Articles
How Can Our Practice Bring Us Joy?
By Jill Gonet and Guan-Cheng Sun
8/15/2002
Our physical body is our way of
being in touch with the Earth, and with the spirit manifested here. If we can't
integrate the spiritual teachings we encounter within our own bodies, it's hard
for these spiritual teachings to take hold and root themselves deeply into the
layers of a fully lived life. Sometimes you can't fit any more tea into the tea
cup because there's already an overflowing ego in that tea cup; then again,
sometimes there's too much old programming in that tea cup (the body), or
painful memories, or illness, stress, tension, or accumulations of toxins and
waste products. In such cases, it can be difficult for a body so full of other
energies to receive spiritual information, and so the person deals with it
intellectually. And this, sadly, creates endless seeking, as long as the person
does not take the time to listen to the body, to acknowledge what has been
stored in it, to cleanse it, and begin to relate to the body lovingly and
mindfully.
Our qigong practice gives us a perspective from which we are
able to review our life, in order to clear things out--like undesirable
experiences, pain, unreasonable expectations, concepts and programs we've been
given that may no longer seem true or useful. We become aware of old or foreign
information and programming that may be holding us back, and to clear that
information from our personal space. And the more of this that we are able to
clear out, the more we are able to find and create our own unique way. The
communications from our deep consciousness become much more easy to hear once
all the noise of old negative information and foreign information and
programming has been cleared.
As we integrate our mind and body to a
greater degree, we also become more able to integrate the life of the spirit,
not just intellectually, but also experientially, and this is a source of great
joy.
With regular and sustained practice, we are on our way to a more
fully functional body, with greater internal peace and silence. The precondition
for uniting the mind with the consciousness of the body is a peaceful mind, and
getting this peaceful mind is a step-by-step process. Through our practice, we
activate and develop the body's energy-information system. By doing so, we
enhance the body's feelings and sensitize the mind; we tell the mind Òpay
attention to this place here, and to this place here.Ó In this way, the mind
becomes connected to the body's energy field.
By extension, when we pay
attention to our own body and become mindful of it and present in it, we're just
a small step away from attentiveness and mindfulness of our larger body, the
Earth. We feel the consciousness within and we feel it everywhere else, too.
That center is within, without, and it is holding. For example, when we feel the
joy of the birds in their spring auditions, when we watch the buds unfurl, or
stand in awe as a bald eagle suddenly dives with unbelievable speed. When we
notice a really grand tree, or the beauty of rocks rounded and smoothed by
water. By listening to our bodies and loving our bodies, we also come to love
the Earth, and experience its harmonies as our own, and its joys.
How Does Qigong Practice Connect Us With the Earth?
By Jill Gonet and Guan-Cheng Sun
8/15/2002
Many spiritual paths shun the sensory world and the senses themselves. But indeed it
is possible and good to consider our senses as a gift that connects us to the
primal wisdom of our bodies and of the earth. In our Qigong practice we are
regularly connecting the lines between the mind and the body, and working to
synchronize the two, thereby bringing our bodyÕs consciousness and our intuition
into balance with the intellect. When we have begun to synchronize our mind and
body, we immediately notice the difference in the quality of our experience,
that we are, to an increasing degree, allowing ourselves to be here on the
earth, with dignity and genuineness. As our practice helps to bring the body and
mind back together and synchronize them once again, our lives become less of a
concept, and more of an experience. We learn to live here, on the earth, with
sacredness, everyday sacredness, in the present. And more and more our lives
become the expression of this deepening experience.
Our modern,
civilized, culture has conditioned us into a constant state of mental
distraction, and we come to think of this as normal. But this state of mental
distraction is so far removed from the natural simplicity of people and our
earth, that many people hardly ever experience the true nature and quality of
the self or the earth.
Our culture also conditions us to notice messes
and problems, whereas things that are done well often go unnoticed. We, as
Qigong practitioners, may have had our health and well-being increased so
naturally that it might not even have registered to us how our current state
compares to where we were before we took up practice. Each practice session that
we accomplish on a regular basis is a cumulatively significant action.
