sources of energy
I've recently started working through using Nia (usually understood to be a new-agey dance experience) as worship. One of the things Nia focuses on is "energy" akin to how martial arts and the complementary healing practice do.
The basic idea behind "energy" is the human "spirit". Where we westerners believe that we can say little or nothing about the human spirit others have imported systems from the East. In the East people have explored and to some degree mapped the human spirit. Just as people can develop the human body for health the East shows that we can develop the human spirit. I'm of the opinion that we use the body and mind in worship and that our focus is on developing them but we've left out the spirit. I believe we must appropriate the chi, spirit, prana, energy (or whatever) and incorprate it in Christianity.
I understand there to be three sources or generators of energy:
1) creation itself
2) the human being
3) spiritual beings
How do you guys feel about this? Have any of you made inroads into these concepts?
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Tai chi
I've been doing tai chi for around 3 years now - it's more of a physical practice than a focus on developing chi (energy) and I was a bit worried when I started that I'd be opening myself up to dodgy things. Now I just realise I'm opening myself up to being stiff the next day!
One of the things which happened to me which pushed me towards starting tai chi was having a desire, while I was praying, to move along with my prayer. This is the direction I'm heading in right now.
This energy thing does freak some people out so I usually prefer not to talk about it: also because I don't understand it myself! I've felt huge tingling in my feet and hands, but whether that's just because I'm breathing really deeply or because it's genuinely "chi" I don't know.
Interestingly, I've been told tai chi is best practiced barefoot on grass since it roots us to the earth and allows our energy to flow properly. My instructor says that the pins and needles in our feet are worse because we're 3 stories up and practicing on concrete...if we were on grass it would be a lot better.
the nerve...
Well, you've either got some serious nerve problems or its working... By better do you mean there would be more or less tinglies?
Some people describe similar experiences of tingling when the Holy Spirit comes on them and this is often coupled with REM (rapid eye movement) indicating subconscious mental activity.
Have you explored the Chakra System (there are various models but there's some consensus)? Wikipedia has a great intro article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra.
Envoy
Dodgy!
All I know about Chakra's is that they're dodgy! (hehe - same reasoning as to why I knew yoga was dodgy...i.e. no information). Not sure I'm there yet in terms of exploration...so much to learn with tai chi first!
As for the Holy Spirit thing you mentioned...interesting. The difference is that I'm in full control in tai chi...where it seems that my friends who've related their charismatic experiences to me seem to have this "done to them"...and that seems like a personal violation which I don't want to consent to.
Lastly - to answer your first question - I don't know! I would think less...maybe I'd be able to consciously manage those tinglies better?
Violations
The Holy Spirit never raped Mary. I know that is a pretty crude way of saying it but I think (and in my experience) I have never had anything forced on me by the Holy Spirit. If I did I would have to take a big step back and ask whether that was the Holy Spirit. Even if you are prophecying or speaking in tongues you are still in control. I used to be weary of this stuff because I did not want to 'lose control' but I don't think I've been 'violated' by the Holy Spirit yet!
:)
That's good to know! :)
bring on the ecstacy....!
Wendy and Roger let's not forget that prophesy is not always neat. There are ample examples of ecstatic prophecy in Scripture as well as spontaneous prophetic utterances. As God/-ess is a person S/He can do stuff to us. To me intimacy is the key. Sexual experiences forced on others is violation but those invited and entered into mutally are not.
Roger, in Tai Chi and other energetic practices one is working with their own energy system and tapping into the flow of energy that is part and parcel of creation. When dealing with the Spirit and/or other spirits one is dealing with pure energy beings one is dealing with foreign energy that happes to be a person. Just as we do not control other people, but can violate or share so too does the Spirit and other spirits interact with us.
Envoy
some thoughts on energy
It’s interesting reading both your thoughts on energy and chi. I figure this is supposed to be a discussion though, so here are a couple of thoughts I have on the ideas of Christianity and energy. It’s a bit long but stick with me…
To begin with, I believe Christianity is a way of life that unifies mind, body and soul. First, Christianity requires that we review the information we have about Jesus and make a decision about whether or not Jesus is who he said he is (this hopefully uses our minds), then Jesus calls us to follow him which requires action (and therefore our body). Finally, Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in us and connect our spirit (or soul or whatever) to God. As such, Christianity is a philosophy (a set of beliefs and values) which brings together these three aspects of a human.
