“The heavenly energy naturally circulates and communicates with the earth’s energy; the heavenly energy descends and the earthly energy ascends. When this intercourse takes place and these energies merge, the result is a balance of sunshine and rain, wind and frost, and the four seasons. If the heavenly energy becomes stuck, sunshine and rain cannot come forth. Without them, all living things cease to be nourished and lose their vitality, and imbalance manifests as storms and hurricanes; severe and harsh weather disrupts the natural order, causing chaos and destruction.”
The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine
“When man (or woman) approaches his end, he begins to love his body. After the crime has been committed, he thinks about converting himself to be a good person. (Only) after sickness has come, he strives towards obtaining the remedy for it. Once the heavenly net of retribution has been widely cast, there is no use to regret…The virtuous men and the superior scholars therefore, treasure the life that is not endangered yet. They dread what is not yet a calamity and they heal what is not yet a sickness. The ancient worthies and superior schools knew, therefore, that it is difficult to nourish the mind and the heart during the ‘candle in the wind’ years (old age). Therefore, they put away vulgar toiling and love the body as the foremost treasure.”
Hsien Ching (The Immortality Book)
Chinese culture cops it in our circles. That's probably fair, modern China being what it is. Having spent some time in China, I’m confident those who wrote the material I'll refer to today are clearly not the same people that exist there now in great numbers. Having said this, we are not without our own faults. We have also have severe fractures that have been developing for some time in our pursuit of the abstract over the real.
Western Civilisation, in its current modern form, is also primarily built on vulgar toiling. In fact, we love to extol vulgar toiling as some kind of borg-like virtue. Most of us in the world today, therefore, are very much vulgarians. And despite professing a robust cultural desire for longevity and living well, we've ended up utilising vulgar toiling as a self-defeating and ridiculous means to reach a final destination.
As a result, we often end up like the wretches described above. Approaching our end with all of its dysfunctions, and then finally finding in ourselves to begin to love our bodies. Or worse, pretending to love our bodies when all we’re really doing is destroying them in pursuit of an abstract image or concept. One typically promoted by vulgar-toil culture.
We are constantly peppered with the cretinous thoughts of growing armies of success clowns, esoteric morons and other malcontents who extol the virtues of vulgar toiling with religious reverence. We can only hope the heavenly net of retribution takes care of such people once and for all.
Until it does, we should focus on ourselves because we are indeed all victims of the many physiological abuses of Western Civilisation in its current form. Victims of all of the dim-witted suggestions to fix the outcomes of such excesses. Usually comprising of never-ending novelty seeking and ever-renewing lists of esoteric one simple things for simple people. Flailing around listlessly, wracked with pain and boredom, tallying up a steady stream of L's until we gracelessly expire. And all the time the true answers, the foundational processes of our physiology, are below our noses. Our failure to acknowledge this is the very thing that results in our inability to find a place of non-distraction and focus. instead, we prefer to look for some abstract system that will just fix it all, no one could care less that physiology itself leads to dumb people with dumb thoughts.
Strategies that promise us respite typically amount to more of the same, the ground-breaking suggestions of "going to the gym" or "taking supplements" and other incomplete and simplistic notions that fail to account for any of the complexities we face with our bodymind. I'm always shocked at how the same thing can be endlessly rehashed, packaged in new and different ways or with new sun avatars. Again, these largely amount to the exchange of images in errant monkey brains.
So, getting that out of my system and moving right along...(I've been told some people enjoy these rants - let me know in the comments below, which won't matter because I'll continue to do them either way).
As you've probably guessed, some of my recent investigations have been into ancient Chinese physiological and "energy "Qi" frameworks. For sure, I'm sceptical of exoticism for its own sake and I tend to always focus on the hard physiological facts. I intend to continue this here and want to tie what we know currently with what they knew thousands of years ago.
