Capacity to Perform depends on Our Capacity to Relax

Taking a lunch break from the Yi Jin Jing workshop, I stared at the TV in the restaurant for a moment and felt my mind zoned out.  Sudden the realization entered that this is why so many of us watch TV or surf the web at times, while feeling like we are wasting our life doing so.  This is because the TV and web actually alleviated our busy mind, so that we could zone out for brief moments. 

Our body needs these zoned out moments to recuperate.  Kids zone out for no apparent reason all the time.  It’s a crucial but forgotten part of life. We used to chat amongst friends and family, and in between talk, we naturally zoned out.  The villagers in Inner Mongolia where Jerigtu is from still do that, and that’s one of many reasons why I enjoy being amongst them so much. 

Now that our days are packed full of activities, of actively doing, we are lacking these moments of zoning out. Our modern city lives place too much importance in doing, and not in undoing.  Our lives tend to be too yang and not supported by yin activities, such as resting, letting go, surrendering the mind and the body, zoning out, observing and meditating inwardly.

There is a saying that the muscle is only as strong as it is flexible, which means the muscle’s ability to engage depends on its ability to relax and lengthen.  To broaden this concept into our lives, this means our actions are only as powerful as our capability to relax and regenerate.

Through years of teaching and healing, I notice that almost all of us, myself included, don’t know how tight we are until the moment we are able to release.  So we are unaware of how much our own power is restricted, and how much our life is limited until we begin to explore into our capacity to relax.

So if you feel a little more relaxed from the busy day after watching TV or surfing the web, can you imagine the capacity of relaxation would happen while your whole being is intending on that one purpose only, to relax.  The main goal of Level One ZY Qigong is relaxation.  All the exercises and meditations help us release and surrender fuller into our capacity to relax.  When our physical body and mind relax enough, energy naturally begins to flow and accumulate. 

If you feel chronically lack of energy, lack of focus, clarity or the ability to persevere, you may consider joining us for the weekend June 10-13.  If you are working on healing a chronic illness, this practice would serve you well.  If you would like an overall shift in your productivity or creative energy, this practice could be the jump start for the change.

Creativity and Energy

I like to write and to create.  For me I know that when I feel exhausted, it’s impossible for me to be creative.  This is because life uses the same energy, same life force for all conditions.  Life shares this same source of energy for all the vital organs, as it does for our sexual energy, our well power, and it does for our creative energy as well.

So when feeling exhausted, first I must revitalize myself.  And the most effective way is through qigong practice.  When I meditate and tap into the energetic state, it is much more effective than sleep, or just resting.   Sometimes five to twenty minutes would do it, and then my energy feel full and my creative juice feels vibrant again.

I found at times when I am exhausted, but I don’t go right into practice.  The reason is that somehow I feel bad about being exhausted, and I cannot accept that is my current state.  So feeling bad about being exhausted makes me putter around doing nothing much, or numb out by surfing the web.  In another word, not dealing with what’s happening now. 

In order to address the issue at hand, I first must accept my current state, that it’s okay that I am feeling exhausted.  I am not bad because I feel exhausted or not well.  It’s normal that all of us feel exhausted or not so well at times, and not have the energy I think I “should” have to deal with tasks at hand.  And this accepting means literally opening my heart to me, to me right here right now.  When my heart feels my current condition and feels compassion for it, I release the bad feelings and the need to do, to accomplish, and I take care of myself by going into practice.

Then I feel the energy flowing and I return to the natural flow of life.  I can flow more easily and effortlessly in life.  Our external flow, the flow of life reflects our internal flow.  It’s a direct extension or manifestation of how we are flowing energetically within.  So pay attention to me, to my bodily sensations, right here right now.

I invite you to two upcoming qigong workshops.  The Yi Jin Jing practice is one of the most effective movement practice I have found to date.  It activates flow in all areas of our body, brings flow into our blind spots.  The practice builds strength that not only empowers our body but our lives.

Through my own practice, the way I lead the ZY Qigong workshop changes.  This year seem to be an ending of a cycle in my self-development, and this will manifest directly into how I teach this workshop.  I hope to share this joy and grounding with all of you.

NOW

Now, it is for ME.

Now. Right here. This moment.
It is for ME. No one else. It is for me.

Now is for ME. Because this is MY life. No one else's.

I have manifested this moment. I have manifested everything before. And I manifest everything beyond.

This IS my life. And NOW, this moment is mine. It is for ME. I fully inhabit it. Deeply.

I breathe throughout my body. I own now.

I fully own this moment. And this moment. And this moment. And this moment...