TCM Self-Healing Meditation

The Introduction of TCM Self-Healing Meditation

Today, most courses of study are defined by one unique system, but only in medicine do there still exist two separate systems: Conventional Western Medicine (CWM) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). CWM relies largely on “reduction (restoration) theory” and is based on the “atomic principle,” which usually discounts that all things have internal unity aside from the visible phenomenon. This position of CWM results in great challenges, especially in the handling of some complicated diseases. TCM acknowledges the unity of all things in the universe as one: the human body is one of the myriad things in the universe, and is always connected to the universe. Things such as the gravitational field, electromagnetic waves, and biological waves in the universe always influence human life with matter, information, and energy exchange, especially regarding the activities of the Moon (such as the tide and biological clock change) and changes in the weather.

The human body is not as simple as defined in anatomy, but rather is a huge open system with complexity and is identified as such by modern “System Science.” It is centralized by five viscera (heart, liver, lung, spleen, and kidney) that are controlled by the Heart. The brain is only an informational center that is controlled by the Heart spirit.

According to observation and research over thousands of years, TCM has found that the five viscera not only have different structures and solid functions, but also have mind or spirit characteristics. Thousands of years ago, the Chinese created the “Five Elements theory” to describe the characteristics and functions of the human body and its relationship with the natural environment. Following the development of scientific inquiry, especially the establishment of Modern System Science, it has been revealed that the Five Elements theory is superior for the treatment of the human body because this theory has the ability to explore the facts and secrets of the human body .

Oriental philosophy and TCM theory hold that everything on earth or in the universe is one entity. The visible living body and invisible energy field form a completely alive human body. For a healthy human body, the invisible energy must harmoniously and calmly maintain the circling system. The restless circulation plays a direct role in human health and wellness.

To be more general, all things — plants, animals, water, rocks, mountains, stars, the sun, and the moon — are considered living entities with their own power, own spirit, and own ability to help those who are good, respectful, sacred, and unique. They are our friends and teachers with whom we must constantly share kindness and exchange energy to maintain our health and improve our invisible energy system. TCM’s valuable methods use imagery and our subconscious to enhance the complete health of the body.

Based on the Oriental philosophy described above, TCM believes that the human body has not only a visible solid or tangible body but also an invisible or intangible (energy, spirit) body, which is called the Qi system. TCM pays more attention to the harmony of this system. ‘‘Qi is described as the basic element of human vital energy in classic Chinese literature. The underlying theory of TCM is fully based on balancing Qi according to the theory of Yin–Yang and the Five Elements theory, which have been used for more than 3000 years. Medical application of Qi for health and healing consists of internal and external Qi. Internal Qi refers to Qi inside the human body and external Qi refers to Qi projected outside a human body by a highly talented/trained practitioner.” “Qigong is generally associated with a broad range of mental and physical training exercises that are widely regarded as beneficial for disease elimination and prevention, as well as health maintenance and enhancement.” It is an ancient Chinese cultivation art of health preservation emphasizing the nourishing, breath and mental training with Qi cultivation; as part of the TCM practice, Qigong meditation includes balancing body, mind, and spirit; adjusting the mind for tranquility and silent status with some kind of visualization in the concentrated mind , adjusting to a slow, even, and deep breath , and adjusting the body form for relaxation and emptiness . For example, “Inner Health Qigong (meditation exercise)” is effective in preventing chronic gastritis, duodenal ulcer, chronic hepatitis, neurosis, hypertension, irregular menstruation, and dysmenorrhea.

Beginning or Opening Posture

Standing

Keep your feet shoulder-width apart, and hold your head upright; tip your chin slightly toward the neck; straighten your lower back; relax your shoulders; look forward, then gently close your eyes. Your whole body should slow down. Visualize yourself at six or seven years old, as you were, with childish wishes, childish smile, and childish shape. Smile like a child. Bright sunlight streams onto you, and warms your lower abdomen. Visualize your innocent child body slowly floating into the universe, sharing your wisdom with nature’s wisdom. Imagine universal energy vibrating your cells, your body shining with light, and your life filling with happiness. Your body expands endlessly, blending into the universe, as you and the universe become one entity.

