Exercise to build your checking account

Renee Lehman

(7/2019) In the May article discussing the concept of Inborn Qi (Savings Account) and Acquired Qi (Checking Account), Grand Master Nan Lu was quoted, "If you break a human law, you go to jail. If you break a Natural Law, you go to the hospital." If we don’t follow Natural Law, and we deplete our energetic reserves, then we are more likely to feel worn out and get sick.

Your energy, or Qi (pronounced chee), is the Universal life force that gives all things life. Qi runs through everything in nature. It powers and enlivens us and makes each one of us unique.

Your Qi is unique and exclusively your own. Your Qi is distinct from anyone else in the entire Universe. Your individual Qi developed at the time of your creation in the womb and will continue with you throughout your entire life.

As a reminder of the information in the May article, your Inborn Qi, is what you inherited from your parents. This type of Qi cannot be increased throughout your life. Once it is gone your life has reached its end. Some individuals are born with a huge allocation of Inborn Qi while others were born with a small allocation of Inborn Qi. (Another way of saying this is that some people are born with a large candle and others with a small candle.) Still, even if you do not have much Inherited Qi, you can create a healthy, joyful, and peaceful life. How, you ask? By building the amount of Acquired Qi. Acquired Qi is the Qi that you develop and build upon on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis through the quality of your lifestyle habits. You can increase your Acquired Qi throughout your entire lifespan!

Most people recognize that it is important to exercise to maintain good health, but they may not know the best forms of exercise to build their Acquired Qi.

Many forms of modern exercise, i.e., running and any intense exercise programs, really waste more Qi than they build. These forms of intense exercise require you to expend a great deal of Qi just to perform them. In addition, if you perform these intense exercises outside in windy, rainy, cold, or very hot/humid weather, you expend even more Qi as your body attempts to stay balanced as it struggles with these extreme climates.

One of the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) concerning exercise deals with the phrase: "Do you want cow muscles? Or cat muscles?" Watch a cat. One moment it can be sleeping, and in the next moment it can be jumping gracefully up onto a counter. The cat can move so smoothly and fluidly because its tendons are flexible. The cat’s muscles are also slender. Whereas the cow has massive muscles, but if it doesn’t move correctly, it will fall over. The cow will likely get hurt. The cat always seems to land safely on its feet.

You see, TCM states that strength comes from the tendons and not the muscles. Be like a cat that is strong, agile, and flexible. Don’t be like a cow, which has huge muscles, but little real strength.

Another thing to consider is to not over-exercise. What do I mean by that? Consider the following example. Can you see yourself in this example?

You have a stressful job, and after working, you go to the gym and further push your body. You are already tired, and you are already low in energy. However, you think you need to exercise to stay fit. So, what do you do? You force your body, you push it. Because the body needs to survive, it will push this way. But where does the energy come from? You go to your body’s Inborn Qi (Savings Account) and withdraw the energy out of this Account to finish the exercise. After exercising, you may say, "I feel a release of stress!" That may be true because you just released a lot of stress from your body. However, on the energetic level, you just used up valuable Qi and if you don’t allow the body to rest, your Qi will become more unbalanced.

If you continue to push and push, your body will give you signs that it is out of balance. You may develop pains, sports injuries or exhaustion. These signs are your body’s way of saying, "Hey, I need a rest, I need healing, don’t push!" But often we don’t listen. We continue to push the body.

Rather than overworking your body, and withdrawing from your Qi Accounts, consider how you can "exercise" in a way that is more in harmony with Natural Law. Wouldn’t it make sense to do the things that actually increase the Universal Lifeforce (Life-giving and Life-enhancing Qi)? What types of exercises can make energy deposits into your Qi Accounts?

The exercises should be water-like, soft and not hard (Think about the fact that our bodies are close to 70% water. By doing exercises like this you will be acting in harmony with Natural Law). Go for a walk in nature. Begin a meditation practice. Try noncompetitive swimming. Begin a healing meditative exercise practice like Yoga, Taiji or Qigong.

Meditation has been shown to create positive changes in the areas of the brain linked with emotion. It also increases immune function and blood flow, decreases blood pressure, and generally lowers heart rate.

Qigong incorporates gentle movements that stretch your body’s ligaments and muscles and help your Qi to move more smoothly throughout your body. When your Qi flows freely and smoothly, you become healthier and more balanced.

Taiji and Qigong forms of movement are slow (if not stationary), peaceful and resonate with the water-like frequency of the body. These forms of exercise create health from the inside out.

All of these "exercises" will heal the body and the mind, so that you reach a healthy level of stress-relief and find your unique state of balance.

As Grand Master Lu has said: "It’s interesting that well-trained athletes can have exceptional difficulty holding the most basic Qigong postures for more than a few minutes. What’s going on when this happens? It is the quantity and quality of internal energy that is lacking. From the TCM perspective, Qi is the origin of true strength and power as well as genuine health — body, mind, and spirit."

Renee Lehman is a licensed acupuncturist, physical therapist, with over 30 years of health care experience. Her office is located at 249B York Street in Gettysburg. She can be reached at 717-752-5728.