Qigong Exercises for the Heart + Internal Organs
All Taoist practices focus on the internal organs since they are critical to our survival and the health we experience in our lifetime—they are what makes us tick. If you lose a limb, as long as you stop the bleeding, you will survive. In fact, you could lose all four limbs and still live but, if you lose an organ—say your heart, spleen or liver—your life will come to an abrupt and decisive end. The simple fact is that it’s not your muscles or limbs that perpetuate your life, but rather your internal organs. Western exercise methods emphasise developing muscle power, shape and tone—that which makes us look good from the outside.
However, when we move past our conditioning, what becomes apparent is that the way we look is mostly unimportant and what goes on inside us is what really counts. In the East, in places like China, Japan and India, whole medical systems are based upon the health of the internal organs. From the perspective of Taoist neigong, exercising the organs begins with the foundational practices, and continues on to the deepest and most advanced studies. All neigong targets the health of the organs to some degree—even when you cannot feel them— but the game shifts into high gear when you can.
