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In This Article
- The Taoist Approach to Skin Renewal
- The Role of Chi in Skin Vitality
- Breathwork, Circulation and Toxins.
- The Five Rules of Beauty Chi Kung
- The Holistic Path to Lasting Beauty
Chi Kung for Beauty: Energize Your Skin from Within
by Mantak Chia and Anna Margolina, PhD.
Long before the advent of the scientific method, Taoists concluded that all living organisms have an innate ability to heal and balance themselves. There is no need to go to school to learn how to breathe, because the body knows how to breathe and deliver oxygen to every cell. Similarly, the heart knows how to pump blood throughout the body.
The body also knows how to balance chemicals and how to make the chemical compounds that are needed to renew its tissues. Because the skin, like the rest of the body, has the capacity to self-regulate and heal, it is important to know how to help this complex system function optimally and how to avoid disrupting its balance.
Taoist Masters: The Original Scientists
Ancient Taoist masters were the original scientists. Unlike modern scientists who believe they have to take things apart and break them down into parts in order to study them, Taoists studied things as they are in life—as an interconnected whole. They observed a flowing river and noticed that its water had an abundant and strong flow and tasted sweet and fresh. They studied a stagnant pond and observed that its water tasted foul and unpleasant, and that it lacked the freshness and vibrancy of the river.
In the same way, it seemed to them that young, healthy people were more like a flowing river, while sick, old ones resembled a stagnant pond. Taoists concluded that there must be something flowing through the body to animate and enliven it. This force cannot be seen, yet it is just as real in its manifestations as the wind that creates the movement of trees and grasses or the rippling of water on a pond.
Mind Body Healing Technology
Taoist masters of old developed a mind-body healing technology based on their observations and inner sensing; it allowed them to observe and study the effects of this vital force, called chi, in the body. Today modern science knows chi to be electromagnetic energy, the force that animates all living things and creates movement and flow in nature. A human body generates and uses bioelectricity, which obeys the same laws of nature as other forms of electromagnetic energy.
Taoist masters deduced that just like wood can be burned to create fire, which in turn radiates light and heat, a human body must have some mechanism by which it burns biological matter to create the living fire that is chi, which warms the body and illuminates it from the inside. This is very much like burning wood, but in this case this process occurs in a more peaceful and controlled manner, through a series of chemical reactions.
Taoist sages placed a premium on maintaining and protecting their chi. In young people, chi is bright and strong, shining through their eyes, illuminating their skin, and giving power to their thoughts and emotions. In older people it has clearly diminished, causing lifelessness, sluggishness, coldness of the body, and coldness of the emotions. So mastering the flow of chi means mastering the secrets of vitality and vibrancy. Over thousands of years of observation, practice, and experimentation, Taoist masters developed a powerful system of internal energy cultivation called Chi Kung.
Beauty Chi Kung
Beauty Chi Kung is specifically focused on supporting and maintaining the vibrant flow of chi through the skin. When the flow of chi is restored, the skin will return to balance through its self-regulatory and self-balancing mechanisms.
In some cases, the skin may need additional help. However, no matter what pharmacological or cosmetic remedies are used and what surgical or technological procedures are performed, the skin can only renew and restore itself to its full vitality when it has enough chi.
Cultivating Chi
If you want to improve the flow of chi through your skin you have to realize that the skin’s energy flow is not separate from the entire body’s energy flow. Some methods of restoring the skin’s energy function involve the use of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and creatinine, two nutrients that help the mitochondria generate energy in aging skin. Antioxidants such as ascorbic acid (vitamin C) have also been proven useful in preventing free-radical damage and delaying skin aging.
The Taoist method involves restoring the energy flow to the skin through a whole-body, integrative approach. The Tao teaches that the physical, energetic, and spiritual bodies are not separate and exist in a continuous interplay with one another.
