Paolo Proietti

“WATER'S DWELLING PLACE”

Notes of Taoist Inner Alchemy

Translated from the original Italian by Christine Hogan and Massimo Brillo.

Two loyal Tai Chi students who have achieved a new equilibrium in life, both physical and philosophical, thanks to their Maestro.

“Under the plum tree,

Awaiting, Quan Yin,

Mistress of Joy.

Her lips as red as the fruit.

Her skin as white as the flower.

Offer her your hand and she will be yours.

For always.

( Anon. Chinese, XIII century)  

Nei Dan, the pathway of the Inner Alchemy

“The Golden Elixir is a name that portrays one's fundamental nature. The Golden Elixir does not exist outside its fundamental nature. All human beings possess the Golden Elixir. The wise man and the ordinary person possess it equally.

It is the seed of the Immortals and the Buddha, the root of the worthwile and the wise”

(Liu Yiming, 1734-1821)

A few years ago, I think it was 2012, November 2012, Andrea Pagano, my friend and a student of mine at the time, showed me a Taoist antique from the XVII century. It had belonged to his grandfather, a consul in China during the period of Mussolini. Andrea thought that I could help him understand its use and to interpret the strange symbols that decorated it.

It was a silver mirror, completely smooth on one side and covered by pictures and ideograms on the other.

For a week, we did nothing else but copy, transcribe and compare notes and in the end, thanks to Google and to a friend of Andrea who is a sinologist, we found that the “Mirror” was in fact a sort of account of Inner Alchemy of the lineage called Daojao , going back to Lao Tzu.

It most certainly was “also” a musical instrument (if we hit it with a small hammer it rang like a Tibetan bell), but its original use must have been that of a meditation object and, therefore, a practical handbook.

In the middle of the decorated side (the back of the mirror) there were two dragons, their heads and tails entwined together, one flew downwards and the other flew upwards. “ The little one creates the mountains ” could be read on the left and on the right “Rujing” which Andrea’s friend translated as “to enter into a foreign land” or “to travel beyond the mirror”.

At the bottom there was an alchemist's tripod, also called “Xuanpin” or “ Mysterious Female ”, to the left of this, amongst other symbols, stood out a flower with five petals, (which was according to me a plum-tree flower). On the right there was a plum.

The flower and fruit of the plum-tree are symbols of Lao Tzu.

Lao Tzu was the nickname given to a Taoist teacher of the V century a.C. and it means “ the Old Baby ”.

In fact Lao Tzu's real name was Li, which means “ plum-tree ”.

It is said that he was born under a tree and that, at the moment of his birth, he had white hair like the flower and red cheeks like the fruit of the plum-tree, characteristics which he retained all of his life. This is the reason why he acquired the nick name Lao Tzu, the Old Baby.

On each side above the flower and the fruit, there were two couples of gods or spirits.

They were probably four of the “Inner Gods”, the fine energies that connect the human being's organs to the celestial spheres. These fine energies also represent the four energy centres (we can define them as Cakra ), used in meditation during the practice of Nei Dan, Inner Alchemy.

Above the two couples of the gods, there was the symbol of the sun  on the left and the moon on the right.

Inside these “luminary” symbols, could be seen the outline of a dragon and a tiger. According to the iconic Taoist tradition these represent “Supreme Yang” and “Supreme Yin”, pouring their elixir into the tripod (the alchemist's crucible).

At the top, in the middle there was a castle, “the Yellow Castle”. This castle symbolizes the first revelation of the Being, which in the human body is found in the centre of the forehead, in a space which is one Kun (one inch) wide, corresponding to Ajna Cakra in Yoga.

In the ascending and descending dragons, in the centre of the mirror, we found a written text of Tàijíquán which represents the last phase of Taoist meditation, called Chongxuan or double mystery.

1 Paolo Proietti – Qi Gong Exercise

Searching for Qi

I was already a yoga teacher when I started to be interested in Taoist psychophysical techniques in the middle of the 1980's.

In 1990, in both Hong Kong and in the Chinatown of Singapore, I had taken lessons of Qi Gong and Tàijíquán. These lessons caused me to have doubts and perplexities on the level of teaching that I had found in the West.

I had the impression that in the form ( Tao Lu ) and in the techniques that we study in the West there was something missing.

There was always a lot of talk about Qi , the inner energy and about extra sensorial perceptions linked to the flow of this Qi , but nobody seemed able to help you to feel it.

“ Ok, so what is this Qi? How can I perceive it? ” The majority of Italian instructors that I have known replied with the seraphic smile of Buddha “ You'll see... You need time... When you're ready you'll feel the power of Qi...  And then you won't need to ask any more questions. ”

When I was in Hong Kong I asked an old Chinese man to teach me some Qi Gong exercises. The first thing he did was to point the  index and middle finger of his right hand at about twenty centimetres from the centre of my forehead.

I felt a light electric current and then a light pressure, pleasant and intermittent.

It seemed that the space between his fingers and my forehead had became dense and he was managing to command it with his will: it was Qi.

Every morning at 7:15, we met in the Chai Wan gardens. For a good half hour Mr. Zhong (this was the name he wanted me to use) made me practice hand sensitivity exercises.

The elusive Qi slowly became a tangible presence.

A kind of fluid, pliable and dense, like the mercury in a thermometer, that I seemed to be able to model at will.

With this I formed small invisible balls that I moved around my body at will.

Apart from my fingertips and the palms of my hands, the most sensitive points seemed to be the centre of my forehead, my heart and my navel.

In December 1990 I left Hong Kong, bound for Istanbul. Then after a brief stay in Greece I returned home to Rome. Each day I practiced a form of Tàijíquán (the Old Form in the Yang style ) a series of eight positions that Mr. Zhong had taught me. I tried to perceive the Qi in each position and to move it myself in my legs, in my arms and down my vertebral column.

Without realizing it, I started to modify my postures and my movements and, after a few months, my body started to change. My hands and feet became wider (my shoe size is 45 now, whilst in 1990 it was 42 and a half). My shoulder blades took on an unusual position as if they were joined to my lower ribs.

I met Andrea Pagano in August 2006, in Ansedonia. He had seen me practicing Tàijí on the beach and he was impressed by the fluidity and the gracefulness of the movements. According to him too fluid and too graceful “ Beautiful, but you seem to be a dancer – he said - Tàijíquán is a Martial Art ”. We began to talk about Tao , “ the Energies' Dance ”, the relationship between Nath Yoga and Qi Gong .

He told me about his grandfather who had been a diplomat in China in the 1930's and his father who had lived in Peking. He recounted of having been taught sexual tantrism by a female Taoist teacher. He told me that he had been practicing for ten years with different teachers but he had never really managed to perceive the Qi . When I lead him through some of the exercises that Mr. Zhong had taught me, he was amazed.

We must have worked together for eight years, seeing each other almost every day to practice, to discuss techniques and above all to study all the written texts that we managed to find on the subject. Thanks to his friendship in the academic field, - Andrea had been a university Professor in Stockholm – and his knowledge of languages (as well as Italian, he spoke Spanish, English, French, German and Swedish fluently, and he even managed Chinese quite well), I was able to consult an incredible number of documents.

The romantic vision that the majority of westerners have of Tàijíquán and Qi Gong was completely swept away. According to our studies, it was not an age old art for fighting and health, passed down from teacher to pupil in the secret rooms of temples lost in the mountains, but a series of techniques for good health defined by the Mao Government during the Cultural Revolution.

Techniques that had had all references to magic and the complicated Taoist cosmology weeded out by the Central Committee of the Communist Party considering them to be mere superstition. In other words what we taught by the name Tàijìquàn o Qi Gong was a modern discipline, a healthy form of gymnastics created in modern times by the Chinese Ministry of Health.

In November 2006, I wrote an article for CICAP, “ New gurus and ancient dances ” [1] , in which I anticipated the results of our research.

At that time I wrote:

“The oriental psychophysical disciplines characterized by the integration of physical exercises, respiration and concentration techniques have been known in the West for hundreds of years. The first man who tried to study Yoga scientifically was Francois Bernier (1620-1688), the Gran Mogol's doctor. The Chinese therapeutic gymnastics called Cong Fou was introduced into Europe thanks to the Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot (1718-1793).

It is enough to compare Amiot's beautiful illustrations with the Swedish gymnastic exercises invented by Henrik Ling (1776-1883) to understand the importance that Oriental disciplines had on the evolution of Western physical education. Ling, who was a student at Copenhagen university, managed to heal his paralysed arm by practicing French fencing. Probably, following this episode, exercises, once only reserved for the military, were introduced into physical therapy. The Oriental martial arts, as they are known today, have recently been introduced. In the past, no difference was made between the techniques of Oriental or Western fighting: the terms used were wrestling, boxing or fencing, each with the name of the country of origin.

Judo was Japanese wrestling and Savate was French boxing.

Coinciding with the diffusion of New Age philosophies, dozens of psychophysical disciplines and martial arts were introduced each year into Europe as if suddenly the East had decided to uncover what it had kept hidden in thousands of years of economic and cultural exchanges. The term 'arts' used to indicate fighting techniques is deceptive being originally used for a group of exercises, practical ideas and strategies for the military, the police force and professional wrestlers.

The fighting technique most used by New Age followers is Tàijíquán or Tai ch'i chuan. Probably it is as military and as ancient as football, a ball game,  which was a part of the Roman soldiers military training, so it could be deemed a thousand year old European martial art.

Tai Ch'i could be interpreted as 'Supreme Foundation' or 'Supreme Harmony' and Chuan means 'fist' or 'punch'.

It is not mentioned in any document before the XIX century. We have verified proof that the teachers were born between the XIX and the XX century. So it is understandable to think that it was a creation of those secret societies of the 1800's, (called amongst various names 'Righteous and Harmonious Fists') which were inspired by Taoism and united in the xenophobic and antiChristian Boxer movements.

