I haven't told you about qigong, have I? I have been reading “Chronicles of Tao” by Deng Ming Dao … it is a biographical trilogy on the life of a Taoist Master who was raised in the Ancient traditions of China. I realized in reading it that the energy practices being described as qigong were the same sort of movements I was experiencing in my personal practice. I had the thought that I'd like to learn more about it.
Well, the very next day (no kidding!) I got an email from one of my group members to inform me that her qigong teacher was getting ready to offer an introductory course in case any of my clients were interested. I immediately followed through and am now in my fifth week of integrating what I am learning from those classes into my daily practice. It was last weekend that I had my first real experience with the energy through qigong.
In Qigong, we learn to fix the attention on the dan tian (a point just behind the navel) and say what is called the “password”, which is:”I am in the Universe. The Universe is in me. The Universe and I are one.” Taoists believe that creation was stirred into being from out of the Void by a thought … (Christianity calls it “the Word”). They see the dan tian as being that place within the body where the Primordial Void resides and thus the intention of the password is to stir the creative energy within us through a high frequency thought – one that will align us with the Tao (what I call Source).
As protocol required, I had found the posture and aligned my intention with the password and gone through the movements slowly and with real focus. I was practicing a movement called “collecting chi” (energy) – working it between my hands in the same way one might roll a volley ball. I was seeing it as a “globe of sun” or pure light. I could feel and visualize it. Suddenly I was looking down into an infinite, bottomless well of light … I knew it was pure consciousness. I was mesmerized and wanted nothing more than to fall into that ball of pure light. I heard myself give encouragement to “Let go … just fall into the Light … go ahead”, but I couldn't do it. I could dip my face into it, but then ego would pull me back into the thinking mind.
It may be as close to experiencing the Void as I've come. When I shared the experience with my Qigong teacher, she responded with, “Oh, you had an experience of the Universe within you!” I think I did.