Inner Issue 10 | February 2013
Q uest
The Monthly Tao Journal
In Tis Issue... Issue...
Five Element Teory: Old aoism's Cycle of ransformation By Paul Cavel
Learning from 100 Days of Practice By Dan Kleiman
Paul Cavel, Editor
IQ: February 2013
Five Element Teory Old Taoism's Cycle of Transformation By Paul Cavel
As one of the three key streams of Taoist pracce, Five Element Theory can be ap plied to understand the manifest world in which we live, such as feng shui and astrology, music and military strategy, mar-
al arts and medicine, diet and therapy. There are many schools of thought and many
dozens of systems available to work with the Five Elements. The Creaon-Destrucon Cycles—or Wood-Fire-Earth-Metal-Water and Wood-Earth-Water-Fire-Metal, respecvely—were popularised during the rst half of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), and remain wide-spread today. However, Old Taoism's approach to the Five Elements is
primarily concerned with transformaon in body, mind and qi. The Transformaonal Cycle, which existed at least a thousand
the most advanced Taoist qi gong ever designed. So why then essenally work backwards to create what would appear to be an inferior method, requiring a lot more choreography to learn, and teach students via the Five Elements? The answer lies in a deeper understanding of Gods Qi Gong, which integrates and provides the container for the other elemental
energies. Praccally speaking, Gods not only integrates the Five Elements and everything contained within each one, as it represents
the Earth Element, but also the enre 16 nei gong. So it's fair to say that Gods could be a
tough nut to crack! Taoist adepts recognised the challenges inherent to the learning process, and therefore, through direct per-
Water-Fire-Wood-Metal-Earth.
cepon of the Five Elements, created a comprehensive system for isolang each of the ve energies. Of course, what can
The Transformaonal Cycle is all about de-
be teased out can also be recombined in
years earlier, is represented as:
veloping the human mind-body-qi energy
matrix and beyond. The nei gong system as we know it today, which includes Energy Gates, Spiralling Energy Body, Heaven + Earth, Bend the Bow and Gods Qi Gongs, is built upon its principles; although Taoist nei
gong was acvely pracsed before the Five Element system. In fact, Gods Playing in the Clouds predates the Five Element system by at least 1,000 years, which is curious as it is
eort to understand the true nature of the universe. So one of the purposes of Five
Element pracces, is to directly perceive the nature of each individual element and the ways in which it behaves in tandem
with all others. Obviously, this experienal knowledge can oer a huge advantage for the praconer in life—whether applied to healing, medicine, maral arts, meditaon or tuning into larger natural cycles on our planet.
© 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
Page 2
IQ: February 2013
Making Direct versus Indirect Contact with the Five Elements The realm of the Five Elements is colossal as it engulfs the enrety of manifestaon. Two ways to gain experienal knowledge of the elements are: meditation guided by a true adept. Both the transmitter and receiver must be adequately trained. • Indirect—creating specific weaves of neigong to uncover the underlying nature of each of the elements, which amounts to a far less challenging task—albeit requiring dedicated practice over some years (and possibly longer). To directly experience the elements, you must either develop and rene sensivity to them, or complete a good poron of the internal content available in the 16 nei gong. Otherwise, the transmissions1 will not have ferle ground from which to grow. Although you may have some fantasc experiences related to the teachings, they really will do lile to help you grasp or engage on any genuine level your ability to work with the Five Elements. •
Direct—making contact with the elements themselves, which requires deep
Whereas, you can basically start playing with nei gong weaves that yield specic elemental qualies from the moment you begin learning a qi gong set or applying your mind's intent in sit ng pracce. This is possible because qi gong exercises bring alive certain neigong components, which is also why each set has a very disnct, unique avour. Energy Gates should feel dierent to Heaven + Earth, which should feel dierent to Gods and so on. Likewise, in sing, you learn how to tune into and release stagnant qi energy, which goes towards balancing the energy of the
internal organs and their associated emoons. 1.
