In today' post, I will share the juicy part, the theory and explanation of what these three energies in the body represent and how they regulate with each other. Please take note that I'm NOT referring to fitness measurement of phosphagen, anaerobic and aerobic energy systems. These three internal energies are totally different entities which associated with vital organs, glands and spiritual and physical entity.
Let's jump straight into the juicy chunk of the theory understanding and background of how it all started. For approximately 8,000 years of Chinese history, ancient Taoist masters understood that retaining the seminal fluid during the act of love remained a deep secret. At first it was practiced exclusively by the Emperor and his innermost circle, who learned it from the Taoist sages that advised the court. These wise men claimed in earlier times it was a natural gift of all mankind. The Emperor needed the method to prevent impotence and illness; improperly educated monarchs were exhausted at an early age by the sexual demands of their wives and concubines. In aristocratic families it passed from father to chosen son alone, excluding wives, daughters and other family members. In this case, I'm referring to male practitioners or individual adults.
How was this powerful practice of energy and life-force cultivation and preservation become so well known? Yes, the yellow emperor during his reign compiled and documented the learning and what he practiced for the next generations of emperors and people of Taoist. The name of the emperor is Huang Di and what I will share is only a small portion of energy cultivation and preservation. Before we proceed further, let me briefly explain to you the 5 organs network which play a huge role in these three treasures in the body.
In the previous post, I mentioned about JING, CHI and SHEN. To better understand these three energies, you may think of money savings analogy. I usually would describe JING as fixed deposit in bank, CHI as savings account and SHEN as some sort of valuable investments from both JING and CHI. Another useful analogy would be a candle. Think of the quality of the wax of candle. The longer and better the quality is of a candle, it will be able to burn far longer, which translate into longevity. The fire of the candle, refers to CHI, the more stable the fire is, the longer the candle can burn and does not deplete nor overburned. For SHEN, it is the flame of the fire, or for some people might call it as aura. Imagine you hold a candle walking into a dark room, and trying to shed the light to lit up the room.
Now, for most people, by the time they read until this paragraph, doubts and disbelieve started to mount in their head and they might seem lost at this point. Well, I was too myself many years back, most of us were hardwired to believe on what can be measured, what is tangible and can be seen. But not many know how to measure how we feel. Whatever we do in life, almost all of them is about FEEL. From the delicious foods we eat, to visiting new city in a different country, to copulating with your partner or perhaps witness a disturbing road accident scene. Agree?
Just before I explain how each of these three energy does, I want to share the 5 vital organs role on functioning and regulating the 5 elemental phases which consist of wood, fire, earth, metal and water. These 5 elemental phases also correspond to the YIN and YANG of the universe. For Qi Gong and Tai Chi practitioners, you will understand much more of what I'm about to discuss here. In terms of Wood, it correlates with Spring, Fire correlates with Summer, Earth correlates with late Summer, Metal is autumn and Winter is water. The corresponding elements with the organs are wood/liver, metal/lung, earth/spleen, fire/heart and water/kidneys. As I have explained about JING, CHI and SHEN earlier, there are also two other substances which flow in the body, which is moisture and blood. To make it a clearer understanding, I present to you an illustration of these organs and elements connection below.
LIVER - WOOD - EAST - SPRING - GREEN - SOUR - ANGER
(QI and BLOOD)
HEART - FIRE - SOUTH - SUMMER - RED - BITTER - JOY
(SHEN)
SPLEEN - EARTH - CENTRAL - LATE SUMMER - YELLOW - SWEET - DISTRESS/WORRY
LUNG - METAL - WEST - AUTUMN - WHITE - PUNGENT - SADNESS/GRIEF
(QI & MOISTURE)
KIDNEY - WATER - NORTH - WINTER - BLACK - SALTY - FEAR
(JING)
As you can see from the illustration above, the 5 organs correlate with the seasons, elements, taste, emotions, directions, colors, and also animals, sound and etc. I did not include a complete diagram of this correlation as it may get very complex to understand for many readers. From what we learn here, an individual can store much of the negative energy and emotions into these vital organs which govern the powerful three treasures JING, CHI and SHEN. The ones who often express anger will injure the liver the most, and the ones who live in fear for whatever reasons, may not have strong kidneys function, essence and JING reserved energy. Please bear in mind that all negative emotions are stored in the HEART, and for specific emotion, is additionally store in other organs as well.
During the spring, the weather and environmental conditions can affect the liver, while in summer the heart can be affected, and so forth. If the spring overreact the summer, the weather is abnormal, with spring weather then occurring in late summer. The body reaction to this is excessive liver/wood energy that overacts on the spleen/earth. When the seasons do not follow their natural cycle, energetic transformation, cold, flu and other illnesses will result.
