MYSTERIOUS SHAOLIN
In the basin of the great Yellow River, the cradle of Chinese civilization, is Mount Zongshan. In 495, the Shaolin Monastery was founded on its eastern slope. And in 527, the Great Bodhidharma came here from India and began to preach a new Buddhist teaching, becoming the first patriarch of the Chan school. The word "chan" means "contemplation, meditation."
That is how, by personal example, the guest acted: for nine years he sat face to the wall in one of the stone caves on Mount Zongshan. When Bodhidharma returned from there to the monastery, others wanted to follow his example. One of the students named Hui Ke stood knee-deep in the snow in front of the temple all day, wanting to convince the teacher that he sincerely wants to find the path to enlightenment.
The methods of traditional yoga are combined in the Chan school with active meditation techniques borrowed from Taoist psychotechnics. The followers of this school believe that enlightenment can be achieved not only by hermitage and fasting, but also by an active lifestyle. That is, to develop the perception of beauty by doing painting, poetry, calligraphy, or to improve your body with the help of martial arts.
The ability to control one's life force is the essence of the mysterious Taoist practices. It was the monks of the Chan school who added to the techniques of martial arts the ability to control their vitality, to reveal the hidden reserves of the human body.
The monks of the Shaolin Monastery claim that it is possible to control energies by combining breathing exercises with concentration of consciousness and visualization of paraphysiological structures.
The only way to get rid of suffering, the Shaolin monks believed, is to find supreme happiness. This means restoring the original unity with the world, expanding your consciousness and returning to the state of an unborn baby, for whom there is no clear line between his own and mother's body, who breathes the mother's breath and eats her food.
A person who has comprehended the Taoist teaching loses the distinction between past and present, and therefore can enter where there is neither death nor birth.
“The one that kills life is immortal, the one that gives birth to life is not born, nothing will escape it, without it nothing will be created,” said Bodhidharma.
To gain freedom and immortality, the Buddhist thinker advised to fulfill only four commandments:
Do not experience anger and hatred, because our sufferings are the consequences of our own misdeeds in past births;
To be in harmony with one's own karma;
Not to have desires, for everything sought is empty, and peace and harmony consist in unwillingness;
Follow the Law, all provisions of which are pure and free from the limitations and cloudiness of the mind.
Taoist Psychotechniques
The animal essence of man
The branch of primates that gave rise to man is very ancient, about 45 million years old. Man has surpassed his common ancestors with monkeys, however, in man, as in animals, there are innate programs of behavior - instincts. Some of these instincts prevent us from moving towards perfection, others are useful to us.
From birth, children show many instinctive actions. For example, a sucking or grasping reflex (the cub seeks to find its mother and cling to the wool or tail, and the baby to the skirt).
The instinct of ownership is also one of the oldest. Our primitive ancestors had personal property inviolable. Deprivation of property or restriction of the right to own it deforms the psyche of an adult, makes him aggressive, envious and thievish.
The theft program is also present in many animal species, in difficult conditions it helps to survive.
Animal aggression is also not alien to man. Boys and men during skirmishes often straighten their chests, push, although this is stupid, because vulnerable zones open up, and instead of pushing, it is better to hit right away. But instinct is instinct, and it is very problematic to fight it.
A person does not have the physical data of a predatory animal. Two people fighting with their bare hands may not always be dangerous to each other, but man has become the only animal on earth that uses weapons to destroy their own kind.
Polygamy was also inherited by people from animals. In many primates, a male mates with several females, and often "all love" ends after that. Therefore, it is not surprising that this is characteristic of human males.
Knowing his instincts, a person can learn to control them and even use them for constructive purposes.
This approach is very characteristic of Taoist psychotechniques.
For example, the instinct of reproduction has long been used by Taoists for energy practices without losing the seed and the energy contained in it, and the control of emotions and hand-to-hand combat training allow you to remove excess aggressiveness. Fight your animal nature, but do not overdo it.
Remember, although we are rational beings, nothing animal is alien to us.
Creating a healthy energy structure of the body
Any sound represents certain vibrations. A melody is a set of vibrations. As you know, any body has its own vibration frequency. Our emotions are also vibrations, but much more complex in composition and varied in frequency and amplitude.
A person, having learned to select music that matches his mood, gets pleasure. But if he knows how to change himself in accordance with the world around him, then he achieves complete harmony, always sees beauty in everything, and the Universe fills him with strength and infinite knowledge. The universe, seemingly chaotic, is in perfect harmony.
And therefore, if we can understand the algorithm for changing the world, then we will be able to tune ourselves into the same wave and merge with those around us. This is the goal pursued by martial arts, music, meditation and other methods of achieving harmony.
Therefore, before embarking on exercises that strengthen the body, it is very important to harmonize energy flows, and harmonize in the version that is most suitable for your body.
We observe a very interesting approach to the definition of illness in the old Taoist practices. Often, when we try to escape from the state of illness, on the contrary, we drive problems deeper. In other words, if you open an old abscess, you will throw out the pathogenic energy and get healthier. And if instead of a surgical intervention you begin to perform some physical exercises, the disease will go deeper and block a whole range of energy possibilities of the body there. A pathogenic bundle will be created inside your body, due to which a more serious disease can develop.
Therefore, it is necessary to properly treat the disease, and not drive it inside. The main thing is to find a good doctor, but it is better to become healers of your own body.
Most people intuitively find what their body lacks. The feeling of what you need is just part of the system for creating a balanced human energy structure. But a person should begin the synchronization and harmonization of energy flows from consciousness.
There are many different methods development of consciousness, but before you start doing energy practices, you must admit that you are a material being, an animal. You need to understand that the same mechanisms apply to you as to other people and animals.
Other important point there must be a desire and understanding of the need for change. However, moving in the stream of life, you can and should change only for the good.
