Cosmic Healing Chi Kung (or Qi Cong) is an important branch of Tao (or Dao), a comprehensive system for cultivating body, energy, and mind.
Chi means "energy" or "life force"; kung means "work" or "effort." Cosmic Chi Kung is about developing the ability to use Chi for self-healing purposes. Taoist masters developed this practice to transform the interference fields and blockages present in the body into usable energy. This discipline is useful for anyone interested in complementary and alternative healing methods, either for themselves or as a therapist; for anyone who wants to realize their human potential on a higher level of consciousness.
We humans owe our lives to a unique combination of forces and energies in our environment and within us. The two main forces are electricity and magnetism. Bioelectric magnetism in the Western world is the term for "life force" or what the Taoists call "Chi." Bio means life; electric refers to the universal energies (yang) of the stars and planets; and magnetism refers to the earth energies (yin) or gravitational forces that prevail on all celestial bodies. Bio-electric magnetism or chi infuses everything in the heavens, on earth, and in nature. For five thousand years, adepts of Cosmic Chi Kung have used long-established methods to harness this inexhaustible reservoir of chi to greatly increase the self-healing energy available to them.
Two basic types of chi operate in humans:
1. Prenatal Chi, a combination of Chi and Ching, it is inherited from parents and manifests as innate vitality; and
2. Postnatal Chi, that form of vitality which an individual acquires during life and which manifests as the light that shines behind personality and self-consciousness.
Prenatal Chi cannot be increased significantly after birth. However, we can avoid its early exhaustion through conscious living. Ultimately, the highest vision of the ancient Taoists for eternal life leads us to the realization that the preservation of our primal Chi acquired at birth guarantees a long and healthy life. However, we can only achieve this through careful management of our postnatal Chi.
If our postnatal Chi is depleted by excessive lifestyle, poor diet or shallow breathing, we begin to deplete our prenatal chi, leading to premature aging, to illness and eventually to death.
To build postnatal Chi, humans gain bio-electro-magnetic energy from the two main sources of food and breathing. Nutrient-poor food and shallow breathing severely limit the ability to obtain energy.
The Taoist teachings therefore pay special attention to the 5 elements diet and special breathing exercises. Plants absorb the cosmic energies of the sun and the magnetic forces of the earth to assimilate and transform them, making these energies available to all living beings. Instead of absorbing universal chi only after it has been processed by plants, the adepts of Cosmic Chi Kong go directly to the source of this primordial energy. When we align ourselves with the cosmic forces, we become a channel through which we can absorb and process these energies in direct connection with the universe through body, soul, and spirit. With the help of the techniques of Cosmic Chi Kung and meditation, we are thus enabled to specifically control this cosmic energy.
In Cosmic Chi Kung, people are compared to a filled oil lamp. Many people burn their fuel at high intensity without ever taking time to replenish the oil in the lamp. Alcohol, drugs, tobacco, and promiscuity all accelerate the consumption of this fuel.
The exercises of Cosmic Chi Kung are about replenishing these inner energies. The Taoists have recognized that human beings have only a limited supply of chi. However, if we are able to connect with the inexhaustible sources of energy in the universe, we gain an unlimited chi capacity. Within the limits of our human nature, we constantly replenish ourselves with the infinite abundance of energy around us.
According to Taoist belief, the cause of most physical ailments is blocked or stagnant chi. Practitioners of Cosmic Chi Kong remove these chi blockages by connecting with the forces of the earth and cosmos and channeling their stronger, purer and more positive energies into the body to release and transform the negative or blocked chi.
In their inner search, the ancient Taoists discovered a way to access these forces of the universe. And the better we can direct our inner energy, the easier it is for us to direct the surrounding energies.
In today's Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which has its roots in the ancient Taoist teachings, we know many more types of chi and their various qualities, but they are not discussed in detail in Cosmic Chi Kung. However, the principles always remain the same, balanced equilibrium is the ideal state.
Human beings have amazing gifts and abilities. In the way we use our minds and hands, we are unique creatures. Look around your world: the skyscrapers, architecture, technology, and the myriad other creations of man have all come about through the interaction of mind and hand. In exercise, we use our minds and hands to connect with the forces of the cosmos. We use the mind to project a pattern of energy into the universe, tap into its forces, and channel that energy back into our bodies.
With mind and hands, each of us can tap into the limitless energy of the cosmos. An important component of Cosmic Chi Kung is the cultivation of self-healing abilities to use for oneself and thus for the community.
As a true disciple of the Tao, the student begins by learning about himself and the possibilities of inner cultivation. Like all methods handed down in Taoist tradition, Cosmic Chi Kung is not based on a belief system, but the values and emphasis are meant to be “experienced” by everyone.
Mastering Chi
Among the most important fundamentals of Cosmic Chi Kung is the mastery of chi. In five steps you can learn to master chi, the true method of Taoist teaching is oral transmission, as it has been cultivated for over five thousand years.
Step 1: Preserve Chi
In the system of Cosmic Chi Kung, the primary goal is to learn to preserve chi. This can be illustrated with all kinds of metaphors. For example, if a battery is completely drained, it is more difficult to recharge it.
Similarly, if you are completely drained, it is harder to regain energy. Another example states that you must have money mass to make money and have chi to make chi. Preserving chi helps you gain more chi.
In order to have more chi, we must first gain control of those gates through which we habitually lose energy, which unconsciously causes our life force to deplete.
