Posted in Energy, Qigong by Dr. Bruce
Consider this equation:
Energy = Qi = Vitality = Breath = Life
In a sense, this summarizes what qigong is about. Remember when we talked about the meaning of qi? Qigong is really the path of cultivating a better quality of life. Along that path are many side paths, all of which feed into and support the core idea of cultivating energy.
In 1973, at the beginning of my formal studies with Sifu Lew, I ran across a book with a rather technical sounding name about Chinese medicine. It was called, “Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine: Systems of Correspondence” by Manfred Porkert. The writing had the density you might expect from a book originally written in German based on Chinese texts, then translated into English.
At the time I first read it, I was way over my head. Years later I came to appreciate what he was talking about. One part in particular that sticks with me even today was the concept of the different types of qi (energy) described in the human body. Porkert described 46 distinct types of qi.
For example, there is the energy we get from our parents (pre-natal qi), the energy we get from our food (post-natal qi), the energy we get from breathing, etc.
In a larger sense, everything in the world has qi. Trees, rocks, animals, birds, sun and moon all carry and convey a kind of energy. The world is truly a living, breathing entity along with every part of it.
But what does this have to do with qigong?
One of the important aspects of increasing energy is recognizing the sources of it. If our parents didn’t have good health or died young, then we need to pay a special kind of attention to conserving our pre-natal energy. We always need to notice the quality of our food in order to extract the most qi from it when eating.
Similarly, breathing gives us qi. If we breath deeply and very shallow, there is no way to take in maximum energy. Qigong practice helps open the breath so you get more ‘bang for your buck’ when you breathe.
After about 15 years of qigong practice I had an opportunity to test this for myself. I was taking a physiology class at the local community college. In one section of that class we did a lung capacity test using a simple breath measuring device that told us our lung volume.
When my turn came to use the device, I took in a nice deep breath and then exhaled into the breathing tube. At the end of the test the machine measured my lung capacity at 50% more than ‘normal’ for my size and age. The professor thought the machine was broken…
Anyway, the take-away from today’s message is to pay attention to all of your sources of energy throughout the day. The quality of your food, water, exercise, relationships, emotions and thoughts all affect how much energy you have.
It can seem overwhelming to think about all of these at once, so perhaps pick just one and notice tomorrow (or today, depending on when you read this) how that aspect of your life adds or takes away from your energy and feeling of aliveness. Then pick another for the next day.
After a while you’ll begin to choose more of the activities and influences that energize you and let go of the others. Won’t you?
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
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Posted in Balance, Qigong by Dr. Bruce
The promise of this web site, “Helping you increase your balance, energy and focus…” reminds me that not everyone thinks about these ideas the same way. And since I want you to have the best possible experience here, I’d like to go over the practical implications of the concepts promised in this statement.
Let’s start with balance.
If you ask someone to describe what balance looks like, you’ll get a variety of answers. One of the most common is the “scales of justice” picture you’ve probably seen:
At first glance, you might look at this picture and think, yes, it does represent balance. After all, both sides are balanced and even with each other.
But there’s a problem with this viewpoint when applied to balance in our daily lives. Can you see what it is?
Go to the head of the class if you said that this image shows a static balance, while the events in our lives are always moving and shifting.
In fact, this kind of static “balance” is anything but balanced. Life is dynamic, not static. Therefore, real balance requires a much more resilient, dynamic response to life.
True Balance
A more accurate representation of living balance is the following image:
This is the Oriental symbol called the taijidu (grand ultimate symbol). There are many things to notice in this simple diagram.
For example, the two different colored areas within the circle are represented as moving, shifting. They represent yang and yin, the complementary opposites seen in every aspect of life. Here are some examples of these complementary opposites:
- Day / Night
- Summer / Winter
- Male / Female
- Sunshine / Shadow
- Sky / Earth
- Young / Old
- Hot / Cold
One thing to notice about each of these pairs is that you cannot have one without the other. If everything were the same temperature, you’d never know what hot or cold is. If there were only one gender, you’d never have children. Without sunshine you couldn’t have shadows.
Another interesting feature of this diagram is the little spot of the opposite color right in the midst of the larger swirl of both colors. This represents the fact that each of the complementary opposites carries the seed of its opposite qualities.
The easiest way to understand this is to note that the original meaning of yang and yin were the sunny and shady side of a mountain, respectively. In the morning, the eastern-facing side of the mountain catches the sun, and the western side is shady. But in the evening, the western side is sunny, while the eastern side is in the shade.
