Month: February 2025

The Power of Chi: Meditation and Tai Chi Benefits

Although Liao devotes a lot of time talking about threats to our Chi, in the end he focuses on ways to build our Chi back up, arguing that 

Learning to strengthen and protect your Chi will help you survive the ups and downs of life and regain balance and harmony. Remember that Chi is spelled C–H–I: Center, Harmony, and Infinity.

His warning that we need to focus on personal energy instead of thinking about world affairs seems strangely appropriate right now:

Start the journey back to your true self by subduing your thinking about world affairs. Instead, pay great attention to your feeling. When you find your mind wandering outside on problems of the day, or artificial notions, stop. Instead, refocus your awareness to the sensation of your own body and the feeling of life within it. Don’t just “think” about concepts you have about your body and life energy, really “feel” the actual sensation of it, here and now. By repeating this process many times, you will finally learn to separate what is artificial and what is the real feeling of you. This will help train you not only in telling the difference between the two, but help in strengthening your mind’s ability to detach from what’s artificial and choose what is real instead.

Liao also warns that conforming to others’ expectations weakens your Chi, echoing Thoreau and Watts’ views on the importance of Individualism and Non-Conformity:

When you consistently choose to live your life and make choices based on what others will think of you, that is slavery. When those choices override your gut feelings and what is best for your health and peace of mind, that is slavery.

I don’t think I’ve ever thought of Chi in quite this way.  I’ve always thought of it like a form of energy, not my essence.  

Liao explains the importance of strengthening your Chi and ways that you can do that: 

Strengthening your Chi has two components: one is to increase its quality, meaning the intensity of your Chi feeling, and the other is to increase the quantity, meaning the size or volume of your Chi (hence also the feeling of your Chi). The pure dedication of your mind can increase the intensity of your Chi and hence your ability to feel it.

Liao seems to suggest that meditation is necessary to increase the intensity of your Chi, that combining meditation, and Tai Chi makes it easier/possible to feel Chi. Some of the meditations I’ve tried that visualize energy flowing through your body do make it seem like there is Chi, or, at least, energy flowing through your body, through your hands.  

 Liao argues that by combining Tai Chi and meditation you can increase your Chi, and, ultimately, your well-being.  

Under intense meditative Tao-gong work, Chi can be refined through “flow movement” to become very pure and strong. It can also be transformed into an even higher form of energy that can serve as the fuel for spiritual development.

 Apparently “Tao-gong work” is a phrase used by Master Liao to promote his classes and books and doesn’t seem to be  used elsewhere, which makes this claim a little suspect.  However, there does seem to be some scientific evidence that practicing Taoist forms of meditation can have a positive effect.  Chat GPT concludes:  

While traditional Taoist concepts like Qi are not fully understood in Western science, many Taoist meditation practices align with proven physiological and neurological benefits. The breath control, mindfulness, and movement elements of Taoist meditation have been scientifically validated for their positive effects on mental and physical health.

Tai Chi is usually sold to Westerners as a way to gain better balance and core strength, and that’s been true to my experience after doing Tai Chi for seventeen years.  However, once I learned the form and didn’t have to think too much about what I was doing, I found that my heart rate actually dropped below my normal level while I was just sitting around.  When I took my blood pressure after Tai Chi and before starting to lift weights, it was almost invariably lower than it was while I was sitting on the couch at home watching television.  Until my recent bout with Rheumatoid Arthritis, my HRV was higher than most fifty year olds.  

I tend to ascribe my physical health mainly to the fact that I exercise a lot, at least for someone my age, but I think my meditation has done more to improve my mental health. 

Balancing Thought and Chi in Meditation

When you’ve been practicing Tai Chi for 15 years you hear a lot about Chi. After all, Tai Chi means “supreme ultimate,” and one of its main goals is to increase the student’s Chi. Just hearing the same definitions repeatedly, though, doesn’t really help you to understand precisely what Chi is. In an attempt to get a better understanding of Chi, I decided to read Chi: Discovering Your Life Energy by Waysun Liao.  

I’ll have to confess that the book is probably over my head, and I question some of the ideas Liao puts forward, particularly this one:

The smarter you are, which is artificially gauged by others who have also lost their true identities, the more artificial you are, and the less natural you are. This indicates even further damage to the quality and integrity of your life energy, Chi.

