Chi is the electromagnetic field generated by a body, be that body inert (or seemingly so) or living. Chi is the lifeforce; it is also the "Tao" force. It is the energy of the soul. It is the energy of all things that are and are not. Manifest in form in the reality, Chi is that which we perceive as real and tnagible. Manifest in formlessness in this reality, Chi is that which we can and/or cannot perceive - the intangible. Simpy put, Chi is.

Chi Energy Meridians and Body Centers

Simplified, Chi follows what are called "energy meridians" or "chi meridians," natural pathways in the body that interconnect all its various organs, systems, and networks, from the macro to the microcellular and molecular. These meridians come together or focus at various places in the body, the most noted being located at the crown of the head, the forehead, the throat, the heart, the solar plexus, the dan tien, and directly between the legs in the center of the crotch. and, yes, it is no coincidence that the chi centers and chakra centers mentioned in Hindu and Buddhist works occupy the same territory. A rose by any other name is still a rose...or, more zen, a rose is a rose is a rose is a....
Better, a rose is.
Better yet: rose.
And better still: beautiful.
Best: [apprehend* without thought or naming]
(A very coarse and basic example leading to zen thoughtway.)

Defining Our Meaning of Harmonizing and Balancing

There are many disciplines and systems that talk about harmonizing and balancing. Most are steeped in metaphysical mumbo jumbo and based, as prerequisite, on some ideology.

We don't care who you are, or how or what you believe. Harmonizing and balancing the body is a physical/mental exercise independent of belief systems and their various rituals. But it is very dependent upon breathing, relaxing, and finding "center."

What we present here are not rituals. They are not meant to be practiced as religious rites. Nor are they meant to be identified as the tools of the "initiated." They are indeed tools, but that is all they are. Anyone who decides that they are some form of "secret rite of passage," the "rituals of the adept" or some such nonsense is misled, misinformed and psychologically lacking mental stability. Flee from them and their delusions like you would a carrier of a bad plague. They are sick, power-hungry, and in need of the help of a good psychologist.

We don't deal in mumbo jumbo. We are not interested in guru-dom. And we don't deal in delusions of some "inner sanctum of the initiated" or "True Way." In fact, theology and religious doctrines, despite their founding precepts (whether Islamic, Buddhist, Christian, Satanic, Pagan or any other), have nothing to do with deep sensing and its mental and physical mechanisms. Pay attention to the real, and keep your religion to yourself, just as you would during an aerobics class over at the gym, or when taking golf lessons, learning a new language, or getting that next credit in your advanced marketing degree. That said, let's get on with getting our mind and body in shape.

Exercises that work to Balance and Harmonize

First of all, exercise - plain, old, ordinary exercise - is important. Start taking regular thirty minute walks three times a week. Then, go play tennis, go the gym, the pool, or better, on a hike. Do something physical that exerts your body and gets your blood moving and your muscles working. And concentrate on breathing correctly with your full diaphram while you are doing it.

Without exercise, the chi in your body atrophies. In fact, there is a direct correlation between the health of the body and the level of your chi. One could go so far to say that life is chi, the body is chi, chi is the body, and so on, but we don't want to have to take the time to explain all of that, so suffice it to say that you need to exercise, breathing correctly in the process.

Beyond physical exercise, we have a few techniques to use to help harmonize and balance the body and mind, techniques which allow you to enter a relaxed by energized and alert state with no tension.

Have you ever had a real massage, one done, not by someone who claims to be a masseuse or "massage therapist," but by someone who is a real masseuse? (And, no, you can't find them in the yellow pages. They are rare, highly paid and do not advertise because most have been snapped up by expensive spas, health clubs, and private individuals.) If you have had a real massage, you know that by the time they are finished with you, you are so absolutely relaxed that you more resemble a rag dolly than a human being. More, your mind has relaxed and cleared. Yet you are not tired, but, rather, energized and ready to tackle new projects.

Harmonizing and chi balancing has the same effect.

