Perceiving Energy – In Qigong Practice

Ever Present Energy

The life energy that we work with and develop skill with within our qigong practice can seem a bit mysterious to begin with. While this energy is active and flowing through our bodies and influencing every aspect of our lives all the time, often we are not aware of it. Part of the reason for this is because it is so consistently present. A common analogy to describe the way we often lose conscious awareness of something that is constantly present is to consider whether fish are aware that they are in water. Of course – we probably don’t have a definitive answer to this question, but if we think of the regular experience of a fish, they probably don’t think a lot about the water they swim in, because it surrounds them all the time. We tend to notice things more acutely when there are contrasts, so the fish is probably more aware of things that are frequently changing in its environment, rather than something that is relatively constant. Of course the fish would certainly notice the absence of water when removed from it – but maybe not have much awareness of the water while it is in it.

There is a similar situation with our living energy or qi. It is always present within us while we are alive – it has to be. It keeps our heart beating, our blood flowing, our nerves sensing, all the cells and tissues of our body functioning. We certainly notice when it is absent – leading to disease, or death, but because it is present all the time within us when we are healthy, for the most part we tune out the sensations of the movement of this energy. It is always there so we don’t need to pay a lot of attention to it, so our conscious attention is far better occupied being aware of and paying attention to other things that are going on around us.

Practical Value of Being Aware of Our Energy

However, even though there are good reasons why is not common to always be aware of the living energy flowing through our bodies, it is useful to be able to develop our awareness of it. Having an awareness of our living energy or qi gives us the ability to observe what is occurring within our body and energy in much finer detail and with more nuance. It is also very helpful in developing our ability to actually direct the flow of this energy in useful ways. When we can perceive this energy we can notice much more detail of where the energy flows freely, or where it is blocked. We can also notice changes in the quality of the energy within and around us, and this can help us to more readily identify potential issues at an early stage before they become major problems, and take action to remedy them to maintain our health and wellbeing.

Because some aspects of the nature of our energy flow are quite subtle, often issues within our body will show up and be detected as changes in our energy well before organic changes occur within the tissues of our body to a degree that they can be detected. Historically operating at this level of awareness allowed Chinese Medicine doctors to focus much more on prevention of illness rather than cure. Traditionally a Chinese Medicine doctor was paid on a retainer to keep their patients well – if you became sick, then the doctor treated you for free.

As an ideal for a healthcare model, it sounds pretty wonderful – but it required that the doctor’s clients be willing to follow comprehensive instructions to not just take a convenient pill, but to sometimes make substantial lifestyle changes including to their diet – sleep patterns, living environment, relationships, exercise and so on in order to finetune and maintain the healthy flow of energy and avoid illness. They also needed to start from a position of health and balance, so the care was more about identifying issues and finetuning the flow of energy to correct them before they became a major problem, rather than fixing major imbalances that had already occurred. So it seems unlikely that such a model would be viable in our modern world of quick fixes and deeply entrenched imbalance. But the fact that such a system existed at one point at the very least gives us some insight into the possibility of perceiving the energy in fine enough detail to be able to finetune its balance in such a way.

This perception of energy was also used within the fields of martial arts, and spirituality or philosophy. Perception of energy allowed a martial artist to direct the energy within their body more effectively to make it stronger and more resilient. It also allowed them to sense weakness within the flow of an opponent’s energy, which they could more easily disrupt. In the field of spirituality or philosophy the perception of energy allowed for much finer and more nuanced understanding of the constantly changing patterns in the world around us, and the relationships between ourselves and other people and our environment.

Talent vs Skill

Because perceiving our energy in this way is outside of most people’s common experience, this leads some people to assume that this ability is purely a matter of talent. Either you have the ‘gift’ or you don’t. But with a true understanding of our living energy and how it functions it quickly becomes apparent that almost everyone has the ability to perceive their living energy, of course it comes more easily to some than others, but with understanding and practice anyone can develop their perception further and improve it.

As another analogy, apart from a very few people with significant impediments, almost everyone can learn how to make sound and speak. Some people will have a natural talent for this, and they may more easily learn not just how to speak but to even sing beautifully and powerfully. Others may find developing their voice further challenging, but with practice they can do it. They can learn to modulate the volume, tone, and pitch of their voice – this process may take quite a bit more work than someone to whom it comes easily, but it is possible.