The meaning of Taoist psychotechniques boils down to the fact that through the management of one's own energy structure one can reduce the destructive impact of the external environment. You need to understand that a person who is dissatisfied with himself will not be able to develop himself and live long.
Before you start doing certain exercises, remember that this requires a certain amount of internal resources of the body, which you can waste, wanting to get more. For example, if your pancreas hurts, you should not aim at treating the entire gastrointestinal tract.
Thus, before embarking on a general recovery of the body, you need to get rid of individual diseases.
So, we are affected by a huge variety of energies from the outside. There were only six of them in the East: heat, heat, wind, humidity, dryness and cold.
When any energy is in excess, disease immediately arises. Therefore, the meaning of treatment lies primarily in finding this excess energy.
If we understand that the disease is caused by heat, and the heat, as is known from physics, rises, then we will come to the conclusion that the head will suffer first of all. This means that in this case it is impossible to overheat the head, but on the contrary, it is desirable to warm the legs.
From this follows the conclusion: the energy of cold is below, the energy of heat is above.
Here we come to another point - this is breathing, that is, our main rhythm, thanks to which we create a bridge between the outside world and ourselves.
Proper breathing is the key to health, as well as cleanliness.
Exercise "Rooting"
The exercise is performed while standing. Put your feet slightly wider than your shoulders, raise your arms above your head, make several turns of the body from side to side. When performing the exercise, you should feel comfortable and determine how comfortable it is for you to stand.
With this swaying, you begin to approach the ideal position for you. In other words, despite, for example, curvature of the spine or some other shortcoming, you can stand up so that this position will be the most natural for you, and most importantly comfortable. It is in this position that you will need to perform this exercise.
This is the so-called moment of rooting. If you learn to feel rooted, including when the crowd is pressing on you, then you will understand the very principle of rooting.
The meaning of the exercise is as follows: you must learn to breathe naturally. At the same time, do not overexert your hands. Any overvoltage in some zone creates an influx of energy to it, and the energy does not go further.
So, you put your hands out, then you should slightly bend your legs, moving the weight of the body back, and bend your arms a little, so that you have rounded all the limbs. At the same time, you need to be able to stand easily.
It is very important to have some inner freedom - both in the body, and in thinking, and in feeling. This inner freedom is not given to everyone and not immediately.
The result is the following: inhalation through the hands, clearly entering into you, at the same time inhalation through the legs, closing and mixing somewhere inside the body. You should feel the volume of your body during this exercise, when there is a spontaneous desire to inhale.
This is followed by a natural exhalation due to the fact that you have relaxed your hands.
Inhale and exhale with appetite, when the body wants it.
This exercise is very important for all its apparent simplicity, if you feel it, this will be your first step towards harmony.
Exercise "Energy Ball"
Continuing the first exercise, bring your palm to your face. Estimate how far your palm should stop so that you do not feel discomfort. Imagine a kind of energy ball that floats in front of your face.
Mentally try to roll it on your forehead, then to the back of your head, and then “smear” it down your shoulders and get a pleasant feeling of such a smeared energy ball.
When you imagine this ball, try to feel how it appears in this place. It is recommended to ride it for no more than 5-10 minutes. This ball will be a kind of formation outside your body, which will allow you to normalize the energy structure of the body.
If you learn how to clear certain channels with the help of a ball, learn how to lead the energy not only inside the body, but also outside, so that it covers you like a hood, and the excess goes into these balls, then you will have practically no problems with diseases.
After you roll the energy ball over your shoulders, Special attention focus on the fifth cervical vertebra. The fifth cervical vertebra is the most active energy zone, so a powerful “energy collar” is needed to protect it.
Energy Management
Psychologists have found that great joy, as well as unexpected misfortune, can lead to a nervous breakdown and, since a significant part of the population suffers from neuroses, even such a simple and pleasant event as going on vacation or buying a new house can cause a deterioration in health.
Often people with a weak nervous system are instinctively afraid of strong emotions and live in the shell of their tiny world, which seems safe to them, avoiding everything that could excite them - love, travel, new acquaintances, new interesting activities.
Striving for security and peace of mind, they literally rob themselves, depriving themselves of the satisfaction of many needs - in social contacts, in doses of invigorating, but not exhausting stress, in love, in physical activity, etc.
Taoist thinkers chose as a stable emotional background a state of calm and quiet joy, slight surprise and admiration for the miracle of the surrounding world and their own existence.
With the help of special exercises, they learned to strengthen their nervous system so that it could withstand more and more intense emotional outbursts without nervous exhaustion. From strong emotions, the warriors of life immediately returned to the plateau of a stable positive emotional background, avoiding negative feelings and restoring their energy and strength in case they noticed the slightest signs of fatigue or exhaustion.
Such psychotechniques formed stable and harmonious models of the world of people who know how to be happy and enjoy life.
Buddha Smile Exercise
The exercise is so called because the facial expression when it is performed should resemble the expression on the faces of Buddha statues - calm, relaxed, detached and devoid of emotions, with lips slightly stretched into a barely noticeable smile.
This is a simple exercise to develop a stable positive emotional background. With seeming ease, it is very important for strengthening the human psyche, it can be performed anywhere and at any time, bringing this performance to automatism. It is better to start mastering it in a calm state, comfortably sitting in a room where no one would disturb you.
First of all, you need to calm down, relieve the burden of accumulated problems, relax and try not to think about anything.
Relax your facial muscles first. To do this, imagine that they are filled with pleasant heaviness and warmth, losing tension and elasticity.
After the muscles of the face relax, concentrate your attention on the corners of the lips, so that only they are felt from all the muscles and parts of the body. Imagine, without any muscular effort, how the lips begin to stretch, forming a very light, almost imperceptible smile.
There is an inverse relationship between feeling happy and smiling. No wonder many psychologists advise to smile more often. Joy causes a smile in a person, and a smile causes positive emotions.
