Simple Chi Kung_ Exercises for Awakening the Life-Force Energy - Mantak Chia [5]
Physicists and mystics from all ages agree that we are literally made of and living within a limitless sea of energy. How is it then, that we can suffer chronic low energy, fatigue, or poor health? Medical surveys show that “lack of energy” and high levels of stress are the biggest complaints in physicians’ offices today.
Think about it this way: if the power lines go down or flicker on and off during a storm, everything in the house stops working or works only sporadically. Without electricity, we have no heat, we can’t cook our food, watch TV, or use the computer. If we apply the same principles to our minds and bodies, we see that low energy causes shortages in our overall vitality—the way we metabolize food, our stress levels, our libido, our creativity, and our enjoyment of life.
Energy level is a great indicator of our general health. A Yale University study found that energy levels had the highest correlation with general-health status and were the best predictor of both physical and psychological health over time. Energetic people, the study showed, are generally healthy, whereas the enervated are often ill, becoming ill, fighting off illness, or struggling with their low-energy condition. Illness, apathy, fatigue, anxiety, chronic stress, depression, and the like are all signs that we are becoming depleted.
In Eastern terms, the more energy we have circulating in our bodies, the healthier we are. Abundant energy manifests as better functioning organs, more flexibility in the muscles, supple joints, and balanced emotions. Loss of internal energy, on the other hand, creates fatigue, tension, low metabolism, inability to cope with stress, insomnia, depression, and turbulent thoughts.
CULTIVATING MORE ENERGY
Nature pulses with energy. Abundant energy is not something that we have to create or make; it is always there, wanting to flow, wanting to express itself as creativity and abundance. Chi Kung exercise taps in to this abundant energy around us and helps us to cultivate it within. Sometimes cultivating more energy is as simple as getting out of our own way—letting go of tensions, old emotions, destructive tendencies, and discordant thoughts.
Searching for energy in the material world, as we so often do, easily leads to disappointment. It is important to remember that the path to more energy is not product related. What we want in the material world is a reflection of an inner desire—for security, fulfillment, health, power, excitement, youth, or vitality. These are all inner qualities, which can only really be attained by internal work. The notion that acquiring something material will give rise to these inner joys leads to continual grasping at external things. In the Tao, the incessant craving for material goods is likened to searching for “dragon eggs”: we are trying to squeeze emotional energy out of the products we desire. It’s a futile quest because the energy that we are seeking is within.
Energy cultivated from the inside is something that lasts; it comes directly from the source and it can continue to grow. Happiness and joy already exist inside you. By cultivating energy from within, you can enjoy the material world without attachment. When we approach the material world from a place of internal balance and strength, we can appreciate all our possessions without being controlled by them.
As our internal energy increases, so does our ability to handle stress; it’s when we are depleted that stress seeps into our body and mind. The choices we make every day—from what we eat to how we move—change the way we feel and work from the inside out. As we cultivate more energy within ourselves, the stresses that we normally face aren’t so overwhelming, and we become more and more able to find effective solutions to our problems.
Basic Terms and Concepts
Based on the principles of classical Taoist philosophy, Chi Kung is a simple and practical approach to becoming skilled in matters of health, happiness, and spiritual attainment. Chi Kung practitioners learn how to tap