The Boxers trained with ancient arms (no longer used in the Chinese army) and they underwent specific forms of psychophysical training which were supposed to leave them impervious to bullets. In June 1900, after having destroyed several Christian missions, they attacked the palace of foreign legations in Peking, which was defended by 500 soldiers: American, French, Italian, Russian and German.

After 55 days of fighting, a multinational force of 16,000 men arrived in Peking, beginning a hard and bloody repression. By now, the Boxers were exhausted and demoralized and the superior strategy and strength of the besieged Bersaglieri and Marines was overwhelming.

Several decades later, the master Chen Man Ch'ing created a series of exercises with 37 positions (then reduced to 24) linked to each other in a sort of gentle and healthy dance, probably similar to some of the 1800's techniques of the Boxers. It was Tàijíquán, which then became part of the physical education program promoted by the Communist government. There are no documents other than oral accounts or written legends that show any other origin of today's Tàijíquán.

It is probably a valid exercise of medical gymnastics created by the contemporary Chinese. The fact that it is publicized as an ancient and efficient martial art depends on the needs of the market. The New Age consumer prefers to acquire 'products' that come from cultures that are distant both in time and space. It is for this reason that the new gurus often revert to tall stories, half truths or huge lies. They recycle theories coming from Hinduism and neoplatonic and esoteric philosophies, passing them off as new teachings which have been known for centuries or defining oriental and ancient, those techniques that have originated in the West in the XX century.”

When Andrea and I began to study the “Silver Mirror”, we already had, or thought we had, a clear picture of the origin of the Taoist psychophysical practices.

1) In Europe, a series of exercises originating from a blend of Chinese traditional gymnastics and modern Western therapeutic gymnastics was taught using the name Tàijíquán and Qi Gong .

2) There were, or there had existed, schools or traditional lineages, like the Daojao , that passed on ancient techniques and concepts through the ages.

3) These techniques and concepts originated from the teachings of Siddha Nath del Tamil and were brought  to China by one Bo Yang, which is probably a modification of the Indian name Boghanathar.

4) Boghanathar, called the Alchemist, had been the teacher of Babaji Nagaraji, the immortal yogin made famous by Yogananda in “Autobiography of a Yogi”.

In the light of these teachings of Tantra and Vedas, the mysterious Taoist symbols and the bizarre descriptions of the inner processes became suddenly clear (or so we thought).

It was enough exchanging “the Yellow Emperor” for “Brahman Nirguna” or identifying the Taoist triad, Lao Tzu – Buddha  -  Confucious, with the Indian Trimurti, Shiva – Vishnu – Brahma, and the symbols, the allegories and the Chinese techniques appeared as a refined variation of tantric Yoga, becoming, at least for me who taught (and teaches) Hathayoga , suddenly comprehensible.

These that follow are some reflections that I jotted down at the time and some descriptions of exercises that according to me, now revisited in the light of teaching Yoga show immediately their power as potential instruments for the fulfilment of one's self.

The Ten Ghosts

That which follows faithfully the Spirits

in their coming and goings denotes the hun.

That which is associated with the essence

of their entering and exiting denotes the po'.

That which takes care of living beings

is called the heart.

The heart is involved, that is the proposal.

The proposal becomes permanent, that is the wish.

The wish which is maintained, that is the thought.

The thought unfolds in distance and power,

that is reflection.

Reflection covers all beings, that is knowing what to do.

(Qi Bo's answer, Huangdi Neijing Lingshu, chap. 8)

In Taoism, Xing (hsing) e ming can be translated as to “ To be ” and “ To become ” or Shiva and Shakti , indicating the two polarities through which the divine principle is manifested after its conception.

性 Xing , To be , is an ideogram drawn graphically with a series of simple signs which is interesting to study.

 性 Xing is formed by:

 心 Xìn means mind/heart/perceptive mind

(the equivalent of Manas in Yoga); 

竹 Zhù means bamboo;

手 Shòu means hand/author

(in the sense of someone chosen for a specific job);

一 Yì   means one/whole.

 命 Ming , that which is “ to become ”, but it also means destiny, order, determination, and it is formed by:

人 Rén   means man/person/people; 

一口 Yikòu means categorically/decidedly/indisputably;

 中 Zhòng means while/inside/in the middle of/centre/China. 

“At the bottom is the dwelling place of water

At the top the dwelling place of fire.”

Individually, the primary forces of Xing and Ming are expressed through two groups of fine energies or spirits called Hún and Po'.

魂 Hún literally means spirit and it is similar to our soul. It is linked to the Liver, to the emotion of rage, dreams, visions and hallucinations.

Traditionally we speak of three Hún to which we owe fantasy, imagination and artistic inspiration.

In death it leaves the body to reunite in heaven.

Graphically it is formed by:

一 yī means one/whole; 

戈 gē lance that penetrates/to penetrate; 

竹 zhú bamboo; 

And the n戈 gē.

魄 po' which is often used to mean soul, means instead “Genetic Memory”, that part of the individual which returns to the Earth, after death. It is linked to the Lungs, to the emotion of sadness and melancholy.

Traditionally we speak of seven po', responsible for all that regards  physical abilities and the practical achievements of the individual. Graphically the ideogra m魄 po' is formed by:

竹 zhú bamboo; 

日 rì   sun/day; 

then agai n竹 zhú,

and finally 戈 gē which as we have seen means both lance and penetrate.

The seve n魄 po' , female entities associated with water, and the thre e魂 hún , male entities associated with fire are the hidden energies in our body, defined together a s鬼 guĭ , an ideogram explained often as a ghost, but means hidden, whilst hidden, astute, shrewd.

The ten spirits,at the moment of death, tend to return to their natural dwellings. The thre e魂 hún leave through the fontanel and return to heaven (“ the dwelling place of fire is on high ”) and the seve n魄 pò leave the solar plexus and return to earth (“ the dwelling place of water is below” ).

The union o f魂 hún , of 魄 po' and the other three spirits, calle d 意 yi   (Intention) , 志 zhi (Will) an d神 shén (Primary spiritual energy), is found in a number of energy plexuses (points or cavities) in the human body from which nerves or energy channels branch out and throughout these channels circulates Ch'i energy.

Organ

(zang )

Energy

(běn shén)

Meaning

Emotion

(wu zhi)

Heart

Shén

Spirit

Joy

Kidneys

Zhi

Will

Fear

Liver

Hún

Soul

Rage

Spleen

Yi

Intention

Reflection

Lungs

Pò

Body memory

Sadness

Shao Chou Tien

(The Small Celestial Circuit)

“To posses the Spirits is the splendour of life.

To lose the Spirits is annihilation.

(Huangdi Neijing Suwen, chap. 15)

For the Taoists, the human body is like a map of the sky. There are 108 principal points and cavities, similar to the stars, from which branch out a dense network of channels (72000 according to Indian tradition). The 12 meridians of Chinese medicine (the “constellations”) originated from these channels.

Where the 12 meridians intersect new pathways are formed, the so called “8 psychic channels” and “8 extraordinary channels” which we can simplify by describing them thus:

1) the rising female energy channel (yin) from the perineum to a point between the eyebrows, passing up the spinal column.

2) the descending male energy channel (yang) from the base of the tongue to the perineum passing the front part of the body.

3) the belt channel, that rotates in the zone of the 11 th dorsal vertebra passing under the ribs and over the stomach, like a belt fastened under the  thorax.

4) the internal channel, that rises from the perineum to the solar plexus, passing vertically inside the body.

5) the positive channel of the legs (yang) that descends from a point under the navel to the sole of your foot, to the point called “Bubbling Spring”, passing through the hip and down the outer leg.

6) the negative channel of the legs (yin) that rises from the sole of the foot (“Bubbling Spring”) up to the navel passing up the internal part of the leg and the groin.

7) the positive channel of the arms (yang) that goes from the heart to the centre of the palm of the hand, passing down the external part of the arm and the back of the hand.

8) the negative channel of the arms (yin) that goes from the centre of the palm of the hand to the heart passing along the internal part of the arm and the armpit.

The circulation of Qi along the “extraordinary channels” is one of the foundations of the Taoist psychophysical practices. The practitioner will be able to visualize these extraordinary 8 channels as flexible and transparent rubber tubes, through which flows Qi in a dense liquid form like mercury in a thermometer.

To understand the effect of working on the extraordinary channels we can do a simple exercise to activate the arms:

- in a standing position shake and massage your arms until they feel warm and relaxed;

- widen your legs so they are the same distance apart as your hips.

- lift up your arms as if you are holding a ball as wide as your chest, with the palms of your hands turned towards your chest and your index fingers touching;

- breathing in let's visualize the energy – in a form of a golden liquid, dense, perfumed, pleasant to the touch – which passes from the centre of your chest to your shoulder, from the external part of your arm to the point of your elbow, along the external part of your forearm to the back of you hands along your finger and finally to the centre of the palm of your hand.

- breathing out let's visualize the energy which passes from the palm of your hand along the inside of your wrist, the inside of your elbow, the inner part of your arm through your armpit to the centre of your chest.

- After a moment you should feel a sort of light vibration in your arms and hands. Then we will concentrate on the heaviness of our hands thinking “MY HANDS ARE HOT AND HEAVY” each time we breathe in and breathe out.

- When your hands feel much hotter and heavier than usual breathing in let's imagine that the bones in your fingers contact (like a sponge being squeezed.

- breathing out let's imagine that the bones expand.

Once this exercise is finished we will sit with our legs crossed and with our hands resting on our knee caps (palms upward) and we will notice any changes in the perceptions of our arms and hands.

Posture for meditation while standing

The circulation of the fine energy in two of eight extraordinary channels is “the object of meditation”, one of the fundamental exercises of Qi Gong Nei Dan: the Small Celestial Circuit.

