The Tao of Natural Breathing Part 2

PRACTICE.

1 Visualize and sense your internal organs Sit in the basic sitting posture. Visualize and sense the location of each of your internal organs. As you attempt to sense your organs, use your hands when possible to rub or probe around them. Start with the easiest organ to sense: the small intestine (in the area of the navel). Then move on to your liver (on the right side of the rib cage), and to your stomach, pancreas, and spleen (all more or less on the left side of the rib cage). Then sense your colon, your large intestine. (The colon extends from the end of the small intestine near the right hip bone up the right side of the abdomen and loops around to the liver area behind the ribs on the right side of the trunk. It then crosses the front of the body somewhere between the sternum and the navel, loops around behind the ribs on the left side of the trunk, and drops down toward the left hip. Near the left hip it angles toward the center of the body and turns into the r.e.c.t.u.m.) Now bring your attention to your heart (more or less in the center of your chest), your lungs (on each side of the heart), and your kidneys (protected by the lowest ribs on each side of the midback). As you touch these areas gently with your hands, feel the muscles and tissues around the organs begin to relax. Spend at least a couple of minutes sensing each area.

2 Sense the outer movements of your breath Next, put your hands over the lower part of your chest, with the bottom edge of each hand touching the bottom of the lowest ribs, and the tips of the middle fingers touching each other at the bottom of the sternum. This is the area where the front of the diaphragm is attached to the ribs. The center portion of the diaphragm is actually higher, approximately at the level of the nipples. Observe your breathing. See if you can sense which way the diaphragm moves as you inhale and exhale. Don't use force. Don't try to change anything. Simply watch and sense.

Next, put your hands over your navel. Can you sense any movement in your belly as you inhale and exhale? Now put your hands over the lower ribs on the front of your body. What movements can you discern on the inhalation? On the exhalation? Next, put your hands on your lower ribs on both sides of your body. What happens as you inhale? As you exhale? Now put your hands on each side of your lower back in the kidney area (just opposite your navel, around the second or third lumbar vertebra). Again, see if you can sense any movement as you inhale and exhale. Next, put your hands on your upper chest. Notice what happens as you breathe in and out. Be sure to include in your awareness any tensions and restrictions in your breathing. Give yourself at least two or three minutes in each position.

3 Go deeper into your sensation Now, try the same practice again. But this time, let your attention go deeper into your sensation. As you sense the movements of your breathing, let yourself experience how your internal organs are influenced. Put your hands over the middle of your chest as you did earlier. Can you sense your diaphragm putting pressure on any of your organs as you inhale? Which ones? What happens when you exhale? Now put you hands over your navel. What happens in the area of your small intestine as you inhale and exhale? Next, put your hands over the lower ribs in the front of the body. Sense what happens in the area of your liver on the right side and your stomach and pancreas on the left. Continue on in this way following the same sequence as you did in the previous practice.

4 Include your emotions Try the practice again. But this time include any sensations of warmth, coolness, dryness, or dampness in and around your organs. At the same time, take note of any emotions that may be present. Be careful not to dwell on them, a.n.a.lyze them, or judge them. Just include them in the field of your perception as you go on sensing yourself. It is as though you are taking inner snapshots of yourself through the wide-angle lens of your sensation-your inner organic awareness of yourself.

This is a foundation practice-one that you can and should return to daily. Later, once you become more proficient at taking inner snapshots of yourselves in quiet circ.u.mstances, you may find yourself quite spontaneously taking these inner snapshots when you are with other people. But be patient. Learning how to observe, through sensation, the interrelations.h.i.+ps of your breath, tissues, organs, and emotions is a crucial step in both self-healing and wholeness. It will not only help make you more aware of the unconscious att.i.tudes that create stress in your life, but it will also begin to free you from these att.i.tudes. Most of the practices discussed in future chapters will build on this practice of organic self-awareness, and will expand on the ideas put forward in this chapter.

