The Microcosmic Orbit also known as the 'Self Winding Wheel of the Law' and the circulation of light is a Taoist Qigong

Qigong

Qigong or chi kung is a practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing, and meditation...

 or Taoist yoga

Taoist yoga

Taoist Yoga is the title of a 1999 book about Tao Yin, meditation techniques in Taoism.Traditionally and historically speaking, Daoyin practices are stretching exercises, and static postures, usually combined with breath-work...

 Qi

Qi

In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...

 energy cultivation technique. It involves deep breathing exercises in conjunction with meditation

Meditation

Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....

 and concentration techniques which develop the flow of qi along certain pathways of energy in the human body which may be familiar to those who are studying Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...

, Qigong, T'ai chi ch'uan, Neidan

Neidan

Neidan, or internal alchemy, spiritual alchemy is a concept in Taoist Chinese alchemy. It is a series of physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines intended to prolong the life of the body and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death.In Neidan the human body becomes a...

 and Taoist alchemy. The exercise can be performed usually at first in a sitting position, but it can also be practiced standing as in Zhan zhuang

Zhan zhuang

Zhan zhuang is a method of training in many Chinese martial arts in which static postures are used for physical training, to develop efficiency of movement, perfection of structural alignment; and hence maximal strength, for martial applications....

 or with movements included as with T'ai chi ch'uan. The clear understanding of the microcosmic orbit technique is very important not only because of its historical context in the story of Chinese alchemy

Chinese alchemy

Chinese alchemy, a part of the larger tradition of Taoism, centers on the tradition of body-spirit cultivation that developed through the Chinese understandings of medicine and the body. These Chinese traditions were developed into a system of energy practices...

 but because it is at the heart of many Taoist forms of exercise performed throughout the world by many millions of people today.

History

The history of the Microcosmic orbit dates back to prehistoric times in China, and the underlying principles can be found in the I Ching

I Ching

The I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...

 which was written by the Emperor Fu Xi approximately five thousand years ago or at least two centuries before the time of the Yellow Emperor Huang Ti. For example the Chinese character for the I ching hexagram number 5. Waiting depicts a person sitting in meditation and the commentary pertains to the flow of energy from one of the psychic energy channels to another during meditation.

The commentary on the Image for hexagram 5 reveals the entire process of meditation. "The clouds rise up to heaven" symbolizes the meditator's energy rising upward as it evaporates into the head, where it is distilled into a saliva like nectar (referred to in the phrase "the superior man eats and drinks"), which returns to the abdomen. " It furthers one to cross the great water" alludes to crossing the great water of the abdomen and mouth.

Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu have also alluded to the technique of meditation and encouraging circulation of energy through the psychic meridians in their writings.

For example Chuang Tzu's chapter entitled Yang Sheng Chu or "Principles of Health and Longevity" states:
"Use your mind to carry the vital energy along your Tu Mo upward constantly"

A stone carving in the White Cloud Temple

White Cloud Temple

The White Cloud Temple or the Monastery of the White Clouds is a Daoist temple located in Beijing, China. It is one of "The Three Great Ancestral Courts" of the Complete Perfection School of Taoism, and is titled "The First Temple under Heaven"....

 in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

 which bears an inscription "the sixth month of the year Ping-hsu of the Kuang-hsu era" (1886) contains a pictorial representation of some of the symbols which describe the processes involved in the microcosmic orbit meditation technique. These particular techniques are derived from the Taoist Patriarch Lu tung pin who was born in 798 AD.
Lu tung pin was one of the Eight Immortals

Eight Immortals

The Eight Immortals are a group of legendary xian in Chinese mythology. Each Immortal's power can be transferred to a power tool that can give life or destroy evil. Together, these eight tools are called "Covert Eight Immortals" . Most of them are said to have been born in the Tang Dynasty or...

.

