Why dying before the age of 100 is a big misunderstanding
According to one of my Qi Gong teachers, Master Yuan Tze, the average age for a person should be somewhere between 125 and 175 years. And I fully believe him. It’s funny how according to our current conditioning we believe such an age to be a miracle rather than the norm.
The phenomenon we call ‘ageing’ is the weakening and degeneration of the functions of human life. And unfortunately these functions degenerate a lot quicker than they should as a result of our life-depleting habits and lifestyles. According to Yuan Tze, we are simply ignorant (which means to be oblivious of and ignoring of) the ‘laws of life’. If we were to follow so-said laws, we would understand what it is we need to do in order to live a long and healthy life.
According to Yuan Tze, our life is split into five main phases:
- Birth
- Growth and development
- Maturing and reaching our peak
- Ageing
- Death
Apparently, the three phases between birth and death should be approximately:
- Growth and development: 1-25 years
- Maturing and flourishing: 25-80 years
- Ageing: 80-125/175 years
According to science, to calculate a full life span, one multiplies the growth period (in this case 25 years) by between 5 and 7, giving a total of 125-175 years.
Wow, have we been short-changed or what?!
So, the key to a long and healthy life is to follow the laws of life. It is well beyond the scope of this little blog to describe this in detail, (for that I recommend you get yourself a copy of his book ‘Voyage to the Shore’). However, in short, we need to learn what it is we need to do to stop leaking our life force energy.
According to Chinese philosophy, each person is born with a certain quota of life force energy, or ‘Qi’ in Taoist terms. This is downloaded at the moment of conception from our parents and is called ‘pre-natal Qi’. Then, once we are born, we start to manufacture additional Qi from our food and drink, from the air we breathe, and through exchanging energy from nature. This is all well and good.
The problems start when we start emptying our Qi bank accounts quicker than we can fill them up. Through many life-depleting habits and patterns we start to deplete our pre-natal Qi, leading to a premature weakening of human body functions. In addition, because the body is no longer functioning optimally, it cannot manufacture enough quality Qi from the food we eat or from proper breathing. And so the Qi bank balance diminishes bit by bit, until we start to experience tiredness and sickness. And we think this is normal. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sickness is not normal – health is normal, we have just forgotten it.
So what are these life-depleting patterns I have been alluding to? Well many really, and too many to talk about here. However, here’s a clue: anything you do that takes you out of a calm and relaxed state (which is our natural state, although anyone in a perpetual state of stress will have difficulty believing that) will deplete your Qi.
So what thought patterns, emotional behaviours and lifestyle habits do you have which take you out of a state of calm mind and relaxed body? Here are some ideas to get your list going:
THOUGHT PATTERNS
- Negative thinking, expecting the worst, criticizing yourself or others, blaming yourself or others, comparing yourself to others, thinking you are better than or less than others
- Thinking too much, constant mind chatter known as the ‘monkey mind’
EMOTIONAL PATTERNS
- Negative feelings such as anger, frustration, worry, sadness, grief, worry, fear, jealousy, guilt
- Supressing emotions which then get stored in the cells and cause Qi blockages
- Any negative emotions immediately deplete our Qi (life force energy) and sap the organs of energy
LIFESTYLE HABITS
- Being busy all the time, over-driving oneself, pushing oneself too hard
- Imbalance in work-life, all work no play
- Unhealthy eating habits, eating too fast, doing other things while eating such as watching tv, talking or reading a paper, not chewing properly, not eating according to one’s needs, not taking meal breaks, eating too late before bed
- Sitting for too long and poor posture, both of which affect internal organ function and Qi flow
MISUSE OF SENSES
In addition, over-use of the sense organs depletes our Qi, for example:
- Constantly looking outwards which takes our attention out of our body and mind
- Eating too much, ‘eyes bigger than stomach’
- Talking too much, non-essential talking
- Infact, anything that we do which takes our attention outside our body depletes Qi, because the Qi follows the attention of the mind
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS
Our environment also has a big impact on our energy levels. In Chinese philosophy this is known as ‘Feng Shui’, the art of geomancy. Negative environmental influences include:
- Poor living or work conditions
- Life-depleting work conditions include things such as poor desk placement, lack of natural light, fluorescent lighting, air-conditioning, lack of fresh air, build up of EMF radiation from computers etc, fumes (eg, in a car workshop), pressurised work situations which create stress
- Life-depleting home conditions could include negative emotional environments such as living in fear from those around you, not sleeping well due to noise levels or any other stressful factors
- EMF radiation from cell phones, Bluetooth devices, computers
- Buildings placed over lei lines and underground water ways
These lists are by no means complete, and are in fact just the start. The key is to identify your own list, any patterns or habits which drain and deplete your energy. And then do something about them – ie, change and make changes in how you live!
If we are to be healthy, we must take matters into our own hands and become more aware of ourselves from the inside out. It is the only way. Meditating. eating healthy, yoga classes and bush walks are all well and good, and do assist in keeping us healthy. However, if what you do OUTSIDE of those activities is still putting your body into a state of stress or energy depletion, then they are not the only answer to staying healthy.
Believe it or not, sickness is NOT a normal part of life development. We are designed to be healthy and joyous, and designed to die of old age, not illness.
So, if you want to live to a ripe old age, start looking inwards and identifying and working on your life-depleting habits and patterns, and then change them into life-enhancing habits. And watch the different it makes on your health and happiness!
Kim Knight is the Director of the Art of Health. She specializes in helping people identify life-depleting patterns and then gives them the tools to bring themselves back to a natural state of good health.
For more info see www.artofhealth.co.nz www.taohealth.co.nz www.mickeltherapy.co.nz Coming soon www.quantumhealing.co.nz
For details of Master Yuan Tze and his book see www.yuantzecentre.com
Transformational solutions for optimal wellbeing
