Qigong (also spelled chi gong, and chi gung; originally called daoyin):

1. (Chi Kung, Chinese Energetic healing, Chinese Qigong therapy, Chinese yoga, internal Qigong, Kiko, Qi Gong, Qigong healing) Chinese form of self-healing whose aim is to stimulate and balance the flow of qi (chi, vital energy) through meridians (energy pathways).

It involves contemplation, visualization (imagery), assumption of postures, and stylized breathing and body movements. Gong (or kung, as in kung fu) is a Chinese word that pertains to skill.

The word qigong literally means breathing exercise, to work the vital force, practicing with the breath, or working with the energy of life. Interpretations of the word include energy skill and energy mastering exercise.

2. A vast group of systems and methods of ancient Chinese and twentieth-century origin that encompasses Qigong therapy.

(See also: Qigong , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

For more dictionary entries, see » Ancient Healing Dictionary

Feng Shui [pronounced: foong shway or fung shway]: Ancient Chinese art of orienting objects and towns to promote a healthy flow of chi. Its postulate is that all areas, large and small, have a distinctive energy that is guidable by rearranging objects (e.g., removing an ornament from an apartment, or adding one to a particular corner of a room). To be avoided is: clutter, dark corners, gloomy colors, low ceilings, and sharp, pointed objects. Feng Shui literally means "wind and water" and is translatable as "vital energy" or "geomancy".

(See also: Feng Shui , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Ancient Healing Dictionary

Acupressure: An ancient Chinese system of healing based on applying finger pressure and massage to meridians (energy points) which release muscle tension related ailments.

(See also: Acupressure , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

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Classical Five Element Acupuncture: Ancient Chinese healing art. One of its principles is that Spirit is a fundamental aspect in the maintenance of well-being.

(See also: Classical Five Element Acupuncture , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

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Celtic Marriage

This article is not just for those interested in the traditions of Celtic Marriage, it is also a look into the complex body of law that governed the ancient Celts.

For the ancient Celts, marriage was a very different thing than what we conceive of as "marriage" today. For them, marriage or handfasting as some know it was a form of contract that had several purposes. These included the protection of property rights, the care of progeny (children), and the rights of the individuals involved in the relationships themselves.

Read more here: » Ancient Celts: Celtic Marriage

Venus is a planet rich in mythology from many different traditions; it is not without reason that the forthcoming Venus Transit as attracted so much attention. The author, Maya White has been a student and teacher of the metaphysical world for over 25 years and her focus as an astrologer include Theosophy, mysticism, spiritual healing and natal & astrology charts.

Read more here: » Venus Transit: Venus - Goddess of the Morning Star

Druidism: An ancient Celtic religion which has undergone a modern revival.

(See also: Druidism , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

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Acupuncture: An ancient Chinese system of healing based on inserting small needles into meridians (energy points) throughout the body to dissolve obstructions in the flow of energy and to correct organ imbalances.

(See also: Acupuncture , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Ancient Healing Dictionary

Where does the average seeker find stability in spiritual growth? Is there a 'how to' manual of integration into daily life? Many a spiritual seeker is becoming aware that he is more than his physical body.

There is a deep craving to understand what is their calling. The revival of ancient wisdom is growing and that growth is having an effect on the way we perceive spirituality.

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Love Unconditionally For We are Family

Kiara Windrider is a therapist, poet, astrologer, healer, explorer of mystic and shamanic paths and the author of the award-winning book Doorway to Eternity: A Guide to Planetary Ascension. A primary focus for Kiara Windrider has currently been to work with inner technologies for planetary healing, and joining with others in a Chrysalis Network to seed new possibilities for an awakening planet.

Read more here: » Spiritual Awakening: Two Streams of Future Probability

Lomi-Lomi (Ancient Hawaiian Bodywork, Lomi Lomi Nui): Prayerful type of massage practiced by kahunas (Hawaiian witch doctors). It includes the laying on of hands; its theory posits mana, an alleged supernatural force; and one of its purposes is to let a person's spirit be more fully present.