The first is the channel of male energy. It is descending, called Ren Mai or vessel/path of conception which begins under the lower lip and ends at the perineum, called Huiyin o Hai di, translated as “ Point at the bottom of the sea ”.

The second is the channel of female energy. It is ascending, called Du Mai or vessel/Governor's path.

Du Mai starts at the “Point at the bottom of the sea” (corresponding to Muladhara Cakra in Yoga) terminating in a point in the palate called “the pool in the sky” ( Tien Tzie ) or “the Dragoon's Coil” ( Lung Chuan ).

The indications for completing the Small Celestial Circuit ( shao chou tien ) are relatively simple.

1) Amass vital energy in your lower abdomen.

2) Breathing out, conduct the energy from your lower abdomen to the sacrum (through the genitals and the anus).

3) Breathing in, bring the energy to a point in the centre of your shoulder blades.

4) Breathing out, bring it from the point between the shoulder blades to the point in the centre of your forehead passing through the nape of the neck and the cranium.

5) Breathing in, carry it from the point in the centre of the forehead to the lower abdomen ready to start the circuit of breathing and visualizing again.

However, in practice it is far more complex that it seems.

Before beginning the exercise you have to do a series of preliminary movements that requires a good knowledge of anatomy, of the Chinese occult physiology and meditation.

To begin we have to connect the two “principal channels” ( Ran Mai e Du Mai ) through the tongue.

This connecting act is called Da Chiao or “ the Creation of the Bridge ”.

Another essential process is to sit with your legs crossed, better still if it is one of the Yoga positions Padmasana (Lotus position), Ardha Padmasana (Half Lotus) or Siddhasana (Perfect Position), with the left heel under the perineum and the right foot on top of the left foot).

If your legs are not crossed it is almost impossible to create the Small Celestial Circuit, which spontaneously activates the circulation of energy along the back and the front of the body. The leg channels are “bigger”, “wider” and the fine energy circulates more easily.

According to the Chinese, you should be standing or in a position where your legs are not bent or crossed because, otherwise the energy would find it easier to reach the thighs, the calves and the feet instead of accumulating in the abdomen in a sufficient quantity to begin the Small Celestial Circuit.

The main point of the Small Celestial Circuit meditation is that of undoing the three San Guan (the three knots or gates of Energy) in the vertebral column, in exactly the same points where Yoga practitioners have the three knots of Knowledge or Brahma granthi (Instinctive Centre), Vishnu granthi (Emotional Centre) and Rudra ganthri (Mental Centre).

The first “energy gate” is called wei lu and is situated in the sacral zone.

The second is called jur gi o ming men (the Life's Door) and is found in the area of the heart.

The third is called yugen (Jade Cushion) or naohu (the Brain's Door) and is found in the nape of the neck aligned with the Ajna cakra of Yoga, located in the middle of the eyebrows.

The aim of the Small Celestial Circuit is the free circulation of energy in the psychological channels called Ren Mai and Du Mai.

When the energy “really” starts to flow , the muscles on either side of your spinal column move, they rise and fall as if a snake has been inserted into your back.

If the energy manages to rise up to your head, this exterior movement is placated and a feeling of pins and needles or a sort of numbness travels from the nape of your neck to a point in the middle of your forehead.

Sometimes, another symptom of the rise of this energy is a rhythmic rocking of your body.

  Tu Gu Na Xin, 

(Cast Aside the Old to Assimilate the New) 

The Small Celestial Circuit is part of the techniques called Tu Na (o Tu Gu Na Xin , “Cast Aside the Old and Assimilate the New”) where:

吐 tù   vomit, repel;

古 gŭ old, ancient; 

拿 ná   capture;  

新 xīn new.

Sometimes we use the term Nei Dan , or more appropriatel y 內丹術 nèi dān shù where:

內 nèi internal, inner;

丹 dān red, red mercury, cinnabar:

術 shù technique;

Nei Dan and Tu Na are ancient techniques going back to at least 1000 a.C. This inscription is in a stone slab of about 1000 a.C.

  (cfr. “ Taìjíquán ” di C. Despeaux, ed. Mediterranee):

“ This is the way to proceed with respiration.

You must hold your breath ( 氣 Qi) so that it accumulates.

Once accumulated it expands.

Expanding it descends.

Descending it becomes calm.

Calmed it strengthens.

Strengthened it begins to grow.

When it grows it is drawn towards the upper regions.

When it is drawn up it reaches the sinciput.

At the top it exercises pressure against the top of the head.

Towards the bottom it pushes towards the lower parts.

He who follows these principals will live, he who does not will die. ”

Beyond the mirror

The key words for the practice of the Small Celestial Circuit are diaoshen, diaoxi and yishou :

1) Assume the correct position ( diaoshen ).

2) Use the correct respiration ( diaoxi ).

3) Assume the correct mental state ( yishou ) or keep your attention focused.

Even if the Small Celestial Circuit (and the Large Celestial Circuit, where the arm and leg channels are activated) is carried out in a sitting position or with a sequence of movements, the correct position means the most comfortable posture you can have with your legs crossed, your back straight, your neck muscles and your shoulders relaxed, your eyes half closed (neither open so as not to risk being distracted nor closed so as not to risk following your imagination ).

The correct respiration is f aint, light and controlled respiration (holding a feather an inch from your nostrils you should not see any movement).

The correct mental state emanates from rujing and at the same time coincides with rujing.

Rujing is formed graphically by the ideograms:

入 rù   to enter a country or a place. 

人 rén    man/person

 竹 zhú  bamboo

靜 jìng   quietness, peace, calmness and which in its term is made up of: 

手 shŏu hand (but also “potential craftsman”); 

月 yuè   moon. 

Then agai n月 yuè ( 月月 yuè yuè means “each month”); 

尸 shī     dead body; 

木 mù    tree, wood.

So rujing can be interpreted as “to enter into a foreign country”,

入 rù , “characterized by peacefulness”, 靜 jing, or “to enter into a peaceful territory”, almost as if it was not a state of mind but a place.

It is interesting to see that jing, with the same identical pronunciation, can also be writte n鏡 jing which means mirror.

In this cas e入 r ù 鏡 jing could also be translated as “to enter into the country of the mirror”, a rather evocative definition...

Whichever meaning it has, rujing is the state from which all the Taoist meditation techniques begin. In modern China it is understood as “separation from mental activity”, but, if you have experience in Yoga, you can see that rujing is equivalent to “ the elimination of the mind's alterations ”, which Patanjali discusses in Yogasutra . When you “enter” in rujing , you experience a physical condition of  extremely pleasant relaxation, called “ soong ”, “ shoong ” o “ sōng ”.

鬆 sōng is formed by the ideograms:

松 sōng which is pronounced in the same way, but means pine tree

竹 zhú bamboo.

尸 shī that means both dead body and the actor who interprets death or the dead body.

Pine tree ,松 sōng, is instead formed by the signs:

戈 gē which means lance.

金 jīn   which means gold;

木 mù   which means tree, wood .  

The Hidden Fire

“You are the guardian of the Hidden Fire.

Fill your empty room with light”.

(Lieh Tzu)

The fine energy, which is called “Prana” or “Vayu” in Hindu-Tibetan Yoga, is called  氣 Qi in Taoism (or Xi or Ch'i which not only means “gas, “air”, “weather”) “vital energy”, “steam”, but also getting angry.

The ideogra m氣 Qi is formed by the signs:

人 rén   man, person; 

弓 gōng   bow; 

火 huŏ fire 

木 mù   tree, wood. 

We can begin working on Qi by developing the sensitivity in our hands (in the fingertips and the centre of the palm).

The fine energy is initially perceived as warmth, then as a magnetic field, like a rhythmic series of pinpricks or as a liquid with an increasing density as you become more practiced.

Usually, putting your hands together in front of your forehead, you can perceive a reaction at the point between your eyebrows, as if the optical chiasma is in some way linked to this perception/emission of energy.

As the Qi rises along the Governor's vessel (the channel that links the perineum through the vertebral column to a point in the middle of the forehead) it encounters three knots, gates or narrow passages, which have to be undone, opened or widened through meditation and visualization techniques.

The first knot is in the sacral zone and is linked to the knowledge of the body's movement, called in Sanskrit Brahma Granthi. The second is in the area of the heart ( Vishnu Granthi ) and is linked to the knowledge of the emotions. The third is in the area between the nape of the neck and the cerebellum ( Rudra Granthi ) and linked to the knowledge of thoughts.

Before opening the “Gates of Energy” we have “ to light the fire ” for Qi to rise up the vertebral column.

In Yoga, to describe the process of lighting the fire we talk of Kundalini Rotonda , awakened by Kandarpa Vayu, a modification of Prana linked to sexual desire.

“To light the Fire” means to make energy/light from the point in the middle of your forehead ( Ajna Cakra in Yoga and upper Dān tián in Qi Gong) flow to the genital area ( Svadhistana Cakra in Yoga and lower Dān tián in Qi Gong) through a series of breathing, sensitivity and visualization very similar if not identical to that used in Indian tradition and Tibetan tradition.

The increase in energy in the lower Dān tián is perceived as:

- A rise in temperature localized under the navel;

- A series of mild shocks and pins and needles in the pelvic area, the genitals and the sacrum.

- A sensation of “fullness” and “sweetness” as if the skin's pores were about to open and pour out honey.

Having amassed enough Qi energy in the lower abdomen, you need to use the “mind” to conduct it, in this case, to the perineum and then to the sacrum.

The accumulation of energy in the sacrum can be painful. It can give the impression of something that “doesn't pass through”. This sensation can often cause an increase in heat and energy in the genital area, and in extreme cases can provoke ejection of sperm or vaginal fluid.

In other occasions, you can have a strong increase of energy and heat in the abdomen and your body sways back and forth or in a circular manner, with your limbs moving spontaneously and uncontrollably.