The Breath of Life
Taoist sages believe that the body’s life force is generated in the physical organs. Like the way fire burns to become light and heat or the way water, when boiling, becomes steam, so the human body has a burning mechanism in every cell that generates the electricity that is our life force.
Our cells needs oxygen to make energy. The air we breathe enters the body through the lungs, which contain over 600 million air sacks, called alveoli, wrapped in blood vessels. Because the lungs are not directly connected to other organs, including the skin, we need blood to deliver oxygen to the tissues and cells of the lungs and all the other organs. Like the lungs and all the other organs, the skin also absorbs oxygen and releases CO2.
We can increase the amount of air we take in with every breath by opening our shoulders, relaxing our chest, and taking a deep breath by means of the abdominal and diaphragm muscles. How deeply those muscles move with each inhalation and exhalation determines how much air we take in.
Modern life often forces us to spend most of our days crunched over a computer, which compresses the diaphragm and abdomen. Stress and anxiety further impede breathing, causing it to be shallow, and tight or layered clothing can sometimes interfere with the skin’s ability to breathe.
When breathing is insufficient, the tissues start accumulating CO2, which creates a toxic and acidic environment. This leads to grayish, dull, sallow-looking skin as well as mysterious rashes and body aches. Even though there are cosmetic products and procedures that claim to improve the skin’s oxygenation, in reality nothing can replace free, unrestricted, full-bodied breathing.
Replenishing the Skin with Food
Oxygen alone is not enough to produce the energy that will replenish the skin. Energy production requires fuel, which for the body comes in the form of food. Like oxygen that comes from the air we breathe, food doesn’t just migrate from the digestive tract to the skin. The heart has to pump blood through the entire digestive tract, through the lungs, with their 600 million alveoli, and then to every skin cell, as well as to the rest of the body.
The heart is approximately the size of a human fist, and yet it has to pump blood through an average of 100,000 miles of blood vessels. That’s a lot of distance for blood cells to travel in order to carry oxygen and nutrients, and it’s a lot of work for one human heart to pump blood through every vessel. When people get older, and especially if they are sedentary, some areas of the body will start receiving less blood.
Stress and anxiety lead to constriction of the small blood vessels in the skin, further depriving it of fresh blood and therefore energy. Taoist Beauty Chi Kung practices focus on relaxation, breathwork, and mindful movement to help the skin as well as every organ in the body breathe with more ease in order to make more energy and thus create more radiance and beauty.
Five Rules of Beauty Chi Kung
1. Beautiful and radiant skin requires that we recharge the body’s biobatteries.
In the West, our approach to productivity is deeply flawed because we are encouraged—even rewarded—to work ceaselessly, which makes stress and overwhelm a way of life.
Chi Kung is a holistic remedy for stress. Instead of pushing the body to exhaustion, a Chi Kung practitioner takes great care to ensure that all the body’s batteries are fully charged so that the essential needs of the body, and therefore the skin, are taken care o
2. Beauty is created by the breath of life.
Deep breathing and relaxation ensure energy production. No breath, no life. It is important to breathe well and deeply to create energy. A daily breathing meditation is the foundation of Beauty Chi Kung. In addition, one of the most effective ways to increase skin oxygenation and energy production is through Chi Kung Skin Breathing.
3. Beautiful skin means good circulation.
Relaxation and movement help move the blood through the body, ensuring that oxygen and nutrients are delivered to the cells. Chi Kung includes relaxation and stress-reducing exercises as well as gentle, mindful movements and self-massage.
4. Healthy, glowing skin requires that we release adequate amounts of CO2.
Ideally, CO2 is removed from the tissues by blood cells and then released through the lungs. When breathing is shallow and the circulation is blocked, CO2 is not going to magically disappear. It will be reabsorbed into the tissues, creating an unhealthy, toxic environment.
When people hold back their negative emotions or are under stress, they do not breathe deeply and their skin consequently accumulates CO2, creating a hypoxia state, which leads to an aged, dull complexion.
