Mantak Chia - Bone Marrow Nei Kung: Taoist Techniques for Rejuvenating the Blood and Bone

Bone Marrow

Nei Kung

Taoist Techniques for Rejuvenating

the Blood and Bone

Mantak Chia

Destiny Books

Rochester, Vermont

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank foremost those Taoist Masters who were kind enough to share their knowledge with me, never dreaming it would be so enthusiastically received by the Western world.

I thank artist Juan Li for his illustrations and for the artwork on the cover of this book. I also thank the editors of the original edition, Charles Soupios and Valerie Meszaros, for their suggestions and many long hours devoted to the completion of Bone Marrow Nei Kung.

Further, I wish to express my gratitude to contributing editors Michael Winn, Dennis OConnor, Eric Edelstein, Juan Li, and particularly Ron Diana, all of whom contributed much to the technical aspects of this practice. There were many other contributors who graciously offered their time and advice to help communicate this system, including Gunther Weil, Ph.D., Rylin Malone, and John-Robert Zielinski. Thank you to editor Nancy Yielding for her clarifying work in this edition.

Without my mother and my son, Max, the book would have been academic. For their gifts, I offer my eternal gratitude and love.

Finally, the Universal Tao will remember Felix Morrow, publisher of Universal Tao Books, who died in May of 1988, before the completion of the first edition of Bone Marrow Nei Kung. We are sorry that he could not see the results of his valuable advice and assistance.

Putting Bone Marrow Nei Kung 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 these practices without receiving personal transmission and training from a certified instructor of the Universal Tao, because some of these practices, if done improperly, may cause injury or result in health problems. This book is intended to supplement individual training by a Universal Tao instructor and to serve as a reference guide for Universal Tao practices. Any reader who undertakes these practices on the basis of this book alone does so entirely at his or her own risk. Universal Tao instructors can be located via our websites: www.universal-tao.com and www.tao-garden.com.

The book provides a means to improve your health and to attain a richly rewarding sexual experience by overcoming imbalances in your system. People who have high blood pressure, heart disease, or a generally weak condition should proceed slowly, particularly in practicing Testicle or Ovarian Breathing.

If you have not had previous experience with moving energy in your body through meditation, you must realize that this process is real and necessary for your safety. Adverse health effects can be caused by leaving excess energy in the organs or head; therefore, it is particularly important to move this energy through the Microcosmic Orbit and to store it at the navel as prescribed in the instructions.

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. 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 you are suffering from a physical, mental, or emotional illness, you should consult with an appropriate professional health care practitioner or therapist. Such problems should be corrected before you start training.

We urge every reader to study the exercises thoroughly before beginning any practice. Do the exercises in the proper combinations and sequences, and carefully follow the instructions. The Universal Tao and its staff and instructors cannot be responsible for the consequences of any practice or misuse of the information in this book. If the reader undertakes any exercise without strictly following the instructions and warnings, the responsibility must lie solely with the reader.

Foreword Chinese Secrets of Bone Power

When I began doing Bone Marrow Nei Kung exercises seven years ago, I had absolutely no feeling for my bones. They seemed hard, rigid, and dense, the very opposite of the qualities I was seeking to cultivate in myself through Tai Chi Chuan movements and meditation. I didnt know my bones were alive and growing every minute and that my life depended on the quality of blood they produced. Nor did I know that I could have a major effect on my health by interacting with them.

I was amazed and surprised that with even the simplest exercises like Bone Breathing, my bones quickly responded with a wonderful feeling of just having sprung to life. They tingled and began to rhythmically purr like a cat. When I did Tai Chi Chuan, it was as if my flesh and organs disappeared, and I could feel my skeleton dancing lightly through the air.

After several years of doing the same simple practice of breathing and spiraling my chi around my bones, I am still literally thrilled to the bone. When I practice Hitting my bones gently, it feels like a deep massage that keeps vibrating all day long. The practices have greatly reduced latent fears I had of aging and finding my bones reduced to peanut brittle. Instead, I have the opposite problem, and Im tickled when my wife complains that my bones have gotten too heavy as she tosses off my arm resting on her in the middle of the night.

Any lingering skepticism I had was erased when I discovered that hitting my jawbone with the wire device for three minutes daily was the most effective cure I had ever found for relieving tight jaw muscles. Jaws have some of the most powerful muscles in the body, which is why TMJ (Temporal Mandibular Joint) Syndrome (a symptom of which is tight jaw muscles) is so difficult to cure. Apparently, vibrating the jawbone loosens the hold of the tense muscles. This method offers promising relief for the many people suffering from tight jaw muscles in high stress urban areas.

My bones and I have become the best of friends now that Ive learned how to play with them and meditate on them. Bone Marrow Nei Kung has given me a practical way to connect the densest part of my physical body with the most subtle emanations of my spirit. Once I understood the importance of moving from within the bones, the meaning of a Yang family classic Tai Chi Chuan training poem suddenly became clear.

The mind moves the chi

So that it may sink deeply and penetrate the bones.

When the chi flows freely,

The body easily follows the mind.

Cleansing my bone marrow was not always smooth sailing. In the beginning, the process of heavy detoxification was not always pleasant, and I occasionally felt ill for a day or two. There were psychological adjustments as well. Exercises like Chi Weight Lifting with the sexual organs and the Hitting practice seemed a bit far out at first. I cracked a lot of nervous jokes about religious fanatics flagellating themselves with whips, and I secretly wondered if I had fallen prey to some extreme teaching.