Section 1: How to Bend The Elements

Lesson 1 - Introduction

Welcome to Bending Academy! Here, you will learn the fundamentals of psychokinesis through the use of chi. Psychokinesis is the act of influencing the actions of a substance through the use of internal energy- otherwise known as "chi". "Bending" is another word we use for psychokinesis. It's a term that was coined in 2005 by the television series "Avatar: The Last Airbender". Through utilizing our chi, we can use psychokinesis to control the elements- The elements are the substances we use psychokinesis on, or "bend".

Throughout this section, you will be given an introduction on the fundamentals of chi and basic bending techniques that will allow you to advance in your bending endevours. The road ahead is a long one, full of discovery and excitement. However, it's a path that you will surely stray from if you aren't motivated. In order to help keep our students motivated, I'll try to make the sections as interactive as possible (less talking, more doing). However, there is going to be a little more reading to do in this first lesson than most lessons; due to the fact that it's an introduction.

Chi is the fundamental energy and force of everything in the universe. It's the energy most commonly known to be identified by the Chinese, although other Asian cultures mention it as well (they give it different names of course). Chi lies stagnent in nonliving things. In living things, however, chi flows in streams and collects in relatively sized pools called "meridians" and "chakras". There are seven identified chakras, although more may exist. These seven chakras, however, play the most active roles in the flow and utilization of chi (we'll learn more about this in another section). It is possible for creatures with a high enough level of consciousness to control their own chi, and interact with the world through it. Humans are one of a few of those creatures. The things you can do with chi ranges from healing yourself and others, to defending yourself, to entering a higher realm of existence. The possibilities are virtually endless

Elements are the substances of matter. You're probably familiar with the periodic table of elements. These are elements identified on a molecular level by scientists. However, the elements used in bending are much less specific. The reason for this is that we cannot sense elements on a molecular level. For example; Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide are not separate elements in bending. The reason being that if you wave your hand around, you can't sense a difference between Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide. You can't identify and mentally distinguish the two gases without scientific tools, which aren't used in bending. Instead, we group most gases into the element of Air. There are many elements; none of which one is more important than the other. These elements include the four classic greek elements; Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. Other elements include metal, electricity, and even biological matter like wood. This isn't all there is though; there are more elements in the universe than we can even imagine.

Bending is the act of controlling these elements through the use of chi. The actual act of bending requires much more practice and determination that what is portrayed in television shows and movies. You're probably on this site because you searced the internet for how to bend like in the television show "Avatar: The Last Airbender". If that's the case, then it's okay; you're more than welcome to learn the actual art no matter what your inspiration is- the same for if you aren't here because of that show. Keep in mind, however, that this is real life. What you see on tv and in fantasy books is not going to be achievable for perhaps half a liftime of training, nevertheless a beginner. So don't get discouraged when you're not hurling boulders with your mind in the first day of training. The art of bending requires practice and training, it's not the type of thing where you can just learn a few magic words and suddenly become some kind of god. So hold your horses, and help us help you by being patient and open minded. If you do those things, then I assure you that you'll become a bender in a relatively short amount of time.

Now that you've been given a brief introduction to the world of bending, let's get started;

Lesson 2 - Introduction to Bending

  We're going to try and take an unorthodox route, and jump right into bending. To most people, it makes more sense to learn how to use chi before you learn how to bend. However, you already are able to use your chi. No matter what you do, from thinking to sprinting, chi is being used. In applying this same basic principle, we can teach you how to influence the movements of an element. Like a child learns how to walk and talk, which are adaptations to the surrounding environment, you will be learning how to bend.

  The collective manifestation of your chi and the chi of everything in the universe, including the element you want to bend, is already holding the information and ability you need to bend. This manifestation is your essence. It is the other dimension of your chi, and it is connected with everything in the universe. The harmony that comes along with tapping into this connection is a critical property to have if you want to learn how to bend.

