QI GONG –
True To Our Roots Spontaneous Qi Gong
By Nadia Smith
What is Qi? Qi (pronounced “Chee”) is energy.
What is Gong? Gong is exercise or activation.
The oriental approach to exercise
is soft, gentle and yet powerful; it is about gathering, cultivating and
harvesting energy, rather than expending it as in Western exercise.
According to the Taoist
principles of Yin and Yang from which Traditional Chinese Medicine originates,
Qi Gong is a self-healing art designed to help one stay well, youthful, agile
and alert.
The Taoist philosophy is about a
person walking along the path of life, a spiritual path of joy, insight,
freedom and depth. Tao is everywhere and
is the movement of all life which flows in all directions endlessly, following
the universal process of existence. We
have the choice as individuals to have an awareness of this or not. The riches we gain, however, if we choose to
follow this path of life are infinite, as they help us maintain a balance and a
sensitivity in all that we do. For
example, we become focused in our daily activities, observant and compassionate
of others, joyful and trusting of Tao or the universal energy which we may
choose to call God, Allah, Divine Power, or whatever you are most comfortable
with.
Qi or energy is everywhere and is
the Life Force around and inside of us.
Many books have been written on Qi/energy, and what this chapter is
loosely based on is the thousand years’ old Chinese philosophy, but adapting it
to our contemporary Western lives with a revolutionary approach of spontaneous
Qi Gong movement called True to Our Roots, founded by me, Nadia Smith.
Over thousands of years five main
schools of Qi Gong disciplines were developed in China, within which hundreds
of different styles and forms of choreographed exercises emerged. These schools are the Taoist, the Buddhist,
The Confucian, the Medical and the Martial Arts ones, and an extra one could be
added as the Village or Family/Ancestral school. Their essence is about self-healing and they are
still practised fervently all around the world.
This begs the question, “How did
it all begin”? Animals and we humans
practise Qi Gong naturally all day, for example, yawning and stretching first
thing in the morning, stamping our feet when we are cold, rubbing our tummy
when we are full or in pain; these natural movements are almost like reflexes
which we do to feel better; that is Qi Gong.
So, do we need to practise forms
and be devout followers of various Schools and their Masters?
I learned the hard way! As a devout Health & Fitness Instructor I
spent years striving through pain and pride, practising new forms while loving
the challenge without heeding the aches and pains my body was developing. After all I came from an era and belief of
“No Pain, No Gain”, and “Going for The Burn”!
Qi Gong is a self-healing art through movement, however …. so, what went
wrong there? My curiosity was aroused
and I started to delve deep into my psyche and my books!
I was particularly interested in
spontaneous Qi Gong as I had been warned against it by one of my Chinese
Masters. The reason for this became
clear over the years as the spontaneous movements are triggered by our autonomous
central nervous system. If the body
holds a lot of tension or trauma it starts to tremble or shake involuntarily,
so we were advised as students not to entertain this as it could be dangerous
for people with mental illness, and therefore it was recommended that this type
of activity was done with a master’s supervision. After years of research and agonising at my
own body which gradually developed osteoarthritis I found out that the use of
our shaking mechanism was encouraged by the founder of Trauma Release Exercise,
Dr. David Berceli. Through his own work in war-torn and poverty-stricken
countries he realised that people needed to release deeply held fear to
function in life rationally and comfortably. He devised a series of exercises to help
trigger off the tremors held in the Psoas or our Core muscles, which react
instantly to threat either through fighting, fleeing or freezing. I learned to become a Provider in this method
recognising at once that this was part of Spontaneous Qi Gong, especially as I
learned the physiological safety aspects of this method.
Shaking or tremoring is the
body’s instinctive reaction to help restore it back to its natural calm and
harmonious state, something which is observed with dogs, cats and other
mammals. We set up a subconscious
restriction to this to cope with life’s challenges which unresolved and
unreleased, become deeply held tension in the body, causing side effects such
as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, aches and pains (as I did by developing
osteoarthritis of which I am now cured!), and other diseases. Once our system recognises that it is safe to
release this held tension little by little, our rational brain is always on
standby to help regulate, after having initially been guided by a Provider to
start with and learning to ground, which is part of Qi Gong practice.
The best part after the tension
release process is that the body can enjoy myofascial unwinding stretches which
can take us into the depths of our fluid being, searching for hidden nooks and
crannies in the body which can delight in involuntary stretches triggered from
inside out. This is not only a deeply
nourishing and healing experience for the entire body but also a natural form
of Qi Gong as the body will stretch in the way it personally needs to,
releasing blockages from the meridians connected to the internal organs. This activity is meditation in movement, as
the mind can relax while the body elongates, folds, spirals, undulates,
allowing its natural architecture to command the movements. In Qi Gong terms this is when the Qi moves
you.
Qi Gong helps to bring us closer
to nature and the Taoist philosophy teaches us that we are not separate from
our environment but totally entwined with it. We are affected by the natural seasons and the
weather, the food we grow and eat, the people we interact with and all our
activities affect our health and wellbeing.
They go further in explaining that our internal organs, and therefore
our general health and our emotions, are affected by the seasons and the
natural elements they bring along, for example, the heart is connected to the
South, to the element of fire and summertime, the emotions of love versus
hatred and cruelty, and that according to the principle of Yin and Yang, the
rule of dual polarities exists in our world.
