Chinese Health Exercise: Qigong. Part Two

The SHENG / Creation or Nourishing Cycle is where each element nourishes or creates the next cycle (element) e.g. Fire creates Earth. The sequence can be rationalised as follows

WOOD creates FIRE (the wood is burnt to create the fire). FIRE creates EARTH (Fire expends it’s self and what is left is ashes which become Earth).

EARTH creates METAL (the element Metal is found by digging in the Earth)

METAL creates WATER (by melting– solid metals melt to form a liquid). Metal also corresponds to AIR (in Western astrology) and air condenses to form a liquid.

WATER creates WOOD (by nourishing growth)

If each element is fed and strengthened it will feed the next element in the cycle like a mother feeds a son or daughter, thus it is termed the cycle of creation and it gives birth to the Mother / son theory used in treatment of disharmonies.

The KO / inhibiting / repressive or controlling cycle is where each element inhibits or controls the element two steps ahead in the sequence e.g.. WOOD controls EARTH. This is like a Grandparent exerting control over a Grandchild, in T.C.M. called Grandmother / Grandson cycle. It works as follows—

FIRE controls METAL (by melting it).

METAL controls WOOD (by cutting it).

WOOD controls EARTH (by covering it).

EARTH controls WATER (by damming it).

WATER controls FIRE by extinguishing it).

DIAGRAM NO. W 2

Organ element relationship.

ST = STOMACH, HT = HEART, LV = LIVER, BL = BLADDER, KD = KIDNEYS, CO = COLON OR LARGE INTESTINE, PC = PERICARDIUM, TH = TRIPLE HEATER, LU = LUNGS, SP = SPLEEN, SI = SMALL INTESTINE, GB = GALL BLADDER.

The harmonious balance of the SHENG and KO cycles represents the mutual support and control of the 5 elements. The SHENG (creative) Cycle ensures that there is continual growth and generation. The KO Cycle ensures that there is growth within limits, that growth dose not continue unchecked. Thus the two cycles represent the balance of the 5 elements. Both cycles are natural and positive, unless an imbalance or blockage occurs in the flow resulting in the generation of a destructive cycle.

The SHENG Cycle is predominant during the day and the KO Cycle is predominant during the night. Each element has it’s corresponding colour, smell, body organ / channel, etc. that can form the basis of diagnosis. If any concordance tends to predominate or is lacking, a practitioner will be able to diagnose which part of the sequence is disturbed and treat the energies accordingly to open the natural flows.

Another way of using this system is as follows:

An inflammatory condition occurring in an organ or tissue can be seen as a FIRE type symptom (feels hot and will cause irritation, etc.) so using the WATER Pt to reduce this FIRE (inflammation) can have a dramatic and immediate effect on the inflammation. If the inflammation is not completely relived by the WATER PT then add a METAL PT to nourish the WATER and increase the affect of the action of WATER.

As a Martial Artist one could do a primary strike on the EARTH Pt of the Pericardium Channel and then do the next strike on the Front MU Pt of the HEART (PC 7 & CV 14), t increase the damaging effect of the strike to the HEART MU Pt. This is using the SHENG Cycle’s Mother Son theory where the Son is used to drain QI from the Mother. The HEART is the YIN or half the YIN of the Fire element (PERICARDIUM is the other half of the YIN of the Fire element. The PERICARDIUM is also seen as the protector of the HEART so damage here could increase damage to the HEART. Using an example from the KO cycle, one could strike to the Metal Pt of the PERICARDIUM Channel (PC 5), then follow with a strike to Front MU Pt of the LIVER (LIV 14). Here Metal is acting to control the Wood and the further strike to a major Pt affecting the YIN organ of the YIN Element adds insult to injury and results in dramatic results (perhaps LIVER shut down). These are just examples of how these cycles might be used martially; there are lots of different combinations that could be used.