Breathing out, the descent o f氣 Qi from the point under the navel to the sacrum, is the first step of the Small Celestial Circuit.

The Crouching Tiger

In Taoism, the human body is symbolized by a mountain with forests, rocks and streams. Feminine energy, or Yin, is represented by a crouching tiger in the area of the throat. This crouching tiger pounces towards the lower Dān tián, or more specifically to the “ Centre of the lower waters ”, the dwelling of productive energy and of the unconscious.

Here, warmed by the fire of the emotional mind, Yin is revealed as substance and phenomena in the physical world.

Masculine energy, Yang; is fire seen as a dragon awaiting its prey, in the area of the perineum( Muladhara Cakra ).

The dragon is ready to fly towards its lair: the celestial heart (in the human body the point in the middle of the forehead, Ajna Cakra ).

The natural movement of energy in Taoism is the following:

water (the Tiger) goes downwards and fire (the Dragon) goes upwards .

So at the moment of death, the soul divides with the spirit ( Hun ) flying upwards and the body ( Po' ) hastening downwards.

The Inner Alchemy consists of the mercurial adjustment or the reversal of the energies:

the tiger has to rise up and unite with the dragon in the “Yellow Castle”.

The Qi energy, becoming warmer, becomes more fluid and can rise up in the body, first as a liquid or sexual energy ,精 jīng , and then as spiritual energy ,神 shén.

神 shén is used both for “divine essence” and for “supernatural creature”, and is formed by the signs:

戈 gē   lance. 

火 huŏ   fire. 

中 zhōng    inside or in the centre of.  

田中 Tiánzhōng    inner sphere.

So, we could translate Shén , as “the lance of fire that is found in the inner sphere”.   

In the Taoist Inner Alchemy, vital energy has three different levels. Usually it is called Qi .

Accumulating Qi and heating it with the fire of desire it is transformed in Jing and actuating the mercurial adjustment Jing transforms to Shén.

These three levels, Qi, Jing and Shén , are linked to the three “crucibles” or three “energy fields” called dān tián   which means “field” (田 tián) “of cinnabar” (丹 dān), or Red Field:

1) lower dān tián, found between the navel and the pubic bone;

2) middle dān tián, found in the centre of the chest;

3) upper dān tián, found in the centre of the forehead.

The Perception of Qi in D ā n Tián

As we have seen, the first step in the Small Celestial Circuit consists of passing the Qi energy ( Ch'i or Xi ) dal dān tián (from the red field or cinnabar field, where the cinnabar is red mercury) to the sacrum passing through the genitals, the perineum and the anus.

It is obvious that to make something flow you must first know

what it is.

If I have to fill a bottle with milk, I must first know what milk is.

If I have to fill a bottle with petrol, I must first know what petrol is. Otherwise I will find myself pouring milk into the tank of a car and putting petrol into the baby's bottle.

To start using the techniques of Taoist Inner Alchemy, I have first to perceive the flow of energy in my body and around me.

If you don't perceive the Qi energy there is no point in spending hours doing the movements of Qi Gong or the form that is now called Tàijíquán.

We could talk for hours about Tàijíquán.

In Chinese Tàijíquán is writte n 太極拳 where:

太 tài means extremely, the highest, the greatest, the “too much”; 

極 jí is another way to say extremely, to the extreme, and also means at the height of and the geographic poles, but it can also be interpreted as a river, a tree;

拳 quán means punch or fist, and it is normally used for boxing and fighting.

The two ideograms togethe r 太極 , Tài Jí, mean the extreme of the extreme or the source of everything, the final realization, for which we read Tàijíquán as “ the Fist of God ”or to use the Sanskrit term “ the Fist of Isvara ”.

Let us return to the perception of Qi.

The pupil must first of all learn the Art of Inner Listening .

He has to learn to move his attention inwardly, to his inner perception and his own receptiveness, acquiring an almost feverish sensibility.

There are many techniques for the Art of Listening , but usually they are based on physical actions (finger pressure, rubbing massage, striking massage) added to the control/listening to your respiration and the use of visualization, mantra, sounds and in particular the use of “Inner Dialogue” similar to that of Schultz's Autogenous Training.

Let us follow a practical example (there is a multitude of variations):

- Standing up or sitting down in a comfortable position, shake your hands and arms to activate your circulation.

- Relax your shoulders rolling them forwards and backwards, repeatedly lifting them and letting them fall.

- When your hands and arms are warmed up, with the fingers of your right hand (or the opposite: usually the right hand is considered masculine and the left hand feminine) press the nail of your left thumb breathing in and slacken off breathing out.  

- Repeat this a number of times (usually 9 or a multiple of 9) until you feel a different sensation in your thumb (it will seem lighter or heavier or hotter or colder than all the other fingers).

- Repeat this with each finger of the left hand, then press the centre of the palm in the same way.

- Evaluate the difference between the sensation in the left hand and that in the right hand. Then visualize the bones in the left hand (that with the most sensitivity) as precisely as possible, as if you were drawing them in your mind.

- Breathing in, imagine that the bones become compressed by a wide elastic band and breathing out imagine that this pressure is alleviated.

- Imagine that your bones become ever more soft and elastic, you should feel pins and needles and/or a sense of heaviness and/or a rise in temperature and/or a sensation of needle pricks in your fingertips and the centre of your palm.

- Feel the difference between your two hands and repeat the operation with the other hand.

To increase the perception of this energy, you can put the palm of your hands together in front of your chest (with your elbows relaxed and your fingers pointing upwards).

- In this position imagine breathing in through your palms (visualize a hole which is pliable and opens, carrying air into your lungs through your arms) and to breathe out through your fingertips.

  - After 9 respirations or a multiple of 9 (up to 108), gently and slowly separate your hands, hold them at a short distance of 3 or 4 centimetres from each other horizontally, with your fingers forward  (it will seem that the palms are glued together).

- Visualize now a stretchable and sticky substance between your two palms. Breathing in (slowly, silently, inhaling the air a centimetre away from the end of your nose) imagine that you want to increase the distance between your hands but you cannot manage it (the sticky substance keeps them apart) and breathing out (slowly, silently, expelling the air a centimetre away from the end of your nose) imagine that you want to put your palms together but you cannot manage to because of that elastic mass.

After 9 (or 18, 27 … 108) repetitions, you should perceive both a repelling and attracting energy.

The Inner Dialogue

If I remember correctly, in Hong Kong, the “perception of opposite energies” was called zheng li o zong li , but I think the exact phrase i s 震慄 zhèn lì . 

震 zhèn means the tremors of an earthquake or of thunder.

It is composed by the signs:

女 n ǚ  woman, female;

一 yì   one, whole and the total;

一一 yīyī   one after the other, in sequence;

月 yuè   moon.

Instead the ideogram  慄 lì means the trembling from a fever or from fear and is formed by:

心 xīn heart, mind (perceptive mind, manas in Sanskrit); 

一 yī   one, whole and the total;

田 Tián   field;

木 mù  tree, wood.

There are two different types of vibrations, the more powerful one (like a rumbleof thunder or a shock of an earthquake) contains graphically the ideogram of the moon (月 yuè ) and that of woman (女 n ǚ which however can also be read as rŭ which could either indicate second person singular – you – or the number 1000).

The second vibration, which is weaker, (trembling with fear or from a fever) contains graphically the sign of the heart or mind (心 xīn ) and the sign of field (田 Tián ).

The vibration of thunder and an earthquake is in a way external:

if there is an earthquake my body vibrates because of it, the thrust is external, everybody who is near me shakes in the same way.

The vibration of fear or of a fever is in a way internal: if I have a fever, the tremors come from inside, if those near me don't have a fever, they don't tremble.

We can therefore presume that “the perception of opposite energies” depends on both external factors, objective, and internal factors, subjective.

However, these “phenomena” are not casual and are repeatable, becoming stronger with practice. This will continue as long as you do not have excessive tension in your hands and your shoulders and you do not suffer from problems linked to the afferent function of the nervous system.

Human nerves are formed by different fibres called efferent and afferent.

The efferent fibres are those that originate in the brain and travel to the periphery, or nerve terminals.

The afferent fibres are those that begin in the periphery and travel to the brain. The nerves in the most sensitive areas (hands, feet, lips, tongue, genitals, anus) are composed of both afferent and efferent fibres.

This means that – in your  hands, feet, lips, tongue, genitals, anus

- the perception and the sending of information through electric impulses is contemporary.

The realization that this two different vibrations – electric currents - can be perceived together provokes a development in sensibility by the creation of new synapses (neuronal network).

Practice in perceiving these opposite energies develops an “internal sensation” or the capacity of internal listening (in western physiology you would talk about proprioceptors and enteroceptors).”

Once you have developed the capacity to listen with your hands, you can work with the rest of your body, applying the same process described for your fingers and the palms of your hands.

Or you can use visualization and “ Inner Dialogue ”.

For “Inner Dialogue” I mean exactly that, speaking to yourself without emitting a sound, writing or “hearing” in your mind specific words or phrases. This can be articulated mentally letter by letter and you can associate specific visualizations to each phrase or word.

In this case, the choice of phrases and visualizations is subjective because it must be evocative for the pupil who has to call on his own personal language and his own personal symbolism.

Let us give an example:

- I imagine that at the base of my nose there is a stretchy hole (usually a vagina).

- Breathing in, air enters like a light, white or golden, or like white smoke, or like a liquid, pleasant to look at and to touch (liquid gold, honey, etc.).

- I breathe in (slowly and softly) and the light (or the smoke or the liquid) enters in the hole at the base of my nose.

  - I hold my breath for a couple of seconds and imagine that the light (e.g.) is moving in my cranium, lightning up from inside (and/or cleaning it, like a jet of water can remove mud from your shoes).

- Breathing out I “see” the light which issues from the hole at the base of my nose.

