For most of my life, I didn’t have much energy.

I often felt unmotivated, run down or depressed. I tried lots of things, including coffee and medication, to give me a boost, but in the long run not much helped.

When I discovered yoga and martial arts, I started to feel a change. Getting more exercise made a big difference, but personally I was just happy to feel more flexible.

However my teachers would sometimes talk about something deeper—a kind of energy—called prana or chi.

My first Tai Chi teacher, Jon, often talked about this mysterious Chi energy. He said that Life Force energy flows through every living thing and when it’s not flowing, we begin to feel depressed and stuck.

As a Star Wars fan, this sounded suspiciously like Yoda talking about the Force.

I was skeptical. I didn’t understand and certainly couldn’t feel anything.

In class, he would demonstrate moving energy in Tai Chi practice, He could lift someone easily or calmly toss them aside by redirecting the energy. He could even change his body temperature and heart rate.

One day, Jon pointed out the window to a tree losing its leaves in the cool autumn breeze. 

“There are different kinds of energy. As the leaf releases its life force, it succumbs to the energy of the wind and gravity.”

I watched the wind toss a leaf through the air and then spiral to the ground. 

“Energy moves in spirals,” he said. “If you want to experience a state of flow, you need to study the patterns of nature.”

To get my energy flowing, Jon suggested I try a simple meditation practice for 100 days—as I breathed, I was to imagine energy moving up and down my body.

I tried the meditation. Not much happened, but for some reason I stuck with it.

Near the 100th day, I began to feel a change. As I meditated, my body, and everything around me, seemed to dissolve into a clear white light.

I felt free from my body. My energy was flowing. I began to feel energized and focused throughout the day. 

We are so often disconnected from our own energy, disconnected from life.

Energy is something we are born with, our true nature. When we are young, we have an abundance of energy. We are in constant motion, a state of ease and flow. But over time, we’re trained to be lethargic and sit still—hunched over desks, sitting in cars and shutting down our mind and emotions. 

It’s no wonder why so many of us feel unmotivated and stuck in our lives.

The good news is maybe we aren’t stuck, maybe its just our energy.

Because when we start to change the flow of our energy, we can change the direction of our lives.

Author: Aron Stein

Editor: Nicole Cameron

Image: Joshua Earle/Unsplash