There is also a cycle called the reverse KO Cycle (or counteracting or rebellious cycle), this is where one element rebels against its natural controller. This is an abnormal cycle and is a symbolic of defiance. The format follows ——

Wood counteracts Metal (by blunting it).

Metal counteracts Fire (by extinguishing it–cutting off its supply of oxygen)

Fire counteracts Water (by boiling it away if the Fire is too vigorous).

Water counteracts Earth (by washing it away if the Water is dammed to excess).

Earth counteracts Wood (by providing no foundation for its roots).

It may well be that at death the reverse KO cycle comes into play.

Healing is the art of building / moving and balancing the body=s QI while Martial Arts is the art of stagnating, depleting and scattering the body’s QI.

If you are going to learn to destroy then also learn to build.

Transferring and Issuing Qi

Qi is electricity in one form or another. We are affected by electricity every day of our lives. Even when we did not rely upon electricity for our daily needs, we still lived in a constant and natural electrical environment of around 40,000 volts so I am told by the experts. I know this to be true from experience. I once worked in a large building in London, one of my many jobs that I had to do to survive. Whenever I entered this building, I noticed that my heart rate increased dramatically as did my blood pressure. I could not understand why this was so. Therefore, I began investigating as discovered that this particular building was built with much iron reinforcement around each building compartment. Apparently because of the damage done in the war. Having received some electrical training as part of one of my occupations, I knew that this iron shielding would shield people from our natural electrical environment. I had to leave this particular job because my health was suffering, as was the health of many of those also working in the building.

We all work on electricity, we communicate using it, we affect the way others perceive us using electricity and we are affected by other’s electrical forces. This is qi in daily life. We naturally issue qi to others as part of our daily lives; we transfer our own qi to other people every second that we live. However, this is a sub-conscious event, something that we have no control over, as our heart beat or digestion or other internal workings. We in the martial arts and healing arts would like to have some control over the transference of qi in order to heal or to defend ourselves using something other than purely physical force. And we can.

You cannot knock anyone down using qi from a distance but you can affect the way someone else’s qi works, so much so that you can cause them to fall down or become well etc. However, you must actually touch the person in order for this to happen. The electrical system of our body is a very low voltage, something that we need very sensitive instruments even to pick up. Things like heart measuring devices actually measure electrical activity in the heart; it is the same for the brain etc. So when we are issuing qi, we are issuing minute amounts of electricity (qi) and we need to be either touching the person’s skin or so very close to it so that this small electrical current is able to work. Anyone who knows anything about electricity knows that if you place another voltage or current near or on top of a current or voltage, you will affect that electricity in some way. Moreover, this is what we do when we issue and transfer qi. We are able to either issue qi that is sympathetic to the other person’s qi thus helping to heal that person of some disease state, or we are able to affect that person’s qi adversely as in the case of the martial arts and self defence. It has been said that the greatest healing that one person can give to another is simply to touch that person. And this is so true, as you are not just touching; you are issuing qi every time you simply touch someone. Quite often, this is enough to heal simple illnesses without any special training or concentration of qi. In the case of a practitioner whose job it is to heal people, or a martial artist whose job it is to protect people or to teach others to protect themselves from physical attack, we must learn how to concentrate the qi and then to direct it. However, this direction and concentration must never be a physical conscious act, as all physical thought will cause blockages. So you see some so called healers placing their hands upon others, saying some chanting or some noise or quite obviously trying to physically direct their qi into the sick person. This will not work as they are trying to do it and this will only block the qi. This is where Qigong comes in.

With Qigong and taijiquan and all of the internal martial arts, we have ways to direct and concentrate the qi without actually doing anything, or more importantly, not having to think about doing this. All we have to do is the training, that is all.

The backbone gives you your first inkling as to how qi is transmitted or issued.