- I continue (for 9, 18... 108 breathing cycles) until I feel an “unusual” feeling in my forehead and in my head: pins and needles, lightness, heat, a pleasant light pressure, etc.

(N.B. If you feel negative or painful sensations, you must stop immediately).

I will now concentrate on the “unusual” feeling in my forehead and I will begin the “Inner Dialogue.

- Breathing in, I think or form in my mind the phrase “MY MIND IS CALM” (for example).

- Holding my breath, I think or form in my mind the conjunction “AND” (for example).

- Breathing out, I think or form in my mind the word “RELAXED” (for example) continuing to follow mentally the light that, together with the expired air, leaves and travels towards the horizon.

Once this change in the psychophysical state has been established (increased calm, an increased pleasant feeling in the cranium, the nape of the neck and the forehead, relaxation in the face muscles) I will concentrate on my throat.

- I imagine a stretchy hole (vagina) and I repeat the breathing cycle visualizing for example a golden light.

- When I have an unusual but not unpleasant feeling in my throat, I begin the  “Inner Dialogue” without ever forcing my breathing. (You can use both dialogue and visualization at the same time, but you need a high level of concentration). I choose a phrase that is evocative for me (e.g. “MY THROAT IS OPEN AND RELAXED” and/or “WORDS GUSH FORTH LIKE WATER FROM A FOUNTAIN”).

- I proceed in the same way concentrating on the centre of my chest  (“MY HEART BEATS SLOWLY AND STRONGLY”), the stomach (“MY STOMACH IS RELAXED”, or “MY LIVER AND SPLEEN ARE WET AND RELAXED”, etc.), the area under my navel (“MY ABDOMEN IS ELASTIC AND FULL OF ENERGY”) and my genitals.

The genitals are a limitless source of creative energy, breathing in you can try and imagine that air enters into the gland (of the penis or the clitoris) and fills the area of the pelvic floor and breathing out you can visualize it rising up the vertebral column through the sacrum.

In this case, the “Inner Dialogue” regards specifically the genitals (e.g. “MY GENITALS ARE HOT AND HEAVY”). When you notice an increase in heat, pins and needles and vibrations in the abdomen (a feeling which is accentuated when, breathing in, you contract the anal muscles) you can continue with the flow of energy.

The Gates of Energy

As we have said from the beginning, in Taoism the revelation is due to the “fecundation” (so to speak) of a feminine quintessence, which we have called “Life” or “Becoming”, as i n 命 ming. This fecundation is by a masculine quintessence that we have defined as “Being” o r 性 xing . Xing and ming express themselves through five “Breaths of air” or “Winds” (the same as the five vayu o prana in the Hindu-Tibetan tradition):

魂 Hún spirit;

魄 Po’   soul; 

氣 Qi     vital energy, vapour;

精 Jīng   sperm, sexual energy, elixir;

神 Shén   divine essence, spiritual energy.  

魄 Po’ is the energy that carries us downwards with the identical functions as apana vayu in Yoga.

魂 Hùn is the energy that carries us upwards with the identical functions as udhana vayu in Yoga

In the normal state of existence, the five breaths of air follow the descending direction of the feminine energy Po' . 

The scope of the Inner Alchemy is to redirect the five breaths of air according to the direction of the rising wind Hún.

To do this, we begin to gather Qi energy in the genital area ( Svadisthana cakra in Yoga) defined in Chines e 丹田 dān tián or red field (cinnabar field or field of red mercury).

The accumulation of energy (obtained through physical exercises, breathing exercises, the consumption of specific liquids and foods) usually leads to a development of muscles, fatness, physical health, sexual desire.

Sexual desire transforms Qi into Jing, “Being”, that ejaculates as seminal liquid or, joining the two essences, masculine and feminine, in the woman's body, initiates a new life. Instead, in the Inner Alchemy, the Jing is directed along the vertical column in the channel called Du Mai or Governor's vessel. Along this channel, it encounters three knots to be undone or three gates to be opened, similar to the three knot ( granthi) in Yoga.

The following diagrams show the vertical column laterally, an anterior view and a posterior view. I have shown the point of entry of the energy (the hole corresponding to the terminal filum ) and the three areas corresponding to the three knots or gates.

Once the energy has been accumulated in the lowe r 丹田 dān tián , continue to push it towards the perineum and the anus.

There are various methods to direct the energy: for example, if you are in the meditation position, with your tongue rolled towards your palate, after a while you will produce a large amount of saliva.

Try to swallow only a very small part and follow its course (breathing in) until it reaches the abdomen (under the navel) and then breathing out, imagine that drop by drop it falls on the pelvic floor and onto the perineum.

- Breathing in, mentally conduct the drop under the navel.

- Breathing out, let it fall to the perineum (for 9, 18... 108 breathing cycles).

- When you feel a swelling sensation and/or heat and/or vibrations in the perineum, you can start to lengthen the flow of the “drops” towards the anus.

- Continuing, you will probably feel a sensation in the area of the coccyx and the sacrum, as a bloating or a vibration or a heat or all three together.

- To increase the sensation, you can massage the sacral zone with your hands, or you can rub the area of the perineum, anus and sacrum with a silk cloth until it becomes warm.

- At that point, try to make the energy rise along the sacrum. Imagine the sacral bone as a triangle of white rubber and the vertebrae as tiny balls of white rubber.

- Breathing in, contract the anal muscles upwards and visualize a dense liquid, like the mercury in a thermometer, which enters into the opening of the terminal filum and goes as far as wetting the fifth lumbar vertebra.

                     Breathing out, relax the pelvis and imagine that the liquid has returned to the perineum.

                      

- Continuing in this way, you rise by one vertebra at a time (lumbar vertebrae 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) repeating the sequence until you feel a sensation of distention and heat through out the lumbar region.

Pelvic floor

Ming Tang: the Emperor's Palace

In the discipline of the “Small Celestial Circuit”, once the lumbar-sacral area has been sensitized you pass to the second gate or knot of knowledge: the “Heart's knot” also called Ming Tang .

Ming Tang, literally “ palace ”, is also the name of a magic square based on the number 15:

4

9

2

3

5

7

8

1

6

The number 5 is in the centre of the square and around it are the numbers 1 to 8.

The sum of each column, line or diagonal is always 15.

The even numbers are in the corners and the odd numbers are on the axes.

The 5 represents the Earth, and the other numbers indicate the 8 directions of space, the seasons and the other elements of Taoist cosmogony: for example, number 3 is East, Spring and Wood; number 9 is South, Summer and Fire; number 7 is West, Autumn and Metal and number 1 is North, Winter and Water.

It is said that Ming Tang represents at the same time Man's heart, the world we live in and the Universe. In the ritual walk through the central room of his Palace, the ceremony of Circumambulation of Ming Tang, at which the Chinese emperor “officiated” every year at the beginning of spring, each direction was included clockwise: twelve directions like the “twelve suns”.

The twelve “stages” of the Circumambulation were obtained by dividing in two the even numbers in the corners (4=2+2, 6=3+3 etc.). This procedure, under the name “transformation of 8 into 12”, seems to have been very important in Taoist rituals.

But let us return to the techniques of Inner Alchemy. Before getting to the Gate of the Heart, the pupil must overcome an obstacle called, according to I’Ching, “the Great Water”.

This is the area between the stomach and the solar plexus, often rigid due to the tensions accumulated in the thoracic diaphragm.

An efficient technique to “clear” the solar plexus is that of “gentle breathing”, “sucking up” at the same time the tongue and the muscles of the anus:

- Sitting down, making sure to relax the neck muscles and shift your navel and lumbar region slightly forward , visualize an elastic band that joins your sternum to your navel.

- Let your tongue touch your soft palate. Gently breathing in, contract the muscles of your anus (anal sphincter) upwardly and, taking care not to contract your shoulders and neck, “suck” your tongue upwards.

- Breathing out, gently stretch your head upwards (without raising your shoulders) and relax your pelvis. Contracting the muscles of the anus upwards will cause the lowering of the sacrum. Pulling your tongue upwards will cause the raising of the cervical vertebrae.

- Once this “double contraction” has been learned, we will visualize the elastic (an elastic band).

- Breathing in, the elastic band is stretched lengthening and widening the zone of the stomach.

- Breathing out, imagine that it is released. When you feel heat in the area of your stomach and navel and you feel the horizontal extension of your lower ribs, breathe in a little more deeply and hold your breath.

- Breathing out, progressively relax your stomach and gently pull up the top of your back and the nape of your neck.

- The next time you breathe in, you will want to bring your diaphragm up, but instead you must try to relax even more and push your abdomen and stomach downwards.

- The sensation should be to have lost muscular tone in your abdomen (in effect it is returning in equilibrium) and to have a hole at the level of your solar plexus.

After this exercise you might have tremors, abdominal noises or incontrollable movements of your diaphragm and/or a slight feeling of nausea.

The Qi Gong Posture

Once the lumbar region and the solar plexus are responsive, the pupil has to work on the thoracic zone, the home of Ming Tang .

Anatomically this zone is quite complex: through it pass all the muscles involved in thoracic respiration, the extension of the vertebral column, the horizontal extension of the chest and the extension of the neck and the head.

An important preliminary preparation is that of the alignment of the scapular belt and the neck.

The correct position of the neck, with the head in a delicate equilibrium on the first cervical vertebra, with the correct alignment of the shoulders and the shoulder-blades, is considered essential in all oriental psychophysical techniques.

The correct perception and use of the shoulder-blade elevator muscle allows the “correct posture” of the neck and the head.

The shoulder-blade elevator muscle originates in the cervical vertebrae 1, 2, 3 and 4.

It extends obliquely passing through the trapezium (the muscle that joins the neck, the shoulder, the shoulder-blade and thorax) and is “fixed” to the upper internal angle of the shoulder-blade.

