The Fountain of Youth

Is it simply a myth, or a fairytale? Or is there something fairly real and realistic behind this notion? Moreover, if it really IS real, then how does a normal, ordinary, working woman (like you and like me) get access to this wonderful Fountain?

The Fountain of Youth – in Unveiling: An Inner Journey

What I personally believe to be the fabled (and very beneficial) Fountain of Youth really does exist – at least according to both my research and personal experience.

The Fountain of Youth is not some external thing. It is not something you can buy in a bottle, or get as a “treatment” in a salon or a doctor’s office. What it is, however, is a process. It’s also something that each of us can learn to do.

Here’s a working definition: The Fountain of Youth is the process by which a person accesses and gathers up her (or his) “internal energy” or ch’i, draws it into their central core (called tan tien in Chinese martial arts), brings it up her spine (the first part of the Macrocosmic Orbit described by Mantak Chia), and then “circulates” or “flows” the energy down her front. (You can “flow” it down around your entire body, or do other directional patterns.) This “flowing” aspect is what gives it the sense of being a Fountain.

Ch’i circulation is well-known in esoteric Taoist teachings. Mantak Chia has been writing about this for decades, and there are similar (and much older) writings within this Taoist tradition. There are similar energy-pattern teachings that are within both martial arts and yogic traditions. There are also similar teachings – or portions thereof – throughout the Western esoteric schools. Throughout history, and across multiple disparate cultures, those persons who have paid attention to “energy work” have discovered and used pretty much the same thing.

The reason that this Fountain can be interpreted and understood the Fountain of Youth is that ch’i circulation both feels good (very good), and has (traditionally, and in my personal experience as well) beneficial qualities for our overall health and well-being.

And no, I can’t cite scientific evidence to support this. And I’m not about to go into the “scientific” aspects; we don’t have either sufficient measurement ability or an adequate quantifiable theory to support work in this area. (I might be wrong here, I’ve heard of some research being done in China on these themes, simply have not sought it out so far.) Thus, most of us who are willing to take on this investigation have to work in a much more subjective realm, and trust our growing abilities to “sense” this kind of energy, as well as corrolate it with written and verbally communicated experiences from those who are students and even masters of this art. (And yes, thie really is – right now – more of an “art” than a “science,” if we want to make the definition of a “scientific” approach to be based on objectively quantifiable results.)

All that said, this has been studied and practiced for millenia, by those who have extraordinary self-discipline and keen, well-balanced powers of observation.

This Fountain of Youth has become one of the major themes of Unveiling, which will be available (through Amazon.com) by the end of the end of the year. The reason that I’m writing about it this morning, though, is that the first question that women would have about this is: What’s it like? And very early this morning, I was playing with this energy, and it’s always best to answer a question such as “What’s it like?” by sharing a recent experience.

Besides, this recent experience had something different about it.

I woke up (as often happens) ultra-early, and decided to stay in bed and do some energy work rather than get up and putter about. After going through my usual preliminaries to “gather” and “bring in” the energy, and to start the circulation (more about that in another blog, and of course, in Unveiling), I was well into it when I noticed my body responding in a different way; something that I had never observed before.

“Langour in the Lips”

In this morning’s energy practice, I had already used a combination of energy work and visualization to enter into a very relaxed state. This is not at all unusual; it is actually par for the course. What happened next was a bit unusual, however.

As background and context, I have been hugely in Amazon mode for months now – really, for almost two years. Writing Unveiling, although it has been about the topic of accessing our “other” modes (intuitive and contemplative High Priestess, warm and nurturing Isis, and playful and pleasure-seeking Hathor), has very much kept me in my inner Amazon – task-focused and priorities-driven. (Most women find themselves in this state, far, far too often! That’s why we’ve all needed a book like Unveiling – myself included!)

In this ultra-relaxed state, one that I’d been trying to reach all weekend (and had not really succeeded in so doing), all of a sudden – spontaneously – the muscles across my forehead relaxed. I hadn’t known that my forehead was tight – but the muscles that pull us into a “furrowed brow” suddenly let go, and I could feel the tension in that area seep away. Then, the muscles around my lips started to relax. Once again, I hadn’t even known that they were tight! But one by one, they let go.

I lay there, just letting this happen, and recalled the famous (or infamous) incident when Diane Vreeland, then Editor-in-Chief of Vogue magazine, rejected a very expensive, exotically-located photo shoot because there was no “langour in the lips” of the models. They were all stressed and tight from the strain of their travels, and it showed – of all places – in their lips!

Think about it. How often does the phrase “tight-lipped” describe someone who is either angry or emotionally restrained? And aren’t full lips much more kissable? After this morning’s experience, I’m willing to bet that we humans – with our exquisite sensitivity to nuance in facial expression and gesture – are very attuned to how tight the muscles are around someone’s lips, whether we consciously attend to it or not.

Over recent years, some of us have even had collagen injections into our lips to give ourselves that “full, pouty” look. All this to make ourselves more kissable!

What if, instead of relying on surgery, we did a little energy work, and a little deep relaxation, and let the muscles on our face relax and release? We’d then much more look like a Buddha – calm and serene – with our lips naturally in that very slightest of smiles that comes with calm repose. Think about how much more comfortably we could handle all sorts of stresses, if we could start out with and (at least to some extent) maintain this relaxed state! Besides, it would cost less, and be renewable at will.

Ch’i circulation, my darlings! It’s the Fountain of Youth, and it makes us much more kissable!