Two Most Important Factors In Cultivating Clarity

   The two most important factors in cultivating clarity are calmness and equanimity. Hypertension and emotional imbalance cloud the mind with a form of aberrant energy which traditional Chinese medicine refers to as 'muddy energy' (juo-chee).

   Like mud stirred up from the bottom of a clear pool of water, muddy energy rises up from the internal organs and obscures the clarity of cerebral energy in the head whenever stress, tension, or uncontrolled emotional reactions are permitted to disturb the human energy system.

   Anger, for example, causes 'rebellious' hot energy to rise up from the liver, fear arouses cold Water energy from the kidneys, excess worry stirs up muddy Earth energy from the spleen and stomach, and so forth. Whenever this happens, it's like fogging a clear mirror with steam, or streaking it with water, or smearing it with mud: whatever images it reflects are distorted.

   Mental clarity can be achieved and maintained only when internal energies are balanced and calm. Recall the second principle of internal alchemy - 'energy transforms into spirit'.

   This means that the mind depends on energy for sustenance, and the quality of energy therefore determines the quality of mental functions. Agitated, imbalanced gives rise to an agitated, imbalanced mind. Calm, balanced energy sustains a calm, balanced mind, and this is the basis of mental clarity.

   Returning to the metaphors of camera and mirror: when the hand that holds them is calm and steady, the images they reflect will be clear and accurate. The same applies to the mirror of mind: when the energy which sustains it is calm and stable, the images it reflects will be clear and lifelike.

- The Complete Book of Chinese Health & Healing by Daniel Reid

NEW TOOL: Try Name Grader to grade your name, company's name or research potential baby names.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment below or subscribing to the feed in the upper right hand corner to have future postings delivered to your inbox or RSS feed reader.

The Nature of Spirit

   The mind that understands the Way is entirely impartial and truthful. But because Taoist tradition has gone on so long, personalistic degenerations have cropped up. People attack one another and establish factions of supporters; they call themselves guardians of the Way, but they are really in it for their own sakes. 

When you look into their motivations, you find they are all outsiders. People like this are rot in Confucianism, bandits in Taoism, troublemakers in Buddhism. They are confused and obsessed.

- The Complete Book of Chinese Health & Healing by Daniel Reid

Working With The Powers Of Aroma

Aromatic essences extracted from flowers and medicinal herbs have been used for millennia to cure disease and balance human energies. The volatile aroma extracted by a flower or the essential oil of a plant carries the essential energy of that plant in the air in a way similar to negative ion energy, and this energy is assimilated into the human system through the same sensitive olfactory receptors in the nasal passages.

Depending on their natural affinities for various organs and tissues, different aromatic essences may be used to cure specific diseases, balance particular energies, and stimulate various functions. This is the basic principle involved in aromatherapy, but it only works when using aromas derived from natural sources, such as plants, minerals, and animals. Artificial fragrances have smell but no chi.

Writing in the French medical journal L'Hopital, Dr. J. Valent explains the way plant aromas affect human energies:

Carried by the bloodstream, the ionized plant aroma impregnates every corner of the body, powerfully revitalizes the polarized and discharged cells, replenishes electronic shortages by recharging the bioelectromagnetic batteries, and disperses cellular residue by dissolving the viscous and diseased substances of the body fluids.

It oxidizes poisonous metabolic waste products, increases energy balance, frees the mechanism of organic oxidation and of self-regulation, and reaches the lungs and kidneys, whence it is excreted or exhaled without trace.

Meditators throughout the world use incense to enhance their practice due to the balancing effects it has on human energies. Sandalwood in particular is well known among meditators in Asia for its power to pacify emotions and settle energy down into the lower elixir field (second chakra) below the navel, thereby establishing the ideal conditions for entering a stable state of spiritual tranquility.

The smoke produced by burning white sage, used by native tribes of North America for purification, sublimates the dense, heavy energies generated by negative thoughts and conflicting emotions and lifts them away from the body, thereby clearing the human energy system.

It's interesting to note that during medieval times in the Middle East, medical texts took note of the fact that people who worked in perfume and incense shops were the only ones who never succumbed to the various contagious plagues that periodically swept through the ancient world, and even today it is often noted that clerks who work in fresh flower shops rarely seem to catch the flu and other infectious ailments.

'Flower Power' is more than just a catchy phrase: it reflects the potent healing properties of aromatic essence.

- A Complete Guide To Chi-Gung by Daniel Reid

How do you feel when you have fresh flowers in your home? Do you feel different? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

NEW TOOL: Try Name Grader to grade your name, company's name or research potential baby names.

Silence Is Golden

In some Asian traditions, such as the Tibetan, energy is often referred to as 'speech'. That's because speech expends a tremendous amount of breath and energy, and unless it comes out in the form of mantras, chants or prayers, speech is usually undisciplined, uneven, and often unnecessary.