I have found the practices of speaking in tongues, prophecy, words of knowledge and interpretation have developed and grown my worship in the spirit and I consistently feel a desire to grow in these areas rather than feeling it is neglected. It is true that in much of Christianity today, one or all of these aspects can be ignored or overlooked which moves me onto the idea of Nia as worship or Tai Chi as prayer. As I said earlier I believe that Christianity is philosophy, I also believe that both Nia and Tai Chi come with their own sets of philosophies (for that matter calling oneself South African suggests a philosophy).
In a number of cases engaging with different philosophies and ways of living can be helpful and stimulate growth but this may not be the case when the philosophies one is dealing with oppose your main philosophy for your life. For example, during apartheid, South Africa held a philosophy that some people held more value than others, this conflicts with my philosophy as a Christian that all people have value, as a result I would need to choose which philosophy to follow.
Therefore, if I believe that Christianity unifies my body, mind and soul and then I look at Nia, which also claims to unify body, mind and soul, it means I have two philosophies claiming to do the same thing but in different ways. Does this cause a problem? Well, that depends on the differences. Christianity claims to unify body, mind and soul through Jesus Christ dying, coming back to life and promising to take us to heaven if we believe in him. Nia claims to unify body, mind and soul because of different disciplines that were given to them by their Inner Sacred Athlete (check out www.nianow.com) For me this creates a conflict as it means that I am either going to accept a philosophy where Jesus connects body, mind and soul or a philosophy where an Inner Sacred Athlete connects my body, mind and soul.
However, I do believe truth can exist outside of Christianity and that there are benefits to practising something like Tai Chi (which can teach discipline, control, concentration) or Nia (which improves flexibility, self-esteem and selfexpression) My problem with both of these is that they are practised within a philosophy which sometimes contradicts the philosophy I hold as a Christian (a philosophy based on the bible but modified by my experiences as a Christian and which as a result will probably be quite different to yours).
So what do I think of the “energy” created or harnessed or redirected in Nia and Tai Chi? I can quite happily believe that our bodies were created with energy pathways and that when energy runs correctly through these pathways we function better which is the basic idea of chi. It makes sense to me that God would have created us with a system that allows his spirit to dwell in us. With regards to Nia and Tai Chi I would be worried that the “energy” or “chi” or whatever is in opposition to God, trying to crowd out his spirit or clutter up these pathways. I also do not see how this Chi would improve my prayer life or how Nia would help me worship but then some of the things I do to pray and worship probably would not help you.
I guess what I am trying to say is I would be careful of trying to spiritualise something as a reason to do it. If you want to practice Nia and you find there is nothing which conflicts with the Bible, then practice Nia - it will automatically be worship because your whole life is worship – the fact that you breathe worships God whether you mean it to or not.
Finally, since you brought up the fact that Nia involves your spirit/soul I would be interested to know how your soul feels when you practice Nia as a form of worship or use Tai Chi to enhance your prayer life. You might have to think back to your spirits response the first time you practiced this – did your spirit leap for joy or did you have questioning doubts? I would think the inner witness of your spirit would be a pretty good barometer of whether or not this energy is “good”. I guess I feel that we do not need to appropriate the chi, spirit, prana energy (or whatever) because I believe it is already present in Christainity in the Holy Spirit...what do you think?
philosophy & worldview
Hi Wendy,
Great response btw. I enjoyed reading it.
I think in principle Christianity, at least Scripture, is open and integrative of mind, body and spirit. Christianity, however, in my experience is largely western and rooted in western presuppositions. I have not found, to date, Christianity incorporating energy/chi/prana/etc. like they do in tai chi or in nia or the East. In fact, I've generally found that the majority of Christians I've connected with over the years have been quite anti-Eastern philosophy and practice. More and more Christians are taking up things like Tai Chi, Yoga and Nia.
