Depression is the persistent habit of being sad, characterized by heavy blockages in desires. When there is no desire, there is an absence of creative energy which results in a lack of joy, and a state of stagnation takes over the life energy of the individual.
Just as with any other habit, depression cannot simply be eliminated, as I will explain further below.
The software of depression gets installed in the subconscious mind, which affects the life energy Ki and the physical body. Plenty of anti-depressants are readily available nowadays as a remedy for this. Do they really work on eliminating depression or do they only create another habit (or addiction)?
For those of you who believe popping pills will cure this ailment permanently, I have bad news! There is no medicine for combatting a habit. The only effective treatment is to integrate mind, energy and body self-healing, focusing on replacing the habit with a new one.
What is a Habit?
Understanding how a habit forms and persists can help us let go of any unwanted habits. In fact, we only have true freedom when we have full control over our habits. A high level of self-awareness is the first ingredient. The second ingredient is strong willpower. It is a misunderstanding that we only need a strong mind for willpower. I believe we also need to have a strong body as well as strong life force energy (Ki).
A habit forms when we receive some kind of reward for the thought/action, usually in the form of pleasure. Although it is easy to understand the reward, the motivation for creating the habit in exchange for a reward can be distorted by the subconscious mind. For example, how complaining of pain may bring more attention from loved ones may lead to creating pain in the body. Also, how else would you explain the habit of smoking? It is obviously poisonous to the physical body and yet, the yearly sales in the USA in 2017 were over 249 billion cigarettes. The rewards for smokers clearly outweigh the risks, in their deeper beliefs.
It is not enough to understand that a habit may have overall negative consequences to us and our health, even to the extent of ending one’s life. It is a fact of life that we are not always balanced within our subconscious minds. The reward is not always something logical to understand, because habits are not formed at the level of the conscious mind. They are created within the subconscious mind, which is irrational by nature.
When we perform a certain activity as part of a habit, there is a certain emotion involved which is also an energy pattern. It is what Napoleon Hill calls HYPNOTIC RHYTHM in his book “Outwitting the Devil”. It is a vibration of energy which we have gotten used to. This vibration of energy eventually becomes the reward itself.
Depression and Self-Healing
We must first agree that being depressed is counterproductive to the self-healing process. The ‘no-desire’ state of mind sends the wrong message to the physical body that there is no desire for life. The body receives this message and acts upon it at all levels. Cells do not regenerate properly, the aging process is activated and, depending on how advanced the state of depression is, a debilitating illness may appear somewhere in the body.
If one wishes to live, depression cannot be accepted as a part of life because it is antithesis to life.
Dissolve Depression using the Five Elements
All emotions are manifestations of energy. We learn our life lessons through emotions. The aim is to achieve emotional balance. This can be done by balancing the five elements on all levels: physical and energetical. You can analyze the dynamics between the five elements in your life, in the different areas of existence such as nutrition, environment, relationships, organ health diagnosis and so on.
When true balance is attained, the flow of life energy becomes strong and the mind becomes aligned with the body. The habit of depression can then be replaced with the habit of inner peace, for example, if an adequate practice is done daily including Qi Gong, Tai Chi and Ba Gua.
Clear your Mind by Moving your Body
The physical body needs to move as much as possible. Physical exercise helps to flow emotions. Keeping the body flexible and relaxed is the first condition needed to release the stagnant energies of depression. Qi Gong means the ‘work of energy’ or ‘moving energy’. It is one of the simplest and most affordable ways to achieve emotional balance. Both Qi Gong masters and regular practitioners have in common the state of emotional balance. They have learned how to flow energy when it gets stuck. They have learned the importance of maintaining inner peace, regardless of their environment.
The Liver – The Organ of ‘Anger’ (WOOD)
Liver is the organ responsible for collecting and cleaning the blood. It is believed that the Liver not only cleans the blood from toxins which cannot be digested, but also from emotions collected from the entire body. Therefore, the liver holds within it past emotions which we have experienced through life’s ups and downs.
When a massive emotional detox is required to combat depression, we should always consider working on the liver. More sleep, liver detox, meditation, Qi Gong, Tai Chi and Ba Gua are the first steps towards a cleaner and better functioning liver.
Lung – The Organ of ‘Grief and Sadness’ (METAL)
Sadness activates the feeling of heaviness in the chest. Considered the second factory of life energy, after the digestive system, the lung allows us to filter about 7 to 10 liters of air per minute, which goes to about 15,000 liters per day, or 5,25 million liters of air every year. The quality of the air (hopefully rich in oxygen) we inhale every minute is important, but we should not forget that our emotions affect the quality of energy we get from air. The same as plants, which take their nutrients from soil, water and air, we humans also extract the necessary elements from food, water and air. Do not underestimate the nutritional value of breathing. Learn how to breathe and practice it daily.
