for you to penetrate mother earth? Is it difficult
or somewhat easy for you?
6. Once you penetrate mother earth, let the chi
run up into the soles of the feet, into the coccyx,
the spine, and back up to the crown.
7. Project it up again and repeat steps 1-6. Do
this process 9, 18, or 36 rounds as slowly as
you can.
8. The more you do this, be aware of the chi that
you are cultivating. Is it thin/thick, slow/fast,
white/colored, soft/hard, etc.? Also, as you do
this you may see certain colors or light. Make
sure you take this in and store it in the navel
center. This is the storage area for chi and is
believed to be the unifying place for the mind,
body and soul. (Picture)
The second is how to receive yin chi to balance
out the yang:
1. This exercise can either be done sitting or
standing. Make sure you do this in a quiet area
preferable outside. The best place to do this
is in nature, at the beach or in some nice garden.
2. Close your eyes and concentrate on your navel
center until you begin to feel warmth accumulating
there.
3. To increase the yin chi all you have to do
is reverse the entire process from the example
above.
4. Shoot the chi down into the ground, absorb
the earths force and bring it up and out of the
earth in front of you.
5. Absorb the cosmic particle force and project
it up and into an arc over the crown.
6. Bring the energy in through the crown, spine,
coccyx, and legs.
7. Project it down again and repeat steps 1-6.
Do this process 9, 18, or 36 rounds as slowly
as you can. (picture)
There are many various ways to cultivate chi,
but for a beginner these two are easy to do. They
don’t require a lot of time, energy and
can be done anywhere, anytime. By incorporating
these two into your daily life, you will begin
to not only cultivate chi, but you will be nourishing
and healing your inner being.
The next way to cultivate chi in the body is through
massage. This can be done by oneself, by another
practitioner, or by smiling at your organs while
doing the above. For the sake of the article,
I will explain to you how to massage certain organs.
This is very effective to do not only to oneself,
but it is great to teach your clients.
CYCLE OF CREATION
In order to understand the relationship of the
holistic approach to healing, let me explain briefly
how each organ relates to and can affect another.
The Chinese use what is called the Cycle of Creation?
This cycle establishes a relationship between
the five phases of chi (earth, metal, winter,
wood, and fire). All of these phases of chi, relate
to specific viscera and seasons. If you look at
the cycle below, you can see the relationship
and development of each (insert cycle diagram).
The creation of each element is as of the relationship
between a mother and daughter. The wood/spring
element creates nourishment to maintain the child
element, fire/summer. This chi then nourishes/mothers
and creates the harvesting earth/Indian summer
element. This element brings to life the beginning
of metal/autumn, which fosters water/winter. This
is the end of the cycle of creation, as well as
the cycle of our year. Soon after winter, spring
will be brought forth again.
Learning the cycle of creation is a great tool
to use when assessing clients. If you look at
the cycle above, you have a mother/daughter relationship
between each one. So, if you have an organ that
is too yin (cold, deficient), then look back at
the element/organ that precedes it. This organ
would be the mother of the sick, deficient, and
cold organ. You can as well, use the Law of Control
which “establishes a way for an organ to
cross check, contain, and temper an organ that
is trying to overwhelm a weaker organ” (55)
Chai. According to this law, the liver controls
the spleen, which controls the kidneys, which
controls the heart, which controls the lungs,
and the lungs control the liver (insert diagram).
So as you can see for example, if you have a client
that is having issues with fear (kidneys), then
you would move backwards and look at the stomach/spleen/pancreas
(worry, anxiety). You are cross checking with
the stomach/spleen/pancreas to keep the kidneys
in check.
ORGANS OF CHI
Each Yin organ below is associated with a Yang
organ. As well, each is associated with an element,
season, color, emotion and sound (frequency).
The healing of the organs through massage and
sound frequencies is quiet effective. Below, I
will explain each organ, its associations, and
show you how to self massage that specific organ.
LUNG:
Associated Yang organ- large intestine
Element- metal/air
Season- fall
Color- white
Emotions- Negative=grief, depression
Positive=courage
Sound- Sssssssssss
Can be practiced to alleviate symptoms of sadness,
depression, colds, flu, toothaches, asthma, and
emphysema.