When we synchronize our body and our mind we discover the innate wonder,
the simple miracle, of this earth. Our perceptions help us connect our own
personal wisdom with the greater wisdom of our context, a wisdom so clean and
skillful in its means that we may not have fully realized its presence all
around us. Many different styles of Chinese martial arts were developed by
observing, and feeling, the movements of animals such as eagle, tiger, snake
etc. These arts were inspired by the wisdom of the animals. And, in a similar
state of being attuned, the ancient Chinese developed herbalism, as well as
acupuncture by experiencing the internal energy flow along the acupuncture
meridians during their energetic practice.
The connection to the greater
wisdom of our context heightens our existence. When we are genuine, and able to
be as we naturally are, the greater wisdom that is in fact the ground of our
being offers us tremendous energy and support. Meaningfulness, beauty, dignity,
abound. And ÒpeakÓ experiences multiply, even in the most mundane of
circumstances, and among the everyday problems of life, when we synchronize our
body and our mind, as well as connect with our larger body, the earth.
A SPIRITUAL RENAISSANCE: REFLECTIONS ON A QIGONG LIFE BY KENNETH S. COHEN
By Kenneth S. Cohen
5/7/2001
It is hard to believe that I ever began Qigong-- it is so much a part of my life. Nor can I
conceive of a time when the practice will end or-- God forbid-- when the
learning will stop. I was first exposed to Chinese culture through a "mistake."
In 1968, a friend recommended a book called Sound and Symbol by a German
musicologist. As I rode home on the subway that afternoon, I realized that in my
haste I had mistakenly purchased another book of the same title but by a
different author. Instead of a book about music, I found myself reading one of
the rarest and finest introductions to the Chinese language, Sound and Symbol by
Bernhard Karlgren. Before the subway ride was ended, I was hooked. I realized
that by studying a truly foreign language I could learn how language and concept
influence one's perception of reality. Perhaps I could, in the process, free
myself of the preconceptions hidden in my own language, English, and learn to
perceive the world silently and thus, more truly. Within a few months, I began
to study the Chinese language and, not long thereafter, Qigong.
As I
reflect on this story, I realize that it explains not only how I began Qigong
but why I have continued. Foreign language study can clear the mind of
culture-bound assumptions. Similarly, Qigong liberates the student from
preconceptions held in the body: the immature and inappropriate strategies for
living embodied in posture and breathing. To stand straight is to give up the
burden of insecurity. To breathe slowly is to take life as it comes, without
allowing memory or expectation to interfere. As the body becomes quiet, the mind
becomes quiet. The qi flows not only within the body, but between oneself and
Nature. In breathing, the external world becomes you. Yet you do not own it, you
let it go and return breath to its source-- what Chinese people call the
Tao.
I had another beginning, a renaissance of Qi, several years later. I
was teaching my first seminar at a growth center in Amherst, Massachusetts. One
evening, during a break, I decided to take a walk outside; snow was falling and
hanging heavy on the pine trees. Wouldn't it be wonderful to practice Qigong in
this setting? As I began practicing, something very odd happened. Normally, I
experienced Qigong movements as arising from deep within, seemingly generated by
the breath and by the slow shifting of the weight. But this time I disappeared;
I felt that I was not doing Qigong. Rather, the falling snow, the trees, the
air, the ground itself were unfolding through the various postures. I became a
sphere of energy whose center was everywhere. This was a kind of spiritual
rebirth in Qigong; I learned that mind and body could become truly empty, that
inside and outside could become a unified field of experience was without "I".
But I do know that Qigong has never been the same. Thus, another key to my
motivation and, I hope, to your motivation: practice qigong to learn that you
are part of Nature. When you breathe, it is the wisdom of nature that breathes
you!
Finally, I have continued practicing because of the dramatic effect
Qigong has had on my own health. I was a weak and sickly child and a victim of
the poor medical practices of the time. Antibiotics were prescribed for every
cold and scratchy throat, leading to a downward bronchitis, weak immune system,
poor sleep, and low energy. I look for ways to bring these same benefits to my
students.
I applaud the scientists who are looking for the mechanism of
Qigong-- how it works-- and who are designing experiments to validate Qigong's
efficacy as a form of complementary medicine. Science has already demonstrated
Qigong's powerful healing effects on cancer, heart disease, and chronic pain.
However, people who practice Qigong with an open mind do not need proof to know
that it works. They experience it. Science has yet to prove that the sun exists.
Yet this does not prevent us from enjoying its light and warmth. Yes, trust
science. But trust yourself even more.
(From www.qigonghealing.com by
permission)
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