Swimming in The Ocean of Chi

This drawing comes from Mantak Chia's webpage: http://www.healing-tao.co.uk/ht_microcosmic_orbit.htm

This drawing links to the following: http://www.naturespathcenter.com/pages/Intermclass.html

The first thing to do before starting any chi kung practice is to move into a comfortable position. This can be sitting, standing, or reclining. Start to relax all your muscles from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. Regulate your breathing so your belly goes out on the inhale and in on the exhale. Above all else smile. During a chi kung practice try to keep a smile in your heart and let it often flow to your lips. Place smiles in all three dan tiens.

Remember to be very kind and patient with yourself. But also remember to stay focused. Of course you will lose focus during the exercises because your mind and emotions will tend to take you away from your intention to practice. When this happens as soon as you notice that you are thinking instead of doing the exercise, just let go of the thoughts and emotions and gently return to the practice. This forgetting and then returning to the exercise is normal so do not worry when it happens. But do keep returning to the practice.


The first chi kung exercise I am going to show you is called Sky Nourishes Earth. I urge you to practice this exercise until you can do it with very little effort. I do Sky Nourishes Earth before I do any other chi kung exercise. It prepares your mind/body/energy field for all other exercises.Sky Nourishes The Earth.This is good for relieving or preventing the harmful effects of stress. It is also good for eliminating or preventing headaches and many kinds of pain. It is also a good way to monitor and release unnecessary muscle tension and bad breathing patterns.


First feel the area around the top of your head. Now feel your bai hui G.V. 20 http://www.yinyanghouse.com/acupuncturepoints/gv20 Place a smile there. Feel your upper dan tien. Let it smile. Feel your middle dan tien and imagine it smiling at you. Fell your lower dan tien. Imagine it smiling with you. Feel your gushing springs at the bottom of your feet. Notice that they are smiling and happy.


Now we start. The intent of this practice is to bring Heaven energy down through bai hui and out through our hands and feet. It is important to understand the intention of any chi kung practice before you do it. The Universe responds to our intentions. The clearer and stronger our intent the stronger will be the Universe's response. There is a saying in chi kung that " Chi follows yi." That would mean in English that energy follows disciplined intentional actions. In practice that means if you want chi to move in your body you must bring your awareness to that part of the body and move your awareness in patterns that you want the chi to move in. Thus "chi follows yi."There will come a time when you will pace your internal movements through your body with your breath. When you first start to practice chi kung do not worry too much about pacing with your breath. Just breathe naturally making sure you are belly breathing.

Bring your awareness to your hair and top of your head. Fell your bai hui. Let your awareness guide Heaven chi by flowing like warm water, down through bai hui into and through your body. From the top of your head move down through your smiling upper dan tien. Release any unnecessary muscle tension you encounter as you journey through your body.


From your neck move through your shoulders and down your arms and out your hands. At the same time move down through the trunk of your body ( notice the middle and lower smiling dan tiens as you pass through them) to your pelvic floor. From there flow down your legs to the bottom of your feet and out through the gushing springs into the earth. As your intentional awareness guides Heaven chi through your energy/material body intend and know that it is cleaning out any toxic energy that has accumulated within you. Imagine that the chi of the Heaven is strengthening and healing and loving you.


Know that as the chi from your body enters the earth any toxic energy is transformed into healing energy for the mother earth.As you move through your body you will find areas that are tight and pulled in and up with muscle tension. Just gently relax and soften these muscles and feel them sinking down towards your center of gravity in the lower dan tien.


You might notice a subtle current like sensation as you move through your body from top to bottom, skin to the core. The more you can feel and pay attention to that current the stronger your ability to cultivate chi. Do not worry if you can not feel the current at first. Sooner or later, as you practice more, you will feel it.


Feel yourself as you go down through your body from your skin to your connective tissue to your muscles to your tendons to your bones. Try to feel your organs as you pass through your body from head to foot. Notice all three dan tiens and especially the smiles in your middle and lower dan tien. When you can, smile at the smiles you meet as you flow through your body.Be aware of your breath as it enters and leaves your body.