KIDNEY:
Associated Yang organ-Bladder
Element- Water
Season- Winter
Color- Dark Blue
Emotions- Negative= fear
Positive= gentleness Sound- Choooooooooooo
Can be practice if experiencing symptoms of fear,
fatigue, dizziness, ringing in the ears and back
pain.
LIVER:
Associated Yang organ- gall bladder
Element- wood
Season- spring
Color- green
Emotions- Negative=anger
Positive=kindness
Sound- Shhhhhhhhhhh
Can be practiced if experiencing symptoms of anger,
red or watery eyes, sour or bitter taste in mouth
and liver detoxification problems.
HEART:
Associated Yang organ- small intestine
Element- fire
Season- summer
Color- red
Emotions- Negative=impatience, hastiness, arrogance,
cruelty
Positive=joy, honor, sincerity
Sound- Hawwwwwwwwww
Can be practiced if experiencing symptoms of sore
throat, cold sores, swollen gums or tongue, moodiness,
jumpiness, and heart disease.
SPLEEN:
Associated Yang organ- pancreas, stomach
Element- earth
Season- Indian summer
Color- yellow
Emotions- Negative=worry
Positive=fairness
Sound- Whoooooooooo
Can be practiced if experiencing symptoms of diarrhea,
digestion problems and nausea.
The above information can through most for a loop.
The basic premise is that each organ relates to
specific element, season, color, emotion and sound.
When it comes to cultivating chi, any of these
can be used within the session or anything for
that matter we do in life. Below as I go over
the Chi Meditation and Self Massage, you will
get a better understanding of how to use the above
information. The goal is to slow down and heal
the inner you, but reestablishing normal chi flow
through a deficient or over active organ.
THE SEA OF CHI
The first organ that we will cover is the lungs.
You cannot discuss the lungs without talking about
the diaphragm. As you all know, this is a dome
shaped muscle that originates at the xiphoid process,
the lower 6 ribs, the upper lumbar vertebra and
inserts into central tendon. It is the muscle
that is primarily responsible for respiration,
by flowing chi into the lungs. If the diaphragm
becomes tense for any reason, then it will inhibit
the lungs from working to their fullest capacity.
An easy way to assess you clients breathing pattern
is by:
1. Have your client lay supine or sit up straight
2. Put one hand on their chest and one on the
belly
3. Ask them to inhale and then exhale
4. Watch for the breathing pattern, as well as
feel for the timing of each muscle group
5. Correct breathing pattern: diaphragmatic breath
(belly breath) with the chest moving the last
1/3 of the breath
According to the Chinese, the lungs are considered
to be the “Sea of Chi.” You breathe
in air which mixes with chi in the blood (from
the food you ate). So the more chi you breathe
in and the healthier foods you eat, the better
off the functions of your organs will be. One
issue that many people overlook with clients that
have respiratory problem’s, is taking a
look at the large intestine (yang organ). If the
large intestine is backed up as with constipation,
it will push up into the diaphragm and lungs.
This can cause many side effects, but for the
purpose of this article, incorporating self massage
to the large intestine can help relieve the lungs,
as well as some long time overdo gas and poop.
Self Meditation:
Begin by sitting upright in a chair with palms
up on lap (one of each leg) and eyes closed, focusing
down on the lungs. Begin by taking a deep breath
in, moving the hands up in front of the body,
as if you were picking up the lungs. Continue
to inhale and as the palms come into alignment
with the mouth, begin to turn the palms up to
the heaven and breathe out. Once you have fully
exhaled, move the palms back down to your lap
again (palms up). Repeat this step 3-9 times,
or as many times as needed. When you are completed,
end the session by smiling down at your lungs.
This will restore and maintain the chi within
the lungs, as well as calming them down. If you
are a sound oriented person, put your teeth together
with the tongue behind them and make the Sssssssssss
sound as you exhale during the movement. If you
are a color oriented person, picture a big white
light radiated up from the lungs and out the mouth
as you inhale and exhale.
Self Massage:
Self massaging the lungs can be done various ways.
