Writing & New Age

Lesson 4: Rating Personal Literary Performance.

Section 4-2: Strengthening Qi.

I. What is Qi?

Understanding the concept of Qi is the key to understanding the inner self. Because there is no equivalent of Qi in English the following examples give a general ideal of Qi.

Qi is like the wind, a natural energy source constantly flowing all around us. We cannot see it, we know it exists by the way it affects the landscape and physical matter. Qi is also like water, it is an energy source that can be diverted to where it is needed and be more beneficial to our well being. At the same time, Qi, like water, cycles endlessly from one phase to another it is a cycle that if broken, or interrupted, will affect everything else that depends on the continuity of the cycle. This can be compared to the ecosystem of a forest where every plant, insect, and animal depends on one another to evolve and survive. A decline, or an increase, in any of the species will affect the whole ecological system.

In relation to our built environment, the Feng Shui theories that Qi is derived from, guide us in seeking naturally beneficial site conditions, designing landscapes and buildings, arranging rooms, and furniture so that they are in sync with natural Qi patterns. We channel natural energy in doing this that empowers us to do whatever we do better.

II. Qi Power.

Qi power training or energy work gives the body many benefits, (e.g., health, increased ability to think, perception skills, martial power skills, relaxation skills, increased energy, sexual improvement, and many other benefits). There are many ways to reach these abilities that we will visit throughout this lesson series.

There are many different types of Qi training meditations (e.g., standing, lying down, sitting, active or moving, and others). What we are doing in this lesson is a combination of Qi Pressure and Qi Density Methodologies.

III. Qi Pressure.

Qi pressure is where Qi force is applied over target surfaces. Qi Pressure is the ability to increase the internal pressure of the body so that you will be healthier and live longer. The by-product of this ability is to use the pressure for Qi power manipulation. There are many ways to create Qi power pressure. Practitioners that perform density methods experience an increase of overall internal Qi power body pressure built.

As you begin to increase the Qi power pressure within your organs they start to gain in size, strength, and their ability for storing Qi energy improves. As the body starts adapting to increased amounts of pressure being put on, it will start to have the ability to store more and more energy in order to release more energy. We liken this process to blowing up a large balloon. The balloon when unfilled is flaccid with no pressure at all. When you start to blow up the balloon (e.g., torso, legs, arms, and organs), the balloon starts to stretch and fills with air. If you blow up the balloon too much it pops and you lose all of the air that is stored in the balloon.

Your organs are similar to the balloon-you can actually increase the pounds of pressure that your organs will sustain. As your Qi pressure increases, after you let the organs stretch to accommodate that new energy pressure, your body will be stronger and able to emit stronger Qi.

Your body will be able to emit, in terms of pressure, the amount of energy that the organs are accustomed to handling.

After significant amounts of Qi power training those organs will start to be more like the thickness and strength of a hot water bottle versus the balloon. This increases your ability to store Qi in a more dense way, allowing you to emit stronger Qi power easier and with more pressure, density, and thickness.

As you learn to increase the pressure you will substantially increase the size, strength, and density of the nerve fibers within the body. The increase in the nerve fibers provides you the necessary tributaries to send Qi out of the body. This is likened to creating a fire-hose effect where most people have less than a garden hose with which to emit their natural emit Qi.

Qi power builds gradually-as it increases so does your ability to do different types of Qi energy manipulation techniques. There are several systemized methods to create these effects with several scientific exercises. Books explain the importance of slowly pressuring up or filling the organs with Qi, but many of these manuals never explain the possible side effects or even what you should really be feeling when you are doing these exercises. Internal Qi training can be just as strenuous to the internal body as physical exercises like weight lifting can be to the external body. Keep this in mind, you must know that over training while doing internal exercises can have serious ramifications, if training protocols are not heeded. You must know when you are stressing the body too much with internal training, so that you will be able to increase your internal abilities in an incremental manner rather than trying to use the a more is better philosophy.

You don't build your body up instantly, therefore you are not going to build up your Qi power body quicker than what development is possible for your own bodies limitations. Just as there some people can train with weights and grow big muscles over night (or so it seems), there are those in the internal game that are "naturals" that may be able to progress faster having the ability to do more things quicker. The key is to just go at the pace that your body allows.

