From ‘Heavenly Streams’ by Damo Mitchell

The Daoist arts are widespread and diverse; they incorporate the study of the nature of everything which exists between Heaven and Earth. (..) Some areas of study are considered universally important to all Daoist arts. Two of these are the nature of the human energetic system and the movement of the two powers of Yin and Yang.

It is an interesting characteristic of existence that life repeats itself on every level. That which takes place within the wider macrocosmos of the universe is directly reflected within microcosmos of the human body. The same force which dictates and directs the movements of the stars and planets also shifts various energies within the human mind and body. This force is known as Qi and without it life in all its various forms would cease to exist. The ancient cultures of the world understood this intrinsic link between human beings and the wider environment. The Daoists were no exception and all of their many arts, practices and philosophies are based upon this rule of micro and macro systems. The ancient Daoists studied the shifting energies of the skies above them and grew to understand how all life upon Earth not only relies upon the movements of Heaven but also how it matches it on every level.

If you take a holographic image and cut it into pieces you are not left with a small part of the original image as would be the case with a photo. Instead you are left with various miniature representations of the original hologram in its entirety. No matter how small the individual pieces each will contain the entire original image. The Daoists viewed existence in the same way as one large, organic hologram of which human beings are but one, very small, part. If we view life in this way then we can understand how it is possible, through the study of any one part, to gain an understanding of the whole.

To study the shifting nature of energy as it moved throughout the entire universe would be an impossibly vast task whereas studying the nature of energy throughout the meridian system and human body is far more manageable. Is is for this reason that meridian study was considered foundational knowledge for any of the Daoist arts. It was also believed that if this study was taken far enough then it would lead to a deep comprehension of the nature of the wider universe, an understanding which was said to be the basis for spiritual illumination.