  This is a difficult concept to grasp right away, so all you need to understand is that your essence is a property of your chi that is connected with all the chi in the universe, and you need to access it in order to bend. How do you access it? The answer is actually incredibly simple, and is anything but as meticulous as the task sounds. The answer to how to access your essence, is to be at peace within yourself. Peace doesn't just mean "calmness", it encompasses things like humility, forgiveness, patience, and open mindedness. How you go about achieving peace is up to you, but just keep in mind that if you are not at peace within yourself, then you will find it difficult if not impossible to bend. However, the most important factor of finding peace in this context, is to relinquish the notion that you are in control. Even the things you think you can control, you are actually just influencing. You can influence a lot, or you can influence a little, but you can never be in control. The only thing you can control is yourself. When you are trying to bend an element, you are actually influencing it, not controlling it.

  Now for the main act- how to bend. There are millions of elements, but you are going to start off with either fire bending or air bending. Why am I not giving you a choice in the manner? Because we need to be on the same page. Don't worry, you'll have a choice soon enough; for now, just follow along with me.

  To begin, choose an element; fire or air. The reason I'm making you choose is because it's best to stay focused on a single element until you've at least gotten the hang of bending in general.



                                                                           Fire

  (1) Get a candle. Preferably a candle stick or some kind of open candle (not the kind surrounded by glass). If you can only access a candle that has glass around it, then that will have to do.
 
  (2) Light the candle, and close all open windows and turn off all fans; anything that will influence the candle's movements besides you. You don't want to end up thinking you're controlling the flame when you're really not

  (3) Sit in a comfortable position with your back straight (a straight back allows your chi to flow with more ease).

  (4) Hold your hands above the candle flame, and feel its heat. Not only feel its heat, but feel its presence. Feel the fact that there's a flame in front of your hands. Absorb the flame's properties. This is the most important step. If you fail to do this properly, you won't be able to bend the flame. Study the flame, meditate in front of it, do whatever it takes to make you more accustomed to the element of fire. If you finish the remaining steps and are unable to move the flame at all, then this is the process you want to practice religiously.

  (5) Take deep breaths and calm your mind. Move your hand slightly, and feel the candle flame moving along with it. This is actually the easier part of the technique. Remember that your essence holds the technical information on how to move the flame; all you need to do is influence it to move the flame. The act of "feeling the flame move" is like requesting your inner self (your essence) to move the flame. The only time it will deny you is if you are not at peace within yourself, which would be essentially blocking off your connection to your essence (which, as stated, is the same thing as your chi).



                                                                             Air

(1) Stand in a reasonably open room. Do not do this outside when you're just starting out with air bending; the wind will mess you up.

(2) Close your eyes, and stand up straight with your feet shoulder width apart.

(3) Let yourself realize that there is air all around you. Realize that it is a physical substance made of tiny subatomic particles. Notice how it flows freely through space; like a looser and more widespread version of water. Think to yourself how air is everywhere, and in a way it is all connected and exists as one giant body encompassing the earth. Think to yourself that you're in a sea of air. Move your hands through it, and feel it moving around them. In doing these things, you will be absorbing the air's properties into your mind and essence. With this being said, you essentially want to do whatever it takes to become as accustomed to the element of air as possible. If you finish the remaining steps, and are unable to air bend, then this is a process you want to practice religiously. 

(4) Take deep breaths and calm your mind. Move your hands gracefully through the air, and feel the air moving with your hands rather than just around them. Feel the air changing and shifting as you bend it. Remember that your essence holds the technical information on how to bend the air; all you need to do is influence it to move the air. The act of "feeling the air move with your hands" is like requesting your inner self (your essence) to bend the air. The only time it will deny you is if you are not at peace within yourself, which would be essentially blocking off your connection to your essence and the cosmic energy in the universe (which, as stated, is the same thing as your chi). 

