Chapter 17 – Protection
Protection level 1: Reinforcing the structure
17.1 Simple things first
Knowing how to preserve your energies and protect yourself from
negative influences is certainly an important chapter. But before
going into techniques and into esoteric anatomy, let us dwell on a
few basic facts: the healthier and more balanced you are, the more
protected you are. This is simple, but nevertheless very true.
So the first recommendations for protecting yourself will be
related to a healthy lifestyle. You would be quite misled if you
overlooked them because they sound so un-metaphysical. Without
this healthy lifestyle to sustain your foundations, other methods
of protection will not be very efficient, and anyway your general
process of development will be drastically slowed down.
Let us review this general advice.
17.2 Get enough sleep and rest
It is when you are tired that you tend to catch negative energies.
In a state of fatigue, your energy potential is low, you are
‘empty’, and this emptiness creates a favourable field for the
penetration of all sorts of undesirable energies.
In traditional Chinese medicine, lack of sleep is said to exhaust and
damage the kidney. Much more than a simple filter, the kidney is
seen in acupuncture as the reservoir of the deepest vitality, called
the jing, or quintessence of qi. The qi is the etheric, or life force.
The jing is the quintessence of the life force, similar to the ojas of
the Indian tradition and close to the quintessence sought by the
alchemists. When your jing, or quintessence, is strong, you don't
have to worry too much about preserving your energies. Of course
you should always take precautions, follow the techniques, etc. Yet
if for some reason you were to catch a negative energy, your
general vitality would be such that it would not be too difficult to
get rid of it, either on your own or with the help of an expert.
But if your jing/quintessence is weak or exhausted, not only will
you catch negative energy after negative energy, but their
removal will not be simple.