Love in the Heart

   The middle dan tien is located in the area of the heart. This exercise takes place there. It can ease anxiety and sooth distress of the soul. It's really rather simple, easy and effective for most people myself included. If you are good at visualizing it is even easier. You can do it anywhere and as long or as short and as often as you please. Some people do it here and there all through the day and even trough the night. It is accumulative in its effect. The more you do it the easier and stronger it becomes. There are no wasted efforts. So here goes.

   I love Quan Yin so I start off inviting her into my middle dan tien. Many people invite Mother Mary or Jesus or Buddha or a Saint or some other holy being from a tradition that touches their heart. It doesn't matter who you call you will eventually be able to see or feel their presence in your heart. Belief is not required. I find that beliefs are not our best guides because they seem for most of us to come and go through us repeatedly on an irregular cycle.

  In qigong we are taught that intention is the best guide once you have set it as your pole star. The key for  success with qigong is to arrive at an intention and then base your present choices and actions on what best serves the realization of your intention. The question in any situation that arises becomes clearly and
 simply does it serve or hinder the manifestation of my intention?

   So why call a particular person or being to your heart? Relationships are with other beings especially people.  It is easier to call an energy in the form of a person or being who most personifies it. Then eventually when the energy is present and active within us the person or being fades away and we begin to develop a personal relationship with the energy form itself.

   Ultimately I feel that beliefs about God and other important experiences are just so many stories we tell ourselves and each other because the reality is impossible to put into words. These stories become doctrines and ideologies and more often than not hinder good relationships.

    Energy is without form but it does have qualities and aspects and dynamics. So given a central tenet in qigong that intention or Yi guides energy or Qi what you want is to call a particular kind of energy to your heart area.

   Over thousands of years of exploration the ancient ones who explored and practiced what we call qigong have handed down many of their findings in relation to energy and human interaction with it. They found,and modern qigong practitioners affirm, that we can indeed use our creative imagination and visualization abilities to enhance our ability to call to us various kinds of qi.  They say that with persistence and patience the kind of energy we want will eventually come to us.

  Poetically you could compare qi to wine or milk. We call a water and order a particular wine. He brings a bottle and pours wine into our glass. Some people don't care for wine, they might like milk or tea. It doesn't matter to the waiter he will bring whatever you love.  Some people like a particular kind of delivery system and that is cool because it doesn't matter if what comes is delivered in a bottle, a jug, or a teapot.

   It doesn't matter if you believe what your reading. It just matters that you take a drink or preferably two or three before you come to any conclusions. So back to it shall we?

  I started out using my creative imagination to visualize Quan Yin in my middle dan tien ( heart ) Later after a few practices I just see her there and I feel her presence radiating out and filling first my middle dan tien or heart and then I feel her loving energy filling and nourishing my lungs and soon my entire torso is experiencing the warm radiating flow of her love energy. I effortlessly notice the energy flowing through my throat and neck up into my head. Her qi love flows gently down my leg into my feet and down my arms filling my hands with qi. I keep a soft awareness of Quan Yin in my middle dan tien or heart during the whole time I am doing this practice. When I find myself inevitably wondering away from my intention of keeping my awareness mostly in my middle dan tien or heart I go back to it. I rest in the loving interaction of the qi with my entire body being as long as I desire.

   Usually I do this exercise for a predetermined time because I like having definite beginning and ending points. That is my preference not a requirement for anyone else. Life is personal and I believe strongly in the inherent right of self determination when it comes to most things especially spiritual and energetic exploration. After I have accomplished my intention I say thank you thank you thank you to the energy and move on.