3.

THE TAOIST VISION OF ENERGY AND BREATH.

For the Taoist, the conscious cultivation

of breath offers a powerful way

not only to extract energies from the

outside world but also to regulate

the energetic pathways of our inner world,

helping to bring our body, mind,

and emotions into harmonious balance.

In many traditional cultures, breath is envisioned as a direct manifestation of spirit. It is the subtle energy of the spirit that "enlivens" us, and we receive this subtle energy by breathing it in or having it breathed into us from above. Terms such as prana (India), pneuma (Greece), lung (Tibet), num (the Bush people of Kalahari), ruach (Hebrew), neyatoneyah (Lakota Sioux), baraka (Islam), and chi (China) are just a few of the many names of this higher life force upon which we are said to depend. And it is through our own authentic breath that we can consciously connect with this life force.

Though Western science rejects any notion of a subtle energy or life force that animates us, it does, like many of the traditions, believe that we live in a universe of energy and energy transformations, and that we depend on these energies to think, to feel, to move, and so on. For the Western scientist, these energies-which include mechanical, chemical, electrical, radiant, and nuclear-are defined in relation to the "work" they can do. This work must, however, be measurable through the techniques of hard science, especially through instrumentation designed for that purpose. By definition, anything that cannot thus be measured does not exist. Of course, other researchers, including some in "softer" sciences such as psychology and psychiatry, have over the years posited the existence of subtle energies with names such as bioplasma, bioelectricity, biocosmic energy, and so on. And they, too, have often defined these energies in relation to the work they can do-especially in relation to our own minds and bodies. They have not, however, fared well in a society geared to the marriage of science, technol-ogy, government, the medical establishment, and the drug industry.

One of the most famous of these energy researchers is Wilhelm Reich. On the basis of much experimental evidence and personal verification by many people, Reich maintained the existence of a powerful life force energy which he called orgone energy. He began to show people how to use this energy to help prevent and fight various life-threatening diseases, including cancer. Since he viewed his work as experimental, he did not charge his patients. Yet the U.S. federal government moved against him, and in May 1956, in response to his refusal to obey FDA injunctions, the government sentenced Reich to prison, where he died of a heart attack in November 1957. While he was in prison, the FDA raided his inst.i.tute and burned his books and other writings.22 THE REMARKABLE ENERGY OF CHI.

It is only today, after the doc.u.mented success of certain forms of "alternative medicine," including meditation and Chinese healing arts such as acupuncture and chi kung healing (chi kung means energy cultivation), that a few open-minded pioneers in the Western medical community have begun to accept the possibility that there may be subtle forms of energy, such as chi (also written qi), that Western science has not yet learned to measure. The 1994 PBS television series and companion book by television journalist Bill Moyers, Healing and the Mind-which doc.u.mented some of the latest breakthroughs in mind/body research by psychologists, neurologists, and immunologists-devotes a section to "the mystery of chi." Moyers draws no definite conclusions from his experiences in hospitals and elsewhere in China, but he does admit to seeing "remarkable and puzzling things."23 Since long before the birth of Christ, Taoist and chi kung masters have been experimenting with remarkable and puzzling things-with the subtle energies and functions of the body and psyche. Through their own personal practices with breathing, posture, movement, sensory attention, visualization, sound, and meditation, they have discovered how to beneficially influence not only our thinking and feeling, but also the various internal systems of the body, including the enzymes, hormones, blood cells, and other vital substances and energies that lay at their foundation. The effectiveness of many of these practices has been verified over the past two decades by chemical and biophysical research done by scientists in collaboration with respected chi kung masters in some of the top universities and laboratories in China-research that has shown the remarkable influence of chi on everything from crystals to the human immune system.

