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Zoose writes
Ive started practicing inner smile differently, instead of smiling to my organs either with energy from 3rd eye or dantien, Im teaching my organs to smile out and release energy by themselves. Now i think about it this is probably how i should have been doing it all along. It is releasing or using the energy.
This reminded me that I wanted to post something about the source of the Inner Smile.
In Awaken Healing Energy through the Tao, Mantak Chia doesn’t really discuss the source of the Smile. But, in his later Awaken Healing Light of the Tao, he says (p106-7)
Create a source of smiling energy up to three feet in front of you. This can be an image of your own smiling face, or of someone or something you love and respect, or any memory of a time in which you felt deeply at peace, perhaps feeling sunshine, being by the ocean, or walking in a forest…
Become aware of the midpoint between your eyebrows through which you will draw this abundant smiling energy in front of and around you. Let your forehead relax, and allow the Third Eye to open. As the smiling energy accumulates at the mideyebrow, it will eventually overflow into your body…
Allow the smiling energy to flow down from the mid-eyebrow through your face, relaxing the cheeks, nose, mouth, and all the facial muscles. Let it flow down through your neck. You can roll your head slowly and gently from side to side as you do this.
Thus, for Mantak Chia, the source of the inner smile appears to be an image mentally projected outside of one’s body and the Third Eye. Perhaps this is where Zoose got the method from?
(Note that, confusingly, on p104, there is a section titled “Eyes: Source of your True Smiling and Healing Power”. Whilst this title might perhaps be taken to suggest that the physical eyes are the source of the Inner Smile, the section doesn’t actually mention the eyes once!)
I’ve never come across Zoose’s second technique of smiling from the Lower Dantien but sounds interesting.
And, interestingly, Michael’s take is different from the methods discussed above. In his Way of the Inner Smile, Michael writes
Thanks to ancient Tao masters passing down their tradition for thousands of years, we now know the secret of the InnerSmile is hidden within our inner heart. The inner heart is not the physical heart, and it is not the emotional or feeling heart. There is a ยthird heartย, just as there is a ยthird eyeย. This inner heart is a portal to direct experience of what is called ยsoulย, a concept in the West that has successfully eluded all definition.
The ancient enlightened masters gave us a very specific map of the Inner Smileยs pathway within our body. It arises like a wave from the inner ocean of our unknown and unborn self. Before it gently splashes onto the beach of the outer world, it passes through many subtle layers of body-mind consciousness that they mapped out in great detail (pp23-4).
And also
The Daoist notion of ordinary heart, the ยheart-mindย (xin, pronounced ยshinย) is the source of the outer smile. This heart-mind governs the personality. The Inner Smile arises from a deeper ยheartย, from within the Original Spirit (yuan shen), which could be described as the guiding intelligence behind our soul (p54).
It resonates with me that the source of the Inner Smile should be the Inner Heart. Indeed, when I physically smile, I sometimes do feel like something’s activating in my heart region. Anyway, thought it was worth flagging up these (seemingly) different takes on the source of the Smile.
Any thoughts?
Yes i think it is very interesting too. I have come to understand that we all smile differently. Usually when i smile i feel very happy, excited, energetic, not balanced or relaxed. i have a big smile on my face, yet it doesnt fit with the old saying it takes less muscles to smile than frown, i feel like i use alot of muscle to smile in my face. Sometimes i can also be super happy yet my mouth is turned down, more relaxed. Some expert tai chi masters i have also seen with down turned mouths.
When i bring in my smiling energy, the excitement one, it is super energising, like coffee. I don’t have a picture in my mind, just have that energy come in from 3rd eye. It becomes hard to sleep after a few days as it builds up more and more. I can try the same thing with calm energy, which relaxes me for a longer period but after some time too the pressure builds up and hard to sleep.
Then i taught my danien to direct the inner smile to keep energy out of the head, a better result but still the same thing in the end. Even using dantien to use earth energy to perform the inner smile leads to the same result. I should add that all this increase in energy or pressure causes me to have a stronger assosiation with my body and less grounded. So i figure the energy needs to be released more and so this new approach i spoke about in the other post about grounding.
