Gathering What's Been Dispersed

In the Taoist traditions, and the systems they've developed, a big emphasis is always put on the dantian, the energy field around the height of the navel, slightly below it.

Contrary to popular belief nowadays, not everybody necessarily has this energy field formed within their system. There's the potential. However, in most of us, this field has become dispersed for various reasons. A big part of it relates to our lifestyle: a lack of movement, an excess of emotion and stimulation, and an overstimulation of the mind. Our modern lifestyle, particularly in the West, causes that energy field to become dispersed.

So a big part of the Taoist arts, whether Qigong or Neigong, is about gathering that energy field again, rebuilding this gravitational field around the lower abdomen so that our energy can be drawn inward and collect at that center point. It starts to become a magnetic field that pulls our mind inward.From that inward-pulling motion, that gravitation or magnetism, eventually the opposite movement happens too: it expands outward from that center. It starts expanding that field and filling the physical body with this energy.

There are various things that are important when it comes to building this field, prerequisites that need to be present within our being before it can start to form. These are all aspects the Taoist tradition focuses heavily on.

One aspect, obviously, is the physical body. It needs a certain alignment. There has to be a certain amount of structure, relaxation and stillness within the body so that our energy can settle. From that settled space, we can gradually start to gather and build that field.

Another aspect is the mind. It needs to be cultivated to a degree where our focus and attention become very, very stable, so that we can anchor the mind in that area of the lower abdomen. Through that anchored awareness, we allow that energy to draw in to that area. That's why these Taoist practices so often involve strengthening mental focus as much as the body.

Now, as I said, not everybody necessarily has a dantian. It's very popular nowadays to assume that these energy fields are just naturally there. I used to believe that myself, a few years ago. But as I started studying with my current teacher, and exploring some of the practices he was teaching, I started to realize, and then experience, that this isn't necessarily the case. This field isn't necessarily present in everyone; it needs to be built, and there are various methods we can use to start building it again.

So first we have to learn to bring stillness into the body and silence the mind. Once the body and mind start to come more into alignment, we can start to learn to draw that energy into that central point. From there, it gradually starts to expand. The more we work on that, the more we develop those skills, the more that energy starts to build.

It's really a magnetic field that starts to form, and that's also why in these arts they talk about the Yin aspect involved in the creation of that field. It's the Yin aspect that creates this gravitational field, as opposed to the Yang aspect, which is more electrical and more radiating.

So a lot of it has to do with exploring the polarities within our system. For a lot of us in Western society, it mostly comes down, at least in the beginning, to reconnecting with the Yin, the more passive aspect of our being, the stillness and silence that allow us to reconnect with our center and, from there, radiate the energy outward into our being.