The state of relaxation and inner peace is very important for beginners. The fact is that the feeling of nascent joy is so subtle that if you experience some fairly strong emotions at the time of the exercise, you will not be able to create a feeling of peace and quiet joy.
Having caught the necessary emotional mood, remember this state so that in the future you can call it up, not only by relaxing the muscles of your face and stretching your lips in a smile, but also remembering it, reproducing in detail your state and feelings at the moment when you were especially good at performing the exercise.
If you want to keep your “smile from ever leaving you”, do this simple exercise as often as possible, at least once a day, until the state of “Buddha smile” becomes familiar and familiar to you and you learn how to easily and quickly invoke it in almost any conditions, with the possible exception of a state of severe stress.
Exercise "Date with the body"
It is no secret that the energy level in the body directly associated with a person's emotional state. And so the following exercise is designed to activate internal forces and evenly distribute energy throughout the body.
It is better to perform the exercise in the morning, immediately after waking up, without getting out of bed. The main thing in it is to try to feel your body by examining it with the help of an “internal searchlight”.
So, focus your attention on the tips of your toes and, with the help of mental images, try to cause an influx of pleasant warmth to them, both outside and inside.
After your fingertips feel a gentle warmth, move your area of attention a little higher, as if it were a circle of light from a spotlight. And slowly, millimeter by millimeter, draw a circle along the entire body to the top of the head.
Imagine how, as this circle moves, an influx of pleasant sensations begins in the places where it slides, “burning out” all harmful and stagnant energy from the body.
After “looking” the body from the bottom up and reviving it with soft streams of pleasant sensations, you should note through which zones the energy passed with difficulty, in which places there were muscle tensions, unpleasant or slightly painful sensations.
The next stage of "dating with the body" is a mental massage effect on the areas of your body in which it is necessary to eliminate congestion and awaken the flow of pleasant sensations.
Now start from top to bottom, from the head, “caress” each part of the body from 11 to 33 times, if necessary, using other, stronger massage (mental) effects.
Along with this, you can clench and tap your jaws, tense and relax the muscle groups that require it.
The meaning of the exercise is in communicating with your own body, in obtaining from it the most complete information possible about its condition, about what it needs, and in the subsequent saturation and activation of it with flows of pleasant sensations.
Exercise "Knife Edge"
Bring the tip of the knife to your eye and begin to slowly describe circles around the eye socket with it. When performing the exercise, pay attention to your own sensations (tension, heaviness, bursting), which will inevitably arise in the region of the eye muscles.
Try to remember these feelings. A similar memory will form in you a mental image of the influx of protective energy to a certain area of the body.
Do the same exercise with the other eye.
The main thing in all exercises is the synthesis of fantasies and sensations that arise in the brain.
Exercise "Fictitious knife"
Put the knife aside and try to create the same sensation in the eye area, but without using the blade.
This is not an easy task, but if you try, this feeling will appear. As soon as you achieve this, try to change the emotional background that accompanies it. If earlier being near the eye of a real knife edge created a feeling of tension, anxiety, alertness or anxiety in you, then in the current situation you should associate the influx of energy in the eye area with a positive emotional background.
Try to relax, feel a slight bliss, warmth; some have a mild, soothing tingling sensation.
Remember this mental image of the influx of protective energy to the body zone with a positive emotional background. Feelings experienced during the movement of energy, even a protective one, are already pleasant sensations, since in addition to protective energy, sexual energy begins to mix with positive mental images.
Do the same exercise with the other eye.
Exercise "Cold Blade"
It is also done with a sharp knife. Take the knife and slowly move it with the tip over the back of your hand. Concentrate on the influx of protective energy to those areas of the skin over which the blade moves.
Performing the exercise, try to impose positive emotions on the feeling of an influx of protective energy. Try to evoke more and more intense sweet sensations in those areas over which the knife blade passes, gradually getting rid of the feeling of anxiety caused by the blade.
After that, draw the edge of the knife over the arms, legs, stomach, trying to ensure that the body responds to its movement with instantaneous movements of positive energy.
For greater effectiveness of the exercise, you can completely remove your clothes so that their presence does not weaken the effect of the blade and you feel the caressing chill of the knife blade with every cell of your body.
At the end of the exercise, carefully rub the entire body with your palms to evenly distribute the protective and positive energy all over the body. Rubbing the body should be stopped only after the sensations of a surge of energy to individual areas of the body have completely disappeared.
Exercise "Careful Blade"
In the next exercise, you should strain your own imagination and try to repeat everything that you did in the previous exercise, but without a knife, replacing the movement of its tip with the mental image of this movement and intensifying the pleasant sensations arising from this mental image.
As in the previous exercise, at the end you need to rub your body with your palms, trying to evoke all the same mental images that were formed during the previous exercise.
Finger Pulsation Exercise
Pulse exercises are the first step in managing internal energy. These exercises are actively used for a variety of purposes, primarily for relaxation, recovery and treatment of the body, as well as to strengthen the internal organs.
In this exercise, we will use the familiar mental image of the flow of energy to the selected area of the body, but we will supplement it with a sensation of pulsation in the index finger of the right hand.
If at first you are not able to create this feeling with the help of your imagination, then you can use the blade of a knife, as in the previous exercises.
You can try to cause a pulsation by staring for several minutes at the pad of your index finger and imagining that a small heart is beating in it or that a weak electric current is flowing through it.
And it is already quite easy to cause a pulsation by applying the pad of the index finger to the carotid artery, feeling the pulse in it and remembering the mental image that has arisen, and then trying to recreate it in the imagination.
Exercise "Pulsing fingers"
The following exercise will allow you to learn how to alternately cause a pulsation in each of the fingers and easily switch from one finger to another.
