Tami Simon: You’re listening to Insights at the Edge. Today, my guest is Robert Peng. Robert is an internationally renowned Qigong teacher capable of generating healing energy through his hands with power equal to a potent electrical charge. He studied in China with legendary Qigong master Xiao Yao and became proficient in both the martial arts and the healing arts. He has used his extraordinary abilities to help countless people regain their optimum health and vitality—and to demonstrate to the world the incredible spiritual potential that human beings possess.
With Sounds True, Robert has published several titles, including a new book and four-DVD set entitled The Master Key: Qigong Secrets for Vitality, Love, and Wisdom. Robert will also be one of our featured presenters at the 2014 Wake Up Festival. He’ll be offering a pre-festival workshop, morning Qigong practice sessions, and an afternoon healers’ intensive.
In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Robert and I spoke about what he calls “Four Golden Wheels” of energy—the lower, middle, and upper dantian in the body, along with the Fourth Golden Wheel, the Central Meridian in front of the spine. Robert also helped us locate in our own bodies these four energy centers, and to activate their power. We also learned about expanding the central channel—expanding it all the way to infinity to connect and unify with the energy of the universe. Robert shared a bit about his work as a Qigong healer and some of his experiences studying healing with his master, Xiao Yao. Finally, Robert led us in a Qigong practice that’s called “Awakening Awareness”—a practice that underlies many of the Qigong practices that Robert teaches.
Here’s my conversation with Qigong master Robert Peng.
Robert, your new book and DVD series is called The Master Key. Can you help us understand what you mean by this term—the Master Key? What’s the Master Key?
Robert Peng: The Master Key—well, we say it’s the Four Golden Wheels. [That] is the Master Key or Master Code to unlock or release true happiness. Yes. What happens is that—you know, we say we’re happy. We have a cup of coffee and we’re happy. We have ice cream—happy. We have our salaries promoted—we’re happy. It’s conditional.
But what still happens—something dynamic happens—is that no matter in what condition—you might be off a little bit from the center line, but a spirit of happiness won’t get interfered [with]. So this Master Key is to unlock this and unlock the Four Wheels of the center for energy.
We say we have a Wheel of Wisdom, [which] is located in the center of the head. The energy here is associated with our wisdom—so we call it “Wheel of Wisdom.” Then, some energy is connected in the center of the heart. We call it “Wheel of Love.” Then there [are] some energy centers concentrated in the lower dantian, [which] is below the lower torso. It’s connected with our vitality—our [charisma]. So this we’ll call “Wheel of Vitality.”
So this is three wheels. Then we have another one to hold these three wheels together, which is Central Meridian. It goes from your perineum and [goes] all the way up to the top of the head to connect the heaven energy, and to connect the Earth’s qi. This Central Meridian is to harmonize them. We call it “Wheel of Harmony.”
These Four Golden Wheels [are] the Master Key to unlock—to release—our dynamic happiness. That’s basically what it means. The subtitle for the book [is] called Qigong Secrets for Vitality, Love, and Wisdom.
TS: OK, now, “Four Golden Wheels.” Explain this “golden” part and the “wheel” part.
RP: Yes. The reason why we say it is a “Golden Wheel”—first, the wheel, because the energy [there] in the center is spinning. It is like the sun and then we have all the planets circling around it. So, the energy is rotating around the [center] to make it more refined. When we’re doing the meditation, that energy concentrates and you do feel there’s a shining power over there. Yes. But it’s spinning, so we call it a wheel.
The reason we call it “golden”—well, it doesn’t mean it’s golden-colored. In China, when we say, “This is golden,” (I think in English, too), it means it’s precious. It is very valuable. It’s powerful.
So we have these three big energy centers. There are other energy centers. All other energy points—we say the acupuncture points. They’re energy centers, but we don’t call [them] Golden Wheels. These four are the big ones and powerful ones. So we give them a good name—”Golden Wheel.” The Wheel of Love, the Wheel of Vitality, the Wheel of Wisdom, and the Wheel of Harmony.
We have all these Four Wheels filled and powerful with energy. You’re driving a super-powerful four-wheel-drive. No matter whether the road is bumpy, no matter whether it’s sandy, you can drive through and go over a lot of difficulties. Still, you’re moving forward. We have some symbols from these Four Golden Wheels.
TS: Now, I didn’t follow that last part. Symbols from the Four Golden Wheels?
RP: Yes. So, these are the symbols of different parts of the energy. The Golden Wheel of Vitality, there, we call it a wheel—the synonym, there’s another name called “Lower Dantian.” Lower Dantian. “Dan” means “elixir.” “Tian” means “field.” The “lower elixir field” holds the energy of vitality.
