SOFT ENERGY

While hard energy is generated when you’re in a state of excitement, your body generates soft energy when it is relaxed. When you relax and release the tension in your body, there is less resistance or stress restricting your natural energy, which starts to flow through you.

You will tend to notice it at the end of the day when, in place of feeling worn out, you are more at ease and energised. You’ve increased your endurance by eliminating your natural energy losses.

Doing meditation, tai chi, yoga or qigong are great ways to access soft energy and the more you practise these kind of exercises the more energy you will have, and you will also become more sensitive to your energy levels.

From the Eastern point of view we are working with internal energy; if looked at from a Western viewpoint we can say we are working with imagination or even the placebo effect. The placebo effect is the effect observed when a pill that is effectively inert has a medical effect on the body because the patient and physician believes it will. So, for example, a starch pill cures a headache because the patient believes s/he is taking an aspirin. It doesn’t matter which viewpoint you choose – whatever works for you. The human body responds to your thoughts and emotions.

Most of the time this happens quite automatically; for example, when you feel embarrassed your body naturally responds, blood flows to the cheeks, they become hot and you feel warmer. This automatic response can actually be harnessed, enabling you to direct energy to where it is needed in the body. Try it: imagine energy flowing to your eyes and you should notice that they feel better, more ‘awake’, or less strained. You may feel your muscles in your eyes and even feel the blood flow to your eyes increase.

You can also use your imagination to feel energy in your hands. To try it, close your eyes and imagine energy flowing to your hands, making your hands warmer. Now notice how warm your hands feel. Open your eyes and see if there is more blood flow in your hands. Some of these sensations will take time so don’t worry if it doesn’t happen straight away, use the remaining exercises in this book to build up the relevant brain experiences.