Applying the Empty Mind

by Adam Wallace

Qi Magazine - Issue 88

Fall 2008

The concept of ‘empty mind’ is realised through deep relaxation, attained spontaneously or through training (meditation). It means to be fully aware of the presentand surroundings and forget the self, which removes all hindrance to physical possibilities.

My first experience of this occurred before I had even heard of the concept, before beginning my journey into martial arts and Qigong. It actually occurred during my driving test over twenty years ago now. As a learner I never felt nervous or caused drama on the road but within one minute of being in the car with the invigilator I made a cardinal error. Following his instruction to make a right turn out of the test centre I put my foot down on the accelerator and turned the steering wheel too leisurely, resulting in the car mounting the kerb (on his side no less!). I did not dare to look at his face. In my mind I had already failed so the weight of worry and feeling of apprehension lifted away and the mind became a blank slate.

As he continued to issue his list of commands in a monotone I performed them perfectly, like an automaton.We returned to the test centreafter three-quarters of an hour (which felt like an eternity) and as we came to a complete stop the instructor closed his file and said, “Mr. Wallace……you have passed”. I responded, “You’re joking, right?”, nonplussed, believing him to possess some sadistic sense of humour. (I discovered later that instructors allow errors in the first five minutes due to ‘test nerves’.)

In 1998, I entered into a Pushing Hands competition for the Wenxian International Taijiquan competition. In the evening before the opening, I learned that my randomly picked opponent was the Chen family member who had been my training partner in my previous week’s stay in Chenjiagou (Chen Village). I felt deflated, knowing he was one of the top athletes under Master Chen Bing and Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing. He was more skilled and losing to him in the firstr ound would mean my early exit from the tournament (or so I thought at the time as the rules had not been adequately translated).

This began to eat away at me, causing my Qi to literally disperse. At breakfast I had to force myself to eat and felt uneasy. After lunch I returned to my room with butterflies in my stomach, awaiting the moment of truth. Instead of resting in bed I began practising Zhan Zhuang (Standing Pole) and after half an hour I sat down to meditate. By the time I arrived at the stadium I felt transformed and invigorated. My mind was so calm (a contrast to the competitors that go to great lengths ‘psyching themselves up’), my Qi was stable (adrenaline under control) and fully restored, and I felt deeply centred. Gone were all the doubts and insecurities. At the end of a very close match I was declared the winner, all due to‘empty mind’.

Othertimes when empty mind practice has come in handy is when I train jumping. There is a wall in the park where I used to practice that reached my waist level. A few times, to challenge myself, I would jump onto it from a stationary position; difficult enough even with a running start. Each time I would stand facing the wall considering the height and pondering clearing the distance too much, I would prevent myself from doing it as if my feet were nailed or glued to the ground.

Whenever I would finally stop thinking and say to myself, “Just do it”, I always succeeded.When it comes to physical training and Qi it does not do to overintellectualise what is happening internally. It is more important to feel the experience rather than think or try to make sense of it. Some people find the idea of ‘No Mind’ hard to get around. It seems like a paradox. It is important for the skill taught to be absorbed by the body and not to remain only in the head. Consciousness of self is the greatest impediment to the execution of physical actions. 

Most accidents occur and chances are missed because of pensiveness and hesitation to act, or else in acting rashly or emotionally. In combat, when an opponent commits to launching an attack he creates an opening and becomes vulnerable for a split-second. This window of opportunity, the potential to counterattack, must be ‘felt’ instinctively. There is no time to think because by the time the eyes see it and the brain sends the message to the limbs to counterattack, the opportunity is lost. The opponent would have returned to a defensive position or retreated out of range (closing the ‘window’) or renewed his attack, presenting a whole new set of problems to solve and answer.

The mind, unchecked, creates irrational and unwarranted fears, self doubt and anxiety. In this situation it can literally become our own worst enemy. It creates barriers, physically (between us and our bodies and achieving our goals) and subtly (between us and other people and nature.) The ‘empty mind’ enables us to see things without prejudice, as they really are, and enables us to achieve far more physically than we might think possible.

Quiet your Senses with Meditation

Qi Magazine - Issue 85 (December 2007)

Michael Tse

Meditation is very important for good health. No one can be really healthy if they cannot shut down their minds and be calm and relaxed. Many problems and illnesses begin with stress and tension. If you watch the behaviour of someone who is stressed and under tension, you will see that they are always active and cannot sit or stand still.

Even when people have some personal leisure time they listen to music and are doing things all the time. They are like a machine that is always being used and never turned off. Obviously it will eventually break down, so how can someone like that not become ill? Nowadays people do not understand that calmness and relaxation are important. Most people think that in their spare time they can listen to music, read the newspaper, do the crossword or Sudoku puzzle or watch TV and that these things will help them to relax and recharge their energy after a hard day’s work. This is wrong.