So far, these ancient texts have provided a rich and pragmatic source for understanding vitality. There are many reasons for this. In general, however, the ancient Chinese approach - and I emphasise ancient - to cultivating vitality differs significantly from that of other cultures of that time (Yellow Emperor book is perhaps 2500 years old). And the derivations we are familiar with today. Differentiated particularly in the methods and outlooks of the subcontinent, from which many of us tend to derive many of our assumptions and styles or practice.
While practices related to breath and movement had esoteric and religious roots in other cultures, the Chinese tradition's conception of such things very significantly stemmed from a kind of proto-medical practice.
Rather than being used exclusively for grand metaphysical and otherwordly spiritual aims, it was more a case of proto-physicians sharing principles on maximising health and vitality for the worldly population. It was particularly prolific among the elite classes for obvious reasons, probably because they could afford to advice.
Contrast this with other traditional yogic or monastic cultural streams. We observe that yogic practices such as those in India, were often limited to hermit ascetics and gymnosophists, for example. In most other Eastern traditions a similar pattern emerges. Very little of this kind of "work" filtered down to the hoi polloi for their base and loutish “unspiritual” purposes.
Not in China. In China, these yogic practices (I think it's reasonable to call them that), despite their Daoist and esoteric elements, were widely disseminated among non-initiates for medical, physiological and spiritual purposes. Of course, all these things were intimately linked.
These spiritual purposes, in an ultimate sense, were not exclusively geared towards gaining access to some other world. While it’s true the Dao was or is unknowable, this didn't mean it was off somewhere other and better than the physical universe that we inhabit. In fact, the Chinese famously saw reality as a process of ebb and flow, in which the world and ourselves were its precipitates. Representations of the Dao. Harmony is an expression of our acknowledgement of these processes and our ability to encapsulate and work with them as governing forces. The precipitates of these processes being the parts that we see and thus representations of the degree and quality of this harmony.
This is a highly commendable element of the Chinese approach. For them, there was nothing evil about the physical universe since it was quite literally the direct manifestation of the spiritual, or Dao - literally no contradiction, as they say. I grant you there were many cultural superstitious, otherworldly elements like anywhere else. I make these claims in the highest general sense.
This article focuses on this outlook and the derived practices of Daoyin. Daoyin were vitalistic exercises akin to yoga, initially practised by Daoists but filtering down to the sheeple, largely in the form of medical preventative or vitality optimisation advice. According to most scholars, what we know of Daoyin practices and its roots come to us by way of medical literature recorded during the Western Han Dynasty. In the form of scrolls, inscriptions on objects and bamboo illustrations from that era that survive. So it’s not wrong to assert a medicinal frame and outlook were prevalent. Many of the practices represented in these ancient texts will seem familiar to us, evolving into what we know as Qigong or Taichi, for example. Both of which remain popular in China and abroad today.
Notably and commendably in my view, in contrast with monastic or hermit traditions in other cultures, these exercises aimed to enhance individual engagement with the world. Rather than seeking escape into otherworldliness, these ancient Chinese practices focused on cultivating vitality to embrace and maximise the arousals and pleasures of life. To maximise and prolong one's vigorous disposition in order to manifest one's destiny in the real world as fully as possible. This could be in what a spiritual type would consider mundane or “evil” - statecraft, business, anything like this.
This emphasis of stoking the flames of vitality for as long as possible, presents an intriguing portrayal of the ancient Chinese constitution and value system. As I’ve been saying, this starkly contrasts with some monastic or yogic traditions which did and do all they can to renounce the world and go live on the side of the road in your underpants. Or just sit in a cave until you drop or whatever.
Having spent time in China, I've observed that some of these elements do persist today and people seem to genuinely try to embrace at least certain elements of these traditions, although not as in depth as presented here. They continue to do this despite external insults imposed by environmental issues, a penchant for powerful alcohol that tastes like rancid fishheads (and gets you literally kicked out of Chinese towns by the mayor for chimping out and wrecking the place - allegedly of course since you have no memory of it) poor quality food sources, severe industrial pollution and crowded living conditions. The global tendency remains however - they, like us, are the wretches that wait until the last minute to love his or her body. So most Chinese medicine is practiced as a curative once the person is rekt.
