The year is 1988, I am in a pre-competition intensive training camp for rhythmic gymnastics. One of our coaches, Coach Annie is doing mental training with us. This is the first time we have ever done anything non-physical in training. She gets us all to lie down on the training carpet. She leads us through a small relaxation exercise and then she asks us to imagine ourselves performing our routine as perfectly as we can, without any mistakes. She tells us to do this as often as we can, but we never really get to this again as a group; trust a 14-year-old to do extra work outside of regular training. About 8 years later, I am in university taking a psychology-in-sport class. Our professor is telling us that research and studies are showing us that athletes who use visualization and mental training in combination with physical training perform better than those who do not. This fascinates me, as I had already had a taster 8 years before. I ask myself what it is that one is training when one does mental training. Some will say that it is training the Mind, but what is the Mind and where is it?

Interestingly, when many in society speak of the Mind, we point to our head; I was researching the Mind on the internet and Wikipedia’s first image is of a head with symbols in it. In the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries online, it states that the noun ‘mind,’ when referring to the ability to think, refers to “the part of a person that makes them able to be aware of things, to think and to feel.” This definition does not specify any parts of the body, which is quite wise of Oxford Dictionaries to do so, as there is quite a lot of scientific evidence available these days which show us that what we define as faculties of the Mind are actually not only located in the head, i.e. brain, but everywhere in the body. Often times, what is defined as the Mind is referring to cognitive functions such as perception, reasoning, awareness and memory, psychological capacities of both conscious and unconscious, as well as feeling, motivation and behavior. The definition of Mind in the West encompasses a very broad dimension, as such it can become very vague and often times gets misconstrued as just the brain. What is clear is that the Mind is not just in the brain; hence, the term Bodymind has begun to be in more common usage over the last few decades.

In Chinese Medicine, what has been translated as Mind is actually called 神 shén. The Chinese character shén has two parts, the radical on the left means god or deity, on the right it means to explain. Together they mean god, spirit or expressive. Shén in Chinese Medicine refers to the mental ability on one hand, as well as the emotional and spiritual aspects of a human being. Mental activity and consciousness are said to dwell in the Heart. The Chinese medical scholar, Giovanni Maciocia states that “five functions are affected by the state of the Heart: Mental activity (including emotion), Consciousness, Memory, Thinking, Sleep.” The Chinese medical view goes further to describe Will Power Zhì as residing in the Kidneys, Thought Yì  in the Spleen, the Ethereal Soul Hún as related to the Liver and the Corporeal Soul Pò corresponding to the Lung. Therefore, for thousands of years the Chinese have viewed the Mind as being in the body as well as in the head; this corresponds to the Bodymind concept.

When I ponder back to my time as an athlete at 14 years old, using visualization techniques to perform better physically, I realize that the seeds of Bodymind were already being planted in me. I was already being trained to view my being as a whole being, not as the sum of parts, all it needed was regular practice. Now, I still prepare my intellectual Mind for exams or presentations by warming up my body, as I did as a gymnast and dancer, by stretching and moving my physical body. Just as I still do visualizations of my Tai Ji Quan/ Qi Gong form when I am on public transportation and can’t practice it physically. For me, the Mind is the Body and the Body, the Mind.
 
 
Reference
Macioca, G. (1998). The Foundations of Chinese Medicine. London: Churchill Livingstone.
 
 
 
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“She has got to stand up for herself,” “He won’t take this lying down,” “Does that sit well with you?” – These are some of the common English phrases used in everyday speech. Without even thinking about it, we reference our physical posture, which our physical bodies manifest, in descriptions of actions and situations we experience in our lives. No matter how much we may want to deny it, our physical body shapes us and the reality around us. Even the word that we use to describe that we can comprehend what another person or situation is trying to convey to us, the verb “to understand” or “verstehen” in English and German respectively, is a physical posture reference.

Our physical bodies shape our reality and our experience of the world. We often forget this and in fact, take a very important detail for granted: we as human beings are the only species of mammals who can stand and walk upright for long periods of time. This is called Bipedalism. Often I observe my cat stands on her 4 legs, which is Quadrupedalism, rubbing on my lower leg. I never realize how tall she could be if she stood up on 2 legs until she does for those short moments and I am astounded that she almost reaches my hip; she expands from about 30 centimeters to 80 centimeters, which is more than double her quadrupedal height. This makes me understand the advantage humans have over other animals; that we Homo sapiens appear bigger to other animals, giving us a kind of watchtower-sight of things as well as appearing bigger, therefore, providing a size advantage over other animals, such as to my cat. I get proof of this whenever I play-rough with her on the ground, she gets overly enthusiastic and tries to attack me, but if I stand up to my full height, she retreats and acknowledges my dominance. In this case, size does matter. Standing and walking on 2 legs do have advantages.

Our human bodies took about 6 million years to become bipedal, as seen in the current fossil records found all over the world. Standing on 2 legs changed our anatomy and therefore changed our posture. In addition to lying, we can stand as well as sit upright. In fact, being upright is the ideal posture for balance as well as energy-optimal alignment for our bodies; if we do not have an upright posture, the muscles and connective tissues of our back, shoulders, hips, chest and abdomen cannot completely perform contraction and relaxation, thereby creating tension and pain in the body. But this is only the physical aspect of life in the human body. The moment we slump in the spine, not only do we have compression of organs, connective tissues and muscles, which then adjust the blood circulation of the whole body, our senses, such as our sight, perceive a different view of our external environment, the nervous system begins to be affected, triggering a whole host of events; thereby creating a change in our emotional mood. Our external view of the world, along with the physiological changes, affect our internal one. If you don’t believe this happens in your body, just try it for yourself for a 30-minute period but not longer, to prevent lasting negative effects to your being.