A short while back, historically speaking, Christianity was anti-psychology. Today a number of professional Christians actually include and encourage people to study psychology and counselling and add it to what we do as churchmen and churchwomen while others add the Christian label to their practice, branding themselves as Christian Counsellours and Christian Psychologists. I guess we could say that we now understand psychology to complement and in a number of ways supplement Scripture but in the past considered it not Christian. We may read psychology back into Scripture but Scripture does not actually teach psychology. Similarly, we can read the energy and complementary healing stuff back into Scripture but Scripture does not teach it.
I'm not suggesting that we spiritualise Nia. Sure, everything we do is spiritual just as everything we do is sexual. Nevertheless, the practice of worship and the practice of sex are both distinct. I'm suggesting that we can create an alternative expression of worship to our song-based one. Hence I'm approaching the topic with this perspective in mind, i.e. I'm looking to develop a worship experience that is movement.
Things like psychology and philosophy lend themselves to incorporation in sermons. Our worship has expanded from the organ and includes other instruments. Our practice of worship, however, has not expanded beyond a song-base.
Where psych and philo don't enter much into our worship, but do enter into our health and healing practices, my personal conviction is that we can similarly appropriate the complimentary health practices, perhaps including things like Reiki (reiki is the channelling of energy for healing) and the Yoga (not just the postures but the energy development components) for healing and for worship. A healthy mind (via psychology) adds to community and worship and hence a healthy spirit (via complementary/new agey healing methodologies) could add another dimension. The Nia Technique has already done some of the legwork incorporating movement and healing. I'm keen to take it a bit further and maximise it for our purposes.
With regard to how my spirit feels. My current line of thought focuses on their being 3 sources of energy. The world we look at around us and we human beings both consist of matter and spirit/energy. In addition to this there are pure energy persons. I'm comfortable with enhancing my own spirit/energy system just as I am comfortable getting physically fit. I'm interested in how we can tap into natural energy. I'm dubious and mostly closed to the idea of mental and physical channelling of spirits. I'm keen on channelling the Holy Spirit more and more.
Envoy
Let's find some alternative expressions of worship then...
To start off with Christianity is an Eastern Religion. I think we often forget that in our messed up Western/Africa/developing/privileged/technological world that we live in. I would agree that most Christians are anti-Eastern philosophy and practice (which is stupid considering that they follow an Eastern religion) and more and more Christians are practicing things like Tai Chi, yoga and the like but I’m still not sure that makes it okay.
Just to give you some background (because I am pretty sure I’m about to sound like a small minded Christian Fundamentalist!) I grew up the daughter of a Baptist and a Pentecostal in a hippie village (pop. about 250) where my friends were either Buddhist or new age spiritualists or Satanists or Atheists or anywhere in between.
I take your point about Christians (I do not like using the term Christians in such a broad way but not too sure how else to phrase this) being closed to helpful things such as psychology in the past. However, that does not mean that because Christians have been opposed to some helpful things in the past, all things Christians are opposed to NOW are helpful. In the past Christians have also been opposed to child sacrifice and murder and slavery (ok, not all Christians, but I’d like to think the ones that were reading that book where the Hero dies and then comes back to life, were).
I also understand the frustration that clings to worship that is simply song based. It is not the way that we were meant to worship (in fact I think the whole idea of communion is pretty unsong based - and Jesus was the one who suggested that). I do however think that we can take any physical act and make it worshipful. I am just not convinced that Nia, Yoga and Reiki are the way to do this. To take your own definition of Reiki as the channeling of energy for healing, I find this so hard to reconcile with my Christian worldview and experiences that God heals. He does not need me to channel energy, in fact the less I do the more I offer it to him as worship.
Sigh, I carefully stayed away from broaching yoga in my first response but here are a few ideas to get you thinking. Yoga comes from two words which mean union with Brahman (the hindu concept of God). To begin with Yoga and Christianity have different concepts of God. The Yoga version is impersonal and pantheistic. Whereas Christianity says God is personal and separate from creation as the Creator. Yoga teaches everything is God (including man) whereas Christianity draws a distinction.
