The abdomen is the crossroad where heavenly energy coming down passes through on its way to the earth and ascending earth energy finds its way up to heaven. Blockages in the abdomen affect the totality of the organism.

The abdomen is a zone where most of the vital organs can be touched through deep massage. Chi Nei Tsang helps us work with the organs and the emotions in a most simple way. It is a way to complement and support all the previous levels. Most of the facets are done using the Six Healing Sounds.

Chi Nei Tsang can be practiced as an auto-massage for self-maintenance, and as a way of generating benefit to others.

Personal evolution is not something that is done in isolation with all the attention focused on oneself. That would result in a situation of extreme isolation and lack of flow. The I Ching suggests that as a point of view we adopt that of Mother Nature and generate benefit to all beings in whatever manner possible.

When energy practice is focused on oneself only, Nature provides energy for just one person. Instead, if our goal is generating benefit to all beings and become active in doing so, then energy will be provided to benefit all beings we can reach. Chi Nei Tsang is one step toward enlarging our circle of influence and become, in the words of the I Ching, “The assistant of Heaven.”

With an altruistic point of view and actions taken to manifest it in the world, curiously enough, we are the first ones to benefit by growing happiness and a deep sense of wellbeing.

Our ability to receive is proportional to our ability to give. In the Chi Nei Tsang massage the hands are our main physical instrument. The hands are the transmission point where the energy flowing through the structure contacts others.

The Buddha Palm sequence is a series of movement made with the arms in coordination with the structure for increasing energy flow through the hands. As a self-practice some of the movements help clear and empower the different energy points of the Microcosmic Orbit. Some of the arm and finger positions stretch the muscle-tendon meridians connected to the toes and the earth. The result is that we are able to provide a conduit of Creative Energy into another being, human, animal or plant.

The Buddha Palm sequence can be combined with Bone Breathing, the Microcosmic Orbit, the Six Healing Sounds, the alignment of the Embracing the Tree, the centered calmness of Harmonizing the Five Elements 1 and the altruistic point of view of the I Ching.

All energy work can be summarized in one word: vibration. The process of manifesting physical and subtle reality begins with an idea which is expressed as root sounds and creative vibrations.

All the techniques thus far learned require to be initiated through some activity of the ego. Ego activity is polarized and never in harmony. Harmony means balance of yin and yang so that Creative Energy is activated. The greater the activities of the ego the greater the degree of  separation and emotional imbalances, since all the emotions are dependent on a sense of duality.

Mantra practice, or the repetition of root sounds, has the ability to silence the activities of the ego; silence instantly mental chatter; unify the energy system into a set of creative vibrations; cut through negative states of mind; put the breath into a rhythmic pattern; stabilize the consciousness; refresh the stressed nervous system in a short time and connect the energy system to a higher frequency vibration. All of this is accomplished with a minimum of effort because mantras are the sounds of the creation itself. Mantras are not sounds from our ordinary language or prayers reinforcing the sense of duality between self and a divine principle.

Root sounds are universal sounds which constitute the vibrations of particular processes. These root sounds were discovered in the most ancient past by practitioners at the highest level of awareness.

There are root sounds for attracting, repelling, removing obstacles, unifying, healing illness, generating compassion energy and so on. The list is as vast as the creation because every living being and every energy process is a particular set of vibrations unique to that process.

Vibration is also a connecting link between dimensions. All energy is vibration. As one reaches the limits of physical consciousness, mantra functions as an interdimensional bridge for “crossing the great water” as the I Ching calls it.

Mantra practice introduces the very important factor of numerical rhythm in energy work. The I Ching calls rhythms “helpers” because they are able to take over energy processes and carry them out without the intervention of the ego. When a rhythm is active we don’t have to do anything and in the process become tireless because Creative Energy is flowing with a minimum of effort.

Of all energy practices Mantra has the distinction of being the most versatile because it can be carried out internally or externally in the midst of any situation or emotional state and its ability to silence mental chatter and overcome distracted states works instantly.

The mind is the background space in which everything is experienced. From the moment we are born the mind continuously generates thoughts, experiences emotions, formulates opinions, creates likes and dislikes and generates the conditions for either happiness or suffering. This process is continuous and goes on even when we sleep.

The word “mantra” is defined as “an instrument for structuring the mind”. Mantra is capable of generating balance where there are chaotic thoughts and emotions. Like a continuous drop of water on a hard stone, through repetition, mantra begins to breakdown even the most resistant and insidious ideas, obsessive thoughts or negative emotions. But mantra does even more; it is capable of generating a conscious experience of the luminous and blissful nature of the Original Mind itself.