So when your vitality is strong, you’re always charismatic, always have good energy, always [are] jumping around like little boys or girls—you know, when they’re three, four years old. They never get exhausted. That’s the Wheel of Vitality.
And the Wheel of Love—when it is powerful, you feel always loving. You want to embrace everybody. You want to kiss everybody. You always want to serve people. But when it’s weak, then you feel that you are rejected. You feel less love. You feel depressed easily. That’s about the second wheel—the Golden Wheel of Love.
Then the upper one—inside the head—[is] the Wheel of Wisdom. Now, [when] the Wheel of Wisdom is charged with good energy, you have good choices—guidance in a good direction. It’s as if someone is guiding you. It’s not logic—it’s just, “Have a good choice.” But when it’s blocked or weak there, you’ll always make poor choices. Very disoriented, fuzzy, doubted.
The problem is that we can be developed in one of them and very weak in the others. Say, for example, someone can be very developed in the Upper Dantian—which is the Wheel of Wisdom—and poor in the Wheel of Love. He can be very smart [and] very spiritual. He can be very successful with his career or business. But no matter how much money or how successful they are, if their second wheel—the Wheel of Love—is not strong enough, they will feel depressed for no reason.
Or the reverse: If someone is very developed with the Wheel of Love, and is always very loving but very blocked with the Upper Dantian. Well, if you have this kind of friend, they can be annoying friends. They want to help people, but they don’t have a good way of doing this—to express their love.
Vitality is the same. When the Wheel of Vitality is powerful, but the Middle Dantian is not so powerful, you can be very strong in action but [have] a cruel heart.
So all these combinations form different characteristics of human beings. We analyze about six types of people—or not necessarily people, but the situations when we are in something—like today, I’m maybe in “Type One.” Very advanced in my Upper Dantian but low in my Middle Dantian. I [don’t feel so happy]. But I’m very creative! So different situations with that.
So these are what we call “Four Golden Wheels.” And especially the three wheels—Upper, Middle, Lower Dantians. These three wheels are associated with life a lot. In ancient times, our ancestors began to observe from outside, from inside, from Heaven, from Earth. And they [found] some quite precious things. It’s very strongly connected with our vitality, with our love, with our wisdom. So they named them as three treasures.
In Heaven, they find the stars, the suns, [and] the moons are so strongly connected with human qi—with human vitality. So we called—in Heaven, we have Three Treasures. They are the sun, moon, stars.
And then we observed on Earth [what] most strongly affected us was water, fire, and wind. So we have Three Treasures in Earth—water, fire, and wind.
By the way, in Chinese we say [“water”] as, shui. Wind in Chinese, we say, feng. You put it together [in] reverse: “feng shui.” Feng shui. Yes.
Feng shui, in ancient times—when we study feng shui, it’s the study [of] how the surroundings—how the Earth, the planets—[are] associated with our three dantians. The Lower Dantian holds our Jing—the essence. The Middle Dantian holds our mind. So, Lower Dantian holds Jing, the body. Middle Dantian holds the mind. And the Upper Dantian holds the spirit. So body, mind, spirit—Lower Dantian, Middle Dantian, Upper Dantian. So different names, meaning the same thing.
This trilogy of Three Treasures—Heaven treasures, three treasures of Earth, three treasures of human beings—hold together as a type of our ways of dealing with the outside world and dealing with our inner world.
TS: Now, Robert, I want to talk a little bit more about these three dantians that you’re mentioning. And then the Fourth Golden Wheel, the Central Meridian. But let’s start with the idea of these three dantians. Now, are they actually taking up a sense of space in our energy body, if you will? And if so, how big a space is each dantian?
RP: You mean, how large does it take?
TS: Yes.
RP: Yes. Well, the Lower Dantian—which is in the lower torso—normally, when you’re doing visualizations, you hold it as apple-sized. The size of the pearl is concentrated there. The interesting thing is that here we say, “pearl,” but in Chinese you can say, “dantian.” “Tian” means “field.” “Field” is a lot bigger, right? But while we call it “pearl,” [it’s] also a field, because we understand every tiny thing in Buddha’s eyes is a paradise—a new world.
So this concentrated energy there holds oceans of qi. And these oceans of qi [are] associated with our energy burst control—our burst power—sexual power, our charismatic power, and also our rooted energy. The extension of this Lower Dantian in the lower torso is a leg. The leg—when it’s extended, it goes into the earth. So this Lower Dantian is also very strongly connected with the Earth’s qi, which is fire, wind, and water. This Lower Dantian qi—when it’s strongly rooted with the Earth’s qi, you feel more motherly and grounded.