(See also: Lomi-Lomi , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

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Vedic Astrology: Ancient system that allegedly helps to resolve doubts concerning children, health, spiritual growth, and other subjects. Suggestions regarding donations, gemstones, herbs, mantras, yantras (mystic diagrams), and rituals are integral to the system.

(See also: Vedic Astrology , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Ancient Healing Dictionary

YOGA

Means union, or the yoking together of body and spirit. It is one of the more ancient methods of healing and of raising consciousness. It is a powerful tool to attain illumination, and like India herself (from whence this comes), there are many levels of expression. Yoga is a general term for many different types of practices.

The West is already familiar with Hatha Yoga, the practice of physical postures. However, there are more: Kriya Yoga includes breathing techniques, Tantric Yoga recognizes and aligns with the sexual energy, in the most profound awareness that sexual and spiritual are one, Bhatkti Yoga accentuates the path of devotion, Raja Yoga or the Royal Path, Kundalini Yoga also uses breathing techniques, and is concerned with the sacred energy of the spine, and so on. In each one, there is a profound technique of ancient knowledge, which can help you find what you are seeking on your life path.

(See also: YOGA , Alternative Health, Holistic Health, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Ancient Healing Dictionary

The Allure of Tantra

Perhaps nothing is more exotic, dramatic and sensational in IndiaÕs Yoga traditions than is the practice of Tantra. No other approach to Yoga has gained such a fascination for the modern mind and its seeking of the bizarre, the entertaining and the enigmatic.

Tantra appears to offer both spiritual and worldly success to a superlative degree. It covers not only internal yogic experiences of chakras, lokas and deities, but also has many important healing practices for body and mind. Most notably, it offers special means of heightening sexual pleasure, making money, gaining recognition and defeating oneÕs enemies - with Tantric methods available for achieving all human desires. There is in Tantra something for everyone, especially those who may be put off by ascetic or renunciate approaches to the spiritual life such as seem to dominate most of the rest of the Yoga tradition.

Read more here: » Tantra Yoga: The Allure of Tantra

Shamanism: The religion of the ancient peoples of northern Europe and Asia, generally characterized by the ability of the Shaman to communicate with the spirit world. Major facets of Shamanism are animism, possession, prophecy/revelations, shape shifting, and soul travel.

(See also: Shamanism , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

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Long before modern science came up with the idea of the Big Bang, India’s Sphota Vada said just what the Big Bang model says - that creation was born of one initial explosion.

Swami Vivekananda sums up the Indian Sphota Vada thus : “ Brahman first manifested itself as Sound, and then as Form. Sensible universe is the Form behind which stands the eternal inexpressible Sphota , the essential eternal material of all ideas or names. Sphota , the manifester as Logos or Word, is the power through which the Lord creates the universe. The Lord first becomes conditioned as the Sphota and then evolves himself as the more concrete sensible universe. In other words, Sphota is the fore- father of all ideas, it is their common basis and even the essence. If all the peculiarities which distinguish one word from another is removed, then what remains would be the Sphota.’’

(See also: Big Bang Theory , God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Big Bang Theory: Big Bang Theory In Ancient India  

Tibetan Reiki: Variation of and extension to Reiki. Tibetan Reiki is supposedly of ancient Tibetan origin.

(See also: Tibetan Reiki: , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

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Acupuncture: An ancient Chinese medical system over 5000 years old, recently revived in China and becoming popular in the West. It deals with subtle energy flows (chi) in the body related to the cosmic principles of Yin and Yang. The balance of these energies in the human body affects health and disease. Acupuncture therapy alters these energy flows by inserting fine needles at key pressure points, for varying periods of time. Anesthesia for surgery can also be effected by acupuncture.

(See also: Acupuncture , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Ancient Healing Dictionary

Ayurveda is the oldest surviving complete medical system in the world. Derived from its ancient Sanskrit roots - ‘ayus' (life) and ‘ved' (knowledge) – and offering a rich, comprehensive outlook to a healthy life, its origins go back nearly 5000 years. To when it was expounded and practiced by the same spiritual rishis, who laid the foundations of the Vedic civilisation in India, by organising the fundamentals of life into proper systems.