Yoga suggests humans have problems in life because we do not realize we are gods, the solution (the goal of yoga) is enlightenment and union with God through personal effort. Hatha yoga, (the yoga which is normally practiced without the “religion” of yoga for physical benefits) was originally created to aid the person practicing yoga through any physical problems they may encounter on the road to enlightenment. I’m pretty sure you know Christianity says the problem is we sin and the only thing that can be done about it is to let God sort it out by believing in him. Basically the main teaching of you is that man’s true nature is divine – I’m not sure how I can incorporate that into worship.
Maybe what we should be discussing are ways to create an alternative expression of worship as movement that does involve the focus being on us but on God. Any ideas?
i have ideas
Hi Wendy
I have some ideas, here:
http://soundandsilence.wordpress.com/?s=worthy+worship
I'd be interested to hear you take on them.
I may not have time
I had a quick look. Quite a lot to read through. It could take me a while, maybe all weekend and my christmas holidays, so don't expect a response other than this for a while...
distinguishing cultural foundations from faith orientations
Hi Wendy,
I briefly comment on Yoga and Christianity on my http://timvictor.wordpress.com/2007/11/06/christians-and-yoga/. Sure, in the past people had to choose between East and West, but the now we get to distinguish between practices and their focuses. I'm not advocating that we uncritically accept everything Christianity uncritically rejected. Rather, I'm for a deliberate and proactive engagement and exploration of stuff lying beyond the confines of our western worldview. Hence I believe just as we appropriated psychology (many psychologies lie at odds with our various Christian worldviews when you get into them) we may similarly we appropriate "energy" and "energetical healing practices" and hence things like Nia and the various Yogas (remember that there is a variety of yoga and that our western imports bear little resemblence to its point of origin).
I'm keen to continue this conversation when you're back in action. Enjoy the holidays.
Envoy
Breathe in...hold...and breathe out!
Hey, great comment Wendy - your first comment here? Excellent, and it's as graceful as your frisbee throw! I won't be there this Saturday - sorry - end-of-year paintball. You know how it is. Bang!
I enjoyed reading your comment. A question, if I may. You (correctly, in my opinion) state that you would not want to deliberately be a part of a philosophy which opposed your main philosophy, i.e. you'd not want to do something which opposes Christianity or Jesus. You then say that Tai Chi occasionally contradicts Christianity - could you please expand on this and talk a bit about where you see it working against Christianity?
You wrote:
I would be interested to know how your soul feels when you practice Nia as a form of worship or use Tai Chi to enhance your prayer life.
Well, I don't have those "questioning doubts", but neither does my spirit leap for joy (!). It's more of an experience of simply slowing down my fast existence...breathing slowly and properly...and moving deliberately slowly. All of these things are countercultural and very refreshing. Often I'm engaged so much in the experience that I don't want to be praying mentally, because that prayer is actually adding "noise" into what is supposed to be quiet. In those times I try to simply become aware of God, what is called contemplation.
I'm not trying to work with energy or chi, simply inhabiting the space.
Earlier this week I watched the Nooma video "Breathe" for the first time, and Rob Bell likens the pronunciation of G-d's name - YHWH - to breathing. I'm not necessarily sure I'd go with that, but it's sure challenged me to think about breathing. He talks about how often we breath very quickly and shallowly. Tai Chi has taught me to breathe deeply into the pit of my stomach (as it were) and not using my shoulders.
I also learnt an interesting exercise last year called "x 1/2x x". Take a watch and time yourself. Breathe in for 10 seconds, hold it for 5 seconds, breathe out for 10 seconds, hold for 5 seconds. Then repeat again. A minute will have passed and you have breathed twice. Excellent for "reframing"...changing your state of mind into one more relaxed.
I posted an entry recently on my FutureChurch blog called "Is Tai Chi demonic?" It's not a long entry - give it a read - I'd be interested to hear your comments. In that entry I also posted a youtube clip of a woman performing the 24 step Tai Chi form, which I've been learning for the last 2 years. She does it beautifullly!