In this level we focus on the use of mantra for healing the mind, the emotions and the direction we are headed in life by accessing the inner guide. This will be accomplished through the structuring and centering effect of creative sounds.

Healing is a caring and loving function under the powers of the Divine Feminine. That change is possible, and that through change we are capable of correcting wrongs and evolve, demonstrates that creation is, as the Indian Vedas affirm, “forgiving”. The belief that the universe is punishing or that the divine powers are implacable in dealing out justice, has come about through lack of deep inquiry into the essential nature of the creation. The universe we inhabit is feminine and its most essential quality is love, forgiveness, unlimited opportunity and transformation.

The feminine principle is not only expressed through women; it is manifested each time we activate the caring, loving, nurturing, protecting and healing abilities we have. The feminine is also manifested when we seek to simplify life. As the ancient Daoist saying goes, “the yang works through the easy and the yin through the simple.”

The feminine principle is a vibrational aspect of our nature which the ancient sages were able to discern as mantra. Empowering the heart center through which the Divine Feminine flows, is essential for developing the second cauldron at the intermediate level. Generating benefits in the world for all beings sharing the creation is the way that the Divine Feminine flows enriching everyone it meets. The Divine Feminine mantras strengthen the caring and nurturing aspect of our being and through them we harmonize with the point of view of Mother Nature and are transformed in the process.

The key concept for efficient energy work in the I Ching is being at the right time at the right place; facing the right direction; generating the right feelings; doing the right things and being in the right company.

Energetically there is only one place where everything can be accomplished and that is the center. The center is not a physical space but is rather an energy place in the subtle anatomy of living beings where the energies of heaven and earth interact as one. In the human body this is the central channel or ‘cauldron’.

Our homes and the space surrounding it are the physical cauldron where the energies of yin and yang interact through the power of our intention and perseverance and the quality of actions we bring into the world. The home as a living organism has also a meridian system equivalent to that found in the human body.

The purpose of this level of internal Feng Shui is generating the auspicious conditions for optimizing potential by establishing a series of meridians and energy patterns in the living space and the land around it. It is energetically naïve to believe that mirrors, bells and aquariums with fishes of the right color are able to optimize our human potential. According to such point of view our well-being would depend on having the right objects in the right place regardless of our emotional state and the beliefs we hold.

This level of Feng Shui is not only for generating personal benefit, because we are not separate from the environment we live. Through energy work coupled with strong intention and a good relationship with the Creative Energy it is possible to heal the earth in the places where it has been wounded by careless selfish action. In the process of healing the earth we embody the advice of the I Ching of leaving the places we go through better than we found them.

The experiences with the Creative Energy and its impact in our lives can be expressed through painting, sculpture, architecture, music, poetry, writing, story-telling, dance, cooking or whatever we are skilful at. The essence of the Sacred Arts is the direct transmission of experience generated through personal practice for the benefit of other beings following a path of personal development.

The ability to communicate experiences in the path toward higher consciousness is another way that we generate benefit through teaching. Often all that remains of a great civilization of the past are just a few temple walls and a few sculptures testament to the spiritual attainment of that culture. In the museums of ancient art, we may notice, the sacred arts are the most abundant remains.

Through the Sacred Arts we transmit the essence of the energy practices directly into the unconscious of another person. It is a way of instantly communicating the essence of a tradition without having to explain or preparations.

The Sacred Arts are also a way of inspiring others to develop their excellence and express the Creative Energy and its centering power.

When the energy of spirit is strong everything said or done is a form of Sacred Art.

The I Ching recommends that one third of the way down our path of development we begin to lead groups in the basic practices for self-empowerment. This is done not only for the benefit of others but also as a step for broadening our field of activity, shifting emphasis on just oneself and developing a vaster perspective in what we are doing.

Having to present the practices we have been doing for sometime, to others, forces us to clarify what is essential from what is not. Questions asked by the students force us to re-examine more deeply problems and situations we may not have encountered by ourselves.

The positive changes experienced by the people we teach will deepen our basic trust in what we are doing and the power of the practice lineage we are part of.

The practitioners who never develop this stage remain in a kind of isolation which makes them potentially vulnerable to self-doubt and distrust in what they are doing. At worst one is continually ‘shopping around’ for something better or just different; this is because we are not truly grounded in what we are doing.