The Chinese word ‘Sung’ (relax) is one of the most important aspects of Qigong. Actually, to ‘relax’ is not a good translation and is actually quite wrong. However, there is no translation for ‘sung’, it requires a sentence or two to describe this word. When we go into a state of ‘sung’ every muscle, sinew, bone and joint in the body is connected rather than when tension is present and every part of the body is a separate identity. Therefore, when one part of the body moves, it will cause the whole body to move. This is especially true of the vertebra where there is a special significance for qi transference and issuing of qi. You must become aware of every vertebra in your backbone, every sinew in your body, every muscle. Then you must take those into a state of sung using what is known as ‘Qigong’. Another way to describe ‘sung’ as told to me by one of my teachers is as follows: You take your cake out of the over and it has risen nicely. You place the cake onto the table and look around to get a knife to cut it and when you look back, it has flopped. So you did not see the cake flopping, it moved without your seeing it. Sung means that we must move or stand motionless without feeling.

‘Sung’ is the first area of Qigong that one must learn. Sung is a way of compressing every vertebra in the backbone, and eventually every part of the body, connecting together every minute part of the body so that the stored power of every cell is able to be used as a whole. Like if you have only a few grains of gunpowder, it does not have much effect when ignited. However, if you have millions of grains of gunpowder, the effect of the whole lot being ignited is far greater. It is the same with our qi. If we only issue the qi force from one part of the body, like the arm or leg, we only have access to the power from one portion of the body. Because we have to use much more physical power (muscle power tension), we actually in turn block the flow of what little qi we are trying to use. So we not only do not have much power, we also waste our own power and become tired easily.

We must learn connectivity at a very base physical level before we can learn it at an energy level. For this, I have a simple training method that I have found to be helpful to my own students.

Stand opposite your partner and place your right palm onto his or her left shoulder. If I tell you to push his shoulder to your left, most people in the beginning will push using their shoulder muscles only and losing their centre by leaving the arm behind. Doing it this way you are only using shoulder power and blocking your own energy. You will find that it takes a great amount of energy to get your partner moving and even then, he only moves a short distance. All of the qi is blocked at your shoulder. You must think about your waist and then join that power to your right arm. Use the power in your waist (which is quite considerable) to move your partner. Say to yourself that when your waist moves, so too will your arm because it is connected to your waist. Whatever your waist does, so too will your right arm. You must have all of your centres aligned though. So, turn your body so that your right wrist is in line with your centre. Now, when you turn your waist, your right palm will move instantly. However, if you notice that your centre has slipped away from your wrist, then you are again using shoulder power only. Doing this exercise correctly, you will notice that you will now be using much less power (energy) and gaining a greater effect.

‘Sinking’ is a word that is used much in Qigong but that is little understood. This word is also to do with ‘sung’. It is relatively easy to sink the body, to have a feeling of sinking into the ground, but this is only part of ‘sinking’. To ‘sink’ means that we must also sink and join every bit of power held in the backbone so that we are able to issue it in healing.

The backbone is the place where the energy is stored; it is often called the tantien, an imaginary place 3 inches below the navel where the psychic centre of the body is supposed to be housed. I believe however that the tantien is the whole of the backbone. We are told that we have several ‘tantiens’ or psychic centres, and all are located along the backbone or along the centreline of the body. However, I believe that we have only one tantien and that is the spine. It is from the spine that we issue qi for healing. One of my teachers once told me that the spine and its vertebra was like having many cells (batteries) in the backbone and that we are able to join those cells to form a big battery to issue greater amounts of qi. Looking at the vertebra you can see that each one looks like a capacitor, with its two poles and electrolyte substance in between. We are told in Qigong that the backbone stores the qi and then issues it when needed. When we compress the backbone like as if the backbone is a chain inside of a plastic pipe and it cannot fall in a heap on the ground because of the pipe so each link of the chain gently falls down on top of each other and stays there, we link all of our vertebra together psychically. We link and join all of the individual powers of each vertebra causing a much greater whole. Once we have ‘joined’ each vertebra, the individual parts of the whole body will then be joined and as we release the stored qi, the whole body releases its qi rather than just one part like a hand or arm, leg etc.