| Li | Physical strength, the physical body. |
| Jing | Sexual/spinal energy - Kundalini in the Hindu system. |
| Chi | Breath energy, subtle circulation of energy through the meridians. |
| Yi | Intention, purpose, focus. |
| Shen | Spirit, soul, true nature. |
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Just as in Exercise 2, find a comfortable and convenient place to stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Feel the Golden Cord from the top of your head holding you up, and allow
your weight and any tension in your body to drain out into that reservoir three feet under the
ground. [10 sec pause]
Cleansing the LiYou're now going to cleanse the five components of the body and the mind in the Chinese system. First, you'll cleanse what the Chinese call Li, physical strength, the physical body.To cleanse the Li, I'd like you to allow your hands to slowly float up to your sides, left and right, floating up in two half circles either side of your body until your hands are over your head, and then start to allow your hands to slowly sink palm down as if gently pressing down on something. As they reach the level of the top of your head, imagine your body full of a heavy fluid, just as we've done before, holding weight, holding muscular tension. Allow that fluid to slowly drain out so that it remains below the level of your hands, so your hands are gently pressing and squeezing that fluid down. Allow them to sink down at their own pace, slowly, gently, easily, feel that fluid draining out below the level of the hands, kind of in the same way as kids will sometimes use a hand to wipe a funny expression off their face. Let those hands, as they sink, take any tension in your muscles with them down through the legs, the feet, and into the reservoir three feet under the ground. I'd like you to do that one more time - again, bringing the hands up to the side till they come over your head, keeping the shoulders relaxed, allowing the hands to sink palm down, wiping off any tension from the muscles of the face, feeling any physical tension or anything in your physical body that you don't want or don't need slowly starting to drain out, leaving your body light, clear, and relaxed.
Cleansing the JingThe second component that you're going to cleanse is what the Chinese call 'Jing'. The word means energy or power - it also means sexual energy. Specifically, it means the energy that runs through your brain and your spine, through your spinal column. As we do this exercise I'm going to ask you to visualize a separation of that energy happening. The parts that belong down below, in the base of the spine, are going to go there, and the parts that belong up above, in the head and the top of the neck, are going to go there.Maybe right now this energy is mixed up, it's got some sexual elements, it's got some more spiritual elements, all mixed together, and you're going to do the separation, so that the sexual parts can go to the sexual areas and the spiritual elements can rise up to the crown of the head. So it's like a precipitation process. Again, allow the hands to float overhead, and allow them to slowly float down, palm down. As they float down, feel the energy in your brain, the back of your neck, and your spine. Let the parts of the energy that want to rise, rise to the crown of your head, and let the parts that want to sink be massaged down by your hands to the bottom of your spine and your tailbone. Your spine may feel a little different as a result of this. Again, allow the hands to float up, [8 sec PAUSE] and gently press down, again separating the energy in the spine and the brain between the crown of your head and your tailbone. [PAUSE]
Cleansing the ChiThe next system you are going to cleanse is the 'Chi.'Chi is a term that crops up a lot in T'ai Chi and Chi Kung - breath energy, life energy. Allow the hands to float up either side of you over the top of your head, and let them sink palm down. This time, pay attention to your breathing as the hands come down. Every time you breathe out, feel the stale Chi, and also any energy that you don't need in your body, being breathed out from the top of your lungs, and the energy from the air that you do want to keep being compacted down into the lower half of your lungs - you may even want to think of it as being packed down into your tummy. So with every breath you're purifying the lungs by breathing out stale air. You can breathe out stale air from different parts of the lungs. As your hands pass your lower lungs, for example, you can see if you can squeeze out any old air from the lower part of the lungs. Then of course as you breathe in, you take in as much fresh air as you can.
Repeat this once more in your own time. [BIG PAUSE]
Cleansing the YiThe next component we're going to cleanse is the Yi, or 'Intention'. Your intention is like a clear picture that you create in your mind, of where your focus is. The point associated with the intention is between and a little above the eyebrows - what the Hindus call the 'third eye'.What you're going to wash off, cleanse away, is any distractions, complications, side issues, anything that has as it were gotten stuck onto your central purpose, perhaps things you do just out of habit or to pass the time like watching TV or daydreaming, so you're coming back to your central purpose in life, what your life is about. And also to your core intention right now - what are you doing right now, why are you doing it? Let the hands float up, and slowly let the hands float down again. See if you can wash off any accretions to your fundamental purpose, any distractions, stray thoughts, random mental activity, wash it away with your hands, so that what remains is your true purpose. Do once more in your own time. [Pause]
Cleansing the ShenThe last component we're going to purify is called Shen, spirit. The Shen is what the Zen people would call 'the face you had before you were born'. It's your true, essential nature - who you really are. What we're going to wash away is anything that isn't really you but may seem to be - things your parents or your schoolteachers may have told you about who you were, decisions you may have reached yourself, any idea or theory about who you are, that may be limiting you in some way. Again, allow your hands to float over your head. Let anything that is not your true nature be washed down by the hands, down through the body down through the feet into the ground.When the hands come the bottom you're just left with who you really are, your true self. As you do this next washing you can notice what you ARE washing off, some of your programs, your habits, your beliefs - just loosen it up, separate it, feel it washed away. One more time [BIG PAUSE] This concludes Exercise 5. | |
