Illness comes to us all at some time in our lives. There are hundreds of mitigating factors that cause it to appear in our bodies. We can talk about the nerves, the flow of blood and lymph and how to adjust these things and that is part of what good daily circle walking especially with the Double Palm change can do, adjust these things and help them function better. Then we have the other side in which our brain wave patterns are altered by an extended period of circle walking producing a relaxed state of consciousness akin to a light meditative state. In this state many of the body processes are able to re-charge or correct themselves just as they do in meditative practice, but with the added benefit of movement to increase circulation of vital fluids to tissues and organs.
All of these things can help us prevent illness or work towards a cure, but they are not the answer to curing the root cause of the illness in the first place. This is the realm of the psyche and the “spirit” the roles played by the mind and how it affects the body through the brain and especially a part of the brain know as the Limbic System.
The Limbic System is involved with instinctive behavior, deeply held emotional ideas, basic impulses such as sexual arousal, anger, pleasure and survival instincts. It forms a bridge between our centers of higher consciousness and the cerebral cortex and the brain step which regulates the body’s systems one of which is the immune system.
So what does this have to do with healing or illness the spirit or Qigong? The answer is that from the incorporeal mind we influence the corporeal body. Yes this is a dualist approach not a monist view but it is the view of the Li family Xin-fu Dao philosophy.
The Limbic System is the link. It is influenced by what we think, feel and desire, but it goes farther than just saying ok so I think happy thoughts and I can fly like Peter Pan or never get ill, NO not at all! You can think happy thoughts until the stars burn out and if they are not coming from the deeper realms of the spirit self, the inner self that is the root of our being then they are not going to affect the Limbic System or have any influence over the control of our immune system.
Taking western allopathic or chiropractic treatments, doing yoga or meditation or Taijiquan or Baguazhang may have some influence over our predilection to illness, but it will not stop us from getting sick, getting cancer or other life threatening diseases again and again until one of them finally kills us. We can adjust the body and give it herbs and pills and shots, however until the inner mind is right we will get sick over and over again.
What does it mean to have the mind right? That is a question for the ages and the sages. The mind we are aware of, the one we experience the world with, which tells us what we think is reality is not the important one in this situation. The inner mind that harbors all of our real desires and goals is the one that matters here and most of us are not even close to being in touch with it. I am talking about the deeper intelligence that is present at birth, that knows how to make cells form into ears, legs, hearts, muscles and that knows what talents and skills we will have as a child and adult. This inner mind is the one that really matters to the immune system. When as Joseph Campbell has said,”Follow your Bliss” or as Lao Zi says, “find our own true path” then we fulfill what our spirit has come here to accomplish, we find our “Calling” and our inner being is fulfilled and happy. This happens in very few of us as we are so out of touch with our true selves, we wear so many masks to disguise ourselves from our associated, friends, family and ourselves that we have little idea who or what we really are.
That is why the American Indians, the Tibetans and other cultures have talked about vision quests, spirit journeys and other methods of using meditation and special training to find these root causes of our illness and discontent. It might be called rooting out our own personal emotional dis-ease. When this is accomplished and we know our true inner will, illness become less and less frequent and healing becomes truly a process we control. Jiulong Baguazhang and the practices of the Li family concepts can help in this quest but it must become more than just a martial art or physical exercise. There is much more here than meets the first layers of your consciousness.
Copyright 2009 IAM Co.
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