Primordial Qigong
Returning to the Source
by Minka de Vos

Have you ever pondered, where have I come from and where am I going? Spiritual Qigong forms create an opportunity to relax and open to our natural state of being. Qigong is energy practice of graceful yet powerful movements. Like the Medicine Wheel and sacred rituals of other spiritual traditions, Primordial Qigong connects us with the energy of all the directions: Heaven, Earth, four cardinal directions, and our centre.

What is unique to Primordial Qigong is the way we gather energy from each direction and alchemically fuse the elements into an elixir for spiritual growth. It is not a martial art form with deadly martial applications. Though it has many health benefits, the focus is not solely on health enhancement. Some of these benefits include calming, incarnating, grounding, strengthening the heart, balancing the emotions, and balancing left and right brain; it is also helpful for people with ailments like cancer and heart disease. It is a training for longevity, happiness, harmony, and tuning into our higher guidance. It supports the alchemical process towards spiritual immortality or rebirth.

We are a microcosm of the universe. This movement form encapsulates our relationship with nature. Cosmic laws are embedded in its numerology: Earth has 12 movements, 12 hours of the day and night, 12 months. Heaven has 50 movements, 10 octaves of the five elements. The earth form orients us with above, below, left, right, and links them with the Microcosmic Orbit, a channel that flows up the spine (yang channel) and down the front (yin channel). It is sometimes called the “Marriage of Heaven and Earth.” When we circulate energy in this way, we generate balance and harmony within. Throughout the form, we store this energy in our core to build our energetic reserves in our centre.

Internal alchemical secrets are embodied through this profound form. In our retreats, we practice Inner alchemical meditation to experience how the polarities of the elements can interact to transform “lead into gold.” We can refine dark, dense, heavy parts of ourselves into golden light, unconditional love. Through “cooking” water with fire, we make steam, which opens up our subtle body softly but effectively.

Chong Song Fong, founder of Tai Chi Chuan, also created this form about 800 years ago. Michael Winn learned it from Dr. Zhu, who survived harsh starvation conditions after the war in China by practicing this form. He nourished himself directly from nature. Michael Winn recognized the alchemical meaning embedded in the movements. He calls this form Tai Chi for Enlightenment.

My immediate experience of this sacred movement meditation was heart-opening. Through movement, I could offer my praises to the nature around me. Our delight and appreciation is what we can give back to nature for its endless generosity and abundance. On our retreats we practice this form outside and it feels like we create a majestic temple with our group chi field. The vortex pulls in the energy we need to evolve. We especially practice at turning points in the seasons, the solstices, and equinoxes to gather the particular natural elixir. During the equinoxes, there is a balance of yin and yang energy in the environment.

The choreography is like a DNA double helix. The movements of the form spiral counter-clockwise, reversing time, and expanding consciousness into primordial source. The underlying structure of the form shifts like cogs of a wheel clockwise through each cardinal direction, starting and ending east, cycling with time, the seasons, sun and moon, day and night. The Heavenly Cycle makes an initial turn and overlaps the earth cycle and both end at the initial starting point.

The chi is the universal lubricant, which makes our movement flowing and effortless. As we shift our weight to one side, that side fills with chi and the other empties and opens. One movement we do is called “Dragon washes its Face,” where we stroke down the left and right deep inner channels to cleanse and energize them. With every movement we can follow how chi rises, falls, expands, contracts, opens, and closes, and so on. We play with relaxed fluidity with our eyes open but soft and the panoramic vision helps us to gather chi.

We practice Tao Yoga and Feldenkrais “Awareness through Movement” methods, to help dissolve blockages to our authentic movement. The movements are slow, graceful, and circular. This improves our chi and blood circulation and prevents stagnation and disease. As we focus on the movement, our mind is present in the moment and we give ourselves a holiday from stressful emotional and mental patterns. Giving ourselves space to breathe is essential to simply feeling good!

We keep returning to the Stillness of our centre, like coming home to our Being. The form becomes a portal, inviting us to enter into the moment, to discover the Wu Ji, Supreme Ultimate Mystery, in the primordial universe within and without. May this celebration empower your journey to your primordial Self.

Minka de Vos, Senior Universal Tao Instructor, draws from her extensive background in energy arts and her own soul journey. She has dedicated 30 years to spiritual embodiment, teaching, and healing work. She co-founded Silent Ground Retreats, for long-term, life-transforming programs. She has worked and co-taught with Taoist Grandmaster Mantak Chia for 25 years and is part of the core faculty of the Universal Healing Tao System. She also teaches at the Healing Tao University each summer. She is a certified Medical Qigong Master by the International Institute of Medical Qigong and has organized and assisted in the three-year training. She teaches and gives private sessions internationally. Minka creatively integrates intention, healing sounds, breath, and movement into the practices of Inner Alchemy Meditation, Tao Yoga, and Qigong. She inspires people to live with passion, love, and compassion, honouring their body, relationships, and the world around them. She is the author of “Feminine Treasures” Playbook, “Heart Qigong,” and other DVDs and CDs (www.silentground.com). Minka and her partner David Gyrukovics will be teaching Primordial Qigong and Wisdom Cultivation, May 9–12 at Ancient Spirals (near Saskatoon). Please see the colour display ad on page 25 of the 18.6 March/April issue of the WHOLifE Journal and visit www.silentground.com/saskatoon2012.