After you have learned how to pulse in your index finger, practice feeling the pulse in several fingers at the same time, in the entire hand or in the arm up to the elbow.
Over time, increase the strength and intensity of the pulses, supplementing them with an influx of pleasant sensations.
In addition, try to give the ripple a different color. The pulse can be either light and joyful, or heavy and solemn, fast and nervous, or smooth and lulling.
Do not be afraid to experiment, but do not forget the main thing: the sensation of pulsation should be associated only with pleasant sensations. If you experience discomfort from the beating of the pulse, stop the exercise and rub the pulse zone until the feeling of energy flow to it disappears.
Exercise "Moving the pulse"
After you have learned how to cause a pulse in your fingers, you should learn how to move the pulses through the body.
So, accumulate pulsating energy in right hand. Happened? Okay, using the mental image of moving, try to send it up your arm, over your shoulders, into your other hand, and then bring it back.
The purpose of this exercise is to learn not only to create streams of pulses, but also to freely move them through the body from one zone to another.
At the end of the exercise, rub the body until the sensations caused by mental images completely disappear.
Exercise "Uncontrolled rage"
This exercise is best done in front of a mirror. First of all, you need to relax and bring yourself to a calm state, for this you can use the “Buddha smile” exercise.
After you relax, take a step forward and try to arouse in yourself a strong uncontrollable rage, a blind rage, a desire to crush and destroy everything that comes in your way.
Take a step back, “turn on” the “Buddha smile” and return to a state of undivided serenity.
Then again take a step forward, reincarnating as a beast, and a step back, returning to the human state.
On a step forward, you can reinforce your rage with all sorts of aggressive body movements, wild screams and bestial grimaces. You can even swear in unprintable terms.
When stepping back, it is very important to relax completely, giving great attention relaxation of the buttocks, anus and facial muscles. It is these muscles that have a beneficial effect on the functions of the brain, and their relaxation contributes to calmness.
This exercise is very useful for shy, timid people who are afraid or embarrassed of manifestations of aggressiveness both in themselves and in others. Do not be afraid of aggressiveness, it is integral part human nature, and its suppression does not pass without a trace for the body, often ending in stress.
Aggressiveness cannot be suppressed, but it is very important to be able to manage it, using it if necessary.
The exercise "uncontrolled rage" helps to throw out the accumulated aggression, relieves shyness, anxiety, timidity and stiffness.
Once you have made significant progress in the above exercises, you can always switch the negative emotional reaction to a positive one or to a feeling of calmness.
Now, in case of negative emotions, you can perform these exercises to move to a positive emotional state.
All of the above exercises are good to perform after a lot of stress, when you are upset or excited. They will relax you, help get rid of excess adrenaline.
Do not forget only that the intensity of emotions in the exercises should be increased gradually, strengthening the nervous system, but not depleting it with excessive load.
Shaolin warriors did not know defeat. They had no equal in strength of mind, courage and courage. Their success is based on the teachings of a secret Taoist clan: unique psychotechnics and methods for the formation of a harmonious personality. These wonderful practices helped to manage hidden energies, not only inside the body, but also outside.
This book presents the basic techniques of the Taoists. With their help, you can learn how to accumulate energy, direct it in the right direction, open the blocked energy channels of the body.
Methods of active meditation will help to influence the conscious, subconscious and unconscious levels of body control. Thanks to them, you can improve personality traits, taking into account your individual abilities, character and temperament.
Name: The power of Shaolin. Taoist psychotechniques. Active Meditation Techniques
Yi Shen
Year: 2008
Pages: 96
Language: Russian
Format: pdf
Size: 11.4 MB
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according to the links indicated after the annotation. After that, you can familiarize yourself with it on an Android smartphone, iPhone. Enjoy your favorite fantasy, detective, adventure and romance novels!In the basin of the great Yellow River, the cradle of Chinese civilization, is Mount Zongshan. In 495, the Shaolin Monastery was founded on its eastern slope. And in 527, the Great Bodhidharma came here from India and began to preach a new Buddhist teaching, becoming the first patriarch of the Chan school. The word "chan" means "contemplation, meditation."
That is how, by personal example, the guest acted: for nine years he sat face to the wall in one of the stone caves on Mount Zongshan. When Bodhidharma returned from there to the monastery, others wanted to follow his example. One of the students named Hui Ke stood knee-deep in the snow in front of the temple all day, wanting to convince the teacher that he sincerely wants to find the path to enlightenment.
The methods of traditional yoga are combined in the Chan school with active meditation techniques borrowed from Taoist psychotechnics. The followers of this school believe that enlightenment can be achieved not only by hermitage and fasting, but also by an active lifestyle. That is, to develop the perception of beauty by doing painting, poetry, calligraphy, or to improve your body with the help of martial arts.
The ability to control one's life force is the essence of the mysterious Taoist practices. It was the monks of the Chan school who added to the techniques of martial arts the ability to control their vitality, to reveal the hidden reserves of the human body.
The monks of the Shaolin Monastery claim that it is possible to control energies by combining breathing exercises with concentration of consciousness and visualization of paraphysiological structures.
The only way to get rid of suffering, the Shaolin monks believed, is to find supreme happiness. This means restoring the original unity with the world, expanding your consciousness and returning to the state of an unborn baby, for whom there is no clear line between his own and mother's body, who breathes the mother's breath and eats her food.
A person who has comprehended the Taoist teaching loses the distinction between past and present, and therefore can enter where there is neither death nor birth.
“The one that kills life is immortal, the one that gives birth to life is not born, nothing will escape it, without it nothing will be created,” said Bodhidharma.
To gain freedom and immortality, the Buddhist thinker advised to fulfill only four commandments:
Do not experience anger and hatred, because our sufferings are the consequences of our own misdeeds in past births;
To be in harmony with one's own karma;
Not to have desires, for everything sought is empty, and peace and harmony consist in unwillingness;
Follow the Law, all provisions of which are pure and free from the limitations and cloudiness of the mind.
