experiences with chi.

The other day I did a little over an hour of yoga practice, afterward I lied in meditation for 15 minutes and experienced something quite interesting. Starting at my groin and working down, then from my waist back up, I consciously tried moving and focusing my energy through different body parts in sequential order. I have previously done similar exercises for relaxation but this time was able to really feel my energy, to concentrate it in specific areas. A couple times while directing my energy I “looked” briefly at a different areas of my body to see if the energy was in fact everywhere and that I was simply paying attention to it only in the area of focus. I found it was not in other places but that the energy was indeed concentrating only where I was consciously directing it. This could be something else and I will confer with an instructor but it seems that I am developing the ability to direct and concentrate my chi.

an aggressive challenge

Moto ride down a country road. Three of us on a motorbike going over a sun baked mud path replete with ruts and potholes. False turn, we go nose first into one and struggle and wobble almost off the road. Manage to keep from crashing but the bike bounces and slams up and down plenty before we can come to a safe stop. A pause, then the driver keeps on going at the same unsafe speed. No one’s hurt but in bouncing up and down my testicles have somehow been slammed, perhaps under my leg. Ouch! As any man can tell you it’s pretty painful but the real hurt comes about 20 seconds later when the aching somehow works it’s way into your waist area and sits and throbs for a good couple minutes. So we’re riding along and I start to brace for it when I think “let me try something different…” I softened my attention and my eyes and began doing long slow intentional breathing, consciously directing my attention down to my genital area. With every deep breath to my dantien I imagined sending it all the way to my groin, focusing my energy there. Sure enough, no pain. Huh.

an aggressive appearance

While out of the country I studied some Capoiera. I was in the Roda, the time where you play with a classmate. You fight with your classmate, ideally with no contact. You play off each other’s techniques in rhythm to music with a never-ending stream of counterattacks and dodges- this is where the dance element comes in. At one point I turned to duck under a kick the wrong way essentially throwing my head into an oncoming foot and took a light one in the side of my face. It didn’t hurt at all, the kick came in slow and my partner was able to stop short. I’ve been hit much harder so I wasn't worried, but after I stepped out of the circle I felt a subtle movement below the skin. The area hit seemed to have movement or even a light, almost liquidy cool flow through it. I rubbed it lightly and kept everything moving but only for a moment lest I scare my classmates into thinking I had been hurt. The symptom persisted for a short while and it occurred to me later that night that what I had experienced may have been the result of a higher sensitivity to energy movement within my body.

It seems to me that when you get hit, even with only moderate force that the localized area’s natural flow is thrown off. Energy is always circulating throughout your body, whether you train in chi kung or similar disciplines or not. So on impact this natural order and flow are disrupted. On heavy impact it can be seriously disrupted leading to pain, bruising or serious injury. When you’re hit lightly you don’t really notice, your body has a natural ability to cope and then reestablish it’s natural flow. That I was hit lightly and felt this unique sensation makes me think that possibly I had a heightened sensitivity to these constant subtle flows that are occurring in all of us. Before class I had sat at the local Buddhist Temple in meditation for an hour. Perhaps this heightened my awareness of what, as mentioned above would have normally been acclimated to without notice?


final thoughts

These experiences are in line with other past occurrences. The most profound came last spring at the end of a regular Kung-Fu class. We had done a lot of fighting that night and closed the class with meditation. My shins felt real bruised and during lying meditation I focused my mind on them. I decided to try an experiment similar to the one above by seeing what would happen if I focused my energy on an injury. Could I somehow mitigate it? Changing after class I found that my shins were bruised about 6 inches lower then where the pain had initially been. The implication is that I had literally used my chi to start pushing out the negative energy that had accumulated in those damaged areas.

I’ve read and studied a good deal on so-called “energy arts-” Chi Kung, healing massage, meditation, Yoga and Kundalini, but seeing some glimpses of profound results is a bit intimidating to be honest. You read and hear stories about the amazing powers of such practices and their Masters and wonder about the day when you might approach it, but feeling something resembling that has caused self-doubt. I can remember these occurrences and the feeling of “wait, this is something a bit extra ordinary” very clearly but writing them objectively part of me says “really? That happened? Like that?” Perhaps it is my Western mind resisting or a feeling of humility where I don’t dare to say “look at what I can do” lest I overstep myself. But these things happened, they are real, and there have been other similar episodes.

It can be very exciting to have a breakthrough anywhere in life, whether big or small. As martial artists these come in many forms- a sudden realization about a technique, a test passed, a fight won, a piece of material broken. They are exciting because they are like little bonuses for your hard work, road marks letting you know that you are on the right path. But as you approach a peak along your path it can be just as daunting and even scary as it is thrilling. Even if you haven’t reached that precipice yet, the realization that there is a slight rise in elevation can lend a whole new, intense perspective…