Opening and Stabilizing the Central Channel
Michael Robbins, , (617) 623 0024
The goal of this class is to teach you a safe and easy method to open and stabilize the energies in the Central Channel. This channel runs from our perineum to the top of our head and extends both into the earth and into the area above our heads. As we open this energy we start to balance the fundamental dynamic of Stillness and Movement in our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual life. Over time this allows us to integrate the Timeless, Emptiness of Agenda-less Presence with the unique and particular movements of our lives in Time and Space.
The Taoists believe that to stabilize this flow of awareness from the pure Consciousness of Being Itself (Stillness) into the expression of Being in life (Movement) we have to build an energetic container that carries the electricity of Being without fixations, body armor or blockages. These areas of stuck energy exist in our physical bodies as well as the subtle energetic field of energy around our bodies and are the result of dis-regulating impressions and experiences, trauma - both physical and emotional, as well as poor eating or lifestyle habits.
To accomplish this free flow of energy in the Central Channel, we begin by learning a how to breathe into our belly (Dan Tien breathing, or Six Sided breathing). This leads into a “full body” breathing or “chi breathing”. From here we will learn Standing Meditation and practice the subtle alignments that allow us to stand effortlessly for progressively longer periods of time and some simple and powerful moving meditations. All of this will prepare our body/mind to safely begin to open the Central Channel.
The Big Picture
Let us now back up to look at the Big Picture. The Taoists, were scientists as well as mystics, and began their exploration of human potential by observing the human energy system and the exchange of energy between the human beings and their environment with great precision. The map of spiritual development that they uncovered describes an energetic system that is composed of layers of density that move from the most dense layer of the physical body, to more and more rarified and subtle layers, until it reaches a realm which they called the Wu Chi. The Wu Chi is the Unified field of energy prior to Yin and Yang, prior to our personal histories and the structures that we have developed in response to the impressions of our lives, and prior to the myriad forms of life, which poetically is often described as the “Ten Thousand Things”. This is the “face before we were born”. When all of these layers of awareness and experience are integrated and coherent, a Consciousness is awakened that knits together the deep Stillness and Peace of the Formless, Wordless, Realization of Unity with the particularities of a specific life and the unique contributions that each person has to make to human evolution. When this flow of energy and Consciousness is open at every level a human being becomes “one with the Tao” and lives in deep harmony with all of the forces of nature. This is the same as what many people have called “non-dual awareness”, where the energies of the Formless, prior to personal structure and history, flow seamlessly and effortlessly into Form and expression.
This is a great philosophy, but practically, how do we accomplish this?
The Taoist answer to this question is very practical. Different Masters have different curriculums, but they all start by cultivating and balancing the energies in the human body and then progressively integrating this energy with higher and higher levels of subtle energy that correspond to greater degrees of Realization.
In my years of practice and study, I have discovered that all of the Taoist masters that I studied with, work to balance three levels of energy in the human energy system, the flows of energy between them, and the flows of between each level and the environment, which includes both nature and other human beings.
Now lets go deeper into the three levels. The Taoists call these three levels “Jing”, “Qi” and “Shen”, which loosely translate as Physical Vitality, Emotional Connectedness, and Spiritual Presence. They correspond to three Dan Tiens or cauldrons of energy in the body: the Belly, the Chest, and the Head. What follows is a basic road map to help you navigate these octaves of human energy and the flows between them and the world around you.
The Belly Dan Tien – “Jing”
The Dan Tien in the Belly is the center of physical vitality, sexual energy and health. The belly is the point of power in the physical world in the Here and Now. This center is highly developed in Martial Arts and in all traditional Taoist healing methods. Healing and balancing the energy in this center creates a powerful platform from which to explore higher frequencies of energy. It is the base of our energetic pyramid. As long as you are in a physical body all Taoist energy cultivation practice begins and ends with an awareness of this Dan Tien. When the energy in this center is balanced and coherent, the internal organs are healthy and we have the capacity to master the physical world. When it is closed, we are ungrounded and unable to master the tasks necessary to develop our lives in the physical world. Without this platform, the Taoists felt it was not appropriate to explore the higher levels of subtle energy as this could imbalance a student. In Taoist terminology this is the center of “Jing”. A student can and should spend many years balancing, opening and healing the energy in this center.
The Middle Dan Tien – “Qi”
The Dan Tien of the Chest is the center that facilitates our capacity for empathic resonance, connection and compassion. Taoists call this the “heart-mind”, the center of our emotional and psychic lives. When we open this center, we deepen our capacity to feel empathy and Compassion for all beings (including ourselves!). Stabilizing this center is critical in creating a feeling of emotional equilibrium and inner peace. This center is also connected to the breath. When the breath becomes stable and relaxed through slow, deep diaphragmatic breathing the energy of the chest is rooted and supported by the physical vitality of the belly center, and the belly center is then firmly rooted into the earth. Our emotional lives can then become balanced and guided by the values of Compassion and Loving-kindness.
The Dan Tien of the Head – “Shen”
The Dan Tien of the head is the doorway to Intuition, Wisdom and a direct perception of the Luminous Emptiness prior to personal history. Taoists call this level of energy “Shen” or Spirit. When this center opens, we have a direct perception of the Empty, Agenda-less presence of our true nature. When the head center is open and the mind is quiet, we drop the constructed self and the intellectual ideas through which we normally view the world and see the world simply as it is, objectively and without personal agendas or limiting beliefs. A deep opening of the head center, also involves opening the top of the crown, which is the gateway through which the energy of the Absolute, or the Great Stillness flows into our physical bodies. It is out of the Great Stillness that arises when these centers are open and balanced that we begin to have access to the energetic matrix that holds the immense, universal library of human wisdom in an energetic form.