Transmissions are the tradional method used by Taoist masters to impart knowledge and understanding of complex concepts to students. Carried by waves of energy generated by the adept, they contain the totality of any learning
experience, which, when intercepted by a student's energy eld, enables them to integrate the teaching into their being over me and with dedicated pracce. © 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
Page 3
IQ: February 2013 Then, when you com-
bine sing and moving pracces, you can build the momentum and energy required to see through any goal. In the beginning, health and healing are
~ Merging or blending with nature has always been one of the tenets of Taoism as, through this experience, you can directly perceive natural law.
the prime direcves for everybody because with-
out creang a stable and strong container for the higher energy work, you'll simply shaer your foundaon when you make the jump—that's if you're lucky enough to tap into any greater energy ows in the rst place. If you tune into, focus and concentrate as you train any form, slowly and steadily you will begin to penetrate your body, access your qi
and wake up your senses. Eventually, you can contact the subtle qualies of the elements themselves. Once contacted, the elements open doors to vast quanes of natural energies, and allow a merging with nature
to occur directly—rather than through any
Te Five Energetic Principles ↓ Water
Energy Gates Qigong The cleansing principle—the downward ow of energy clears blockages and iniates the root.
↑ Fire
Spiralling Energy Body Qigong The energising principle—the upward ow of energy energises and amplies all that it touches.
mental construct. In fact, you may have
↕ Wood
experiences that defy and supersede all preconcepons. Merging or blending with nature has always been one of the tenets of Taoism as, through
this experience, you can directly perceive natural law. From a Taoist perspecve, then
Heaven & Earth Qigong The expansion principle—combines the upwards and downwards ows of energy to create more internal space.
and only then can you truly understand what
↕
↕ ↕ ↕ ↕
goes with the ow and what pushes against it. This recognion is crical to adapng, reconguring and ne tuning your reality to tap into the peace inside of yourself, where the need to have or do fades and just being is enough. This ability is at the heart of what
creates a harmonious life. When your insides do not resonate with your surroundings, by denion disconnecon follows—the oppo-
Bend-the-Bow Qigong The condensing principle—periphery-tocentre and centre-to-periphery ows of energy, through the ve bows, generates raw power.
Earth
site of blending or harmonizing. By looking inside rather than outside of ourselves, we can change the state of our being and thereby reconnect to the natural world in which we
live. This is just one aspect of following Old Taoism's path of transcendence.
Metal
Gods Qigong The integraon principle—the spherical, pul sang ow of energy integrates and balances the whole mind-body-qi matrix.
© 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
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IQ: February 2013 totally yields to the strong
yet overpowers the weak, unl eventually enough water collects in ever-voluminous
ows to produce a tremendous force of nature.
You can see examples in the greatest
charging
rivers,
crashing waves on sea clis or tsunamis that rip across the land.
Naturally, Old Taoism starts with the Water Element, the clearing and cleansing energy, since it removes stagnant
chi and works like an earth Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body Qigong Alet les Bains, South France Venue of My Upcoming 2013 Summer Retreat
pin or a ground wire to root and prevent energec over-
load from short circuing your system. With the proper safety net in place and your root established, you can
All ve elements contain aspects of all ve principles, it's just that each element specialises in one parcular aspect. The intrinsic nature of each element lends itself
to a specic energy. Likewise, each qi gong set in our system is predisposed towards one element, but can also help you develop
aspects of all others. (If each qigong only developed a single aspect of training, many
more sets would be required.) Names, tles and aributes really only act as signposts or indicators to help you along your journey, but they do help you step through the door.
↓
begin mind-body-energy pracces without the mind wondering, any stability you nd giving way to anxiety, or blockages becoming energised and creang emoonal frenzy. The Water Element allows you to culvate chi in a safe and ecient manner—from the outset. Water governs the kidneys, which govern bodily uids. The kidneys help eliminate
© i s t o c k p h o t o / E r a x i o n
waste by-products and regulate blood pressure by maintaining a delicate balance between water and salt.
