Get the excess out

“Get the excess out and then you can transform it,” says world renowned Qigong teacher Mantak Chia. What a simple mechanism for returning to a state of inner balance! Balance is a moving thing, in continual transformation and flux. When our energy gets pushed or pulled into states of excess (translation: hissy fits, road rage, insomnia, food binges), we can pause and ask ourselves what, exactly, has grown out of proportion to our ability to deal with it gracefully? Often, it’s something simple like fatigue or plain old stress. Once we identify it, we can shake it out, breathe it out, or dissolve it away with a walk in nature, returning to a state of equanimity and balance. In Qigong, this process is called “inner alchemy”: we transform that nasty, uncomfortable, leaden energy back into something golden and serene. We practice this simple yet powerful process in each and every class, until it becomes second nature and translates automatically into our lives.