Stay tuned..
Let's jump straight into the juicy chunk of the theory understanding and background of how it all started. For approximately 8,000 years of Chinese history, ancient Taoist masters understood that retaining the seminal fluid during the act of love remained a deep secret. At first it was practiced exclusively by the Emperor and his innermost circle, who learned it from the Taoist sages that advised the court. These wise men claimed in earlier times it was a natural gift of all mankind. The Emperor needed the method to prevent impotence and illness; improperly educated monarchs were exhausted at an early age by the sexual demands of their wives and concubines. In aristocratic families it passed from father to chosen son alone, excluding wives, daughters and other family members. In this case, I'm referring to male practitioners or individual adults.
How was this powerful practice of energy and life-force cultivation and preservation become so well known? Yes, the yellow emperor during his reign compiled and documented the learning and what he practiced for the next generations of emperors and people of Taoist. The name of the emperor is Huang Di and what I will share is only a small portion of energy cultivation and preservation. Before we proceed further, let me briefly explain to you the 5 organs network which play a huge role in these three treasures in the body.
In the previous post, I mentioned about JING, CHI and SHEN. To better understand these three energies, you may think of money savings analogy. I usually would describe JING as fixed deposit in bank, CHI as savings account and SHEN as some sort of valuable investments from both JING and CHI. Another useful analogy would be a candle. Think of the quality of the wax of candle. The longer and better the quality is of a candle, it will be able to burn far longer, which translate into longevity. The fire of the candle, refers to CHI, the more stable the fire is, the longer the candle can burn and does not deplete nor overburned. For SHEN, it is the flame of the fire, or for some people might call it as aura. Imagine you hold a candle walking into a dark room, and trying to shed the light to lit up the room.
Now, for most people, by the time they read until this paragraph, doubts and disbelieve started to mount in their head and they might seem lost at this point. Well, I was too myself many years back, most of us were hardwired to believe on what can be measured, what is tangible and can be seen. But not many know how to measure how we feel. Whatever we do in life, almost all of them is about FEEL. From the delicious foods we eat, to visiting new city in a different country, to copulating with your partner or perhaps witness a disturbing road accident scene. Agree?
Just before I explain how each of these three energy does, I want to share the 5 vital organs role on functioning and regulating the 5 elemental phases which consist of wood, fire, earth, metal and water. These 5 elemental phases also correspond to the YIN and YANG of the universe. For Qi Gong and Tai Chi practitioners, you will understand much more of what I'm about to discuss here. In terms of Wood, it correlates with Spring, Fire correlates with Summer, Earth correlates with late Summer, Metal is autumn and Winter is water. The corresponding elements with the organs are wood/liver, metal/lung, earth/spleen, fire/heart and water/kidneys. As I have explained about JING, CHI and SHEN earlier, there are also two other substances which flow in the body, which is moisture and blood. To make it a clearer understanding, I present to you an illustration of these organs and elements connection below.
LIVER - WOOD - EAST - SPRING - GREEN - SOUR - ANGER
(QI and BLOOD)
HEART - FIRE - SOUTH - SUMMER - RED - BITTER - JOY
(SHEN)
SPLEEN - EARTH - CENTRAL - LATE SUMMER - YELLOW - SWEET - DISTRESS/WORRY
LUNG - METAL - WEST - AUTUMN - WHITE - PUNGENT - SADNESS/GRIEF
(QI & MOISTURE)
KIDNEY - WATER - NORTH - WINTER - BLACK - SALTY - FEAR
(JING)
As you can see from the illustration above, the 5 organs correlate with the seasons, elements, taste, emotions, directions, colors, and also animals, sound and etc. I did not include a complete diagram of this correlation as it may get very complex to understand for many readers. From what we learn here, an individual can store much of the negative energy and emotions into these vital organs which govern the powerful three treasures JING, CHI and SHEN. The ones who often express anger will injure the liver the most, and the ones who live in fear for whatever reasons, may not have strong kidneys function, essence and JING reserved energy. Please bear in mind that all negative emotions are stored in the HEART, and for specific emotion, is additionally store in other organs as well.
During the spring, the weather and environmental conditions can affect the liver, while in summer the heart can be affected, and so forth. If the spring overreact the summer, the weather is abnormal, with spring weather then occurring in late summer. The body reaction to this is excessive liver/wood energy that overacts on the spleen/earth. When the seasons do not follow their natural cycle, energetic transformation, cold, flu and other illnesses will result.
Stay tuned..