From a Taoist perspecve, your kidneys are
Te Water Element
supercharged with ancestral qi while in the
The Water tradion gets its name in part from following the path of least resistance because that's what water does: it collects
and descends from the sky in the form of rain, which falls upon hills and mountains, feeding streams and rivers that twist and wind
through valleys, seeking the lowest point. Inially, through no will of its own, water
womb and serve as a baery pack for your lifeme. When your baeries run out, it's lights out! The good news is that neigong pracces are designed to recharge your baeries, which is why they are somemes referred to as "longevity pracces" in the East.
© 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
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IQ: February 2013 approach is not sustainable and you can
n o i x a r E / o t o h p k c o t s i ©
also literally fry your nerves. In the Water tradion, Fire pracces are therefore only aempted aer some years of tuning into and stabilising Water pracces to ensure you can redress any imbalances in mind, body or qi. And, as you progress in your training, you never develop the Fire energy more than that
of Water to maintain your root and stability. The Fire Element governs the heart and nervous system. Sensible use of the Fire Element can clean out your channels, increase
↑
the circulaon of blood and chi, and reinvigorate your body. However, when too much energy overwhelms your system, you can
Te Fire Element The nature of re is to rise, and rising
become agitated, anxious or unseled, which causes the heart to race. Water
energy invigorates the body, mind and chi. Fire survives by consuming fuel: when the
quenches Fire and enacts one of the most fundamental balances of life. If you want
fuel runs out, the re dies. So re will jump from one fuel source to another in eort to perpetuate its existence. Praccally, the energy of Fire can therefore enliven pracce, making it fun and excing. Fire also has the power to change a solid into gas, which many
ancient tradions have regarded as symbolic for transforming their insides into spirit. Like the radiang sun that allows life to ourish on
to cook rice, too much water will prevent the re from cooking it, while too lile will scortch the rice and cause the pan to dry
out and crack. Neither scenario provides sustenance, so nding the balance becomes the quest for students of the Tao.
our planet, Fire enlightens, warms and heats
its immediate environment. These qualies make Fire pracces extremely encing, but there's a reason why you are not meant to play with re!
While it's true that the Fire Element can help you generate abundant energy for
clearing blockages, excessive Fire can cause burnout or, worse, energise any blockages you have not totally eliminated in body, mind or qi. The body's energy channels can become deranged, which causes the mind to run wild. You might feel invincible or able to go on much longer than normally possible but, underneath, your reserves are
being exhausted as you must burn up your qi to maintain your output. Long-term, this
The ancient pictogram for chi is a cauldron sing on a re cooking rice, which denotes the balance between Water and Fire to produce steam (or qi). Photo courtesy of Cornell University Library
© 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
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IQ: February 2013
Marriage of Heaven + Earth Qi Gong Greek Island of Crete
↕ Te Wood Element Wood, in the living form of a tree, grows by projecng roots down into the ground (in search of water) and, equally, climbing upwards in search of light (Fire energy) to create photosynthesis—the source of energy for most forms of life on Earth. In this way, the
tree, and all vegetaon for that maer, unite the yin, sinking energy of Water and yang,
Applied to the body, the energy of Wood really opens up every nook and cranny of your physicality, creang internal space for unre stricted blood and qi ow, as well as opmal funconing of the organs and nervous system. The more you can open up your body, the more tension you can release, which in
turn strengthens circulaon of the life force and bodily uids—all that nurtures your physical being.