“Activating” it on only one side bends the neck to the right or the left.

“Activating” it on both sides extends the neck and the head.

If you visualize the first cervical vertebra as the vertex of an isosceles triangle, the base would be the line of the shoulder-blades, the sides would be the extending muscles of the shoulder-blade and the height would be the cervical vertebrae and the first dorsal vertebrae.

The correct position of the scapular belt, the neck and the head can be achieved through a simple exercise:

- Sit with your legs crossed ( Padmasana , Ardha Padmasana , Siddhasana , Svastikasana ...) and rest the palms of your hands on your kneecaps.

- Bend your head forward bringing your chin near to your chest; when you feel the “pull” of your back muscles, stretch the lumbar zone raising the thorax and curving forward your shoulders and your chest.

- Without changing the position of your palms on your kneecaps, start rolling your shoulders upwards widening your elbows. When your shoulders are at the highest point, still keeping your palms on your knees and your elbows wide, roll your shoulders backwards making your shoulder-blades go down.

- At the same time, start to “unlock” in an upward motion the line of the cervical vertebrae, raising up your head. The final position will be with your head straight, your neck extended, your palms on your knees, your shoulders open and your elbows wide.

- Resisting the urge to close your shoulder-blades, move your elbows down to your hips. This movement will further raise your neck and your head.

- Repeat this movement of your elbows several times, breathing in when you widen them (the idea is that of a chicken which opens its wings without managing to fly) and breathing out when you move them back towards your hips.

- Once you have achieved this position, you need to “pay attention” to the scapular belt. Breathing in, think about horizontally extending your shoulder-blades and shoulders.

- Breathing out, think about extending delicately your neck and the nape of your neck (9, 18... 108 breathing cycles).

If the exercise is done correctly, after a while you will feel your lower ribs, both at the back and the front, widening laterally, giving the sensation that they are moving away from the sternum.

The effect of this exercise will be seen in the position of the head and the perception of the pectoral muscle. This muscle, which is joined to the humerus, the clavicle and the abdomen, will assume the form of a large triangle when you breathe in and it stretches outwards.

The ability to gently open the chest muscles horizontally, keeping the shoulder-blades close to the thorax, activates the fine muscles that join the sternum to the ribs.

Keeping your neck relaxed, you will physically feel the enlarging of the centre of the thorax.

The Walls of the Emperor's Palace

If the heart is the “EMPEROR'S PALACE”, the ribs, whose job is to protect it, are the outside walls.

To continue with the perception and use of the energies we must try to understand the logic with which they are built.

The ribs are 24 bones which originate in the dorsal vertebrae. Two ribs originate from each vertebra.

The first seven pairs (going downwards) are joined on one side (the back part) to the dorsal vertebrae and on the other side (the front part) to the sternum.

The eighth, ninth and tenth pairs of ribs are joined on one side by the vertebrae (upper part) and on the other side they are joined together but not to the sternum.

The eleventh and twelfth pairs are the so called “floating ribs” which on the rear side are fixed to the 11 th and 12 th dorsal vertebrae and on the front side are not fixed and therefore called floating.

So, three different type of ribs and three different ways to respond to the respiratory muscles.

The first seven pairs of ribs have less possibility to expand forward and horizontally.

The eighth, ninth and tenth have a greater capacity.

The eleventh and twelfth are freer to move in all directions.

The muscles, which move the ribs forwards and downwards, upwards and sideways, are the intercostal muscles. There are  three types of intercostal muscles: internal, external and median.

Air enters as the external intercostal muscles widen the ribs both forwards and sideways.

As the internal intercostal muscles push downwards and backwards, air is expelled.

The response of the thorax depends on its capacity to perceive with ever more delicacy the expansion and contraction of both the internal and external intercostal muscles.

Once this has been achieved, you can begin to visualize a circle, for example, in the area of the chest.

(NB: this type of exercise must be stopped immediately if you have an accelerated heartbeat or any other change in your heartbeat).

  - Breathing in, imagine that the central circle expands and moves forwards.

- Breathing out, imagine that the shoulders and shoulder-blades widen laterally.

- After 9, 18... 108 times stop and feel the sensation.

  意 Yi, The “Thinking Technique”

As we have seen, one of the five energies, or vital breaths of air, that circulates in the human body i s意 Yi, usually translated as “ intention ”.

意 Yi means literally idea, thought, to think and is formed by the signs:

卜 bŭ assess, choose, make oracles;

廿 niàn number 20 to show a limited quantity;

日 rì  sun, daytime;

心 xīn  heart, mind, intention, centre.

When describing certain techniques in the Tao tradition, you are told to focalise on a point. You can visualize your hand, a divinity or a symbol on your body or around you or on a body of a patient or an adversary, in reality you are asked to use Yi, “Creative Thinking”.

In Taoism, Yi is a specific way of thinking, an “ operational technique ”, with a practical objective, through thinking, which has tangible and perceivable results in reality.

If I stimulate Qi (Fu Qi) for example and I direct it to my left hand and my left foot, “something must happen” to that hand and foot.

As Qi is an energy vibration, compared in literature to light and heat, I should perceive, for example, heat and/or light and/or a slight magnetic field.

Added to this perception I should feel objectively a practical result. For example, a heightened equilibrium and ability to work, with a lesser use of muscular energy.

To have an idea of what Yi is, we can do a fairly simple exercise called “ the Tiger's Claws ”.

- With your right hand massage each finger of your left hand, then the palm and the back of your hand until it feels warmer and softer.

- Then concentrate on the point of your index finger of your left hand and visualize a claw, like that of a tiger or a cat, that protrudes from the end of your finger.

- Breathing out, imagine that the claw slowly protrudes.

- Breathing in, “observe” the retracting claw and so on.

- After a cycle of 9, 18... 108 breaths, lift both your hands and compare the feeling of the index finger of your left hand with the feeling of the index finger of your right hand. If the left hand is heavier, redder with the flow of blood, more charged with “energy” and you feel a spiral vibration on your fingertip and/or a light tremor it means you are using the Creative Thinking of Yi .

Obviously, the exercise of “ the Tiger's Claws ” is not to create a real claw on your fingertip.

You can perceive and learn to use what man has and up now a man with retractable claws has never been seen.

This visualization works due to physiological reasons: there are fine muscles in your hand to which we normally do not pay attention.

When you ask someone to move their fingers, normally they do so by using the muscles in the forearm, ignoring their fine muscles.

The “short” flexors of your finger are in the ultimate phalanges and behave in the identical way to those of felines when they extract their claws.

Most people keep their fingers contracted and, despite the fact that we have nerves in our short flexors and we can move them voluntarily, few people realize that they have these muscles.

This visualization helps to perceive and sensitize the fine muscles that we do not usually use.

A good part of the practice of Qi Gong is founded on the increasing sensitivity of your body and the training of your fine muscles.

The increase of energy and muscular tone obtained through practice depends on the better and more logical use of muscles, tendons and articulations.

Making a fist using the appropriate fine muscles, instead of contracting all the muscles of the forearm (and  sometimes the whole arm and shoulder) like most people do, means you save a great deal of energy, which can be used elsewhere.

The Doors of Life

In the meditative practice of Nei Dan, from the zone of the heart, the zone of the 7 th dorsal vertebra and of the scapular belt you pass to the alignment of the cervical area and the cranium.

The importance of the position of the sinciput and occiput, in Qi Gong and Tàijíquan , is stressed in the translation of Chinese traditional medical texts.

The occiput is the lowest bone in the cranium through which passes the spinal cord and the spinal nerves. At the centre there is a hole, called the occipital hole, through which the first cervical vertebra links the vertebral column with the head.

The correct alignment of the occipital-cervical zone, formed by the Occiput, the Atlas (1 st cervical vertebra) and the Axis (2 nd cervical vertebra), is essential to obtain the correct posture for meditation and for the practice of Tàijíquan .

The cranium's rotation depends on the special articulation between the Axis and the Atlas.

The sinciput, or more specifically the bregma, is where the soft membranous gaps (sutures) meet the top of the cranium, commonly called fontanelle.

The Chinese call it Niwan , “Little Ball of Mud”, and the Indians “Brahma's Door”.

The axis (c2)-atlas (c1)- occiput (c0) articulation is one of the most important in the body.

Carefully studying how it is formed and learning to visualize it enables you to acquire the necessary sensitivity to perceive a series of fine muscles and nerve endings which are fundamental in the practice of Qi Gong and Tàijíquan .

Atlas (c1) is the only vertebra with “no body”.

It is ring-like and has two “little tabs” which allows it to hook on to the vertebra c2, with a protuberance called “dens”.

Lower view of the Atlas (c1)

Whilst the upper part has two differently shaped tabs which hook on to the occipital hole (foramen magnum).

Upper view of the Atlas (c1)

The axis has a protuberance or peg called dens which acts as a pivot. It is inserted into the ring of the atlas and two articular facets hook it onto the lower facets of the atlas.

Upper view of the axis (c2).

The posture of the whole body depends on the perception of the occipital hole (foramen magnum) and the first two vertebrae. This is because the atlas is the only vertebra which allows the cranium to rotate parallel to the ground (through the occipital articulation).

If we are aware of this, we will be able to find the correct posture for the head and the neck and therefore the entire body, through movements that are ever smaller and more subtle.

In the Taoist psychophysical practices the knowledge of the atlas, the axis and the occiput is considered of the utmost importance. In times past the teachers of Tàijíquan would decide on whether or not to accept a student by the alignment of his first two vertebrae.

The pupil should memorize the way this articulation works, maybe drawing it several times, in order to visualize it perfectly. Then, in time, it can be perceived clearly both during the practice whilst sitting and during movement.

The Suspension of the Sinciput

The phrase “ to suspend the sinciput ”, which is repeated in all translations of the Qi Gong and Tàijíquan texts and in all the lessons of  Qi Gong and Tàijíquan , refers specifically to the perception of the central axis of the body.