I don’t know whether to take that personally or not, but it strikes me as an overgeneralization.  It is, however, consistent with his contention that (too much?) thinking makes it difficult, if not impossible, to feel your Chi. 

Practicing Tai Chi often leads you to the same conclusion. In Tai Chi there is no thinking, there is doing.  Nothing will make you lose flow quicker than thinking, either about the next element in the practice or wondering if you left the stove on when you left home.  

Of course, that’s not unique to Tai Chi; it seems to be true in most sports.  Thinking may help in practice, but nothing will make you more likely to miss a basket than thinking, “I’ve got to make this basket.”  I would even go so far as to say that the same is true in Combat, where your reactions must be automatic if you’re going to survive.  

Liao argues when a child is taught to think they begin to lose touch with their Chi: 

Learning to choose whether to act or not act on the basis of thought versus spontaneous feeling will necessarily cause the child to split herself and her mind from her original life energy. Over time, this split grows until it is permanent.

…

The price tag for this split from your life energy is very high. The day you learn to think about how to respond to an outside action, your mind activities begin to burn up your life energy. It is the beginning of the hidden assault and damage to your Chi, and the main cause of its decline. Declining and withering Chi acts like a burning candle in a gusty wind, destined to finally evaporate and vanish.

Now, I’m not sure what “spontaneous feeling” is exactly, but I can imagine situations where it could exacerbate a situation rather than solve it.  I still think Thumper’s mother’s advice (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all”) is good advice in many situations (though, I’ll have to admit, I don’t always follow that advice).  

It is, however, hard to argue with Liao’s contention that overthinking can drain our Chi.

When we mistakenly overextend our mind until it exhausts itself and detaches from our life energy, it is like the rubber band that has been stretched beyond its limit. A man with weak life energy from the overextension of his mind, or a man whose mind is detached from his life energy, is like an overstretched or broken rubber band. A man whose mind has lost its natural ability to reconnect to its feeling of life energy is a man in illness, a man who has lost his true nature, a man who will decline even unto death.

Overthinking a problem can certainly make it worse rather than helping to solve it. Anybody who has meditated knows that the mind is constantly churning out thoughts that may or may not be relevant to the immediate situation. Constantly worrying about all our problems is exhausting. 

It seems to me that both of these skills are necessary to live well. Chi emphasizes being in tune with natural rhythms and bodily awareness, often advocating intuition, mindfulness, and non-resistance while thinking in the analytical Western sense often emphasizes control, logic, and structured reasoning. Rather than a strict opposition, these ideas can complement each other. Practices like meditation, qigong, and tai chi encourage a balance between thought and energy flow, showing that thinking can be integrated into a holistic system rather than being in conflict with chi. Clear, focused thinking (without excessive worry) might actually help direct chi more effectively.

Embracing Simplicity: Thoreau Meets Taoism

In my previous blog entry I pointed out four themes where ChatGPT said Thoreau and Taoist ideals aligned closely.  The first of these was Harmony with Nature, which I discussed yesterday.  I suspect that being in Harmony with Nature leads directly to the second theme: Simplicity and Wu Wei.  

Every morning is a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and innocence, with Nature herself. While I enjoy the friendship of the seasons nothing can make life a burden to me. The gentle rain which waters my beans and keeps me in the house today is not drear and melancholy, but good for me too. Nothing can compel a simple and brave man to a vulgar sadness.  If all were to live as simply as then I did, thieving and robbery would be unknown.  These take place in communities where some have got more than is sufficient while others have not enough. I will not plant beans and corn with so much industry another summer, but such seeds as sincerity, truth, simplicity, faith, innocence.

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One of the closest parallels between the Tao Te Ching and Thoreau is in this passage. Although there are various translations of the Three Treasures, the three most common are simplicity, humility and compassion. A simple, calm and open existence can bring personal peace, and influence others to find peace for themselves. The closer Thoreau comes to the simplicity of Nature, the more he takes possession of the truly free gifts of this world. Others are attracted to this, though they may not even know it; they align themselves to this energy unconsciously, as leaves turn to the sun.