Sitting in a Chair

Keep your feet shoulder-width apart, and hold your head upright; tip your chin slightly toward the neck; straighten your lower back, and slightly bend your knees. Place your hands, palms up, in front of your navel — for men the left hand on top, for women the right hand on top. Visualize bright sunshine and nature filled with life and light. You are in the universe and the universe is in you. Your body progressively fades and its energy combines with nature’s energy, transforming into, and mixing with, the natural energy around you. Universal energy permeates your body and radiates light from your head to your toes.

With your eyes, encircle your illuminated spine and internal organs. Visualize and absorb the herb Gui Zhi , which prompts energy to circle, unblocked, through spontaneously opening and closing the illuminated cells. Visualize your tailbone; relax your lower stomach. Visualize and absorb the herbs Qiang Huo  and Zhi Mu , which prompts energy to rise from your tailbone, along your spine, to the Bai Hui (, GV 20) acupuncture point on the crown of your head, and then descend to the Hui Yin (, CV 1) acupuncture point between the anus and the private organ. Do this multiple times while visualizing and absorbing the Du Huo ( and Gong Ying  herbs, which prompts energy to push through the Ren meridian ( Conception vessel) in the front of your chest and stomach. Your chest cavity, abdominal cavity, and pelvic cavity are clear and clean.

Visualize the interior organs, and concentrate on the kidney areas in the back, on both sides of the spine. Open energy storage by imagining the kidneys as two dragons playing and chasing a precious ball in the clouds over your Dan Tian  acupuncture area about 3 cun (the width of your thumb) down from the navel. This stimulates energy passing from the kidneys to the stomach and spleen. Kidney, stomach, and spleen energy combine and cooperate to generate new energy that pushes to the right side to improve the cell activity in the liver.

Visualize the liver’s interior as a large piece of green grassland, full of life power. Visualize your liver as being clear and bright as a fresh blue fish. Precious liver energy rises to the left, combines with the lung energy, and pushes into the heart cells. Now light from the heart is bright red, from the lungs bright white, from the spleen bright yellow, from the liver bright blue, and from the kidneys bright black. Blood and energy fill the lungs.

The heart, full of energy and bright life, looks like a blossoming red rose with sparkling dew, translucent and bright. Energy flows freely down over your spleen and stomach. Imagine all organs filled and nourished with the morning fog. Spleen energy rises and combines with liver energy. The lungs are bright and clear, opening and closing, filled with energy and nutritious blood. The breathing capacity increases. Your lung energy combines with your heart energy to flow down along both sides of your spine into the kidneys.

The kidneys fill with energy to improve their cell opening and closing. Your lungs are full of bright white light; the heart bright red; the liver bright blue; and the kidneys bright black. All organs are bright and clear. Cross both hands over your Dan Tian  acupuncture area, 3 cun down from your navel. Your whole body is relaxed.

Clearing and Opening the Mind

Using the same opening posture, relax your shoulders and elbows, keep your arms to the front, with the palms up, not overlapping. Imagine that the palm light shines on your forehead — between the eyebrows, on the Yin Tang (, EX-HN 3)) acupuncture point, or heaven’s eye. Visualize your brain cells vigorously opening and closing. The palm lights separately shine on different parts of your head, and you adjust distance and position as you visualize your Dan Tian . Keep one palm about 1 foot away from your head, and the other about 3 inches, to form pressure differentials and improve your head’s micro cell circulation. Visualize hundreds of herbs floating in the air, and heavenly angels spreading beautiful flowers that fill the sky. The flowers are colorful and freshly fragrant. Multicolored chrysanthemums are blooming and their strong fresh fragrances penetrate your lungs, gladden your heart, and refresh your mind.

