Waking Energy 7 Timeless Practices Designed to Reboot Your Body and Unleash Your Potential

that directly affects the body’s inner energy flow. When we consciously alter our breath, we can
catalyze dramatic changes that improve our body’s overall function, resulting in virtually limitless
stores of energy. Each of the breathing techniques you’ll learn possesses its own unique dynamic,
imbuing its paired modality with its integral power and having a profound influence over the kind of
energy we want to elicit. Each has its own extraordinary merit and will help you to expand your
breathing repertoire; you will learn to apply different techniques and integrate them to maximize the
movements you do for each one.
Even the transitions within each breath are important and should be smooth and deliberate. The
duration of each phase, from the pauses in between the breaths to the retention of oxygen to the
exhalation, are just as important as the harmonious passage that connects them. The rhythmic
beginning and ending of each breath is like a heartbeat that encourages the mind to stay focused and
undistracted. Your breathing asserts a strong pull on your senses, and when they become totally
absorbed in the sound and quality of it, it will yield greater energy—the most important byproduct of
mindful, conscious breathing. Once you learn to move in tandem with your breath, it can become the
most useful tool in your own growth.
In Chinese philosophy, there exist two complementary principles of the universe, yin and yang,
that describe all things. The yin (the primordial feminine, receptive, passive) and yang (the
primordial masculine, active, upward rising) ways of breathing that are central to the practices result
in very different outcomes depending upon what type of effect you wish to have on your body. To
achieve a specific kind of energy, you’ll breathe in a way that moves in tandem with nature’s cadence,
mimicking the rhythms of day and night, so that you can balance and harmonize your subtle body by
attuning it to the world outside.
In the morning, when you want to greet the day and raise your energy, you’ll choose practices that
either strike a yin–yang balance, like Awaken and Play, or that are more predominantly yang in
character, like Unleash and Transform or Empower and Flow, which are characterized by an upwardand
outward-reaching, pulsating breath that creates in internal heat that purifies and balances. In the
evening, when you want to cool off and slow down, you’ll draw your energy inward, quieting the
breath to cultivate yin energy with the practices that feature a descending, softer, more luxurious
breathing style to calm and ground your energies, ushering in a restful night’s sleep.
What all the breathing techniques have in common is that they are the most direct route to
cultivating consciousness, taking an involuntary act to new heights and making it the true engine of
transformation—the most powerful means we have to proactively manipulate the way we move
energy through our bodies, so our brightest inner light can shine.
Regardless of the style, the breath is the source of your stamina. As your lung capacity increases
in each and every practice and you get stronger, you won’t have to breathe as hard or use as much
energy to execute the same movements. You’ll have more energy in reserve. In becoming more aware
of how your body works during the breathing process, you will learn to maximize your efforts when
you inhale, exhale, and retain breath, and when you practice the more involved breathing techniques
of the various modalities that comprise the Waking Energy flow.
Inhalation: Drawing Back the Bow