The Tao of Inner Balance

Before my spiritual awakening, I often heard people talk about inner balance and balancing with the elements. My first calling was to learn Tai Chi; I didn’t really know what it was; I simply knew I had to do it. Of course, when you learn and practice Tai Chi, it follows that you learn and practice Taoism. Tai Chi is the practice of Taoism with your whole being.

Practice of Taoism

Our universe manifested from the primordial state, from the expression of Source, from an emptiness that is almost inconceivable to the human mind. A place where the relative concept of time does not apply and because there is nothing to measure experience against. It is the state that is at once empty and full. The ancient Taoists gave this the name Wu Chi: the ultimate state of nothingness.

Primordial Yin and Yang

Creation began through the Love of Source and the impulse to express. In our universe, the impulse manifested as the primordial polarity of Yin and Yang, negative and positive, feminine and masculine, which resulted in Chi. The constant interplay of Yin and Yang is the essential expression of Wu Chi, the ultimate state of nothingness. All the multiple phenomena in the world and universe, both visible and unseen, are the result of an interaction of Yin and Yang.

Pause and take a breath

Do I ever wonder where I came from?

Do I ever wonder what it all means?

Do I ever feel unfulfilled?

Do I ever wonder why I’m here?

Do I ever wonder what my true purpose is?

I asked all these questions when I was first starting to awaken. I had a nice life, but somehow it never seemed to be enough. Something was missing, and it was something huge!

Chi is the Source of All Movement

Electricity is a foundation of modern life and civilisation; likewise, Chi, or Life Force, is the foundation of Taoist practice. If we did not have electricity, many aspects of our modern lifestyle would end abruptly. For one thing, I could not have posted this blog, and you would not be reading it. Similarly, without Chi, my life, your life, and, in fact, everyone’s life would come to a grinding halt.

Chi is energy, but it is more than that. Primordial Chi is the essence of creation, whereas Chi on earth is life force, vitality, bioelectricity, or simply the energy that runs through all things. Chi makes the wind blow, the grass grow, makes the sun shine, and brings the rain to keep us alive. It is beyond intellectual understanding, so we must set aside our worldly reason and embrace a greater teaching.

Pause and take a breath

Look outside your window or walk, sit, or lie outside in nature. If you cannot do that, simply find the best alternative, such as looking at a plant or a beautiful picture. If you are not visual, you may listen to or sense the Chi life force of the world and universe at work.

Breathing slowly; take three deep breaths.

What do I see?

What do I hear?

What do I smell?

What am I touching?

What do I feel?

What do I sense?

I open myself to the greater flow of Chi in the world.

Whenever I practice this exercise, I reset my awareness and find renewed peace in my mind and body. This was especially useful in my early days as a spiritual practitioner when I was discovering that there was a whole new and different world than the one I had grown up believing in.

Chi is in the very air we breathe, but it is not only oxygen and what is generally understood to be our atmosphere. It is in our food, but not only vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, and so on; it is the essence of what we breathe and eat. Chi is the true nourishment of the body; when we eat and breathe, we take Chi within us. Without Chi, there cannot be life.

Primordial Yin and Yang

The universal and worldly interaction of Yin and Yang expresses itself through five basic phases of energetic movement and manifestation. These five phases are known as The Five Elements or The Five Phases of Energy.

The five elements are connected to the four directions, with planet Earth positioned in the centre. When we refer to the five elements in this higher spectrum, it does not only refer to the five physical elements that we notice around us; we tune into the way Chi expresses itself in a deeper and higher sense both in the world and the Universe.

Phases of the Five Elements

Water

Water is a cleansing element. When I tune into water in its pure form, I find a deep state of quietness and concentration. If undisturbed water becomes still, however, it has to move again and flow so that it does not become stagnant.

Wood 

Wood is the second phase, as it is a development of water. When energy is quiet and still, it will eventually burst into activity. It is an expansion of energy. I see the trees become active in spring after a long period of rest and hibernation. When the trees burst into life after their winter rest, they cannot sustain the active burst for long, and they slow down their activity.

Fire

The third phase is fire. Fire has the ability to sustain a high level of energy release over a long period of time. I notice that fire eventually declines; it cannot continue to release its energy indefinitely, and this gives rise to the fourth phase.

Metal

The metal phase results from the contracting phase of energy after the water, wood, and fire have expressed their energies and later become condensed.  This very condensed state of energy manifests as metal.

Earth

The fifth phase of this energy cycle is a state of balance and harmony as the previous four phases of the elements flow together. Earth is the grounding of all the other element phases.

The Tree of Life

When I tune into the Taoist concept of creation, I love thinking of it as a Tree of Life. It helps me to understand this idea of the building blocks of the universe.

If Yin and Yang are the root and trunk of creation in our universe, the five elements are its branches. During the phases of expression, the tree grows branches, and the branches bear leaves and develop flowers and fruit. In our world, this is the activity of the planets, sun, moon, stars, and the five elements and their blossoming on Earth.

Taoist Practice

My experience as a student, practitioner, and teacher of Tai Chi and Chi Kung has led me to see the necessity of connecting and flowing  with the Five basic elements of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.

Earth, water, air, and fire are the four pure elements or elemental forces and have less presence in physical matter. When they connect and flow together, they can produce the lower, more physical elements of metal and wood. As energy workers, we do not always need to work with the more physical elements.

Metal and wood are by-products of the basic four elements and do not appear everywhere in the universe and creation.

The fifth element is Dynamic Emptiness or space—a place where we rediscover that sense and state of peace deep within—the primordial Yin and Yang that leads back to Source.

If I do not practice my balance work, my body, emotional, and mental states begin to lose balance and diminish.

Balance with the Elements Balance with Yourself

Exercise

Your physical body comprises the five elements: earth, water, air, fire, and ether, or primordial Chi. The following exercise is to help overcome the limits of your rigid world reality and dissolve the separate elements so that they flow together once again, both within and through you. This enables you to transcend the world experience and realign with universal consciousness.

Begin by spending time in nature or connecting with nature in your unique way.

You can practice this exercise either in a sitting position or lying down. If you choose to sit, do your best to keep your spine and back as straight as you can so that you align with the energies more easily.

Close your eyes and take six slow, deep breaths.

Become aware of your physical body and the way it is feeling.

I am not solid matter.

I see and feel my earth dissolve into the water.

I am not liquid matter.

I see and feel my water evaporate in fire.

I am not fire.

I see and feel my fire merge into air.

I am not air.

I see and feel the air within me expand in space.

I am not ether.

I see and feel space being absorbed back into the higher mind.

I am not a limited individual.

I am one with the cosmos.

I am one with the universal consciousness.

I have been a practitioner of Tai Chi and Chi Kung for over twenty-five years. I find that the more frequently I connect with the elements, the more balanced I become. This takes place through the different layers of my physical body, chi/energy, emotional, psychic, and mental bodies, and assists in expanding my awareness far beyond the restraints of the world system.

To reconnect and flow with the elements of creation is to flow in peace with life itself.

Carole Park is a professional healer with 25 years of expertise. Using a blend of pure, high-vibration energy healing, Tai Chi, Chi Kung, Yoga, and Meditation, she’ll help you unlock your powerful potential, come back to wholeness, and manifest your best life. Contact her for a free consultation and personal plan today.

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