Yes. That is the Lower Dantian.
TS: OK. Right now—even before we move on—I want to get really specific about this. So, you know: the size of an apple in the lower torso. Tell me exactly where. I want to help our listeners right now—as they’re listening to you—tune to their Lower Dantian and awaken the energy of their Lower Dantian.
RP: It is right in the middle. If you find the navel—and then opposite of the navel, that is the top part. Then, about three fingers below the navel—that is the center, going inside. That is where the center is.
TS: OK. And if you were to help people right now have a sense of awakening or empowering the Lower Dantian—so they could really feel it in their body—this energy center. And I’m focusing on this, Robert, because I know what a powerful Qigong teacher you are—and a powerful Qigong healer. Here you are, you’re saying that these Four Golden Wheels—the three dantians and the Central Meridian—this is the Master Key! That’s what you’re saying.
So I want our listeners to get a sense that this Master Key is a key—if you will—that they have on their keychain as a person. They’ve actually got it on their keychain. And I want to see if we can actually, really make some progress towards that goal in this conversation we’re having. So let’s start with the Lower Dantian. How do we help people really have a sense that this is lighting up inside them—that this is an awakened center in their body?
RP: OK! Yes, we can do it little step-by-step first. You can use the middle finger to find your navel. Find your navel. Then, going down from the navel, your index finger, middle finger, and ring finger are going down lower—that is, we say the inches of the Lower Dantian. You can use the middle finger to probe on the area, then progress a little bit—slightly deeper. Visualize [that] the energies around in this lower torso are magnified, concentrated over the place that you press, and form a shining pearl.
OK, now you slowly release your fingers and allow the pearl to just suspend there. Open your awareness to [sensations]: the temperature, the textures, the light, the release you feel.
So that’s the quality you feel—what the Lower Dantian feels like. You might feel some flow—a warm flush over there.
TS: Yes.
RP: Sometimes you feel like the perineum there is in spasm. Strong ones. Or at least you feel like a simmering of [something] warm—of charcoals burning. They’re all beautiful sensations of the Lower Dantian.
TS: OK.
RP: When the Lower Dantian field is activated, very instantly you feel relaxed—of getting stronger. Like you stand and move firm. And then both kidneys feel more soothing. If someone has lower back [aches], it can be eased [a lot more] instantly.
TS: OK. Now, let’s move to the Middle Dantian.
RP: Yes. The Middle Dantian—first, let’s find the spot, then we can talk a bit [about what] it is like.
The Middle Dantian is in the middle of the chest—in the middle of the nipples, in the middle of the chest. So you can also use your middle finger to probe in the middle of your chest slightly. If you’re quite open, when you move over there you begin to sense as if it’s very tender there. You press there [and] you can feel that it’s very powerful pressing. So again, indenting down a little bit, then you use the middle finger to press slightly.
From your middle finger, you can imagine there is a flash—like a flashlight. A flash shooting in the center of your heart. And it trapped all the light around your heart. Form a shining pearl in the center. Now, [let go of the finger slightly] and allow the pearl to keep glowing. Light up your upper ridge.
And that sense feels more nurturing—as if you are in someone’s arms when it is triggered out. You can feel waves of [warmth] coming to your face, coming to your heart like a beautiful blast. You can melt away a lot of tensions on your shoulder blades, on your shoulders, on your chest.
TS: Now, Robert, is this area also the size, if you will—you mentioned an apple? Is it that—
RP: Yes. Yes. It’s smaller. It can be the size of a ping-pong ball. It’s smaller.
TS: OK.
RP: Size of a ping-pong ball.
And allow that pearl to ripple out the light. Yes.
In the awareness—in the Qigong way of saying, “The qi goes with the mind.” We say, “Where your mind goes, your qi follows.” So when you throw your awareness in this area, you are bringing the qi over here to nourish your heart.
So when the heart is nourished quite frequently, you don’t feel hurt easily. You’re laughing all the time. You’re smiling. People do something bad to you and it doesn’t bother you. [Laughs.] So you have very thick clothes on you. You’re bulletproof, emotionally. It’s a beautiful feeling.
Otherwise, you get very easily irritated. Some people just sneeze by your side [and] it will make you crazy. “Why are you sneezing?!” “What do you mean?!” You find every excuse to make yourself feel you are the victim.
But when it’s very powerful or very nourished, you’re soft. So soft, you don’t break easily. You’re embracing—no matter the good things, no matter the bad things—you’re embracing it and it comes on as a good vibes in the end. We say, “You have a big heart, you have a big ocean embracing everything.”
