We as human beings have been on a constant search or quest to find meaning, happiness and fulfillment in our world. Without a strong healthy body and a calm emotional life, it can be very difficult to allow our true identity, our spirit or our consciousness to awaken and to merge with the divine. The mind, body and spirit are all equally important; they are collectively one or whole. All these aspects of our existence respond and can grow with regular maintenance, exercise and cultivation, allowing us to increase our quality of life and to fully appreciate the beauty of our world.
Sometimes we tend to be too focused on achieving external goals or on accumulating material possessions with the idea of becoming successful and happy. While it’s important to be motivated, at an excessive or extreme level this can cause stress and anxiety and can deplete our quality of life. Maintaining a healthy life is finding balance and harmony within all the aspects of our world.
An important component of Chinese culture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is the principle of ‘Yang Sheng’. ‘Yang’ translates to ‘taking care of’, to ‘nourish’ or ‘nurture’ and ‘Sheng’ translates to ‘birth’ and ‘vitality’. Together the words mean to ‘nurture or nourish life’, to ‘foster a state of well being by nurturing mind, body and spirit’. Yang Sheng is a manageable practice for all people, aimed at cultivating health and harmony through daily activities. The focus is on maintaining balance through an awareness of our connection with nature and our environment, our physical bodies and our spirit. Health preservation (instead of disease treatment) is an essential feature of TCM practice and is significantly different to Western medicine, which mainly focuses on disease and illness.
Many of the Yang Sheng principles are outlined in the book Huangdi Neijing or The Yellow Emperor’s Internal Canon of Chinese Medicine, which dates back 2500 years. From my own experience of studying the Chinese healing arts and travelling to China on many occasions, my Chinese teachers and friends have been continuously educating me in a basic understanding of Yang Sheng: On why we eat certain foods and how the dishes are arranged and balanced with heating and cooling elements to balance Yin and Yang, how drinking warm green tea cleanses the fats from food and aids in our digestion, to remain calm and not waste our energy and to learn to sit quietly to cultivate the mind and nurture the spirit.
The study and practice of Qigong is the key element of Yang Sheng health cultivation. When we circulate Qi and clear stagnations within our meridians or energy system, this enables our Qi field or aura to increase, allowing us to achieve harmony in mind, body and spirit.
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Simon Blow Qigong 