What’s in Your Qi Account?

Renee Lehman

(5/2013) It’s SPRING!!! Trees are producing leaves, flowers are beginning to grow and bloom, and animals are more active and giving birth to new generations. Overall, everything in nature is much more active. What you are seeing is the Qi (pronounced "chee") flowing through all living creation.

Frequently, when someone uses the word Qi, such as, "I don’t have a lot of Qi today," they are implying that their "energy level" is low. However, Qi is a much bigger concept than just your energy to get through the day. Qi is translated to mean the Vital Life Force or the Universal Life Force that flows naturally through all things in the universe. It is what gives you LIFE!

This Qi or Universal Life Force flows through the body on specific energetic pathways called Meridians. When the Qi is balanced, moving smoothly, and in sufficient quality and quantity, health and wellness are promoted. When the Qi is unbalanced or blocked in any way, disease or dis – ease, will occur. This dis – ease may show up as symptoms on a physical, mental/emotional, or spiritual level. It is important to realize that these symptoms are signals from the body, mind, and spirit that there is a Qi imbalance that needs attention. They are only the end result of a Qi imbalance, so the whole person needs to be addressed, not just the symptoms. In other words, the underlying root of the dis-ease needs to be addressed (issues with the person’s Qi) rather than just treating the symptoms.

So how can you keep your Qi balanced, moving smoothly, and in sufficient quality and quantity?

Build up the Qi in your Checking Account! Checking Account Qi? What is that? Let me use the following analogy to explain.

Imagine that you have a Savings account and a Checking account at your local bank. You pay your bills (debts) from the Checking account. Your Savings account is where you keep your money for "safe keeping," and you don’t want this to diminish over time. You may even have overdraft protection, so that when you pay a bill with a check, your bank automatically transfers money from the Savings account to the Checking account so that the check does not bounce. Finally, if you want to have more money in your Checking account, you can either increase the amount of money that you make (and therefore, increase the dollar amount that you deposit into your Checking account), and/or you can decrease your expenses (cut the number of bills, and debts that you may have).

Imagine that with regards to your Qi, you also have a Savings Account and a Checking Account. Your Savings Account Qi is the Qi that you are born with (your Inherited Qi). This is a finite amount of Qi that cannot be increased. It gradually diminishes over time as we age. This is analogous to a candle which, as it burns gets shorter and shorter. Your Checking Account Qi is the Qi that you create by the way that you live your life (your Acquired Qi). It is based on your lifestyle: your quality and quantity of sleep, the quality of the food that you eat, the amount of time that you work, the amount of time that you have leisure (and the ratio of work to leisure), the type and amount of exercise that you do, the amount of sex that you have, the quality of relationships that you have, how you handle daily stress, etc.

Your "energetic bills/debts"(which we all have at various degrees), are created by typical daily living, and poorer lifestyle choices. At first, the "energetic debts" may show up as minimal symptoms that come and go, but over time they progress to constant illness or disease that limits your normal functioning.

So, as with the actual bank Savings and Checking accounts, you pay your "energetic bills/debts" from your Checking Account Qi. And, this is one time when you DO NOT want overdraft protection! You want to keep your Savings Account Qi as "strong" as possible, because when the Savings Account Qi is used up, you pass away. So how can you preserve your Savings Account Qi and build up your "energetic reserves" in your Checking Account Qi? As mentioned above, you can: 1) increase the amount of Qi that you deposit into the account (by improving the way that you live your life); and/or 2) you can decrease your "energetic expenses."

To keep your Checking Account Qi substantial: 1) Eat foods that are healing to the body. All foods have specific effects on our Qi when they enter the human body. 2) Eat cooked foods. This will decrease the amount of energy that the digestive system needs to digest foods. 3) Eat organic food because it has more vital energy than genetically modified foods. 4) Avoid excess fluids with meals, overeating, skipping meals, and eating while working. Less Qi will then go to paying "debts," and more of the Qi from the foods will go into building your Checking Account Qi. 5) Do activities that build your Qi, like yoga, swimming, walking, and Qigong. 6) Begin to cut some of your "energetic expenses" by: getting better quality sleep, removing non-essential activities from your "plate" that don’t restore you, learning to handle your stress in a more productive way, taking time to "smell the roses" and consider increasing the amount of leisure in your life (if you are a work-a-holic), and listening to your body (your body is wise).

Interested in learning more about having better health/wellness and building your Checking Account Qi? Consider being a participant in The Dragon’s Way®. The Dragon’s Way program is a six-week class that helps you to understand the miraculous complexity and delicacy of the body and the way it truly works, about how the organs should operate in harmony, and how Qi powers all its functions. This program provides a real owner’s manual for the body. The main components and principles of the program are Wu Ming Meridian Therapy Qigong, an Eating for Healing Plan, and learning how your body works from the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) perspective. If you are interested in learning how to increase your Checking Account Qi, please call Renee Lehman at the number given below.

Renee Lehman is a licensed acupuncturist, physical therapist, and Reiki Master with over 20 years of health care experience. Her office is located at 249B York Street in Gettysburg, PA.  She can be reached at 717-752-5728.