The main source of knowledge in this field therefore remain the Vedas, the divine books of knowledge they propounded, and more specifically the fourth of the series, namely Atharvaveda that dates back to around 1000 BC. Of the few other treatises on Ayurveda that have survived from around the same time, the most famous are Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita which concentrate on internal medicine and surgery respectively. The Astanga Hridayam is a more concise compilation of earlier texts that was created about a thousand years ago. These between them forming a greater part of the knowledge base on Ayurveda as it is practiced today.

The art of Ayurveda had spread around in the 6th century BC to Tibet, China, Mongolia, Korea and Sri Lanka, carried over by the Buddhist monks travelling to those lands. Although not much of it survives in original form, its effects can be seen in the various new age concepts that have originated from there.

No philosophy has had greater influence on Ayurveda than Sankhaya’s philosophy of creation and manifestation. Which professes that behind all creation there is a state of pure existence or awareness, which is beyond time and space, has no beginning or end, and no qualities. Within pure existence, there arises a desire to experience itself, which results in disequilibrium and causes the manifestation of the primordial physical energy. And the two unite to make the "dance of creation" come alive.

Imponderable, indescribable and extremely subtle, this primordial energy – which and all that flows from it existing only in pure existence – is the creative force of all action, a source of form that has qualities. Matter and energy are so closely related that when energy takes form, we tend to think of it in terms of matter only. And much modified, it ultimately leads to the manifestation of our familiar mental and physical worlds.

It also gives rise to cosmic consciousness, which is the universal order that prevades all life. Individual intelligence, as distinct from the everyday intellectual mind, is derived from and is part of this consciousness. It is the inner wisdom, the part of individuality that remains unswayed by the demands of daily life, or by Ahamkara, the sense of `I-ness’.

A Sanskrit word with no exact translation, Ahamkara, is a concept not quite understood by everyone as it is often misleadingly equated to `ego’. Embracing much more than just that, it is in essence that part of ‘me’ which knows which parts of the universal creation are ‘me’. Since ‘I’ am not separate from the universal consciousness, but ‘I’ has an identity that differentiates and defines the boundaries of `me’. All creations therefore have Ahamkara, not just human beings.

There arises from Ahamkara a two-fold creation. The first is Satwa, the subjective world, which is able to perceive and manipulate matter. It comprises the subtle body (the mind), the capacity of the five sense organs to hear, feel, see, taste and smell, and for the five organs of action to speak, grasp, move, procreate and excrete. The mind and the subtle organs providing the bridge between the body, the Ahamkara and the inner wisdom, which three together is considered the essential nature of humans.

The second is Tamas, the objective world of the five elements of sound, touch, vision, taste and smell – the five subtle elements that give rise to the dense elements of ether or space, air, fire, water and the earth – from which all matter of the physical world is derived. And it is Rajas, the force or the energy of movement, which brings together parts of these two worlds.

It is worth noting that even at the stage of the dense elements the philosophy of creation –which according to Sankaya is now and in the present, without any past and any future – is still dealing with aspects of existence beyond our simple physical realms. The point of contention being that we are the first and foremost spirit experiencing existence. To use Ayurveda in daily life, one has neither to accept nor even understand this philosophy. But it does provide a deeper insight into how Ayurveda works towards betterment of your health.

Ayurveda therefore is not simply a health care system but a form of lifestyle adopted to maintain perfect balance and harmony within the human existence, from the most abstract transcendental values to the most concrete physiological expressions. Based on the premise that life represents an intelligent co-ordination of the Atma (Soul), Mana (Mind), Indriya (Senses) and Sharira (Body). That revolves around the five dense elements that go into the making of the constitution of each individual, called Prakriti. Which in turn is determined by the vital balance of the three physical energies - Vata, Pitta, Kapha and the three mental energies - Satwa, Rajas,

Ayurveda thus offers a unique blend of science and philosophy that balances the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual components necessary for holistic health.

(See also: Ayurveda , Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Dictionary, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Ancient Healing Dictionary

REIKI:

·      Discovered and propounded by Dr.Mikao Usui in 1800, it is the ancient Japanese art of healing by the 'laying on of hands' - Reiki meaning universal energy in Japanese.

