Qi in abundance

My proposition is that Qi is in abundance so therefore cannot be deficient.The term ‘Qi deficiency’ is a paradox.

But Qi can be restricted, stagnated or misdirected.

I believe that the term Qi Deficiency is misleading both to TCM practitioners, patients and Qi Gong practitioners.

I prefer to use the term Qi Xu (For which there is no direct singular translation)

It is similar to the Taoist analogy of a river (Like all analogies, not perfect!) If the river was flowing restrictively, or stagnating as in an ‘Eddy’, or blocked and misdirected, you would not say the river was deficient.

So when practitioners feel a ‘deficient Qi’ pulse we are making a comparison using all our other diagnostic skills of the patient, and our experience of treating other patients.

But we are, in fact diagnosing an imbalance in a organ, substance or meridian.

We then chose the most appropriate treatment to deal with the imbalance

A diagnosis of Qi deficiency is in fact a label, using Qi only as a gauge to understand where the underlying problems are.

Back to my earlier analogy… J If our river has formed an ‘Eddy’ which was stagnating and causing problems, the correct treatment would be to clear the obstruction that was causing this. (The underlying problem)

We would not say the river was deficient, or try and move the water without moving the obstruction..

So the label ‘Qi Deficiency’ is a sign post to a: Stagnation, restriction, blockage, misunderstanding, avoidance any in-balance of a organ, emotion, substance, meridian.

We then chose the appropriate treatment plan to deal with the underlying problem.

When dealt with the Qi will ‘flow’ appropriately.

The treatment could be acupuncture, herbs, talking therapy or a mixture of all.

The deficiency in the ‘flow’ of Qi could result from, for instance a loss of blood, the skill of a practitioner is to understand what caused the loss of blood, .that understanding would help in the diagnoses and treatment of the problem.

That understanding would assist in the treatment of the underlying condition to aid the patient speedy recovery.

Three Stages

There is a saying in Zen Buddhism that when one is young one ‘Sees the mountain’, that when one grows to maturity one ‘loses sight of the mountain’ and later on, one ‘sees the mountain again’.

Taoists explain it as three stages; when we are born or young we see things innocently. We have to be, and are very trusting and open.

But then as we grow out of that innocent stage we become programmed, we learn to ‘protect’ ourselves put up barriers and defence mechanisms as we react to life experiences and/or poor teaching and acculturation.

Our Ego is in the ascendancy and we lose our innocence finding ourselves to be lost.

We then begin to seek the correct way; through this search, in time, we regain our innocence.

The new innocence however, is no longer the unconscious innocence of a new born; it is the ‘conscious innocence’ that we practice by keeping ourselves un-programmed in thought, open in heart, and aware.

Eventually, this innocence even becomes so established as a habit of the mind that it once more becomes an unconscious innocence.

Almost like a play with three acts: Act 1 we have our innocent beginning. Act 2 we lose ourselves in misunderstanding, mis-education and Ego. Act 3 we again experience the joy of finding and understanding a universal truth and ourselves it’s like meeting a long, lost love.

The purpose of this drama is that we begin to understand that life is a learning place, where mistakes and misunderstanding are an absolutely necessary and important process to our personal learning.

But unlike school where we move to another class at the end of the year, regardless of what we have learned. In the universal school we remain in the same class as the universe repeats the lesions in different forms until we have learnt and understood.

You are part of nature

   I read this somewhere, and really loved it…. Sorry I can’t give you the reference.

You are part of nature and nature is part of you.
Do not try to live as if you are separate.
You are not.
You are part of your family.
You are part of your landscape.
You are part of the seasons.
You are both heaven and earth.

In their turning,
In their sequence,
Is your pattern.

Do not go against the flow of life.
The joys of summer give way to the chill of winter.
But both are necessary.
The solidity of earth enables you to reach up to heaven.
One without the other makes no sense.

If you are hard, hard things will befall you.
If you are soft, you can bend and survive,
If you compete, the world will take you on.
If you are able to be content,
The world will roll on with you.

Be known for what you are,
And make your actions signposts that reveal this.
Flow like water round obstacles.
Do not batter your head against a brick wall.
Flow under it and when it collapses, you will be long gone.

Act as if you were part of the pattern of the seasons, of the pattern of day and night.
Be natural, be in nature and allow nature to be in you.

Ego Fears

20 steps of the Ego Fear Programme.

(The purpose of this work is to try and understand and clarify how the Ego works to unbalance us and how, unchecked or controlled can negatively effect our lives. Some of the characteristics and tactics the Ego employs are confusion and complication. So the following programme has to be read slowly and clearly to clarify those characteristics. But when the programme activated, the process could be completed in a ‘blink of an eye‘! )