Minefields and Tai Chi
Using Paintball as an excuse…tsk tsk…you do know the name of our frisbee revolution is Frisbee first (you have to get your priorities straight…) Right now though I’ve stepped into a minefield so I am going try and prevent having my limbs blown off as much as possible here by trying to make this a sprint across the minefield (plus I don’t have the time to pick my across…)
First, I do not see Tai Chi working against Christianity but I do think there are areas where the philosophies that underpin Tai Chi conflict. I have never practiced Tai Chi and have never really had much desire too. I did have a trainer for a while who tried to get me to take up Qigong though. Qigong is part of a family of Chinese practices that emphasizes self healing. In my understanding Tai Chi developed out of Qigong and is the moving form of it (but I stand to be corrected). I mention this because much of my understanding of where Tai Chi contradicts Christianity comes from looking into Qigong.
So here goes…
The practical exercises of Tai Chi are situated in a wider philosophical context of Taoism. As a philosophy, Taoism has many elements but fundamentally it espouses a calm, reflective and mystic view of the world steeped in the beauty and tranquility of nature. Sounds alright, not too many conflicts with Christianity but there are a few. At a fundamental level Taoism is a way to achieve personal peace and harmony with nature by withdrawing from the world, by not interacting with the world, and by doing nothing to solve the problems of the world. It is a way of living that is completely self-centered. I know it does not sound very different to the way many Christians live today but it should! Christians should be focused on loving God and then others and caring for the people who need our help. It is an active religion. Taoism focuses on how we can help ourselves whereas Christianity does not. There are a lot of other conflicts but I’m not going to get into them.
I know, what you are going to say, “but I am not practicing Taoism. I am just doing Tai Chi for physical activity.” I am not sure whether it is possible to completely separate Tai Chi from philosophies like Taoism but perhaps it is? I am also not going to go so far as to say that Tai Chi ALWAYS incorporates these teachings, philosophies and religious leanings but it often does (and when it does there is a conflict). It is probably quite possible to find a Tai Chi instructor (after all the religious nature of anything depends largely on the instructor) who does not believe in any of the philosophical and religious ideas that are involved in Tai Chi and as a result won’t pass these on (knowingly or unknowingly).
I guess too that having looked into Qigong (which in my opinion cannot be separated from its religious background) I hold a somewhat prejudiced view of Tai Chi being able to. Qigong uses Chi as a means to heal and even goes so far as to suggest that you can save Chi up to pass onto someone else to heal them. (Tai Chi is normally seen as a preventative healing form and so does not save up Chi to heal others.) I don’t know, it just makes me wonder, whether the energy is innocent as everyone says. After all I don’t believe that I can heal anyone, God can, but I can’t, even if I practice different breathing techniques and stances. Which I know is not what you were saying at all – my mind just wandered! (There’s a pretty interesting booklet on Qigong and Tai Chi if you have the time)
I don’t know if you want to hear my comments on your futurechurch blog (I did read it). I’ll see if I have time otherwise read my response to envoy it’s probably all there anyway (sigh)!
Lightly floating over landmines
Thanks Wendy, this is helpful because you did exactly what I asked: you explained your reservations about Tai Chi :) And stayed on topic (!).
Right now, with the way I'm being taught, my Tai Chi has nothing to do with Taoism (and I think that's the way my instructor learnt too). There is explicitly no religious background to how we are taught - I was told this at the beginning and have so far seen that borne out. I haven't done any Qigong...
My stance as a Christian is not to withdraw from the world but to engage it, and I find Tai Chi helpful in that sense. I'm glad to hear you don't think it's demonic!
To Quigong or not to Quigong...
Hi Wendy and Roger,
There is a term in science for when you take a valid insight and when expanding it universally it doesn't apply but I forget what it is... I believe that Quigong expands toward pantheism and/or panentheism but that that conclusion is not necessarily correct universally. I suggest that there are several sources of energy. Often those into complementary health rely on spiritual guides, pure energy beings, to help channel energy from nature or even channell the energy of those beings in order to heal (that's what we do when we lay hands and the Spirit works through us). I believe that we do have the power heal, though not as impressively as God/-ess we can still grow. We heal through natural means, e.g. medicine and can heal through energetic means, e.g. acupuncture. I believe we should be open to exploring "energy" further and believe the framework I'm developing, which distinguishes between the human and divine contributions to religion and spirituality as well as between various sources of energy, helps with this.
Envoy
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