There are many modern theories on how to slow down the aging process. Chinese medicine offers its own method of rejuvenation and longevity, discovered many thousands of years ago. It is connected not only with metabolic processes in the body, but also with the emotional background.
In Taoist medicine, there is such a thing as Te – a state of harmony, thanks to which a person is able to do truly good deeds without self-interest.
According to the Taoist tradition, it is Te that helps to increase life expectancy. It seems to sound logical and simple: be a kind, harmonious person and live a hundred years! There remains one main question. How to do it?
To answer it, let’s think: what is the antonym of harmony? This is selfishness, aggression and hostility – both to others and to oneself. Familiar state? We live in society, so one way or another we experience such emotions. How do they affect our body and its vitality?
Telomeres and Chi Energy
Relatively recent studies of chromosomes tell us that there are telomeres at their ends – a kind of tips, “caps”. The younger the person, the longer they are, but with age, their length is reduced. In telomeres, it is “written” how many times a cell can divide, and the smaller they are, the shorter its life, respectively, and hence the life of the person himself.
What affects telomere length other than age itself? Stress! It seeks to shorten the length of telomeres. But, fortunately, we have a built-in defense system – the enzyme telomerase. It is produced in the body after an emotional outburst to restore telomeres.
Thus, passing stress through ourselves, we recover both at the emotional and at the cellular level. But there is one exception, when telomerase does not respond to stress and, accordingly, does not care about the restoration of telomeres.
You may have already guessed: this happens if a person shows emotions of hostility and aggression
And this means that such emotions literally shorten our lives. In the Taoist tradition, which was formed thousands of years ago, they, of course, did not know about telomeres, and the shortening of life was explained in a different way.
In traditional medicine, it is believed that our body runs on a special fuel – qi energy. Moreover, there is renewable energy (which we can spend and then receive from sleep, food or breathing) and prenatal energy – the one that is issued upon birth and cannot be restored.
Prenatal energy must be conserved in order to live longer. It is wasted, as a rule, precisely on acute experiences: bright stresses associated with hostility and confrontation.
Have you noticed intersections with the scientific thought of the XNUMXst century? One “but”: in Western European medicine there are no exact instructions on how not to experience a feeling of hostility. Whereas in Taoism methods of working with the body and mind have been developed, which “educate” Te.
How to cultivate Te?
In the Taoist tradition, any work with an emotional background begins with the body. So what should be done with it to make it more “friendly”? For the realization of aggression, it must be strained, and for the cultivation of Te, accordingly, relax.
At the same time, relaxation should be active, due to this, the body becomes more flexible and mobile, and energy flows through it more freely. For such purposes, various practices have been invented, for example, the Sing Shen Juang qigong complex: this gymnastics affects the active points of the spine, which triggers a cascade of relaxation of the deepest muscles of the body.
Such practice already makes a person more calm, balanced and emotionally stable. But there is something that will help deepen this state – meditation. Many books have been written about it, there are many technologies, and in this case we are talking about the practice of searching for inner silence.
This technique allows you to carefully monitor your states and learn to manage them. In today’s world, we do not often really need aggression: for example, we are rarely attacked by wild animals that we have to fight with.
Most conflicts are in the plane of communication, and we always have a choice: show friendliness and find a compromise, or fall into aggression and destroy everything that comes to hand. Meditation helps you make the right decision.
Meditation is a way to manage emotions
To feel this in practice, try the following exercise.
Imagine the most relaxed, calm, peaceful moment of your life. Maybe it was swimming in the sea, walking in the mountains or talking with a loved one. Remember this state, immerse yourself in it, experience it again in full. Happened?
The next time you find yourself in an annoying situation that usually makes you feel hostile (for example, if someone cut you off in traffic), try to reproduce this state. It won’t be easy at first, but it’s worth learning.
Over time, you will notice that a temporary gap will appear between the event itself and the reaction to it – a second pause, inside which you can choose which feelings to immerse yourself in.
Even this small change will open up many new possibilities. And if you want to develop further in meditation, you can radically change your life!