Healing sounds releases energy for me, as does purposely disassociating myself from my body, everything slows down. This makes sleep very easy, life lovely. A bit like after having a valium or the day after. However it makes me quiet, unsociable and no charisma, the opposite of inner smile. I like the smiling feeling more, but it takes time or days to switch between the two. The faster i try to switch the more tension in my body, the harder it becomes to ride the feeling.
Id be interested to know what others think or how they do the inner smile and what they get out of it.
the idea of smiling down to ones body and being as connect to lower dantien – I take to mean inner observer enters into the dantien, the neutral shen joining in with the neutral yin/yang forces of body. From that point on you reside in the dantien, at whatever level. It does seem helpful to have idea of the energy ‘baton’ in the core joining upper and lower dantien. The Sun Moon above connecting with eyes, Earth below connected to lower dantien is the basic imagery. If you want it more embodied call the upper heart-mind and lower jing-water. Think that as you get used to process it there is no need to have that initial focus in smile, observer with slightly positive emphasis is enough. In fact smiling can be annoying and feel false, like too much emphasis in head. If want to have some intial focus in upper, to gather ones attention, can try other areas of focus like nose and upper lip area before diving in to neutral space below. Read recently; like dragon dives into the water and disappears. Just some ideas.
>>>It resonates with me that the source of the Inner Smile should be the Inner Heart.
That is it in a nutshell.
With more detail, you are drawing in cosmic qi into the third eye as the ignition on a car, but upon entry into your body, it immediately meets and blends with the energy from your inner heart. This gives the qi its warmth, its emotion, and its sense of consciousness . . . everything we associate with the Inner Smile.
The emotional heart is based around judgment, and the inner heart is beneath that in a space of “no judgment”, and it is this “no judgment” consciousness that teaches your body self-acceptance when given the vehicle of qi that flows down from the third eye.
The cosmic qi that you are drawing in the third eye (fused sun-moon essence) is just a carrier for the warmth, the positive feeling, and the loving acceptance that comes from the inner heart, that meets/greets/blends with this qi as it enters you.
One is also able to optionally choose (as has been mentioned by others) the very qi that it is already in your own body to act as a carrier for this Inner Smile energy. It is only typically done that we use the “cosmic qi”/”fused sun-moon” essence as the carrier wave in the Inner Smile practice, because a) the energy can often be more concentrated, b) often it is easier to tune in to a fixed image than something more hidden from view (i.e. places in the body), and c) it provides an organized way to do the practice so that no places get missed.
In the classical practice, it is often done that the three dantians are opened first, then connections are made to the earth below your feet, and the cosmos/universe above your head, before starting the Inner Smile practice of drawing in qi through the third eye. With this approach, it becomes more clear that the consciousness of the whole body is involved here from the outset, not just the head.
Qi,
StevenThen how about growing the feeling of inner virtues? That requires a division of shen mixed with yin, or else the light is white… Growing virtue can not only be neutral shen because it is growing, changing?
yes, I was assuming the purification process continuing via fusion and coupling of polarities in cauldron. Prior to that checking the organs and phases; the natural virtue of each. Observing and working with all this – often I don’t feel like a deliberate inner smile setup is needed. I agree with grounding and letting the earth connection handle process – open and close 3 dantiens helpful and often I need to work a bit to clear upper. Bit wary of any process concentrating in head at this time, inner smile included. Maybe just terminology as do acknowledge sun and moon as connected to left and right eyes. Yes, think need to have that mixing you mention. Mind transforming body gradually.
Yes.
You are letting go of your resistance.
Harmony with the Tao means acceptance of what is, and surrender to the inherent change that occurs as a result of the creative spark of the life-force. It’s our resistance to this that creates tension. When you reawaken unconditional acceptance, you let go of your resistance and return to a more natural state, one that is more harmonious.
S
Steven
Many thanks for your detailed reply. However, perhaps due to my lack of knowledge of alchemy, I’m struggling to keep up!
With more detail, you are drawing in cosmic qi into the third eye as the ignition on a car, but upon entry into your body, it immediately meets and blends with the energy from your inner heart. This gives the qi its warmth, its emotion, and its sense of consciousness . . . everything we associate with the Inner Smile.
Is drawing cosmic qi into the third eye an integral part of IS? I ask because, in his IS book, Michael doesn’t appear to place a great deal of emphasis on drawing cosmic qi into the third eye. This passage from pp77-8 is the only reference I can find to the role of the third eye.