Lu tung pin and his teacher, Chung-li Ch'üan, were two of the "Eight Immortals”, pa-hsien. While a fugitive after an abortive Chinese military expedition against Tibet, Chung-li Ch'uan encountered Master Tung-hua. He "earnestly begged for the secrets of immortality. Master Tung-hua thereupon imparted to him not only an infallible magic process for attaining longevity, but also the method to produce the Philosopher's Stone."

Practice

The exercise itself usually begins with preparation designed to relax the physical body and develop the ability to concentrate. Students may indeed be encouraged to practice Taoist Yoga exercises or T'ai chi ch'uan as a way of building enough energy to begin performing the Microcosmic orbit exercise as it can induce a strain on the nervous system and cause energy depletion if practiced without adequate preparation.

To begin with the student is encouraged to develop deep abdominal breathing into the primary Dantian

Dantian

Dantian, dan t'ian, dan tien or tan t'ien is loosely translated as "elixir field". It is described as an important focal point for internal meditative techniques.There are various points of dantian...

 or Taoist energy centre to develop heat and pressure in the lower abdomen or "Golden Stove". A preparatory exercise known by some as the Lesser Heavenly circulation involves moving energy between two areas known as the seat of fire near the heart or the solar plexus where a psychic centre symbolised by the trigram Li from the I Ching is located, and the seat of water in the area of the kidneys where a psychic centre symbolised by the trigram kan is located.

Normally essence or Jing

Jing

Jing can refer to:Software:* Jing , formerly Jing ProjectPlaces:* Beijing, capital of China * Jinghe County, also known as Jinghev, in Xinjiang, China...

 can flow either way through the eight extra meridians or energy pathways in the body, but in the microcosmic orbit meditation exercise Jing is encouraged to flow upwards along the Governor vessel during inhalation and then downwards along the conception vessel returning to the Dantian on the exhalation. This means that energy flows from the Dantian downwards to the base of the spine then up the back along the centre line of the body to the crown of the head, then over the head and down the front centre line of the body and back to the starting point again making a full circle or orbit. This prevents the body's natural essences from becoming depleted as they normally flow downwards from the brain or 'sea of marrow' and are lost during ejaculation or menstruation during the reproductive processes. It is this Jing or essence which is responsible for the reproductive processes in the body which allow the body to rejuvenate itself as well as for the reproductive processes which give rise to offspring, essence is also an important component in the manufacture of qi

Qi

In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...

 which can be translated into English as vitality or energy, the primary motive force which is life itself. This raising and lowering Jing through the Microcosmic orbit and returning it to the Dantian purifies the essence and transforms it into Qi or vitality.

The tongue is placed into the roof of the mouth known as the 'Magpie Bridge', which acts as a kind of switch which completes the energy circuit so that too much energy cannot build up in the head which can lead to headaches or even hallucinations. This practice of tongue in the roof of the mouth also encourages the flow of saliva which has a cooling effect when swallowed which helps to offset the physiological heat of the exercises, but which can also be purified and transmuted into the 'Nectar of Heaven' which alchemists claimed will lead to immortality.

As well as the lower dantian or cauldron there are other important points along the circuit of energy flow which include the 'three gates' which are areas where it is considered that energy may stagnate, these are the Wei-lu or Tailbone gate, the Dorsal gate on the back roughly level with the heart, and the Jade pillow on the back of the head. Other important areas include the Ming Men or gate of fire on the back about level with the kidneys and the Baihui or Niwan which is directly on top of the head.


The microcosmic orbit should be viewed in the context of a variety of Taoist exercises and techniques designed to purify the body physically, mentally and spiritually, improve health and longevity, and prepare the way for meditation, and also including other techniques such as the Macrocosmic orbit which means circulating energy into the other psychic energy meridians which flow around the torso and out into the arms and legs. These types of exercises are best practiced under the guidance of suitably qualified teachers who can help the beginner avoid any pitfalls and misunderstandings along the way rather than copied from books, especially if the subject may have a history of mental illness or emotional imbalance. For example according to Lu Kuan Yu:

It is harmful to pinpoint places in the body, the very idea of which should be relinquished since it hinders the course of the inner fire and of vitality.