The Tao of Stress: How to Calm, Balance, and Simplify Your Life (19 page)

the tips of your index and second finger gently touching your left ear.

Keeping both hands in contact with your body, turn your head to the left and look over your left shoulder while pul ing your right elbow up and to the back. Then slightly bend to the left. You should feel your right side being stretched from under your armpit down to your waist.

Exhale. Breathing natural y, maintain this position for thirty to sixty seconds. (Depending on how you feel, you can shorten or extend the duration.)

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Return to the posture Wuji Standing, al owing your hands to gently drop down to your sides. Then repeat on the opposite side: As you

inhale, place your right hand on the small of your back, palm facing out to the rear, and your left hand against the back of your head, index and second finger touching your right ear. Look over your right shoulder while pul ing your left elbow up and to the back, then slightly bend to the right and feel the stretch in your left side. Exhale. Breathing natural y, maintain this position for thirty to sixty seconds.

After completing both sides, return to the Wuji Standing posture.

The function of this posture is to stretch and loosen both sides of the torso and the spine. Make sure you practice guan and smile throughout this posture.

A note on the symbolism of this posture: Ancient Chinese warriors

often carried their swords in a sheath or scabbard strapped on their back. In order to draw it, they had to reach over their head with one hand to grasp the handle of the sword and reach behind the lower

back with the other hand to hold the scabbard in place. The Chinese character and tone for the number nine (
jiu
) provides a symbolic description of the stretching and energy directions of this movement.

In Chinese culture, ghosts are believed to live between heaven and earth. The ghost reference in this posture is to the space between the upper hand (heaven) and the lower hand (earth).

Conclusion

I hope the alternative format of the information in this chapter was a pleasant change of pace, and that it was beneficial to your understanding of the Taoist teachings and your application of those teachings in your own life for your own health and well- being. In the next chapter we will explore the third component of the Taoist path to eliminating chronic stress: emptying and stilling the mind.

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Part 4

Stilling and Emptying

Your Mind

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Chapter 9

The Taoist Body- Based

Meditative Core

This chapter explores the nonspecific, nonintentional, and body-

grounded Taoist approach to managing and eliminating chronic stress: the meditative core. In the previous six chapters, you consciously focused on specific areas that Taoists, over the ages, have isolated out as causing and maintaining chronic stress. From a mental perspective, you examined and analyzed how specific factors, such as absolute thoughts and beliefs and excessive or deficient desires and behaviors, contribute to chronic stress.

In Taoism, this intentional, cognitive, rational, and analytical mind-based approach, which is essentially yang in nature, is a necessary first step. You need to be aware that you have a problem with chronic stress in the first place. Having brought the problems of chronic stress to the forefront of your attention, you then took the next step: examining the specific problems that lead to chronic stress and determining what causes them. You then created specific solutions to face and manage these problems to help you eliminate chronic stress and the behaviors associated with it.

Running parallel to this approach, in each chapter you learned

qigong practices, which are essentially yin in nature, to help you still and empty your mind, creating another avenue to eliminating chronic stress.

I asked you to engage in these practices regularly and in a specific sequence, but I didn’t provide a great deal of explanation of these practices. The reason for this is that it’s important for you to first discover uncorrected proof

The Tao of Stress

and experience the benefits of these practices on your own and in your body. The only way to truly understand the body- based approach of the Taoist path is by putting it into practice. Underlying these body- based techniques is the Taoist meditative core— the topic of this chapter.

The Basic Practices of the

Meditative Core

While aspects of the basic practices of the Taoist meditative core were initially presented in ancient Taoist texts such as
Neiye
, suggested in the
Neijing
, alluded to in the
Daodejing
, and expanded upon in the
He
Shanggong
, a commentary on the
Daodejing
, it is really in the
Zhuangzi
that the specific, somewhat distinct types of meditation are first presented. In the
Zhuangzi
, which was written over 2,200 years ago, the four basic types of practice in the meditative core are Breathing from Your Heels, Mind Like a Mirror, Heart and Mind Fasting, and Sitting in

Oblivion or Forgetfulness. The practice of Sitting in Oblivion or

Forgetfulness in the
Zhuangzi
was later expanded upon during the eighth century in the text
Zuowanglun
(
Discussions
on
Sitting
in
Oblivion
or
Forgetfulness
).

A key point to keep in mind is that when you practice the body-

based approaches of the meditative core repeatedly and consistently, threat- based thinking, absolute thoughts, negative thinking, and excessive or deficient desires and behaviors will naturally disappear, since you aren’t specifically focused on them. As a result, chronic stress, which is generated and maintained by these factors, will be eliminated.

For Taoists, both the mind- based approach (yang), which is cogni-

tive, intentional, and consciously focused on the factors that cause and maintain chronic stress, and the body- based approach (yin), which is experiential, nonintentional, and not consciously focused on the factors that cause and maintain chronic stress, are necessary. Yang and yin must be in harmony if you are to experience good health and well- being and, ultimately, cultivate yourself spiritually. To round out and bring balance to your practices for easing chronic stress, in this chapter you’ll learn the four practices that comprise the Taoist meditative core.

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Breathing from Your Heels

Although we’ve discussed deep breathing in previous chapters, the

context in which Breathing from Your Heels as presented in the
Zhuangzi
is somewhat different and more holistic in nature (Guo 1974). It isn’t simply an isolated practice or technique. Rather, it is viewed, like all aspects of Taoism, as part of an integrated and interrelated approach to health, well- being, and spirituality. Breathing from Your Heels is seen as being intertwined with restful sleep, eating in a noninterfering manner, and interacting with others and the world in a way that doesn’t create chronic stress.