  The results won't be anything extravagant at first. If anything, the flame will move side to side based on your actions, and the wind generated by your air bending will be little more than if you were to just wave your hands around without bending the air. Just remember that throughout this process, you need to be calm and focused. If you get excited, it will mess you up. With some elements, there are no visual results at all for beginners. Such as earth; as a beginner, most of the effects of bending it can only be felt through vibrations in the ground. That's the wonder of bending, no two elements are the same. They are each naturally influenced by bending in different ways. If you achieve inner peace and listen to the elements, they will show you the ways in which they are naturally influenced.

  We'll be advancing with this technique in other lessons, but what's important now is that you have a basic grasp of the concept of bending.

Lesson 3 - Introduction to Chi 

  Chi is regarded by the Chinese as a "life force"; without it, consciousness would not be possible. Perhaps they are right. Perhaps everything in the universe would not be able to operate without this spiritual energy. With that being the case, who are we to limit ourselves when working with a literally universal energy? 

  What I mean to say is this; with the energy that makes the foundation of existence, at our fingertips, anything is possible. However, some of the greatest limits are ones we set for ourselves. If you think you can't do something, then you can be damn sure you won't be able to.

   So we now know what chi is, but how does it play a role in bending? How can we tap into this awesome energy? There are many ways to tap into it and utilize it, in fact you're doing it right now. By simply reading this paragraph, chi is flowing through your brain and eyes, making every cell and tissue work together to allow you to process print into words, words into paragraphs, and paragraphs into knowledge. All of that is being done simply by, well, doing it! You don't know how you process information. You can turn it on and off; you can easily read these words and not process a single thing. However, you just somehow know how to flip that switch and suddenly be gaining knowledge. 

 Say for instance, I want to lift my arm. I'm not thinking about the signals being transmitted along my neurons that allow me to move my arm. I just do it; it's an instinct. The reason I can just do it is because my arm is connected to me; it's a part of me. It's not only a part of my body, it's a part of my nervous system, and my chi paths as well. Remember back in Lesson 1 when I said everything is connected? Everything may not be connected to your body like your arm. However, everything is connected to your chi, and your chi is connected to your mind and body. See how that works? 

  So what I'm saying is that just how you can "just move" your arm, you can "just move" a flame, or you can "just move" a gust of wind. Just like your chi is connected to things you do with your body on a regular basis, chi is connected to things you've only ever dreamed of doing- like bending. It's all the same base principle, just slightly varied. However, like a baby learns how to "just move" their legs in a way that allows them to walk, it's going to take time to learn how to "just move" things not connected to your body, such as the elements. 

  However, it's possible to go even deeper. You can look at the minute details of your chi flows and how they interact with you on a physical and spiritual level. However, this is not necessary to learn how to bend. Just like it makes sense to actually know what a frog is before you dissect it and look at it's internal organs in 6th grade, it makes sense to know how to bend before you start looking at the anatomy of it. You can harness the power of your chi on a deep and specific level in such a way that allows you to do magnificent things with it. Like I said in Lesson 1, you can learn how to heal yourself with chi, defend yourself, and so much more. Isn't chi great? 

  Now, let's look at some of the ways you can control your chi on a "deep and specific level". These are basic techniques, and practicing them will strengthen your chi. Just like how going to the gym can help your martial arts, training your chi in this way will strengthen your bending. But remember, the world of chi is not just limited to bending. When you finish all the sections on this site bending will only be a fraction of the possibilities open to you. 

Finding Your Chi

  The flow of chi is based off of the Yin Yang principle. We will get into Yin Yang in more depth later on, but all you need to know for now is that they describe opposites. So when we're referring to Yin Yang relative to the movement of chi, we are talking about things like pushing and pulling, expanding and contracting, up and down, in and out, etc.

  Breath is (as far as I know) one of the reasons (if not the only reason) chi is able to flow through your body and not lie dormant. When you inhale, your lungs expand and fill up with air. Oxygen "fills" your blood cells and "gives" your brain and organs the ability to function. When you exhale, you are contracting your lungs, and "expelling" carbon dioxide from your body. These are two opposite functions that go on every minute of every day, allowing them to cause your chi to flow. Upon inhaling, chi is taken into your body and stored. Upon exhaling, chi is locked in your body and allowed to flow. In recognizing this, you are already well on your way to learning how to control your own chi.