So, everything works in pairs and opposites. Without daytime we would not understand the
concept of night-time, or without heat there would not be cold, or light versus
dark and so on.
This theory is used in
Traditional Chinese Medicine where our organs function in pairs, again yin and
yang, so the Heart is yin, a “full organ” and works together with the Small
Intestine, which is a hollow organ and yang, so the heart would be the female
to the Small Intestine the male.
What connects all our internal
organs are the meridians or channels of Qi or energy, and the reason why Qi
Gong is a self-healing art is because when the body undulates, spirals and
stretches naturally, it heals and clears blocked energy from the various
channels which form an intricate network of energy lines throughout the body. Once the body is given the opportunity to
unwind and delight in its own Qi and natural fluid movement it will sometimes
hold a position suspended in time until the blockage clears, when we can
suddenly feel a rush of heat, as the circulation improves and the Qi flows.
The method I developed to help achieve
this result is by using the Qi Touch, which is using two fingers to touch the
area which requires attention, and allowing unconditional love to come from my
“middle Dan Tien” (“Crystal Field”), or heart area, while staying well rooted
with both feet firmly planted on the floor.
What follows is an instant spontaneous movement from the student/client
which comes as a complete surprise to the first-timer! The magic of this is that one surrenders
entirely to the moment and the body, while the mind relaxes.
Spontaneous Qi Gong can be done
alone, in pairs or in a group of people, and can be done sitting, lying down,
standing freely or holding on to the back of a chair or barre.
In a group or in pairs one gets
entrained by the activated energy field very quickly into the “Qi Bubble” where
fluid movement occurs, and feelgood factors are experienced almost instantly,
where pain dissolves and muscles, bones, connective tissue and internal organs
realign and heal.
I developed True To Our Roots
Spontaneous Qi Gong to help people get in touch with their natural primordial self
and their own magical internal self-moving and healing choreographer and
Master.
Forms and disciplined Qi Gong
were designed by following examples of how animals take care of themselves in
nature and were designed through life-long observations by past great Masters
in China. Most of these forms are beautiful
and useful to practise if one has no aches or pains and the fluidity of the
form can be enjoyed, but they were developed to help one be healthy and well.
My body taught me otherwise, as
it ached its way through years of Qi Gong retreats, and workshops resulting in
two hip operations, to finally find my own internal powerful Master. Only then was I able to start healing myself,
not by following someone who told me how to move, but by allowing my body to
show me with gentleness how it needed and wanted to move to feel better.
The ancient phrase of uniting Mind,
Body and Spirit becomes reality once familiar and adept with Qi Gong
practice. The Taoists developed
breathing techniques to help the flow of Qi and increase vitality to help one
reach a state of self-realization and immortality. The breath is our natural medicine, and
various breathing techniques are used to either increase or reduce high blood
pressure for example, to create relaxation or more fire in the body. I found, however, that in our Western society
where stress is a high-risk challenge, breathing has become very shallow
because of the hold fear has over our lives.
It is as if we are holding our breath, which is where the natural
shaking mechanism in spontaneous Qi Gong is practical as it eventually helps to
free the diaphragm allowing the oxygen to penetrate the lower parts of our
lungs more easily.
The immortality they refer to I
have interpreted as, we become so closely connected with our true spirit
through regular Qi Gong practice, that our transition from the material world
into the infinite dimension some call Heaven, the Afterlife, Nirvana and more
is at our command and seamless. While on
the earth plane it becomes easy to access communication with the source from
where our spirit comes and returns to.
So much so that once the belief within this magical dimension is felt,
the material body merges with the true spirit which, once united works miracles
here on earth. One learns to trust this
ultimate power and becomes fearless with regards to death. This is when we get back in touch with our
natural senses, our psychic abilities, and how we learn to trust our intuition
just like the ancient cultures did throughout the world. For example, the Aboriginal people in
Australia and their natural telepathic abilities, the native Americans and
their belief in and abilities to communicate with the Spirits; Shamans,
Medicine Doctors and so on were and are still sought after for their wisdom and
healing abilities. These ancient
traditions are still respected nowadays as these are the people whose
connection to Mother earth never waned which makes accessibility to the
universal energy and the yet scientifically unexplained wonders still so
magical and real.
My mission is to help people
become more aware of their connection with the earth, nature and their body and
its amazing self-healing powers, to activate and feel their Qi/Energy to
enhance their lives. Regular
self-practice helps sharpen our senses which can become dormant through over-stimulation,
(i.e. through the media, advertisements etc), so it helps at keeping a balance,
diffusing stress before the alarm bells warn us of something more serious and
help us be kinder to our bodies.
The aim of True To Our Roots Qi
Gong is Whole Body Enlightenment, as the essence of Qi Gong is based on self-healing
with its goal of creating a harmonious union of “Mind, Body, Spirit”.
“Empty yourself of everything
Let the mind rest at peace.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their
return.
They grow and flourish and then return to source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
The way of nature is unchanging.
Knowing constancy is insight.
Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.
Knowing constancy, the mind is open.
With an open mind you will be openhearted.
Being openhearted you will act royally.
Being royal, you will attain the divine.
Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.
Tao Te Ching XVI
References: “Everyday Tao” by Deng Ming-Dao
“Trauma Releasing Exercises” by David Berceli
PHD
