Restoring Your Life Energy: Simple Chi Gung Practices to Reduce Stress and Enhance Well-Being

by Waysun Liao

Overview

Poor diet, pollution, and the stresses of daily life all have a negative impact on our health and well-being; this program of simple movements and meditations taught by Master Waysun Liao, a renowned teacher of the Chinese movement arts of t’ai chi and chi gung, will restore both your body and mind.

In our busy lives we are bombarded by physical and emotional stressors that tax us and deplete our vital life energy—known as chi. According to traditional Chinese medicine, chi is the fuel and essence that connects body, mind, and spirit, and without it we fall apart physically, mentally, and spiritually. Master Liao explains why protecting our chi is so important, how it gets taxed and damaged in our lives, and—most importantly—how to restore it. He demonstrates exercises and meditations to be done on a daily basis that are easy-to-learn, low-impact, and suitable for people of all ages and fitness levels.

The healthful benefits of the practices are now recognized in mainstream medical circles where t’ai chi and chi gung classes are increasingly offered as complementary medicine. Master Waysun Liao’s selected exercises provide the essentials for a restorative, revitalizing practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590309964
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	10/30/2012
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Master Waysun Liao studied t’ai chi in a Taoist temple in his native Taiwan from the age of twelve. He is the founder and master of the Taichi Tao Center in Oak Park, Illinois, where he has taught for nearly forty years.