Three thousand years ago in China and India people already discovered the secret and method for longevity. It is all based on the senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. All these senses use a lot of energy, so if we want to live longer we must learn how to shut them down. The method to do this is meditation.

Eye Sense

Whenever we use our eyes, either for watching TV, reading a book or playing agame, we are using energy. The longer we do it the more tired we will become and the older we will look. If you look at highly academic people like university professors, they spend a lot of time researching and reading from books or are working on the computer. They use so much energy and in the end they look tired and older. However, their hard work is for a purpose and brings them success, so for them, it is worth it. Nowadays, though, people will spend hours and hours on the internet for fun or looking up useless information and the energy they use is just wasted.

Hearing Sense

Our hearing also uses energy, although it is not as must as your eyesight. Over-using our hearing can damage the kidneys as in Chinese medicine the kidneys are related to the ears. Today people listen to loud music all the time, so you can imagine how damaged their hearing gets.When they are older they will definitely need a hearing aid and I feel sad for them. Also it means that these people need excitement, something to stimulate them. Without this excitement they find life boring. This is also sad. We should not be partying all the time as this will damage our heart by making it beat too fast. If this is the case, then we cannot be healthy because we cannot sit down and be calm. Then we will continually lose our Qi all the time.

Aside from this, when they are older, people will have to talk loudly to them. Then they will complain that their hearing is weak all because they have damaged it with overuse when they were younger.

Smell Sense

The sense of smell also has a big effect on the body. Many people like to smell nice fragrant scents. However, we can also over–use oursense of smell . If we surround ourselves all the time with pleasant, strong smells, then some of us can lose our sense of smell so that we cannot smell the scent of a simple flower. This is because we have over-stimulated our senses and this makes us feel under stress and hyper-active. Then our sense of smell becomes weak. If we can calm down and relax, then the sense of smell can come back. Our sense of smell is very important. Everything around us has a different smell:- our homes, our offices and even the country we live in has a different smell. A good smell means that the energy in that area is good. If the smell is bad then obviously the energy is bad. This can cause the people who live or work there to be healthy or unhealthy depending on whether it is good or bad energy. It also affects their luck.

Today many people talk about Feng Shui, but most of the time they only talk about or know very low-level knowledge.They only talk about external decoration but how many really understand the internal things and the energy of Feng Shui? Smell plays a big part, so we should not overuse our sense ofsmell. The more perfume we use the more our sense of smell will decline.

Taste Sense

We use our tongue to taste food. People love tasty food and many people enjoy sweets and candy. However, this is not good for the body. What we eat plays a big part in our health. In Chinese medicine we also relate to our internal organs and sour relates to the liver, bitter relates to the heart, sweet relates to the spleen, spicy relates to the lungs and salty relates to the kidneys.

Other tastes are a mixture of these five. If we only like food with one of these tastes or hate certain other tastes, then this can cause an imbalance. For example, sweet tastes are good for the spleen, but the spleen is also related to the stomach and and so if we take a lot of sweet then it will affect the stomach and if we take just a little, then it can be good for the stomach. Anything we overdo can cause a problem. Anything too strong will have an effect and weaken something else. So we should not just concentrate on certain tastes but try and take all kinds but not in excess. Sometimes we do not like bitter tastes but we should still take some.

Most people who live longer lives eat very simply and do not eat unusual food or very highly nutritious food. This minimises the amount they need to use their taste buds and so it does not exhaust the internal organs.

Touch Sense

The sense of touch is also very important. Many people like the feel of fine fabrics, like silks and linens. Also people like the feel of wood in good furniture like beds and tables. This sense excites the mind so that it cannot be calm. This contact stimulates the nerves and sometimes these can be overused, especially if we over-indulge ourselves. This too means we will lose Qi.

To save our Qi we should keep our sense of touch or feeling calm and then our Qi can settle back to the Dantian. We should not let our Qi run around our body too vigorously. In order to save Qi we must let it settle and calm down, as if nothing has happened to the body. Although everything in the body is still functioning, the heart is still beating and we are still breathing, we should slow things as much as possible.

Four Postures of Meditation

Remember, meditation is not about moving the Qi. Physical movement helps us to circulate the Qi, to use our Qi in the right way and get rid of negative Qi. During meditation we should shut down the five senses so we can settle and collect more Qi. This increases our longevity.

For practising meditation there are four postures: One is standing and we call this Zhan Zhuang, the second way is sitting in a chair, the third is sitting in lotusposition, which, in Chinese, we call Pan Xi. The fourth method is lying down, which we call ErGong. Standing, sitting and lying are all different physically but all have the same principle which is to settle the Qi and store it in the Dantian.

Zhan Zhuang

When we do Zhan Zhuang there are different levels:- high position, middle position and a low position. Lower is more difficult and higher is easier.When we stand in a lower stance we call this Ma Bo Zhan, which means horse stance standing position. This demands a lot of leg strength and so it is not easy to do for long. However, nomatter which position we choose to stand in, we need to keep the body in a line. The top of the head at the Bai Hui pointshould be vertically in line with the Yongquan points on thesoles of the feet.  

