Mantak Chia - Life Pulse Massage: Taoist Techniques for Enhanced Circulation and Detoxification

Acknowledgments

The Universal Tao publications staff involved in the preparation and production of the Life Pulse Massage extend our gratitude to the many generations of Taoist masters who have passed on their special lineage, in the form of an unbroken oral transmission, over thousands of years.

We wish to thank the thousands of unknown men and women of the ancestral Chinese and Thai healing arts who developed many of the techniques and concepts presented in this book. We also wish to thank the Chi Nei Tsang teacher Dr. Mui Yimwattana, and Taoist Master Yi Eng, both of whom worked so patiently to teach their students. Without remembering our parents and teachers our continued efforts in presenting the Universal Healing Tao system would be without joy or satisfaction. For their gifts, we offer our eternal gratitude and love.

Many thanks to the teacher Mr. Wasan Chaichakan of the Old Medicine Hospital for his explanation of traditional Nuad Thai. We thank Florian Journot for his contributing research and anatomical illustrations. With lasting appreciation to Gilles Marin for his innovative work in developing the art of Chi Nei Tsang.

We thank the many contributors essential to this books final form: The editorial and production staff at Inner Traditions/Destiny Books for their efforts to clarify the text and produce a handsome new edition of the book, and Gail Rex for her line edit of the new edition.

We wish to thank the following people for their assistance in producing the earlier editions of this book: Colin Drown for his editorial work and writing contributions, as well as his ideas for the cover; Aisha Sieburth for her research, translation, writing, and editorial work; and Dirk Al for his writing contributions as well as his ideas on Taoist cosmic origination. We appreciate their research and great labor.

And special thanks to our Thai production team: Hirunyathorn Punsan, Sopitnapa Promnon, Udon Jandee, and Suthisa Chaisarn.

Putting Life Pulse Massage into Practice

The practices described in this book have been used successfully for thousands of years by Taoists trained by personal instruction. Readers should not undertake the practice without receiving personal transmission and training from a certified instructor of the Universal Healing Tao, since certain of these practices, if done improperly, may cause injury or result in health problems. This book is intended to supplement individual training by the Universal Healing Tao and to serve as a reference guide for these practices. Anyone who undertakes these practices on the basis of this book alone, does so entirely at his or her own risk.

The meditations, practices, and techniques described herein are not intended to be used as an alternative or substitute for professional medical treatment and care. If any readers are suffering from illnesses based on mental or emotional disorders, an appropriate professional health care practitioner or therapist should be consulted. Such problems should be corrected before you start training.

Neither the Universal Healing Tao nor its staff and instructors can be responsible for the consequences of any practice or misuse of the information contained in this book. If the reader undertakes any exercise without strictly following the instructions, notes, and warnings, the responsibility must lie solely with the reader.

This book does not attempt to give any medical diagnosis, treatment, prescription, or remedial recommendation in relation to any human disease, ailment, suffering, or physical condition whatsoever.

Introduction

Life Pulse Massage is a healing method for activating the vital pulses of the body. This ancient Taoist healing practice, an advanced branch of traditional Chi Nei Tsang abdominal massage, opens a new dimension of healing that uses our vital essences of blood and chi to improve, invigorate, and balance the health of our organs and their functions. First clearing and activating the vital pulses of the abdominal center to improve energy supply to the vital organs, Life Pulse Massage then synchronizes the fifty-two pulses of the body with the master pulses of the navel and aorta centers for optimum circulation and balance.

This global body treatment releases arterial tension to rebalance high or low blood pressure, flushes toxins, opens restricted blood vessels, and increases blood and chi flow through the entire vascular system and the organs. Working with the fluid form of blood as a vehicle of our vital energy, Life Pulse Massage restores and harmonizes optimum cardiovascular circulation for better overall health. The work also harmonizes the subtle balances of spirit and matter in the body, calming the heart and mind and opening a deeper connection with the inner self.

BLOOD AND CHI

Blood and chi are the fundamental circulating energies in the body. Their condition and movement form the theoretical and practical basis for all of the Chinese healing arts. Blood and chi flow side by side throughout the body wherever energy channels and blood vessels parallel one another. A famous saying captures their relationship: When the chi moves, the blood flows; if the chi stagnates, the blood congeals.

Blood

Blood is a very dense form of chi that is created from a combination of chi energy from the food we eat, Prenatal Chi or original force, and chi from the air we breathe. The course and functions of blood have been well charted by modern medicine: arterial blood carries nutriments, oxygen, and nutritious chi to all the bodys cells; venous blood, having given up its nutrition and oxygen to the tissues, is returning to the heart carrying carbon dioxide to be eliminated through the lungs (fig. I.1).

Fig. I.1. Blood nourishes, cleans, and protectsthe body down to the smallest cells.

Blood also carries a strong symbolic charge, intimately associated with life and death. Essential to every existence, the symbolic meaning of blood has been mingled throughout history with that of family lineage, blood ties, cultural ritual, philosophy, and of course medicine. From the sacrifices executed in many traditions to cultural rites of passage and the cure of bleeding in medicine, blood retains a power of purity or impurity. In popular language, many expressions relate the importance of blood.

Blood is animated with its own intelligence. At once essence and existence, it shows us where sickness begins and also brings the necessary elements of healing to where they are needed. Observing and working with its vital flow permits the bodys pharmacy to play its role. A healthy pulse creates optimum blood flow and is a fundamental element to good health. Life Pulse Massage is a healing therapy focusing on releasing, activating, and harmonizing blood flow to clean, nourish, and regenerate the tissues and the organs of the body.

Chi

Chi is the motor force in blood, making it lively and energetic, and supplying the power that allows it to course through the body (fig. I.2).

Blood and chi have tremendous healing power when they are full of nutrition and energy and can flow naturally and abundantly throughout the body. Problems arise with both vital energies when they are energy deficient, too hot, too cold, stagnant, or not moving forcefully enough. Life Pulse Massage is a powerful treatment for regulating these two energies as they work together.