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Energy circulation: why it is better for health than jogging

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Colourful energy circulation Energy circulation in the body is probably the most important factor in maintaining good health. When illness strikes, it is usually the result of an imbalance in the body that has been going on for some time. Inflammation and congestion are known causes of many modern ailments and are the result of poor energy circulation. Cardiovascular health is a top priority in fitness regimens, as is body mass index, but the slimmest, fittest person I know was recently found dead in a ditch, following a massive coronary attack whilst on a bicycle ride. Intense aerobic exercise is not always the best option and often ignores body types and constitutions. Energy circulation acknowledges the importance of overall health and fitness but approaches it with a different emphasis – nurturing the body rather than seeing it as a challenge to be overcome.

How can I use energy circulation?

There are many techniques and practices that help to circulate energy through the body. Most involve physical movement of some kind and, essentially, all employ the mind. There is a very close correlation between mind and energy. Borrowing from Taoist thought, yi (mind) leads the qi (energy). If the mind is tense, so too is the body. The natural state of the mind is openness but past conditioning and innumerable emotions create tension in most of us. Letting go of these is a gradual process and is a key component in allowing qi to flow through us, so promoting health and vitality. Meditation is one very useful practice; qigong is another. Tai chi (taiji) can be thought of as combining the two in a system of slow martial arts moves.

Energy circulation focus

A simple qigong exercise

  • Stand with the feet apart and back straight. (Alternatively, sit upright.) Lift the head slightly, as though you are lengthening the neck. Place the tip of the tongue lightly on the hard palate, just behind the teeth. Breathe slowly.
  • Bring the hands to a few inches in front of the chest, as though holding an orb of light, with the fingers pointing upwards.
  • Breathe in and imagine the orb expanding, pushing the hands apart a little. As you exhale, close the hands, shrinking the orb to its original size.
  • Continue doing this for at least a couple of minutes and then lower the hands and rest them on the lower abdomen, just below the navel, for about half a minute.

This is a wonderful start to the practice of energy circulation.

For a free guided meditation on circulating energy, go here.

Other free meditations.

More information on health and energy in my book on happiness.

Related posts:

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  2. Be rooted again: how a simple trick enhances life and wellbeing
  3. Qi power – secrets of internal energy for health and stability
  4. Perfection: 6 reasons why striving for it can seriously damage your health

Be rooted again: how a simple trick enhances life and wellbeing

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Be rooted treeBe rooted and you can become almost unshakeable. This is a common principle in martial arts, especially taiji (tai chi), where we can become so firmly grounded through the legs and feet that another person finds it impossible to push or pull us over. It gives an illusion of enormous strength but there is little muscular force in it, in fact quite the opposite. To be rooted, we have to learn to become centred and to relax. Although this technique, if we call it that, we express through the body, it is a mental approach that we can apply throughout life.

Be rooted: find your centre

When we are anxious – and we are living in an age where there is much anxiety – whatever we think or do plays out on a background of instability. Our energy is unsettled and our minds are too active, too yang. As a result, events in life and even what people say can pull us this way and that. Our stress responses go up and quality of life goes down. We have forgotten how to be rooted.

The first step in coming back is to find our own centre. Instead of letting our energy go up through the chest and into our head, creating chaos on the way, we bring it to the centre of the body and down into the belly. Just focus. Let the energy build. Focus at the navel or slightly below and slow the breath down. The energy will come home to its centre. It’s a good feeling and is entirely natural.

Relax: keep your head up but let your feet sink

Letting the energy come home to the centre is the first stage. To be rooted well, we also need to let go of everything and relax. Relax your legs and feet, too. Your feet are designed to be in contact with the ground, so let them enjoy that. Let them sink. Really feel the earth through your feet. Thich Nhat Hanh used to say, “kiss the Earth with your feet”. Or we may like to feel as though we are breathing through the soles, drawing in nourishment from the ground beneath us. Once we have learnt to be rooted like this, there is no cause for anxiety. Centred and relaxed, we belong to the Earth and wherever we are, we are at home. Life is so much better like that. And it’s easy.

