Heart Qigong
Open the Heart of the Tao, the Way of Natural Healing
by Minke de Vos

Are you ready for a change of heart? Open your heart to new possibilities for yourself through the contemplation of fundamental questions—questions which penetrate the core of life.

What is on your heart? Do you have conflicting “voices” that disturb your “Heart Mind”? How does an individual come to peace with her/his Self? During the Heart Qigong Retreat, you will learn how to deal gracefully with the challenges of life. Discover what your heart longs for, as well as what nourishes your heart.

Relationships, heartbreaks, and separations have a serious effect on human health. All of us are worthy of respectful communication and honour. It is essential to learn how to communicate with the heart of others. If we become involved in distractions to avoid a problem, the problem will often grow in the shadows.

I experienced the major stresses in life all at once, divorce, and the collapse of my life’s work and my health. It was a challenge and what kept me going was unconditional love. The Inner Smile never left me. I was close to death’s door and experienced the total rebuilding of my health. My practice of meditation and Qigong helped me to restore my body back after a heart transplant. I have experienced profound healing on all levels through my practice. It is miraculous what energy medicine can do in preventing illness and supporting the life-saving skills of Western medicine.

The spiritual qualities of acceptance, compassion, and gratitude have the potential to heal rifts of the soul. What are three blessings that you cherish right now? What do you “hear” when you listen to your heart? We go into our heart to sense the truth. Awaken inspiration by connecting your creative energy with your own higher wisdom. Empower your higher purpose with clear intentions.

In our heart centre, there is a place where we are always free. When you follow your heart, life flows with synchronicity. You may recall circumstances when you followed your heart and things worked out very well.

Qigong practitioners today utilize and master the secret knowledge passed down from the “Wu Yi, Qigong meta-physician healers” of ancient times.

When you point to your self, where do you point to? Most of us will point to our heart and not the head. The ancients called the heart the “Palace of the Spirit.” When our Heart Spirit is happy, it is natural to spontaneously smile. Our real nature is happiness. Happiness is central to everyone’s sense of well being.

The Inner Smile centres and calms the heart. How can you keep your heart open to all the ups and downs of life? The practice of loving acceptance is essential to keeping centred in these times of accelerated change. The Inner Smile meditation is a way to make friends with the spiritual and physical intelligence of your vital organs, from which your emotions arise. Feel how your body smiles back!

The cultivation of compassion and wisdom makes your life more meaningful. When you connect with your higher guidance through meditation, your life becomes inter-dimensional. We weave this high quality energy through our microcosmic energy channels to generate more light. Our heart becomes radiant and loving. We become a lighthouse that withstands the storms. We will practice the Inner Smile in the Creation Cycle, the order of the seasons, to grow more virtue energy. What you focus on, you grow. When we live the virtues, they grow.

Chi Breathing brings energy to the heart. We urgently need to grow our healing energy to bring more peace, love, and harmony to this world. The key to healing is the conscious breathing of chi, the life force that nourishes us. We can breathe consciously and unconsciously, so breath is the bridge between our conscious and unconscious mind. The seat of our consciousness sits in the Heart. “Listen to your heart, Follow your heart, Be true to your self.” There are so many expressions that point to the heart as the Palace of the Spirit. Let your heart breathe freely and set your self free.

Communicate with your Heart and you will communicate with your whole body. The heart is the conductor of your internal orchestra and is central to creating a harmonious state of being.

Consciously cultivating our sexual energy, our innate vitality, and deeper life essence, is very healing for the body. We tap into the fountain of youth, our basic rejuvenating life force. Passion is transformed into compassion through spiritual practice. The physical training through integrated movement becomes a gateway to the spiritual.

The practices are designed to balance fire and water, calming the heart with water and warming the kidneys with fire. This prevents the heart from being “cooked” by “false fire,” and over-stimulated by adrenalin, external stimulants, and stress. When we feel separate from the world, it creates a subtle contraction in the heart. When we connect with the vast Universal Heart, the Love that binds all beings, our heart expands. Our heart is the seat of consciousness, compassion, and unconditional love.

Compassion—The heart is the centre of compassion. We grow compassion by integrating the virtues of all the vital organs. The compassion becomes balanced and has integrity, strength, gentleness, fairness, respect, and kindness. Qigong empowers you to manifest compassion in your actions.

Minke de Vos, Senior Universal Tao Instructor, draws from her extensive background in energy arts and her own soul journey. She has dedicated over 30 years to spiritual embodiment, teaching, and healing work. She is the author of Feminine Treasures Playbook, Heart Qigong, and other DVDs and CDs, www.silentground.com. She and her partner David Gyrukovics will be teaching Heart Qigong, May 15–17, 2015, at Ancient Spirals. Please see www.silentground.com/saskatoon2015.html, and also see the colour display ad on page 12 of the 20.6 March/April issue of the WHOLifE Journal.