It seems that nothing is free today, but few things come cheaper than communing with Nature if you are content with simple pleasures. If it’s too cold to venture out, I can still enjoy watching the Juncos eating the seeds found in our backyard or watching them splash in the bird bath I’ve recently thawed by pouring boiling water on the ice.  If the weather cooperates, there’s nothing I enjoy more than a walk across the street in Pt. Defiance Park or birding the four miles at Theler Wetlands.

It would be nice to think that a love of Nature might free us from our love of Things, but, sitting here at my computer listening to Kumoso, surrounded by electronic toys, it’s pretty clear that that’s not true. At best, getting out in Nature reminds us that we don’t really need all those things to be content.  

A Thoreau notes:  

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone. Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only. Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul. It is life near the bone where it is sweetest.

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Life near the bone is a wonderful starting point for the Seeker.  Focus on what is important: it exposes the trivial for what it is, laying bare what is most meaningful and deserves attention and energy.

These quotes remind me of Emerson’s lines in his poem  “Ode Inscribed to W. H. Channing” which states that “Things are in the saddle and ride mankind.” I’ll have to admit that those lines made a big impression on me when I first read them in college and is one of the few quotes  that I still remember from all those poems I read.  I’m sure it’s those lines that prompted me to tell several people that it’s better to not want something than it is to own it. Now if I could just live my life by that motto.

Anyone who lives simply in Nature is going  to reflect the third theme: Individualism and Non-Conformity.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music that he hears, however measured or far away. It is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple-tree or an oak. Shall he turn his spring into summer? Do not seek so anxiously to be developed, to subject yourself to many influences, to be played on; it is all dissipation. Humility, like darkness, reveals the heavenly lights.

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The drumbeat is not only the “far away” of unique behavior, but also the “measured” beat of those who like to follow the rules, and the rhythm of everything in between.  Thoreau wants everyone listening to their own music, and not to feel coerced to follow another’s.  Chuang-tzu said it like this: He goes his way without relying on others and does not pride himself on walking alone. While he does not follow the crowd, he won’t complain of those who do. Nature develops at the pace appropriate for it; seasons follow seasons as they should.  A settled person, within a settled society, grows at the speed most fitting for his or her nature.  It is wrong to want spring to be summer because “rushing into action, you fail. Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe.” Listen to the beat, be humble in following it, and gain a chance to walk with the divine.

Having taught high school for thirty years, I’m all too aware of the pressures to conform and the consequences if you don’t. I’m also aware of the unhappiness that can follow if you don’t trust your own instincts.  We are all products of our society, and it’s hard to resist those pressuring us to conform.  Experience tells me, though, that [generally] those who learn to listen to their inner selves end up happier than those who deny those feelings in order to conform. 

It’s a little harder to find a direct quote from Thoreau that illustrates the fourth theme, Mystical Reflection, but Thoreau seems to be following Emerson’s suggestion on how to connect to the Over-soul. Emerson suggests moments of solitude and self-reflection to connect with the Over-soul. He believes that in quiet moments, free from distractions and societal expectations, one can hear the divine voice within.

I learned this, at least, from my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

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The greatest power, the one that lasts, is harmony.  Struggle isn’t struggle because it is necessary; problems are not problems but training for success.  The Seeker can eliminate worry and doubt by beginning to realize: Because he believes in himself, he doesn’t try to convince others. Because he is content with himself, he doesn’t need others’ approval. Because he accepts himself, the whole world accepts him. This is the simplicity that Thoreau sought.  Following the Tao means living the freedom of its laws: creativity, conservation, recharging, endless strength and durability.  Thus, the Seeker becomes the Sage by sinking into the power that has always been there, by becoming the Tao and acting as one with the laws of the universe.

Thoreau’s emphasis on simplicity and living in harmony with nature aligns closely with Taoist ideals, particularly the Three Treasures of simplicity, humility, and compassion.  By embracing simplicity and non-conformity, individuals can find inner peace and connect with the natural world, leading to a deeper understanding of themselves and the universe.  Ultimately, alignment with the Tao makes it possible for seekers to become sages, embodying the freedom and harmony inherent in the universe’s laws.

