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

preservation of our energy to be able to let go of anger and obsessive thought. Suddenly he let out
another great big burp, followed by joyful laughter. The crowd of sixty-plus people sat in stunned
silence for five seconds and then started laughing right along with him. As the giggles grew into fullblown,
sidesplitting laughter, Master Chia, obviously very pleased with himself, said happily, “See, it
worked! All of that love chased out the evil wind!”
Master Chia wanted us to know that this combination of release and laughter is not only proof of
our energy-cultivation efforts and one of the most immediate ways to move stagnant chi out of the
body, but one of the most underrated healing processes known to humankind. He urged us to greet our
natural functions with openness, acceptance, and even pleasure, the way children do, advocating that
many of the world’s troubles would abate if we’d only find it in our hearts to accept ourselves and
others for exactly who we are. He then advocated burping as often as we needed to, especially when
practicing qigong, as it was proof positive that we were successful in moving our life-force energy,
our chi, powerfully through our bodies and using it to heal.
The second unforgettable memory I have of Mantak Chia was when he demonstrated the immense
power of “connecting to source,” or rooting deeply in earth energy. He wanted to show that when
people are plugged into the earth’s center, not even an incredible force can shake them. To prove this
point, he surveyed the crowd and chose the biggest, strongest, youngest men he could find. He was
sixty-one at the time, and everyone he invited on stage was easily thirty years, if not forty years, his
junior.
As the first man came up on stage, Master Chia stood there like a live monument, with a big smile
on his face, and commanded, “Push me!” And push him the guy did, with every ounce of strength he
had. Master Chia didn’t budge or flinch. The audience just smiled in bated anticipation, whispers
rippling through the crowd.
Then Master Chia told the first guy to stay, and he invited two more men up. The three men pushed
him with all their might, while the rest of us were all holding our collective breath as we watched.
The man on the end slipped from his extreme effort—his legs slid out from under him and he fell to
the floor, utterly bewildered. We all gasped with our hands covering our mouths.
Master Chia didn’t stop there. He invited two more men up on stage. We were all barely breathing
in expectation as we thought, Surely this is it! There’s no way he can withstand this kind of
manpower! The five lumberjacks he’d invited up were now breaking a sweat and getting red in the
face, as Master Chia calmly stood there in Horse Stance, an immovable oak, like Annapurna, the
majestic peak high in the Himalayas. One by one, he invited men up on stage to push him off his
center, and one by one they fell, powerless to match his impossibly quiet, rooted, solid presence.
And then, without warning, he “unplugged” from his root, and all the men tumbled into a pile with
Master Chia somehow, miraculously, at the top of the heap. Perhaps you have to be a bit of a trickster
when you are an adept—you can’t study so intensively without learning to balance it with comedy.
Welcome to Awaken and Play
Awaken and Play was certainly inspired by Master Chia’s forays, particularly the “play” aspect, and
you will find that if you can allow yourself to give over to play, you too will experience the freedom