Every complementary pair of opposites is like that, constantly shifting from one phase to another. Even men and women change as they age – post menopausal women tend to have more testosterone when their estrogen goes down, therefore having more male qualities than before. Andropausal men tend to mellow and become more yielding and relaxed as their testosterone levels lower.
You can see from all this that balance isn’t just some static state, but rather requires us to be flexible, adaptable and to go with the flow of events. And qigong practice is an outstanding way to condition ourselves to be more responsive to events and therefore more balanced.
Next time we’ll look at the concept of “energy” as it relates to qigong.
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
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Posted in The Spiritual Basis of Good Fortune by Dr. Bruce
I thought you’d like to see this video:
The Wellspring of Joy…
(Be sure to turn on your speakers to hear the music.)
This is a video meditation from an upcoming book called, “The Spiritual Basis of Good Fortune,” written by my good friend William Horden. Although it’s not qigong in the strictest sense, this meditation goes to the heart of the subtle energy response qigong brings to those who practice often.
Actually, this video presents something closer to neigong, which we’ve reviewed in an earlier post.
I like this video because of how the music and images frame the words of the meditation. Students attending the Spiritual Basis of Good Fortune class last year loved this video. Several of them wrote to tell me that it moved them so much that they watch it every day to remind themselves of its message.
I hope you enjoy it!
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
P.S. If you haven’t yet added your name to the announcement list for new posts on this blog, you can use the form at the top right of the home page to get added to the list. You’ll receive a short email each time there’s a new post. And, of course, you can always opt out if you decide you don’t want to receive any more notifications.
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Posted in Personal Power, Qigong by Dr. Bruce
In the last post I described my experience with a student who didn’t respond to the usual muscle testing procedure. I also asked you to see if you can figure out why he didn’t and what I did to change the test so he did respond.
Here’s the answer to that question:
This man was particularly well defended. He had probably been severely traumatized earlier in his life and responded by developing the ability to neutralize anyone else’s energy that might interfere with him. And he was very good at it! He confirmed this in some detail to me after the class.
Recognizing this, I realized that he couldn’t be ‘made’ to demonstrate a weak muscle test since he’d just neutralize any effort to do this. So I took a different approach.
The mental question I directed towards him before testing his arm strength went like this:
“Thank you for your willingness to participate in this testing process. Before we do anything more, I want to let you know that I would never do anything to harm you in any way. Your safety and well-being is of the highest importance to me.
“With that being the case, and only if it is 100% okay with you for the purpose of learning something valuable and useful to you, would you be willing to demonstrate what a weak arm test would look like?”
Then I waited for an energy response.
People ask me what that response is like. My best way of describing it is by saying that it’s like a blip on a radar screen. In other words, there is a short pulse in the energy that happens almost immediately after asking the question.
The moment I felt that pulse in the energy is when he looked at me and said, “You have good intent!” And then his arm went down easily.
The Real Lesson
This was a wonderful opportunity to see how powerful pure intention can be. By approaching him in a compassionate and receptive way, he was able to set aside his usual defensive response and learn something new about how energy works.
This experience reminded me of the saying from Chapter 72 of the Tao Te Ching, where it says, “When people no longer fear your power, this is a sign that a greater power is coming.”
It turns out that compassion is a greater power…
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
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Posted in Personal Power, Qigong by Dr. Bruce
The event I mentioned in the last post happened like this:
The class was studying all the various ways people have described human energy systems through the millenia. We addressed Chinese, Auryvedic and Native American healing traditions among others. As part of the class I introduced them to the idea of applied kinesiology (AK), also known as muscle testing.
If you’re unfamiliar with it, AK is based on the fact that our energy field is very responsive to both inner and outer influences. The classic example is having someone hold a package of white sugar and comparing the before and after strength of a particular muscle. In this example, the most common response is that the muscle becomes substantially weaker simply because the sugar is within the person’s energy field. They don’t even need to taste it.
There are other simple ways to get a weakened response when doing AK. I showed the students a couple of these, then had them practice with one another.
A few minutes later, one of the students came up to me and sheepishly told me that she couldn’t get the exercise to work. She asked if I could come show her what she was doing wrong.
Her partner was a good sized, muscular man. In my experience with energy work this shouldn’t have made a difference, so I thought I’d demonstrate to her how the exercise works by doing it on him.
Imagine my surprise when, for the first time ever, the simple techniques I used to get the weakened muscle response didn’t work! Most curious!