Having understood the articulation axis (c2) – atlas (c1) – occiput – (c0), you need to sensitize the area of the fontanelle. In this case we can use manipulation and fingertip pressure.

Despite what people believe, the cranial sutures maintain a degree of elasticity even after infancy.

The sinciput (bregma) is one of the six fontanelles of the cranium (by fontanelles we mean the points of contact between the different cranial bones).

It is found at the intersection between the coronal suture and the sagittal suture.

Pressing delicately with your finger on your cranium, you can find the exact point of the intersection and, with gentle circular movements, you can enlarge it.

Another method is to balance an object, which is neither heavy nor rough, for example a stick, on the sinciput. Then try to walk and move slowly without making it fall.

2 Laura Nalin and Paolo Proietti. Qi Gong Exercise

In both cases, the result is the physical perception of the sinciput. Finding the correct posture ( Diao shen ) and practicing whilst moving helps us to find the axis between the sinciput and the occipital hole (foramen magnum).

Wu Wei, the Non Mind

The practice of Taoist meditation passes progressively from the responsiveness of the physical body to the research of “authenticity” or spontaneous knowledge of the body. Wang Zongyue ( Wong Chung-yua ), a Taoist teacher from the XVII century, wrote:

“[...] After you have understood the inner energy of movement, you can begin to work on the theory of spontaneous knowledge.

Spontaneous knowledge is acquired through long practice;

you cannot immediately understand spontaneous knowledge without a long and correct practice […].

Relax your neck and hold the sinciput as if it was suspended.

Push the internal force down into the abdomen. Keep your position centred.

Do not bend in any direction.

[…] That the reaction of your body will warn you of the smallest feather that brushes your skin.

Not even a mosquito can land on your body.[...]”

The Tàijíquan teacher Wu Yuxiang ( Wu Yu-hsiang , 1812-1880) described the correct position thus:

“ The essence (Jing) and the spirit (shen) rise together.

That is to say the expansion and the suspension of the sinciput [...]”.

The practice of Qi Gong and Tàijíquan presumes the development of a feverish sensitivity and increasing perception of the fine muscles. Therefore the meditator's stillness becomes incessant, subtle movements, ever more subtle, until knowledge is transformed into a unique vibration, invisible from the outside, in harmony with the universal vibration.

Physical ability and the improvement in health that accompanies the practice of Taoist techniques are collateral effects.

The final goal is the “ Non Mind ”, in Yoga terms, “ the suspension of the alterations of the mind ”.

The “ Non Mind ” is achieved by developing spontaneous knowledge. For a westerner, accustomed to identifying himself with the activity of his mind ( cogito ergo sum ), the concepts of the “Non Mind” and spontaneous knowledge seem quite difficult to understand.

The pathway of Tao is one that passes through  three stages:

- Neiguan or self observation.

- Zuowang or sitting in the oblivion of the mind.

- Chongxuan or double the mystery.

For those who know Yoga, the first two are fairly clear, but the third definition, Chongxuan , “double the mystery”, is rather bizarre.

The Taoist Inner Alchemy is based on the concept of Xuan pin and can be translated as “mysterious female” or “secret female”. In reality Xuan pin is the alchemist's crucible in which the tiger (energy, feminine polarity Shakti ) and the dragon (beginning, masculine polarity Shiva ) pour water and fire.

The transformation or mercurial adjustment begins by changing the  direction of the flow of water (Tiger) and fire (Dragon) on the mountain. In the Indian tradition it is Meru Peak, which indicates both the human body and the universe in terms of energy and physicality.

Climbing the mountain you encounter a series of spirits and divinities and you arrive finally at the “ Yellow Castle ”, smaller than a Kun (one inch) and larger than the universe.

The “Yellow Castle” is the real Self, the Being. The road that leads to the “Yellow Castle” is impossible to know through our senses, because the metaphysical truth transcends any physical experience.

[see: Raphael, Commenti alla Manduka Upanishad , Edizioni Ashram Vidya).

On the other hand, to meditate on that which does not have a formal sensorial reality is not easy. The sensorial mind needs to conceive all reality as a related form and image.

On the Taoist pathway, and in metaphysical research in general, you have to abandon the normal thinking technique to arrive at the Non Mind, or informal mind (mens informalis).

The goals of gymnastics, breathing techniques, meditation and Taoist rituals are to transform the mind to mens informalis .

The nature of the informal mind is immediate self-knowledge, without techniques, without knowledge, without purpose.

“ Rock Water”

and Medullary Respiration

Medullary Respiration is one of the techniques of purification in the Nei Dan.

It consists in visualizing your bones that are constricted when you breathe in, filling themselves with light or white smoke or a transparent liquid.

Breathing out, they expand releasing  impurities found in your bone marrow in a form of fat or black smoke.

If you put into harmony Medullary Respiration with Primary Breathing (the tides of cerebrospinal fluid, CSF), you increase the effects of practice and you get very interesting results.

The cerebrospinal liquid, also called “Rock Water” or “liquor”, is the substance that western alchemists identified with the ”Elixir of Immortality”.

The definition of ”Rock Water” comes from its transparency.

It is a rich neural hormonal liquid that secrets directly from the meninges and passes through the “Dura Mater” and “Pia Mater”,it is then secreted onto the cerebral cortex, the eyeballs, the spinal cord and is then absorbed into the blood.

It is produced continually by the body.

In the brain, every 5 to 10 seconds, there is a gush of this liquid, followed by a pause that is the same length of time that it takes for it to be absorbed into the blood where it mixes with the plasma in the blood.

Normally in the adult human body, 150 cc of “Rock Water” (cerebrospinal fluid, CSF) circulates. This is completely renewed every 6/7 hours.

Osteopaths call this cycle “ Primary Rhythm ” or “ Breath of Life ”.

Every time that this cerebrospinal fluid is produced, both the cranial bones and the vertebrae expand, initiating a slight enlarging and rotating movement of the head, the trunk and the limbs.

Each time that the pressure diminishes following the reabsorption into the blood, the cranial bones and the vertebrae contract slightly and the head, trunk and limbs move inversely.

If you breathe in, thinking about enlarging your head, and you breathe out imagining that you are relaxing and lengthening your neck, after a while in a phase of natural apnea, you can perceive the “Primary Rhythm”.

In this way, you listen to the natural expanding and contracting of the vertebrae and the cranial sutures. In this way you can harmonize your own breathing rhythm to the production and absorption of “Rock Water” (CSF).

For example, you can breathe in gently when the bones expand and breathe out when you perceive the reabsorption.

However, if the rhythm is too fast (from 6 to 12 cycles per minute), you can start breathing in during the expansion, continue for 2 or 3 cycles, wait for the reabsorption phase and then breathe out for 2 or 3 cycles. After a number of breathing cycles (9, 18... 108) you can try this exercise:

- Visualize the occiput as a rubber half moon, the 7 cervical vertebrae, the 12 dorsal vertebrae and the 5 lumbar vertebrae as  tiny rubber balls, the sacrum as a triangle of rubber divided into 5 horizontal parts and the coccyx as a rubber tube divided in 3 sections.

- Inside the tube (coccyx), the triangle (sacrum), the tiny rubber spheres (lumbar, dorsal and cervical vertebrae) and the rubber half moon (occiput) let us visualize a transparent liquid.

- Starting from the coccyx, for each section of the vertebral column, breathe in imagining you are compressing the liquid. Then breathe out imagining that the liquid is dispersed into the body.

- From the coccyx (2 breathing cycles), pass to the sacrum (6  breathing cycles) to the lumbar vertebrae (6 breathing cycles) to the dorsal vertebrae (12 breathing cycles) to the cervical vertebrae (7 breathing cycles).

- Paradoxically, the sensation of compressing the vertebrae whilst breathing in will be accompanied by the expansion of that specific part of the body.

- At the occiput, you can imagine that when breathing in all the vertebral column is compressed and when breathing out the liquid that is released by the half moon (occiput) spreads into the cranium.

- When you can really feel that your brain is floating and/or a skin-deep vibration in the cranial area, you can listen to the rhythm, breathing in the softest manner possible.

Diaoshen, the Correct Posture

Let us presume that we have sensitized the vertebral column and we now want to try the “Small Celestial Circuit”. Previously we have said that, using the right terminology, the preliminary phases are:

Diaoshen , Prepare your Posture (adjust your Body).

Diaoxi, Prepare your Breathing (adjust your Voice).

Diaoxin (yishou), Prepare your Attention (adjust your Mind).

In the“Small Celestial Circuit” style of meditation, it is preferable to practice it whilst sitting cross-legged, but in Nei Dan there are many exercises that can be done whilst lying down, and many more forms of moving meditation to be performed while standing up.

The basic instructions for practicing whilst standing up are the following:

1) Shoulders relaxed, elbows down, shoulder blades flat against your back (this means that they must never stick out and you must feel them at the level of the lower ribs.

2) Buttocks low (this means that the lumbar vertebrae and the sacrum should be low and relaxed).

3) Suspend the sinciput (this means that the muscles of the neck must be stretched and relaxed, the head balanced delicately on the cervical axis).

4) Abdomen relaxed, with your navel and the point in between your shoulder blades moving together during breathing (they expand and move outwards whilst breathing in and they return to the central axis whilst breathing out).

5) Legs relaxed (the idea is to squeeze something that is very fragile between your thighs), with your knees relaxed (but not too relaxed) and the centre of the kneecap which must stay in line with your toes: the point of reference for the centre of the knee is between the second and the third toe.

6) Weight on the “Bubbling Spring”: the body must lean on the venous plexus of the metatarsal on the point that the Chinese call “Bubbling Spring”.

The channels of the legs, whose job it is to communicate between the body and “the earth's energy”, are wider than the others.