rising energy of Fire, holding the capacity to
The Wood Element
balance both. When the nut or seed germinates, rst the root is iniated, then up
governs the liver, which governs the muscles, fascia, tendons and ligaments. Through highly re-
comes the shoot.2
The energy of the Wood Element is all about growth, expansion, generang internal space and balance. As the tree grows roots equivalent to that of its branches and leaves, the roots plunge yet deeper, while the branches connually reach higher and the trunk broad ens. Although the descending, yin energy of
Water and the rising, yang energy of Fire nd harmony in the Wood Element, it remains
© i s t o c k p h o t o / J a n u l l a
ned techniques that target the so ssues of the body, you can
learn how to expand the body to generate and maintain elascity and internal space in a safe, so and sustain able way.
predominately yang as the guiding principles
are growth and expansion. So again, this points to the elements beginning with Water, where the down iniates the up. This principle comes into play on many levels of nei gong pracce, as dedicated praconers will note.
2.
© 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
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IQ: February 2013 Care must be taken to: • Properly prepare the body before any Metal Element practice via prerequisite Water and Wood practices.
• Over a period of time, observe the quality of Metal, and the way it feels and influences your body; once you have a clear understanding of your parameters, you can gradually increase the internal pressures in a manner to which your body can
adapt—without causing strain in Bend the Bow Spinal Qi Gong Generates Raw Power
Unl you have properly integrated the three primary aspects of the spinal bow in Heaven + Earth, Bend the Bow oers lile addional benet with a lot of added risk!
body, mind or qi.
All safety risks aside, the Metal Element can develop incredible physical and energec strength, forming the essence of fa jin, the
maral technique for releasing condensed, stored power in an instant to uproot and send an opponent away from you. The release is created by the opposite, condensing
energy. So Metal pracces develop the ability to direct chi ow in the body from periphery
↕
↕ ↕ ↕ ↕
to centre and centre to periphery through
the ve bows (arms, legs and spine). Metal pracces are power-generaon techniques at their nest, creang resiliency and core
Te Metal Element The process of ore forming in the Earth's crust and transforming into the metals we tap into and use on a daily basis is all about
densicaon and puricaon. In the veins and caverns that trap the ow of mantle, metal deposits form, collect, sink and condense into a variety of metal ores. In metal
producon, ore is crushed, metal deposits are extracted and further condensed into useable forms. The whole process, both natural and manmade, involves combining and
densifying mineral deposits (metals) into their pure forms.
In contrast to the Wood Element's expanding, yang energy, Metal is condensing with the moon of energy moving inwards. So the energy of Metal is yin by nature. When ap plied to physical exercise, signicant internal pressures are created in the body, especially
strength.
The Metal Element
© i s t o c k p h o t o / E r a x i o n
governs the lungs, brain and spinal cord, which is why the energy of Met-
al is linked with thought, or produc-
ing and rening a focused and concentrated mind.
Did you know? All links in the IQ journal are acve—simply point + click!
through the joints, spine and organs. © 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
Page 8
IQ: February 2013 In this way, Earth balances the cooling energy
of Water with the warming energy of Fire, and the expanding energy of Wood with the condensing energy of Metal. Earth not only
Te Earth Element
balances, but integrates the four elements
The Earth, through its gravitaonal pull,
within itself and the enre 16 nei gong into
draws together, coheres and provides solidity to our reality. Therefore, the Earth is the inte-
one coherent whole, as a single piece of
graon point for manifestaon and, without it, there is no containment eld for life as we know it. The playground we call Earth allows
in Earth becomes a spherical pulse from centre to periphery and periphery to centre,
us to live, grow, develop and evolve.
that is from the central channel to the etheric eld and back. This work completes qi gener-
However, there are two aspects to Earth: the
crust is yin, solidifying and integrang, while the core is yang, radiang and energising. So
woven fabric. The energec movement throughout the whole body-energy matrix; aon and circulaon.