Smile into the essence of all that natural peace and personal bliss on top of your head, melted into a golden egg made of warm, glowing, liquid light. Let this warm liquid golden light begin to dissolve and flow down through your brain, to your third eye. If it spontaneously changes color, allow that new color to remain.
As an alternative, you may prefer a more dynamic form of internal imagination. You may try a vortex of spinning golden light entering your third eye between the eyebrows. This spinning creates a suction that helps some people feel a movement of chi.
If neither of these methods works for you, you can also imagine that you are smiling into a mirror, into your own smiling eyes. Then you shift into your mirror-image eyes, and smile back into your physical eyes and third eye. This mirror self represents your energy body, and like the other practices, feel the smiling eyes beaming golden light into your brain.
I guess I’m wondering why can’t one simply smile from the heart to various locations in the body?
You say that cosmic qi gives the qi from the inner heart “its warmth, its emotion, and its sense of consciousness”. Does this mean that without this cosmic qi, the qi from the inner heart would be lacking in warmth, emotion and consciousness?
The cosmic qi that you are drawing in the third eye (fused sun-moon essence)…
I’m unclear what “fused sun-moon essence” is. I’m guessing it relates to alchemy?
…is just a carrier for the warmth, the positive feeling, and the loving acceptance that comes from the inner heart, that meets/greets/blends with this qi as it enters you.
Earlier you seemed to be suggesting that the cosmic qi gives warmth to inner heart qi. Here the emphasis appears to be a little different, namely that cosmic qi is simply a vehicle/carrier for warmth the inner heart qi already possesses.
One is also able to optionally choose (as has been mentioned by others) the very qi that it is already in your own body to act as a carrier for this Inner Smile energy. It is only typically done that we use the “cosmic qi”/”fused sun-moon” essence as the carrier wave in the Inner Smile practice, because…
What I’m struggling to understand is why the inner heart qi require a vehicle/carrier/carrier wave? Why can’t it get about on its own?!
b) often it is easier to tune in to a fixed image than something more hidden from view (i.e. places in the body)
In my previous post, I quoted the following passage from Mantak Chia.
Create a source of smiling energy up to three feet in front of you. This can be an image of your own smiling face, or of someone or something you love and respect, or any memory of a time in which you felt deeply at peace, perhaps feeling sunshine, being by the ocean, or walking in a forest…
Become aware of the midpoint between your eyebrows through which you will draw this abundant smiling energy in front of and around you. Let your forehead relax, and allow the Third Eye to open. As the smiling energy accumulates at the mideyebrow, it will eventually overflow into your body…
Is this what you mean by using a “fixed image”? Is the “abundant smiling energy” that is drawn into the third eye what you mean when you refer to “cosmic qi”?
It would appear that, whilst Michael places more emphasis on the inner heart and makes little mention of the third eye, Mantak Chi seems to place more emphasis on the third eye and makes no mention of the inner heart.
>>>Is drawing cosmic qi into the third eye
>>>an integral part of IS? I ask because,
>>>in his IS book, Michael doesn’t appear
>>>to place a great deal of emphasis on
>>>drawing cosmic qi into the third eye.
>>>This passage from pp77-8 is the only
>>>reference I can find to the role of
>>>the third eye.You’ll notice that all three of the subsequent descriptions from Michael you quoted are different. This is also true in comparison to later quoted descriptions you put from Master Chia’s books. They vary the practices all the time, depending on the year, their mood, or what they had for breakfast even. You will get very frustrated if you demand them to be the same.
>>>I guess I’m wondering why can’t one
>>>simply smile from the heart to various
>>>locations in the body?As I said in my previous post (2nd to last paragraph), YOU CAN.
**The three lines through the body from the third eye are done only to a)provide an organized way to not miss anything and b)to have the qi be more concentrated as it moves in its pathway.
>>>You say that cosmic qi gives the qi from the
>>>inner heart “its warmth, its emotion, and
>>>its sense of consciousness”. Does this mean
>>>that without this cosmic qi, the qi from
>>>the inner heart would be lacking in warmth,
>>>emotion and consciousness?No, I didn’t say that. I said *THE INNER HEART is what is giving the cosmic qi the warmth, emotion, and sense of consciousness. Please read my “with more detail” paragraph again.
>>>I’m unclear what “fused sun-moon essence” is.