Chi and Negative Ions Taoists and chi kung masters maintain that, in principle, we can all learn how to use chi to promote health and well-being. They believe, for example, that the process of breathing not only draws in the oxygen needed by the body to transform food into chemical energy through the flame of internal combustion, but that it also provides an entranceway and support for the various other energies that animate our being. From the modern Taoist's perspective, for example, the discovery by modern science that the earth's atmosphere is filled with electrical charges called ions is highly significant. Some Taoists have even gone so far as to identify negative ions with chi. Ions are either positively or negatively charged atoms or parts of molecules. Negative ions, which are tiny packets of almost pure electrical energy, are formed naturally by interactions of the sun's energy with our atmosphere, as well as by cosmic particles, lightning, storms, winds, the evaporation and movement of water, and low levels of radioactivity coming from the earth. Thousands of scientific studies have shown that ions, especially negatively charged ones-those which carry an extra electron-are extremely important to our health. In commenting on research that was done in France in 1966, for example, one author writes that "in the lungs the presence of negative ions favors the pa.s.sage of oxygen through the air cell membranes so that this oxygen is more efficiently absorbed by the blood. At the same time, the removal of carbon dioxide is also made easier."24 And according to Robert Ornstein, Ph.D., and David Sobel, M.D., "Negative ions have been shown to increase brain serotonin, a neurotransmitter a.s.sociated with more relaxed moods."25 Studies have also shown that negative ions are constantly being depleted as a result of pollution, air conditioning, closed s.p.a.ces, concrete buildings, artificially generated electrical fields, deforestation, and so on.26 These studies, of course, come as no surprise to Taoist masters, who prefer to undertake practices for health and spiritual growth in the midst of nature-near mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, and so on-where negative ions are most abundant. The importance of negative ions has become increasingly recognized in science and industry, and ion generators have become widely available for home and office, as well as for automobiles. Many j.a.panese businesses now have air-conditioning systems with ion generators. They are even being used in s.p.a.ce capsules to help astronauts overcome tiredness and various psychological maladies. My Taoist teacher, Mantak Chia, frequently refers to the importance of negative ions, and to the use of special breathing practices to absorb them into the body.

Taoists use many special breathing techniques, including swallowing the breath directly into the digestive tract,27 to absorb and transform energy in the atmosphere, including negative ions, not only for meditation and spiritual awareness, but also for self-healing and longevity. For the Taoist, the conscious cultivation of breath offers a powerful way not only to extract energies from the outside world but also to regulate the energetic pathways of our inner world, helping to bring our body, mind, and emotions into harmonious balance. Taoists believe that it is this balance, the beginning of real wholeness, that lies at the heart of health and well-being.

THE "THREE TREASURES"

As a result of thousands of years of experimentation and observation, Taoists maintain that human life depends on the un.o.bstructed movement and transformation of three main forces, which Mantak Chia calls "earth force," "cosmic force" (the higher energy of self, of nature), and "universal force" (the energy of the heavens, of the stars). In the human organism, these forces manifest as three different substances or energies-the "three treasures": ching, s.e.xual essence; chi, vitality or life force; and shen, spirit. We receive these energies from several main sources: from our parents (heredity), from the food we eat, and from the air we breathe. Though we are generally not aware of it, we also receive them directly from the earth, nature, and the stars through the soles of our feet, our skin, our palms, the crown of our head, and other energy centers of the body. According to Mantak Chia, numerous Taoist practices are designed to teach how to better attune to, absorb, and digest these energies.28 Inner Alchemy Taoist practices are also directed to a kind of inner alchemy-the transformation of s.e.xual essence into vitality, and vitality into spirit-both for health and for spiritual evolution. This transformation takes place in the three main energy centers of the body, called "tan tiens," or "elixir fields"-located in the lower abdomen, the solar plexus, and the brain. It is in these centers that the real alchemy of the human organism takes place. The energies circulate from these centers through various energy pathways, called meridians, that bring energy to all parts of the organism (Figure 12). In Western terms, the tan tiens and meridians are roughly a.n.a.logous to electrical generating and transforming stations that create electricity from various raw materials of different density and efficiency-such as coal, oil, and natural gas-and deliver this power through a complex network of wires to our homes and thus to our appliances.

