Chi kung’s moving meditation exercises focus on building and storing energy in the lower abdomen, called the lower ‘tan tien,’ which means ‘the field of the elixir.’ This is the area where most of the vital organs inhabit.
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 to-do lists. These practices can help the reader regain this lost energy. Once it flows back into our bodies, it can support the numerous biological and psychological functions of all the organs.
Lastly, there are exercises for opening the hips, strengthening the spine, and loosening the psoas muscle. 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. As the Taoists say, “the strength of the spine is the strength of the organism.”
-The Alchemist’s Tao Te Ching