The Principle of Development

The Principle of Development
Increasing the Energy
"Knowing how to empty our emotional trashcan"

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We must realize that in our practice we will be confronted sometimes by a lack of energy. Indeed, if we train a lot physically and add to it the meditation and Chi Kung, it is possible to feel tired; we can have the impression that we don't have the sufficient energy. Even though all goes well, we eventually get to a point where for the superior exercises we need more than mere energy. In the arts of fight, it is the time where we need more than mere power. This need of energy corresponds to the Principle of Development. We may practice a long time and could stagnate if we don't know how to increase our vibratory, physical and spiritual levels. It is quite simple; all that's necessary for us is to accumulate more energy.

The meditation that corresponds to this stage is the Big Circulation. After having succeeded in directing the energy with our will and learned how to press the breath and "use the voice", we are going to apply all these techniques to project the energy freely outwards of the body. The energy stocked at the center is going to come out of the body through the extremities. It is an intense energizing practice that permits us to acquire a lot of energy but also to give some. If we can give out our body's energy, obviously we must be able to do the opposite - attract energy. While imitating the principle of a sponge, we are going to expel our defensive energy creating an emptiness thus that we will be filled by inspiring the outside energy. The aspiration of the outside energy can prove to be dangerous if it cannot be perfectly assimilated by the body. Therefore, it will be necessary to clear a supplementary stage and to arrive to "the breathing of the five doors". We are going to push our conscience outwards of our physical body using the strength of intention and stillness. It is a spiritual practice that allows a recovery of much outside energy to be directed inwards. This practice asks for the physical and energizing bodies to be sufficiently strong so that they can handle the energy recovered from the outside. As with all advanced practices, for a good progress in this exercise, it is necessary that a Teacher is present. At this level, the first true spiritual practice begins. The practice of the Chi Kung of "Eight Palm Mothers" is an exercise based on a circular movement that combines in movement an understanding of the eight trigrams of The Book of Changes with an inner energetic alchemy. It is a combination of eight starting positions with a circular movement that evolves one toward the other on the path of a circle. The evolution of these changes corresponds to a regulation of the subtle energies of the three measurements. It is a precise practice that quickly becomes free and spontaneous enough. The exercise also asks for a good understanding of the previous Chi Kung exercises.

The awareness of energy makes us touch an important subject: if we want to increase our energy, it is good not to waste the energy that we already have. It is necessary to pay attention therefore to the two primordial energy sources: the food that we eat and air that we breathe. On the emotional level, we must pay attention to the concept of "emptying our emotional trash can". The image of a trash can become very useful here. Just as we must take out the garbage bin in which we put the daily or weekly rubbish, we happen to have an emotional trashcan of which we must also take care. It is very rarely fun to do this. But if we refrain from getting it done for too long, when we disregard the moment when we have the choice of action, then later we will be confronted by an obligation to do it. Indeed, the trash can end up overflowing; it is all going bad and may even explode! It will be more difficult to act by obligation that by choice. An unpleasant action that one forces itself to take is always worse. On the other hand, if we empty our trashcan every day, it becomes a simple and less laborious act, even more so when one does the deed consciously and at a chosen time. The emotional trashcan is very similar to this picture. It is obvious that the first time it is always difficult but once this is done regularly, it becomes easy. As usual, if we don't do it deliberately, it is life that will make us face our housekeeping responsibility. Emptying the emotional trashcan is a simple practice that amounts to accumulating very little, if any, or no stress. Emotional stress is a big consumer of energy. Besides, in most our energetic actions, we will learn to become a vector of the Universal Energy more than a donor of our personal energy.

This need to accumulate energy evidently asks for economy. The senses often consume a lot of energy for nothing: we talk too much, we watch too much, we listen too much, we taste too much... It is necessary to avoid the "too much" and we will learn how not to spend too much energy in the use of five senses. Besides, it is the moment where we learn to control our sexual practices in order to generate strength instead of spending our energizing capital. It is a complex practice that will subsequently be the subject of a separate category.