The complex Chi Energy systems operating relentlessly within us determine our awareness and our health; they affect everything we do, think and feel.
When we feel exhausted after long days of work, has the energy disappeared? Of course not, for energy never disappears, it only changes its way of functioning. What has happened then?
By learning to understand and work with the awesome Chi systems of our bodies and know how they relate to the outer cosmos, we can learn to be in charge of them. We then know exactly what happened and are able to free and transform the stuck energies in order for them to flow naturally once more.
Chi is one with the Fundamental Substances of the body. Their English translations Energy, Essence, Spirit, Blood and Fluids are only approximations of their Chinese meaning, which defines five fundamental properties inherent within us.
Why Chi, not Energy?
In practice, the term Chi is used in preference to Energy since the latter in Western languages implies energy as opposed to matter. In TCM energy-matter is a continuum, Chi having both energetic and material attributes.
Within the Chi systems some Chis are Yin, most are Yang in their characteristics, yet Chi means a tendency to, as well as motion itself. In general, the term Chi is for the functional, active aspect of the body.
Discomfort and certain symptoms appear when the Chi system is out of balance. Therefore different manifestations of Chi are examined and measured in diagnosis.
Jing Chi’s many Functions within the Chi systems
Jing or Source Chi provides the basis for all the functional activities of the channels. This essential Chi is one with the universal Generative Force – Wu Chi, which underlies all life in Creation with Its unfathomable Power and Intelligence.
In the human body, Jing is thought of as fluid-like, it is nutritive and supportive. It activates harmonious transformation throughout the Chi systems and controls growth, reproduction and development.
And it holds the secret of the physiological mechanism or Generative Force for the human brain’s transformation and expansion of consciousness.
Jing, as the ‘Essence of Human Nature’ is the basis for all movement and takes on characteristics according to the needs of the body.
It manifests as Organ Chi for organ functions, Channel Chi for transporting and moving functions, Nourishing Chi for transforming and creating blood as well as for helping the blood to nourish the tissues of the body.
Protective Chi warms and travels between the skin and the flesh. It regulates the opening and closing of the pores therefore, protects the body from external pathogenic influences, and it moistens the skin and hair.
Shen or Ancestral Chi
Ancestral Chi or Shen collects in the chest and underlies breathing and speaking, it regulates the beating of the Heart and is important in clarifying the Spirit and strengthening the body when cultivated in meditation.
According to Neijing the Spirit of the Heart or Shen rules the mental and creative functions.
The spirit of the Liver rules the nervous system and gives rise to the extrasensory perception.
Spirit of the Spleen rules logic or reasoning power.
Spirit of the Lungs rules animistic instincts, physical strength and stamina.
Spirit of the Kidneys rules the will, drive, ambition and survival instinct.
The Birth of Yin and Yang
In order to understand how these various qualities of Chi relate to the greater cosmos, it is important to learn about Chinese cosmology.
Wu-Chi, which underlies all living phenomena of the universe is the manifestation of the Generative Will of the Source and is One with Motion, the first law in Creation.
The original Loving Source Radiation, being one with the Will to Create, became receptive Yin, the transcendental Feminine Principle. Through Her, the brilliantly and creatively acting Will – Yang, became the Masculine Principle.
Carried by the Power of the original Radiation, the receptive Yin substance and the dynamically penetrating Yang manifest the great Law of Love – Tao – in forever re-birthing Creation.
The masculine and feminine qualities or Yin and Yang are eternally one with the Primal Intelligence, God or Wu, the original Intention and the guiding Principle of all that exists.
Truane Wu Chi, the Original Vital Energy
All the universes are created out of this Triune Wu Chi, the original Vital Energy. This continual forming works harmoniously in most spheres of Creation creating new combinations of love and beauty through cyclic radiations and in the rhythmic way of Tao.
On the material level, we can observe WuChi in Five Phases of Nature through birth, growth and development, even through decay in plants and animals.
Nature follows the great Tao or Law of Love. Only, when disturbed by wrongly directed human free will do things go wrong. And this has been going on for millenniums – the humans have subjugated their free will to their limited intellect instead of following the guidance of the Source Intelligence accessible through intuition and commitment to the universal Laws.
Ming, the Royal Command or Destiny
The impersonal and original Triune, the sub-stratum of Life (Ming – royal command or destiny) is in every cell.
In the human body it is called Jing and while impersonal, it is receptive (Yin) compared to Wu Chi, dynamically active (Yang) and observable in the harmonious nature.
Jing is based in the kidney domain as the Essence of Life and as a potent source of original Power, the Generative Force (Kundalini).
When Jing Chi is consciously cultivated with Shen Chi (spirit) through disciplined meditations and virtues, it rises as ‘the fiery Dragon’ to the brain.
New neural pathways are built, through which dormant areas of the brain are awakened. When awake, they reveal a new level of consciousness filled with blissfulness, clarity and creativity of a genius, and ultimately cosmic consciousness – the great AHA!
