Practical lessons - First week

The Taoists believed that the excess potential of the internal organs, muscles, tendons, blood and vital energy (qi) could be stored in the external parts of the body. The relationship between internal and external organs has been carefully studied and proven by Taoist masters. Much of this heritage is gradually becoming known today.

Hair breathing part 1

Until recently, the West had no idea about the method by which excess energy is returned to the human body. I first learned about it in 1983, when I was studying a set of eleven qigong or “five fingers kung fu” exercises. About three years ago I read a book published in Hong Kong. It contained descriptions of the “five finger kung fu” exercises and a list indicating the correspondence of one organ to another. However, the book did not provide recommendations for returning excess energy to the body. In other words, there was no key to understanding and practical application of this technique. However, this problem arises when reading most books devoted to Taoist practices and qigong. As a rule, texts lack small but extremely important details. If you practice on your own, and not under the guidance of an experienced Taoist master, then you will waste your time mastering “external” movements, the benefits of which, without understanding the deep essence of the exercises, are very doubtful.

I decided not to include the Five Fingers Kung Fu routine in the book because I think it is too difficult for beginners. It will be enough to introduce you to the hair breathing exercises. They will help you achieve the desired result and teach you how to extract and accumulate excess energy.
The initial theoretical premise is the Taoist belief that hair is an external storage of excess internal energy. As a rule, this energy is irretrievably lost for two reasons: firstly, people are not aware of its existence, and secondly, they do not know how to use it.

Once the relationship between internal and external organs is established, it becomes possible to return excess energy to the body and subsequently transform it into useful energy (qi). If you have learned to feel your hair, you will be able to feel its energetic saturation. The hair literally radiates energy. Therefore, by absorbing this energy into yourself, you will increase your physical potential. Further in the text I will use the term “energy” to refer to “qi” (“ki”), and I will call “qigong” “energy exercises”. This is done to facilitate the reader's understanding of the material. Don't forget that "energy" and "qi" are identical.

In the lessons that I will teach you, you will learn how to work with hair on different parts of the body. First of all, we will talk about the hair on the head. They are considered a by-product of the circulatory system and correspond to the heart. As you already know, there is a correspondence between internal and external organs. Knowing that hair corresponds to the heart, you can compile the following table, which will be necessary when studying the exercises of the “third treasure” Shen.

When excess energy is returned to the body, the initial point of absorption is the mouth, where it is mixed with saliva and swallowed. At the second stage of training, in the section devoted to the “midline of the inner smile,” it was explained how to stimulate salivation. I remind you that to do this you should make circular movements with your tongue in the space between your lips and teeth. You already know that the tongue is the “external outlet” of the heart, and the mouth is the spleen. For a better understanding of the exercise, I’ll tell you about one more correspondence. All of the "external orifices" of the five major internal organs are located and interact with each other in the mouth and tongue. Thus, by absorbing the excess energy of the hair on the head, mixing it with saliva and swallowing it, we strengthen all the internal organs. So, let's start mastering the exercises.