The Central Channel is what knits these three levels together into one seamless whole!
It is important to remember that all of these words are merely approximations of something that we have to experience in order to really understand. As the old saying goes, they are merely fingers pointing at the moon!
In the words of Master Shou Yu Liang, a traditional Taoist training path is to “purify Jing, foster Jing into Qi, foster Qi into Shen, foster Shen into Void, then return the Void back to the Tao (Shatter the Void).” In other words we first establish the health and vitality of our physical bodies, then we open the heart qualities of Compassion and Kindness towards all beings, then we realize the wisdom of Emptiness and enter the Formless, then we release our attachment to Emptiness and integrate these three levels into one seamless flow of Realization. This flow is the Tao.
An Important Training Principal – the 70% rule
These practices are deceptively powerful. To progress safely on this path we have to be careful not to strain the body or mind. If we overstrain we can risk injury or imbalance our nervous system. These imbalances might show up as symptoms such as anxiety or depression, or feeling “spaced out”. Symptoms are indicators of energy blocks. When these happen after or during practice, it is usually because we have released more energy than we can integrate. Although energy blocks are uncomfortable, usually this is not dangerous and if we back off a little our systems will almost always self-correct. If this does happen to you, it is important to normalize and de-pathologize these experiences.
We all have energy blocks! It is impossible to truly progress on any authentic spiritual path without confronting energy blocks and the unconscious parts of our body/mind/spirit that need to be integrated. These “shadow aspects”, (the parts of our being that are hidden from us in the shadows), need to be faced with compassion and kindness. From a Taoist perspective, integrating the shadow aspects of ourselves is sacred work that we do both in the service of our own journey towards wholeness, and in the service of healing the entire human family. Since on an energetic level we are all inextricably connected, we each carry energy blocks not just for ourselves but also for our families, our ethnic group, our country and for humanity as a whole. As each of us dissolve and release these blockages, we are releasing evolutionary energy for all of humanity. For this reason, many Taoists and other spiritual practitioners, dedicate the fruit of their practice to the liberation of all beings. Whether we say this explicitly or not, from the Taoist perspective of energy, it is the truth.
In our individual body/mind, as we heal our imbalances and open these channels it is like we are turning on all of the lights in the mansion of our Being. Many of the rooms in this mansion have been shut to our awareness for a long time and have gathered a great deal of dust and cobwebs. As we open some of these rooms we can release energies that are powerful, and emotionally turbulent. If you find yourself releasing energies that are more than you can handle easily, it is useful to engage a competent guide or teacher. Practicing in a group is also a safeguard as the group “chi field” provides a certain amount of protection from wandering too far into energies that you may not be prepared to integrate. The energies of a teacher or guide can also help you to open these energies safely and point you towards the next fruitful area of practice so that your unfoldment proceeds with a minimum of turbulence.
A principal that profoundly supports an easy and organic unfoldment is something that Taoist master Bruce Frantzis calls the 70% rule. This means that you should practice with 70% of effort. If you attune to the pacing of your own body/mind it will naturally give you signals as to when you have taken in enough chi for one practice session. Over time, you can slowly increase the time that you practice and deepen the benefit that we receive from each practice.
Another Principal: “Transcend and Include”
From a Taoist perspective nothing is ever lost. As your Realization and energetic development progresses, you “transcend and include” everything in the level below it. This is like a series of Russian Nesting dolls in which every layer is nested inside of the layer above it. When we have opened up an energetic pathway into the highest layers of Agenda-less, Timeless, Presence, we hold all of the previous conflicts and polarities of our lives without tension or effort or the need to change them. This is the state of Non-doing. In the words of the Tao Te Ching: “Empty yourself of everything. / Let the mind rest at peace. / The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.”
The Practices
Dan Tien Breathing or Chi breathing
There are many different patterns of breathing used in Taoist practice. In this workshop we begin by working with the most basic breathing pattern called “Dan Tien Breathing”, “Chi Breathing” or “Six sided breathing”. In this breathing pattern you breathe diaphragmatically into the lower Dan Tien and become aware of your breath expanding in six directions, front, back, left, right, up and down. Over time, this breathing pattern should also be expanded to include an awareness of breathing through every pore of your skin from the periphery to the center and center to the periphery of the body and into the subtle layers of magnetism around the body. This breath is slow, calm and relaxed. Train your attention until you can maintain an awareness of the breath from the beginning to the end of each breath. This requires a quiet, focused mind, and a peaceful heart. An image that is often used is of coiling silk or pulling a thread out of the cocoon of a silk worm. If you go too fast the thread will break, too low and it will tangle! This slow, relaxed breath calms and balances the nervous system and moves us into a parasympathetic state. It is an excellent remedy for anxiety and the epidemic of overstimulation that seems to be a part of modern life.
Standing Meditation
Standing meditation is often called the “Secret of Qi Gong”, as it will challenge you to align your physical body, open your meridians, and help you to dissolve energetic blockages in a more direct way than sitting meditation. The Taoists observed that for beginners, (and even for advanced practitioners!) sitting meditation can lead to stuck energy in the head, which we subjectively experience as a distracted mind or the “monkey mind” that is bouncing from place to place without rest. For this reason, the Taoists understood sitting meditation as more advanced than standing meditation and recommend that we begin meditation by practicing standing.