IV. Qi Density:

The thickness of consistency of Qi power energy. Qi Density in this case is the ability to visualize and create an image of the effect that we are looking to create. Training for density right off the bat has its pluses and minuses, remember that when performing your Qi power training. You can and will limit your abilities by getting stuck on one particular technique or method at first. An example, a learned technique was pretty significant, where putting a candle flame out with my eyes would occur, this sounds cool and it does look pretty impressive, but it is a limited technique most people learn with little to no difficulty. Density places emotional content and intention to the energy or Qi so that you can manipulate with it.

Emotions are the strongest form of stimulation you can have. Love, anger, sadness, joy, and all other emotions add specialized mind intent that many practitioners talk about. Adding colors, candles, incense, hypnotic type pictures, and different flow patterns thickens up and increases the density of Qi. Being able to picture something in your head and adding all of the details as if you were looking at the item in person is one way to do it. This method works quite well. Most Qi power instructors that I know use it. The downside of it is if you are a type of person that is not visually oriented; you will have a hard time visualizing the results that you want. Have you ever heard this catch phrase?



The Mind moves the Qi, typically everyone that is involved in Qi power training has heard that statement and it is a very true statement. The only thing is what if you don't know what Qi is, or what it feels like, or looks like? The mind is an important part of the whole process-in the early stages of training you will have a limited connection between your mind and body. Density building helps you to bridge the gap so that your mind becomes stronger and can be used as a link to your body. The mind really can create and do anything that we want it to. It is just most of us limit our thinking to what we are taught in school and | or by parents, friends, and associates.

V. Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can aQieve.

Adding density is being able to see the entire whole of what you are doing and quantifying it for your use. An example is that you create a picture of an object in your mind, but you see in your mind everything about it. You see the color, the size the shape the density, and the heaviness.

The density of Qi is everything you can see and believe. It is the canvas the artist uses to create a painting or clay that a sculptor uses to create the detailed human body. Qi is moved by the mind and the mind is moved by Qi. Qi can take up any form your mind imagines. Adding density is important to your Qi power. What you want to create is an unlimited potential. The mind and body were designed for far more greatness than most men could even imagine. It is the mind and body that have created all of the technology that we have today (only a century ago you would be called a nut to mention Qi).

Learning how to increase your Qi power enables you to be able to perform amazing skills, keep in mind you will naturally be getting an even better benefit from the added health benefits of Qi power training.

VI. Qi power training is a standing meditation:

To perform one Qi exercise involves the following:

• Appearance
  
  1. Alignment
  2. Center
  3. Posture
  4. Shape
• Combination of relaxation, inner peace, and natural movement

There are 14 characters for standing meditation (the foundation of the three forms of Qi [health and healing, meditation, and martial arts], to perform this exercise stand, breath before chanting each character, and achieve the concept associated with the character. For instance, for Sser you breath deeply, relax, and experience being empty as you exhale.) Go through each character, perhaps record them with their associative concepts first on a recorder and then go through the standing mediation. If you record the characters give pause to experience each of them before moving onto the next one. Qi training is most often performed with a personal trainer, or in a group setting, much like Tai Chi; this is a rudimentary introduction that may prove of use to you.

1. Sser -------- Be empty
   
2. Ling --------- Active and alert
   
3. Ting --------- Suspend the neck,
   
4. Ching ------- with intrinsic force
   
5. Haum ------- Relax, depress slightly
   
6. Shian -------- the chest
   
7. Fut ----------- Pull up, round
   
8. Pei ----------- the back
   
9. Wei ---------- the coccyx
   
10. Lu ----------- is lifted
    
11. Ti
    
12. Ting -------- Suspend
    
13. Tou --------- the head
    
14. Shiang ---- like hanging

There are six coordination’s to perform:

1. The first three are inner and
   
2. The second three outer.

There are five essences: form, mind, energy, strength, spirit(mental and physical with the help of spirit). There are five ways to train the inner mind. There are three stages of training:

• Scattered thoughts (thought force is in the mind),
• Energy (energy is in the body), and
• Strength (strength is in the functions).
  
