Principles of Yi- Intention

“Principles of Yi”
Remember Yi is an idea of intention, a name to call this happening of a unifying and driving force that we inherently possess. These principles are to help us develop tools to describe and put it to easier use.

• Yi-(intention) is the unity of mind and heart, which is also the body. This is another way to say the traditional saying "When the Shen (spirit) rests in the tranquil heart the emperor (of the body) rules without rebellion." In short your intention is your ability to unify your entire being (physical body, mind, and spirit) onto or within a thing so strongly that you move in complete unity within it. (intention- balance of will, feeling and action. After doing something temper your intention with feedback gained by listening and observing what the results of your application told you. "OODA loop")
• This unity will cause a strong physical feeling and bring about deeper intellectual understanding + creativity.
• In physical application Yi is easier directed with the eyes.
• In meditation and medical applications Yi can be directed simply by sharpening your focus, feeling and channeling your attention to move qi in directions you want it to go.
• The more you relax, focus and unify yourself, the stronger your attention will guide the qi + strengthen your ability to feel and apply.

• The more consistently you pay attention to something the more you compound the thing. I.e. If you spend your time focusing on what you find arousing in any environment, the more aroused you will be by this thing. Function (paying attention/yang) and substance (the physical reaction/yin)
• Seek what drives your response and that will help you direct your focus. i.e. if you want to increase your arousal, focus on the roots of things you find arousing. If you want to relax, focus on the roots of things you find relaxing. If you want to be more creative, allow your mind the quiet space that builds the freedom to create things.
• Feeling is said to gather or cause qi to flow. Pay attention to how you feel and are driven to respond to a certain thing, thought, or action. Then build an unattached gentle coaxing, this is the beginning of using yi to direct or guide the qi.
• When principles are intact you can take action whenever you want, seeking to liberate your spontaneity. Clarify your intention by taking nothing personally and letting go of the immediate outcome to devote yourself to living innately.
• In life, goals help you to pinpoint your focus to accomplish a specific result. Goals are good for accomplishing things. In the mind our goals are things to direct us short, or long term. Without goals our results will be without meaning. In the beginning our physical qigong goals are to seek openness of kinetic chains (meridians), to absorb and/or emit force and to release tension in specific areas or points (i.e. acupressure// massage) to unify the body into a single whole. Once together we can move wholeheartedly in a certain direction, physically and metaphysically. 
• A simplified explanation is that the use of Yi is reliant on a balance of doing not doing. This will begin to form a link between willing and feeling. Another way to describe it is observance while acting out our goals. To be pliable, changeable although steadfast in application. Soft in mind and hard in action. Round on the outside, solid principles in our center. To this aim we use Yi to seek internal harmony and dissolve internal dis harmonies. This starts with observing one’s self, seeking feeling and knowledge forming a solid foundation to discern the desirable + the undesirable. Observance helps us see what things to listen to, what things to let go of, what we’ve done and what we truly want to do… The balance of yin and yang in this context then comes from the acknowledgment of truth and falsehood within the mind. To cling to falsehood in the pursuit of truth is to lose balance and become bias. To trap one’s self in illusion is to lose the pursuit of objective righteousness, this righteousness is one that becomes revealed as we traverse the path i.e. an applicable ‘truth’.
• A feeling of weakness and worthlessness will stifle everything you do. Training yourself to be numb to any of your feelings will bring about unforeseen hardships. This is due to the interdependence of feeling and intellect. One provides life to the other and should inform our decision as a whole human being. To be dishonest about how we feel is akin to lying to one-self. This twists our intellect into making false claims. Acknowledge your feelings by lovingly and mercifully accepting where they came from, all your reasons you have them, and understanding your rationalization of them. This builds trust in your self-worth and ability to overturn conditioned falsehoods.
• “Let the feeling touch you, don’t let it consume you, but be touched by it.” - JR
• LOVE the right action, CUT OUT the wrong action. How do we know the right or wrong action, by listening to and following lessons from feedback of our actions. In the marine corps we call this the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) 
• Seven internal disharmonies that negatively affect Yi are excess, unconscious/imbalanced emotions: When we are led by our emotional responses to life everything spins around us and this chaotic qi is what leads and deeply clouds our intention to live our lives in anyway we see fit. Indeed sadness, grief, pensiveness, worry, fear, fright, anger, and euphoria are not inherently bad things, however, when they persist beyond a normal and natural flow they deeply affect and cause problems for us physiologically and psychologically. In the next section I’ll elaborate on how this framework gives us a tool to counterbalance and release these charged emotions.
  • Sadness (metal)
  • Grief (metal extreme and abrupt)
  • Pensiveness, excess worry (earth)
  • Fear (water)
  • Fright (water extreme and abrupt)
  • Anger (wood)
  • Euphoria (fire)
• Internal harmonies that positively affect Yi. A primary view is that one’s personal Shen (spirit) should be placed in a faculty of power and sovereignty to rule over our entire being. These internal harmonies or virtues are attributes to embody that allow our spirit to be sovereign. When we allow ourselves to be led away from them we get robbed of our qi and unintentionally grow into an emotional mess. Traditionally these virtues and emotional vices are said to affect various organs within the body (Zhang Fu correlations) and cause relaxation/tension in specific areas. To use this Taoist method of emotional hygiene remember the 5 element controlling and building cycles to get a working knowledge and applicable understanding of these virtues. I.e. If you are very sad and depressed then it isn't the time to force yourself to be courageous and righteous. Stuffing, negating, or making war with your sadness in this way will only further exacerbate the problem. There’s a reason this emotion is coming up to begin with. Approach it from the element that builds and controls the one you're having an issue with. In the case of dealing with sadness and grief Metal is controlled by fire, and is fed into by earth. To grow courage and righteousness it maybe wise to seek fairness and be open with yourself, trusting you will get through this hard time will allow you to seek the root of your sadness. Finding the root will lead you to the love within the situation and will help you bring joy into and out of where your sadness comes from. In its own time this will shape your view to be happy about how these things have affected you once your feeling of loss has run its course. In hindsight and distance you can find how similar experiences have made you the person you are today. Another way to put this is that courage and righteousness are a byproduct of naturally flowing with your sadness and assimilating it into a balanced human being. The same can be said of all these other emotions and virtues.
  • Courage, righteousness (metal)
  • Fairness, openness, trust + faith (earth)
  • Gentleness, calmness, silence (water)
  • Kindness, Generosity (wood)
  • Love, joy, and happiness (fire)
• Your life philosophy shapes your Yi and your Yi shapes your life. Your mindset is how you react to the world mentally, this physically reflects itself in your ability to move, to work efficiently, and can reflect itself in your experience of your feelings.
• Your overall intent in life should be to live to get older, don’t worry about things, practice all the time and enjoy life innately + genuinely. To this end be yourself, never stop seeking the things you enjoy, always learn and grow. Growth is the essence of what keeps us alive, movement equals life and stagnation equals death. The only thing a Taoist fears is not being in the Tao. Be the central pivot. Return to your root. Invest in loss. Listen to all + act on virtue.
• The bridge between Yi and qi is action. If you don’t allow your mental activity to move you, in one form or another, there is no connection between mind and body. Hence, without action internal (paradigm shift, building understanding/ intellectual application, +/or a shift of feeling to bring tranquility) or external movement to bring peace (in the broader physical +/or psychological), there is no true “Yi” without true Yi there is no movement of qi.

In the next post we'll start to bridge this intention into action with our principles of Qi!