Primary Predetermination
Attuning your body can help you prepare yourself, your body and your mind, for the art of practical development. This is a fundamental prerequisite for body development and the initiation of alchemical work with the body. To attain this fundamental prerequisite for initiating bodily transformation (shen ti gai zao ji chu), first we have to learn to perceive the body as a multi-level structure. And in order to form internal support, we must develop our ability to perceive everything when working with one, which over time leads to an understanding of the One Body.
In Daoist tradition attuning the body is understood as the art of regulating the external and the internal. This is one of the oldest systems of exercises aimed at maintaining the human body, energy and mind according to the laws of development of The Middle Way.
This practice is very ancient and it is connected with the so-called Peach Forest. The Peach Forest is associated with the medical knowledge of ancient Daoist alchemists and physicians, such as the legendary physicians Hua Tuo (華佗, 140–108 AD) and Dong Feng (东风) who lived during the period of the Three Kingdoms (220–280), as well as Zhang Zhong Jing (张仲景, 150–219).
Attuning the body can help to simultaneously maintain your health, improve your inner strength and prepare you for alchemical work. This practice is based on a combination of internal forces that help open (Kai, 开) and close (He, 合) the body, twist and unwind, stretch and squeeze, strain and relax, divide and connect. A fundamental concept of this practice is the Preservation of the One which is connected to the idea that the movement of energy within the human body follows a set of rules reflecting the concept that all processes in the body are linked to a single source – a place where all bodily energy is collected.
By attuning the body, we can understand it as a certain volume or container made up of various bodily systems. What is more, we do not simply understand this but we learn to feel it. The blood, lymph, tendons, and in time even secretions and cells are perceived as the building material for our body. Energy is no longer something abstract, but instead we are aware of it, and can analyse and structure it.
Over time, practice becomes a tool for developing our state, and it helps transfer the practitioner into a higher level of existence. There comes a time when lifting and lowering, bending and unbending, twisting and unwinding, stretching and squeezing, etc. become actions that involve all bodily systems – which is consistent with their true state and needs.
If we want to achieve natural circulation of energy in the body, our body must be internally as open as possible. This refers to the control of the external and internal volume of the body. The external volume of the body is regulated by the feet, knees, hips, abdomen, chest, shoulders, elbows, hands and head, which act as energy storage containers and valves that can increase or decrease the movement of energy in the body.
The internal volume of the body is regulated by twelve meridians – the meridians of the liver, lungs, heart, stomach, spleen, large and small intestines, bladder, kidneys, pericardium, the triple burner and gall bladder. The internal containers are the source of control over the autonomic muscle-tendon force and the secretory-chemical force.
- Muscular-tendon force. Until control is gained, it represents the concept of Yang power.
- Secretory-chemical force. It is represented as Yin until we gain control, that is, until we have conscious control over the energy in the body and can build energy connections.
When a practitioner reaches the necessary level of energy production inside the body, this leads to a change in the operation of all internal energy carriers. This concept is the key to understanding all Daoist systems and practices based on the idea of attuning the body.
When the practice is seen as a means for maintaining vitality or health, then the internal effort, which can be used in the work with our body, is not important at all. However, if we consider our practice from the perspective of changing ourselves and acquiring additional internal resources, then we must conceptually change the functioning of our body.
To do this, the body must minimize and, if possible, completely prevent the loss of this type of energy that is used for achieving internal transformation and change. This is the jing energy. Jing is produced by the Yin-Yang force, which forms a circulation-retention connection and allows the two internal forces to interact with each other to generate a more complex type of energy.