  Breathing Exercises:
  
  Full Chest and Abdominal
  
  
  
  This method is simply a deepening of the breath. Take slow, deep, rhythmic breaths through the nose. When the diaphragm drops down, the abdomen is expanded allowing the air to rush into the vacuum created in the lungs. Then the chest cavity is expanded, allowing the lungs to fill completely. This is followed by a slow, even exhalation which empties the lungs completely. This simple breath practice done slowly and fully, with intention, concentration and relaxation activates all of the primary benefits of therapeutic breath practice. In Qigong and Pranayama the breath is retained for additional benefit.
  
  Application Suggestions:
  
  Health maintenance: 6 to 10 repetitions, 2 to 3 sessions per day.
  
  Health enhancement: 6 to 10 repetitions, 4 to 6 sessions per day.
  
  Disease intervention: Start slowly and build up to 15 to 20 repetitions, in 10 to 15 sessions per day.
  
  Getting started: 2 to 3 repetitions, once or twice per day. Remember to keep it easy and fun.
  
  Exhale to Compress the Organs
  
  This method takes the exhalation of the full chest and abdominal breath to a radical extreme that dramatically shifts the pressure in the pelvic, abdominal and chest cavities. The exhalation continues, until it feels as if the body and organs are compressing toward the center. Absolutely every bit of air is expelled, the abdomen presses inward and the anus is pulled upward. It should feel as if the whole body is purposefully collapsing or contracting around the organs and the central core of the body. Momentarily, a deep desire to inhale will be felt. In a relaxed manner allow the diaphragm to drop and the air to rush in to fill the lungs. Allow the lungs to fill all the way.
  
  This method can be practiced in a concentrated way for 6 to 20 breaths or it can be done throughout the day as in the previous technique. It unleashes a powerful healing potential that is always with you but rarely utilized.
  
  Application Suggestions:
  
  Health maintenance: 6 to 10 repetitions, 2 to 3 sessions per day.
  
  Health enhancement: 6 to 10 repetitions, 4 to 6 sessions per day.
  
  Disease intervention: Start slowly and build up to 15 to 20 repetitions, once or twice per day. Remember to build up slowly, more is not better.
  
  Rapid Abdominal Breathing
  
  
  
  The central activity of this breath technique, called bastrika in India, is the rapid expansion and contraction of the abdomen. The Breath enters and exits rapidly through the nose. On inhalation the diaphragm drops down and the abdomen expands. On the exhalation the abdomen rapidly contracts, as if to slap against the spine. The diaphragm rapidly rises and forcefully expels the breath through the nose. The inhalation/exhalation cycle is done 25 to 100 times and is followed by a large inhalation with a brief or the goal of the practice.
  
  This method has a major effect on the function of the organs in the abdominal and pelvic cavities. There is a massive concentration of lymphatic tissue in these areas and because of the one way nature of the lymphatic vessels this vigorous activity moves large amounts of lymph forward toward the elimination organs.
  
  Application Suggestions:
  
  Health maintenance: 6 to 10 repetitions, 2 to 3 sessions per day.
  
  Health enhancement: 6 to 10 repetitions, 4 to 6 sessions per day.
  
  Disease intervention: Start slowly and build up to 15 to 20 sessions per day.
  
  Getting started: 2 to 3 repetitions, once or twice per day. You will immediately be conscious of a significant effect from this method.
  
  Alternate Nostril Breathing
  
  
  
  Holding one nostril closed inhale and exhale slowly and deeply. Then hold the opposite nostril closed, inhale and exhale deeply. This breath is often done in preparation for deep relaxation or meditation. You will notice that usually one or the other of the nostrils is more open. If you breathe on a small hand mirror, the patch of mist from one nostril will be larger than from the other. The ancient practitioners of Yoga in India were aware of the significance of this and employed this knowledge to enhance health and consciousness. Western science did not notice this phenomena until the 1800's. It has been found recently, through the application of current neuro-science, that the practice of alternate nostril breathing helps to balance the right and left hemispheres of the brain.
  
  Applications Suggestions:
  
  Health maintenance: 10 to 12 repetitions, 2 to 3 sessions per day.
  
  Health enhancement: 10 to 12 repetitions, 4 to 6 sessions per day.
  
  Disease intervention: Start slowly and build up to 15 to 20 repetitions, 8 to 10 sessions per day or up to even 100 repetitions in a single session.
  
  Getting started: 10 to 12 repetitions, once or twice per day. Notice that this method is very quieting.
  
  
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