I looked at him and wondered why. A few seconds went by before in idea popped into my head about another way to do the exercise. So I asked him to hold his arm out horizontally and did a ‘neutral’ test, which is the usual way to begin the exercise – we want to get a general sense of how strong a person is before making any changes. He was very strong and his arm didn’t budge when I asked him to resist and then pressed down on his arm.
Then, for the testing part, I closed my eyes and did a short series of mental questions directed at him. When I got a response that seemed promising I opened my eyes and prepared to say, “resist” to him and push down on his arm. Just before I said it, he looked at me with astonishment and said, “You have good intent!”
I said, “resist” and his arm went right down with very little pressure on my part.
Okay, here’s the key question: What did I do when I asked the short series of mental questions that allowed me to push his arm down with almost no effort?
Think about it for a day or two and then come back for the answer…
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
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Posted in Personal Power, Qigong by Dr. Bruce
Master Lew, who is a very accomplished martial artist, once made the following statement:
“If ten men attack me, I win. If a baby attacks me, the baby wins.”
On the surface of it this sounds like a silly statement. Aside from in some horror movie screenwriter’s imagination, no baby would ever attack someone. (Queue reel from “Attack of the Killer Babies”)
But at a deeper level, there is a profound truth here. This goes back to the original Taoist teachings from the Tao Te Ching, where the highest level of development is compared to attaining the qualities of an infant.
Think about it – infants are innocent, vulnerable, open, curious and resilient. And they love everyone. Nothing lights up your heart like a baby smiling at you.
This is why the quality of compassion and open-heartedness is so important. Those moments in life when you feel best, the moments when you do extraordinary things, the moments when you shine, are all moments where your heart is open.
I once had the opportunity to learn very directly how powerful this kind of openness can be. It happened in a class I taught in L.A. where we were reviewing human energy systems from a wide variety of cultures and perspectives. This event made such an impact on me that it’s worthy of its own post. Stay tuned…
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
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Posted in Personal Power, Qigong by Dr. Bruce
As I mentioned last time, my original teacher, Master Share K. Lew, always gave the secrets of qigong very early in teaching. The four he talked about were eyes, mind, movement and breath. If you’ve missed the previous 4 posts, you’ll find my take on these secrets there.
Over time, it’s been pretty clear to me that there’s another secret, one that isn’t talked about as commonly. I don’t know why this is, but in the tradition of Master Lew, I’d like to offer it here.
Before I get into that, it’s important to remember that unlike the common saying, knowledge (or in this case “secrets”), is NOT power. At best, knowledge is potential power. If you don’t apply your knowledge, then it’s useless to you. Real power comes from taking action on what you know.
With that in mind, here is the fifth secret of qigong:
Heart
What I mean by this is holding a space of compassionate regard for yourself and others. This borders on empathy and can be described by understanding the difference between being open-hearted and bleeding from your heart.
Having an open heart energizes you. But if you are too open-hearted, then you become depleted. At the same time, if you close your heart it also makes you weaker. As always, balance is crucial.
For some people, it’s a scary idea to be open-hearted and compassionate. Usually this comes from a history of being hurt or traumatized. In reality, the kind of open-heartedness I’m referring to is amazingly powerful and empowering at the same time.
This is so important these days that I’m going to spend time over the next few posts addressing it. In fact, I may have a video demonstration of exactly how powerful this is in an upcoming post. I have to see how the video comes out before deciding to share it with you.
In the meanwhile, remember the 5 secrets of qigong and practice them. Ideally, every day.
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
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Posted in Qigong by Dr. Bruce
Breathing is one of those normal, everyday activities most of us take for granted, which is odd considering how important it is.
If anyone doubts how important breathing is, note this fact: a person can live for weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without breathing.
And in qigong practice, breathing is crucial. It’s so crucial in fact, that it’s the fourth of the 4 “secrets” of qigong.
How You Breathe Changes Everything
In qigong, the most important part of breathing is remembering to use your diaphragm. In case you’re unfamiliar with it, your diaphragm is a large, somewhat bell-shaped muscle inside your abdomen. When it contracts, it moves downward, increasing the oxygen coming into your lungs.
For reference, here’s an illustration showing where your diaphragm is located:
Although it doesn’t show in this simple drawing, the ends of this muscle attach all the way down to your pelvic bones at the waist. The arrows show the direction it moves as you inhale.
Why This Matters
If you watch how an infant breathes, you’ll notice their chest doesn’t expand and contract so much as their belly moves in and out. This is because it’s a natural instinct to breathe using the diaphragm. This type of breathing increases your ability to relax and focus. It also takes pressure from your heart, while gently massaging the organs in your abdomen.