TS: And then let’s move to the Upper Dantian.
RP: OK. The Upper Dantian is the most spiritual, most Western. We’re still using the middle finger to probe on the area in the middle of the eyebrows. Probe a little bit. Then we find that it’s kind of an itchy spot if you’re up—that is there. Then you begin to press with the middle finger against the middle of the eyebrows.
Now, you can imagine a flashlight coming from your middle finger [to] shoot right in the center of your head and light up over there. Meanwhile, attract all the energy in the center there. Form a shining pearl—a pearl like a marble ball. That size.
Now, let go of your finger slowly and allow the pearl to keep shining. Try to feel the difference of this Upper Dantian and Lower Dantian and Middle Dantian. The quality.
The activating of the Upper Dantian—you feel as if some soft hands are stroking on your forehead. Sometimes, you can feel a little bit of pressure of your third eye’s area, like a pulse. Because here, near the third eye—the third eye has a lot of clever [indecipherable]—some people might see a screen. Like a screen after another screen [with] some quite vivid pictures. They’re all good signs that say you’re Upper Dantian is activated.
TS: And then we move on to the fourth Golden Wheel—you called [it] the Central Meridian. Now, Robert, how is this a “wheel?” Each of these other three centers, I think I understand the sense of a circular space in the body. But calling the Central Meridian—a column that’s running in front of the spine—a “wheel” [is] a little confusing to me.
RP: [Laughs.] Well, if you look at the Central Meridian in the body, it is a column—it’s a stick, right? Always a column. But when it goes out of the human body, it’s connecting with the universe. Then it’s moving along the horizon and all the way to the Earth and back through the perineum to inside of us. Actually, the Central Meridian is like—how do you say—if you have an orange. In the center of the orange—in all the skin parts [the pith of the orange]—is the Central Meridian. So the Central Meridian is not just one in the center, it’s spread out and forms a whole globe of energy to wrap [all of our bodies].
That’s why we so emphasize the Central Meridian. It’s very powerful energy to make us connected with the heavens’ qi, with the Earth’s qi—connected with the surroundings.
So it’s a big wheel. A huge, huge wheel. It embraces all the other wheels.
TS: Can you help our listeners get a sense of what the Central Meridian feels like in their [bodies]?
RP: Yes. Well, the Central Meridian feels—you can first find a spot that is on top of the head. Then you try to find your two ears. Then, in the middle of the two ears—on top of the head here. You can also still [use] the middle finger to probe on that area on top of the head. It is indented a little bit.
Please note it is not a cowlick. It is on top. It’s a little bit tender. This is a point [that we call], bai hui, meaning “hundreds of points meeting here.” This is a bai hui point, and this point connects with the Heaven qi, because this is the top of our head—of our body. So when this is opening, the universe’s qi flushes into you.
What you can do is you can press—maybe use your thumb, because you like to press it harder. Use your thumb to press on this point and imagine a flashlight coming from your thumb and going all the way down—shooting through your head, your neck, your body, and [through your] perineum. [It] shoots out of your body, this light. It connects to the Earth.
Then, you release your hands and then allow the light coming from the Earth [to shoot] back to [the top of] your head here and go up to the sky. Now, allow that light coming down from the sky [to go] inside of your head—traveling inside the body—and shoot out from your body down to the Earth. Use your breathing. Inhale. Bring light up through the Central Meridian out of your body to the sky. Exhale. Bring the light close inside the body. It travels outside the body, down into the Earth.
Do that a few more times. Inhale up. [You’re] crossing all three dantians. Exhale down. Bring an awareness, when it’s traveling through different dantians, [this is] how you sense. Inhale up. Exhale down. Inhale up. Exhale down and it goes inside. You can lower it in your Lower Dantian. Can you tell the difference when it moves to the Lower Dantian, Middle Dantian, Upper Dantian? The quality is different. Yes.
We are constantly, very frequently, practicing the Central Meridian. It triggers part of the energies along the different dantians. Then your consciousness is a lot more sharp. You’re more sensible at feeling your conditions—physical, emotional, and spiritual.
By physical—when your awareness of your physical conditions is strong—well, everybody gets sick. I get sick, too. But you can sense—you can feel—your conditions much, much more in advance than a lot of people. Then the treatment is a lot easier. Like many things, in the early stage it is very simple to deal with. Like you get a cold—you get some disease—maybe some ginger tea and a hot shower will solve the problem. But if you waited until it’s getting deep, then it is serious.