In the high and middle positions the Huiyin point between the legs also lines up with the Baihui point. This we can see if we check our posture from the side. About the hands,we can hold these in various positions and use different gestures, such as at the Middle Dantian or the Lower Dantian.These areas connect with the areas of the Qi. Different gestures involve the palms and the Laogong Points or the shape of the fingers and this directs the Qi to go a different way at first.However, if we stay for long enough, then the feeling is thesame for all of them. The will be Qi is strong and runs all overthe body following the proper channels.

In the low position we should try and keep the thighsparallel to the ground. In this position the Huiyin point will notline up with the Baihui and Yongquan. This low stance willdevelop the lower legs more, particularly the calves. The feetshould be shoulder width apart, the eyes should be open, but not focused. We should keep the mouth closed naturally andbreathe in and out through the nose.

Generally, when we practise the low stance we will notstay for too long and when we are tired we should stand upand change to a mid or high position. When we feel strongagain we can go back down again. So we can repeat low, highand middle stance for quite a long time. Generally, peoplecan stand one to two minutes in the low posture and somemore senior students five to seven minutes. The low stancewill not make you heavy and stiff but actually the opposite, asit makes you feel lighter. In Chinese we say, “Light Gong (XingGong) training is based on heavy training.” This standing exercise can also help a lot of leg and knee problems.

The height of the middle position can vary, but the Baihui, Huiyin and Yongquan points must line up vertically together. The feet can be wider than the shoulders. The eyes and breathing are the same as in the low position. The eyes must be open because in this exercise there is a lot of Qi that needs to be released out through them. We do not focus so it means we are not using our eyes to see. Again, the hand positions and gestures can vary, for example, Laogong points facing each other or facing the ground, etc. It has the same meaning as the low stance.

Sitting Meditation

When meditating sitting on a chair, we should not lean back against the back of the chair like we do when watching TV. We should sit forward towards the edge of the chair and inthis way we minimise how much contact we have with thechair. There are many ways and gestures we can use for thehands. You might just place your hands on your thighs so that the Laogong points touch the Liangqiu points or form a hand gesture which is also fine. The feet should rest on the floor and the knees and toes should line up vertically, but the feet must be flat on the floor.

Lying Meditation

The last way of meditation is lying down. The most common way is to lie on your back and rest your hands on your Dantian, this means that the Laogong points cover the Dantian. The head should be raised up a little using a pillowso that the head is higher the feet. This allows the Qi toflow down to the Dantian and to the feet. The downside of this position is that it is easy to fall asleep, so generally I donot do much lying meditation. Another way is to lie on yourside and put one hand close to your head and the other hand on your thigh. This creates a Taiji symbol with the body.

All these four ways to do meditation are the same inthat they allow us to calm down, shut down our senses andstore our Qi. However, standing positions develop the bones and lotus position concentrates the Qi in the upper body more which is why the legs feel numb because the circulation ha sbeen blocked somewhat. In the end, no matter which one we do, we need to be patient and relax the body. The longer we can meditate the better we will get and the more we will enjoy its benefits in the future.

Wang XiangZhai on Strength and Combat

First one must make the strength equal all over the body, the muscles agile, and the bones supporting the frame of the body, so that the muscles can contract, stretch, relax, and tense in harmony. Strength should come from inside and be issued outside. In movement, slow excels over quick, be relaxed rather than impatient, the movement should be slight and the spirit full. In trial of strength, one should not have unilateral strength, furthermore, one should not have sheer strength. First of all, one should perceive by intuition whether the strength of the whole body is all-pervading or not, whether the strength can be issued out at any moment or not, and whether one can react to the atmosphere or not, furthermore, one must not let the mind break and the spirit disperse. Have light and heavy forces ready to be issued out, when one part of the body moves, the whole body moves. The strength is consistent, resulting in nimble and heavy insubstantiality, and round and whole substantiality. Up and down, left and right, front and back, do not forget them. To sum up, what cannot lead to comfort, happiness, and gaining strength does not deserve to be called boxing. If one does not have the basic mechanical ability, then no matter what the movement is like, it is all wrong. The same applies to using strength and not using strength. The movements of an ordinary person cannot have strength without constant unilateral tension that disturbs the blood circulation. Every kind of strength based on constant unilateral tension is stiff and inharmonious, and besides that, harmful to health. Having strength without constant unilateral tension is namely having strength without using strength, and when using it, one gains strength. That is what the natural instinctive strength is like. It is like seeking all kinds of real things from the unreal, which is hardly possible to express in words. Anyway, ‘Dachengquan’ is beyond the external form of being good or bad, it actually depends on dealing with the mind. In a nutshell, having a fixed form and fixed techniques are all false. Skills reaching the level of no-mind are getting very rare, this is what the above means.