"ORIGINAL CHI"

One of the most crucial forms of energy for our overall health and well-being is the energy we receive through heredity-from the s.e.xual union of our parents, of yin (female essence) and yang (male essence). This is called "original chi."29A major part of our original chi is our s.e.xual essence, or ching, so we will not discuss ching separately. According to Mantak Chia, our original chi is stored mainly in the lower tan tien, in the center of a triangle formed by the navel, the point on the back midway between the kidneys, and the s.e.xual center (in the area of the pubic bone). The exact location of this center, which varies depending on a person's weight and structure, is about one to two inches below the navel and approximately one third of the way in (Figure 13). The lower tan tien is the basic storage battery of the body, providing the core energy needed for the combustion and transformation of the energies we receive from food, air, and so on.

Figure 12 From the Taoist perspective, an abundance of energy in the lower tan tien makes it easier to a.s.similate all the other forms of energy available to us. This energy center, like all the others in the body, is a kind of magnet that can attract outside energy with a corresponding vib-ration. The Taoists would say, "where there is more, more is given." They would also say, without much overstatement, that our health and well-being begins with keeping a certain reserve of energy in the appropriate energy centers of our organism, especially in the lower tan tien, the area of our s.e.xual essence or vitality. When we sense energy in this area, we generally feel balanced and centered. When our energy is blocked in this area, or when we have insufficient reserves, we may feel a general physical weakness and imbalance. We may also catch ourselves behaving in judgmental or critical ways toward ourselves and others. Our energy can be blocked or lost in a variety of ways, including excessive negativity, tension, stress, daydreaming, talking, and s.e.xual activity, as well as through gossip, criticism, worry, and so on. Although some of the lost energy is replenished automatically through eating and breathing, our original chi gradually dissipates as we grow older.

We can, however, learn to intentionally "conserve" our energy and to "recharge" our battery-to keep our lower tan tien open and filled with energy-through mindfulness (awareness) practices with the help of special breathing practices. Two of the most basic of these breathing practices are normal abdominal breathing and Taoist abdominal breathing. Normal abdominal breathing, in which the belly, rib cage, and lower back expand on the inhalation and contract on the exhalation, has a variety of benefits, including an automatic ma.s.sage of the inner organs and an increased flow of chi around these organs. "It also helps to pro-mote the flow of blood, lymph, and hormones, and ... reduces the work of the heart."30 This form of breathing is similar to the soft, natural breathing of a baby or young child. Lao Tzu makes reference to it in the Tao Te Ching when he says: "Focus your vital breath until it is supremely soft, can you be like a baby?"31 The other basic form of breathing, called Taoist abdominal breathing or "reverse" breathing (since the belly, sides of the rib cage, and lower back go inward on inhalation and outward on exhalation) compresses and packs the energy in the lower tan tien and the surrounding organs. It also aids in the circulation of this energy through the meridians. We will explore reverse breathing in Appendix 1.32 Figure 13 PRACTICE.

As we saw in Chapter 2, one of the keys to health and healing is the work with self-sensing-the development of inner attention and awareness. Without this work with our inner attention and the eventual ability to control it, the breathing practices described in this book will have little impact. In discussing the importance of attention, an acknowledged master of chi kung and Chinese medicine writes: "By attention we mean both the experience of consciousness and the activity of the brain that lies behind it. Regulating attention allows the pract.i.tioner to bring his/her Qi into a comfortable condition. Finding this state of comfortableness and ease is the key to successfully apply Qi Gong to eliminate disease, strengthen the body, prolong life, and promote intelligence." 33 What is crucial in these breathing practices is thus to undertake them with full clarity, effortlessly and comfortably, that is, without strain, without any effort to achieve some result that you think you should have. Also give yourself plenty of resting time after each practice, so that you can sense its influence on you.