Taoist Psychotechniques
The animal essence of man
The branch of primates that gave rise to man is very ancient, about 45 million years old. Man has surpassed his common ancestors with monkeys, however, in man, as in animals, there are innate programs of behavior - instincts. Some of these instincts prevent us from moving towards perfection, others are useful to us.
From birth, children show many instinctive actions. For example, a sucking or grasping reflex (the cub seeks to find its mother and cling to the wool or tail, and the baby to the skirt).
The instinct of ownership is also one of the oldest. Our primitive ancestors had personal property inviolable. Deprivation of property or restriction of the right to own it deforms the psyche of an adult, makes him aggressive, envious and thievish.
The stealing program also exists in many animal species, in difficult conditions it helps to survive.
Animal aggression is also not alien to man. Boys and men during skirmishes often straighten their chests, push, although this is stupid, because vulnerable zones open up, and instead of pushing, it is better to hit right away. But instinct is instinct, and it is very problematic to fight it.
A person does not have the physical data of a predatory animal. Two people fighting with their bare hands may not always be dangerous to each other, but man has become the only animal on earth that uses weapons to destroy their own kind.
Polygamy was also inherited by people from animals. In many primates, a male mates with several females, and often "all love" ends after that. Therefore, it is not surprising that this is characteristic of human males.
Knowing his instincts, a person can learn to control them and even use them for constructive purposes.
This approach is very characteristic of Taoist psychotechniques.
For example, the instinct of reproduction has long been used by Taoists for energy practices without losing the seed and the energy contained in it, and the control of emotions and hand-to-hand combat training allow you to remove excess aggressiveness. Fight your animal nature, but do not overdo it.
Remember, although we are rational beings, nothing animal is alien to us.
Creating a healthy energy structure of the body
Any sound represents certain vibrations. A melody is a set of vibrations. As you know, any body has its own vibration frequency. Our emotions are also vibrations, but much more complex in composition and varied in frequency and amplitude.
A person, having learned to select music that matches his mood, gets pleasure. But if he knows how to change himself in accordance with the world around him, then he achieves complete harmony, always sees beauty in everything, and the Universe fills him with strength and infinite knowledge. The universe, seemingly chaotic, is in perfect harmony.
And therefore, if we can understand the algorithm for changing the world, then we will be able to tune ourselves into the same wave and merge with those around us. This is the goal pursued by martial arts, music, meditation and other methods of achieving harmony.
Therefore, before embarking on exercises that strengthen the body, it is very important to harmonize energy flows, and harmonize in the version that is most suitable for your body.
We observe a very interesting approach to the definition of illness in the old Taoist practices. Often, when we try to escape from the state of illness, on the contrary, we drive problems deeper. In other words, if you open an old abscess, you will throw out the pathogenic energy and get healthier. And if instead of a surgical intervention you begin to perform some physical exercises, the disease will go deeper and block a whole range of energy possibilities of the body there. A pathogenic bundle will be created inside your body, due to which a more serious disease can develop.
Therefore, it is necessary to properly treat the disease, and not drive it inside. The main thing is to find a good doctor, but it is better to become healers of your own body.
Most people intuitively find what their body lacks. The feeling of what you need is just part of the system for creating a balanced human energy structure. But a person should begin the synchronization and harmonization of energy flows from consciousness.
There are many different methods for developing consciousness, but before you start doing energy practices, you must recognize that you are a material being, an animal. You need to understand that the same mechanisms apply to you as to other people and animals.
Another important point should be the desire and understanding of the need for change. However, moving in the stream of life, you can and should change only for the good.
The meaning of Taoist psychotechniques boils down to the fact that through the management of one's own energy structure one can reduce the destructive impact of the external environment. You need to understand that a person who is dissatisfied with himself will not be able to develop himself and live long.
The exercises, psychotechnics and methods of forming a harmonious personality proposed in this book are based on the teachings of a secret Taoist clan. These psychotechniques, used in ancient times for the accelerated training of Shaolin warriors and monks, will help you manage the energies both inside and outside your body. Methods of active meditation will help you control the body at the conscious, subconscious and unconscious levels, improve such personality traits as its orientation, abilities, character and temperament.
A series: Healing practices of the East
* * *
by the LitRes company.
Taoist Psychotechniques
The animal essence of man
The branch of primates that gave rise to man is very ancient, about 45 million years old. Man has surpassed his common ancestors with monkeys, however, in man, as in animals, there are innate programs of behavior - instincts. Some of these instincts prevent us from moving towards perfection, others are useful to us.
From birth, children show many instinctive actions. For example, a sucking or grasping reflex (the cub seeks to find its mother and cling to the wool or tail, and the baby to the skirt).
The instinct of ownership is also one of the oldest. Our primitive ancestors had personal property inviolable. Deprivation of property or restriction of the right to own it deforms the psyche of an adult, makes him aggressive, envious and thievish.
The stealing program also exists in many animal species, in difficult conditions it helps to survive.
Animal aggression is also not alien to man. Boys and men during skirmishes often straighten their chests, push, although this is stupid, because vulnerable zones open up, and instead of pushing, it is better to hit right away. But instinct is instinct, and it is very problematic to fight it.
A person does not have the physical data of a predatory animal. Two people fighting with their bare hands may not always be dangerous to each other, but man has become the only animal on earth that uses weapons to destroy their own kind.
Polygamy was also inherited by people from animals. In many primates, a male mates with several females, and often "all love" ends after that. Therefore, it is not surprising that this is characteristic of human males.
Knowing his instincts, a person can learn to control them and even use them for constructive purposes.
This approach is very characteristic of Taoist psychotechniques.