The 'motor mouth' syndrome which seems to infect many people in crowded urban environments exhausts energy reserves and can actually lower resistance and impair immunity. As the Tao master and martial artists Chang San-feng said 600 years ago: 'Forget about words and your energy won't scatter.'

The Taoist adept and writer Liu I-ming agrees: 'When the mouth speaks, energy scatters.' Unless you have something important to say, it's always best to keep your lips buttoned, because idle gossip and marathon monologues are like leaking tyres: they permit your energy to escape and leave you flat. Silence is an effective way to conserve energy for more important internal uses.

As ancient Chinese adage says: 'Disease comes in through the mouth; disaster comes out through the mouth.' The first is obvious: open mouths invite germs, dust, and airborne toxins to enter our systems. The second clause refers to the fact that we often create our own personal disasters by talking too much and too carelessly, thereby offending others, revealing things about ourselves that would be better kept secret, making bad impressions on people, and so forth.

So choose your words carefully, speak softly, and don't say any more than necessary.

- The Complete Book of Chinese Health & Healing by Daniel Reid

Simple Rules To Follow For Longevity

One of the most remarkable cases of longevity to spill over into the twentieth century is that of the Chinese herbalist and Taoist adept Lee Ching-yuen, who maintained his youthful vigor, sexual potency and perfect health through a long, active life.

Lee died in 1933, shortly after marrying his 24th wife, and it remains a matter of historical record in China that he was born in 1677, during the early years of the Ching Dynasty.

That made him 256 years old when he died, for those who wish to count the years. Lee died with all his own teeth and hair, and those who knew him say that he looked about 50 when he was already over 200.

Lee Ching-yeun left clear-cut guidelines for those who wish to follow his footsteps and emulate his example.

He followed three primary rules in his regimen:

1. Never hurry through life. Take it slowly, take it easy, and take your time. He instructed his students to always keep a quiet heart, sit as calmly as a tortoise, walk as sprightly as a bird, and sleep as soundly as a dog.

2. Avoid extreme emotions of all kinds, especially as you grow older. Nothing drains energy from the body as rapidly, nor disrupts the functional harmony of vital organs as completely, as strong outbursts of emotion.

3. Observe a daily physical regimen of exercise and breathing. The duration and intensity of your regimen are not nearly as important as its daily regularity.

In addition, he gave three specific guidelines regarding diet:

1. Do not overeat on hot summer nights. It causes stagnation of blood and energy.

2. Eat extra quantities of nourishing foods on cold winter mornings. It provides the extra essence and energy the body needs to compensate for having to keep warm in cold weather.

3. Adopt a primarily vegetarian diet, supplemented by life-prolonging medicinal herbs.

What do you think?

- The Tao of Health, Sex & Longevity by Daniel Reid

Photo credit Jane Bellows

Love Heals

The most powerful healing energy of all is triggered when the mind experiences the radiant warmth of love. 'Love conquers all' is a maxim that applies as much to human health and healing as it does to romance, war and peace, and other human relationships.

There have been countless cases of miraculous recoveries from the very brink of death due to the timely ministration of love. This is not mere 'anecdotal evidence', but a very real force with therapeutic applications in healthcare. As Yale University cancer surgeon Dr. Bernie Seigel writes:

If I told patients to raise their blood levels of immune globulins or killer T-cells, no one would know how. But if I can teach them to love themselves and others fully, the same changes happen automatically. The truth is 'Love heals'.

The specific energy frequencies and wave patterns that arise in the human system under the influence of love have extremely powerful healing properties. A simple hug can set in motion a whole healing response by 'injecting' a does of love energy from hugger to huggee, and this effect can be scientifically verified in the clinic by testing the huggee's blood for the presence of antibodies, hormones and neurochemicals associated with the PNI healing response, both before and immediately after the hug has been administered.

Here again we can see another largely unrecognized factor in the drastic decline in human health throughout the industrialized world today, where loneliness and alienation, anger and hostility, have displaced communal feelings of love in the hearts of so many people. Nor is it any coincidence that immune deficiency diseases have become most rampant in the most technologically advanced societies, where 'old fashioned' love has become rather unfashionable and science is regarded as a know-all and cure-all for everything.

Fashionable or not, love is still the keynote that awakens the healing power of mind, because love motivates the fundamental force of creation throughout the universe. When it comes to healing the body, a little bit of love goes a long way, for it mobilizes the energies and stimulates the secretions involved in the body's own innate healing responses.

When those energies are further amplified and guided with such tried-and-true techniques as visualization, guided imagery, positive thinking and emotional equilibrium, the body's capacity to heal itself under guidance from the mind approaches the leave of a true panacea.

What do you think? Does love heal or can the simple act of giving a geniune hug really help heal?

- A Complete Guide To Chi-Gung by Daniel Reid

Photo by Tapperboy

The Power of Positive Thinking

This is not just an uplifting slogan but also a basic axiom of internal alchemy with very real therapeutic powers. A good example of how the power of positive thinking may be enlisted to heal the body is the placebo effect.