Opening your belly Figure 14

1.

Sit or stand quietly. Observe how you breathe for several minutes, then put your hands over your navel. As you inhale, sense that you're breathing directly from your nose through a long narrow tube into a balloon behind your navel. As the balloon expands, so does your abdominal area. As you breathe out, the balloon contracts and you have the sensation that the air is squeezed slowly back up through the tube and out through your nose (Figure 14). Obviously, the air that you inhale does not go into the abdomen; it goes into the lungs. But the "sen-sation" of a movement going from the nose into the abdomen relaxes your abdominal muscles and tissues and helps the diaphragm move lower into the abdomen and ma.s.sage your inner organs. Be sure that your shoulders and chest remain relaxed during this exercise. Do not use effort. Simply visualize and sense the movement of the balloon in your belly. Simultaneously sense the downward and upward movement of the diaphragm as you inhale and exhale.

Sensing your diaphragm Figure 15

2.

To get an even clearer sense of the movement of your diaphragm, lie on your back with your knees bent, your feet slightly apart and flat on the floor, and your arms at your side (Figure 15). As you inhale into your belly, let the balloon expand as much as possible. At the end of the inhalation, hold your breath, making sure that no air can escape through your nose or mouth. Then, without breathing, gradually flatten your belly and gently s.h.i.+ft the balloon of air up into your chest. Simultaneously, sense your diaphragm moving upward. Now flatten your chest and s.h.i.+ft the balloon back down into your belly. See if you can feel your diaphragm moving downward at the same time. Move the balloon back and forth several times in a pumplike motion. Rest for a couple of minutes and observe any changes in your breathing. Try the exercise two or three more times.

Opening your rib cage

3.

Continuing to lie on your back, put your hands on the sides of your rib cage over your lower ribs and feel the expansion of the balloon into both sides of the rib cage as you inhale. As you exhale, the ribs return to their normal position. By breathing in this way, you are helping the diaphragm to move even deeper into your abdomen, since the bottom of the diaphragm is attached to the lower ribs. To get an even better sense of the movement of your rib cage, lie on your right side with your head resting on your right arm and your left palm resting gently on the lower left side of your rib cage (Figure 16). As you breathe, feel that you are breathing directly into and out of the left side of your rib cage. Work in this way for 15 or 20 breaths, and then lie again on your back with your feet flat on the floor. Sense your breathing for several breaths-notice if there is a difference between the left and right sides of your rib cage. Now lie on your left side with your head resting on your left arm and your right palm resting on the lower right side of your rib cage. Breathe into the right side of your rib cage for 15 or 20 breaths. Again lie flat on your back with your knees bent, breathe gently into both sides of your rib cage, and sense any changes in your breathing.

Opening the "door of life"

Figure 16 Figure 17

4.

Sit or stand comfortably again, putting your hands on each side of your spine on your lower back (tips of the fingers actually touching the spine), directly across from your navel. The Taoists call this area, between the second and third lumbar vertebrae, the "mingmen," or the "door of life," since it is the point between the two kidneys where our s.e.xual essence is stored. It is very important from the standpoint of our well-being to keep this area warm, relaxed, and comfortable. As you inhale, sense the balloon filling and pus.h.i.+ng your lower back outward (Figure 17). As you exhale, your lower back returns to its original position. Breathe in this way for two or three minutes. To get the feeling of the movement of your lower back in the process of breathing, try squatting. Squatting is useful not only for opening up the lower back, but also for your overall health. As you squat, let your arms relax forward, and sense your lower back as you breathe (Figure 18). This posture automatically releases the lower back muscles, as well as the lower part of the diaphragm, which is attached to the lumbar spine. It also helps cleanse and energize the kidneys. If you have trouble squatting, you can stand and bend over with your upper body supported by your hands on your knees. Once you feel the sensation of your lower back expanding and contracting in this way, return to a normal sitting or standing position, and let the "organic memory" of what you just experienced help you sense the same process in this position.