As you breathe in remember to feel the lower abdomen expand and as you breathe out feel it contract. If this is not happening, please pay more attention to how you breathe until it becomes natural for you. This will take time for most people. You must learn to breathe this way to rid yourself of headaches and reduce high blood pressure.


Notice what areas of your body you can feel easily. These areas are called "awake." Notice areas of your body you cannot feel. These areas are called "asleep." Every time you pass through your body try to wake up more of the parts of your body that are "asleep."


Do many passes of Sky Nourishes Earth. Do Sky Nourishes Earth many times during your days and nights. It is very helpful for releasing muscle tension and making sure your breathing is healthy.When you want to end sky Nourishes Earth bring your awareness back to your lower dan tien. Take three complete breaths. In hale to lower dan tien and exhale from lower dan tien. Your intent is to bring any excess chi generated during the practice to your lower dan tien. Excess chi stored in the lower dan tien can be used whenever and wherever it might be needed in the future. This bringing excess chi to the lower dan tien is called gathering the chi. You gather the chi to your lower dan tien at the end of any chi kung practice. This gathering of the chi is very important do not forget it.


Micro-Cosmic Orbit

First do a few minutes of Sky Nourishes Earth. It is always good to do a little Sky Nourishes Earth before doing any other chi kung exercise. Breathe three times from and to your smiling lower dan tien. Make a clear intention that you will guide the energies of Heaven and Earth from your lower dan tien down to hui yin at the perineum. From there the energy will go up your governing channel over the top of your head to the roof of your mouth behind your front teeth.


From the end of the Governing Vessel ( link to map of G.V. http://www.yinyanghouse.com/acupuncturepoints/governingvessel_meridian_graphic or also called the Du Channel )( http://www.yinyanghouse.com/acupuncturepoints/conceptionvessel_meridian_graphic ) guide the chi of Heaven and Earth down the Conception Vessel ( link to map of C.V. or also called the Ren Channel to your lower dan tien.


Repeat the orbit over and over. As often as you can during your orbits beware of ming men ( link to ming men or gv 4 location http://www.yinyanghouse.com/acupuncturepoints/gv4 ) To find gv 4 look at gv meridian at following link http://www.yinyanghouse.com/acupuncturepoints/governingvessel_meridian_graphic ) and bai hui on your governing channel. Place smile is each point. Intend that they grow stronger and more responsive each time you pass through them.


Imagine as your awareness flows through your energy/material body that the chi of the Heaven and Earth is strengthening and healing and loving you. Do this chi kung for about twenty minutes for the best results.


After completing the orbits gather the excess chi to your lower dan tien. After gathering the excess chi sit for awhile and feel the chi and give thanks to the Heaven and Earth.


Heel Breathing


This is a Buddhist chi kung exercise for the central nervous system and for longevity and over all health.First, do a few minutes of Sky Nourishes Earth.


Now, feel the earth at the bottom of your feet. Beware of your gushing springs ( link to location of gushing springs or Kidney 1 ( http://www.yinyanghouse.com/acupuncturepoints/governingvessel_meridian_graphic ). To find out more about k 1 use following link http://www.yinyanghouse.com/acupuncturepoints/kd1


Intend to guide Earth chi from gushing springs up through your legs to hui yin and into your lower dan tien.

From lower dan tien guide the chi down to hui yin.

From hui yin guide the chi up through your spinal column to the upper dan tien to the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth.

From there move your awareness down the Conception Channel to your smiling lower dan tien.

From your lower dan tien go back to hui yin and down your legs and out into the earth through gushing springs.


Repeat the flow for about twenty minutes. After twenty minutes gather the excess chi to your lower dan tien.

You can do Heel Breathing while sitting, walking or reclining. You can do it for less or more time. I do it sometimes while watching TV or at movies. It is good for long trips in a car as well.


Golden Sphere of EnergyGood for pain relief and energy. Imagine a beautiful golden sphere of energy. For more energy place this sphere in your abdomen also known as lower dan tien and feel it spinning faster and faster. The key is to really FEEL it spinning and then in your mind eye SEE the golden sphere spinning. Keep it going as long as it takes. Sometimes it will be quick other times slow. But persevere. The golden sphere can be used in all three dan tiens and can be used anywhere there is pain or discomfort in the body. You can use many spheres at the same time. The KEY is to do it often enough to know it works and then make it a part of your everyday life.


