The Liu Zi Jue 六字诀 (Healing Sounds) method for the
Lung Qi that we present here is part of a Daoist health tradition that combines
specific lifestyle, meditation and qigong techniques in order to rid disease,
calm the mind and prolong life. It uses a sophisticated combination of elements
that act synergistically, much like a medical prescription, on the Qi system in
the body that controls the circulation of breath, qi and blood throughout the
body.
A TCM perspective of a few of the key elements
can be helpful in understanding why and how this method works. But
remember...the main thing is simply to practice the qigong, a little, and then
a little more, every day. This is what has an effect on your health - not an
understanding of Chinese medicine or Daoist philosophy, or even of qigong technique. Everyone, of any age or
condition, and with no prior experience can practice these methods and gain the
beneficial effects that restore, protect and increase your health, strengthen
your immune system, calm your mind, and bring a sense of ease and comfort.
The Liu Zi Jue method for the Lung Qi (and,in
fact, all qigong methods) begins with allowing yourself to become quiet, and
relaxing the body as you align yourself from head to foot, in order to enter
into a certain “space”. This is not a physical location, nor is it simply a
state of mind. It is more of an opening inward, a silencing of the noise of the
mind, a softening of the body and breath, so that the qi of the body is aligned
between the “Qi of Heaven and Earth” (the greater yang and yin aspects of the
universe), allowing a resonance with the true reality of nature. This resonance
is a type of communication that is literally grounding, and that calls forth
the innate strength of your body’s health as it flows with your breath,
uninhibited by the disruptions, blockages and weaknesses that occur through the
physical and mental stress of ageing, illness and everyday life.
All of the moves reinforce this resonance, with a
specific focus on both the physical and more subtle qi aspects involved in
breathing, circulating qi and blood throughout the organism, opening and
strengthening the connection between your Original Qi, (so, all the capacity
for health that you were born with), and the qi you acquire, from the minute
you are born, with every single breath you take.
As you
breathe in with the first movement, you rotate arms, hands and palms outwards
to physically widen the chest as the air pours in. You can feel the chest and
lungs open, allowing the breath to flow more easily and smoothly. At a deeper internal level, this opens and
smoothes the qi as it flows with the incoming breath, through the core of the
body. With more practice, you may begin to feel a subtle pulling in, a kind of
magnetism, from the extremities of your hands and feet, fingers and toes. In
Chinese medical terms it is like a powerful acupuncture treatment that opens
the flow of qi from the lung organ, through the acupuncture points along the
lung qi channel (手太阴 经 Hand Tai Yin Channel).
Then, as
you breathe out and rotate the arms back in so that the palms face the belly,
the upper back, spine and specific acupuncture points located in this region
open, allowing the warm qi to return to the physical center of the body in the
area of the kidneys, lower back and belly (in the region called the Dan Tian 丹田 , where the Original Qi is
stored).
It is in
this region that the qi of the breath fortifies your Original qi, motivating
its circulation along the deep internal channels of the body, literally
infusing your whole organism with warmth and strength. When you breathe in, it
is like magnetically attracting something and pulling it in; when you breathe
out, it is like opening and spreading the warmth and magnetism throughout the
body. With more practice, you may feel this current, perhaps a tingling, moving
from the center of your body to the extremities.
Breathing in again, you briefly and lightly touch
the tips of the fingers together in front of the heart area, and direct your
gaze to the fingertips. This is combining the movement of the mind (directed
through your gaze), with the movement of the body and the flow of qi and breath
in order to have a certain effect.
Nothing in life moves faster than the mind. In
qigong practice, we rein that movement in and quieten the constant, distracting
noise it makes by allowing the mind to follow our breath, creating a quiet
internal space where the natural force of life can unfold and flow freely. In
day to day life, our constant, conscious effort to identify and control everything
only serves to separate us from the whole reality of nature, and impedes our
own natural ability for health, for balance.
In the few instances in qigong where we use the
imagination, then, or focus our gaze or attention to something specific, it is
like throwing a spear with precision and speed (to literally “spear into
action”). The effect of consciously touching the fingers and directing the gaze
to the fingertips activates the qi of all the yin and yang channels, and
motivates the qi of the heart and lungs to strongly circulate throughout the
person. We do this only for a second, but the effect resonates throughout the
body, more and more, for a longer longer
time, with each practice of the qigong method. Eventually, it takes only this
second, like walking into a dark room and turning on the light switch, to
change the nature of our internal space.
A medical
qigong method is like a herbal medicine prescription - the main effect of the
prescription is supported and moderated by all the other constituent elements,
and so the next movement of the Liu Zi Jue method for the Lung Qi is the
medically crucial part.
The arms
move up, and the chest expands as the head moves back to open the throat and
thorax; the out-breath arises as a “steam” as it passes through the open mouth,
and the internal resonance of the imagination of sound enables the entire force
of the True Qi (Zhen Qi 真气 - basically the
comprehensive reality of the qi of nature, of which we are merely a part) to pour down into the lungs. Also, the
bending of the wrists so that the palms face upward is an activation of
important acupuncture points of the heart and lungs located on the inner aspect
of the wrists.
The
resonance of the imagined healing sound associated with the lungs is the spearhead
of the medical effect (if you were to use the vocal cords to make an audible
intonation, this has a completely different effect that is not so useful in
this particular qigong “prescription”). Moving the head back and breathing out
through the mouth is like turning on a faucet, and the shape of the mouth as
you imagine the sound “Hay” is like opening that faucet completely, so the the
qi, like water, pours through the “Gateway of the Lungs” (the throat), through
the “Passageway to the Lungs” (the thorax) to the organ itself.
The rest of the steps of the method open and
strengthen the connection between the qi of the lungs and the qi of the
kidneys, ensuring the breath flows freely into the body, is then firmly grasped
so that a kind of combustion of energy can take place before the breath is the
easily expelled. It is a consolidation of the qi of the air we breathe with the
Original Qi of the Dan Tian.
Here I will end this only very partial
explanation of the traditional medical workings of the Liu Zi Jue method for
the Lung Qi. Hopefully it helps to give you an idea of the sophistication of
the workings of all qigong methods, and motivates you to practice the qigong
more regularly, every day, in an easy and relaxed manner, with the full
confidence that you can always improve your health and trust in the
regenerative ability of the body. Even the most basic methods, such as making
circles with the arms while quietly breathing, have layers of meaning and
potential benefit for the healthy state of your body and mind. Enjoy your
practice; enjoy the quiet space of genuine meaning you can enter into, as often
as you like, to recover from the onslaught of daily worries and feel the
lightness, the creativity, the regenerative force of your own, true nature!
Jia You! 加油！
Kerry McBride
Chart of the lung channel (Hand Taiyin Channel 手太阴经)
17th century Chinese woodblock illustration
showing the course of the lung channel of hand taiyin, one of the Twelve
Channels.
It originates at the zhongfu 中府 (Middle Palace) and yunmen 云门 (Cloud
Portal) points on the chest, and terminates at the shaoshang 少商 (Lesser Shang)
point on the outer side of the thumb.
These points are mainly used in the
treatment of pulmonary complaints such as coughs and asthma, soreness and
inflammation of the throat, cold pain in the shoulders and back and pain in the
inner and frontal parts of the hand and arm.
