Abstract from 101 ways to improve your life.
Achieve Balance, Contentment and Harmony through managing your Chi.
Whether you are looking for new skills, ideas and perspectives, or seek ways of filling gaps and resolving issues, you can only feel contentment if you are balanced.
Contentment is not a languid state of satiation, but a vantage point for seeing things as they are, and a springboard for taking action, both without stress or hidden agendas. In this state you can be true to yourself and to others.
Balance is also a state in which you have the energies to cope with life’s challenges.
We lose it when our coping mechanisms fail to meet the demands of the world around us, and in these circumstances people respond in many self-destructive ways. A more measured response could be to reframe the challenges and focus our efforts more effectively, but learning how to strengthen our inner energies is where real progress can be made, because our often-neglected natural source of power responds positively at many levels.
Though Chi is a concept of energy best documented and utilized by traditional Eastern cultures, it is universal in its distribution. Modern life tends to take its functions for granted though, thereby failing to appreciate how to make corrective adjustments when disorder or illness occurs.
By increasing your awareness of this energy within, you can improve your sense of health and well being.
There are ways of using massage points, breathing, mental imagery and meditation to enhance its power and ease of application, which also make it more accessible for those with physical limitations that preclude more active forms such as Yoga or Tai Chi. Here are some simple examples to get you started.
The first exercise is to breathe out, hold your breath out for a moment and consider what it would feel like if you never breathed again. Just as it’s getting uncomfortable, inhale, and appreciate as you do, the life giving energy that you are drawing into yourself.
Gently stretch your back by raising your hands and pushing them upwards, lean from side to side, forwards and backwards, then slowly twist from the waist to look behind you from side to side.
If you are unable to stand or move your limbs for these exercises, apply their principles as best you can to your circumstances. Because Chi is ultimately moved by your mind, fill in the parts you cannot achieve physically, with your thoughts. So imagine your limbs moving, and back stretching, its harder work but will achieve results.
First mind/ body exercise.
Preferably stand with your knees softened and tail bone tucked in, sit if necessary, hands by your sides. Exhale and feel your arms extending to pick up energy from under the ground (or floor). Inhale as you scoop the energy up by cupping your hands and slowly lifting them upwards, close to your legs and body, to the level of your stomach. Hold for a moment, and then exhale as you lower your arms and release the energy.
Imagine as you do this that you are breathing in energy from the earth. You inhale it through your feet, up your legs and into your torso. Do not raise it above your stomach.
Some say that exercises like this actually draw energy from the earth, but though I reserve my opinion on this, I feel it is important to believe this occurs, in order to communicate your intention effectively to your chi through visualization. This allows it to respond to your conscious control instead of to the whims of your subconscious.
Acting as though you believe something in order to achieve something you believe in, is an interesting state of mind.
It allows you to manage your chi, though almost by proxy, and I can assure you it holds good to the extent that you can maintain this belief.
To maintain balance you must also strive to achieve harmony between your inner and outer self. Your behavior in the world reflects the essence of your mind, and vice-versa, so developing one benefits the other. You must choose to act as you wish to be, and be the best that you can. The tensions you may feel whilst trying to make progress can be eased through meditation, which will also in itself help to move you forward.
Breathing circulates Chi, up your spine and over your head on the in-breath, down your front from your mouth to your perineum (just behind the genitals) on the out-breath. Because it is both unconscious, yet controllable at will, breath helps unify the body and mind. Breathing deeply to your abdomen is more powerful than short and rapid breaths, and helps calm the nervous system. Be aware of your breathing when it is working well, and bring gentle control to help it when it is not. If you’re stressed, angry, hurt or tired, breathe and imagine your Chi circulating. Also practice this when you’re calm, and connect your tongue with the roof of your mouth as a bridge to help the flow.
Chi operates at many levels, from within our cells to across the universe. It is ‘organizing’ energy, so strengthening it or easing it’s flow can improve not just how our own organs function, but the benefits extend to our personal effectiveness, our relationships and how we act within organizations. Applying it’s principles in the work place is a good way to reduce stress and improve efficiency. Because we all communicate through our energy systems as well as through our words and actions, improving our inner energy benefits others too. So improving your balance and contentment can create the energy to add just a little more harmony to the universe, which is a worthwhile achievement in itself.