Opening the belly, rib cage and lower back simultaneously

5.

Next, either sitting or standing, try to experience all three areas at the same time. Sense the entire s.p.a.ce bounded by your navel, your pubic bone, and your lower back. As you inhale, sense the balloon expanding forward, backward, and to the sides more or less simultaneously. As you exhale, sense the balloon contracting. There should be no feeling of effort or tension. Simply sense the balloon filling and emptying. Be sure to sense your diaphragm moving downward as you inhale, and upward as you exhale. After a few minutes, forget the balloon and simply feel the warmth in your abdomen, a kind of ball of energy, expanding and contracting. As you breathe naturally in this way, begin to sense that even though air is not going into the abdominal cavity, "something" is going there. From the Taoist perspective, this something is both blood and chi. By breathing in this way you begin to energize your lower tan tien. You can try this practice several times a day.

"ACQUIRED CHI"

Figure 18 The energy that we acquire through food, water, and air is called "acquired chi." This is the energy that we receive from the outside world that we need to function on a daily basis. The main center for the storage and transformation of this energy is the middle tan tien, located in the area of the solar plexus, the center of our emotional life. For the Taoist, the quality of this energy depends in part on the quality of the food we eat and the air we breathe. The Taoist is therefore not only concerned about right diet, but also about right breathing.

As we have seen, proper breathing has many benefits besides the more efficient consumption of oxygen. The practice of abdominal breathing, for instance, has a powerful influence on the digestion of food by increasing gastrointestinal peristalsis, blood flow, and food absorption. It can also help open the tissues around the solar plexus and promote the flow of energy through the channels in this area. According to Mantak Chia, when this area is blocked or energetically weak, we may feel panic or worry, a lack of freedom in our behavior, or an inability to take risks of any kind. We may also feel that we are unloved or incapable of love, or that people are constantly judging us.

Abdominal breathing-especially when it is slow, deep, and long-combined with certain mindfulness practices directed to specific energy centers, can also help us receive the energies of the earth, nature, and the heavens. This form of breathing turns on the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms our brain and body. This allows our inner attention to clearly sense vibrations, impressions, and movements of energies in and around us that are ordinarily invisible to us. It is the sensing of these vibrations, as well as of the centers that can receive them, that allows these energies to be absorbed into our organism.

PRACTICE.

Opening your solar plexus

1.

Sit or stand quietly and watch your breath for several minutes. Now put your hands over your abdomen and feel the energy ball behind your navel expanding as you inhale and contracting as you exhale. Allow your awareness to go deep inside the tissues in your abdomen. After several breaths, let the energy ball spread, during the inhalation, from your navel area up into your solar plexus (located slightly higher than midway between your navel and the bottom of your sternum). As you exhale, sense the solar plexus and navel areas contracting. As you begin to relax into your inner sensation, your breath will gradually slow down by itself. Put your hands over your solar plexus, and bend over slightly from your waist. See how your breath responds. Repeat this several times. Then stop the bending and bring all your attention to the solar plexus area. Watch how it expands and contracts with each inhalation and exhalation. Work in this way for several minutes.

Releasing deep tensions

2.

When you begin to feel your solar plexus becoming more sensitive and open, sense the air going from your nose through your solar plexus and into your lower tan tien (Figure 19). Envision the air as a long thread of silk connecting the whole front of your body from your nose down to your abdomen. As you exhale, breathe out through your mouth. Make sure your mouth is mostly closed, and that your exhalation is slow, quiet, and steady. Allow all the air in your lungs to be exhaled fully before inhaling again. As you exhale, sense that all the tension in your abdomen, solar plexus, and chest is going out through your breath. Breathe quietly in this way for five or 10 minutes. Pay special attention to the area around your solar plexus. Feel it become continually softer, as though something were melting. Then let go of any intention with your breath and simply take note of the various vibrations in and around your body. There's nothing to do but watch and sense. Work for at least 15 or 20 minutes in this way.

