Charles Luk - Six Healing Breaths
Mar 16, 2013 11:30:00 GMT 1
Post by Shi Da Dao on Mar 16, 2013 11:30:00 GMT 1
The Taoist Secret of the Six Healing Sounds:
Ho, Hu, Szu, Hsu, His, and Ch’ui
Inner Organ Invigorating Yoga
In order to avoid illness and since prevention is better than cure, I practiced twice a day the Taoist Secret of the Six Healing Sounds (Tao Chang Lu Tzu Cheuh),the text of which comes after that of the Hsiao Chou T'ien in the I Fang Chi Chiai or Ancient Medical Formulas Explained.
Daily between midnight and midday, a period which stands for the positive (principle yang), sit facing east with crossed legs. Do not close the window but avoid draughts. Knock the lower teeth against the upper ones, roll the tongue round until the mouth is full of saliva, rinse with that saliva a few times and then swallow it all in three audible gulps, visualising it as reaching the lower belly beneath the navel.
Pucker up your lips slightly and silently make the sound ‘Ho!’ to eject through the mouth impure air from the heart, then close the mouth to breathe in, through the nostrils, fresh air to invigorate this organ of circulation. Your exhaling should be short and your inhaling long. Do this six times.
After that, follow the same method and make six times each of the five other sounds: ‘Hu!’ to invigorate the spleen; ‘Szu’, the lungs; ‘Hsu!’, the liver; ‘Hsi!’, the stomach; and ‘Ch’ui!’, the kidneys. The number thirty-six (six sounds repeated six times each) stands for a microcosmic orbit of 360 degrees.
This method was employed by ancient Taoists to prevent or to cure illnesses when they withdrew from the world to live in the mountains. Before practicing it, it is necessary to familiarise oneself with these six sounds in order to harness each of them to the corresponding organ on which it has a psychic influence. For instance, when making the sound ‘Ho!’, it should actually affect the heart whose impurities are ejected through the mouth, while it is filled with vitality when you breathe in fresh air through the nostrils. During the exercise, it seems as if the heart itself expels its impurities and breathes in energy. One can test its effectiveness by smoking until one’s heart is affected, and by inhaling fresh air to invigorate the heart; one will thus notice the beneficial effect of this sound when made in this way.
(The Secrets of Chinese Meditation: By Charles Luk Pages 208-209)