“Courage in women is oftentimes mistaken for insanity,” a quote taken from the movie, “Iron- Jawed Maidens” depicting the suffragettes movement.

When we were younger, this courage may have looked much different to each one of us. Whatever it was then, we are embracing something ever more extraordinary now, although hidden deeply and subtlety within us. During menopause we might occasionally find ourselves believing we are insane, especially as the heat rises, our emotions escalate and we feel truly incapacitated by this energy propelling us out of control! It may take a moment or an hour to regroup and remember that we are actually very courageous–enough to embrace, however consciously or subconsciously, a spiritual healing and rebirth through our physical forms during this part of our womanly life cycle. Sometimes our spiritual healings come to light through interesting thoughts or ideas, sometimes through unexplored emotions or through new and very physical demands on our bodies. However they appear, they are often misunderstood, even by we who give birth to them.

With that said, a few months ago, I went out on a limb with a statement, “Middle aged women are poised and ready to become truly enlightened, more than anyone else on this planet, especially if they refrain from having sex.” It was something I heard that originated from a well-known spiritual teacher. Based on some of your reactions, it was a much more courageous statement than I’d initially imagined! I’d like to expand on that thought, bringing the concept of non-sexual spirituality into a more balanced and even palatable framework.

Background & Theory

In Five Element Theory, we have three types of Chi available to the human body: 1) the life force with which we are born; 2) that which we accumulate from food and breathing the air around us; and 3) the energy we derive from our practices of breathing, meditation and other methods of concentrated focus.

Mantak Chia brought his Taoist ideas to the West over 20 years ago in books about cultivating sexual or creative energies through precisely this type of concentrated focus and practice. Little did most people know then was the fact that sexual activity, although a big part of our culture and central to Chia’s theme in the books, was only a small part of his message.

In fact, sexual and primordial energies are considered the same in the practice of the one- thousand-year-old technique called the Microcosmic Orbit. It has links to traditional Yoga and has woven threads into and birthed practices in modern day modalities as well: Reiki, the Violet Flame Meditation and Breath, Kundalini practices, Running energy from Berkeley Psychic Institute and more.

“Human life begins with the union of an egg and a sperm cell…this is the original act of Kung Fu in the balancing of Yin and Yang,” says Chia who also states that sexual energy can be transmuted into spiritual transformation, especially for women. Instead of growing a fetus in the womb, this energy in non-reproductive women “mounts to higher energy centers inside the body and we give birth to ourselves on a spiritual level. This sexual, (creative) energy is drawn up with the Microcosmic Orbit where it literally gives rebirth and brings the confidence of controlling a powerful flow of creative energy as well as the satisfaction of a deep sense and higher balance of harmony with the world.”

According to Chia, this same energy can be cultivated and brought up during sexual orgasm, non-sexual breathing practices and visualization. The common thread: drawing the stored ovarian energies up the spinal column into the brain. Even though there are many other types of organ-related Chi, sexual energy is considered more versatile, easily digested, and can be transformed into many other functions.

In addition to its obvious benefits for hormonal balance and lovemaking, “the effects of the Microcosmic Orbit extend beyond facilitating the flow of sexual energy and include age prevention and the healing of many illnesses.”

The Microcosmic Orbit facilitates energy flows through the Governing (yang/male/fire) and Conception (yin/female/water) meridian channels, up the back from the tailbone area, over the head to the mouth and up the front of the body from the perineum area to the tongue. This circuit of healing energy which facilitates the elemental movement of Water Up, Fire Down, is complete when the tongue touches the hard palate behind the upper teeth.

Ilchi Lee’s Taoist teachings demonstrate the similarities: “The Governing meridian originates in the pelvic cavity and runs up through the spine, over the head to the middle of the upper lip. It promotes circulation and is the pathway through which the water energy of the kidneys rises. A healthy Governing meridian helps to cool and clear the head.

The Conception meridian passes through the neck and chest, connecting to the lower abdomen. When dysfunctional, the Conception meridian can cause stiffness in the lower abdomen resulting in many issues of the organs there. The heat from the heart travels down to the digestive organs through the Conception meridian. Blockages here can cause heat to rise into the head.”

Transformational Practice

Even if menopausal symptoms are not an issue for you, the practices below will help you balance your multi-layered human system: meridian channels; chakras; spiritual, mental and emotional, as well as physiological levels; digestive, endocrine, nervous, circulatory and lymphatic systems; and more. The chart below defines general health based on the Water Up, Fire Down principle, taken from “Human Technology,” also by Ilchi Lee.

“Su-seung-hwa-gang in Korean means “Water Up, Fire Down.” This is a core principle for human health. When the body is in balance, the cool water energy travels upward toward the head along the back side of the body, while the hot fire energy flows down the front side of the body to the lower abdomen. This is the complete cycle of energy circulation. By repeating this circulation, life maintains its balance and continuity. ”

Although these channels exist without human intention, and the natural movement of the elements within them takes place without the mind, the body isn’t always in balance. Self-observation on any level is simply an act of awareness and awareness promotes health in many ways. One of the ways we can generate more Chi in the body, as mentioned before, is with a concentrated focus on the breath. We can create better health with a conscious practice of breathing and visualizing Water Up, Fire Down.

Abdominal Breathing stimulates warmth in the digestive organs and kidneys which in turn activates the water element, enhancing the natural flow of Water Up, Fire Down. Lie down on your back or sit upright in a comfortable position, place your hands on your lower abdomen; begin to breathe consciously and deeply into your belly, allowing the muscles to expand and contract. Visualize the breath flowing in and out through a gateway in the back of your spine just behind the navel. Your abdomen is filled and expands as the breath moves in and empties or contracts as you breathe out.

Transform sexual energy into creative Chi energy by Breathing into and focusing on the Ovaries. Begin by breathing into your ovaries, placing palms over your lower abdominal and ovarian areas, feeling the warmth created with the breath. Next, visualize an oval shape that connects the two ovaries and the cervix, completely encircling the uterus as well. Feel the energy moving through and circulating around the “Oval” shape. Ground the cervix at the First Chakra and into the center of the Earth, allowing anything foreign to release down this grounding connection. It will be transmuted by the Earth’s energy. Let the creative energy swirl around in the oval, pumping the perineum gently. Feel the energy created in the “Oval” moving up through the spine into the center of your head. Here it swirls around both clockwise and counterclockwise, eventually returning back down to the “Oval.” You can try stopping it along the way at the various chakras allowing it to swirl around there as well; do this both on the way up to collect energy and the way down to re-fill the space with a higher vibration. Now try the exercise again with your tongue touching the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth.

Experience Chi flow with the Microcosmic Orbit. Sit in a comfortable, meditative posture and visualize just the channel at first. It begins in the tongue and cycles down the front of the body through your throat, chest and navel and then up the tailbone through the spine into your head. Next, feel or see the energy of water moving up your back channels and the energy of fire moving down away from your head into your digestive organs. Sit with this and just notice your experience; you might even record it daily for a week or more. If you do have a sexual relationship, try it and learn about it while making love; just notice what is created!

Later try practicing the Microcosmic Orbit with your tongue on the roof of your mouth behind the top teeth, and do the “Oval” simultaneously! Each one of these exercises can potentially decrease stress levels and is capable of creating more balance and natural rhythm in your life.

Have fun with all this. Whether or not you have an active and regular sex life, you can cultivate spiritually transformative energies by being conscious about your breath, visualizing the channels through which it moves, and knowing it is simply, and yet magnificently, Chi in there! Remember too, sexual energy is primordial energy which is creative energy and is cultivated in the ovaries.

We are incredible self-sustaining and ever-evolving human forms.