Whole Body Breathing


This exercise is Good for most sickness or weakness.

Start with about five Sky Nourishes earth movements.

Now Feel as much of your skin surface as you are able. Feel especially the bottoms of your feet, your palms and finger tips, and the top of your head. Now imagine that the pours of your skin are little noses and your lower dan tien is your lungs. As you inhale imagine that you are breathing though your pours and through your body to the lungs in your lower dan tien. As you exhale imagine you are breathing out from your lower dan tien through your body to the pours and into the sky. As you breath in and out from your skin to the lower dan tien and back again to your skin, try to be aware of your connective tissue, muscles, tendons, organs and dan tiens as you go through them. We know that when you pay attention to a part of your body with intent you can increase circulation and energy flow to that part. So try to feel as much of your body as you can as you breathe in and out.Intend and imagine beautiful healing, loving, energy entering you with every inhalation. Intend and imagine any sickness or weakness leaving your energy/material body with every exhalation. Know that any weak or unhealthy energy will be transmuted by the Universe and used for good, so do not worry about breathing this energy out. This exercise is very good for sick people. It is also good to use when you feel weak. Do this exercise for about twenty minutes. After completing Whole Body Breathing gather the excess chi to your smiling lower dan tien.


After gathering the chi just relax and feel what you feel or experience for a few minutes.

Massage your ears by pulling pressing and pinching them all over do the fronts and backs of the ears. This is good for concentration and energy.

Following is a letter from a student I worked with in 1995.

To Whom it May Concern.
In July of 1995 I was in Venice when a friend named Mayra, called me from Toronto to tell me there was a healing teacher in Toronto who had helped her with her symptoms of Epstein Bar aka..Chronic fatigue. Because I was suffering recurring bouts of this same disease which were quite devastating and was impressed by what my friend told me, I decided to cut short my trip and return to Canada to meet this healer. I would state that at this stage I had already been treated by some 10 different institutions or individuals at a very high cost and none of this was in any way successful. When I met River [David Gibeaut] he asked me to trust him and follow his instructions as best I could. I took my first lesson in Qi Gong one day after returning and there after for about nine weeks, often practicing with River twice a
day. I was not charged for the times we practiced together by the way but only for the nine lessons and the healing treatments. At first it was difficult to practice as I felt so ill at times that practicing was really tough. At these time David, showing tremendous love and patience and would conduct special healing sessions with me and sustain me with his energy and strength. I began slowly to surrender to the process and get over my inherent suspicion that this was just another quick health hustle although as I recall I was only paying about $45.00 US a session which often lasted several hours. Because of his sensitivity and patience my mind and body began to absorb the techniques of self healing and then came the amazing day when I was very sick and David was out of town so I decided to heal myself. I used everything David had taught me and after about forty minutes of intense Qi Gong I actually felt the sickness leave me and I was well again. This was the very first time I was able to utilize a healing technique on myself and actually reverse the flow and it was bloody wonderful..Prior to this I had battled my way through the disease and although I would have periods of wellness it always came back and devastated me. Now for the first time I had the key to my own recovery. Today I HAVE ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE THAT IF IT RETURNS THEN ALL I HAVE TO DO IS HEAL MYSELF AND QI GONG ALLOWS ME TO DO JUST THAT. I WILL ALWAYS BE GRATEFUL TO RIVER. HE IS A PASSIONATE AND DEEPLY CARING TEACHER WHOSE PRIMARY CONCERN IS IN THE HEALING AND TEACHING PROCESS AND HE CELEBRATES OUR SUCCESS WITH AS MUCH JOY AS WE DO. In today,s health market place the emphasis always seems to be on money first and process second and
when it does not work...too bad. With River its the opposite, when the Qi process is not working, which is not often, he is more upset than the student/patient am delighted to call him my friend and teacher.

Jonathan Bennetts,e.mail beaudazzler @sympatico.ca
tel.416967438

Toronto Canada

I will be really happy to endorse any of the above comments to potential

students or patients of River [David Gibeaut]