Visualize and absorb the herb Bai Ji Li , whose information refines your brain and makes you clever. Visualize and absorb the herb Chuan Xiong , whose spirit rises to your brain’s transparent blood vessels to unblock and quicken the circulating fresh red blood. Visualize and absorb the herb Shi Jue Ming , whose energy adjusts the interior brain pressure for improved and clear brain function.

Slowly lower both hands, and reflect the palm light into your heart. Your left hand is 3 inches away from your left atrium and ventricle. Your right hand is 1 foot away from your right atrium and ventricle. Visualize and absorb the herbs Chao Zao Ren  and Dang Gui , whose information increases energy movement in the left atrium and ventricle. Your heart, like the morning sun rising in the east, radiates to your five Zang and six Fu vital organs. Visualize and absorb the herbs Ye Jiao Teng  and Zhen Zhu Mu , whose information prompts your right atrium and ventricle circulation to accelerate and draw blood back into the veins. Your whole body’s blood flows freely. You are broad-minded, and your spirit is comfortable and clean.

Shine the palm light on your lungs, with one palm 30 cm away from your lungs and the other 10 cm away. The lung energy flows slowly down. Visualize and absorb the herbs Xuan Shen  and Ban Lan Gen , whose energy lubricates your lungs and internal viscera, gladdens your heart, and refreshes your mind. Your lungs, like the moon, reflect and spread a gentle, clear moonlight. Visualize and absorb the herbs Da Bei , Qian Hu , and Xing Ren , whose energy unblocks and clears your trachea.

Lower both hands slowly, one hand 30 cm away from your upper belly and the other 10 cm away. Visualize and absorb the herb Bo He , whose clear fresh fragrance penetrates and spreads over the liver cells. Visualize and absorb the herb Che Qian Zi , whose energy information pushes energy down. Visualize and absorb the herb Yin Chen  whose energy information pushes through your gall bladder channels, and adjusts your spleen and stomach. Visualize the Jiao San Xian , which contains Shen Qu , Chao Mai Ya , and Shan Zha , churns your stomach, and cleans your digestive system. Visualize and absorb the herb Xiang Fu , whose information prompts your spleen’s energy production in order to clean and reduce blockages, and to normalize spleen and stomach collaboration and going up.

Visualize your body’s life gate (vitality) Ming Men , between the kidneys, shinning on the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, and vital viscera. Visualize a bright purple light around you. Imagine, in your lower stomach, a baby like you, when you were a baby, and communicate with nature.

Visualize and absorb the herb Jie Geng , whose information opens the lung gate and stores energy. Concentrate on the changes in your hands and chest. Inner and outer energy communicate, and connect to nature. Your body and nature become one entity. You are in the universe and the universe is in you.

TCM Energy Circulation Method

Using the opening posture, lift your hands, with the palms up, separately above your head. Imagine the bright rainbows of light, filled with universal energy, streaming over your entire body. The palm light hands lower slowly from your head to the Dan Tian  of the lower stomach.

Visualize and absorb the herbs Ma Huang  and Gui Zhi  whose information intensifies each cell, and your whole body shines. Universal energy penetrates your body and develops your wisdom.

Visualize and absorb the herbs Bai Shuo  and Gui Zhi , whose energy and matter encircles and penetrates your whole body. You are totally relaxed and comfortable.

Swirl your tongue in your mouth like a dragon swirling in the sea. Visualize and absorb the herbs Wu Mei Cao  and Tian Hua Fen  to increase mouth saliva. Gargle, rinse, then swallow slowly to fill the Dan Tian  of the lower stomach area, clean the digestive system, and lubricate every cell. Your whole body fills with saliva, to clean and comfort you.

As you slowly lower both hands, the palm light reflects into the abdominal cavity. See the abdominal cavity; absorb the herb Bai Tou Weng , whose information clears your intestine’s fine membrane to improve the absorption. This energy then spirals up to exchange with matter from your five internal organs. Qi and blood flow smoothly.

The palm light reflects into the pelvic cavity. Visualize the cavity absorbing the herbs Yi Mu Cao  and Zi Shi Ying , whose information activates gynecologic and reproductive cells to reconcile body energy, and adjust Qi and blood.

