Build a Foundation
The foundational Taoist exercises (on this blog) focus on building and storing energy in the lower abdomen. This is the area where most of the vital organs inhabit and storing energy here can nourish the entire body.
Many people do not store their energy in their body, rather it is floating outside of their body in thoughts of the past, the future, and pouring into cyberspace through digital devices. These practices can help the reader regain this lost energy. Once energy flows back in our bodies, it can support the numerous biological and psychological functions of all the organs.
Lastly, these exercises help with the most basic needs for the human body. For instance, opening the hips, strengthening the spine, and loosening the psoas muscle are benefits of foundational Taoist practices. Taoist practices are needed now more than even because each of these aspects of human anatomy are compromised by our modern lifestyles.
Sitting, commuting, and lack of interaction with the Earth can close the hips, weaken the spine, and make the psoas muscle very tight. The more we can reverse this damage from modern lifestyles, the healthier we will be. As the Taoists say, “the strength of the spine is the strength of the organism.”
The Alchemist’s Tao Te Ching:
Transforming Your Lead Into Gold