  So let's start with the obvious way to control your chi, which you may or may not have figured out by now; controlling your breath. Simply breath in and out through your nose slowly. Try to inhale and exhale at the same rate, as opposed to breathing in slowly and breathing out quickly. Try to feel life flowing into you when breathing in, and flowing through you when breathing out.

  Now let's add a little twist to this, and do something called "reverse diaphragmatic breathing", or "Taoist breathing". When inhaling, collapse your stomach. When exhaling, relax your stomach. Think of it as "taking in" your stomach while "taking in" the air, and "letting go" of your stomach while "letting go" of the air. Now that your stomach is also mimicking the Yin Yang principle, it will promote healthy flow of your chi even further.

  So why not take it a step further? If we can make our chi flow stronger by using Yin Yang with both our breath and the action of our stomachs, why not use our hands, our feet, and our waists? Why not use every part of our bodies? This is a martial art called Tai Chi, and you may or may not have heard of it. The object of Tai Chi is to promote the flow of internal energy (chi) throughout your body. The various postures cause your chi to flow to certain organs and limbs, promoting a long and healthy life. Go through this video, and follow this Tai Chi practitioner's instructions- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpdQNL0VztI

 So now that you have gone through the video and experienced the effects of Tai Chi yourself (the flow of chi), what does this mean for bending? How can you use this newly found knowledge and experience to enhance your bending capabilities? This will be answered in the next Lesson. Before you move on, however, I encourage you to go through that Tai Chi video one last time. 

                                                                    

                                  Lesson 4 - Chi and Bending

  Now that you've experienced what it feels like to have chi flow throughout your body, the next step is to make chi exit your body. 

  This process is actually quite simple, but requires some practice. Do what you did in the Tai Chi video in the previous lesson, but push your palm outwards. While doing this, exhale slowly through your nose, and feel the flow of your chi. Now this is where it can get tricky- try and feel your chi flowing out of your palm and into the air. If you can actually feel this happening, it means that it is happening.

  Now how does this play a role in bending? Well, we use our chi to bend even while we're not consciously using it. So learning how to control your chi manually will allow your bending to become much more powerful. 

                                                             How to Bend

  Instead of teaching you how to bend individual elements in this lesson, I'm going to teach you how to bend any element you want. To begin, make sure you have your desired element in front of you. Use the technique you learned in this lesson to project your chi towards the element in question. Now while you're doing this, try and feel your chi even though it's outside of your body. If you do this right, you should feel when your chi enters the element in question. 

  Since you can now feel with your chi, you will have the ability to observe and study the element from an energetic perspective. You will feel sensations that cannot be described with conventional language. It's important to really meditate on these sensations, and remember what they feel like, because these sensations are the information you need to bend the element. You may recognize some components of these sensations from when you were bending without consciously using your chi in Lesson 2. 

  While continuing to observe the element with your chi, meditate on these sensations and try to focus on ones attributed to certain aspects of the element. The most important one of these aspects is how the element reacts to being met with a force. The molecular structure of each element is different in such a way that each element reacts differently to force. For example; for water, you'll recognize this as it's "liquidy" properties. However, you will be able to gather much more information than simply "liquidy" by observing the element with your chi. Please note that I cannot tell you or show you how to do this. This is something that will come to you with practice.

   When you've isolated the sensation in your chi attributed to the element's motion, flood your chi with this sensation. Now, for the grand finale- apply your "natural ability to bend" that you learned in lesson 2 WHILE YOU'RE CHI IS STILL IN THE ELEMENT, and while you're chi is flooded with the sensation previously mentioned in the paragraph. With enough practice, you will find that you are able to bend the element with more precision and ease.