The same is the feeling—the emotions. We sense if we’re off-balance. You sense yourself if you’re adjusted. You’re always around the balancing situations. That’s why we call it “Master Key,” you know. It doesn’t mean you’re always on the right. It is always moving around, left-right directions, not too far away. Yes. Not too far away. That’s because [you’re] an upgraded human being.
TS: Robert, when we’re beginning to contact and awaken this feeling of the Central Meridian in the body, do you have a suggestion for how large the column of light—or this beam of light coming down through the top of our heads—how wide is it?
RP: How wide? It is between the gorge of your two eyes. Like, two eyes’ distance. The middle of one eye, then the middle of the other eye, then you have the diameter of the two eyes’ distance. Then there’s this big circle—it’s the channel of the Central Meridian shooting up and down. This is like subways—the tube for the energy moving around in the middle of your two eyes. That diameter. That big.
And [there is a] saying from some ancient text, saying, “Ordinarily, if you have never done any cultivations of energy, a Central Meridian is connected—” because if the Meridian’s blocked 100 percent, you’re a bad person. Everybody’s Meridian is connected, but is not that strong. They say it is the size of a pencil—that is, for people who are not so strongly cultivated with energy. But with constant cultivations, meditations, movement qi among them, they can expand. Yes—expand even bigger than that size. Then, it is the size of the whole body—the whole column. When you reach into that part of energy channeling—the whole body, up and down—that is the time, they say, that you are the angel, because you go beyond your physical body.
TS: It’s interesting, Robert, because one of the practices that you teach—you call it “Connecting Universe.” You teach people how to expand the Central Meridian to the size of the body, and then beyond to the size of the room—and beyond the size of the room to the size of the town they live in. Basically, we expand our Central Meridian all the way to infinity! It’s a pretty amazing practice. Can you tell us a little bit about how that practice works? What does it do to our Central Meridian if we practice like that on a regular basis?
RP: You fond a good exercise to start with, and it’s wonderful. That is called “Connecting Universe.” When I practiced with my master about this—when he introduced me [to] this exercise—which is in the book. Anyway.
He made a comparison, saying, “Well, what is the best way for you to avoid a drop of water from drying out?” You put it in the ocean. Then it spreads everywhere. So you are connected with the whole ocean.
Well, the same [thing goes for] our energies. The Central Meridian is the channel that can connect with the universal energies. We are born with a lot of energy—like we are born rich. In my master’s words, I say, “Everybody is a gold mine,” meaning we are rich. But the problem is that everyone is holding the golden ball [back]. The reason that we have the gold ball in hand but still hold it back is that we don’t know how to connect with the universal energies and we assume we’re very poor.
So, “Connecting Universe” is the practice that makes you resourceful all the time with the universal energy—and not just exhausting your own energies. It’s focused on expanding the Central Meridian.
What we do is: First, we allow ourselves to be aware of the Central Meridian, which is top of the head and perineum—a big channel going all the way to Heaven, all the way down in to the Earth. That is the axle that connects us with the universe.
Then we want to move the Central Meridian in a horizontal-way circle, so you’re circling on your left side from small and all-the-way big—all the way to the infinity. Yes. So a circle—a small circle inside your body. A second circle maybe outside the body. Then outside the room. So just find some reference point that you can make your circle bigger.
Like we said just now, “Where your mind goes, your qi goes.” When you are using your mind to circle your Central Meridian in this big circle, you’re embracing this much energy. So when you’re embracing all the infinity—all the universe—on your left side, all those energies are beginning to connect with you, supporting you.
Then we do the right side. Then the front side, and the back side. Then we’re going to do the vertical. But in the end we’re going to expand our Central Meridian—though maybe we start now with the pencil size, then we’re going to expand it bigger and bigger, with 21 times that you reach to the end of infinity.
So in that way, we fuse totally [with] the whole universe. Every place—every single corner of the universe—you have a little part over there. In my book, we have a saying, “I’m the universe.” OK? I am the universe. When you move, the whole universe is moving with you. When you cry, the universe is shedding its tears with you—because when you allow yourself to connect with the universe, we are part of the universe. And the whole universe is nourishing us.
It’s why the “Connecting Universe” is simple, but quite significant. That is like you’re a General and you have millions, trillions of armies supporting you to do anything. Imagine how powerful that will be.
This way, we are resourceful. When [we have] that energy to nourish our other Wheels—through the Central Meridian, that is the first Wheel. It begins to nourish our Wheel of Vitality, then you’re healthy, you’re charismatic, you’re very dynamic.
When the qi is nourished in our Middle Dantian, then you’re a loving person. You’re always like Buddha—always you’re blessing others. Right?