For example, the instinct of reproduction has long been used by Taoists for energy practices without losing the seed and the energy contained in it, and the control of emotions and hand-to-hand combat training allow you to remove excess aggressiveness. Fight your animal nature, but do not overdo it.
Remember, although we are rational beings, nothing animal is alien to us.
Creating a healthy energy structure of the body
Any sound represents certain vibrations. A melody is a set of vibrations. As you know, any body has its own vibration frequency. Our emotions are also vibrations, but much more complex in composition and varied in frequency and amplitude.
A person, having learned to select music that matches his mood, gets pleasure. But if he knows how to change himself in accordance with the world around him, then he achieves complete harmony, always sees beauty in everything, and the Universe fills him with strength and infinite knowledge. The universe, seemingly chaotic, is in perfect harmony.
And therefore, if we can understand the algorithm for changing the world, then we will be able to tune ourselves into the same wave and merge with those around us. This is the goal pursued by martial arts, music, meditation and other methods of achieving harmony.
Therefore, before embarking on exercises that strengthen the body, it is very important to harmonize energy flows, and harmonize in the version that is most suitable for your body.
We observe a very interesting approach to the definition of illness in the old Taoist practices. Often, when we try to escape from the state of illness, on the contrary, we drive problems deeper. In other words, if you open an old abscess, you will throw out the pathogenic energy and get healthier. And if instead of a surgical intervention you begin to perform some physical exercises, the disease will go deeper and block a whole range of energy possibilities of the body there. A pathogenic bundle will be created inside your body, due to which a more serious disease can develop.
Therefore, it is necessary to properly treat the disease, and not drive it inside. The main thing is to find a good doctor, but it is better to become healers of your own body.
Most people intuitively find what their body lacks. The feeling of what you need is just part of the system for creating a balanced human energy structure. But a person should begin the synchronization and harmonization of energy flows from consciousness.
There are many different methods for developing consciousness, but before you start doing energy practices, you must recognize that you are a material being, an animal. You need to understand that the same mechanisms apply to you as to other people and animals.
Another important point should be the desire and understanding of the need for change. However, moving in the stream of life, you can and should change only for the good.
The meaning of Taoist psychotechniques boils down to the fact that through the management of one's own energy structure one can reduce the destructive impact of the external environment. You need to understand that a person who is dissatisfied with himself will not be able to develop himself and live long.
Before you start doing certain exercises, remember that this requires a certain amount of internal resources of the body, which you can waste, wanting to get more. For example, if your pancreas hurts, you should not aim at treating the entire gastrointestinal tract.
Thus, before embarking on a general recovery of the body, you need to get rid of individual diseases.
So, we are affected by a huge variety of energies from the outside. There were only six of them in the East: heat, heat, wind, humidity, dryness and cold.
When any energy is in excess, disease immediately arises. Therefore, the meaning of treatment lies primarily in finding this excess energy.
If we understand that the disease is caused by heat, and the heat, as is known from physics, rises, then we will come to the conclusion that the head will suffer first of all. This means that in this case it is impossible to overheat the head, but on the contrary, it is desirable to warm the legs.
From this follows the conclusion: the energy of cold is below, the energy of heat is above.
Here we come to another point - this is breathing, that is, our main rhythm, thanks to which we create a bridge between the outside world and ourselves.
Proper breathing is the key to health, as well as cleanliness.
Exercise "Rooting"
The exercise is performed while standing. Put your feet slightly wider than your shoulders, raise your arms above your head, make several turns of the body from side to side. When performing the exercise, you should feel comfortable and determine how comfortable it is for you to stand.
With this swaying, you begin to approach the ideal position for you. In other words, despite, for example, curvature of the spine or some other shortcoming, you can stand up so that this position will be the most natural for you, and most importantly comfortable. It is in this position that you will need to perform this exercise.
This is the so-called moment of rooting. If you learn to feel rooted, including when the crowd is pressing on you, then you will understand the very principle of rooting.
The meaning of the exercise is as follows: you must learn to breathe naturally. At the same time, do not overexert your hands. Any overvoltage in some zone creates an influx of energy to it, and the energy does not go further.
So, you put your hands out, then you should slightly bend your legs, moving the weight of the body back, and bend your arms a little, so that you have rounded all the limbs. At the same time, you need to be able to stand easily.
It is very important to have some inner freedom - both in the body, and in thinking, and in feeling. This inner freedom is not given to everyone and not immediately.
The result is the following: inhalation through the hands, clearly entering into you, at the same time inhalation through the legs, closing and mixing somewhere inside the body. You should feel the volume of your body during this exercise, when there is a spontaneous desire to inhale.
This is followed by a natural exhalation due to the fact that you have relaxed your hands.
Inhale and exhale with appetite, when the body wants it.
This exercise is very important for all its apparent simplicity, if you feel it, this will be your first step towards harmony.
Exercise "Energy Ball"
Continuing the first exercise, bring your palm to your face. Estimate how far your palm should stop so that you do not feel discomfort. Imagine a kind of energy ball that floats in front of your face.
Mentally try to roll it on your forehead, then to the back of your head, and then “smear” it down your shoulders and get a pleasant feeling of such a smeared energy ball.
When you imagine this ball, try to feel how it appears in this place. It is recommended to ride it for no more than 5-10 minutes. This ball will be a kind of formation outside your body, which will allow you to normalize the energy structure of the body.
If you learn how to clear certain channels with the help of a ball, learn how to lead the energy not only inside the body, but also outside, so that it covers you like a hood, and the excess goes into these balls, then you will have practically no problems with diseases.
After you roll the energy ball over your shoulders, pay special attention to the fifth cervical vertebra. The fifth cervical vertebra is the most active energy zone, so a powerful “energy collar” is needed to protect it.
Energy Management
Psychologists have found that great joy, as well as unexpected misfortune, can lead to a nervous breakdown and, since a significant part of the population suffers from neuroses, even such a simple and pleasant event as going on vacation or buying a new house can cause a deterioration in health.