(ii) The Foundations of Ancient Chinese Vitality Practice - Dao and Qi
“I’ve heard of people in ancient times, spoken of as the immortals, who knew the secrets of the universe and held yin and yang, the world, in the palms of their hands. They extracted essence from nature and practiced various disciplines such as Dao-in and Qi Gong, and breathing and visualization exercises, to integrate the body, mind, and spirit. They remained undisturbed and thus attained extraordinary levels of accomplishment. Can you tell me about them?” Qi Bo responded, “The immortals kept their mental energies focused and refined, and harmonized their bodies with the environment. Thus, they did not show conventional signs of aging and were able to live beyond biological limitations. “Not so long ago there were people known as achieved beings who had true virtue, understood the way of life, and were able to adapt to and harmonize with the universe and the seasons. They too were able to keep their mental energy through proper concentration”.
The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine
Daoyin is an ancient Chinese tradition that seeks to harmonise vital energy (Qi) and enhance bodilyy flexibility and movement - conscious movement. It incorporates mindfulness, controlled breathing, and deliberate movements with the purpose of Qi alignment. Practice is based on the conceptual foundation of the interplay between "Yin & Yang" and the so-called "Five Phases". Which is the Chinese way of way expressing the 5 elements.
Interestingly, this entire framework is wholly based on the energy or life force or Qi. I'm not aware of any other tradition that focuses primarily on the cultivation of life energy as the prime matter for life vitality and spiritual enlightenment.
Daoyin, then, is a practice that revolves around harmonising vital energy and promoting flexibility in the body. As mentioned, what sets this tradition apart is its unique focus on cultivating life energy as the primary driver of vitality and spiritual enlightenment. And again, this factor also contrasts with many other traditions, such as Vedanta and some types of Buddhism. Where the emphasis on energy is often secondary to metaphysical goals or end states.
Traditions like Vedanta talk about Qi or Prana, for sure. I find that it's always mentioned as a second-tier means to reach some grand metaphysical endpoint. And that endpoint is the foundation or goal of those various religions. Prana itself it’s the prime matter or sole focus.
Likewise in Buddhism life-energy is not explicitly mentioned as the prime focus - and their metaphysics is not built on top of vital energy as an explicit foundation or outcome to be solely desirous of, as a representation of the world itself.
The difference, as far as I can tell, is that Daoyin delves deeply into the concept of Qi, which is the tangible and real aspect of the Dao – the material energy of the universe and the fundamental substance of nature. Qi is not only present in the external world, like the food we consume and the air we breathe, but it also constitutes the life force within the human body, providing the foundation for physical vitality. Spiritual meaning is found in its cultivation and harmony of flow.
In this layered concept of Dao, which remains indescribable at its core but is observable in the natural rhythms of the world, Qi is the second layer or core principle. Qi is seen as a regulating feature of the voidness of Dao. Dao is like the hidden force that underlies all aspects of human existence, influencing the shapes and natures of phenomena. Qi is the tangible, relatively knowable element.
(While writing and researching this, I was reminded that the unique focus on Qi as the core element of cosmology and human vitality is eerily reminiscent of Wilhelm Reich's orgone energy concept. Perhaps old Willy came across some books he didn't tell us about?)
So Daoyin, as a practice aimed at harmony of antagonistic but complimentary forces, revolves around the harmonious alignment of Qi based on the principles of Yin and Yang and the five phases (wood, fire, earth, metal, water). In a human this is expressed through various organs and tissues and goos. Health in this context is not simply defined by the absence of symptoms like in the West, but by the presence of a balanced, harmonious, and smoothly flowing Qi. And as we've seen, by the time you present symptoms, you're more than likely already cooked from this point of view.