Developing an ongoing, consistent practice of Breathing from Your

Heels will result in a deep, penetrating relaxation that empties and stills the mind and releases agitation from both body and mind. As a result, when you lie down to go to sleep, your mind will be free from any expectations, worries, desires, negative thoughts, and threat- based thinking that might interfere with your sleep. Being free from this chronic stress, you will experience deep, uninterrupted, restful sleep. Insofar as your body and mind are free from agitation, you won’t interfere with yourself when you eat; you will simply eat in the here and now. In your interactions with others and the world, you will approach and then engage others and situations without self- imposed restrictions or agitation. You will be fully in the present moment and free of chronic stress.

Breathing from Your Heels is contrasted with breathing from the

throat, which is a shallow, rigid, heaving type of breathing. People who breathe from the throat aren’t anchored, centered, or rooted.

Unfortunately, this tends to be the manner in which most people breathe, and it is typically associated with chronic stress.

People who engage in Breathing from Your Heels are anchored, cen-

tered, and rooted. This way of breathing is slow, deep, smooth, continuous, even, quiet, and soft and based in the diaphragm. Upon inhalation, the diaphragm pulls down, and as a result, the abdomen pushes out.

Upon exhalation, the diaphragm is released and rises up, and as a result, the abdomen retracts. Although I described these basic components of diaphragmatic breathing in chapter 2, Breathing from Your Heels goes further by introducing visualization into process of deep breathing.

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Practice Breathing from Your Heels

Breathing from Your Heels can be practiced sitting (on the ground

or in a chair), standing, or lying. If you’re sitting or standing, maintain the proper body posture you’ve learned in this book, with your head being gently pulled up, your shoulders relaxed and down, and

your back straight but not rigid, as in the Sitting in Stil ness and Wuji Standing postures. If you’re lying down, lie on your back with your body similarly aligned. Be sure to smile and apply guan throughout this practice.

Using deep or diaphragmatic breathing, slowly and gently inhale

through your nose. As you do so, visualize your breath being slowly and gently pulled down the center of your body through your diaphragm, and then being slowly and gently pushed down through

your abdomen, pelvis, and both legs until it reaches the bottom of your feet, particularly your heels. Pause for a moment, then begin to exhale through your nose by relaxing your diaphragm and visualizing your breath slowly and gently rising up from your heels through your legs, into your pelvis and abdomen, and up through your diaphragm, and then continuing to rise through the center of your body and exiting through your nose. Repeat nine more times, for a total of ten repetitions.

For maximum benefit, practice Breathing from Your Heels consis-

tently and regularly. While doing so, extend your awareness to what you experience while engaged in this practice. Note how you feel

during and after the ten repetitions. You may wish to write about this in your journal.

Mind Like a Mirror

Find a mirror, stand in front it, and look into it. What you see, aside from the part of the room that’s in front of the mirror, is your reflection. Now step away from the mirror, look at it from the side, and note what you see and don’t see.

You’ll see a different part of the room, and you won’t see yourself.

The mirror doesn’t hold on to your reflection. It doesn’t store it or
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constantly replay it. Once you are no longer in front of the mirror, you won’t be reflected.

Essentially the mirror is still and empty until something or someone is presented before it. It then becomes filled. When the object or person is removed, the mirror returns to its natural stillness and emptiness. The mirror doesn’t hold on to anything. It doesn’t get entangled with what it reflects. It simply engages and reflects. Because the mirror is naturally still and empty, it doesn’t interfere with itself or the objects or people presented before it. It doesn’t judge what it reflects. It simply engages and reflects.

In Taoism, we aim to be like the mirror. When the world presents

itself, we engage. We respond to it but don’t get entangled with it. We know what we cannot resolve, we accept this, and we are at peace with it. We accept what we cannot avoid, without whining about it, and we deal with it. We don’t dwell on or hold on to any of it. When we don’t dwell on or hold on to such things, we cannot interfere with ourselves or others. We simply use the mind like a mirror and are empty (Guo 1974).

Using your mind like a mirror is, in essence, the basis for practicing both wuwei (not interfering with yourself or others) and wushi (not getting entangled in the activities of the world). To the extent that you have stilled chronic threat- based thinking, negative thinking, problematic absolute thoughts and beliefs, and excessive or deficient desires and behaviors, your mind will be empty like a mirror. When something presents itself to you, you will engage, reflect, and address whatever appears without any self- generated interference. Then you’ll continue your journey without dwelling on or holding on to anything. In this way, chronic stress dissolves.

Practice Mind Like a Mirror

The next time you interact with someone, try to visualize your mind as a mirror. Apply guan, smile, and simply try to reflect whatever is presented to you. Present to others whatever you wish to present to them, but do so in a manner that isn’t harmful to them. In other words, use positive, neutral, or constructive statements. If you wish to engage in constructive criticism, that’s perfectly fine. However, if the other person doesn’t listen to you or starts to disagree and gets negative
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toward you, don’t push it. Stop and move on to something else, or

simply say good- bye and leave.

If the other person ignores what you’re saying or displays negativity toward you, verbal or nonverbal, the situation will be challenging because your immediate perception will be that the other person’s

behavior presents a threat. This threat will probably set off the fight-or- flight response, and you may find yourself swimming in a sea of unwanted stress. This is why it’s important to not dwell on or hold on to the person’s negativity, not push the issue, and not get into a heated argument. Rather, simply stop the encounter by moving on