To simplify it, begin with the steps below:
1. Stand or sit upright with eyes closed
2. Smile down at the lungs and bring chi into
your hands
3. Do the microcosmic orbit meditation and contract
the right side of the anus
4. Tap the right lung as hard as you can tolerate
bringing chi into the lung
5. Repeat for the left lung
YIN OF THE YIN
The next organ that we will discuss will be the
kidneys (associated with the bladder). The kidneys
pulse and pump just as the heart does. They are
as well the deepest organs in the body and according
to the Chinese this makes them the most yin of
the yin organs. Their function is to remove all
excess fluids in the body by filtering byproducts
from the body’s physiological reactions.
As well, they regulate the mineral balance in
the blood and the acid balance in the body. The
kidneys produce the water chi within the body
and control the energy to and from all sexual
organs. If you think about that statement and
look most middle aged men in America, you will
most likely see that they all have a decreased
libido, as well as being severely dehydrated.
The worst part about that all is that most are
on Viagra to combat a simple dehydration issue.
So hopefully some of you out there that work with
clients that have sexual dysfunction can recommend
two things, more water and the exercise below.
Self Meditation:
Begin by sitting upright in a chair, closing your
eyes and becoming aware of your kidneys. Place
your legs together and make sure that your legs
knees and ankles are touching. Take a deep breath
in and bend forward, grabbing you knees from the
front. Pull back on the arms, lift the head up
and breath out making a Chooooooo sound or imagine
your self inhaling/exhaling a dark blue color.
Once you have completely exhaled, sit back to
an upright position. Smile down at your kidneys
bringing the healing chi and awareness into them.
Pay attention to the warmth and energy that you
and your kidneys will feel after you are done
with your session. Repeat this process 3-9 times
or as many as needed.
Self Massage:
The kidneys can have a build up of waste within
them, creating a toxic environment. In order to
shake out the harmful sediment and prevent dysfunction,
follow the simple steps below:
a. contract the right and left sides of the anus
and bring the chi into your hands
b. use one hand at a time and make a fist
c. hit your kidney just under the 12th rib on
your back (this will help to release all the sediment)
d. after doing both kidneys, rub your hands together
to make them warm
e. rub both kidneys with the palms of your hands
HOUSE OF SPIRITUL SOULS
The liver is located in the right upper quadrant
of the abdominal region, under the ribcage. The
liver has many functions:
a. stores blood and minerals
b. prepares carbohydrates for storage in the body
by breaking them down
c. produces fats and antibodies
d. produces bile salts that are distributes to
the gall bladder into the small intestine for
the absorption of fats
e. it is a detoxification organ of chemicals,
foods, and toxins that we ingest
f. anger is associated with the liver
If e and f continue to stress the liver, then
detoxification of the body will not happen. So
instead of having a nice environment for chi within
the body, you end up with chi sewage. The liver
according to the Chinese is the place where the
spiritual souls live. If the environment is unpleasant
for them, they will leave. The departure of them
can be disastrous to the mind and body, so follow
the steps below, as well as the processes in this
article and you will have your spiritual souls
forever.
Self Meditation:
Begin by sitting upright in a chair, close your
eyes and smile down at your liver to make a connection
between the eyes and the liver. Raise your arms
out to the side with the palms up, to over your
head and take a deep inhalation. Follow with the
eyes (closed) and then lace the fingers together
as the palms continue to fact up. Feel the stretch
on the body and then slightly laterally flex yourself
to the left. This will open up and put a gentle
stretch on the liver. Once you come back to center,
exhale (all your negative emotions=anger) as you
softly make the Shhhhhhhhhhh sound. As well, you
can picture yourself breathing the color green.
Once you are done exhaling, push your arms down
back to the side with the palms down this time,
inhaling all kindness into the liver. Repeat this
process 3-9 times or as many as needed.
Self Massage:
Now that you know where it is located and have
filled it with lots of good chi, it is time to
heal the liver.
a. begin by contracting the right side of the
anus and bring the chi into your hands
b. put your left hand on your liver, with the
right hand over it
c. begin by moving your hands in a slow circular
motion
d. proceed to making side to side movements, then
scooping movements
THE “SEPARATE” ORGAN
The heart is one of the busiest organs in the
body and should be considered to be in a league
of its own. The heart is an organ the needs to
be in working order, for the rest of the body
to get chi. The chi is everywhere, but if it wasn’t
for the heart, it would be stagnant.