In the Yellow Emperor book, the flow of Qi is envisioned as a complex network of canals within the body. The Ocean of Qi resides in the abdomen (yes, I know), while rivers of Qi flow through the upper torso and limbs. Gurgling springs of fresh Qi extend to the wrists and ankles, and deeper wellsprings of Qi are found in the fingers and toes. According to the ancient writers, even a minor disturbance in this intricate system can have a profound impact on the entire body over time. As a set of complex interdependent processes. So the logical and ultimate goal was to maintain overall balance and ensure a smooth flow of Qi through the body according to the principles we’ve been discussing through various lifestyle choices and practices.
According to the Daoyin texts, human existence revolves around the accumulation and preservation of Qi. Death literally signified its dispersion. Ergo, more dispersion, the closer to death you are. From birth, individuals receive a core reserve of primordial Qi, which they must sustain throughout their lives, so it was critical to avoid dispersion unnecessarily.
We maintain Qi by drawing it in from the air we breathe and the food we consume. Interactions with others, encompassing sexual, emotional, and social exchanges, also play a role in maintaining vital energy. On the flip side, Qi can also be depleted by factors like poor-quality air, overindulgence in food and drink, and indulgence in negative emotions or excessive sexual and social interactions. You may have heard people like Mantak Chia tell you to do nofap for this reason. They believe you have a certain amount of the stuff. Whether this is true or not, the general principles and outcomes of a balanced approach to life are generally sound I believe.
To foster balance and health, the methods of Daoyin prescribed individuals to practice deep breathing, consume food in moderation in harmony with the changing seasons, engage in smooth and non-strenuous physical activity, and align their lifestyle with the body's felt requirements. Needless to say, we in the West have an almost antagonistic viewpoint to this one. It’s a complex matter and I don’t think it’s all bad, but for sure there’s always a price to pay for self-abuse. And we have an excess of that.
(iii) The Counterforce - Reddit Qi
In contrast to the concept of good Qi, there exists a counterforce known as Xeiqi, a term that can be likened to 'crap essence' or 'reddit life force'. These are my translations.
Xieqi represents a state where the vital energy strays from its harmonious path and no longer synchronises with the currents of flux and dynamism of Yin and Yang and their interplay. Qi should contribute to the renewal and overall flourishing of our processual existence. Xeiqi is the disharmony of process, a concept alluding to intrinsic disorder and the disruption of the natural way. Deviations from healthful norms. Take a look at Western culture for an excellent exhibit of deviation and just general deviancy - as I say, what ails us is physiological, not cultural or political.
When Xieqi takes precedence, it has the potential to work against the body's inherent born or pre-natal resources, leading to a disconnection from vital life.
In Chinese medicine, Xieqi occurs when Qi deviates from its usual flow along various channels and meridians either by moving too rapidly or too slowly, by accumulating excessively (think Kundalini bros going bananas) or depleting inordinately (think everyone on earth almost), or by creating surges and obstructions.
You may have had acupuncture; this is the idea here - to fix the aberrant energetic pulsations. This is also why Chinese medicine practitioners measure and analyse pulse. But more on that in the next section.
(iv) My Modern Interpretation of Respiration & Daoyin Practices
“HUANG DI asked, “What kind of pulse do you find in a normal person?” Qi Bo answered, “The pulse of a normal, healthy individual will beat twice with each inhalation and twice with each exhalation. With one complete breath, there are four beats. Occasionally, it is normal to detect five beats per breath, depending on the patient’s lung capacity. “When palpating the pulse, one should feel it in reference to the patient’s breath, if the patient is normal. However, if the pulse is more than five beats per patient’s breath, this is abnormal. In this case, the physician should examine the pulse in reference to his or her own breathing. If there are only two beats per breath, there is a deficiency of qi. If there are three beats per breath, but the beats are rapid and the patient is irritable, and if the skin of the chi position is warm, this is febrile disease. If the skin is not warm and the pulse is slippery, this is a wind condition. If the pulse is choppy, this is a bi condition. If the pulse beats four or more times per exhalation, the condition is fatal. If the pulse does not arrive, this is also fatal, as are pulses that are intermittently rapid or slow.”
