Common steps and sub-activities
Flailing
Stimulating the trigger points can be achieved using a flail.
In Qigong it was called a ‘Chuu’ a pestle like rod commonly used to “separate grain from chaff or to beat clothing when washing” – a flail in other words.
“This [light] body beating exercise is intended to help the chi reach the surface of the skin, thereby opening the tiny channels – the millions of small chi channels which connect the marrow to the surface of the skin”.
It actually has the effect of both stimulating various trigger points and sensitising the nerve endings.
It also improves the circulation of the blood as long as it is gently done and can help in stimulating the spine during a kundalini experience.
The practise of being beaten by a flail to ‘improve energy circulation’ – sensitise the nerve endings was one which seems to have once been widespread and not just a Buddhist/Taoist practise. Perhaps one of the better known users of the flail was Tutankhamun – a shaman extraordinaire if there ever was one………….
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Christian Medieval monks also used similar practises as did Sufis.
For spiritual purposes the practise was always intended to be gentle, but in many cases it evolved and became flagellation – which does work [occasionally] but via completely different mechanisms. |
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Tomb of Seti I at Thebes from Niccolo Rosellini's Monuments of Egypt and Nubia (Pisa, Italy, 1832–44). Wilbour Library of Egyptology, Brooklyn Museum Libraries, Special Collections. |
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Observations
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