In the Small Celestial Circuit, you sit cross-legged to “avoid the dispersion of the energies into the ground”.

- Sitting cross-legged, let us visualize the circulation of energy from the centre of the sole of your foot – passing through the internal part of the ankle, the internal part of the leg, the groin, the genitals – right down to the lower dāntián .

                        Once the circulation of energy in the “negative” channel has been clearly perceived, let us visualize the circulation of energy of the lower dāntián – passing through your hips, the external part of your legs and the external part of your ankle – finishing at the sole of your foot.

In this way, we can say that, the two channels communicate whilst avoiding the possibility of dispersion into the ground.

- Let us imagine that breathing in the energy goes down from the lower dāntián to both feet passing through the external part of the legs ( positive channel ).

- Breathing out, the energy from the right leg returns to the dāntián through the negative channel of the left leg and vice versa.

Practicing the Small Celestial Circuit

These are the basic indications for the correct practice of the Small Celestial Circuit:

- First of all, your stomach should be neither too full nor too empty. Let us say that it is better not to do it on an empty stomach, or on a full stomach or during digestion.

- It is advisable to have a warm bath at a temperature which is slightly higher than body temperature.

- Drink a little weak tea or have a few sips of warm water.

- The place where you practice should not be draughty (it is possible that the rise in your body temperature could provoke sweating) and the room temperature should be neither too low nor to high.

- Put a folded cover and a cushion on the ground, to provide a comfortable sitting position. The cushion should be big enough but not too soft.

- Breathing in, gently raise your chin and delicately push the lumbar vertebrae forward, then take the Qi to the lower dāntián . If you don't manage to perceive the accumulation of energy, you can massage the area around your navel with the palm of your right hand, 36 times clockwise and 18 times anti-clockwise. Repeat this massage cycle until you perceive an increase in the temperature of your abdomen.

- Breathing out, with your chin and lumbar zone having returned in axis, take the Qi from the lower dāntián to the sacrum. If you don't manage to perceive the passing of energy, you can massage your sacrum and perineum with a silk cloth, until you feel a vibration similar to a light intermittent electric shock.

- Breathing in, gently raise your chin and delicately push the lumbar vertebrae forward, then take the Qi from the sacrum to the point in the middle of your shoulder blades. If this zone in the centre of your shoulder blades is not very sensitive, you can try a percussion massage, gently hitting repeatedly the zone of your shoulder blades with the palm of your hand alternating between your right and your left hand, until you feel a definite improvement in your blood circulation and that of the energy.

- Breathing out, with your chin and lumbar zone that have returned in axis, take the Qi from the point in the centre of your shoulder blades to the upper dāntián (at the centre of your eyebrows). If you don't manage to perceive the circulation of energy in the cranial area, you can massage the cranial sutures and, in particular, the bregma with the index finger of your right hand. Then, using all your fingers, tap or gently drum on your head. Continue this massage until you feel a sort of pins and needles that goes towards your sinciput.

- Continue the cycle until the circulation of energy has become spontaneous. After this, you can stand up and do a gentle physical activity (a walk outside, some stretching exercises, etc.).

Appendix

“ The Mysterious Female ”

This text is from:Zhenjiu Dacheng, "Renmai jingxue Ge", cfr. Zhenjiu Dacheng jiaoshi, Pechino, 1991, pp. 946-948.

This English translation is from the Italian translation published in: “RIVERBERI DEL MISTERO FEMMINA NELLA MEDICINA CINESE” by Giulia Boschi, pub. by Cafoscarina, available to download free on internet.

The notes in parentheses are mine.

“For that which regards the nourishment of life, we have to go back to the source: the Du Mai of the Huiyin [ the perineum, or better still the muladhara cakra, the initial point of the Ren Mai channel and final point of the Du Mai channel ] proceeding along the back, the Ren of the Huiyin proceeds along the abdomen.

The human body has Ren and Du like the universe has Zi and Wu . When we speak about Zi and Wu , we mean south and north; we can distinguish between them, we can unite them.

We distinguish between them to make sure that the yin and the yang are not confused. They are united to show that in the chaotic turbulence there is no space between the two.

One and there are two, two and there is one.

Buddhists, not having these channels clear, choose all sorts of control: restriction in eating, in walking, in speaking, they cut their arms, burn their fingers, burn their bodies, they suffer, remaining sitting until death... a sad way to conquer virtue! […].

Now, to protect one's own body, having Ren and Du clear is like clarifying to the prince how to love one's own people to pacify the nation.

If the people are killed, the state disappears; if Ren withers, the body declines.

So, the wise monks begin by concentrating all their attention on the front part of the body, controlling each meridian, studying until they have total mastery. This is what the immortals consider as “constructing the base”.

Then you eliminate all futile thoughts to cement the base in quietness, your vision and hearing move internally.

Swallow the light, silent darkness!

Regulate your breathing, a fine thread!

Your attention carefully anchored internally, you concentrate on the “mysterious pathway”: in the water [cerebrospinal fluid, CSF] at the centre of your nape a fire burns, in the thunder a flower unfolds, your kidneys boil and bubble, your bladder burns like fire, Ren and Du became like the wheel of a cart, your four limbs like mountains of rock.

As soon as you return to the centre, the celestial mechanism starts by itself: lightly, lightly it moves, silently and darkly it rises.

If you do not focus, then the water and the metal merge together spontaneously, water and fire rising and falling naturally. […]

You must continue day after day, without interruption, never deviating in any way. If this exercise is undergone for a quarter of an hour, it will have been a quarter of an hour of the Small Celestial Rotation [Small Celestial Circuit] ( xiao zhoutian ), if it is an hour, then it will have been an hour of  xiao zhoutian, a day, then a day of  xiao zhoutian.

If you practice for a hundred days then you can say that you have poured the foundations. After ten months of exercise, you can speak of it as the immortal embryo.

When the mastery ( gongfu ) is at this level, the body and the mind are indistinct in a single chaotic vortex, emptiness, you do not know if the body is you or you are the body, or if Qi becomes shen or shen becomes Qi .

You don't try and balance at the centre, but spontaneously you find your self balanced; you don't use embryonic breathing, it activates naturally; you don't look for water, yet it is produced on its own; you don't look for fire, but it shows itself.

In the empty room light is born, from the black earth you extract a needle.

You don't know why this is as it is, but it is like this.

You are not aware of Ren that is for Du , or of Du that is for Ren .

You reach the point in which the six evils are no longer harmful and the ten weaknesses don't exist, you are no longer driven by sensorial necessity.

Even if there are constant small restrictions, eventually they accumulate in a great Dao .

What do we mean by six evils?

The first is the desire for fame, which must be curtailed; the second is that of music and sexual pleasures, which must de reduced; the third is the craving for money, which must be purged; the [ fourth ] is that of food delicacies, which must be diminished; the [ ...fifth ] is that of futile thoughts, which must be rejected; the sixth is that of envy and jealousy, of which you must free yourself.

It is enough that only one of these six evils distances us from a healthy Dao ( weisheng ) for us not to achieve fulfilment.

Applying the mind to arcane principles, reciting the scriptures, sucking the nectar , breathing techniques and inner landscapes will not manage to fill the loss.

What are the ten weaknesses? The first is that of reflection, the second is that of thought, the third is that of laughter, the fourth that of the word, the fifth that of food, the sixth that of hunger, the seventh that of joy, the eighth that of sadness, the ninth that of pleasure, the tenth that of shrewdness.

In fact, to reflect too much disperses the shen, too many thoughts fatigue the heart, too much hilarity makes the lungs and the intestines twist upwards [ note by Giulia Boschi: The lungs and the heart share the upper warmth and the lungs have a descending Qi that contributes to peristalsis and to the evacuation (the partner organ is the large intestine). Laughing lights (or comes from) an excess of fire in the heart, which with its rising force disrupts the descent of the lung's Qi ] , too much talking impoverishes Qi and the blood, too much eating damages the shen and shortens life, too much anger provokes sudden sweating [ lit.: “sudden floatings of the couli”. The couli is the layer between the skin and the muscles, commanded by weiqi (protecting Qi), which contributes to thermoregulation by closing the pores and by sweating.

The inhibiting physiological mechanism that the lungs have on the liver can be easily reverse by an excess of the liver (the organ linked to anger). Therefore the obstructed lungs no longer command the weiqi, which causes the sudden sweating], too much joy dispels the shen in the vices, too much sadness withers and shrivels the head and the face, too much pleasure dissipates the Qi [ renal ] of willpower [ huisan refers to the dispersion of semen ], too much shrewdness leads to a profound confusion.

[…] Who belongs [ to the Dao of ] Health should take heed!”

Index

pag.   6   - Nei Dan, the pathway of Inner Alchemy

pag.  12   - Searching for Qi  

pag.  23   - The Ten Ghosts

pag.  29  - Shao Chou Tien (The Small Celestial Circuit ) 

pag.  42  - Tu Gu Na Xin,    

pag.  45  - Beyond the mirror  

pag.  49  - The Hidden Fire  

pag.  54  - The Crouching Tiger  

pag.  58  - The Perception of Qi in the Dān Tián

pag.  65  - The Inner Dialogue  

pag.  74    - The Gates of Energy

pag.  81  - Ming Tang: the Emperor's Palace 

pag.  88 - The Qi Gong Posture

pag. 95  - The Walls of the Emperor's Palace  

pag.  99 - 意 Yi, the “Thinking Technique ”

pag.  105  - The Doors of Life

pag.  115 - The Suspension of the Sinciput  

pag.  119  - Wu Wei, the Non Mind

pag.  127 - The Medullary Respiration

pag.  132 - Diaoshen, the Correct Posture

pag.  137 - Practicing the Small Celestial Circuit                

pag.  142- Appendix: “ The Mysterious Female ” 

[1] ) see: https://www.cicap.org/n/articolo.php?id=102180  