Earth is neither yin nor yang, and instead integrates the two. The Earth sits in the middle of the Chinese compass, balancing the four
© i s t o c k p h o t o / E r a x i o n
elements that lie in opposion around it with:
•
Water —representing winter
in the north; •
Fire —representing summer
in the south; •
•
Wood —representing spring
The Earth Element governs the spleen, bones and bone marrow, controlling and developing the deepest aspects of our physicality and that which lasts the longest of our manifest-
ed selves aer our death. The bone marrow produces: red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the ssues; and white blood cells, which support immune funcon (together with the spleen). So from this perspecve, Earth both sustains and protects. Old Taoism regards our
in the east; and
bones as the house of the deepest aspects
Metal —representing autumn
of our being—namely, our karma and our essence. In the realm of manifestaon, the
in the west.
Earth Element completes the human being.
© 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
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IQ: February 2013
ransformation through Study of the Five Elements The Five Elements shed light on the ve-phase nei gong system of Energy Gates → Spiralling Energy Body → Heaven + Earth → Bend the Bow → Gods Qi Gong, including the basis for the learning progression and the safety precauons warranted when working with Fire and Metal. This cycle of personal development and transformaon has stood the test of me, and helped millions of people in all aspects of their life. The material has become the source of many spin-os, hybrids and, unfortunately, diluon. Ancient China (and what is now Tibet) was a melng pot of Taoist, Buddhist and Confusion thought, pracce and philosophy, so most of what is available to us today is a mélange of the three. The saying is: In China, everybody wears Buddhist sandals, Taoist robes and Confusion caps! Even aer all that me and all the comingling, we have been fortunate enough to receive the gi of a pure Taoist stream of teachings,3 which seems well worth pursuing considering just how rare, complete and potenally benecial the lessons can be for ourselves, our fellow beings and our planet.
We'll look at the ascending path of transcendence and praccal methods for balancing your body in the March 2013 issue, available at
http://www.circlewalking.com/2848/taoist-energy-arts/
Studying the Five Elements Every spring, Paul oers a Five Element Qi Gong retreat on the breathtaking Greek Island of Crete. Typically, the retreat takes place during the second week of May to take advantage of the Bank Holiday Monday in the UK.
Find out the specic subject maer and complete details by vising: hp://www.circlewalking.com/tao-retreat/
3.
The system I teach originates from the Water tradion, described by Lao Tse in the Tao Te Ching over 2,500 years ago, which has been directly passed down from teacher to disciple in an unbroken lineage to Taoist adpet Liu Hung Chieh and from him to my teacher Bruce Frantzis. © 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
Page 10
IQ: February 2013 What's Your IQ?
Learning from 100 Days of Practice By Dan Kleiman
I'm 63 days into a 100-Day Pracce Challenge. In a 100-Day Pracce Challenge, you pick one pracce and repeat it daily for a hundred days. Depending on how much pracce me you have, you might be
praccing other things as
Day 1: Worked the bow, feeling each seg ment, boom to top in sequence, to acvate each piece. Repeated sing down, feeling a sense of release from occiput down to sacrum, changing focus every few bows.
well, but the point is to
I could feel the big undulang wave through the whole length of the spine while seated.
repeat the same pracce day aer day, nocing subtle shis and chang es that you would miss otherwise.
Finished with wholebody pump, playing with arms and legs versus the spine leading. Somemes needed to prime with the limbs to acvate spine.
Now, it might not seem like this is dierent than normal pracce. Oen, we do the same forms,
or same exercises all the me.
For future pracce: open le side occiput, unwind right forearm, internally rotate right ankle to plant right foot.
But there are three things you to to make the 100Day challenge dierent: • Choose a very small piece to practice
• Isolate it from your other practice
• Record observations about it, daily if possible
For this parcular challenge, I chose to focus on connecng my arms and legs to my spine, through a spinal qigong bowing exercise. I wanted to stabilize the feeling of the spine
leading the arms and legs, instead of all ve parts moving independently.
Let me share some of my journal entries with you and then I'll tell you what I think they mean.