SHEN.

Shen is generally translated as spirit or higher mind. It is also a substance or energy in the human body. Though shen can be either original or acquired, we will not differentiate it in this book. Sometimes called "celestial chi" because of its origin in the stars, this energy resides in the upper tan tien, the energy center located between the eyebrows in the area of the pituitary gland in the brain (Figure 20). This center controls the basic energy of the mind, the energy required both for clear thinking and for awareness. Shen is the light of lucidity, of consciousness, that s.h.i.+nes through our eyes when we are awake. When this area is opened and energized we experience strong intuition and a sense of real purpose. When it is closed or weak, our attention is scattered and we feel distracted or indecisive. There are many stories of Taoist or Chinese doctors who will not treat someone in whom the light of shen is too weak. For without suffi-cient shen, without a certain level of "spirit," healing becomes impossible.

Figure 19 Shen Can Be Increased A certain amount of shen is produced naturally in the organism. But given the various stresses of modern life, it is not always sufficient to keep us healthy, and it is seldom sufficient for psychological or spiritual transformation. But shen can be intentionally increased. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through conserving our basic life force, and supporting the transformation of this life force into the more subtle energy of awareness. This work depends in large part on being able to stay in touch with, to sense, the area of the lower tan tien and learning how to keep this area open and active through awareness and proper breathing. Deep abdominal breathing not only helps move our life force into the higher centers where it can be transformed, but it also helps quiet the mind and calm the brain. This is important because as science has shown, "In the adult, the rate of brain activity, measured metabolically, is ten times that of any other tissue in the body at rest. In fact, the brain burns ten times as much oxygen and produces ten times as much carbon dioxide as the rest of the body."34 Figure 20 From both the scientific and Taoist perspectives, the brain's marathon activity influences the entire body, activating nerves, hormones, muscles, tissues, and organs. When the mind becomes quiet-when we can slow down or stop the unnecessary mental and emotional activities (such as daydreaming, criticism, self-pity, inner talking, and random a.s.sociative thinking) that fill most of our day-the cells and tissues of the brain and body begin to rest and recuperate, spending less energy and storing more. This helps to increase the overall level of energy, of chi, in our organism. When chi reaches a certain level of intensity in the organism, and we are able to sense it through a quiet, ongoing awareness, transformation of more of this energy into the finer energy of shen happens naturally. This higher level of shen not only supports healing and well-being, but is also the foundation for psychospiritual growth.

PRACTICE.

1 Opening your brain Sit or stand quietly in the usual posture, allowing your mind to become quiet and your awareness to include as much of your entire organism and its functions as possible. After 10 or 15 minutes, put your attention just below your navel and sense the energy ball expanding and contracting as you inhale and exhale. Once you feel that you are in touch with this area, allow your attention also to include the upper tan tien between your eyebrows. Sense your eyes relaxing back into their sockets. Feel the entire area around your eyes relaxing. The actual experience feels like something hard softening, or like ice melting to become water. As this melting process takes place, observe any thoughts or feelings you may be having. Don't make an occupation out of these experiences. Let them go, and continue sensing.

2 Breathing into your brain Once the area between your eyebrows feels soft and open, see if it is possible to inhale directly through this area into your brain, while simultaneously staying in touch with your deep abdominal breathing. See if you can feel a kind of subtle vibration, or movement, in this area. Don't believe the negative thoughts that may arise, thoughts that will undoubtedly tell you that it is impossible to breathe into your brain. Just try it. See for yourself. Work in this way for 10 minutes or so. When you are ready to finish, bring your attention (and your breath) back to your lower tan tien. Feel that any energy you have collected is somehow being stored there. Breathe quietly in this way for a couple of minutes before stopping.