Self Meditation:
The heart meditation is similar to the liver above.
Put your self in the same position and us the
same movements, except for a slight lean to the
right. Use the Hawwwwwwwwww sound and the color
red. As you inhale, focus on pulling in joy, spirit,
and light. As you exhale, focus on ridding your
heart of cruelty, arrogance, and impatience. Repeat
this process 3-9 times or as many as needed.
Self Massage:
To release the build up of negativity and toxins
within the heart:
a. contract the left side of the anus and bring
the chi up into the hands
b. place your right hand over your heart and slap
it lightly 3 to 6 times
TRANSPORTER AND TRANSFORMER
The location of the spleen is on the upper left
quadrant of the abdomen, under the stomach. It
is a large organ that is responsible for filtering,
storing and cleaning blood. This organ is vital
in the cultivation of chi for two reasons. One,
it is in charge of extracting chi from the food
we eat, mixing it in with the chi from the lungs
and distributing it accordingly. Two, it is in
charge of transporting chi from the limbs and
muscles into the body, as well as into earth.
Self Meditation:
Sit upright in a chair, close your eyes and become
aware of you spleen by smiling down at it. Take
a deep inhalation, place your left hand on top
of your right hand, and place them on the spleen.
Push your hands lightly into the spleen as you
extend your back. Exhale and make the Whoooooooooo
sound, expressing the negativity (worry, pity)
out of the spleen. As well, you can picture yourself
breathing the color yellow as you go through this
process. Breath in again and focus on taking in
positive chi (compassion, centering) into the
spleen. Repeat this process 3-9 times or as many
as needed.
Self Massage:
To increase the circulation and chi within the
spleen, self massaging daily will assist in shaking
off negative sediment.
a. contract the middle part of your anus and bring
chi up into your hands
b. place your left hand over the right and place
them on the spleen
c. move you hands from left to right
BE YOURSELF AND NOT WHAT SOCIETY WANTS YOU TO
BE
When it comes to working with clients, a lot of
this information does not sit well. Most people
in the U.S. of A are fearful of going against
the grain, which most of the time would be acting
on their own beliefs. Too many people are so caught
up with what others will think of them, that doing
what they want sometimes is not even an option.
Not getting attention, love, or sympathy from
others makes one feel all alone. So if you follow
along with society, you will get your needs met
by them. If though you follow you own belief system,
you will meet you own needs which is much more
rewarding. The fear is of what others will think
or say about us. Most of the time it is jealousy
that you are being a human be-ing and not a human
do-ing. Being fearful of the unknown is normal,
but fear is just the absence of love. What is
love? Love is acceptance and understanding within
oneself. Of course if we don’t have that
we have to act like alligators to protect ourselves
and our territory. When working with these types
of societal robots, you must “tell them
what they want to hear and give them what they
need.” (Chek).
NUTRITION TO WIN
I often begin with clients by addressing their
nutritional and lifestyle factors that can increase
the amount of chi flow though the body. This is
a big topic, as well as a tough one to educate
your clients on. Most people are comfortable with
the way they eat or don’t eat, because it
is convenient. At the same time, America knows
everything there is to know about nutrition right!
I educate people that health is not about convenience
and the body is not either. The hardest thing
about it is that in the papers and in the news
you always are hearing about this new diet, how
fats are bad, how all you need to do is perform
cardio 20 minutes a day to loose weight and so
on. You are not fighting a battle with your clients,
but with their belief system. Most of your clients
live according to societies beliefs and don’t
even know it. So this education process needs
to be full of ammunition (books, articles, hand
outs, stats, etc.). If you feel that a client
is not interested in what you have to say about
nutrition, then you need to change your approach.