In addition, it activates the energy point below the navel called qi hai, which means “Sea of Vitality.”
The classical Taoist (Daoist) text, the Tao Te Ching (dao te jing) says this about breathing:
“An infant can cry all day without becoming hoarse. This is the hallmark of harmonious living.”
This is a reference to the fact that abdominal breathing also keeps us more grounded and centered as we move through our day as well as giving us tireless energy.
The beauty of practicing this type of breathing while doing your qigong exercises is that over time it will become second nature to you. It’s like you ‘remember’ what it was like to breath like you did as an infant.
One More Secret…
Although my teacher emphasized that there were 4 secrets to mastering qigong, over the years I’ve felt the need to add a fifth secret based on my experiences with how qigong affects the mind and body. For now, let’s call it the “Fifth Secret.” I’ll be sharing that one in my next post…
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
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Posted in Qigong by Dr. Bruce
Movement may seem like the simplest of the 4 secrets of qigong, but there are layers to the idea.
For example, successful practice requires that you move with good form and awareness, but without any unnecessary tension. This is easier said than done.
In addition, some qigong exercises have lots of movement and are very active. Others look, from the outside at least, like almost nothing is happening. So the quality of the movement can vary from one set of exercises to another.
Here’s a deeper secret about movement. This is very old wisdom:
“If it looks big on the outside, it’s small on the inside.
If it looks small on the outside, it’s big on the inside.”
How can we understand this?
One interpretation is that flashy moves aren’t necessarily the most powerful or effective. Slower, simpler movements and sets of exercises often are far more powerful than faster or more complex sets.
Another way to understand this idea is to recognize that mastery always manifests in a kind of fluid ease of activity. Compare how a highly trained dancer walks to how a normal person walks and you’ll get the idea.
I once saw a film of the famous painter, Pablo Picasso working on a wall-sized black and white painting. Watching this world-class painter work, I couldn’t help but be amazed at how effortlessly he moved with each brush stroke. Here’s a 28-second clip showing part of that video:
free video player & video platform - interactive video, online video solution: video player, video editor - kaltura
wordpress video - wordpress plugin for integrated video on video blogs, and video tools
Do you see what I mean about movement?
If you can apply that sort of smooth, spontaneous quality in your qigong, you’ll find your results increase dramatically.
Next, the 4th secret, breath…
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
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Posted in Qigong by Dr. Bruce
Simply put, this secret has to do with attention and awareness.
If you practice qigong without paying attention and being in the moment, you will get substantially less benefit. In other words, if you find yourself thinking about what happened yesterday or what you will be doing tomorrow (or anything but the exercise you’re doing), then you are missing one of the most important aspects of your practice.
Imagine for a moment driving down the road and daydreaming. You’d miss the important information right in front of you, and be more likely to get into an accident.
It’s the same thing when practicing your energy exercises. By being present in the moment, you amplify the effectiveness of the exercise and reduce the chances of doing them incorrectly.
This gives you some benefits you might not think of right away. For one, when you focus 100% of your awareness on everything happening in the qigong exercise, all of your other concerns, thoughts, feelings and distractions from the day fade into the background. It gives you a kind of mental vacation and clears your mind.
Another advantage is that you develop an much greater ability to focus on everything else in your life. You learn nuances about awareness and attention that people who never pay attention to these things typically miss.
Finally, you develop the skill of mastering your random thoughts. You may have noticed that your mind, if left to its own devices, tends to run all over the place. In Oriental traditions they call this the “monkey mind.” It’s an apt term for it, as in “running around like a crazy monkey.”
Of course quieting your mind is just the beginning stage of a deeper process that will happen as you practice. But it’s still an important step to master.
Here’s a little exercise you can do to help quiet your mind. My long-time friend and collaborator, William Horden, developed this exercise and it’s a good one. He calls it the “Enough” exercise. Here’s how it works:
Pay attention to what your mind is doing during your waking hours. Since most people’s minds are doing the crazy monkey thing, it won’t take long for you to notice that the thoughts you’re having are running on auotpilot.
When you notice this, mentally say the word “Enough!” with a seriousness of intent. Imagine the tone you might use when telling you dog to “Sit!” It’s that kind of command. What you are doing is commanding your monkey mind to be quiet.
At first you’ll have to do this repeatedly, but after a while you’ll find that sometimes minutes go by without any autopilot thoughts. This is the ideal sort of mental state to be in when practicing your qigong.
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
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