5. Regeneration requires reducing stress and increasing the relaxation response.
When the body goes into a state of stress, the skin’s surface capillaries constrict to prevent blood loss in case of wounding. If the stress is only brief, the skin can be supplied with its needs even if the breathing is shallow. If stress is chronic, however, the skin may not be getting enough of the oxygen it needs.
Knowledge Requires Action
Thanks to Western science we have discovered much about human anatomy, biochemistry, and physiology that was not known to the ancient masters. However, this knowledge alone does not create healthy beautiful skin. To develop one’s inner beauty and outer radiance it is important to start taking action and commit to working holistically with the body, mind, and spirit.
In the East, the idea of doing inner work runs deep. For thousands of years, masters in India, China, Japan, and other Asian countries have understood the value of focused inner work to restructure one’s energy.
The great thing about the Taoist method is that all that’s needed is a willingness to create time for practice and disciplined work. Without practice there is no transformation. Many people spend a lot of money on expensive retreats, workshops, and classes. Then they come home to the same old routine and wonder why nothing changes. The Taoist approach basically doesn’t cost money. There is no need to buy expensive supplements, skin-care products, or exercise equipment.
To Make Energy, You Need Energy
Taoist masters teach that to make energy you need energy, just like making money requires investing money. Happiness, health, and beauty are treasures that require an investment of time and energy. It’s important to put your “money”—i.e., your energy—in your body’s “energy bank account,” because otherwise you will have to deal with the consequences of years of self-neglect, which will be harder and harder to pay off as the years go by.
Taoist practices create a stable stream of energy “income” into your energy bank account. In time, these practices become easy and enjoyable and yield great rewards.
Copyright ©2024. All Rights Reserved.
Adapted with permission of the publisher,
Destiny Books, an imprint of Inner Traditions Intl.
Article Source:
Book: Chi Kung for Radiant Skin
Chi Kung for Radiant Skin: Taoist Secrets for Inner and Outer Beauty
by Mantak Chia and Anna Margolina, PhD.
Exploring skin renewal, the authors detail the practice of Stem Cell Chi Kung, showing how hydration and vibration can activate stem cells to support deep and extensive renewal of the skin’s surface. They also look at several of Master Chia’s classic Universal Healing Tao breathing and circulation practices that can help support inner and outer beauty.
Revealing how to cultivate not only physical but also spiritual beauty, this Taoist guide to energetic skin care presents powerful and effective methods for achieving youthful radiance and glowing health at any age.
Click here for more info and/or to order this paperback book. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About the Authors
Mantak Chia, a student of several Taoist masters, founded the Healing Tao System in North America in 1979 and developed it worldwide as European Tao Yoga and Universal Healing Tao. He has taught and certified tens of thousands of students and instructors from all over the world and tours the United States annually, giving workshops and lectures. He is the director of the Tao Garden Health Spa and the Universal Healing Tao training center in northern Thailand and is the author of 50 books, including Taoist Foreplay, Inner Smile, Cosmic Fusion, Sexual Reflexology, and the bestselling The Multi-Orgasmic Man. Visit the author's website: http://www.mantakchia.com/
Anna Margolina, Ph.D., is a scientist, spiritual teacher, and Chi Kung and Universal Healing Tao instructor. She has a master’s degree in medical biophysics and a doctorate in biology from the Russian Medical State University, Moscow. For more than 20 years she has worked as an adviser for cosmetic companies in the United States and Israel. Author's website: https://annamargolina.com/Article Recap:
Taoist wisdom teaches that glowing skin isn’t just about skincare—it’s about energy flow. By practicing Chi Kung, deep breathing, and mindful relaxation, you can enhance circulation, reduce stress, and support natural skin renewal. Discover how to recharge your body’s energy and restore youthful radiance from the inside out.
#TaoistBeauty #ChiKung #EnergyHealing #SkinRenewal #GlowingSkin #NaturalBeauty #Breathwork #AntiAging
