Healing, according to traditional teachings, is to be done by working with the chi, which is to be brought back into flow and nourished to restore balance.
A main goal of Taoist practice is to increase the chi pressure in the Tan Tien so that the chi acts on the organs and connective tissues from within, the counter pressure is created by our body envelope and the chi field that always surrounds us. The body cells are in this way washed and nourished with chi. Increasing internal chi pressure is therefore a disarmingly simple way to permanently maintain the quantity and quality of our life force.
In other words, increasing the chi pressure in our Tan Tien strengthens our health and improves our healing as well as our results in Tai Chi, meditation and the "art of daily living".
The Tan Tien is both the largest generator and storehouse of chi energy in the body and the center of our consciousness.
Physically, several Tan Tien are distinguished. The traditionally most important are the Shang Tan Tien above the root of the nose, midway between the eyebrows (3rd eye), the Zhong Tan Tien in the center of the chest about the level of the breast nipples, the Xia Tan Tien about 5 cm below the navel.
All three Tan Tiens are more than a point on a meridian, they are understood as a space, a zone located in the center of the body and not on its surface. When speaking of the Tan Tien, the lower Xia Tan Tien is usually meant.
In all Taoist practices, students first learn to shift their consciousness from the upper to the lower brain. They are consciously trained to use this second brain so that the Upper Brain, which uses much more energy than the Lower Brain, can rest when it is not really needed.
The Lower Tan Tien is called both "medicine field" and "elixir field" because it can attract and store healing forces, such as origin chi; also called prenatal, prenatal chi.
The Tan Tien is also called the ocean, sea of chi, vermilion field, cauldron, or navel center. The use of the terms "ocean" or "sea" refers to the wave-like quality of chi. The name "cauldron" originated from the action of the lower Tan Tien as the main laboratory and center of inner alchemy, where energy frequencies can be adjusted to the body.
We learn to accept and embrace ourselves and the world around us. It helps us to understand our negative energies as intermediate waste that we can recycle and reuse as raw material for our positive energies.
This recycling process strengthens our inner power, so that the pressure from outside also decreases and we come more and more into balance. As a result, we feel better, our lower Tan Tien is decompressed, which is considered in all texts as the most important technical condition for maintaining Chi pressure.