1. The perceived fear is so ‘great’ (Scary/frightening/disabillitating) you believe that, almost in a child-like way, it is too big and powerful to be handled and you cannot beat or control it. (Very much like being bullied)
2. That makes you feel: inadequate/worthless/weak or powerless/scared/childish/rejected and not special. In fact a innocent ‘victim’
3. You do not want others to be aware of this, you also deny these difficult and painful feelings to yourself, even though you have a deep inner sense of acting, or being inauthentic and disharmonious.
4. So the Ego’s solution that you adopt is to react in a way you ‘can’ control, it encourages you to avoid the confrontation with the fear. Which also seems attractive to you because it feels easier, safer, none confrontational, more secure and reassuring.
5. But the avoidance usually involves self-harming in some way or other and/or inauthentic behaviour. But it does allow you to feel in momentary control of the situation, and at ‘that’ time seems preferential to addressing or confronting the original fear.
6. And, because its self inflicted, you can control the reaction to the self-harming. Sometimes the self-harming will even give you a feeling of release or victory, which can feel good. You can also display all the strength, worthiness, power, stubbornness you believe to be lacking in yourself, in a false sense of Ego bravado to yourself and others.
7. The Ego will also give you plenty of valid justifications to support your harming/inauthentic decisions and behaviour, such as: I don’t like confrontations, arguments never solve anything, I don’t want my anger to get out of control, I can’t cope, I don’t care, it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to hurt or upset anyone. I’m not strong enough at the moment to deal with this. I always lose the argument. I’m lazy. I’m not a good person. Maybe it’s my imagination. Want to be or feel special. I want the world to be ‘nice’. I want everyone to be happy. It’s my job/responsibility to sort everyone else out. The other person/situation is ‘stupid’. It’s not my fault, it’s everybody else Etc. etc.
8. Your Ego perception and the illusion it creates is that as well as avoiding the fearful situation, your actions proves to everyone just how strong, determined and stubborn you really are. Further more, no one can stop you. The more they try, the more entrenched, stubborn and special you feel. Plus the only one that may get hurt is you, and it’s OK to hurt you at this point because you’re in control of that!
9. It also seems worth suffering the pain/discomfort or negative effect of the self-harming/inauthentic behaviour, for the feeling of being special and in momentary control sometimes even a feeling of invincibility and the centre of attention. Plus, of course at this point you still think you are avoiding the original fear. (which can make you feel very ‘special’, superior and clever)
10. Which in turn perversely makes you feel even stronger (because of your Ego illusion), more stubborn, righteous and the momentary control, that no one can stop or interfere with, feels good, which, helps to reinforce your Ego negative actions and the feeling of being ‘special’, elevated, clever and different.
11. Unfortunately these actions then have the opportunity to become habitual and part of your normal, natural, everyday, unchallenged behaviour. Almost like a drug taker, slowly becoming addicted.
12. When, eventually the hopelessness of your self-harming/inauthentic action becomes evident. You become aware that the whole of your being is suffering: Physically, emotionally and spiritually.
13. The Ego has ‘done its work‘, and takes no responsibility for this, offers no other solutions and deserts you. Sometimes, in a ‘Catch 22’ way, it will even blame you. (Stops you from doing something, then blames you for not doing it! A typical Ego trick! ) Then you feel trapped, stuck, confused, empty and alone. Once again worthless/weak/powerless and child-like. Not at all special!
14. In fact you begin to feel even worse than before, because you are now disconnected and disharmonious with yourself and the Cosmos. And you have to admit that your plan of avoidance has failed.
15. But because the fear is now so great in fact, without you realising because you have been caught up in your own Ego’s illusion and trickery, it has now increased to become the ‘feeling of the fear’. You seem to have no other choice than to return to number two on the programme, and go through the sequence again and again, increasing the habit and fear. In a kind of a Pavlov Dog effect.
16. The ‘feeling of the fear’ now takes over, which is far greater than the original fear. Could be sweating, butterflies in the Stomach, dry mouth, palpitations, panic attacks, high temperature, feeling or being sick, sweaty palms, tired, ‘switching off’, feeling or being ill, no energy etc. Basically a very bad anxiety state. (The Ego may even blame you for feeling like this!). Making you feel even weaker, if that’s possible!
17. This strengthens the negative loop, which also continues strengthening the habitual nature of the programme, confirming the negative Ego feelings and perceptions about you, and your abilities. Also increasing the negative power and intensity of all you’re perceived fears, by now grouping them all together under the general banner of ‘fear’.
18. By now you have lost the plot, sometimes even forgetting what the original fear was. The negative and harmful perception of fear and how you deal with it is even greater, than original fear.
19. Presenting you with a perceived impossible scenario, which your authentic self recognises, but it seems impossible for it to break.
20. This is because of the habitual nature of the negative behaviour and the inauthentic/Ego actions and thinking are so ‘normal’. They have now been cloned into your authentic self and are ‘set’ and adopted as your normal and natural ‘way’ of dealing with fearful situations.

It is difficult for you to identify where the Authentic self and Ego start and stop…… you cannot see a way out.

The misunderstanding of the Tao needed to run this programme:

1. Not confronting every situation in a balance even way (Wu Wei)
2. You are not special, apart, (elevated), but you are unique.
3. Control the things you can control, let go of those you can’t. (attachment)
4. Do not be judgmental, against yourself and others. (Which you can only do from an ‘special’ elevated position)

The actions you need to consider for correcting the misunderstanding and preventing the programme from running:

1. Understand and ‘own’ the above programme. (you may need to make adjustments in the programme to suite your uniqueness)
2. Understand the ‘rules’ involved and your misunderstanding of them.
3. Find the original fear, (See through the feeling of the fear)
4. Stand up to the original fear by using the three ‘No’ technique. (Standing up to your bully –‘the power of three’)
5. Stand up to each fear, in the same way, one by one (usually no more than three).
   Adopt a maintenance programme (Yoga, Meditation, Acupuncture, Qi Gong, and Tai chi) to deal with the remaining habit.