The Inner Teachings of Qigong

By Shifu William Martino

 
Qigong art and science is available to all, and has profound implications for health and full-spectrum wealth. Why? Because embodiment is healing. As healing manifests, more and more opportunities come to you — and nature is attracted to the glow of health. Journey with me in this little article. Calm your intellect and senses until you begin to notice the inner landscape. Your biological biography is all you need to start creating more personal coherence.

Can you relax and return to the suppleness of a baby?

— The Tao

 
The first lesson in the real Qigong temples is called “Back to baby breathing,” which is translated from the Chinese, ”Fan Tong Hu Xi.”

if you watch a baby lying on her or his back, you’ll see the belly moving up and down. This area, where the baby receives nourishment, is very important in Qigong. By doing this kind of breathing, all of your attention will settle down into your lower belly around the area of your belly button.

Lay flat on your back and breathe in deeply, effortlessly. With your hands on your chest and belly, realize the deep breathing of a warm hug and allow the chest to calm down and your lower ribs to expand all around. This is where your largest supply of oxygen resides because the lung are the largest.

Developing a luscious mind and body overflowing with good Qi begins ordinarily and simply with this practice. Soon you experience the nourishing from life.
 

The Common Sense of Qi Power

A Great Heart, Heartwarming, Heartfelt, Guts, Intestinal fortitude, an iron stomach, Brass Balls (The same applies to ovaries), Having Backbone, Spine Tingling, Touch Down, Settle down and grow some roots, Land the Deal, Roots that Go Deep, Go to the Head of your Class, Ahead in the Game, Get a Head Start, etc.

When these physical locations have a lot of fresh energy, the corresponding emotion and behavior manifests as well. Embodiment is so important. Embodiment is healing and it simply means being aware of your body. In every posture and every movement, the body is supplying you with vital biofeedback to let you know what is going on in the deep recesses of your mind.

By accepting people and nature more deeply into yourself, your body and mind become alive with power. Discernment and boundaries flow automatically, so no worries about letting life into you as it is being expressed.

Now you can relax and fill your lower belly with real food by taking it all in and soaking up the atmosphere. Pure energy is emitting from everyone, everything, and everywhere.

Soon It overflows and begins to fill the marrow of your bones. These are the deep storage battery places.

The body becomes very heavy yet energized as in deep sleep. This time you are conscious of it in your heavy relaxation. A very down-to-earth feeling is realized as you cleave underneath you and suck up energy from the earth.

After some experience of rest, you will “wake up” and “grow up” naturally into the vast expanse of nature’s nourishing. Expanding further, you notice the stars are out and asking to come into you. The circuit of life has begun for you. In Qigong this is called “Grand Heavenly Circulation.”
 

Warp Time

The greater your sense of timelessness and spaciousness, the greater your processing speed. It’s all about letting life in rather than the futile, ceaseless attempts to control it. Instead, control yourself by slowing down your experience of time and creating so much inner space that the people, places, and things in your life automatically find affinity in you.

 
Go From the Internet to the “Inner net”

Your primary source of connection is within you. And you can welcome natures’ nourishing inside to fill up your inner person with refreshment. This is why the ancients developed Qigong. Demonstrating to you that you have this inner network of connection is found in the source of all Qigong healing, power, and enlightenment;

The 3 Powers of Qigong are Tian (Sky), Di (Earth), and Ren (Body). Every Qigong science, including Chinese medicine, herbology, and acupuncture, has its source in these three powers.

As you connect with the sky, what kinds of feelings/nourishments are you absorbing? The drifting clouds, the home of rain, the winds, the boundary layer to space, stars, black holes, new galaxies. What do you feel? The shades of silence are the true meanings of words. Once again the remnant is brought forth to you. Your body is the meeting point for all the sky and all the earth.

When you connect with the earth, what do you feel? Are you in contact with the flowing waters, the great mountains, a high standing bear, a lion running at full speed, the lapping of the waters on the shore? All nourishments of the earth streams into you now as you drop the defense mechanisms that attempt to look outward to find the “inner net.” The sky comes in, the nature comes in; problems are solved, traumas are transmuted.

All these gifts of nature’s nourishing build the 3 Treasures of Qigong: sexual energy (Jing), magnetic power (Chi), and psychological refinement/Pure Spirit (Shen). These treasures are continuing to refine, build, and condense in you as long as you are in contact with the 3 powers and do not shrink back in fearful clinging. This whole process of Qigong healing and enlightenment begins by accepting the spark of a real teacher. Such people are the priests and sages of Wudang Mountain.

 
Application

How do you listen, speak, behave? How do you stand? How do you open and close doors, pick up objects, and embrace someone? When getting in and out of cars, do you have a few moments and a few breaths to once again find your center? Doing so will become the greatest gift for yourself and your loved ones. The benefits are cumulative.

This application ground of Qi access translate the power gained into who you are and how you live; embodiment is healing.

The power circuit is nature. If I hold flowers behind my back and you do not see them, that invisible nourishment does not stream in. Once they are in front of you, wonderful feelings are experienced.

In the same way, the stars, the sky, the trees, the soil, etc. are each longing to be noticed by you if you are a giver as well. Imagine for a moment what all these nourishments accepted and combined can do for you.

Stretch out the tendrils of your awareness into your larger body. Find the vast and varied nourishments. This is your birthright, ever awaiting your reclamation. But, nature only wants you to take from her if you are a giver as well.

In closing, I offer this traditional blessing from a teacher who is sending out Qi to touch you: ”Mo Leung Tin Juen” (translated from the Chinese as “infinite blessings touching”).

William Martino is an author, speaker on human development, athletic trainer, and a Qigong and martial arts master. His 12 books in the fields of health, wellness, and spirituality include, The Essence of Qi Power, The Tao Te Ching (a new poetic translation), Tai Chi Harmony, Natural Enlightenment, and more.

A spiritual prodigy from a young age, William has dedicated his life to connecting mind and body with the greater Soul. Initially, a love of boxing and martial arts brought him to seek out true inner strength through intense training in Taoist Qigong, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Vision Questing, and practical self-defense. Some of his accomplishments include being a Zen/Qigong monk for 4.5 years, the head of security for World Peace Assembly T.M. retreat center created by the guru of The Beatles’ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, receiving his Ohikari from Shumei (A Shinto-based organization), and being the personal cook for legendary Taoist priest, Qigong and Kung Fu Master Wudang Chen, who was raised on Mt. Wudang. William received The Lifetime Outstanding Service Reward from Boulder Community Hospital for his ongoing pro bono work with the medical staff.

Endorsed by hospitals, universities, businesses, and people from all walks of life. William now leads retreats in the rocky mountains for individuals and organizations to improve their wellbeing. William pioneered a program called "The Evolution" to help people from all walks of life — a meeting point of Mind, Body, and Soul in one presentation. Programs and treatments are based on the unique needs of individuals and groups, resulting in personalized benefits. William and his team use cutting-edge biofeedback measurements to help people benefit their systems and experience an improved quality of life. William also heads up "The Pearl," a philanthropic organization that helps communities with issues of mental health and public safety.