Thoreau and Taoism: Finding Harmony in Nature

While browsing through my Kindle books on Taoism, Chi, and Yin and Yang I saw an advertisement for Mark Bozeman’s Tao of Thoreau.  I hadn’t thought about Emerson or Thoreau for a long time, but when I reflected on the title I could see some parallels between Transcendentalism and Taoism.  So I added another book to my ridiculously long reading list.  

If I was more ambitious, I would probably reread Thoreau’s Walden and Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching and extract my own parallels, but at 83 I’m getting lazy so I settled for reading Mark Bozeman’s Tao of Thoreau which lists quotations from Walden Pond and follows them with similar quotations (or Bozeman’s interpretation) from the Tao Te Ching and other notable Taoist works.  

I’ll have to admit that I was a little ambivalent about the book when I started reading it. At times Bozeman seemed to be stretching to show parallels between Taoist ideas and Thoreau’s ideas that might not exist. 

So, I decided to get a second opinion, and a quick online search showed that Emerson, Thoreau’s mentor, had been exposed to Taoist philosophy, if not directly at least indirectly. It’s hard to believe that if Emerson had been exposed to Taoist thinking that he hadn’t at least discussed their ideas with Thoreau.

ChatGPT was ambivalent about whether Thoreau ever studied texts but it does point out a number of parallels.  

While there is no definitive proof that Thoreau directly studied Taoist texts, the intellectual milieu of transcendentalism and his engagement with Asian philosophies likely brought him into contact with Taoist ideas. His writing demonstrates a profound alignment with core Taoist themes, suggesting at least an indirect familiarity or parallel philosophical development.

Even if Thoreau wasn’t directly familiar with Taoism, his ideas align closely with Taoist principles:

• Harmony with Nature: Thoreau’s love for nature and belief in living in harmony with it is strongly reminiscent of Taoist reverence for the natural world and its cycles.

• Simplicity and Wu Wei: Thoreau’s advocacy for simple living and his withdrawal to Walden Pond echo the Taoist ideal of wu wei (effortless action) and a life free of unnecessary complication.

• Individualism and Non-Conformity: His resistance to societal norms and emphasis on individual intuition resonate with Taoist ideas about following the natural way (Tao) rather than rigid human constructs.

• Mystical Reflection: Thoreau’s contemplative writing about the ineffable qualities of nature parallels the Taoist view that the Tao is beyond words and conceptualization.

Reassured that critics do see parallels between Thoreau’s ideas and Taoist ideas, I began to look for the parallel ideas that Bozeman saw that most resonated with me. Here’s one of my favorites:

No weather interfered with my walks. I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech tree, or a yellow-birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines. Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mold myself? There is nothing inorganic. The earth is living poetry like the leaves of a tree, which precede flowers and fruit, a living earth. Melt your metals and cast them in the most beautiful molds you can; they will never excite me like the forms which this molten earth flows out into. Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

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Seeing the world this way is like seeing the Tao in all things, and beginning to understand the proper order: Man follows the laws of earth; Earth follows the laws of heaven; Heaven follows the laws of Tao; Tao follows the laws of its intrinsic nature. Thus, following the Tao means following the primal force.  The Seeker becoming attuned to the Tao is attached to the greatest power there is.

I’m certainly not claiming to be One with Nature, to be directly in touch with the Over-Soul, or to be totally attuned to the Tao, but I strive to be.  I may focus on birds in Nature in my blog, but by paying attention to birds you are also paying attention to the birds’ habitat, your habitat.  You are as much a part of this space as the birds are.

For better or worse, I’ve lived my life as a city-boy, but that desire to be one with nature goes back as far as I can remember — long before I could read.  Judging from this quote from a 2002 blog entry I wrote, it has stayed with me all the time — if not quite consciously.  Here’s a quote I pulled from Emerson’s essay “The American Scholar:”

Most of all the American Scholar, though, will find himself through Nature:

He shall see, that nature is the opposite of the soul, answering to it part for part. One is seal, and one is print. Its beauty is the beauty of his own mind. Its laws are the laws of his own mind. Nature then becomes to him the measure of his attainments. So much of nature as he is ignorant of, so much of his own mind does he not yet possess. And, in fine, the ancient precept, “Know thyself,” and the modern precept, “Study nature,” become at last one maxim.