The Heart- Organ of ‘Joy’ (FIRE)
Joy is (or should be) the predominant emotion of our childhood. Before we experience other types of emotions, we are in a creative playing mode as kids. We enjoy everything without taking things too seriously. When we become ‘responsible’ adults, things change and playing is no longer the primordial interest in life. The other types of emotions start to take over and we forget about joy. What a terrible mistake!
The master of all organs, and recently also recognized by mainstream science as part of the brain, the heart plays a huge role in balancing all other emotional organs. The heart is where joy and love reside. Lack of these important parts of our life may slowly lead to a heart attack. Many books have been published on these factors: finding your joy in what you do, always having joy and love, being in the moment. For Qi Gong practitioners, joy is not the final goal; inner peace is! Joy and love are just the other side of the emotional ‘coin’ to balance anger, sadness, anxiety and other painful emotions. Too much of joy is not considered healthy as it can generate an energy imbalance. Although I must agree with the fact that these days the world tends to suffer from a lack of joy and love, one who wishes to become a master of energy should never disregard the law of moderation.
The Spleen – Organ of ‘Overthinking’ (EARTH)
Walking barefoot on the ground, connecting directly with the planet is a powerful yet forgotten grounding tool. Hugging a tree, playing in the sand or working in the garden are all spleen enhancing activities. The spleen’s importance is extremely undervalued in the western world. All the necessary liquids in the human body are somehow supervised by the spleen. The muscles are nourished through the spleen. If you are a body builder, rather than relying only on food supplements and protein shakes, maybe you should study the spleen more and find ways to enhance its capacity, as the spleen is responsible for muscle volume and how toned the muscles are.
When you spend too much time thinking and stressing about matters that are anyhow illusions of the mind, you are not in your body. Overthinking is the opposite of grounding. This is one more reason to get in touch with the earth element in your body: the spleen.
The Kidney – Organ of ‘Anxiety, Fear and Stress’ (WATER)
Kidney is the organ of eternal youth because it holds the elixir of immortality, which is called the Jing energy by qi gong practitioners. Depression is draining the Jing energy which, when depleted, will reduce the lifespan. Detoxifying the kidney, having enough water at all times and making sure that we apply moderation in everything (including stress and anxiety), will allow us to recover our strength. Read more about the kidney here.
Tai Chi, Qi Gong and Letting Go
Emotion means Energy in Motion, and it is the primary cause of energetical imbalances. Procrastinating in dealing with our emotional issues is similar to having a ticking time bomb stuck to our physical body. One day, if left unattended and ignored, the bomb will eventually explode into a physical illness. When we ignore the causes of disease, we are welcoming the acceptance of getting sick. Pain and discomfort mostly appear in the advanced stage of disease. Most people realize they have to change their lifestyle only when they get an illness in their physical body. I was no exception to this rule. I completely changed my lifestyle only after I got sick and stuck in a hospital bed. This was when I decided to no longer continue without sorting out my emotional issues and making life changing decisions.
The practice of internal martial arts is by definition an excellent tool to soften the potential of emotional disharmony, shocks or life slaps. There is not much we can do about our life when we are filled with stress. We can only focus on ourselves at the deepest levels possible.
We can get emotionally bullied from all directions. It is a consequence of our highly competitive society, which is driven by material desires. In a world dominated by those who appear to be strong, a Tai Chi trainee practices yielding to the forces of the Universe, combatting external strength with softness.
An emotionally balanced person is invulnerable to any attempts of bullying from the external environment.
Last but not least, people who are emotionally ungrounded often fail to make sound decisions, being overwhelmed by the fear of making mistakes or making others unhappy. Daily practice is meant to ground our roots to the Earth, regroup our energies to our center (Dantian) and act from inner or divine guidance.
Something that not many people know is that the physical training of Tai Chi extends to our emotional as well as our mental dimensions, and this is very valuable in avoiding getting hurt emotionally.
More information and tools/tips/exercises can be found in my book, The Ki Train Method, available on Amazon.
Check out our Ba Gua Qi Gong courses, which provide a powerful tool towards holistic self-healing on all levels, mentally, physically and emotionally.
Contact Ki Train team here, to ask more information about the next Qi Gong course or how to join regular classes.