And when the qi and power are in our third eyes a lot, we’re wise. We [make] good choices.
When the three dantians hold together with the Central Meridian, we are—in Chinese, we would say you are the zhēnshí rén. “Zhēnshí rén” means you are the “true person.” The true person is that you know what you do, you do what you like to do. Every breath is an ecstasy because you are living at this moment, when everything is moving in a harmonious condition.
TS: Now Robert, I know that, in addition to teaching Qigong, you also work as a Qigong healer. And I’m curious how the Four Golden Wheels come into your work as a healer, if they do.
RP: Yes. Well, doing the healing work—before I say “healing,” I like to make a little distinction of “curing” and “healing” because people get confused. I have a disease, I go to you, then you treat me, then you cure me. This is not healing. Curing is something coming from outside and given to a passive recipient. So like pills, herbs, operations—this is what we call “the way of curing.”
But healing implies the existence of a force at work from within, with people as active participants in their own [healing]. So when we do the healing work, it is not a healer who is doing work alone. It is the participants—the patients—working together [with them].
Actually, in the broad sense, you’re working on their Four Golden Wheels. We work a lot on the head to activate—through the head—the top of the head. You know, that is the Upper Dantian. When the Upper Dantian is released near the third eye, you begin to finally awaken the Middle Dantian.
When the Middle Dantian is awakened, you’re much, much more relaxed. I’ve notice a lot of patients—when they come—at first they’re very nervous. They’re nervous. They’re restless. But after just a few minutes of work—because their rhythm is harmonized together, the Middle Dantian is settled and they begin to feel so much safer and at ease. At that time, it’s going deeper to allow the vitality to come, because vitality is the part, the Lower Dantian, that really simmers all of this—to make all the organs [work] in harmonious ways.
After these initiations, I always need my patients to practice. So all my patients should also be students of Qigong. If you don’t practice, I don’t encourage you to come to me too much. It is you, yourself, to heal yourself. That is how the healing is. It’s always working on these different dantians. To make it more detailed, we say “The Twelve Meridians,” because each organ has a meridian that is connected with the finger, connected with your head, connects with your toes. It’s moving inside of your legs, outside of your legs, inside of your arms, and the outside of your arms.
So when we’re doing the work, we do it all over the body holistically. The reason we call it “holistic” is we’re working your body as a whole. Not to say, “Ah, I have a headache,” you just work on the headache. If you have a headache, maybe I work on your toes. I work on one of your hands. That is, your body is a whole system.
Another way we call it “holistic” is because it reverses approaches to health and healing that takes into account the wholeness of human beings. So it’s not just physical pain. Each time we do the work, you’re hosting as body-mind-emotion-spirit. It’s always in a dynamic movement when we’re doing the work.
It doesn’t matter if you know the specifics or not. You come to me and you say, “I have a headache. I have some symptoms.” In Western medicine, you do the test and you find what this is. For energy healing, while you know it, it’s good. You don’t know it, you can still do the work. So, in Chinese, I have an interesting saying, “Ignorant doctor kills the unknown disease.” [Laughs.] You’re ignorant of what it is, but as soon as it sends the energy away—you know where the blockage is—you take away the blockages. After taking the blockages in calm energy to make it flow, that is the secret of the treatment.
Take away the blockages, feel with the qi, and allow the qi to heal. The three steps. They’re very simple. [Laughs.]
TS: Now, Robert, I know you studied and Qigong and healing with your master in China—Master Xiao Yao. I’d love to know—did you see any healings? Did you witness any healings that really astounded you? I mean, I have to ask.
RP: There are too many! [Laughs.] Let me think about one. You mean the ones I saw my master [perform]?
TS: Yes. That you saw that he was functioning in that role as the healer. And here you are, a young person and you’re learning, and you think, “Oh my holy gosh!”
RP: Yes. Well, actually he healed me to start with. When I first met him, I was eight years old. I was suffering severe pain in my chest. I don’t know what that disease is, because I was too young and I don’t know what [the doctors] diagnosed. But the symptom was that it was painful, especially if I jumped or ran. It was very painful.
I go to the doctor and it doesn’t help, then the doctor says, “Your son needs to rest.” So I rest and then stay at home, being bored. That’s how I met my master in his boiler room.
His way of doing treatment—it’s so easy. One of the ways I’m very impressed is that we say huángfǔ. He drew a picture on yellow paper. Then he began to chant on this paper and he burned this paper. He allowed these ashes to collect and put them in tea or wine, [then] allowed the patients to drink it. And it helps a lot of people.
So that is obvious. Another thing that he’d just scan—just look at you and scan, and then you’re fine.