Everything that we put in our mouths has or should
have energy in it. If you look at the C.R.A.P
(Caffeine, Refined/processed foods, Alcohol/Aspartame,
Pasteurized/homogenized milk) diet of America,
this is a diet of what is called nonfoods. These
foods provide us with no chi, secondary to them
being dead. When we eat a nonfood, it takes more
energy for us to break it down, digest it and
eliminate it, than it provides. So, if you are
eating a dead food, how can you expect to have
energy, think straight, focus, be free of disease
and feel good? If you are always expending chi,
but never cultivating it, in the end you are going
to end up empty.
America’s C.R.A.P diet is nothing but dead
and toxic food that does nothing but harm our
bodies energy systems. Let me give you a basic
example so you can understand how eating even
so called healthy “low fat” food can
affect the body’s chi flow. Most people
wake up everyday and begin their day with coffee,
eat a small breakfast or sometimes do not even
eat until lunch, have their afternoon Starbuck’s,
eat dinner and dessert, then hit the sack around
11-12. They wake up the next day around 6 (usually
tossing, turning, and sweating all night) to do
it all over again. I could write all day about
the effects on the body of this vicious “ground
hog day” cycle of America, but I will not.
I am going to make it simple for you, “you
are what you eat!” If you think of your
bodies energy reserves like a bank account it
starts to make sense. You are beginning the day
with little money in your account secondary to
the coffee in the morning, with minimal or not
food deposited into your account. Then your lunch
is your first deposit, but then you withdraw twice
as much by drinking your afternoon “pick
me up” coffee. The next time you eat, you
are already running behind, so that meal doesn’t
really do much. The dessert that you eat makes
you tap into your overdraft account bringing you
into the negative. On top of that, you nights
sleep is less than the 8 hours (10pm-6am) needed
for repair, as well as you were eating nonfoods
all day. So while you thought you were depositing
energy=money into your account all day, you were
actually playing catch up all day. Ever wonder
why clients are sluggish, overweight, and have
no mental or physical energy for your workouts?
Here are some key principles that you can have
your client’s follow that will begin to
re-establish the chi flow through the body:
1. Eliminate the C.R.A.P diet
2. Eat for your Metabolic Type consisting of organic
foods
3. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water
with a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt a day
4. Go to bed no later than 10pm and up no earlier
than 6am (physical repair is between 10-2 and
mental repair is between 2-6)
5. Perform daily meditation (breathing or chi
cultivating exercises)
6. Eat right, drink right, and think right to
be right!
THE BURIED TREASURES
Another importance piece to your clients well
being is addressing their spiritual, mental, and
emotional needs. Regardless of a person’s
age, people are subjected to many stressors. Much
of the population has not been educated about
stressors and how they affect the body, like how
medication will affect a person’s spiritual
and emotional well-being. Negative mental energy
disrupts the body’s energy systems (chakras)
which can result in blocking, causing a build
up and decreasing the chi flow within the body.
All of these issues create disharmony and permeate
throughout the body causing a manifestation within
the endocrine system, flowing into our physical
being. Therefore if we begin to educate our clients
on positive thinking alone and how to change the
mindset, this will produce positive energy vibrations
throughout the body.
Many people battle ailments as they age such as
diabetes, increased cholesterol, increased blood
pressure, mental and emotional fatigue, and physical
stress and body weight issues. People move less,
stay indoors more often, eat unhealthy foods,
and lack the social interaction needed to stimulate
brain activity. People make decisions based on
what they have been told by doctors, television,
and friends, not what they have learned themselves
from various sources. As a result, the public
purchases cheap supplements and fad exercise equipment,
eats fast food, and consumes prescribed medications
that the person knows little about or how it will
affect them. This is a vicious cycle that can
lead to a myriad of problems and most people continue
to feel horrible and cannot understand why.
I think it is important to educate people about
the mind and spirit and how they are linked to
our body’s physical being. Thinking back
to the issues an older client has developed, it
is apparent where those issues came from. Most
people have metabolic, hormonal, visceral, and
emotional issues that they have difficulty overcoming.
Looking closer at the body’s seven energy
systems (chakras), you can know get a better understanding
of where all their symptoms are coming from.