Not only is this change personal, the people around us judge us by our posture all the time, even if they deny it. The moment we walk into a room, judgements are already made just by how we are perceived by our posture. Upright posture conveys confidence, assurance and professionalism. If we were going to a job interview, this would be a positive advantage, if the potential employers were looking for someone competent. These first impressions set the stage for the rest of the interview and interactions. We only have to look up the word “upright” in a Thesaurus in order to understand how perceptions of our physical uprightness are not just physical: “decent,” “honest,” “honorable,” or “conscientious.” People read these moral attributes from our upright posture, even though we in society constantly declare that we are objective and unemotional.

Chinese Medicine designates the Jing Jin, Sinew/ Tendino-Muscular Channels as foundations of upright posture. These channels flow as suggested by their English translation, in the areas of the tendons, muscles, as well as ligaments and fasciae; these include externally on the area of the skin, as well as internally in and around the internal organs. Jing Jin are defined as conduits of Wei Qi, Protective Qi. By this, we can deduce that the Chinese attribute upright posture to the protection of the body. As such, exercise practices such as Qi Gong and Tai Ji Quan are an essential part of Chinese Medicine in maintaining health. I will discuss Jing Jin in future blogposts.

Do you remember as a kid how the adults around you would nag you about your posture? – “Sit up straight,” or “Don’t slouch.”  I hate to say it but they were right; if we had listened then and made adjustments to our bodies, we are probably reaping the benefits of their wisdom. If however we didn’t, it’s never too late. It takes a little more time and awareness as an adult but it’s still possible to make adjustments. It's all about practice, keep at it!
 
 

 
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One of the fundamental basis of Chinese Medicine is Qì 氣. Qì (Pin Yin romanization, which is pronounced chee), has been described as “vital energy,” “vital force” or even “universal energy.” It’s sometimes spelled as Chi (Wade-Giles romanization), or Ki (Japanese spelling and pronunciation). In Chinese Medicine there are many different types of Qì, just to name a few: Yuán Qì (Original Qi), Zhēn Qì (True Qi), Yíng Qì (Nutritive Qi) and Wèi Qì (Defensive/ Protective Qi). Many blogposts ago, I wrote about Qì and what its Chinese character means, and many blogposts before that I wrote a little about Wèi Qì as well as how it is key to understanding allergies, such as Hay Fever.

But Wèi Qì is so much more complex than just allergies and immune system. The Chinese character for Wèi  衛  has a few parts: the first radical on the left 彳 chì means “step” and added together with the component on the right it becomes 行 xíng, meaning “to walk.” The middle character component, I recently learnt from a continuing education class, refers to “a guard” or “a man with leather armor.” All together they create “a guard who walks back and forth to protect.” Therefore, Wèi Qì refers to Qi that is always in motion to protect and defend when needed.

As a student in Chinese medical school, we learnt that people who caught colds and flus easily have a Wei Qi deficiency and that the Wei Qi is very connected to the Lung and Spleen Qi. So we would treat the appropriate Acupuncture points and give the famous herbal formula, Yù Píng Fēng Săn (Jade Wind Screen Powder). With the proper diagnosis and appropriate use of this formula, patients often got better within a month or so. One of my strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic was and still is to strengthen the Wei Qi. It can also manifest as bladder symptoms like chronic urinary tract infection UTI, which have often manifested in female patients, being exposed to cold external conditions. But through my practice and observation of different patients over the years, I have come to realize that Wei Qi deficiency is much more than catching colds or viruses easily, chronic UTIs and allergies. I started to realize that some patients would come in reporting how they felt “exposed” emotionally and physically, like they felt unprotected when they went out into the world. They would feel like they were being invaded by others energetically. I started to link this to Wei Qi deficiency and to treat them as such, often times it has worked. Also, by learning to set healthy boundaries in their lives, which is also a manifestation of Wei Qi, in my opinion, this has served to help them feel more secure within their beings.

As a student with my teachers in Tai Ji Quan/ Qi Gong/ Shao Lin Quan we learned to do some techniques of energetic practice they would call Iron Shirt Qi Gong. It is a martial arts method in which, as the name implies, one creates a layer like an iron shirt around the body, to protect against hits and attacks from opponents as well as to strengthen one’s body part to create an iron-hard effect with a punch or a hit. This reminded me of a movie which I watched in university in the 1990s, Iron and Silk, a true story of how Mark Salzman goes to China to teach English and learns Wu Shu, among other things. His master, Pan Qing Fu, is known as Iron Fist. Master Pan spent hours over decades punching a steel block; as such, his fists were as hard as iron. Though he has acted in films, this man’s skill was real, unlike a lot of Hollywood films (there is even one with this name but is not the real deal). This I believe is Wei Qi condensed into the fist. Iron Shirt Qi Gong could be used for martial purposes but I believe it is applicable to everyday life, not for assault but for protection. This, I have come to understand, is Wei Qi being activated with energetic practice.

The cultivation of Wei Qi has to come from many different aspects, not just physically but mentally as well as emotionally and energetically. It is something we need to work with our Bodyminds and not just on a material level. If there is anything that I am sure of, it is that many of the health issues of our time have a lot to do with our Wei Qi deficiency as individuals and as a society. It has been one of my aims to understand Wei Qi better. Even after years of study and practice of Chinese Medicine, I am finding even more depth to the subject. I am still on my journey of exploration into Wei Qi.




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