19/05/2021
The Story of Qigong (8)
Energy zones
Quantum physically spoken, everything is energy or energy is everywere.
Various energy sources interact and influence each other according to the laws of yin and yang. Which means that they can attract or repel each other.
This happens on Earth, for example, through the interaction between gravity and the upward electromagnetic force.
As we saw earlier, we can use those powers in our advantage to move or to do work.
Qigong teaches us perfectly how to do that.
Animals naturally do that too. Thanks to Dr. Huo Tua, we were able to adopt this in Qigong .
When we look at animals we do indeed see that they are constantly using the earth's energy.
For example, a bird cannot fly up without a little bounsing. That is, it pushes itself down for a moment to use the upward force to fly up.
A Chinese qigong master used this to practice becoming yin. When a bird sat on his hand, he made himself completely yin. As a result, the bird "dropped" in its energy, as it were, and could not take off. When he just kept yang, the bird flew off without a hitch.
This brings us to the different energy zones or points on the human body.
These are points or zones with which we can acquire energy as well as transmit and use it.
The sole of the foot is one of them, or better the kidney 1 point on the sole of the foot.
When you curl your toes inward, a dimple appears on the ball of the foot. This is due to the shape of the sole of the foot with the metatarsal bones.
By pushing the foot down, those legs separate, opening the sole of the foot, as it were.
The ball of the foot itself is very fleshy and can be compressed.
This allows us to open the kidney 1 point.
The kidney 1 (Ki1) is the first point of the kidney meridian. This meridian runs from the ball of the foot over the inside of the legs through the chest to the collarbone.
According to Chinese medicine, the kidneys maintain the Jing or the masses. The kidney energy ensures that everything in our body stays in place. (More about this in a future article)
By its nature we can easily put downward pressure with the kidney 1 point and thus increase gravity. This also allows us to increase the upward energy.
This makes energy available for the body to move, for example.
This energy can enter the body via the kidney 1 point and move through the body via the kidney meridian.
In practice, our bone structure will provide the mechanical transmission of that energy. Each joint is a transfer or transformation point and is therefore called a chakra. (More about chakra later).
The consecutive joints are the ankles, knees, hips, spine, shoulders ...
The different Qigong exercises teach us to loosen and align those joints so that the energy can flow smoothly to perform the desired activity.
You can see this clearly when, for example, a dog or a horse steps. It will put pressure on the earth with one of its hind legs to generate the upward electromagnetic force.
This allows the animal to move. The energy will propagate through the spine to go to the diagonally opposite leg, after which that leg or foot presses against the earth to cause a kind of bounsing here as well. After which that process repeats with the next hind leg. As a result, the whole body participates in the movement.
How can we know if the kidney 1 point is open and the energy flows through the body?
By testing it!
For this we need a practice partner,
Have your practice partner stand in a balanced position.
This is a relaxed position where the body is completely in balance. We explain this posture better in another article.
The important thing about this posture is that the practice partner is not going to absorb or compensate and just let things happens.
After all, it is not a competition, but the visualization of the effect of energy.
Have the exercise partner extend the arms slightly and gently grasp the hands or wrists. Very gently, barely touching.
Then stand relaxed in your basic position and increase the pressure on the sole of your foot to open your kidney 1 point. Do not lean forward, because then you will push your partner away.
Try to stay upright and only open your kidney 1. That can be a bit difficult at first, but in the end it will work out. Watch and experience what is happening. If your kidney 1 is open, your partner will fall back on its own. The energy has done its job.
Does not it work? First check whether your partner is in the right position. If you push him lightly with your finger, he or she should already back off. Otherwise, he or she is compensating or absorbing.
If not, try again and relax. Let it happen and don't try too hard.
This is an important principle in qigong. When you try too hard, tension arises and that hinders a good energy flow.
If your partner quickly deteriorates, your kidney 1 is open properly.
If it succeeds, let your partner apply a little more counter pressure and try to push him or her away by opening the kidney 1 further and further.