Patients given plain sugar pills are told that the pills are powerful new drugs with amazing healing powers, and because they now believe they will be cured, their minds activate their own innate responses, and they make a full recovery. Meanwhile other patients who are given the real drug but do not have such a positive outlook fail to realize any therapeutic benefits and remain sick.

Pharmaceutical companies operating 'double-blind' studies to test new drugs regard the placebo effect as a real nuisance and an unfortunate quirk of nature, but actually they are missing the real point, which is the fact that the body heals itself only when the mind fully intends it to, with or without drugs, whereas no drug in itself can ever generate a healing effect without the mind's active cooperation.

- A Complete Guide To Chi-Gung by Daniel Reid

 

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment below or subscribing to the feed in the upper right hand corner to have future postings delivered to your inbox or RSS feed reader.

The Vitality of Life

When the mind is calm and stable, the vitality of life circulates harmoniously throughout the body. If the body is nourished and protected by this circulation of vitality, how can it possibly become ill? From 'The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine' (second century BC)

Vitality is associated with the potency of vital bodily fluids such as enzymes, hormones, and neurochemicals, which form a functional bridge between organic matter and pure energy.

Enzyme activity, for example, releases waves of radiant energy which can be measured by scientific instruments, and the activity of neuro-chemicals in the brain is closely associated with the cerebral energy recorded as brain waves by electroencephalographs. Blood carries potential energy in the form of negative ions, which are also stored in the electrolytes of intercellular fluids. Vitality is thus a functional fusion of biochemicals and bioenergies balanced by biofeedback.

One way in which Taoist internal alchemy enhances human vitality is by establishing positive biofeedback between the calming neurochemicals of the parasympathetic nervous system and the rejuvenating, immune-boosting hormones of the endocrine system. The neuro-endocrine balance achieved thereby generates the active vitality associated with organic life.

Vitality is the basis of health and longevity and the foundation of immunity and resistance. However, after the bloom of youth has blown, vitality must be carefully cultivated and conserved in order to continue providing the sort of protection it confers naturally during the reproductive  prime of life.

As James Ramholz writes in Shaolin and Taoist Herbal Training Formulas, 'the ideal level of well-being necessitates something beyond what ordinary diet and lifestyle can offer. Only a significantly strong vitality will prevent health problems. Toward this end, many people employ exercise, martial arts, meditation, yoga, chi-gung, Tai Chi Chuan, etc., to enhance their health, enrich their lives, and to help foster their spiritual development.'

- The Complete Book of Chinese Health & Healing by Daniel Reid

What do you think could be added to this list to help with vitality, health, energy and long life?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment below or subscribing to the feed in the upper right hand corner to have future postings delivered to your inbox or RSS feed reader.

Lighten Your Life

Light is the primary source of energy for the pituitary gland, which receives the energy through the retina and optic nerve. Light also influences the pineal gland. Light is required by the body to produce vitamin D, which is why this nutrient is called the 'sunshine vitamin'.

Light also regulates many human biorhythms, particularly sleep. The sort of wholesome light that nourishes the body is called 'full spectrum light' which means that it contains all wavelengths of natural sunlight.

Ordinary light bulbs are deficient in many vital frequencies; the light from fluorescent tubes and television screens is not only deficient, it also vibrates erratically and thereby irritates the pituitary gland and the central nervous system via the optic nerve.

Numerous studies conducted in American schools have shown that many of the abnormal behavior patterns and learning impediments which increasingly impair classroom discipline and education in the USA are quickly corrected when fluorescent lights are replaced with full-spectrum lighting.

- The Tao of Health, Sex & Longevity by Daniel Reid

Have you or would you ever consider testing full spectrum light bulbs in your home or office?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment below or subscribing to the feed in the upper right hand corner to have future postings delivered to your inbox or RSS feed reader.

Your Morning Cup of Coffee

Coffee, alcohol, tobacco, opiates, barbiturates, amphetamines, and other popular drugs, when used to excess, severely inhibit immunity by releasing toxic by-products into the blood-stream and suppressing liver function.

Coffee has been specifically linked to increased risk of pancreas cancer; the offending agent is not the caffeine, but other elements contained in coffee beans. When coffee is consumed together with refined sugar and non-dairy creamer, the immune system gets battered with a triple blow.

Immune deficiency can be prevented and cured by first eliminating as many immunosuppressant elements as possible from your diet and lifestyle, then taking some immunity-boosting foods and supplements daily.

(Source: The Complete Book of Chinese Health & Healing by Daniel Reid)

What type of beverage do you start your morning with? If it is coffee, do you ever try something different for your morning beverage?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment below or subscribing to the feed in the upper right hand corner to have future postings delivered to your inbox or RSS feed reader.