When you begin working with a client, many times
they have disease, injury, or problems related
to one of the endocrine glands or issues that
lead back to the endocrine glands. For example,
older clients I have worked with have issues with
their metabolism, decreased sex drive, insulin
or blood sugar problems, decreased immunity, chronic
fatigue, sleep issues, back pain or poor physical,
emotional, and mental well-being. These conditions
relate to each of the seven chakras in one way
or another. By educating our clients about their
spiritual and emotional being, we can start to
create the energy flow through the chakras again
connecting with their higher consciousness above.
One easy example to understand how we affect our
chakras is by using our mental being to influence
them. When we think or express happy thoughts,
it sends good vibrations through the body and
vice versa with negative. Do this quick experiment,
yell as loud as you can the word “NO”
and be aware of how they make’s your feel
throughout your entire body. Then do the same
thing with the word “YES.” If you
did this you will notice that when you say “NO”
you feel somewhat closed down, restricted and
you feel your body stop and tense up. Then when
you said the word “YES,” the opposite
happened. You felt as if you opened up, you became
expansive and lighter. So, when it comes to the
way we think, this can have the same effect on
our body, which in turn affects the related chakra,
endocrine gland/function and dysfunction is the
result.
Much of the population today may either live with
chronic pain, are lonely, take prescription medication,
are fatigued, or are unhappy with life and how
they feel. This is not uncommon and much of it
is caused by their actions. I see our job as practitioners
is to educate people about how powerful their
mind is. “[…][O]ur experiences in
life are actually our own state of mind being
projected outward” (Truman 4). If we think
of life and ourselves in a positive, joyful, loving,
and well-being manner then those qualities will
be projected outward. Furthermore having a positive
state of mind will bring us all positive experiences.
As you can see there are many ways to cultivate
chi within the body. You can use nutrition, breathing
exercises, chakra exercises, meditation and/or
personal massage. I have provided you with many
tools to assist yourself, as well as your clients
to a life full of happiness and health. Health
as you can see is not just eating healthy, it
encompasses many aspects within the internal and
external part of life. So to be healthy, start
taking responsibility for oneself, love yourself
and cultivate chi to be healthi!
Works Cited
Chek, Paul. How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy. San
Diego: C.H.E.K Institute
Publication, 2004.
Chek, Paul. C.H.E.K NLC 3 Certification: Understanding
Human Life. 2005
© Paul Chek, 1999. NLC 3: Problem Solving.
Reporduced with permission where the copyright
date is correct for the material being used.
Chia, Mantak. Chi Nei Tsang I: Internal Organs
Chi Massage. Thailand: Universal Tao Publications,
1993.
Chia, Mantak. Chi Self-Massage: Taoist Way of
Rejuvination. Thailand: Universal Tao Publications,
1986.
Chia, Mantak. Taoist Ways to Transform Stress
into Vitality: Inner Smile – Six Healing
Sounds. Thailand: Universal Tao Publications,
1985.
Chia, Mantak. 1993. Reproduced with permission-Univeral
Toa. www.universal-tao.com. Jackson, Andrew. “Re:
What are we…?” E-mail to the author.
April 2005.
McMullin, John. “Assessing the Master Within.”
Journey of Wisdom Audio Programs. Columbus, Ohio.
1997.
Powell, A.E. The Etheric Double: The Healthy Aura.
Illinois: Theosophical Publishing
House, 1996.
Sills, Fanklin. The Polarity Process: Energy As
A Healing Art. Australia: Element
Books Limited, 1994.
Simpson, Liz. The Book of Chakra Healing. New
York: Sterling Publishing Company,
Inc., 1999.
Truman, Karol K. Feelings Buried Alive Never Die….
St. George: Olympus Distributing, 1991.
Yogananda, Paramahansa. The Divine Romance. Los
Angeles: International
Publications Council of Self-Realization Fellowship,
2000.
Cognitive Science Laboratory. 1 June 2005 <
www.cogsci.princeton.edu >
Imperial China: The Art of the Horse. 15 May 2005
<http://www.ket.org.artofthehorse/ed/glos.htm
>
Works Referenced
1. A. Price, Weston: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
2. Anandamoy, Brother: Experience God Within
3. Donald. Walsch, Neil: Conversations with God
4. E. Pearson, Norman: Space, Time and Self
5. Yogananda, Paramahansa: The Science of Religion
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