Day 3: Pracced driving into work today. Felt re ally interesng to try to acvate the lower spine in a seated posion. Played with single-hand and double at dierent angles. Got some good bowing going...now o to do a com plete pracce.
Day 5: Really got the right leg connected and noced, while doing Tai Chi form work, increased sense of unicaon in the legs of opening and closing with ssue turning. Also, seemed like the breathing I did during bowing pracce was loosening the guts more today. Noced the kidneys during rst swing and lower back really dropping during cloud hands.
© 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
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IQ: February 2013 Day 9: Noced today that the hands really
Day 45: Been focusing on making the whole
tense up, so while the whole bowing connecon isn't as strong at rst, if I focus on keeping the hands/wrist relaxed, the overall feeling is much beer.
body feel as smooth and even as possible each me I pracce. The basic shapes feel stable, so now I have to work on making the insides feel comfortable.
Also monitoring achy upper thoracic/base of neck as pracce goes on. That's denitely one of the areas that needs to open up, but I end up red and sore there each day.
Day 50: Got some feedback from a Senior In-
Right elbow is also opening, especially around the joint capsule.
Day 14: Today, in addion to acvang the bowing with more secons engaged, I'm start ing to feel the up/down and center/periphery ows that become engaged with the bow. Not trying to make anything happen, just seems like they are move acve as a result.
Day 19: Started working with arms out at 45 degrees and it feels like there are new spac es that need to stabilize, like it was when I started straight: le side space between neck, spine, and shoulderblade. That one might need to be re-stabilized again. The right forearm rotaon feels prey stable at this point. Curious to see if the new arm angle changes what the spine feels like. Seems to, but it's going to take a few days to see what that actually does.
Day 23: Started focusing on the feet, going
structor. Have to scale my movements way back and focus on more integrated pracce. Frustrang, since the new level of precision is making me feel more tense when I pracce.
When I look back over the entries, I noce a few paerns: • The observations tend to move from external or more peripheral feelings (hands, wrists, forearms) to deeper, core alignments (winding in the pelvis, connections through the
legs). • There are cycles of tension and relaxation—each time something new is introduced, I tended to hold
more tension. When it stabilized, I could focus on relaxing into it more. These are two surprising paerns that I'm more and more convinced are only revealed with consistent pracce combined with ob-
servaon. On our rst approach to any exercise or internal connecon, there is a lot of extra noise.
into the bubbling well on the bend and back to the heel on the open—tough to run along the line between them and organize everything around that movement.
Day 31: Lately been focusing on the connecon through the legs, and evening out the bowing around the sacrum/pelvis. Denitely some rotaon going on. For the arms, there is an imbalance that is more obvious when they are out at 45 de grees, height of the heart. Not sure what the soluon is, but I'm working on leng the movement go out the arms soly.
© 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
Your nervous system
is sorng out what it needs and what it doesn't to perform
the paern in the most ecient way. As the sorng is smoothed out, two things are revealed: deeper internal
connecons
and
subconscious motor
paerns.
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IQ: February 2013
How You Get Access to Deeper Layers As you perform an exercise like this one, the obvious layers of informaon are the move ments of the arms and legs. To start out,
you have to synchronize them. Once you can coordinate the movement, you become more
stable, and can access deeper, more dicult movement, in this case, the movement of the spine. At the second layer, you play with leading
and following. Do the arms and legs iniate or does the spine? We want to use the spine as a driver, but you can't play with this con-
necon unl the arms, legs, and spine are linked through rhythmic pracce. Finally, you start to uncover other internal
connecons, like threading the joints of the legs so the spinal energy travels to the feet
or whole-body ows that are acvated by the
Dan Demonstrates the Repulse the Monkey Tai Chi Posture
spine bowing.
What I was reminded of from this pracce challenge, though, was that the 3-stage process outlined above is not only unfolding
developmentally. What I mean is, that every me you pracce, you go back through these stages.
