Tiao 調
The Cornerstone of the Dao
You may recognize this Chinese word, Tiao 調, which I use often in my teachings as it represents the cornerstone of Daoist internal transformation practices and maintaining well-being. In this article, I will first explain the meanings of Tiao and then share my understanding of the five aspects of Tiao from my perspective as a lifelong Daoist Arts practitioner.
Tiao 調 means adjust, regulate, train, tame, move, transfer, tune, turn around, suit well, be in harmony with, make peace, and more. The same Chinese character 調 also commonly means musical melody, and is pronounced Diao. Both cultivation practices and playing a stringed musical instrument involves Tiao, or tuning. On an energetic level, our bodies are just like a stringed musical instrument. In fact, for at least a couple thousands of years, we have applied the musical scales to describe the qualities of Qi within nature and within the body.
The structure of 調 is made by left radical 言 (Yan) and right radical 周 (Zhou). 言 (Yan) means language, speak, talk, presentation, and the voice of heart. 周 (Zhou) means perfect, complete, whole, circle, round, preserve, consolidate, concert, meditate, or the heavenly way. Taken together, we could interpret Tiao as this:
Listen to the voice of your heart, resonate with the heavenly way and tune your whole-being into a harmonious state.
As I learned to meditate with this Chinese character 調, I began to feel my whole being resonating with the harmonious Universal Qi and my inner world transforming into one that was more calm and peaceful. I have used this 調 method to support my sense of inner balance throughout my daily life and also in my teachings. As part of my personal cultivation practice also includes playing the Qin, an ancient classical Chinese musical instrument that has been used by Chinese hermits and scholars as a vehicle for spiritual cultivation for thousands of years, I also naturally interpret a Qigong or internal martial arts form as playing a harmonious song, or even conducting a beautiful symphony.
Based upon the principles of ancient Wu 巫 (Chinese shamanism) and Daoist traditions, I believe that each of us has five different “musical instruments” and that we are able to live healthier and to journey towards our enlightenment if we know how to tune “these instruments” during our daily practices and throughout the daily aspects of living our lives. In this writing, I would like to focus on the “instruments” of the body and share the essential tuning ideas as they relate to our bodies. I will write a separate article about the other two “daily life instruments” - those that do not relate to our bodies - in the future.
1. Shen 身—The Body
Shen 身 means body or oneself. In the Wu 巫 – Chinese shamanic tradition, the Wu or shaman sees the body differently from the way we see the body in modern times. Shamans see the body as composed of more than just the physical body. In the Chinese Shamanic view, every individual person has three bodies: the physical body, the Qi/energetic body, and the spiritual body. In other words, any part of the body made of physical, Qi/energetic, and spiritual parts. For example, a finger has three parts — not only the physical finger. The physical finger also holds your Qi finger and the spiritual finger. Further, the body is a microcosm and it embodies the same elements that the macrocosm – the Universe – embodies.
Therefore, in my traditions, we regard these three bodies as the three unified “musical instruments” of a person. We always work with these three bodies/instruments in order to gather and transform the three best medicines (Jing 精, Qi 氣, and Shen 神) during our personal cultivation or healing work. The techniques for working with the three bodies as if carefully tuning a musical instrument are called TiaoShen 調身, TiaoXi 調息, and TiaoShen 調神.
2. TiaoShen 調身 — Tuning Your Physical Body
Shen 身 here specifically means the physical body and TiaoShen means tuning your physical body or adjusting your posture. The physical body carries the Qi and spiritual bodies. We have to rely on our physical body to keep our day to day life going. It is vital to know how to use our physical body properly. Here are some TiaoShen tips for you to try right in this moment - yes, right now, as you are reading this:
Straighten your back so it is solid like a mountain.
Lift your perineum to seal the Earthly Door. The Chinese name for Earthly Door is Dihu 地户 and it is the same as the acupuncture point CV1.
Pull your lower abdomen in.
Open your chest.
Straighten your neck and keep your head upright.
Imagine your head touching Heaven with the Heavenly Gate open. The Chinese name for Heavenly Gate is Tianmen 天門 and it is the same as the acupuncture point GV20, on top of the head.
Put the tip of your tongue on the tooth ridge behind your upper teeth.
Close your teeth and mouth.
Keep your shoulders down, arms relaxed, and armpits open.