But one other thing I witnessed—I actually got involved with a treatment—is when I was in the mountains. His monastery—his temple—is deep in the mountains. After I’d practice every year, every day with him when we’re together, then he’d turn to the mountain in my teenage [years]. So I visited him in my winter or summer vacation.
This one time, I was on the mountain in the summertime. There was a mountaineer who was carried by several people into the temple. He was bitten by a poisonous snake on his foot. It was swollen—so swollen that his skin was shining. Huge, huge. There was a red line from the bitten spot coming up above the knee. It was very dangerous. There’s a saying, in fact: “Red line from the wound—from the bitten spot—going all the way to the heart, he’s going to die.”
Well, that is the first time I saw my master healing. Normally, he would do the treatment—very easy, calm. But when he saw this one was an emergency, he asked them to carry [the mountaineer] to his room. Using the qi on the spot [of the bite], then pressing the bai hui, the Central Meridian. He asked me to help with the Gate of Life in the middle of the kidneys. So, doing the work first to empower his life force, because he’s fainting. He’s lost his consciousness. Foam is in his mouth.
So, the first thing is to boost his energy. Then, he began to use his strong finger to channel it. Just several minutes after channeling, we could see the streams of black blood shooting out from that wound until later, it [became more] fresh. Then that is time for—[unintelligible]—a good breath, and maybe using some herbs chewed in his mouth, and having some wine in his mouth is great. The wound—cover it.
All together, this [took] 15 or 20 minutes. This person came in, [then was] gone—nothing. He lost his consciousness [and was] carried [in] by four big men. In 20 to 30 minutes, he walked out.
TS: Hm!
RP: Like his face. When he came in, his face was blackened. His wound was huge. This was one of the things I was very impressed [with] when I was with my master. At the time, I could not do treatment on my own yet. That was the first time I did the treatment with him—not the first time I did the treatment with him as his assistant.
TS: Robert, that’s an amazing story of your experience with your master. But I have a kind of interesting story to tell about you—that I’d really like you to explain, if you will. I asked you about it once, but I didn’t really fully understand your answer.
When we were shooting a DVD together—the new DVD Qigong Ecstasy—we did it in a location outside of my home in Boulder, Colorado. The day before the actual video shoot, I went outside and I looked at the garden, and it looked more beautiful than I’d ever seen it in my life. I would go so far as to say it looked two times or three times more beautiful. It was glittering and glistening and shining, and filled with a magical fairy dust, if you will.
And I thought to myself, “I wonder if Robert did something to the garden?”
[Robert laughs.]
TS: Or am I just so happy to see Robert because he’s here making this video with us that my vision is changed? And I asked you about it later, and you said, “Oh, actually [I] empowered the setting of the video.” You had empowered this garden before you even flew from New York to come to Colorado.
So tell us: What did you do to empower the physical space before you got there and light it up like this?
RP: Well, that is [two things]. Maybe now, I say it more comprehensively. I think it is from both.
One is the awareness of your years. [You were] more open, more connected [at] that moment. So all the beauties there before [you] were shining even more brightly at that moment, to you. That’s one thing.
Another is—you mentioned this—the empowerment. Actually, that is what I’m going to teach for [those] three afternoons, that’s one of the things. Three afternoons in the Wake Up Festival. It’s how to energize the energy field where you work, where you’re going to do workshops, where you’re going to visit. This way [you can] make your trip more pleasant, more protected.
So what we do is, first we have—in our own body, we have about seven points that we want to reorganize through some gestures I cannot describe here. Yes. So you do [that] on yourself one time. Then you expand your body like you want to empower this whole room. So your whole body expands to the same size as this room. In other words, this room looks like you—a bigger you. Then you’re doing the same [thing] to make your energy and this room’s energy synchronize.
So in other words, it’s like you’re breathing together with this room. That is how you can have this power. You make this place much more connected to you.
We do this the same way as empowerment for property. I have some good friends who just bought a house. They feel the energy is not so good. They ask me to empower the energy—that is the same way you do. You make this property breathe together with the master of the property. Then that is what we call “empowerment.”
It is empowerment for this owner. It’s not empowerment for anybody else. You can do this here. You can also do this [from] a distance—just throw your mind.
What I usually do is—say, for example, last year—before I arrived [at] Estes Park for the Wake Up Festival. Even if I haven’t been there, I try to find a picture just to get a sense of over there. In my home now, I begin to use these ways to make my energies connected with energy in Estes Park. Then, when I am there, I do it again—to reinforce that empowerment or connections [between] me, my energy, and this place. Then, energetically, you don’t feel strange in this place.