We lose energy
- through our reproductive system
- through negative emotions
- through the fact that we constantly turn our senses outward.
So what good would it do us to acquire more chi without knowing how to hold on to the chi we already have?
Step 2: Harmonize Chi
Next, we learn to harmonize our chi; that is, we ensure an unobstructed and balanced flow of energy throughout the body, the ideal of Chinese medicine, by the way. If our energy is not balanced, we may have too much of it in some places and too little in others. We may also be too yang or too yin, or we may suffer from an excess or deficiency of heat, cold, dampness, or dryness. In such cases, we tend to have extreme reactions and erratic physical conditions.
Step 3: Transform Chi
In the third step, we learn to transform our chi into more useful forms of energy. For example, using Taoist sexual practices (Healing Love), we can transform sexual energy into fundamental life force. Other techniques, such as the Inner Smile, the Six Healing Sounds, and the Fusion of the Five Elements can be used to transform negative emotional energy into positive Chi. Or to release emotional blockages seated in the physical body through special massage techniques such as Chi Massage or Chi Nei Tsang®. Therefore, chi is not only the foundation of our health, but also the foundation of our spiritual development.
Step 4: Increase Chi
Once we have completed these first three stages of controlling chi, we can begin to learn how to increase it. Chi permeates the entire universe: heaven, earth and nature. Cosmic Chi Kung involves time-honored methods for tapping into these unlimited chi reserves and greatly increasing the amount of energy available to us. To do this, it is essential to have first mastered the basic stages of preserving, harmonizing, and transforming chi before we engage in its augmentation. Otherwise, we may waste the energy we collect or unconsciously amplify the disharmonious, negative energies that we cannot yet properly control.
Step 5: Projecting Chi
Finally, we learn to expand our mind to be able to absorb the inexhaustible chi of nature and the universe to heal our body, soul and spirit, as well as to support other people. When we practice Cosmic Chi Kung, our hands become sensitive to chi feeling and chi flow. In doing so, we also use the Yi power of mind-eye-heart to absorb cosmic chi through the palms and the crown of the hands and send it out through the hands. This allows us to help others restore inner balance without directly touching them or depleting our energy. It also provides the energy necessary to build a protective field that keeps emotional and mental attacks away from us.
This may sound incredible at first, but recently researchers at Chinese Chi Kung clinics have not only measured the energy emitted by Chi Kung masters. At the same time, they have found that various forms and frequencies of healing chi can be emitted. In the United States, these studies have been confirmed by experiments at research institutions such as the Menninger Institute (in Topeka, Kansas).
Mind, eye, heart and intention (Yi)
To activate and increase chi even more, it is essential to open our mind, eyes, and heart and to use our intention. In Tao exercises, we achieve this by cultivating Yi.
Yi in Chinese means intention, awareness, mind power and concentration. Yi controls and directs Chi. With our mind we control our thought patterns and our head senses, eyes, hearing, smell and taste. With our heart, we control all organs and their associated positive and negative emotions: Kindness and anger in the Liver, joy, and impatience in the Heart, openness, and worry in the Spleen, courage, and sadness in the Lungs, and gentleness and fear in the Kidneys. All of this is controlled by Yi. It is the power of mind-eye-heart fused with our intention. The autogenic training known in the West works on similar principles.
All good achievements in our lives depend on the quality and effectiveness of our Yi. When the consciousness of mind, eyes and heart unite into one, a precious alchemical mixture is created. The power of Yi is the magical catalyst that guarantees us positive results in the energetic field.
In the practice of Cosmic Chi Kong, we absorb the universe into ourselves through the palms of our hands, the skin, the heart, and the crown of our head. With the help of Yi, we can inhale the cosmos through the various orifices of our body, absorb its power, condense it, transform it, and use it for the benefit of all beings.
To activate and control Yi, you must master the basic techniques of Cosmic Chi Kung.
"Buddha Hand" or "Empty Hand Practice".
C. G. Jung as a great Western explorer of the mystery of man has stated,
"He who looks outward dreams,
He who looks inward awakens!"
Getting in touch with our Inner Universe is the first step to Taoist bio-energy teaching. After physical Chi Kung exercises have prepared our body to receive and hold these higher, spiritual energies, we can take the next steps to open the inner energy pathways. Besides opening the bridging and regulating channels as well as the Governing and Conceptual Vessel (Du Mai/ Ren Mai), the Ascending Channel (Chong Mai), especially the Chi Belt (Dai Mai / Dai Mo) is activated. Only when we have fulfilled these prerequisites, we can practice the Cosmic Chi Kong as a channel, perceive energies, guide them and also hold them.
At the core of the practice is a method of practice called "Buddha Hand" or "Empty Hand Practice". The aim of this practice is to strengthen the Chi of the practitioner, to work with colored Chi and to learn to give Chi to others. Through the inner preparation of the practitioner with the basic exercises and especially the techniques of Cosmic Chi Kung, the spiritual, mental dispositions are trained.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Chi Kong, great emphasis is placed on harmonizing and strengthening the organism so that it can heal itself. The meditation techniques and disciplines of the Internal and External Martial Arts of Cosmic Chi Kung are fundamental to achieving this goal.
Excerpts from publications by Mantak Chia
Anne-Christine Heuhsen (Naturopath) and Wolfgang Heuhsen UHT Cosmic Healing Senior Teacher
A complete 4-days workshop video instruction from Mantak Chia himself you can find under: Cosmic Healing 1 Taoist Shamanism