Easy To Say – Hard To Do
Spring is the busiest time of year. We want to get outdoors and do stuff, yet stormy weather often interferes with our desires. Or we have so many projects to do that we don’t know where to start. Plants pop up from the ground with surprising speed, the sun comes up earlier, and the whole world has shifted into a higher gear. Spring is notorious for being a time when we get tense, a little irritable, perhaps downright cantankerous.
The remedy is to relax. We know that, of course. We hear it all the time, “just relax”.And yet it often seems nearly impossible. It’s as if we actually don’t know how to relax the body and turn off the chatter of the mind. Getting into a state of quiet relaxation seems beyond our understanding and ability.
Why is deep relaxation important?
In this state the brain eliminates interferences from both inside and outside the body, providing favorable conditions for the nervous system to be in a healthy, balanced state of activity and rest. Deep relaxation will allow the Qi – the vital energy of life – to circulate freely throughout body and mind. This state of physiological peace is a kind of alert relaxation that melds the body and mind into a complete whole.
Being “completely relaxed” is especially important for the liver. This amazing visceral structure has more functions that any other single organ. During the process of filtering and detoxifying the blood, producing hundreds of enzymes and hormones, and regulating the volume of circulating blood, the liver tends to become congested. For it to work properly it must be decongested. This can be done with qigong, acupuncture, diet and herbal medicine.The Chinese say that a healthy liver is like “a free and easy wanderer,” responsible for the harmonious flow of blood and Qi throughout the body.
I want to share a simple and effective technique from Daoist Qigong practice to help you enter a state of deep quiet. You will use your breath and your mind to circulate the energy through the two most important channels of qi flow in the torso.
Inner Nourishing. This may be done sitting or lying down.
Rest and be comfortable but alert.
When you inhale, through your nose, think of leading the qi from your tailbone, up the back, over the head to the mouth silently saying, “I am calm.”
Then exhale, through your mouth, leading the qi down the front of your body to the perineum silently saying, “and relaxed.” Repeat for a few minutes. Do this several times a day.
This simple yet profound qigong meditation will enhance the flow of energy through two major pathways: up the Governing vessel and down the Conception vessel. This “microcosmic orbit” is the reservoir for all the energy that flows through the acupuncture channels and into every cell of your body.
“Inner Nourishing”, Nei Yang Gong, was a secret Daoist healing method of the Ming dynasty that was transmitted by qigong masters to only one select student. In 1947, Liu Guizhen, one of China’s most reveared doctors, began to teach this powerful qigong exercise to the public for the greater good of society. He knew that one of the important benefits of qigong is the internal relaxation of body and mind
Inner Nourishing puts the brain into a positive state of deep relaxation where you can be in the present moment of peace and contentment.
