How come we’re not taught in school about the most potent magical elixir in our bodies? How come it took me until I was ‘getting on a bit’ and travelling to distant parts to discover the secrets that lay right under my nose, in my own body, hidden within those tiny seemingly insignificant little walnut shaped glands?
Ooh yes, how I could’ve done with this wisdom earlier in my life whilst I was literally on the floor with stress and chronic fatigue, infertility and chronic lower back pain to mention but a few of the ‘Kidney deficient’ ailments I had managed to contract – excuse the pun.
In Chinese Medicine the ‘energetic’ Kidneys govern the sexual organs, so Kidney Qi is inextricably linked to our Ovarian Qi.
In a recent seminar by Mantak Chia, he shared that 50% of the energy we’re born with (our Original Qi) is ‘sexual’ energy, in that 25% is ‘reproductive’ energy in our ovaries (or testicles) and 25% is back up reproductive energy, ie Kidney energy (that’s how vital this energy is in the body – half of our total potential stored here). We can squander our Kidney energy unknowingly by simply overdoing it, either physically or mentally, by getting stuck in fear or anxiety, by consuming adrenal draining substances such as coffee, pharmaceutical or recreational drugs. Producing babies also takes up a great deal of this Qi and so too, albeit less so, we lose it in our menstrual blood.
The Taoist theory goes that the most potent proportion of this Original Qi sits in our ovaries – this makes perfect sense if you think that each egg (and there are a whopping 350 produced on average in a woman’s life time) contains enough yang energy to create a whole new human life. Most of this energy is unused and therefore wasted every time the egg is not fertilised and flows out with our menstrual blood. The taoists developed a practice called Ovarian Breathing to harness this powerful energy and re-route it in order to build up and enhance our physical energy levels, well-being and creativity.
If the above wasn’t enough incentive to start practicing Ovarian Breathing, a study by the Alzheimers Association stated that ‘A lack of female sexual hormones going to the brain to stimulate and activate the brain after menopause is one cause
of Alzheimers disease.
NB: if you’re pregnant or trying to get pregnant, then this practice is not recommended as you need this qi right where it is, ie in the ovaries or the growing foetus.
Before you start practicing Ovarian Breathing, it is highly beneficial to be regularly practicing the foundation practices of the Healing Tao system, e.g Inner Smile, Six Healing Sounds and Micro Cosmic Orbit and the basic qigong movements. This will ensure that your emotional, mental and physical energy bodies are as clear and flowing as possible, as working with sexual energy amplifies existing emotions – and that your heart energy is as open as possible, as it is the ovarian qi in combination with the compassion energy of the heart that creates the most transformation.
Here is one version of this powerful practice:
Start by drawing up juicy energy from the earth into perineum and combine this with your own sexual energy, drawing them up to your heart.
- Allow this energy to blossom into your hands and breasts and massage your breasts and nipples to connect with the whole endocrine system.
- Allow this energy to flow down to the kidneys and then to the ovaries.
- Take plenty of time to activate the ovaries by: smiling into them, spiralling them with eyes, wrapping them with light energy,massaging them with finger tips, expanding them on the in breath and relaxing them on the out breath.
- Next, on the in-breath, allow perineum and ovaries to expand and blossom with earth energy
- On the out breath, contract yoni lightly and take awareness to OvarianPalace, (in the womb, mid point between ovaries) allowing more and more Qi to gather here with each out breath.
- When you feel a warmth or a fuller feeling in the Ovarian Palace, allow the Ovarian Qi to flow down to the perineum, spiral briefly here and then gently pump this qi up the back channel to the brain.
- Spiral this potent qi inside the brain to allow it to charge up all the masterglands located here. Spiral counter clockwise and then clockwise, breathing normally.
- On an out-breath, allow the Qi to flow back down the front channel and eithersend it around the orbit again or finish by gathering and then condensing the Qi in the navel centre, breathing deeply, smiling into your recharged pearl and your newly revitalized, rejuvenated body and mind!
Glossary:
Yoni = the sexual organs and most specifically the vaginal canal
Ovarian Palace/ Sexual Palace = the womb
Qi = life force energy