There are many other analogies that could be used to describe this process. The same is true of almost any skill you can think of. Some people will find it comes more easily to them, but others, even if they find it difficult at first will find that with practice, and by applying good principles, they can make progress and develop their ability. It is often also the case that those who struggle to begin with, but persist with the process, are eventually able to develop their skill further than those to whom it just came naturally. The process of having to really work at it, and try and fail, and then try again often leads to a greater understanding of underlying principles which facilitates achievement of greater skill in the end than can be attained by someone who never had to develop such an in depth understanding of underlying principles due to the ease of the process for them in the beginning.

So if you are someone who struggles to sense your energy, and maybe you have heard stories of the experiences of people who it comes to more easily – there is hope! It may just take a bit more work for you, but with persistence you can almost certainly develop your perception of energy so that eventually you have a rich sense of it.

Looking In the Right Direction

One of the obstacles that sometimes gets in the way of some people starting to perceive their energy is their expectation of what the experience of perceiving their energy will be like. Sometimes people have the idea that sensing their energy will be some kind of almost miraculous supernatural experience – so they look past the much more mundane and natural sensations of their energy and don’t recognize them – because they are looking for something spectacular and magical.

Our living energy or qi is actually very mundane. It is flowing within you all of the time, keeping all the organs, nerves, and cells of your body functioning. It includes electricity, magnetism, heat, and vibration or movement, and even information – all completely normal and common forms of energy. The way they come together into the miracle of life can seem quite magical, but this ‘miraculous’ living energy is made up of its component parts. To begin with, if you can perceive the flow of even just one of living energy’s components, you will be looking in the right direction to start to notice more details and start to perceive the other components as well as they come together as our life energy.

As one of these aspects of our living energy is stimulated, the others tend to be activated and stimulated as well. This is why within qigong practice there are different methods for working with and directing your energy. Some practices might focus primarily on movement. As you pay attention and tune into the fine details of how the changing pressures and tensions from a movement flows through your body, you will start to notice that naturally these also stimulate the electrical activity of the nerves, the circulation of blood, heat from cellular respiration and so on. Tuning in to just one aspect of the energy leads you to also becoming aware of the other parts which come together in your living qi. Other qigong practices might use this same principle but working with different aspects of the energy – some practices primarily use the mind to direct the energy. Putting your attention  into a part of your body naturally wakes up the nerves and neural pathways which connect to this area. When this happens the cells in that area will become more active in response to the increased nerve activity, this will lead to increased blood flow – a type of internal physical movement within the body, and the tissues may also start to move in other ways as well. With practice and skill this type of process can be used to direct many different changes in the quality and flow of the energy through your body. Again – focusing on just one aspect of the energy leads to activation and changes within the others. The starting point may be quite mundane, but it can become gloriously rich and complex as all the parts of our energy respond together as part of the symphony of life.

Perceiving VS Seeing Energy

You may have noticed that in this article I have mainly used the term ‘perceive’ to describe being aware of our energy, rather than terms like ‘see’ or ‘feel’. As discussed above, there are many different parts which come together in our living energy, some of which can be literally seen or felt. But other parts of the energy, and in particular the combination of these different component parts aren’t really physically ‘seen’ or even necessarily ‘felt’ in a tangible way – but they can still be ‘sensed’. Often we don’t really have a way to accurately describe what it is exactly that we are sensing in terms of our normal physical senses, so people sometimes still use words such as ‘see’ or ‘feel’ as a shorthand way to describe their experience. Those familiar with sensing energy in this way usually understand what someone means when they say they ‘saw’ or ‘felt’ certain aspects of the energy, but this can be confusing for people who are not yet familiar with this, and it can act as another obstacle for people who take these terms too literally. Quite a lot might be going on with their energy which they could observe, but they are so busy trying to physically ‘see’ or ‘feel’ that they miss it.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with using words like ‘see’ or ‘feel’ to describe the experience of sensing energy. Some aspects of the energy literally are seen and felt – so of course these words are accurate for describing that, and even for other aspects of the energy which are not physically seen or felt, they can be a reasonably good approximation of the way the experience is processed and structured within an individuals mind. But I think it is also really important for people who are just starting to learn to be aware of their energy to understand that some of the aspects of energy that they will sense will not necessarily fall neatly within the bounds of their normal physical senses. Understanding this will help them to be more ready and open to recognizing these other aspects of energy perception, and they will be less likely to miss them due to being overly focused on only their normal physical senses.

