The Bioenergetic Big Three: Opening The Tender and The Aggressive Charges

A 'Western Qi Gong' for Opening The Aggressive and Tender Energy Flows

If there is one core discipline that I usually recommend to most western humans who want more embodiment and vibrancy, it is Bioenergetics. ‘BE’ as I call it for short, is a form of ‘mind-body’ therapeutic intervention focused on structural change and capacity to ‘feel’ ones’ body much more deeply. It is a ‘western born’ set of skills that works with the flow of energy in the body in very palpable ways, and thus it works with ‘biological energy’; hence its name.

Bioenergetics often describes energy in the organism as oxygen & blood flow being delivered to, and flowing freely within tissues. It recognizes a phenomena called ‘armoring’ or ‘body armor’, which is essentially the habitual tightening, constricting, and/or shutting down of muscles, in a manner that is emotionally charged and often in a manner in which the individual is not conscious of.

This prevents the flow of feeling, and layers on degrees of “psychic control", over the pure and primal qualities of reptilian and mammalian sense and expression.

Ultimately this block in the free flow of energy creates neurosis and disease, along with shaping action in such a way as to create large swaths of domestic cluster fucks one might say. In other words, it creates many problems in our world, as neurotic, energetically blocked humans create systems, states, and status quos that wreak havoc in the world. This occurs in part because the ‘armored’ personality is essentially a manufactured persona, not representative of someone's deeper essential nature.

One part of the solution then from a BE lens, is to regularly undergo a series of exercises focused primarily on creating very gross and palpable states of vibration in tissues that breaks up this habituated tension, or expressive exercises meant to release the pent up emotional charges being blocked by the tense (or lax) muscles.

As this happens, the free flow of energy can occur and neurosis is reduced, allowing the human to be more authentically themselves, and not a crafted persona. Powerful stuff.

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In many ways, Bioenergetics is a form of Western Qi Gong, created by a westerner named Alexander Lowen, for the modern western state of disembodiment.

It is much ‘simpler’ in application and scope than many forms of Daoist Qi Gong ), and tends to focus very physically. Although Daoist Qi Gong does contain simple very physically focused work as well, it also very easy to bypass this layer of work. BE is interested in the energetic flow of the dense physical body and the accompanying emotions held within it. For most of us it is a wonderful, if not at times, intense tool.

The Energetics of Energetics

The main energy traditions I personally gravitate towards (and teach) are those of western Bioenergetics, Daoist Qi Gong and Primordial Alchemy. Both Daoist Qi Gong and Primordial Alchemy are nuanced, refined and sophisticated systems.

Bioenergetics in contrast has a smaller lexicon, and more humble scope than these other two traditions. This could be seen as both a drawback and a benefit of BE because the simpler and raw energetic dynamics of BE is what many individuals today benefit from the most.

I have seen many people gravitate towards very ‘subtle, refined and nuanced’ energy systems or wildly dissociative shamanic practices, while having bodies totally littered with wounds, armor and pain. Not only is this slowing down their progress, it also shows you a fundamental disconnect in modern times.

While more complex energy systems do often have beginner layers of much more physical work, many people bypass those facets or find watered down versions. Originally shamanic skills emerged in a wild hunter gather context (so very grounded physically vital people to begin with).

In Bioenergetics you cannot feasibly hide from your neurosis, armor and emotional wounding quite so easily, and it emerged with modern western people in mind.

It’s potent energy medicine.

Energy though is a nebulous term in English because we use one word to describe many different phenomena. In Chinese for example there is the word ‘Qi’, which is a generalized catch all phrase, that does get refined further as they also recognize the existence many different types of Qi, with a wide variety of qualities. Furthermore, Qi is also just one type of energy, of which there are several major categories, at least.

In Yoruba, there is a similar way of relating to energy (or power), and the word most commonly used is called Ashe (actually spelled Àṣẹ), and in their cosmology, everything has its own unique Àṣẹ. And thus there are many different types of Àṣẹ This makes sense because these languages emerged over thousands of years, with an explicit focus on ‘non-physical’ aspects of reality.

Energy and power can really be thought of as essentially the same thing from a functional perspective. Energy is power and power is energy. A very western scientific view of energy is ‘the ability to do work’, and realistically, the same could be said about power.

Western thought tends to be very materialistic.

