Many years ago a student came up to me at a class and said,
“Chunyi, you were born a healer.”
I smiled and replied,
“Yes, I was born a healer. And you were born a healer, too.”
You were born a healer. Each and every one of us was born with the ability to help ourselves and others to heal; physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. You just need to be made aware of that beautiful fact and learn how to put your healing abilities to use.
Many people find this hard to believe but I know it to be true. I know it from the experiences of my own life and from the wonderful transformations I see in so many thousands of my students everyday.
If you find this hard to believe, just keep reading and by the end of this article I promise you will learn a simple technique for utilizing your healing gift. It is the first technique I teach to all my Spring Forest Qigong students. You can learn it very quickly and put it to use right away to help yourself, and even more importantly, to help others to heal.
Chunyi Lin is a certified international Qigong Master with a master’s degree in holistic healing. He is the founder of Spring Forest Qigong, and coauthor of the #1 Amazon.com bestseller, Born A Healer. Master Lin is also a member of the Transformational Leadership Council founded by Jack Canfield. His vision is “a healer in every family and a world without pain.” In the end of this article you can find the exclusive gift from Master Chunyi to FinerMinds Readers: “Open Your Heart — Change Your World” Meditation Audio.
First, some background information might be helpful and a few tips on how to unlock and enhance your healing energy.
Qigong
What I want to teach you is based on a Chinese concept called Qigong that dates back many millennia. Put simply Qigong is practice for helping you get the most out of life, to be the best you can be, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Qigong works by helping you enhance and balance your energy and keep it flowing smoothly. The basic principle of Qigong is that everything in the universe is energy, literally everything. Every cell in your body is a form of energy, even your thoughts.
Chinese scholars studying the workings of the universe came to this understanding more than four thousand years ago. In the western world, Albert Einstein came to the same conclusion early in the 20th century.
When your energy is in balance and flowing smoothly that’s when you are the happiest, healthiest and most productive you can be. What some people call “peak performance.”
When your energy becomes blocked and doesn’t flow smoothly, that’s when problems happen. The bigger or greater the number of energy blockages, the more serious the problem.
While energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can be transformed. Qigong works by helping you transform the energy in your body to remove blockages and return to energy balance.
This is the same principle as acupuncture. But, acupuncture requires a skilled professional applying needles to specific energy points to remove the blockage. Through the practice of Qigong you can remove the blockage on your own.
For thousands of years the practice of Qigong was a closely guarded secret.Even today, traditional Qigong techniques can be very difficult to learn and require years of rigid, disciplined practice to develop proficiency while the most powerful healing principles are reserved for a chosen few.
Spring Forest Qigong
In my years of training to become a Qigong Master, I spent days and weeks and even months at a time alone in a cave in deep meditation. Throughout these meditations a message kept coming back to me, “Qigong is simple. Qigong is for everyone.”
I came to realize that at its essence Qigong is very simple and simple is actually better. I created Spring Forest Qigong to make the true healing power of Qigong available to everyone. Spring Forest Qigong techniques are designed to be simple enough for anyone to learn and practice while actually enhancing the benefits.
Here are a few simple tips to help you get started balancing and enhancing your energy flow right now.
Energy Breathing
Breathing is fundamental to life but the way most people breathe is actually unhealthy. Most people breathe too fast, twelve to twenty breaths per minute. Breathing this way utilizes less than half of your lung capacity and actually adds to stress and tension. Who needs more stress and tension?
Breathing slowly, gently and deeply allows your lungs to expand fully and dramatically increases your uptake of oxygen. Oxygen, after all, is the body’s primary fuel. The more fuel we have, the better we function. The more effectively we breathe, the more effectively we live.
Breathing effectively is fundamental to Spring Forest Qigong. What I want to share with you here is a simple yet powerfully effective method for enhancing the benefits of breathing. I call it “Energy Breathing.” Energy breathing is an easy way to enhance your mind-body-spirit connection. That is the key.
Your mind and body are not separate things. Your mind affects every part of your physical body, just as your physical body affects your mind. If your body is tense, if your breathing is shallow or rapid, your mind cannot be focused and calm.
If your mind is focused on all the stress in your life, your body will be stressed, also. You need to have your mind and body working in concert to get the most out of life. This is especially true of your breathing.
Your spirit is your connection with the infinite. In energy breathing you connect your mind and body with the limitless power of the universe. You are mind, body, and spirit. It only makes sense to make the best use of all three aspects of you.
How you do energy breathing is very simple.
Energy Breathing Step-by-Step:
- Sit or lie down in a comfortable position.
- Put a smile on your face (this helps relax your mind and body).
- Place the tip of your tongue gently against the roof of your mouth (this connects the two main energy channels in your body).
- Breathe through your nose in slow, gentle, deep breaths.
- As you breathe in, gently pull your lower stomach in a little.
- As you breathe out, let your stomach out.
Yin and Yang: The upper part of the body belongs to yang energy; the lower part of the body belongs to yin energy. Breathing in is a part of yin energy; breathing out is yang. One of the reasons we get sick is that yin and yang energies are not communicating well. By pulling your lower stomach in as you inhale and letting it out as you exhale, you are enhancing the communication of the yin and yang energies.
Harnessing the Power of the Mind
What you’ve just read is the body part of energy breathing. Now we connect it with the mind and spirit by utilizing simple visualization and mental focus. Say in your mind the “password”:
I am in the universe. The universe is in my body. The universe and I are one.
If you choose to use a different password, that is fine. The words are not as important as their meaning—you are not alone, you are connected with the infinite.
As you breathe in,
- Imagine you are using your entire body to breathe
- See and feel the air, the limitless energy of the universe, flowing into your body through every part of your body.
As you breathe out,
- Visualize any tiredness or stress, pain or sickness, any doubt or worries changing into smoke
- Visualize it shooting out of your body to the ends of the universe.
As you continue breathing in this way, feel your mind and body becoming completely relaxed. Know that every cell in your body is being restored to its perfect, balanced state, revitalized and rejuvenated.
To end your energy breathing session,
- Take one final, slow, gentle, deep breath
- Slowly open your eyes
- Rub your hands together, palm to palm
- Gently massage your face …
- Running your fingertips gently up each side of the bridge of your nose to your forehead, then out and down to your chin in a circular motion
- Repeat this motion several times.
That’s all there is to it. Energy Breathing is just that simple.
The key is to allow yourself to relax and enjoy the experience. Do not concern yourself with whether you are “getting it right.” There is no right. There is only good, better, and best. The more you practice energy breathing, the better off you will be, and the more you will empower yourself to be your best.
Breathing is what you must do to stay alive. Breathing effectively, even just fifteen minutes a day, can empower you to truly live.
Sword Fingers
Now, as promised, a simple technique you can start using immediately to help yourself and, even more importantly, to help others to heal.
As I mentioned previously, in Qigong teaching any pain or sickness is caused by an energy blockage or blockages. You will need more advanced Spring Forest Qigong training to learn how to detect energy blockages so to begin with you will focus on the problem area.
For example, if a friend has an injury, simply ask your friend where the pain is. Perhaps it is a sore shoulder. (The technique is the same if you are working on yourself.) This is what you do.
Sword Fingers Steps
- Put your index finger and middle finger together on one hand and point them straight forward as if they were a ray gun. I call this your Sword Fingers.
- Point your Sword Fingers at your friend’s sore shoulder from about six inches to a foot or so away. The distance doesn’t matter just don’t touch the shoulder.
- Now, visualize light, beautiful, healing light or energy, is shooting out of the end of your fingers into your friend’s sore shoulder. (Again, you can also just say it in your mind and know it’s happening.)
- Next, move your Sword Fingers up and down in a chopping motion visualizing the healing light is breaking up the energy blockage in the shoulder. Keep doing this for thirty seconds to a minute.
- Now, you stop the Sword Fingers and open your hand and spread your fingers. Visualize the healing light is flowing from the tips of your fingers and thumb into the area where you’ve just broken up the energy blockage.
- Use your “energy fingers” to take hold of the remaining energy blockage, pull it out and throw it away. Again, do this from six to twelve inches away and don’t touch the shoulder. (An important point here is that there is no good energy or bad energy just too much energy in this case and you are helping to bring energy balance.)
- Continue pulling out the blockage and throwing it away for a minute or two. As you start pulling the blockage out it may feel heavy or sticky like pulling taffy. Some people notice this immediately for others it takes more time.
- Whether you feel the energy or not just know in your mind that it’s happening. When the energy feels lighter or after no more than two minutes stop pulling out the blockage and move to the final step in Sword Fingers.
- Now, visualize beautiful, healing light and energy is flowing from the palm of your hand into the area where you removed the blockage. You might want to use a light pumping motion.
- Continue sending this healing energy into the area for thirty seconds to a minute. This movement helps get the energy flowing through the area again and bring it back into balance.
- As you are sending the energy from your palm, say in your mind, “Your pain is gone. You are completely healed.” “Your blockage is gone. Completely healed.” No need to say it aloud. Just say it in your mind and know it’s happening.
- Finally, give your friend a smile and say to your friend, “Feel better, now.” Don’t ask if the pain is still there. That will focus their mind back on the pain. Give them a positive message.
If you are skeptical, that’s fine. But, give it a try. Many skeptical people are amazed the very first time they use Sword Fingers.
If you believe it works, it works. If you don’t believe it works, it still works though it might take a little longer. Try it a few times and see what happens. Just open your mind to the limitless possibilities of the universe and allow your natural healing ability to flow.
I know you can do it. I know it because I know you were born a healer.
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Wonderful advice, thank you very much. I used the technique on a number of people, including my husband but I didn’t really believed him when he said the back pain he had was gone. The other evening, my 11 years old son accused an acute ache on his right knee. Without telling him I applied your teaching and within minutes he forgot he ever had experienced that ferocious pain. Thank you very much again, I will continue to do this because I saw it work with my very own eyes. Be blessed.
I thought that when we inhale
we suppose to fill our stomach
like the concept of balloon.
A very interesting article. Am learning Ti Chi
albeit very slowly so had almost decided to give
up. Have now changed my mind and will continue.
Inana, thank you for explaining about the breathing techniques.
Thank you for the info. I am an advocate of natural healing. Also used this technique on myself while reading, I do believe the pain is gone. Many blessings to you.
Lisa, or whoever knows,
Where can I download the ‘butterfly imagery’? I don’t see it anywhere.
great article.…
Suffice it to say, if we can make ourself sick. Then, we can also make ourselves well. Things are put in place where things are thought for us. We are distracted, so as not to know our true worth…
If we knew our potential. We would live differently. Slowly, things are being revealed. Lets hope we know before its to late.
Health to all!!!!
Now I am confused. Many articles I have read said we must collect the air in and expand our stomach as we inhale. I will try to do it your way. Thank you for sharing.
Good article, but the breathing style is new to me, and trying to do it is hard and just dosen’t energize me. Looking at the comments others don’t get ether. If this is right, can you explain this one part better.
I got master Chunyi,s audio.It is an excellent audio…his voice is very soothing to listen to. I myself have some work to do on my visualization skills! But success is just a mindset away!
When babies breathe in, their bellies expand and contract when they breath out. I remember I breathed like that when I was a boy.
When I was in my late teens or early twenties, I was told through books to use chest breathing, to expand your lungs when you breathe in so as to draw in more air/oxygen. It sounds logical enough. Then I started to “relearn” the new breathing method and had used it for tens of years unconciously, since.
Two years ago, I learned Qigong from a Master Wong. He said that the method of breathing should be like that of the babies. So I have to relearn the way of breathing.
I have heard since, from others, that many illnesses are the results of incorrect breathing (I don’t believe it). Any expert out there who could offer more insights on the two methods of breathing. I would like to believe that the natural way of breathing is better, just like the babies do!! Clarence.
Hi
Regarding the full breathing, I learned this years ago not for the reason you teach but because I was a trombone player and I needed that extra air quickly. I am glad to hear there is more to it than that. I still breath that way, thank you.
Al
Master Chunyi Lin, I have trouble expressing in words, how much this has helped my family! The Finer Minds site was smart enough to invite you to be a teacher with them, and they were so fortunate that you accepted. In my family, 1 son has been paraplegic for more than 4 years, he has rods in his back and both legs. Pain in back has been constant dweller, very bad.
I have been using the Spring Forest QiGong, and Sword Fingers, with him, for the first time in 4 years he has been able to sleep through night, pain not waking him, much work to be done for day– i am ready for it! Thankyou Vishen, Namaste’ Master Lin
I love you both Nancy F.
Hi,
Thanks a lot.
This is a nice approach towards mankind.
This technique is similar to Pranic Healing.
And your messages could be the most easiest way to learn too.
Thanks again.
–Sankar
Hi,
One more concern is while giving energy to heal from our body, we also need to receive energy from universe in order to prevent decrease in energy in our body.
So possibly we can use our other hand to receive energy while we give through one hand. Also Energy breathing (or Deep breathing) during the healing might help.
Hope i might be right.
–Sankar
I like the Breathing Techniques and I like the healing Techniques
I will try them both. I will also listen to the Video, Thank ou for this information, very interesting topics. Have a great week!
Great information I will use it the rest of my life!
Master Chung Lin thank you so much for sharing this wonderful technique . it is amazing such a simple step can increase energy,remove pain increase happiness and reinforce my beliefs I to am a healer . I live in australia and would love to work /study with you some time in the future. Any thoughts on how to set up a retreat to teach this . Do you run study groups or retreats?
Blessings .Love & Light Diana.
Excellent technique for Reiki. Even though I am a new level 2 practitioner I will keep this handy when I advance in my experience and knowledge of Reiki. Namaste
Dear sir, Thanx 4 putting things in simple easy 2 approach mannr.No doubt breathing tech.is practised from ancient time in different name and mode but emphasis remain same …simply better living and ultimate achievement..Again thanx so much 4 helping mankind
Sorry, but we are not healers. God is the “healer”. We can help, assist, encourage, pray for, uplift, but.…..we are not healers!
Yes, we are all healers, but that gift was taken from us by organized religion and here we are today trying to remember. For those that are true healers, till the rest of us catch up, you should let the world know and heal those that need you.
I enjoyed reading this article as a search for my healing skills that I know I have.
1st to Sankar V: When you do the energy breathing first this helps to prepare your mind & body as well as fill them with Universal energy. Your intent should always be to be only a vessel for the healing energy/light ~ NOT to use your own energy. It is NOT us but the energy/light that heals. Also, in the giving we are & do receive as well.
MASTER CHINYI you are incredible, and we are blessed by your sharing. I am in Master training for Reiki, and am certified in Quan Yin Lavender flame. I too, would love to become a student, as I know the incredible healing of Qi gong! Thank you just doesn’t seem like enough! Blessings in Abundance.…deedee
Very nice and informative post. I am a reiki healer and find your sword finger technique quite interesting.
Thanks,
Shafin
I am a healer, and this method has helped many people.
This is a beautiful technique to self heal and heal others. Thanks for sharing.
I’m now using it to help someone many miles away– distant healing– Any ideas on how to accomplish this? All suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Blessings
This is an extremely well written article. Having only just begun to try this technique, I was amazed to find what a difference it has already made for me. I am truly thankful for your wise words, Chunyi Lin. Thank you for sharing this gift with the world.
Peace be unto you and your house.
Great well-written article. I learned the breathing technique of pulling the stomach in when breathing in while learning to do stomach flutters. It is also used in Yoga (breath of fire technique).
It takes a while to get used to breathing this way but with practice it will become second nature.
I plan to try the healing technique and would love to hear lot’s of testimonials here from those who have used this technique with success. I think it would be of great interest to all readers.
Thank you!
Thanks for the great info. It only took 28 years, but I know now how to breathe properly. I realized that when I inhaled my stomach went out instead of in, and when I exhaled it went in instead of out. Anyways, gonna stick with it.
I am a healer .Chunyi Lin thank you so very much ‚your newsletter has reminded me of who I am meaning I haven’t been useing my gift not as much as I should. Our Higher Self, God does work threw us. How perfect a Gift.
I have been practicing Spring Forest Qigong for about a year and have found that by synchronising breathin, stretching,and meditation there is clear benefit.
A very respectfull Thank You to Chunyi Lin
Tony McEvilly
Excellent article. I found it very interesting and helpful. I will defintely work on mastering my breathing firts and than the rest of my mind and spirit.
Many Thanks Chunyi Lin and Finer Minds Team.
Have a wonderful summer, with a happy, healthy, harmonized
Heart, Mind and Body energies!