WHAT IS GIVEN ENERGY...

 by Yang Shuangxing

Many years ago, I had a taijiquan student who was also taking reiki classes somewhere in town. One day, she showed up to class complaining of a sore throat. Her husband was a doctor and I asked if he was going to give her medicine for it but she shook her head. “No”, she said, “My reiki teacher told me how to get rid of it.”

Now, I'm the first to admit that I don't know much about reiki (however, I am an acupuncturist)...so I asked just what the teacher had told her to do.”He told me to focus my inner energy (qi) on my throat and 'burn out' the infection”, she told me. I was aghast. This was the exact opposite of what she should do! I tried to dissuade her from following the instructions she'd been given and within two days, she was hospitalized; her throat had become so inflamed that she was having trouble breathing!

What her instructor had told her to do violated a fundamental Universal Law, which states:

“Anything that is given energy grows.

Anything that is denied energy, dies.”

Sounds simple enough, right? But many people often violate this law without being aware of it. When you get sick or injured, where do you keep your mind focused? Usually we focus on the afflicted area. You put your YI (mind, intention) there. And as I've mentioned in earlier articles, the main principle of directing qi is this:

“Where your YI goes, your QI goes.”

So by focusing your mind on the afflicted spot, you are inadvertently directing qi to it. Now, go back and re-read the first principle I mentioned in this article and you'll see how you're violating it. This doesn't mean that your illness or injury – and the accompanying discomfort – won't heal; it likely will...but it'll take longer than it would if you'd starve it of energy.

There are forms of qigong that are used as types of medical therapy and they may involve directing qi to the affected site...but the mental focus isn't on the injury/illness itself. Rather, the yi is focused on the energy itself and manipulating it in a certain way so as to have an effect on the problem area. It's a delicate matter since the energy is being directed to the affliction, but the mental focus is on what is being done with the energy itself...not on the discomfort itself. Such methods must be learned from a qualified teacher and they ARE effective. I know this firsthand; it's the reason I never get a sore throat...