By Stella Murías, Tao instructor
There are a number of different ways of translating the Chinese word, “Tao”.  My preferred translation is “the way towards letting go of ignorance.”  The great truth of all beings who suffer is not knowing why he or she is suffering.  We know a great deal about so many things; history, politics, religion, economics, literature etc but the really important things, like how we function as human beings is unknown to us.

We don´t know why we get ill, why we get old, why we suffer, why we die; we don´t know what makes us healthy and what makes us ill.

We are fundamentally made of energy, but do we know how that energy works?  in the majority of cases, no.  We are only conscious of energy when we lose it, like so many things in life!Energy flows through our bodies through channels or meridians, which fuels the heart, kidneys, stomach etc.  These channels, like the mole on my cheek are in the same place as they were when we are born (the difference is that they aren´t visible).  However during my lifetime something has changed, my body.  The vertebras have altered their position, the shoulder moves, my hips, knees are not the same as they were when I was a child; and as a result of this, pain arises, which is no more than blocked energy, energy which as it rises or falls gets blocked and doesn´t reach it´s destination (the liver, lungs etc.)

The human organism is perfect and can “adapt” to these imbalances over the years.  Diseases don´t appear from one day to the next, they are the result of many days, months and years of not listening to our bodies, not listening to our Self.

According to Tao illness is an imbalance between Yin and Yang, two energetic qualities which are like a constant and alternate electric current.  If there is an excess of either the constant or the alternate electric current, either the fuse blows or we have a very weak flow of energy.  The same thing happens in our bodies, if the constant Yin energy and the alternate Yang are in harmony, the result is light or complete energy.

What is Tao Yin?

Tao Yin means “channelling energy”.  It is an ancient technique which the Taoists used to unblock their bodies and channel their vital essence.  This was a closely guarded secret for many centuries.  The emperor in ancient China was like a God who no one dared to upset.  If he fell ill, doctors wouldn´t dream of giving him an injection, instead they would teach him to redirect his energy through a series of exercises.  This was known as Tao Yin, which was reserved only for a select few, the emperor and his followers.

The difference between Tao Yin and any other kina of exercise (except for the martial arts) is that it exercises the tendons, the fibres which most people ignored.  The tendons are the most powerful fibre in our bodies.  However we live in ignorance of our tendons, and we all know that what we don´t use, gets wasted.  Tendons start to shorten, stretching the connective tissue, which covers our organs, stretching internal muscles, which as they are connected to our bones, stretches our bones.  We have also forgotten that our tendons connect the bone to muscle, and if we shorten our tendens, our structure (skeleton) shifts its position; this can cause lordosis, cifosis, escoliosis, arthiritis and a series of imbalances which we have unfortunately gotten used to.

Tao Yin is the art of movement without tension. It teaches us to take the reins (tendons) of our horse (structure) and give it free rein to go where it needs to.

We learn how to move from the tendons, using the minimum amount of energy, just like cats.  Cats don´t have nine lives, they simply have an incredibly well developed tendon-muscular structure.  A cat can land from a great height in a completely relaxed manner, and at the last minute turn on it´s heels and absorb the impact through its tendons, without tensing muscles, and this is why it doesn´t break any bones.  Although a very nice theory, we are not cats, in fact we are more like apes, and many of Tao Yin exercises take their name from our Simian friends, such as “the monkey elbow prayer”.

Tao Yin works with a muscular group called the psoas.  This muscle acts like a tendon and joins the upper body with the lower body.  The human body lives with the tank half empty, often only using half of its potential.  We live, work and shape our world using only half our body, in reality only using the waist upwards.  Our bodies center of gravity, the abdomen and lumbar region, should be our strongest part, however in reality it is often the weakest.

Almost everyone injures their lumbar region more than they need to and when we have a fall or we take weight badly, it is here that we most often suffer injuries.  The psoas muscle, like tendons, is often contracted, and this often results in a serious of illnesses: escoliosis, lordosis, cifosis, shortening of one of the legs, genital-urinary problems, kidney failures, prolapsos etc.  The psoas is also important because it is linked to the diaphragm, the muscle we need to breathe.  In Tao, the diaphragm is the seat of the soul, and the diaphragm is often damaged or tense, just as we are.  By contracting the psoas, we stretch the diaphragm and this results in poor breathing. We inhale oxygen and carbon dioxide and we exhale carbon dioxide.

Exhalation is often very short, which means that we don´t exhale all of the carbon dioxide which we inhale.  CO2 will be metabolized like toxins, which build up in our joints, ankles, knees, hips, neck joints etc.

Tao Yin teaches us by exercising, strengthening and elongating our tendons, to use the suspension in our structure, to move more and to move better, using the fuel which gives us life, in a more efficient way.

Tao Yin teaches us to move, to breath, to live without tension.  It helps us restructure bones and muscles and put things back into place.  In this way our energy is unblocked and our chi moves more freely. Tao Yin helps us to move the tendons, opening up the energy which flows along the meridians, in other words, switching on our internal energy.

Tao Yin is the fundamental basis of Chi Kung and Tai Chi. With Tao Yin we learn to channel our own energy, with Chi Kung we learn to channel energy from the Universe and from the Earth, and mix it with our own energy.  If we don´t know how to channel our own energy, however there will always be blockages and, however much Universal energy we may have channeled these blockages can accumulate within us.

The ultimate goal of Tao is balance and for this reason 5000 years ago the following order was defined:

1o Tao Yin = The practice of unblocking the physical and energetic self and channelling energy.

2o Chi Kung = The art of breathing and working with energy to capture more energy from the universe and the earth.

3o Tai Chi = The ultimate goal, to be a receiver and giver of this unlimited Cosmic Energy that we are formed by.

For this reason many Chi Kung and Tai Chi practitioners need to practice Tao Yin to balance their structure and improve their practice.

These techniques have been kept secret in the past and finally the moment has come to share them.