Strengthening Your Energy to Facilitate Perception

As energy gets stronger it becomes easier to sense. As such, even if you don’t have much, or even any conscious awareness of your energy to begin with, you will find that as you practice qigong your energy will naturally get stronger. At the same time you will be paying attention – pointing your awareness in the right direction to notice this growing energy. Eventually the two will intersect, your energy will grow strong enough that your developing perception will be able to catch the first glimmers of awareness of it. Once you have even a tiny hint of awareness of your energy, you will be able to focus more easily on it. You will know you are looking in the right direction, and as you start to become more aware of your energy you will be able to start to consciously direct it to make your practice even more effective at developing and strengthening it.

It can take a bit of faith to begin with before you have those first glimpses of energy awareness, but as long as you follow the qigong practices you are working with correctly and consistently, they will be effective even if you can’t sense the energy yet. You could think of this a bit like an airline pilot flying their plane through cloud. They can’t actually ‘see’ where they are going, but they can use the planes instruments and maps that they have been provided with to still chart a course. Following the guidance they receive from the instruments, and perhaps from air traffic control, they can navigate safely until they get closer to their destination and find their way out of the clouds. Then they can actually start to ‘see’ their surroundings and start to rely more on their own direct perception more to guide their flight, while still of course giving heed to the information they receive through their instruments and from their maps.

In your qigong practice you can think of the maps as being the models of our energy systems that have been created and passed on to us. We have maps of the organ meridians and extraordinary meridians, the dantien and other energy centres, that help us to know where our energy flows. Even if we can’t perceive this energy for ourselves to begin with, the maps give us good guidance as to where the flows are and how we can work with them. The feedback from the instruments of the plane could be compared to changes you notice from your practice. Not necessarily feeling the flow of energy itself, but maybe noticing simple things like less pain, more flexibility, better sleep, a sense of calm and clearer thinking. These might not give you a direct perception of the energy itself, but they at least give you feedback that you a moving in a good direction with your practice. Air traffic control could be like a good qigong teacher – giving you instructions about your practice, steering you away from dangers you might not notice by yourself, and helping you to make changes when you may have drifted off course. All these resources help you to work effectively with your energy, even through the stages when you can’t perceive it yet, and lead you eventually to your own direct perception of your energy.

Conclusion

I hope this article has been useful and given you some good insights about the process of developing your perception of your living energy, and maybe just a little glimpse of the value that comes from this. Being aware of our energy gives us a whole new level of understanding of ourselves and interaction with the world around us. We can use this awareness to manage and improve our health, optimize our performance, and find harmony within our lives.

Where ever you are at in your qigong practice, I hope that you are enjoying the journey and finding great benefit from it. If you are just starting out, you might be just starting to get your first glimmers of perception of your energy – this can seem amazing at first, and it might surprise you how much there is still to discover. If you have already developed a good level of perception of your energy, perhaps you are working on applying this awareness in useful ways within your life. Or perhaps you are ready to begin guiding others on their journey as well?

Long White Cloud Qigong offers comprehensive qigong instructor certification programs which are great for people at any stage of their qigong journey. Within the programs we start from the most basic qigong principles and develop our practice step by step from these so that you can gain a deep practical understanding of each of the qigong practices we work with as you gain your own experience with them. This process is great for people new to qigong to establish a firm foundation of knowledge for their practice. The experiences you share with other participants and the guidance you receive from the course instructors along the way can also help you to really tune in to your energy so that you quickly gain your own first hand understanding of how the practices affect your energy. This grounded experience of the practices can then help you to be an effective instructor if you choose to go on to teach others as well.

We have a couple of 200 hour Qigong Instructor programs starting soon, each focusing on different aspects of qigong practice. You can find details of the Small Universe Qigong program here, and the Inner Fire Qigong program here.

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