Often people with a weak nervous system are instinctively afraid of strong emotions and live in the shell of their tiny world, which seems safe to them, avoiding everything that could excite them - love, travel, new acquaintances, new interesting activities.
Striving for security and peace of mind, they literally rob themselves, depriving themselves of the satisfaction of many needs - in social contacts, in doses of invigorating, but not exhausting stress, in love, in physical activity, etc.
Taoist thinkers chose as a stable emotional background a state of calm and quiet joy, slight surprise and admiration for the miracle of the surrounding world and their own existence.
With the help of special exercises, they learned to strengthen their nervous system so that it could withstand more and more intense emotional outbursts without nervous exhaustion. From strong emotions, life warriors immediately returned to a plateau of stable positive emotional background, avoiding negative feelings and restoring their energy and strength in case they noticed the slightest sign of fatigue or exhaustion.
Such psychotechniques formed stable and harmonious models of the world of people who know how to be happy and enjoy life.
Buddha Smile Exercise
The exercise is so called because the facial expression when it is performed should resemble the expression on the faces of Buddha statues - calm, relaxed, detached and devoid of emotions, with lips slightly stretched into a barely noticeable smile.
This is a simple exercise to develop a stable positive emotional background. With seeming ease, it is very important for strengthening the human psyche, it can be performed anywhere and at any time, bringing this performance to automatism. It is better to start mastering it in a calm state, comfortably sitting in a room where no one would disturb you.
First of all, you need to calm down, relieve the burden of accumulated problems, relax and try not to think about anything.
Relax your facial muscles first. To do this, imagine that they are filled with pleasant heaviness and warmth, losing tension and elasticity.
After the muscles of the face relax, concentrate your attention on the corners of the lips, so that only they are felt from all the muscles and parts of the body. Imagine, without any muscular effort, how the lips begin to stretch, forming a very light, almost imperceptible smile.
There is an inverse relationship between feeling happy and smiling. No wonder many psychologists advise to smile more often. Joy causes a smile in a person, and a smile causes positive emotions.
The state of relaxation and inner peace is very important for beginners. The fact is that the feeling of nascent joy is so subtle that if you experience some fairly strong emotions at the time of the exercise, you will not be able to create a feeling of peace and quiet joy.
Having caught the necessary emotional mood, remember this state so that in the future you can call it up, not only by relaxing the muscles of your face and stretching your lips in a smile, but also remembering it, reproducing in detail your state and feelings at the moment when you were especially good at performing the exercise.
If you want to keep your “smile from ever leaving you”, do this simple exercise as often as possible, at least once a day, until the state of “Buddha smile” becomes familiar and familiar to you and you learn how to easily and quickly invoke it in almost any conditions, with the possible exception of a state of severe stress.
Exercise "Date with the body"
It is no secret that the energy level in the body is directly related to the emotional state of a person. And so the following exercise is designed to activate internal forces and evenly distribute energy throughout the body.
It is better to perform the exercise in the morning, immediately after waking up, without getting out of bed. The main thing in it is to try to feel your body by examining it with the help of an “internal searchlight”.
So, focus your attention on the tips of your toes and, with the help of mental images, try to cause an influx of pleasant warmth to them, both outside and inside.
After your fingertips feel a gentle warmth, move your area of attention a little higher, as if it were a circle of light from a spotlight. And slowly, millimeter by millimeter, draw a circle along the entire body to the top of the head.
Imagine how, as this circle moves, an influx of pleasant sensations begins in the places where it slides, “burning out” all harmful and stagnant energy from the body.
After “looking” the body from the bottom up and reviving it with soft streams of pleasant sensations, you should note through which zones the energy passed with difficulty, in which places there were muscle tensions, unpleasant or slightly painful sensations.
The next stage of "dating with the body" is a mental massage effect on the areas of your body in which it is necessary to eliminate congestion and awaken the flow of pleasant sensations.
Now start from top to bottom, from the head, “caress” each part of the body from 11 to 33 times, if necessary, using other, stronger massage (mental) effects.
Along with this, you can clench and tap your jaws, tense and relax the muscle groups that require it.
The meaning of the exercise is in communicating with your own body, in obtaining from it the most complete information possible about its condition, about what it needs, and in the subsequent saturation and activation of it with flows of pleasant sensations.
Exercise "Knife Edge"
Bring the tip of the knife to your eye and begin to slowly describe circles around the eye socket with it. When performing the exercise, pay attention to your own sensations (tension, heaviness, bursting), which will inevitably arise in the region of the eye muscles.
Try to remember these feelings. A similar memory will form in you a mental image of the influx of protective energy to a certain area of the body.
Do the same exercise with the other eye.
The main thing in all exercises is the synthesis of fantasies and sensations that arise in the brain.
Exercise "Fictitious knife"
Put the knife aside and try to create the same sensation in the eye area, but without using the blade.
This is not an easy task, but if you try, this feeling will appear. As soon as you achieve this, try to change the emotional background that accompanies it. If earlier being near the eye of a real knife edge created a feeling of tension, anxiety, alertness or anxiety in you, then in the current situation you should associate the influx of energy in the eye area with a positive emotional background.
Try to relax, feel a slight bliss, warmth; some have a mild, soothing tingling sensation.
Remember this mental image of the influx of protective energy to the body zone with a positive emotional background. Feelings experienced during the movement of energy, even a protective one, are already pleasant sensations, since in addition to protective energy, sexual energy begins to mix with positive mental images.
Do the same exercise with the other eye.
Exercise "Cold Blade"
It is also done with a sharp knife. Take the knife and slowly move it with the tip over the back of your hand. Concentrate on the influx of protective energy to those areas of the skin over which the blade moves.