Visualize your body absorbing Bi Xie  whose information pushes your urine to be excreted. Visualize your prostate or uterus as shining and clear. Your vitality is vigorous, and your life is long and healthy.

Visualize the bright and clear abdominal cavity as holding a sea of churning waves. As they surge, they sweep the abdominal cavity with clear waves, and you hear the waves crashing and washing off all the dirt from the abdominal cavity. The abdominal cavity is clean and healthy, shining with a burnt gold light.

The palm light reflects to your life gate, between the kidneys, and inside the spine above the tailbone. Visualize this “Snow Mountain” area absorbing the herb Rou Gui . Its information energy, like the sun’s heat, melts the snow in the mountain; then, like the sun, slowly rises and warms your body. You no longer feel cold and wet.

Visualize absorbing the herb Gong Ying  whose energy information stimulates energy in the kidney cavities and surrounding cells. Your kidneys are comfortable, and their Qi and blood are plentiful and brilliant.

Visualize absorbing the herbs Bian Xu  and Ju Mai , whose energy information pushes energy down to relax your back, your sacrum, and your vertebrae. Your tiredness is completely gone.

Visualize absorbing the herb Ge Gen , whose energy information limbers up and stretches your back muscles. Visualize streams of energy circling your spine and spinal cord like an electric current that massages and vibrates around your vertebrae. Your vertebrae are relaxed and comfortable.

Visualize energy from the sun region, in front of your spine, surrounding and weaving through your vertebrae. Visualize absorbing 2 g of Qiang Huo , whose information energy moves to the end of your tailbone. Visualize absorbing 3 g of Qiang Huo , whose spirit pushes energy up into your waist. Visualize and absorb 20 g of Gong Ying , whose energy moves horizontally back and forth in your abdomen. Visualize absorbing 4 g of Qiang Huo, whose energy rises horizontally under your diaphragm. Then add 15 g of Wu Zei Gu , and visualize the energy in your upper abdomen moving horizontally back and forth. Your upper abdomen is clear and comfortable.

Visualize absorbing 5 g of Qiang Huo  to impel energy directly to your shoulder, and then add 3 g of Jie Geng  to impel your chest energy to move horizontally back and forth, to facilitate cell opening and closing. Your heart is bright red, yours lungs bright white, and your Qi and blood pass smoothly through them. Your chest, lungs, and kidneys are comfortable, clean, and bright. Gently massage your kidneys with both hands to warm that area. This can induce sufficient energy to invigorate the brain.

Energy Storing and Accumulating Method

Using the opening posture, with the palms facing up, lift both hands above your head. Relax your whole body. Think or yell “Wong,” “Ar,” and “Hong” three times, using this sound energy to vibrate your entire body. While pronouncing these notes, imagine that bright red, bright white, and bright blue light explosively penetrate your whole body from the sky. Your body feels clear, bright, and brimming with energy and blood.

Visualize hundreds of fragrant herbs floating in the air. Heavenly angels are spreading flowers. Fresh fragrances from flowers and herbs are spreading in the world. The essence of heaven is filling the universe. Imagine sweet dew permeating your whole body from head to toe, including your vital organs. Think of Du Huo  and Qian Hu  to move your energy down, and of Qiang Huo  to move your energy up. Energy circles your body, moving up and down. Every cell is brilliant and serene. Your whole body is transparent, clear, and healthy. You breathe in unison with the universe. Your pores are opening and closing. You are full of thoughts as boundless as the sea and sky. You feel like yourself and not like yourself. Your mind melts with the universe. You cast off your old self and return to a natural union with the universe. Gradually remember all the energy gathered in your lower belly. Cross your hands — men left hand outside, women right hand outside. With both hands pressing on the navel, massage with a little force, and think that you are concluding and closing your practice.

To conclude, rub your hands and your face. Make hollow fists and, using the front of your hollowed fists, strike your upper chest, lower abdomen, back, and entire body.