The Tao of Natural Breathing_ For Health, Well-Being, and Inner Growth - Dennis Lewis [51]
HEALING AND BALANCE
Breathing through the microcosmic orbit is itself an advanced healing and meditation practice that is the basis of most of these other practices. It can have powerful effects not only at the level of our physical health, but also at the psychological and spiritual levels. Chi kung masters through the centuries have said that when you can experience energy flowing through the microcosmic orbit, hundreds of illnesses can be avoided or cured. When students ask Taoist master Mantak Chia how to deal with their illnesses, he generally tells them: “‘Just do the Microcosmic Orbit; this will connect the parts of your body as a whole. Seek balance first, and many problems will be solved.’”58
This balance, however, is not static. It is based, rather, on a constantly renewed inner attention to our true physical center of gravity—the lower tan tien, the energy center just below the navel—in the midst of the inner and outer movements of our lives. The rhythmical expansion and contraction of natural breathing, originating deep in the belly, supports this attention and helps activate the energy of this center and circulate it throughout our bodies for a more complete sensation of ourselves. As we have seen, it is this overall organic sensation that can help free us from what Lao Tzu calls our “our narrow sense of self,” and begin to open us to the alchemical forces of healing and wholeness.
APPENDIX 1
Specialized Breathing Practices
The integration of natural breathing into our everyday lives is perhaps the most practical work we can do on behalf of our health, well-being, and inner growth. We have already explored some of the many physiological effects of such breathing on the various functions of our organism. We have also discussed the salutary effects that natural breathing has on our emotional lives. There is nothing mysterious about the many effects of natural breathing on our lives. They are based on the inner workings of our organisms, on the laws of the Tao, of yin and yang—on the laws of life itself. Through self-observation and self-awareness, we can begin to experience these laws and live and grow in harmony with them.
Once we have begun to practice natural breathing on a regular basis in the ordinary conditions of our everyday lives, there are a variety of specialized breathing practices we can undertake for specific needs. These needs might include cleansing the respiratory system; relaxing in the midst of stress; revitalizing specific organs of the body; getting rid of congestion or headaches; and so on. There are scores of traditional practices to accomplish such goals. In this Appendix, I have included several of my own favorites. Because these practices depend on the ability to sense ourselves and our energies from inside, long practice with natural breathing is generally necessary before we can obtain real benefits from them. An exception to this is the “six healing exhalations,” a simple, yet powerful healing practice that can be undertaken by anyone at any time.
THE “SIX HEALING EXHALATIONS”
The “six healing exhalations” is an ancient Taoist breathing practice that uses the power of sound to help heal the organs of the body and transform the negative emotions associated with these organs. I first learned this practice from Master Mantak Chia, who calls it the “six healing sounds,” and have since come across many references to it in the Taoist canon. Master Chia teaches the six healing sounds in conjunction with specific postures and movements designed to help the sounds reach the appropriate organs. He points out that the “frequencies” of these sounds can help cool and detoxify our organs and speed up the healing process, and maintains that anyone who practices these sounds daily will seldom get sick for very long.59
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