As you pracce, the speed with which you move through the layers on any given day of
pracce accelerates. In other words, you can “drop in” to the deeper layers faster. I make this point because we all have a tendency to
want to physically manifest deeper pracce,
well-aligned or out of alignment and the mis-
aligned parts can either feel stuck, collapsed, twisted, strained, or otherwise damaged, or
they can feel like nothing at all. In this pracce series, I started to uncover the “nothing at all” misalignments. The tensionbased misalignments are easy. You feel them
right now, because they hurt. But only when you start to revisit a symmetrical, repeatable movement on a consistent basis, do you have a chance at feeling things that by their very nature almost cannot be felt.
simply because we understand that deeper
Normally, idenfying and correcng these
pracce exists conceptually. By praccing
alignments is done by someone else. They
consistently in this manner, you have the real
short cut to deeper pracce.
What You Didn't Know You Were Doing You'll noce in the diary that many of the observaons were about alignments. When you do solo pracce, your body either feels
can see them and you can't. But what I found in this pracce process was that clues were le, and by returning again and again to the same territory, I began to pick them up. Similarly, the energy ows that are acvated by the physical movements can be hard to de-
tect. In fact, in most of our neigong pracce, the energy rides right along with the physical
movement. In my experience with a pracce like this, though, the physical movements be-
© 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
Page 13
IQ: February 2013 come so familiar, without becoming rote, that you can detect the energec paerns more thor oughly.
Too oen, we use the mind to direct the body. That's not the way it's supposed to happen in qigong. Remember, the mind moves the chi and the chi moves the body. When you pracce this way consistently, you start to feel how this three step process of mind-chi-body really works.
Pick the Right Practice If you decide to set out on your own 100-Day Pracce Challenge, choose your subject carefully. Here are a few I would choose in the future and some I would avoid:
• Don't: I will practice Tai Chi every day • Do: What does it feel like when I practice 4 Short Forms in a row? Or 2 Long Forms in a row? • Don't: I will Stand and Dissolve • Do: Can I stabilize my feeling awareness in my lower tantien when I do standing qigong? • Don't: I will work through my basic Taoist breathing routine from belly, side, and back. • Do: Can I activate my diaphragm over 20 minutes of breathing per day?
When you choose your challenge, pick something that has a narrow focus and give yourself pa rameters like me or number of repeons. Then nd a way to record your observaons. I used a simple form aached to a spreadsheet so that I could make the daily entry without looking at past entries and geng in my own head about it. Each observaon was fresh and to be completely honest, unl I sat down to write this, I hadn't gone back through and really looked at all the data and paerns. Observaon has its role, but don't turn it into a head game.
Dan Kleiman has trained under the tutelage of Master Bruce
Franzs since 1998, and is a cered qigong, tai chi and bagua instructor in the Energy Arts System. Dan is also the host of Qigong Radio. Check out his latest interviews at www.DanKleiman.com .
∞
Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped. —African Proverb
© 2013 Paul Cavel. All rights reserved.
Page 14
IQ
Tank You to: My teacher, Taoist Lineage Holder Bruce Frantzis, who has openly taught me about the depths of nei gong; Heather
Tao Arts Membership
Hale for eding, design + photography; Gee Loose for photography; and Elena Ray
for cover artwork © istockphoto/elenaray; and the Tao Arts School Members who made this report possible.
Health + Safety Noce:
Any mind-body-energy exercise may carry risks. Do not aempt any exercises presented in this publicaon if you have any physical, emoonal or mental condions that may make you suscepble to injury without rst seeking the advice of your healthcare professional.
Become a Member of Tao Arts and receive course discounts and training perks, including: • 10 hours free seminar training • 10% off seminars, retreats and private training • Curriculum planning tailored to Members Terms and condions apply. Learn more at www.circlewalking.com/tao-school
© 2013 Paul Cavel All rights reserved. Reprinng or sharing any poron of this publi caon without expressed wrien consent is strictly prohibited.
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