Yes. So that’s [what] I did to your house. Before I went to your house, I did empowerment. Not only me—I empowered to make every participant’s energy connected at that property so that when we arrived, everybody felt like we were walking in one direction. Very harmonized qi over there. And, of course, all the plants, all the trees, and everything that are also part of the things of our empowerment. That is another reason you feel it. It’s even more vital. It is even more beautiful at that time.
I don’t know whether that makes sense. [Laughs.]
TS: It does make sense! And it’s very interesting to me.
RP: And I’d like to [teach] you someday when we’re together. It’s not complicated. You can do it right away. That’s what I plan to teach in the three afternoons. [The] break-out class.
TS: At the Wake Up Festival. Yes. Wonderful.
RP: Yes, the Wake Up Festival. Yes.
TS: Robert, to end our conversation, I’d love—if possible, I’m going to ask you a favor here—if you’d be willing to offer our listeners some type of Qigong practice that is easy to teach here in this medium—through audio. Some Qigong practice that they could start working with to really get a sense of the power of this work.
RP: Sure! Sure. I think—because the audience can be practitioners of Qigong or not—I’ll find one that is universal to everybody. Even if you are very, very advanced with Qigong, I think it will still be very helpful. That is, we say, “Awakening Awareness.”
So what is awareness? The power of awareness? In the narrow sense, [awareness] is that you feel something more sharply. But that is not what we [mean by] “awareness,” because awareness—because some people are very sensitive, but they feel annoyed. They’re very sensitive to hearing noise. Sound may annoy [them]—that’s the problem. But the awareness that is sensed doesn’t bother you. That is awareness. The power of awareness is that you have the power to feel the balance, not to feel the horrible things.
“Awakening Awareness” makes us [mindful]. Pause for a second, a few seconds. Just scan around us—outside the body, inside the body. It’s quite an interesting and powerful practice. I can guide us through several minutes. Is that OK?
TS: Let’s do it!
RP: OK, let’s do it!
Now, sit down. Sit down with your hands resting on your lap. Keep your spine straight and relaxed. Close your eyes and breathe naturally.
Now, open your eyes and become aware of the outer world. Notice the sights outside of you. Sounds. Smells. The temperature. And the space around you.
Now, close your eyes and become aware of your inner world. Notice the images in your mind. Thoughts. Emotions. And memories floating inside.
Keep your eyes closed and become aware of the outer world. Notice the sights, sounds, smells, the temperature, and the space around you.
Now, open your eyes and become aware of your inner world. Notice the images, thoughts, emotions, and memories floating inside.
Keep your eyes open and become aware of both the outer world and your inner world. Notice the sights, images, sounds, thoughts, smells, emotions, the temperature, the memories floating inside, and the space around you.
Now, close your eyes and become aware of both the outer world and your inner world. Notice the sights, images in your mind, sounds, thoughts, smells, emotions, the temperature, the memories floating inside, and the space around you.
Now, let go of all experience. Dissolve your inner world and the outer world into nothingness. Become aware of awareness itself. Awaken your awareness and realize that awakened awareness is your true nature.
Now, take a deep inhale. Feel that breathing. Imagine that breathing, that exhale, is like a beautiful drink when you’re very thirsty. Again, inhale. Exhale, relax, sigh out. Inhale. Beautiful drink. Ahhhh. One more inhale. And slowly open your eyes. Ahhhhh. And back into your real world. Smile.
TS: Thank you, Robert.
RP: Thank you.
TS: With Sounds True, Robert Peng has written a new book, The Master Key: Qigong Secrets for Vitality, Love, and Wisdom. It’s a book that both tells his personal story and his studies with his master in China. Then, the second half of the book goes into quite a bit of detail on both activating and exercising the Four Golden Wheels. There’s also a four-part DVD series called The Master Key that’s a companion to the book, [which] takes you through all of the exercises on video.
Robert has also created a new stand-alone video with Sounds True called Qigong Ecstasy. This is the video that was filmed just under a year ago outside of my house in an empowered garden. It’s a video that offers a Qigong movement and meditation sequence that cultivates radiant happiness.
Robert will also be with us this year at our 2014 Wake Up Festival, August 20–24 this year in Estes Park, Colorado. He’ll be offering a pre-festival, two-day Qigong workshop, morning Qigong practices at the Wake Up Festival, and a healers’ intensive in the afternoon.
Robert, thanks so much for being with us, helping us activate our Four Golden Wheels, and [activating] the power of awareness. Thank you.
RP: Thank you, Tami! Take care, everybody.
TS: SoundsTrue.com. Many voices, one journey. Thanks for listening.