Performing the exercise, try to impose positive emotions on the feeling of an influx of protective energy. Try to evoke more and more intense sweet sensations in those areas over which the knife blade passes, gradually getting rid of the feeling of anxiety caused by the blade.
After that, draw the edge of the knife over the arms, legs, stomach, trying to ensure that the body responds to its movement with instantaneous movements of positive energy.
For greater effectiveness of the exercise, you can completely remove your clothes so that their presence does not weaken the effect of the blade and you feel the caressing chill of the knife blade with every cell of your body.
At the end of the exercise, thoroughly rub the entire body with your palms to evenly distribute the protective and positive energies throughout the body. Rubbing the body should be stopped only after the sensations of a surge of energy to individual areas of the body have completely disappeared.
Exercise "Careful Blade"
In the next exercise, you should strain your own imagination and try to repeat everything that you did in the previous exercise, but without a knife, replacing the movement of its tip with the mental image of this movement and intensifying the pleasant sensations arising from this mental image.
As in the previous exercise, at the end you need to rub your body with your palms, trying to evoke all the same mental images that were formed during the previous exercise.
Finger Pulsation Exercise
Pulse exercises are the first step in managing internal energy. These exercises are actively used for a variety of purposes, primarily for relaxation, recovery and treatment of the body, as well as to strengthen the internal organs.
In this exercise, we will use the familiar mental image of the flow of energy to the selected area of the body, but we will supplement it with a sensation of pulsation in the index finger of the right hand.
If at first you are not able to create this feeling with the help of your imagination, then you can use the blade of a knife, as in the previous exercises.
You can try to cause a pulsation by staring for several minutes at the pad of your index finger and imagining that a small heart is beating in it or that a weak electric current is flowing through it.
And it is already quite easy to cause a pulsation by applying the pad of the index finger to the carotid artery, feeling the pulse in it and remembering the mental image that has arisen, and then trying to recreate it in the imagination.
Exercise "Pulsing fingers"
The following exercise will allow you to learn how to alternately cause a pulsation in each of the fingers and easily switch from one finger to another.
After you have learned how to pulse in your index finger, practice feeling the pulse in several fingers at the same time, in the entire hand or in the arm up to the elbow.
Over time, increase the strength and intensity of the pulses, supplementing them with an influx of pleasant sensations.
In addition, try to give the ripple a different color. The pulse can be either light and joyful, or heavy and solemn, fast and nervous, or smooth and lulling.
Do not be afraid to experiment, but do not forget the main thing: the sensation of pulsation should be associated only with pleasant sensations. If you experience discomfort from the beating of the pulse, stop the exercise and rub the pulse zone until the feeling of energy flow to it disappears.
Exercise "Moving the pulse"
After you have learned how to cause a pulse in your fingers, you should learn how to move the pulses through the body.
So, accumulate pulsating energy in your right hand. Happened? Okay, using the mental image of moving, try to send it up your arm, over your shoulders, into your other hand, and then bring it back.
The purpose of this exercise is to learn not only to create streams of pulses, but also to freely move them through the body from one zone to another.
At the end of the exercise, rub the body until the sensations caused by mental images completely disappear.
Exercise "Uncontrolled rage"
This exercise is best done in front of a mirror. First of all, you need to relax and bring yourself to a calm state, for this you can use the “Buddha smile” exercise.
After you relax, take a step forward and try to arouse in yourself a strong uncontrollable rage, a blind rage, a desire to crush and destroy everything that comes in your way.
Take a step back, “turn on” the “Buddha smile” and return to a state of undivided serenity.
Then again take a step forward, reincarnating as a beast, and a step back, returning to the human state.
On a step forward, you can reinforce your rage with all sorts of aggressive body movements, wild screams and bestial grimaces. You can even swear in unprintable terms.
When stepping back, it is very important to relax completely, paying great attention to relaxing the buttocks, anus and facial muscles. It is these muscles that have a beneficial effect on the functions of the brain, and their relaxation contributes to calmness.
This exercise is very useful for shy, timid people who are afraid or embarrassed of manifestations of aggressiveness both in themselves and in others. Do not be afraid of aggressiveness, it is an integral part of human nature, and its suppression does not pass without a trace for the body, often ending in stress.
Aggressiveness cannot be suppressed, but it is very important to be able to manage it, using it if necessary.
The exercise "uncontrolled rage" helps to throw out the accumulated aggression, relieves shyness, anxiety, timidity and stiffness.
Once you have made significant progress in the above exercises, you can always switch the negative emotional reaction to a positive one or to a feeling of calmness.
Now, in case of negative emotions, you can perform these exercises to move to a positive emotional state.
All of the above exercises are good to perform after a lot of stress, when you are upset or excited. They will relax you, help get rid of excess adrenaline.
Do not forget only that the intensity of emotions in the exercises should be increased gradually, strengthening the nervous system, but not depleting it with excessive load.
Strengthening the internal energy of the body
All people on Earth dream of happiness. But not everyone fully understands what it is. The concept of happiness is defined by two components: external and internal.
The external component is connected with the conditions and circumstances of a person's life. The internal is connected with the inner world of a person, it determines his perception of life, his attitude towards it.
In Taoist teaching, the question of happiness is one of the most important, and the ability to be happy, understanding what happiness is, is brought up from early childhood.
Followers of Taoism learn not only to organize and tune their inner world in such a way as to continuously experience a state of happiness, harmony and tranquility, but also to master the art of controlling circumstances and one's own destiny. It is important not so much to control the energies as to strengthen the internal energy of the body.
There are mysteries in the art of being happy; in order for your life to change for the better, you need to comprehend the secrets of feelings and emotions, as well as know the ways of moving energies, that is, energy channels.
End of introductory segment.
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The following excerpt from the book Shaolin power. Taoist psychotechniques. Methods of Active Meditation (Yi-Shen) provided by our book partner -