>>>I’m guessing it relates to alchemy?Post-natal cosmic qi.
Qi from the sun. Qi from the moon. Blended together. Drawn into the third eye.
That’s it. Nothing fancy.>>>Earlier you seemed to be suggesting
>>>that the cosmic qi gives warmth to inner heart qi.No, this is where you made a mistake interpreting me, and got confused, see * above.
>>>What I’m struggling to understand
>>>is why the inner heart qi require a
>>>vehicle/carrier/carrier wave?
>>>Why can’t it get about on its own?!What does “inner heart qi” mean?
Please cite your classical Daoist reference that such a thing exists. ๐All teasing aside . . .
Your body is here in the manifest world.
As an example, you can dream about water all you like, but unless you have physical water, you are not going to get wet. In the same way, you need manifest qi to interact with your physical body . . . an “idea” of qi is not qi.>>>Is this what you mean by using a “fixed image”?
>>>Is the “abundant smiling energy” that is drawn
>>>into the third eye what you mean when you refer to “cosmic qi”?No. I’m specifically referring to the fused sun-moon essence as one specific type of cosmic qi that is used here. The visualized image you create in front of your third eye is simply a proxy–like a cell-phone tower–that connects you directly to the actual sun and actual moon.
Qi enters into the third eye. Upon entering the body, it meets the consciousness of your inner heart, which infuses the qi with the warmth, consciousness, and emotion of the Inner Smile. Then it continues on, in its merry way through the body. But, as I said above, in **, you can do this all internally. It’s just a little easier oftentimes to have a concentrated source of qi to begin with.
>>>It would appear that, whilst Michael places more
>>>emphasis on the inner heart and makes little
>>>mention of the third eye, Mantak Chi seems
>>>to place more emphasis on the third eye
>>>and makes no mention of the inner heart.I’m not terribly interested in making comparisons between what they emphasize or what they say. As I said before, they are very creative and vary what they do all the time, depending on their mood or for simply no reason whatsoever other than to try something new.
What I’m referring to, is the classical practice. How you vary it from there, is your own creativity. But notice that even in Michael’s “Way of the Inner Smile” guided meditation, he starts with a fused sun-moon essence, this light enters your head, then he says after entry something to the effect of “you then become this light and you feel yourself smiling from inside of it”, which is consistent with what I described of your inner heart merging with the cosmic qi that you bring in. So if you go to his guided meditation (at least this version that’s recorded) he’s somewhat consistent with the classical meditation.
This is an interesting discussion but to my sensibility it seems a bit complicated. I just smile at stuff in my mind. It seems totally intuitive. If I try to analyze it, it does seem to emanate from the heart. Also, I am aware that I am “tuning” the energy or feeling of the smile: it is not a big enthusiastic smile; it is a quiet, serene, loving smile that is either more joyful or more compassionate depending on the nature of the object it is smiling at. Sometimes it seems like there is a higher awareness that looks through the smile with a sort of angelic distance from human preferences and concerns.
I think the source of the smile changes the quality, direction in/out, and flavour of the energy. Different energy does different stuff. The different sources are really only for ideas about energy type to begin with once u know that energy you can manufacture it and you dont need the source any more, it can come from anywhere, it doesn’t matter.
what does matter is direction in/out, spiraling direction or spatial direction, position in the body, or out of the body, flavour/type of energy, intensity, vibrational speed and yin/yang mix as pushing or searching ability. Though mastering energy gives control, but reduces the capacity to let go as i have found out. Need to cultivate letting go and control equally. I am not balanced, its hard work to balance from a point of control. Its best to let it balance its self, and just apply a helping hand as a form of medicine to balance out personality traits the resist the balance.
Hi Steven
Thanks for your second attempt to bring clarity. I’m getting much clearer!
Terminology and misreading
You askWhat does “inner heart qi” mean?
This is the key to my misreading. You write (my bold)
With more detail, you are drawing in cosmic qi into the third eye as the ignition on a car, but upon entry into your body, it immediately meets and blends with the energy from your inner heart. This gives the qi its warmth, its emotion, and its sense of consciousness . . . everything we associate with the Inner Smile.
For brevity, in my last post I substituted “inner heart qi” for your “energy from your inner heart”. With this substitution in mind, I took “the qi” in your second sentence above to be referring to “inner heart qi”. All made perfect sense to me. Only trouble was, it was a complete misreading!