Again, we start with the breath. Breathing correctly massages the internal organs. If, when we exercise, we breath correctly, we are in fact massaging our internal organs. This internal massage is beneficial in that it promotes increased blood supply and oxygenation. It stimulates and tones. Moving from heavy exercise to "warm-down," we can utilize breathing to also stimulate a mental state of "at-one-ment" or harmony of body and mind. But here we get ahead of ourselves and into a realm that has more to do with maintaining a functional zen state of being rather than of practical no-nonsense how-to deep sense. Suffice it to say that "chi follows the breath."

As previously said, Chi also follows what are called "energy meridians" or "chi meridians," natural pathways in the body that interconnect Chi centers and all of the body's various organs, systems, and networks, from the macro to the microcellular and molecular. When everything is working at optimum, good things happen.

Ever remember a time during some activity when you were so "together" that everything just "clicked?" That is, you felt great, your coodination was at peak and mistakes didn't happen, your mind was quick and the entire task was smooth and easy? Plus, you felt happy and "on top of the world?" You were in harmony and balance at that time. And you were working, as we say, "from center."

We seek the same state as a norm. And it doesn't take work. What does take work is the act of releasing those things that destroy that harmony and balance, a state that, unfortunately is fostered by our artificial environment and the stresses of "civilized living." (Note that for optimum life, an environment utilizing DC electric current only, rather than AC electric current is preferred, AC current being destructive and damaging to the body, especially when completely encircled by it, such as within buildings. See About Electricity.)

So, we have some exercises:

Again, we bring up the finger exercise mentioned about in the previous chapter. To that, we are going to add onto the finger exercise by having you also do your toes, then learn the Rings of Chi hand exercise, as well as center balancing and chi brushing. We will also lightly address Chi Circulation and Circulating Chi.

What these exercises do, despite their seeming inconsequence, is stabilize and balance the chi through stimulating meridians to connect and move chi from areas of too high a concentration to areas of too low a concentration. Sounds weird, doesn't it, but it is very similar to acupuncture and accupressure or to reflexology in its effect and its benefit.

Having done those, let us find our "center," the state of being harmonized and balanced. First we will learn to do this sitting, then standing, then moving.

FINDING CENTER

Located between your belly button and the top of your pubic bone, halfway between the skin of your tummy and the skin of your back, is the approximate location of your body's physical center or dan tien. Women have a slightly lower center than do men. Don't worry over mentally identifying exactly where it is located. Rather, put your hand over your lower abdomen below your navel and breathe down to a place you visualize in your mind as being located directly in the center of your body between your backbone and the skin right underneath your hand. Close your eyes and literally try to breathe through that imagined area. (That area should mentally feel dark and warm and maybe a little "fuzzy-edged" to your consciousness.)

Having once gotten comfortable to the point of not having to concentrate to do it, stand up.

Do the same thing, standing relaxed (joints not locked, muscles not tense, and mind untroubled - See Relaxing).

Go ahead. Close your eyes, find it, and breathe through it.

Once you have mastered finding it, breathing through it, and can do it easily and automatically at a moment's thought sitting and standing, it is time to begin to try moving while doing the same thing. It doesn't matter what movement you do -- tai chi, gentle dancing, swaying, or whatever -- just move. (HINT: It helps to keep your hand over your dan tien at first.)

Once you can do that easily and without effort or conscious thought, it is time to go to the next step: dropping your consciousness to "center." . . .Yes, we said, "dropping your consciousness to center" -- and, yes, we mean that same physical center.

You can do it. It is how one is functioning when one efficiently and effortlessly drives a car or when everything is "clicking" as mentioned above and you are on-top-of-the-world. It is how you move when practicing tai chi or "dancing in tao" - what the tai chi master is constantly trying to get you to do when you are learning the art. You are not moving from your head, not from your "heart," but from a "total self," which means from "center," without self-consciousness or fear, and without "figuring it out before you do it." Mind and body are harmonized and working efficiently and un-self-consciously together in a "whole self" movement. To maintain center at all times without effort or conscious thought is the goal, and it takes normal learners years.

So go practice, and when you have mastered that, you are ready for the next step. And you'll know when you are beginning to master the art of living as it was meant to be when life and its daily processes begin to become easy and effortless.

________

* apprehend: to behold, take in, comprehend and acknowledge, but, in zen, to grasp without grapsing.