- The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine
The Daoists and poractitioners who introduced Daoyin, meticulously classified breathing techniques into various tiers. I have some volumes here that have exceeded any breathing autism I have yet encountered. They tend to focus in general on the regulation, guidance, and augmentation of Qi through breath control. I will be publishing more on this for members over the coming months.
So let's do some quick arithmetic accounting for the opening quote and I’ll explain to you in our terms how this could all be working:
The average person breathes about 18 times per minute and in a shallow way (keep this in mind as a bench mark).
The average adult resting heart rate is about 70 beats per minute.
At 5 beats for 1 breath as stated in the text above, based on 70 beats per minute, this translates to 7 total breath cycles per minute (inhale/exhale). This is assuming that the average heart rate today is the same as it was back in the day - this would be a fascinating thing to know, come to think of it.
Likewise, 4 beats mentioned by QiBo equates to 8 cycles of breath, or thereabouts, per minute.
So, according to Daoist medicine and QiBo in the Yellow text, somewhere between 7 and 8 breaths per minute is what we could assume they consider ideal for a normie.
But there is more to this, which we will get to in a sec.
The book also tells us that the nature of the pulse during inhalation and exhalation is different:
"If the pulse beats four or more times per exhalation, the condition is fatal. If the pulse does not arrive, this is also fatal, as are pulses that are intermittently rapid or slow."
In the technical literature, this phenomena is called "Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia" (RSA). RSA refers to the fluctuation in heart rate corresponding to the inhalation and exhalation. That is to say the heart rate increasing with inhalation and decreasing with exhalation. So again, the ancient text isn’t being esoterical, it’s referring to a phenomena that literally occurs. As I say, they were very pragmatic.
Further, the RSA, and the amplitude of heart rate (represented by heart rate variability or HRV measurements) is itself impacted by the frequency of breaths per minute!
In fact, the most significant effect of RSA and HRV occurs at 5 - 6 breaths per minute. So when they were looking for a different rate and tone of pulse on the exhalation, as per the above quote, they were looking for a healthy HRV and vascular system. And they knew this was a signifier of it.
Hence the prescription in Daoyin texts to slow down breath, and breathe deeply above all else. They knew that the tonus of the RSA and pulse, as well as the pulse frequency, was an indication of relative overall health. If there was no indication of good RSA, this likely meant the person was in a spot of bother. The heart was doing all the work, and the unhelpful sympathetic state was extremely dominant diminishing the RSA and ultimately the HRV. No that they knew of that measurement and it;’s scientific associations - we on the other hand, absolutely do.
In my experience, a 5-6 breath pace in resting situations induces the most optimal HRV metrics. Increments of .01 seconds of course do create variances over longer lengths of time - and part of the science is trying to figure out what’s best down to these micro increments. Any case, let’s settle on 5 or 6.
You may ask - if the Chinese were correct in the above text, based on an average heart rate of 70 BPM - how does this translate to 7 or 8 breaths per minute? If you’re telling us it should be somewhere around 5 or 6 breaths per minute?
This is because the pace of respiration, the state of the nervous system all impact the heart rate and variability, which in turn impacts the BPM figure. And I’m sure these ancient practitioners would have intuitively accounted for thus, particularly when prescribing deep breathing as the anti-dote.
(v) My Thinks on the Belly
In terms of my Hara research and my own subjective experiences, which I described during my latest Zen sesshin reporting, I went into detail of a situation where I realised the term “abdominal heart” referred to a very real physiological phenomena. IU was most pleased then to read this:
"The source of a healthy pulse is the stomach. The pulse reflects stomach Qi. If one detects the pulse readily, but there is insufficient stomach Qi, this yields a poor prognosis."
The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine
In my reading, this is an explicit acknowledgement that without slow, deep breathing or sufficient Qi in the abdominal area, the heart is doing all the work, and the outcomes for such a person will be extremely poor. And it’s real, so when working properly, you will absolutely feel it to be so. It’s not just some esoteric abstraction or super kundalini lambros sexual energy nonsense.