There is more like this in The Great Little Book of Happiness and my other books, available here.

Related posts:

  1. Qi power – secrets of internal energy for health and stability
  2. Energy circulation: why it is better for health than jogging
  3. Longevity: seven secrets of ageing gracefully
  4. Diet: the Vegans may have landed but don’t lose the feeling

Digestion: does it hold the most important secret to vibrant health and wellbeing?

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Digestion vitalityDigestion is enormously important to our sense of wellbeing. It is not simply a way of processing food and liquid. The manner of that processing has a direct bearing on our vitality, which also affects the clarity of our mind. Our emotional strength and balance, too, depend to a great extent on our digestive power.

Digestion and fire

The power of the digestion is sometimes said to rely on “digestive fire”, a prosaic but very apt description of the ability of the body to metabolise food. If our food is fully digested, we could almost say that we have a “clean burn fire”; but if there is only partial digestion, residues are left behind and these residues form toxins that stay in the body.

Too much fuel and confused messages

The analogy of a fire is a very good one. If there is a strong fire, more fuel can be added and it will burn easily, so producing heat. That means greater energy and vitality. But if we put on a lot of fuel when the fire is low, it will just smoulder. Instead of heat, it will produce a deal of smoke, soot and tar, probably leaving unburnt fuel, too. Similarly, in eating the wrong food – or at the wrong times – when the digestion is at a low ebb, we choke up our system. Why would we do that? Habit is one possible cause, eating for comfort is another. For whatever reason, confused messages reach the brain giving false sensations of hunger or appetite. We can help change this by acknowledging the natural cycles that govern digestion.

Rhythm or blues?

The normal daily cycle of the body largely reflects the diurnal rhythm of our environment. Our digestive fire is naturally strongest around midday when the sun is at its highest. Midnight feasts are not a good idea, then. Heavy breakfasts and big evening meals can also play havoc. On the other hand, by following more natural rhythms, our digestion will grow stronger and we will produce less of the toxins that can result from poor digestion. The result is better health.

This is an excerpt from Tips for Daily Living from my first book, The Great Little Book of Happiness

Mind, Health & Vitality: Promoting Vibrant Health Through the Power of Meditation and Qigong is a workshop in Staffordshire on Monday 11th June 2018. More details and how to book.

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  4. Guts, bugs and zen: how and why they can change your life

Longevity: seven secrets of ageing gracefully

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Longevity tai chi masterLongevity is a lovely word that beautifully conjures up images of a long and healthy life. Age merely becomes a number as the essence of youth carries us on its fragrance into the later decades of life.

But the truth is that although people are generally living far longer, longevity in our society doesn’t always match up to our ideal image. Most in middle age will say that they would rather be shot than end their days in a care home. In spite of that promise to themselves, too many end up where they dreaded being. Perhaps it needn’t be like that. Here are some things we can do to minimise the risk.

For longevity, breathe deeply and more slowly

Many of us breathe shallowly. Instead of using the diaphragm and filling the bottom part of the lungs, we fill the top and maybe a bit of the middle. Breathing more deeply reduces the stress responses in the body and can help to reduce blood pressure. It increases oxygenation and tends to stabilise the flow of qi or vitality, which we need to conserve more as we age.

Meditate or learn to sit quietly every day

There is a wealth of documentation on the benefits of meditation and quiet sitting on health and wellbeing. Imagine life like being on a train journey. We can choose to enjoy that journey, admire the scenery and stop off here and there. Sitting quietly with ourselves for five or ten minutes a day, longer if we wish, helps us to enjoy our trip through life. That really is what longevity is about.

Do something that engages both sides of your brain

Meditation helps to harmonise the left and right hemispheres of the brain. If we tend to analyse, use logic and intellectualise a great deal, the intuitive side of the brain can be underused. Drawing, gardening and listening to music, for example, if done with full awareness, will help to balance things out.

