For many of us, the journey of chi cultivation began with the goal of performing techniques as demonstrated on movies, televisions and comic books: the telekinetic abilities of the Jedi is Star Wars; catlike reflexes and preemptive intuition of the poorly dubbed kung fu action heroes of the 1970s and; every mild mannered young man or woman to don a costume in the Marvel and DC Universe.
Each of us has had enough experiences that would warrant X-files like investigations, but the goal of finding out how to develop and control these abilities creates a purpose that drives us whereas many others dismiss these experiences as happenstance, chance, or tricks of the mind. We know better.
Still, the idea of a 20 minute workout seems, on the surface, almost a waste of time. For our entire lives, we’ve been told that to get good at anything, required continuous hours of effort with a dogged pursuit that is borderline obsessive. From preparing for a fourth grade spelling bee to graduate exams, the hours are clocked, and the results are often a direct reflection of the time spent and intensity of said effort.
Not too long ago, Sifu Jones the Head Instructor at The School of Chi Energy reprimanded me for having these doubts. I could not see myself pushing beyond the envelope and moving the art further with only 20 minutes a day in my chi training. Even after all these years, with corresponding experiences, abilities and accompanying physiological, psychological, spiritual and emotional changes, there was a part of me still in a state of disbelief.
I ran across an article that provided an analogy that made perfect sense and since then, my results and development have been exponential: compound interest. Gary Foreman wrote the article “How Saving $2.75 a Day Can Change Your Life”. The article deals with finances and compound interest, but the golden nugget for me was the following excerpt: “That rule has to do with the cumulative nature of math. It says that small amounts add up over time”
The amount of time I spend doing an energy flowpattern workout, 20 minutes, is in fact a very small amount of time. When I think of the 17 to 18 hours I spend awake daily, or 1020 minutes per day, 20 minutes is only a fraction of the percentage of time: 0.019. Again, this seems like less than nothing. And for all intents and purposes, it is – if that is all that there was to it. However, the nature of these exercises, the direct engagement of the nerve fiber building exercises in particular, coupled with specific and deliberate attributes from form to temperature; add up over time to create a bio photonic wealth that is unattainable through any other means.
My youngest son, approaching the tender age of nine, shared with me a wisdom he recently learned that I had forgotten. He talked to me about the Aesop Fable of the Tortoise and the Hair, and how slow and steady won the race. “Is that how we do it dad?” I smiled, and thought about the 20 minutes a day I spend and have been spending, consistently and with deliberate expectations in my chi journey. “That’s right – that’s how we do it.”
I encourage each of you to look at your training in a similar fashion. The 20 minutes a day may not seem like much, but over an extended period of time, the hours you accumulate, along with the focus, sensitivity and bio-photonic development thereof, will gradually lead you to an apex that will feel and seem natural and almost unnoticed. Even now, as I look around, I can see with clarity from my current peak across the valley of the normalcy of my mundane beginnings, and this encourages me to climb higher.
Slow and steady.
Compounding my efforts with small investments in time, with deliberate attention to specific attributes, the mountain top is not as far away as I thought.
Enjoy the journey.
Be well. Be mindful. V/r Don Brown, MSIS [Certified Instructor]