Today, April 28, 2012 is the last day of our 21-Day Challenge for Self-Mandated Change. Thirteen people actually signed up and who knows, many more may have taken the opportunity to participate even though they didn’t sign up. There is a survey to the right so that everyone who participated whether you signed up or not can acknowledge your success or continuing effort. I shared several comments on my Seifu Sharif Facebook page during the past three weeks and hope they encouraged your success. I must admit my personal challenge turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated but as I’m writing this Post with only hours left before the end of the 21st-day success in clearly in my grasp. In fact, I’m already thinking about the next positive lifestyle change I want to make. That’s what it is you know! Any permanent change of positive consequence ultimately must be a lifestyle change because something has been removed permanently from your daily habits of behavior. That is why it is so important to fill-the-void as I mentioned in my last Post.
I recommended using Qigong as a meaningful activity to fill-the-void. Lets talk a little bit about why I make that recommendation. It has to do with the understanding what the word Qi represents. Here is a question for you. What is the ultimate source and essential reality that sponsors and supports the process of the coming and going, the manifestation and flourishing, the weakening and disintegration of everything? In the 7 Circles System we use two words to answer that question. One word represents the Shaolin perspective of China and the other represents the Ifa perspective of West Africa. In Chinese we refer to Qi and in Kwa (the Yoruba language) we say Ase (ah-shay-ay).
The Chinese Perspective on Qi
According to Lin Housheng and Luo Peiyu, “Qi (vital energy) is something by which the ancient people understood the phenomena of nature.” The first conceptualizations of the presence of Qi came about by observing the natural environment in all of its manifestations. They go on, “They considered Qi to be the essential substance forming the world and through its movement and change to be the cause of things coming into existence in the universe.” It is this notion of the intrinsic nature of Qi that in turn leads to the medical view that “Qi is the fundamental substance to constitute the human body and that its movement and change account for the activities of life.” The ancient texts are replete with statements that express the idea that ‘human life solely depends on Qi’ and ‘a thing takes shape when Qi accumulates, and the thing dies out when Qi dissipates’.
According to Simon Wang, M.D., Ph.D. and Julius L. Liu, M.D., Qi is regarded as “the only elemental substance that possesses force or energy in the universe. At the very original stage of initiation of the universe, there was nothing but Qi.” In other words Qi lies at the root of everything in creation. “Because of the function and movement of Qi, the nature occurred and developed into the universe, so did the earth, man and everything else, all of which are interrelated, interacted, interchanged and interdependent.” So when you engage in Self-Mandated Change you are actually engaged in the process of manipulating the essential element of the creation and dissolution of things, Qi.
“The universe has everything you can think of. As the result of Qi man was formed as a microcosm of the universe, a little universe, which has everything you can think of as well. The universe has Qi as the essential energy and so does man. The universe has spirit, so does man. The earth consists of water mostly, so does man (water constitutes about 75 percent or more of the body). The universe has the sun and the moon, rain and thunder while man has the head, eyes, tears and voice. The earth has mountains, valleys, plains, rivers, trees, and grasses while man has the shoulders, armpits, belly, vessels and hair. The mountains can smile and the rivers can sing, so can man. The earth can be polluted and sick, so can man. The universe needs the balance and the harmony of Qi, so does man. Both the universe and man obey the same laws.”
The Ifa Perspective on Ase
The Me’je Oruka branch of the 7 Circles System is rooted in the Ifa tradition of Nigeria, West Africa. From the Ifa perspective, in the beginning there was nothing but the Ase, the dark material from which all things come, the Realm of Infinite Possibility. The first thing to emerge within the Ase was consciousness. The Ase became self-aware, a Sentient Being. It is this Sentient Being, Olodumare who calls into existence the creative process. This is Olofi-dumare, the One who calls to the material of the darkness and says to it come forth, willingly or unwillingly, and the Ase takes forms in response to thought, will, and intention. As you can hopefully see the essential idea of both perspectives points to the same truth, that is, you and I have the ability to change the configuration of the universe, especially or most directly as it related to your or my personal everyday reality. The various styles that we employ in the Me’je Oruka aspect of the 7 Circles System are based not on animals (as in our Shaolin Kung Fu) but on the various Orisa (sentient energy forms that exist by will of Olodumare). In a broader sense we not only practice these Orisa styles but also use ritual, ceremony, fasting, and prayer to conjure the Ase and bind our movements to its flow.
Qigong in general is the way of cultivating Qi inside the human body. Internal Qigong focuses on moving the Qi internally for health, healing, and self-defense while External Qigong focuses on techniques for extending Qi outside the body for health, healing, and self-defense. Another division or branch of Qigong practice is Hard Qigong versus Soft Qigong. You can use Qigong practice as a way of adding energy, a tail wind to all of your other endeavors. Qigong practice is a moving meditation full of the essential energy of creation. Change, Qi, and Qigong practice are all connected to each other.
Don’t forget to check your success with the 21-Day Challenge on the Survey in the right menu.
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Seifu Sharif
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Preview Wu-Te: A Guide To Parents - Why Train Your Children in
the Traditional Martial and Healing Arts?
Preview Wu-Te: A Guide To Parents - Why Train Your Children in
the Traditional Martial and Healing Arts?
Qigong For Health & Longevity – The Ancient Chinese Art Of Relaxation / Meditation / Physical Fitness, Simon Wang, M.D., Ph.D. & Julius L. Liu, M.D., The Eastern Health Development Group, Tustin, CA, USA, ISBN: 0-9641605-2-8
300 Questions On Qigong Exercises, Lin Housheng and Luo Peiyu, Guangdong Science and Technology Press, Guangdong Province, China, ISBN: 7-5359-1269-9/R - 232