Aerobic exercise is good in moderation

If you like to run or go to the gym, great. It’s much better than sitting on one’s bottom all day. But longevity is about balance, too. As we age, the body’s energy changes and exercise that is very strenuous can be counter-productive. Walking, dancing, tai chi (taiji) and yoga are all good for promoting a long and healthy life.

Learn something new every day

Learning stimulates the brain and encourages the growth and renewal of neural pathways. If combined with physical activity, such as learning and practicing tai chi, there are multiple benefits.

Taiji and qigong

Think about looking into these classic exercise systems for longevity if you haven’t done so already. These are forms of physical exercise sequences, practised with a relaxed and heightened state of awareness. Both taiji and qigong work on the energy of the body as well as the normal physical aspects and emphasise promoting health in the vital organs.

Let go of the past – and the future

Clinging to memories of the good old days or to resentment of when they were bad causes negative energy patterns in us. Similarly, hoping for something to happen in the future takes us out of the present into an imaginary sphere. Let go of all this. It’s like junk in the attic. Clear it out and let yourself be free.

The Great Little Book of Happiness – A Guide to Leading a Happier Life looks closely at the various cycles of life and how to achieve balance for longevity.

An evening workshop entitled How to Eliminate Fear is coming up very soon in Staffordshire. A limited number of places is still available. More information.

Related posts:

  1. Energy circulation: why it is better for health than jogging
  2. Qi power – secrets of internal energy for health and stability
  3. Be rooted again: how a simple trick enhances life and wellbeing
  4. Movement: why listening to our body is vital for health

Guts, bugs and zen: how and why they can change your life

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Guts are not a frequent topic of conversation but they have been very much on my mind this week. There is an enormous variety of bacteria that thrive in our guts which are a major factor in our quality of life. There is a very convincing argument that our modern way of life can have a serious impact on the bacteria – the biome. The health implications are extraordinary.

Your brain is in your gutsguts zen brain

Practitioners of qigong may have heard the euphemism of the guts being our second brain. I first came across this years ago in Embryonic Breathing by Dr Yang Jwing Ming. In The Spark in the Machine Dr Daniel Keown clearly refers to it, too. According to Dr Michael Mosley in The Clever Guts Diet, there are indeed brain cells lining the whole length of the gut. If put together, they would be larger than the brain of a cat. Gosh. These are linked to the cerebral brain and there is constant communication between these two centres.

Guts and zen

The subject of the biome and its influence is very complex. It is the subject of an enormous amount of research by some very great minds. But it strikes my quite simple mind that if microbial secretions in our guts can strongly influence our moods and desires, then our view of life – how we see ourselves and everyone/everything else – might also be significantly affected by little lives we cannot see. Another gosh – are bugs playing with our zen? And maybe not only bugs?

What we need to do

The popular media is full of alarmist headlines. Their sole motive is to make us take a look at the latest story. But as you read this, you are still breathing, as am I as I write it. We’re okay, then, in spite of all. What we really need to do is stop chasing information and clear the head. Allow ourselves to become a little still. Then we can gradually become more aware.

Zen and the art of not doing

zen guts

If we feel the body as it is, it will often deliver up the information we need to put things right. The intuition is brilliant if we let it percolate through.

Sometimes we will know that a certain food is not good for us, for example. We may intuit that we need more, less or a different type of exercise. If we really listen, we will know when we need fresh air, a change of environment or no change at all.

None of this is a replacement for professional medical help, of course. Nevertheless, we can learn a great deal if we allow our awareness to settle and expand before reaching for a remedy or phoning a therapist.

This is part of the art of not doing. Discomfort and bugs need not interfere with a zen approach to life. Indeed, they, and our guts, can teach us a great deal.

A zen approach to life is explored in The Art of Not Doing 

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  2. Strength: 3 reasons why balance is better than muscle
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  4. Longevity: seven secrets of ageing gracefully