Put your hands on your lower belly.
Pay attention to your whole body for couple minutes, with your eyelids relaxed and eyes lightly closed …
Please keep above posture while you are continuing the reading. Could you feel a sense of peace developing in your body and mind? You can use these tips throughout your daily life, for example, when you are walking, running, cooking, playing music, sitting on the bus or airplane, etc. They are not just for when you are practicing Qigong or martial arts! For more advanced details on TiaoShen 調身 skills, please read WuZhenGong 五針功—Five Needles Qigong in the chapter 7 of my book, Vital Breath of the Dao, 2nd edition.
3. TiaoXi 調息 — Tuning Your Qi Body
Xi 息 means take a rest, turn off, gain, grow, or breathe. The Chinese character 息 is made by radical Zi 自, which stands for oneself on the top, and Xin 心, for heart, at the bottom. In cultivation practice, Xi is a breathing method used to bring your heart/mind back to your physical body and to rejuvenate your Qi body. Let us now pay attention to the Qi, the vital energetic body, by tuning our breath:
Please hold your tuned posture as I described above in part 2, and adjust your breathing to be slow, smooth, deep, and even.
There should be no noise from your breathing, which is the correct sign of Xi.
Feel all the pores of your skin open to allow the Qi or light to enter into your body while you breathe in.
Condense the Qi into your lower belly while you breathe out.
In Chinese, this breathing technique is also called Mi Mi Mian Mian 密密綿綿, meaning the breathing is soft and unbroken, like cotton and silk.
The breath is connected with the Qi body. This breathing method cultivates our Qi body and strengthens our Qi. In Chinese, Qi has a lot of meanings. In Qigong practice, Qi usually translates into English as “vital energy.” It can also be translated as “vital breath.” The important effect of this practice is that it increases your vital energy or life force. Anytime that you pay attention to your breath and slow down your breathing, you are helping to strengthen your vitality. In this way, you will be able to cultivate your Qi body and maintain a connected awareness of your Qi body through awareness of your breath.
4. TiaoShen 調神 — Tuning Your Spiritual Body
In general, Shen 神 means spirit, marvelous, mystical, or consciousness. Our mind, thoughts, and attitudes are related with Shen – the spiritual body. Once we pay too much attention to the external world, worrying about what’s going on in our lives and in the world at large, or constantly feel like we need to take care of all the things, we disturb our spiritual body. If you are always looking outside, you will leak more and more ShenQi 神氣, spiritual energy. It is essential that we make special effort to prioritize looking within as we move through our daily life. Let us now tune Shen 神 – the spiritual body:
Please continue tuning your physical and Qi bodies from the previous sections.
Relax your eyelids. Imagine you can see yourself with your inner eyes.
Feel you are sitting within your lower Dantian (your lower belly).
Adjust your mind through the visualization: Imagine the Universal Qi as light surrounding your body.
Open all the pores of your body, allowing the Universal Qi like sunlight pouring into your body as you inhale.
Condense the Qi in your Dantian 丹田 as you exhale. Feel your body merging with the Qi.
Take your time …
Are you more aware of your physical body after these few minutes of tuning? This practice will help you harness your spiritual energy. In Qigong terminology, we call this technique ShenGuang HuiShou 神光囘收. ShenGuan means the spiritual light and HuiShou means return back or pull back. ShenGuang HuiShou literally means to bring your spiritual light back to your body.
Tuning a musical instrument is not complicated, and in order to play a harmonious song your instrument must be properly tuned. It is the same with our cultivation practices! We reach a higher state of inner transformation when we tune our three bodies each time we practice any Qigong or martial arts form. LuDongBing, a historical figure from the Tang Dynasty, who is one of the Daoist internal alchemy patriarchs and became known as one of the Eight Daoist Immortals, described the state of highest levels of inner transformation as listening music:
ZuoTingWuXianQu MingTongZaoHuaJi 坐聽無弦曲 明通造化機
By meditating and listening to the music from your string-less instrument, you will be enlightened and understand the way of nature.
I hope this article will remind you to tune your three bodies in your daily cultivation practice and as you go about your regular day, and that this will help you experience a healthier and more harmonious life.
.. as I just condensed the sunlight around my body and into body's pores and into my Dantian, I felt a heavy central inward going sensation here. A strong feeling.