Posts Tagged ‘qigong’

Yoga and Energy Work as the Foundation of True Strength Development

28
Jul
2010

So, I just finished my daily practice. I had a rest day from my workout so I basically did a couple qigong forms, some sexual cultivation work ( haha tisk tisk) and then finished off with an hour of yoga.

As is typical, I get pretty inspired as I start to notice the progress I am making in my practices because I start connecting the dots as to what aspects are doing what and it helps me to round things out.

As my practice has developed over the years I have indeed made some interesting realizations. And, I still do.

I wanted to go into one of them today. And, that is the role that a deep yogic and energetic cultivation practice can play in the development of foundational strength.

I have always been more of a health adventurer rather than a purist. In fact, I kind of hate the idea of doing only one thing because there are so many benefits to be taken from so many different types of practices and in many ways they all overlap.

Not only do they overlap, but, according to Ken Wilber’s integral model (which is what I look at when I truly want to understand the nature of holistic development), doing a range of practices (or spiritually cross training) actually enhances the effects that you take from each of the practices individually and creates an exponential growth curve.

I will go over that more deeply in a future blog post.

Today I just wanted to talk about what I believe yoga and energy cultivation methods bring to the table when being used as a support for a weightlifting or fitness regimen.

We all know what yoga is by now, I think. So, I will not go over that too much. Energy work though, can be a little confusing as it isn’t so well understood and it does encompass a vast quantity of practices developed over many thousands of years.

In my interpretation of energy work, I am basically using it as a generic term that refers to still or moving meditation (tai chi, qi gong etc.) and different types of sexual cultivation practices (tantra, Taoist sexual kung fu…). And, at its core, there is always some type of deep breath awareness that serves as its base and enables us to direct the flow of energy within our body (pranayama in yoga, Zen breathing etc.)

Now, over the years, and more so even recently, I am coming to the realization that, energy work sits on top of everything else as what effects us most deeply in the pursuit of strength development.
The reason for this is that as energy is released, cultivated, and allowed to flow more freely, it begins to provide a level of buoyancy. It really does make one feel lighter. What I mean to say is that it provides a deeper support to all other levels of matter manifestation, including what we see as the physical.

The Taoists have spent many millennia developing one of the most comprehensive approaches to development of any other culture and they maintain the perspective that developing the subtle body is of utmost importance. That is certainly not to say that they did not believe developing the physical body was important….because it absolutely is and has so many benefits that can NOT be understated.

But the Taoists believed that a well muscled person was only as strong as his or her internal body and organ system. Qi gong, although having a deep impact on the flow of energy, also develops the different organs. In their system of anatomy, the Chinese mapped out the many channels, meridians, and corresponding points that exist all over the body. Each one of these roughly corresponds to particular organs within the body….kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, spleen etc.

What lies within each pathway is what is known as chi (or qi, ki, energy, life force, or prana). And illness (physical, mental, or emotional) is created as a result of energy being blocked at a certain channel, meridian, or point. And, if the energy is flowing unimpeded than all of the body’s organs are strong and that in turn strengthens the body’s capacity for muscular development.

After all, it’s really the organs that feed the body its nutrients which allow muscles to develop properly. And, also as the organs and body centers are strengthened, than you will find that you can tend to go harder in your workout, you recover faster, and you don’t get injured nearly as often.

Yoga, at its base, is energy work as well and it actually gives you a range of benefits that are similar. What gives yoga its effect on energy is the concentration on the breath. Breathing deeply and with awareness is what enables someone to cultivate and move the energy. And, so that is why it forms the basis of all moving and still meditative practices.

But, the reason I wanted to go over it here, was due to its effect on strengthening those parts of the physical body that really cannot be developed through a standard weight training regimen.

Yoga, trains the body in a way that stimulates energetic production and awareness, it nourishes all the organs by creating a combined contraction and expansion within each of them, as you work into your folds, twists, and bends, it trains a deeper awareness of your nervous system, brain and spine, and it also strengthens the bones, all of the joints, and all of the muscles as it forces you to move in and out of positions that you would normally never move into.

I think this, to me, is the most compelling reason to undertake a yoga practice.

Yoga, though, goes so much deeper than that. It is much deeper than I can cover in a single blog post. It is so far removed from its current portrayal in the commercial world that it’s kind of ridiculous. But, there are many benefits that can be gained as a result of regular practice.

In so many ways and for so many reasons, yoga and energetic practice can enhance your approach to fitness.

Over the years, I have noticed a dramatic shift in the way I train, focusing less on lifting weights (a typical crossfit styled workout while being very tough and extremely effective lasts about 10-15 minutes) and really expanding my focus on energetic cultivation.

I have to say my yoga practice has gone in and out over the years as I have tried different cultivation means, but I always go back to it as a staple because it is so effective and multifaceted.

I would say out of a typical day of practice, I will spend between 3-5 hours doing different things. Out of that time, a fraction of it is spent working out with weights and focusing on the physical body. The vast majority is spent doing qigong, meditating, and doing yoga.

And that is how it seems to work best. Because I very very rarely if ever get injured and I haven’t gotten sick in a very long while (I used to be sick all the time in my younger days).

Thank you guys so much.

Peace, Love, Light!

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The Power of Being Fit in All Three Bodies

09
Jul
2010

I have, over the past few years, come across the work of Ken Wilber and I am amazed by it to say the least. In his work, he has uncovered understandings on just about all areas of society, what is driving it and moving it forward, along with the whys and hows.