Variation and confusion
You writeYou’ll notice that all three of the subsequent descriptions from Michael you quoted are different. This is also true in comparison to later quoted descriptions you put from Master Chia’s books. They vary the practices all the time, depending on the year, their mood, or what they had for breakfast even. You will get very frustrated if you demand them to be the same…
I’m not terribly interested in making comparisons between what they emphasize or what they say. As I said before, they are very creative and vary what they do all the time, depending on their mood or for simply no reason whatsoever other than to try something new.
I don’t think I’m expecting intra- or inter-teacher consistency. But I would say that the intra- and inter-teacher variation had made it difficult for me to gain clarity on what the core components of the Inner Smile practice are.
For example, Michael emphasizes the inner heart, whereas MC doesn’t mention it but emphasizes the third eye. And neither mention cosmic qi [1]. And though Michael emphasizes the inner heart, in his actual description of the Inner Smile practice (Chapter 5) much more emphasis is placed on the golden egg above the head.
So, on some level, I think I’ve always been wondering why, if the inner smile is emanating from the heart, is there so much emphasis “up top”: on third eyes, golden eggs, cosmic chi? And if the source of smiling energy is the inner heart, why does MC write (my bold)
Create a source of smiling energy up to three feet in front of you. This can be an image of your own smiling face, or of someone or something you love and respect, or any memory of a time in which you felt deeply at peace, perhaps feeling sunshine, being by the ocean, or walking in a forest…
Carrier qi and antennae
Thus, I’m really grateful for your posts as they’ve resolved my confusion. I now see that the emphasis “up top” is to do with providing a carrier/vehicle for the inner heart energy. That is, rather than distracting from the inner heart, the emphasis on “up top” is designed to assist in carrying inner heart energy around our body. For me, at least, this is a vital point of clarification. So thanks!you can dream about water all you like, but unless you have physical water, you are not going to get wet. In the same way, you need manifest qi to interact with your physical body . . . an “idea” of qi is not qi.
I take you to be saying here that inner heart energy is very subtle and intangible and so it can help to mix it with a more substantial, tangible, manifest qi such as cosmic qi which can be more easily felt.
And when, for example, MC says “Create a source of smiling energy up to three feet in front of you”, this image is acting as an antenna/aerial/cell-phone tower pulling in the cosmic qi.
However, you are saying that, if one prefers, one can do the Inner Smile without a carrier. As Elephant puts it, “I just smile at stuff”[2].
Cosmic qi
You writePost-natal cosmic qi.
Qi from the sun. Qi from the moon. Blended together. Drawn into the third eye.
That’s it. Nothing fancy.Whilst using cosmic qi may be quite common, I must confess that I’ve never come across it before! So I’m wondering where within the Healing Tao curriculum/alchemical formulas one would encounter its use?
If one is using a visualized image as an antenna, does one simply assume that blended sun and moon qi is coming through. That’s as opposed to actually engaging in a practice where one is consciously blending the two energies. Given the numerous variations on the Inner Smile, is it possible to consciously blend the two and bring them directly into the third eye rather than via a visualized image?
Classical practice
Your posts are the first mention I’ve seen of the classical Inner Smile practice. Interesting! Do you, by any chance, have any links to articles describing the classical practice? And what’s it’s name in Chinese?_________________
[1] Having re-read Michael’s intro to Chapter 5, it would appear that what’s being dissolved into the golden egg are the five elements from nature i.e. qi from the earth, rather than the sun and moon.[2] You write
One is also able to optionally choose (as has been mentioned by others) the very qi that it is already in your own body to act as a carrier for this Inner Smile energy. It is only typically done that we use the “cosmic qi”/”fused sun-moon” essence as the carrier wave in the Inner Smile practice, because…
At the risk of misreading you a second time (!), I took you to be saying here that some sort of carrier qi was necessary but that it didn’t have to be cosmic qi.
Yeah, I also try to do it with as less as thinking how and as less interfering as possible, and even let it loose, to go wherever it wants and so every inner smile is different.
Every time I do it, I think: wow, why I don’t do this more often. And then I think: wow why don’t I do inner smiling while doing everything else. And that is the challenge I guess, that’s life.
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