As we practice the Mustang Tuna Technique, it involves breathing in and breathing out air. Thus, it is a form of deep breathing.

However, it goes beyond regular deep breathing. The Mustang Tuna Technique involves three basic elements which are regular air from around us, the body part called Dantian, and the action called Tuna.

The first element: air and vital-energy

Air is essential to human life. A person who does not drink water for five days and eats for ten days can survive. If he does not breathe for three hours, he will soon die. Therefore, air and breathing is the first element of life.

When air is present, a person exists. When air is scattered, a person dies. —–Sage

Although air and its extension vital-energy cannot be seen or touched, the existence of all things is the function of vital-energy. The wind, rain, thunder and lightning in the sky and the formation of human beings are all due to the effect of vital-energy.

The vital-energy stored in our kidneys originated from the reproductive essence of our parents. It already exists in our fetal period, and we subsist based on this vital-energy.
After birth, we then rely on the nutrients we gain from foods and drinks through the digestion and absorption process, in order to generate sufficient vital-energy for our activities.

Therefore, whether our vitality is full or not is not only a function of the innate essence of our parents, but also a function of our digestive and absorption systems. If we do not have sufficient vitality from our parents, we can enrich our vitality through foods and drinks which produce acquired vital-energy.

Therefore, the practice of the Vital-energy Technique is to use the acquired vital-energy as a foundation to connect the acquired vital-energy to the birth vital-energy so as to activate our vitality of life, so that we have a more powerful form of vital-energy.

We seek to do this by inducing our vital-energy to be stored in the Dantian area of our body by the act of Tuna, which is the exhale and inhale of fresh air. By this action, the acquired vital-energy will be mixed with the birth vital-energy in our Dantian area. Through this process, we hope that our vital-energy will gradually move from low-level energy to high-level energy.

The second element: Dantian area

As practitioners of Life Cultivation, we all know that the vital-energy must be sunk into the Dantian area as we practice the Tuna Technique. But where is the Dantian? What is Dantian used for? These are the concepts that we must understand in the practice of the Vital-energy Technique.

Dantian is the foundation of all human beings. Below the naval where air moves is the life of a human being —–Book of Nan

Thus we may locate the Dantian as an area below the naval. The navel is the gateway to the Dantian. Sometimes we refer to an acupoint as the Dantian Point, then it is about three finger length below the naval. Since the navel is the point of separation of a baby from his mother, we regard the point below the navel as Dantian which stores the vital-energy that we acquired at birth.

We gather our vital-energy at Dantian. We must have sufficient vital-energy in us. Then we can transport energy along the vital-energy paths referred to as meridians at any time throughout our body to our internal organs, limbs and bones, and so on.

The third element: Tuna and breathing

Whether we are practicing Tai Chi or Yi Jin Jing, our master will teach us the correct way to breathe. Thus, Tuna breathing is a very important technique. There are certain steps and essentials in it. Tuna breathing is not the same as ordinary breathing that we do everyday. In practicing the Tuna Technique, we must not only exhale the turbid air, but also bring in the fresh air.

When we practice the Tuna Technique in breathing, we often use the look with eyes-nose-heart technique.

The last technique requires us to line up our eyes, nose, heart, and Dantian. Then we start to look from our eyes to our nose, then to our hearts, and then to our Dantian.

How do we look? We employ the Contemplation Technique. We look at it with our eyes closed because we look at it with our heart. Only then we see that the five aggregates are empty.

The heart here refers to not the flesh but the mind which is a kind of energy. We now observe these four points in this order, and over time, they will form an imaginary line in front of our body. Then we have learned to lead our vital-energy to flow towards the Dantian. Refer to the diagram above.

To be continued.

Call to Action

Folks, that is all for now. If you think this article may be beneficial to your friends and loved-ones, feel free to forward this article to them. Life cultivation is mostly for older people with declining body health. If you are young and energetic, this may not be your cup of tea. However, if you have family members or friends who are middle-aged or older, they may want to practice life cultivation to maintain a life without pain or medication.

This is an extract of the full treatise published in the Mustang BodyWorks Series, a paid-subscription. You may buy the full treatise on Mustang Tuna Technique Level One for the price of US$20.00, using your PayPal account.

Stay tuned for the next episode: Mustang Tuna Technique II.

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