I truly encourage anyone here who is interested in understanding the direction that our mass consciousness is taking to spend some time delving into the topics of spiral dynamics or the integral model that he has uncovered.

In his research you will find the same evidences that I have found for reasons why I believe that humanity as a whole is in actuality moving in the right direction, which is toward an integral consciousness, despite the seeming snail like pace in which these changes seem to be occurring.

That is not the topic at hand, though, so lets move on.

While doing a workout yesterday, the thought occurred to me that, in the system that I have put together for myself, it really is true that I am targeting much more than the physical body and its mechanisms.

The reason I brought up Ken Wilber is because, to be honest, that upon reading his book, “Integral Life Practice” recently, it occured to me that what I am doing is in large part an Integral Life Practice in itself.

And, the approach that Wilber puts forth is a multi-moduled or three bodied framework for fitness, emotional, mental, and spiritual health.

What are the three bodies? While Wilber calls them the gross, subtle, and causal bodies, Taoist literature refers to them the as the three treasures of jing, chi, and shen.

The gross body (jing) is referring to the sexual physical vitality that is usually enhanced through physical stimulation or through the food and substances we injest. It is the densest of the three and is what we can see and feel.

The subtle body (chi) refers to the energetic field that moves through the body’s energy centers and through the other supporting channels.

The causal body (shen) refers to the energy of consciousness, the mind, or mental awareness.

What I have found most noticeable in my own research, is that no matter what culture or aspect within culture you look to, you never really see all three of our bodies being expressed and developed.

Personally, I have realized that, in my work, I have tended to make it a point to focus on all three bodies rather than only the physical or only the mental or spiritual aspects of myself and it has resulted in an ability to really take my three bodied fitness out into the world.

The reason I suppose this is the case is because, if I am concentrating on all of these many aspects of myself, overtime, I will tend to become aware of how everything is being affected so as not to overwhelm any one area and damage myself.

A good example of this is in physical training. Now, yes, you may have seen some of my workout videos or looked at the crossfit mainpage and seen that the workouts I tend to do look very difficult. And, they certainly are.

But, my workouts will not usually last any longer than twenty minutes and even though, in every way, I am getting a pretty powerful workout, I do not overdo the actual act of physical training itself. And, in my opinion, this brand of training provides the most beneficial effect on the overall aging process and is designed to do the least amount of harm to my full spectrum of bodies.

But, if we begin to overdo aspects of physical training (which many bodybuilders do) other areas of our conscious spectrum begin to weaken. Maybe our sexual vitality is depleted more quickly or our egos get larger and more difficult to manage (have you ever heard of a bodybuilder maybe adoring the look of his own muscle just a little too much?…lol).

It is a working hypothesis that I am enjoying experimenting with.

Now, there is overlap here also. Workouts do affect all three bodies, in the same way that meditation increases beneficial hormones in addition to expanding consciousness and removing energy blockages.

But, as we know, meditation is meant and is best when used to expand consciousness or to deal with stress in everyday life. Many so called spiritual seekers do meditation and nothing else. They do not workout. Why?

Because they have been told by some zen guru that we are only the mind and the body doesn’t matter.

The truth is that we are simultaneously living as a continuous expression of our body AND our mind. Both of these, in addition to the energy field are vehicles in our expression and experience of life.

More attention, in my opinion, would be best spent on some type of meditative practice than a workout for sure. But we should always do both. I spend an hour or more with my holosync soundtracks and I feel they have helped me tremendously. But, I make sure to work out and do meditation as well.

Ken Wilber has even said that in a study done recently, two groups of men were given a specific period of time to devote to transformational practices each week. The first group was told to only do meditation during that period of time while a second group was instructed to balance that time between physical training and meditation.

Well, what do you know? The group that worked out, according to the judges, was said to have experienced more growth in their meditative practices than the group that did meditation alone.

Case in point, do both! Its so much better when you can be increasingly more conscious in a body that is fit than in one that is fat? And what is being increasingly discovered as the research advances is that meditative and spiritual growth happens faster when multiple facets are applied to ones personal program.

Lastly, I would like to take a brief look at my qigong practices. I have a good amount of experience with this. But, my knowledge is limited on the specifics of how and why it works so well.

The bulk of my experience has been with a program called magnetic qigong which was created by Peter Ragnar. I find it to be amazing and I realize more and more over time all the ways in which it has helped me.

It takes maybe 5 or 10 minutes each day, but in that brief span of time, many benefits can be gained.

Qigong is considered to be a moving meditation. According to some ancient sources, standing meditation is considered to actually be much more beneficial than standard seated meditative practices. But, the focus, as I have found seems to be much more on expanding the energetic field or subtle body.

This creates a deeper experience with the chakras and channels of the body and can also contribute to the development of shen (which is developed primarily through seated meditation) as it moves throughout the body, up the spine, and into the crown chakra.

And, in my own experience, I have noticed a deeper connection with the earth as well. I tend to feel much more grounded and my balance is also increased. So, although I cannot state exactly what is happening, I do know that it is having a wonderful effect.

The books of Jwing Ming Yang and Peter Ragnar are wonderful sources of information on this topic.

Doing all of these practices may seem like a lot. But, I assure you that they are not. It is not so much the amount of time you spend doing each individual practice that makes the difference. It is more important that you do a range of practices within the given time that you may have to devote.

In the case of the study, remember, the time allotted was the same, but the results (for those spiritual cross trainers) were dramatically different.

Give it a try.

Peace, Love, Light!

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