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Foundational Exercise 4
yin – yang circulation
This exercise makes use of two acupuncture meridians, known respectively as Du mai – on the back of the body – and Ren mai – on the front. In Chinese medicine, the back meridian is considered yang and the front yin, hence yin – yang, when one connects the two by means of an inner practice.
The purpose is to balance polarity and to circulate and accumulate vitality in these channels. This exercise is an important tool to help the energy system to accumulate and store surplus energy which is necessary both for optimal health and for the spiritual process. There are many variants of this exercise. The following is a rather simple version.
This exercise makes use of a channel that is located just below the skin and forms a full circle around the body.
You start at the tip of the tailbone at the bottom of the spine. With an inbreath energy and attention are moved from the tailbone up along the back of the spine to where the neck meets the base of the skull, over the back of the head, the crown, down across the forehead and the nose and the front teeth in the upper palate. Keep the tip of the tongue in contact with the point on the palate right behind the front teeth. The inbreath concludes here.
Then, on the outbreath move energy and attention from a point right under the lower lip down along the throat, chestbone, solar plexus and stomach, over the belly button to the sexual organs and finish at the perineum, between the anus and sexual organs. This constitutes one full circulation. Begin the next with a new inbreath. Try to regulate the length of your breathing cycle so that you can complete the two parts of the circulation in a single breathing cycle.
Practice the exercise for about five minutes.
Before you start the exercise:
Find a peaceful place to sit comfortably in a chair or on a cushion on the floor. Take a moment to sense your body, your breathing. Let the mind gently settle and prepare yourself to begin the exercise.
End your exercise by focusing your attention on your whole body and get a sense of how it feels to be present right now, this very moment.
Practice the exercise for about five minutes.
THE FIVE FOUNDATIONAL EXERCISES
The five foundational exercises move or circulate respiratory energy along specific pathways in the body. Four of the exercises use a traditional mapping of energies in the body, while one exercise uses two channels described in traditional Chinese medicine.
Four of the exercises were formulated in this form by Jes Bertelsen, while the pineal-solar plexus-throat exercise stems from Bob Moore’s teachings. The exercises have been used in the past fourty years by literally thousands of people in connection with teachings at the Vaekstcenter.
The full programme of exercises is normally done in the following order: 1) pineal—hara, 2) crown—root, 3) pineal—solar plexus—throat (also called the double C), 4) the yin-yang circulation, and 5) essence—heart. For a beginner it is possible for a period of time to train only two of the exercises: 1) pineal—hara, and 2) essence—heart. If one wishes to add just one more exercise, one can use 1) pineal—hara, 2) yin-yang circulation, and 3) essence—heart.