Read an Excerpt

1
 
                                                        CHI
 
                                   Integral to Health and Peace of Mind
 
TO SEE THE MIRACLE of life energy, all we have to do is consider a seed. It’s so small, so shriveled and dry. It’s hard to believe that such a small thing can explode into something as large and full of life as a tree.
A seed and a tree look so different from each other. Unless somebody taught you the basics of botany or biology, you wouldn’t even know that the two have any possible relationship to one another, much less that they are in some sense the same thing.
The seed and the tree are simultaneously completely different and completely connected. The miracle bridging the two is a mysterious and invisible force—the life energy deep inside the seed. It’s that miracle of intelligent force, that constructive blueprint, that power that explodes into the first green shoot after a spring rain, that quiet wisdom that governs the entire process of a seed growing into a tree that later produces more seeds. We cannot see it, we cannot hear it, we cannot taste or smell it. We can only observe its monumental effects by the evidence of the towering tree standing in front of us.
The life energy of the seed is the same life that creates the leaves, the sap, the fruit, the bark, and the wood of the tree. It is the same life energy that tells the tree when to grow new buds and when to drop its leaves and go dormant for the winter. It gives the tree its “consciousness” in its own world of sun, water, wind, and soil. Everything in, on, and about that tree depends on and is linked together by that same invisible life energy. And absolutely all of that tree’s power and potential was inherent in that original, dry, dead-looking seed.
Did you know you have a lot in common with the seed and the tree? You, too, sprang from a tiny seed—the seed we call the first single cell. From that microscopic beginning, over a long and miraculous journey, that single cell made the astounding transformation into an embryo, a fetus, and then a newborn. Since your birth, the original energy from your first single cell continues to explode into the full-grown human being you are today, with all your talents, strengths, and capabilities. That same energy is what still enlivens and sustains. Just like that journey from a seed to a tree, the journey from that single cell into who you are now is made possible by the original intelligence, power, and blueprint held within your life energy.
Your life energy was smart and industrious enough to pull in all the necessary building blocks to create your body. It established the flow of blood through your veins; it created your brain; it enlivens your organs and tells them what to do; it fuels your mind and thought processes; and it produces your consciousness, which enables your spirit to function. Without that energy, your body would fall limp, your brain would cease to function, and your spirit could no longer maintain its connection to your body. This same life energy—carried forward from that first single cell—creates, sustains, and holds every part of you together: from top to bottom, inside and out.
Clearly, if such a small amount of life energy can do so much, it is a precious substance. If such energy is what builds, maintains, and fuels the mind, body, and spirit, it is clear that we must protect and cherish it.
But the sad fact is that from the moment we emerge from the womb, our life energy—chi—starts to weaken, becoming vulnerable to contamination and distortion. That’s why we age, suffer, experience illness, and eventually die. Our chi loses its integrity.
As newborns we are like brand-new cars with zero miles. As infants and young children, our bodies run smoothly, and our chi is able to repair itself and any injuries seamlessly and quickly. But as we age, we rack up more and more miles. Pretty soon breakdowns are inevitable. We lose our original integrity of function, just like old cars. If only we could turn back the odometer and restore the pristine purity of that newborn chi.
We can, but it takes work. In today’s society, few people are even aware that they have something called chi, or life energy. They take it for granted and don’t consider that this special part of themselves is worth learning about, strengthening, and protecting.
Modern life has us chasing many outward goals: happiness, riches, fame, success, security, career satisfaction, friends, family, entertainment, and so on. We rarely take the time to stop, look inward, and take stock of the condition of our chi. Like old cars, we keep on driving and take it for granted until something breaks down. Only then do we wish we’d paid more attention to maintenance.
Understandably, we want all the joys that life can give us, so we keep trying for more. We work, strive, chase, and study to achieve goals that will give us more money, more enjoyment, more prestige, more friends—more, more, more. Who has time to stop and look within? To stop and meditate or repair or even remember that we have something as vague and subtle as life energy?
It’s as if everyone wants to live like a millionaire. Let’s consider what that means. A person with lots of success, many friends, and a wealth of riches increases his sense of worth in our world. We’ll represent him with the number 1,000,000. As he accumulates more wealth, more family, more friends, more power, and more prestige, it’s as if he keeps adding more and more zeroes to the increasing sum of his life worth. He may even become 1,000,000,000. A person with more modest life achievements might only be seen as 1,000. Who wants to be just 1,000 or 100? Give us more zeroes!
The problem is that we keep wanting to add more good things, chasing more and more zeroes, to increase our sense of worth, but we never stop to consider the condition of our number one. Our life energy is like the number one to all of those zeroes. What happens to the number 1,000 or 1,000,000 or 1,000,000,000 if you take away the one at the beginning? They each become nothing. While we may feel like millionaires, if we don’t keep and protect that number one, we risk being left with only a string of zeroes.
Instead of chasing more zeroes to add to your life sum, it is wiser to look after and protect your one. After all, Lao Tzu asks in the Tao Te Ching, “What is more important, your wealth or your life?”
He also urges those who seek the Tao to “embrace the One.” He’s not referring to embracing merely our own life energy. He’s actually saying to embrace the One Power of Tao. But to embrace the Tao, you have to start by being able to embrace your own life energy, to put it first in your life. How can you hope to embrace the Tao if you cannot find, feel, protect, and embrace your own chi, the piece of Tao inside you?
If you go back and read the U.S. Declaration of Independence, you’ll find the hallmark statement that all people “are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The founding fathers showed a lot of wisdom. Life must come first, for without it, how can we enjoy liberty? Without life, the pursuit of happiness is meaningless. To protect liberty, happiness, and anything else we value, we must first protect life. And that means protecting and preserving the integrity of our life energy.
Today, we’ve lost sight of our real priorities. You can go to many time management seminars or even buy special life-planning notebooks that help you set your priorities and get the most out of your day. But if you were to sneak a peak at most people’s daily list of priorities and life goals, it’s probable that almost none would include protecting and strengthening their chi.
Whoever you are, whatever you are doing right now, let’s erase everything else for just a little while and put life energy at the top of your priority list. Let’s invest a little time to learn more about this invisible but powerful force inside. Let’s discover a way to nourish and preserve it. After all, it’s the most precious treasure we possess. If you agree, it’s time we unwrap that treasure and take a look.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Chi: Integral to Health and Peace of Mind 9

2 How Chi Gets Damaged, Weakened, or Blocked 13

3 Restoring the Life Energy Signal 25

4 Making the Chi Connection for Health 33

5 Three Levels of Healing 49

6 Moving Meditation Is the Key 59

7 Cleaning and Restoring Your Energy: Chi Gung Exercises 77

8 Conclusion 137

Notes 141