This indicates that Chinese physicians were acutely aware of the vascular and autonomic efficiencies requiring the abdominal region as the focal point - because one cannot breathe deeply only into the chest. The ocean of Qi in the Hara refers to the convergences of this crucial point of physiology and the need for it to be integrated or lived from for health purposes.
As we've discussed - the centre of Qi and its regulation, the ocean of Qi, the vital centre of man…vitality literally and pragmatically stems from this area. The Hara.
This is actual vitality - it's not some silly abstraction about war or what is good in an abstract sense - this is real and pragmatic, and its practice is fundamental in us living life well.
So, in summary:
The ancient Chinese realised that the seat of energy was in the abdomen, the ocean of Qi. They realised that breathing deeply into this area at a specific pace would be reflected or change the nature of the pulse, and the beats per breath could be manipulated in this way. They realised to type of pulse and it’s characteristics showed the health of an individual.
They realised that the representation of Qi, resembling very closely the blood flow pushed around the body by the breath reflex, would course through the body like a river system, flowing energetically but also through the vascular system. This would impact the "feeling of the pulse", and other diagnostic tells mentioned in the Yellow book, like complexion or skin tone. Things we know today are affected by blood flow.
The deeper one breathes, the stronger the thoracic pressure, the better our vascular system pushes blood throughout the body and takes the pressure off of the heart as having to do all the work. If it was doing all the work, the practitioner could feel it in the pulse, the RSA.
They realised the psychological state changes with this; the dynamic interplay between sympathetic and parasympathetic emphasis was intimately connected to the process of breath and could be diagnosed by pulse. The cultivation of these functions was directly responsible for vitality itself. The expression of the individual in the world.
They determined this with no instruments and no knowledge of the vascular system as we know it now.
Pretty impressive if you ask me!
Updates
And my friends, this is what the course is all about. I hate mentioning it; however, it is directly related to this. Module 2 is finally coming this week; the first 2 videos and training modules will be released here. The others will not since they involve unique bodywork, and I don't want to make them available to people who don't intend to go the total distance.
It will only be up for 3 days before the entire course migrates to gumroad. Module 2 is the most critical of all of the modules, and using it is enough for very large changes. In this module, we'll begin to investigate some angles we'd probably not considered, everything we're doing wrong and how to correct it over time.
Until then,
Just when I thought you couldn't get any better, you churn out this behemoth of a masterpiece.
Also, glad you are seeing things MY way for once. It's lonely out here. I don't want to be the only one keeping these SEKRETZ to myself.
Been using this model for some time now, practicing qi gong, strength & conditioning, stretching, and nofap. Let me tell you ... this has been an absolute game changer for me, especially in the social realm.
Once you learn how to build up a charge, cultivate, and circulate your life force energy, your presence becomes magnetic. More importantly, your mind is at ease, you are filled with an abundance of energy, and you are better able to harmonize yourself with any environment you so choose. This shift from pathetic junkie begging for others' approval ... to self-contained ubermensch who everyone wants to please, is such a drastic change from the ordinary that it almost feels like you hacked the matrix.
For my final words, I'm glad you are still alive and have not been kidnapped by Hamas. Your absence on Twatter has worried me.
I've been doing qi gong and some of the iron shirt exercises remind me of the zen stomach muscles setup on exhale, which you describe as increasing the pressure which helps the blood flow.
It also helps the organs inner flow too, like a massage. The kidneys and liver are essentially filters and need pressure to push through membranes.
There is also a benefit of qi gong etc on getting the body to move lymph fluid.
Lymph fluid which depends on movement is helped via the slow and sweeping movements. Sadly in Western medicine there is little to no education about how to enhance lymph fluid movement, whether via simple massages or exercises like qi gong.
We know why, though. The current level of medical science ignores basic biology in order to push high tech solutions, like drugs, shots, and surgeries.