·      A powerful and spiritual experimental technique that opens up the vision, heart, palm chakras, third eye and other psychic abilities.

·      Providing holistic, positive energy without any side effects, it can be undergone independently or with other medical treatments.

·      Treating the root-cause of a disease, it enhances the body's natural ability to heal itself. And maintains equilibrium of both body and mind to promote complete relaxation, thereby raising the life-force energy.

·      The therapist first makes a body-scan of the seven chakras to determine individual needs. Actual therapy follows when the universal energy flows through the therapist into the client.

The various stages in the entire process being:

THE FIRST DEGREE STAGE

This is the primary stage where you get attuned as the universal energy activates in you through transmission for approximately four hours over some days. When the attunement is established, information is given on four levels of energy - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. At this stage, you are opened up to a higher level of universal resonance that can be ventured up to unlimited heights through suggested use and applications.

THE SECOND DEGREE STAGE

Slightly more advanced, great changes in the energy levels are achieved here and symbols are introduced to unlock the chakras that will improve your health.

THE THIRD DEGREE STAGE

In this most advanced and powerful stage you are taught the intricate process of passing on the reiki energy and ways of enhancing personal growth, transformation and increased enlightenment.

(See also: REIKI , Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Dictionary, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Ancient Healing Dictionary

ACCUPUNCTURE:

·      The modern name is derived from the Latin words Acus (needle) and Punctura (penetration). It is, however, an ancient Chinese art of healing that sticks needles into a patient's skin or even muscles to correct imbalances in the `yin' & `yang' of the body.

·      Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, one of the oldest medical texts in the world, comprises a special section called `Magic Gate', which is devoted to this therapeutic style.

·      Although modern acupuncture charts more than 2000 points in the body - located along invisible energy called `meridians', 12 channels in each half of the body and 2 major channels (Ren & Du) along the middle line - traditionally there were only 365.

·      The western explanation for this is that a needle inserted at specific acupuncture points of the body releases certain chemical substances, that activate neuro-transmitters, which then pass on nerve impulses to the brain to obtain the desired effects. Must be performed by trained practitioners only.

The fundamental difference between these two systems being:

ACUPUNCTURE

·      A form of surgery where needles are penetrated into specific points of your body.

·      To cure chronic aches and pain.

ACUPRESSURE

·      A form of physiotherapy that indulges in massage and stimulation of precise points of the body.

• To ease all kinds of aches and pains and provide relief from tension, exhaustion and disease.

(See also: ACCUPUNCTURE , Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Dictionary, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Ancient Healing Dictionary

REIKI

Means "Universal Life-Force Energy," and was created by Dr. Mikao Usui of Japan, about 150 years ago. Hi was disillusioned with the standard medical procedures of his time, and set out on a journey to find something, that to him was on a higher level of healing. His travels took him to Tibet, where he found ancient texts of healing, with symbols of an extremely spiritual method of healing.

It is told that while descending a mountain in Tibet, he twisted his ankle, and prompted by what he had learned, applied this ancient method and healed his ankle. Upon returning to Japan, he formulated this modality into a method that he called “Reiki.” The “Rei” means universal, and “ki” means energy. It is understood that all of creation is energy, and when in particular the body is manifesting symptoms of disease, dis-ease, or is injured in any way, the universal energy flow is impeded, and the body is not able to maintain its natural state of optimum good health.

The Reiki practitioner places the hands directly on the recipient, or a few inches above the recipient’s body, without physical contact. In fact Reiki can be sent over great distances by thought and intent. Such is the nature of Universal Healing Energy.

The Reiki practitioner acts as a “bridge” to enable the transference of universal energy from source to reach the recipient, which them helps and stimulates the ability of the recipient to complete their own healing. We are, after all, part of universal energy, and are able to heal ourselves, but in many cases we require the assistance of others to help us bypass our own energy blocks. Reiki can be very effective for just about any and every ailment and disorder. It is a marvelous method to maintain the balance of the emotions, and the body. Anyone can learn this technique, by finding a Reiki Master Teacher, and receiving the attunements, while learning the modality. It is also effective to apply this healing modality to oneself.

(See also: REIKI , Alternative Health, Holistic Health, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Ancient Healing Dictionary