Qigong Practices: Hugging A Tree &
Seeing Subtle Bodies
By
Elizabeth
Reninger
Trees
play an important role in Taoist practice … They serve,
for one, as a metaphor for the human body, awakening to its
natural state:
~ feet
open and alive, like the roots of a tree, descending and spreading
and drawing life-force/nutrients upward;
~ torso
strong and fluid/radiant at its core, like the trunk of a
tree containing and drawing sap upward, to nourish branches
& leaves;
~ limbs
lengthening, like the branches of a tree;
~ crown
of the head soft & receptive, sense organs purified &
spirit quickened, like the beautiful flowers and luscious
fruits of trees in the spring and summer seasons.
What also
has been discovered ~ through the “research” of
the Masters of the Taoist martial & healing arts, and
many generations of qigong practitioners ~ is that trees are
actually nourished by the “negative” energy of
human beings. So when we practice qigong next to a tree, and
in that practice release energies that are harmful or constricting
to us, the tree (that is our practice partner) absorbs these
energies as though they were, to it, a form of food! The relationship
is, by design, a mutually beneficial one.
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When
you’re cultivating the capacity to see the energy-bodies/auras
of beings, trees are a good place to start … Somehow
their subtle bodies tend to be more visible, at certain times
of the day especially (dawn & dusk) than the subtle bodies
of other life-forms. If you’d like to try this, go out
at dawn or dusk, when the sun has dropped below the horizon,
or hasn’t quite risen, but still there’s plenty
of light in the sky … choose a tree (pine trees are
great for this), and then let your gaze rest very softly upon
it. Let your focus be diffuse, as though you were making a
relaxed effort not only to see the entire tree, but at the
same time to expand your peripheral vision. Or imagine that
somehow you’re able, and are going to look right “through”
the physical form of the tree. What you’ll notice, eventually,
is a golden-white “outline,” which is the subtle
body of your new friend, revealing itself to you.
Taoism
presents us, also, with a whole variety of tree-hugging practices.
And for the same reason that trees’ subtle bodies are
relatively easy to see (because they have ~ at least the healthy
ones ~ a lot of energy!), they also are great hugging partners:
they’ll give you energy, balance your energy, and happily
receive energy from you. And if you don’t have an actual
tree handy, simply imagining the practice is almost as good
… Stand with your feet shoulder-width, and parallel.
Bend your knees just slightly (feeling the backs of the knees
as soft and hollow), allowing your weight to descend fully
into your feet, legs and pelvis. Then float your hands and
elbows up to the level of your heart, palms facing your torso,
creating a circle with your arms, with four or five inches
between the gently extended fingers of your right & left
hands … just as though you were indeed hugging a tree.
And then imagine that you are hugging that tree, and as you
hug the tree you’re also becoming a tree: feel your
roots descending, sap being drawn upward through the center
of your torso, your arms & legs lengthening, your crown
softening to receive sunlight and the energy of the blue sky
from above you, your senses becoming more clear and bright
… Feel yourself blossoming, bearing fruit, becoming
the meeting-place of Heaven & Earth … How wonderful!
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