An example of which is in our conception of dragons (a mythological representation of natural forces and nature spirits). Western dragons fly because they have wings; it’s ‘energy’ goes into moving massive appendages of flight. Eastern dragons fly without wings, because some essential spiritual force (which still affects physical reality) allows them to fly. Go figure.

Eastern Dragon (No Wings)

Western Dragon (Wings)

Thus in Bioenergetics (a western discipline), the focus tends to be on very tangible, dense, and palpable work, that is relativity straight forward, not highly technical, that creates energetic movement with ‘substance’ to it.

This is why I like it so much. You get very ‘real’ results from it…QUICKLY.

That said, the grandfather of Bioenergetics, Wilhelm Reich, did apprehend and hold there was a vitalistic energy that could be measured, and called it Orgone. The notion that the energy ‘could be measured’ is yet another example of western materialism (even if true). Wilhelm Reich came to what some might call a controversial and unfortunate end, and we will not be talking about that here. If you are interested in going further down that rabbit hole, you can check out the work of Devaraj Sandberg here on Substack.

While Daoism and Primordial Alchemy at their ‘deepest level of expression’ are concerned with goals as lofty as destiny, universal principles and even spiritual immortality, BE is not, and is focused ‘exclusively’ on humans, armor and neurosis.

For many people, it brings them right to ‘their shit’ and can be a bitter pill to swallow. Yet as the saying goes ‘bitter medicine is good medicine’.

Regardless of whether my students are interested in something as lofty as working with shamanic skills, finding their destiny or pursuing an immortal spirit body (very ambitious goals), I prefer to start most people off with simple BE, because a solid physical foundation of grounding and the dissolving of habituated personality structures is critical to doing that work from an auspicious place, as far as I am concerned.

You have no business shooting lighting out of your hands if you cannot feel your feet on the earth. Work up to shooting lighting out of your hands ;)

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Yin and Yang: The Tender and The Aggressive

In Bioenergetics, there are two primary forms of energy worked with or recognized, and those are:

+The Aggressive Charge – Running primarily up the back. The back is hard and dense, giving us a sense of individuality and solidity.

+The Tender Charge – Running primarily down the front. The front is soft, moving us to take in nourishment and connect with others.

One might relate to this as the primary Yin and Yang currents of energy in the body.

In fact, the overlap of BE and basic Daoist energetics is extraordinary, considering the creator of BE did not have access to the treasure trove of knowledge from the east, we do today.

The two primary yin and yang channels in Chinese meridian theory are the Governing and Conception vessel.

+The Governing Vessel: Comes up the back and is full of yang or aggressive (the drive to move toward something or differentiate) energy.

+The Conception Vessel: Comes down the front and is full of yin or tender (the desire to merge and connect) energy.

In Daoism there is this notion of the Microcosmic orbit (Pictured below), which is an energy circulation that connects the two channels. This is foundational to beginning any real alchemy practice. In Daoism, the flows can move in either direction however, and even bi-directionally creating two opposite yet concurrent flows.

The Microcosmic Orbit

And Alexander Lowen, the creator of Bioenergetics noticed a similar pattern, which he called ‘The Energy Swing’ (pictured below), and he outlines it much more detail in his book ‘The Language of The Body’. What is fascinating is that he felt and observed this on his own, in clinical practice.

The Energy Swing

The Bioenergetic Big Three

The BE Big Three are a starting point I often begin my clients with, unless they have very obvious back injuries or scoliosis, because they build energy in the legs (thus creating grounding and charge) and then open the two primary yin and yang channels of the body.

However, because this work is very physically focused, you get very palpable tissue level changes. The vibration they generate breaks up adhesion and scar tissue, effectively remodeling tissues. Pressure, posture, feeling and time working in cohort.

They ground the system, release stuck armor, increase feeling like nobody's business and tap you into stuck emotions. In fact, some Daoist Qi Gong systems have their own version of these postures in some form or fashion.

These three postures hold “the essence” of BE in my humble opinion.

Many may not agree, but hey, your on my channel. In my experience, both in myself and in working with clients, The Bow, Arch and Orientating Position form a ‘big three’ that is well rounded, and creates a foundational minimum for people interested in the essence of Bioenergetics much like the bench press, squat and dead-lift do for the barbell.

Below are three video’s that actually go into the “How To” of these postures.

The Orientating Stance/Position:

The Bow:

The Arch: