Remember More

Chapter 09

REMEMBER MORE

CHAPTER 09

John did as he was told and shut his eyes. He gathered up the qi from his belly and directed it up his chest first, and then down into his right arm. For some strange reason, it wasn't quite as easy as the first time around, when he had been coughing before. It was almost as if the more he thought about the process, the harder it was to do. It was simpler when his only concern had been to not die from coughing his lungs out onto the floor. He stopped to rest for bit. He told his concerns to Yan.

Yan rubbed her hand on her chin. She paced.

John waited without making a sound. He had questions, loads of them, but he kept his mouth shut. He was learning.

Having come to a decision, Yan stopped. She ambled over to the table and picked up the diagram again. "Let's try something different." She walked over and handed it to him. "I want you to look this over again." She pointed to it. "The meridian that you are working on right now is called the Lung meridian. In Wu Xing terms, it is the pathway to the Gate of Metal. It governs breathing, the immune system and the sense of smell, among other things. The final area of release is in the nose."

John nodded as she spoke.

"I want you to study this for a good five minutes. Try to memorize it if you can. But if you can't, never mind. If I understand things correctly, moving ahead in this area involves as much intuition and insight as it does purposeful study under sheer force of will. It's really about enlightenment. So, after you've read this over enough times, I want you to put the paper down and not think about it anymore. Go back to your fundamental position, put your palms together and just…relax."

"Relax?"

"Think about nothing. When a thought tries to come in, brush it away. But not forcefully. Keep your mind only on your breathing. Breathe in, breathe out. In, and then out. Keep your breaths slow and even. Make them as long and as slow as you can…"

Yan gave him a few other tips and John went back to work. He studied the diagram some more, and then when he felt himself ready, he put the paper down and resumed meditating again.

What Yan suggested helped. This time, the qi found its own way from his belly to his arm without him thinking about it or concentrating. It was almost as if it was easier when he stopped trying so hard. The only trying hard was in relaxing. It was making more sense now. He smiled to himself.

John kept his mind clean. His only thought was on his breathing. After a few laps of flowing from his abdomen out to his thumb, John tapped his qi ever so lightly when it hit his shoulder one time and directed it upward instead. Up and further upward until it hit his nose. It tingled.

~~~

John lost all track of time. It could have been five minutes, ten, twenty or an hour. But he was getting the feeling he was better at it now. With every cycle of the movement of his newfound qi up and down his body and his arms, he was feeling more confident. Strong. And the energy! He felt like a new man, a new, young baby born into the world afresh. However, even with his progress now being gained in leaps and bounds, there were still problems he didn't understand. He frowned. He opened his eyes.

And there was Yan. Standing right in front of him, looking concerned. How long had she been standing there? And why was she soaked in sweat? "Yan, are you all right? Why are you…?"

Yan put her hand to her chest. "Am I all right? Are you feeling all right?"

"What? Why…?"

Yan stepped in closer. "You stopped breathing."

John's eyes went wide. "Stopped breathing?"

"Yes! I've been standing here a whole minute now and you weren't breathing at all. And who knows how long it'd been before I walked up to you?"