Here, sitting in the sun I hear my heart speaking. It brings me to the question of clarity and how the concept of clarity relates to purity and the importance of those two words in my thought and action. The quest for clarity is a way to the essence of my spirit for pure spirit is clear.
How do we accomplish this in our lifetime, and at this time of human history?
In the Sufi tradition that work was always done by those who chose or were directed to spend time in solitude, in meditation, in the practice of Zikr, the Remembrance of God. And so it has been with all traditions. Cabalah and Christian mystics, Hindus and Buddhists have valued this way of concentration, and similarly those who followed the Tao of Lao Tzu’s directives.
In my lifetime those periods that I have spent with Sufi masters and studies of scriptures from past centuries, or communicated with people who are of similar aspirations and spiritual vibration have been valuable. This has enabled me to better understand the new, awakened consciousness emerging with many different forms of expression, each reflecting the spiritual culture or form it springs from.
The intuitive realizations of many young people now cut through the earlier long term concentrations toward becoming whole, a knowing one. It seems that this is a birthright or a shift in their consciousness happening as a flash, as an Aha! moment of awakening.
Catch that moment-in-between! At the computer while waiting for a process to finish, or in the kitchen while waiting for water to boil. Anywhere you have a moment, tap it or it flies with the wings of the morning.
There is no need to aim at the exact locations of the acupuncture body points while doing self-massage. Focus on treatment areas, through them you can connect to and affect the points and their channels.
Try it! Tap for a minute or so all around the head and you’ll find that the head feels clearer afterwards, at least that’s what I experience.
Tap, Tap, Tap All Around your Head
There are so many points located around the head and on it that you can hardly count them. The translations of the Chinese names are descriptive and very interesting indeed.
Points with names such as Suspended Regulator (GB 6), Flowing Valley GB 8), Celestial Pouring (GB 9), Root of the Spirit (GB 13), Eye Window (GB 16), Upright Management (GB 17), and many others including those on the UB channel, are used to to release headache, nasal obstruction, to help tired eyes, blurring vision and ear problems such as ringing in the ears.
Other points helping eyesight and hearing are on the forehead and both sides of the head – Eyes Bright (UB 1), Yintang, Yang White (GB 14), Taiyang, Pupil Seam (GB 1), Hearing Assembly (GB 2), Lower Hinge (ST 7), Palace of Hearing (SI 19), Whites (ST 2).
Tap to prevent Cold and Flu
And if you tap the upper part of the neck, all around the occipital bone you catch many ‘wind – window of the sky’ points – Wind Pool (GB 20), Wind’s Dwelling (Gov. 16), Jade Pillow (UB 9), Final Bone (GB 12 – also used in insomnia). They help you, among other indications, in Flu Prevention – to clear out the toxins and viruses that tend to collect in the glands.
Add to them Person Welcome (ST 9), Heavenly Appearance (SI 17), and lower down in front, Heaven’s Prominence (Co 22) and at the back Big Vertebra (Gov 14) and To Grasp Wind (SI 12- a crossing point for LI, TW and GB channels). Tapping them daily you help your throat and Lung functions while building resistance to cold and flu.
The Upper Yin and Yang Channel’s Chi Flow
In the upper Yin channels, Chi flows from the chest area along the inner arms to the fingers.
The points on these channels have names such as Central Mansion (Lu 1), Cloud Gate (Lu 2), Spirit Gate (He 7), Inner Connection (PC 6), Labour’s Palace (PC 8).
The functions are to harmonize the Chi flow the Lungs, Heart and Pericardium. Therefore, your self-massage helps to alleviate cough, asthma, pains in the chest, palpitations, anxiety stress, and it calms the spirit.
The upper Yang Channel go from the fingers along the outside of the arms over the shoulder ending in the face.
Some names for their points are descriptive also. Coming Together (LI 4), Curbed Pool (LI 11), Welcome Fragrance (LI 20), Outer Gate (TW 5), Wind Screen (TW 17), To Nourish the Old (SI 6), Heavenly Ancestor (SI 11), Cheekbone Seam (SI 18). When you tap, self-massage or even brush with your hands these channels you’ll open the Chi flow in them and within the inner organs.
The Lower Yin and Yang Channel’s Chi Flow
The leg Yin Channels begin in the feet and run along the inside of the legs
Bubbling Spring (Kid 1), Extreme Stream (Kid 3), House Guest (Kid 9), Official Grandson (Sp 4), Yin Crossing (Sp 6), Supreme Pouring (Liv.3), Curve Spring (Liv 8). Again, the purpose of self massaging in these areas is to spread Chi, harmonize the blood flow, and to bring a sense of balance.
The leg Yang channels begin in the face and end up in your toes
Inner Courtyard (St 44), Foot Three Miles (St 36), Abundance (St 40), Foot Above Tears (GB 41), Suspended Cup (GB 39), Kunlun Mountain (UB 60), To Support Mountain (UB 57) are a few of their numerous points.
The Front Channels of the Torso
Kidney, Liver and Spleen channels run up the torso in the front. They have names such as Chi’s Cave (Kid 12), Vital Corridor (Kid 16), Spirit Storage (Kid 25), Document Gate (Liv 13), Hope Gate (Liv 14), Abdominal Knot (Sp 14), Large Envelope (Sp 21).
Of the Yang Leg Channels, the main trunk of Stomach channel runs down toward the legs and have names such as Breast Source (St 18), Heaven Hinge (St 25) and Chi Rushing (St 30). Your self-massage on these areas should be gentle, yet as deep as is comfortable for you.
Of the Extra-Ordinary Channels in the front, the best known is the Conception channel. Its points have names such as Sea of Chi (Co 6) and Great Palace (Co 14).
The traditional functions found in acupuncture textbooks often mean to open up blocks, to harmonize and spread Chi. While tapping or self-massaging, make sure to cover the sides and the buttocks to help GB channel in its Chi flow.
The Back Channels of the Body
The UB channel, running down at the back has two lines. Its numerous points include Wind Door (UB 12), Heart’s Hollow (UB 15), Liver Corridor (UB 18), Kidney Corridor (UB 23) and other ‘vital corridors’ that are expressive in their names.
Enjoy
I hope you enjoy your daily self-massage. Better yet, if you have an opportunity to exchange acupressure-massage with your partner or a friend, go for it!
When playing with my grandchildren I sometimes asked them to give me a barefoot massage. They have fun taking turns in walking on my back, and I loved it!
May your Rejuvenating Energy flow abundantly! And may you live in thankfulness for all that your life offers.
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!
