Steven

>>>The first time I read this poem, it moved me deeply,
>>>and it moves me now. Why? I don’t know.

If you look at it closely, the underlying idea is self-acceptance.
This is the Inner Smile.

S

>>>What you say about the importance
>>>of getting out of one’s head
>>>(especially for intellectual, mental types)
>>>–are you speaking from personal experience? *Smiling*

Everything I teach comes from direct personal experience–both in my own life and from experience in teaching others. 😉

S

Deep Earth Pulsing is a grounding qigong, but it is one in which you are not rooted to the ground at all (you are continuously breaking your contact). Grounding and rooting are not the same things.

It is true that you do not need a rooted posture to get grounded.
However, rooted postures are the fastest and most effective way to getting…[Read more]

>>>To follow up, I’d have to say that I am a fast learner,
>>>and with my dedication to practice (as little time
>>>per day as I have), I bet you’d be surprised at
>>>how “good” I am at Tai Chi already…not to profess
>>>that I am really all that good anyway…

The funny thing about Tai Chi is that you can be practicing for awhile,…[Read more]

If you are happy, then that’s the important thing.
Just encouraging you to keep an open mind, and not be too locked into a certain idea you may have of how things have to go. 😉

S

It depends on the course material quite honestly.

Some of the alchemy, especially from first formula, can be learned via good DVD/audio materials and you don’t necessarily need live instruction. Michael’s DVD/audio sets are really good, as well as the 3 meditation CDs of Marie’s. Basically the difference between live and doing the homestudy…[Read more]

That looks like a really fast pace.

He basically covers:
Fundamentals + elem. Cosmic Healing + Healing Love + Fusion 1
all in the First Week.

Then all of the Iron Shirt line (Iron Shirt 1, 2, and 3) in Week 2.

For comparison, at the Healing Tao Retreats in NC, Michael spends an entire week on the Fundamentals, and an entire week on…[Read more]

>>>I also learned IS1 and Tao Yin from Chia’s books,
>>>and they are very achievable through just the books.
>>>The descriptions of the postures in IS1 are
>>>very thorough, and I feel like I can do them
>>>pretty well for never having had a lesson.

As an FYI: The books give you a good *starting* place, but they do not substitute for…[Read more]

Iron Shirt 1 can be learned without any prerequisites.
It’s best to learn from a teacher so that someone can help you with structural guidance and adjustments. We teach IS1 at the Healing Tao Retreats every year. I am the current teacher at the NC retreats.

However, you can also get the IS1 book:

and get going on your own. If you…[Read more]

>>>I know exactly what you are saying
>>>but that is not the “ultimate” implementation
>>>which this healingdao group promotes

I’m not a spokesman for any viewpoint of any group.
There are points where I certainly disagree with others in the Healing Tao community.
What others choose to believe (in our community or outside it) is their…[Read more]

There is no physiological change–in the moon–when it optically appears larger, is there? Thus the optical size change does not represent an embodied reality. If the moon *actually* changed as a result of perception, then it would be real. This is the point. If conscious awareness creates actual change, then it is real.

Your own body and…[Read more]

From teaching IS1 to many people, pain is usually an indicator that you are holding tension somewhere, either the shoulders or the psoas. The defect needs to be found in your physical posture and your ability to relax. There are at least 20 structural principles for doing Embracing the Tree for instance. If even one of them is off, you won’t…[Read more]

If you imagine a hot fudge sundae, and then feel hunger arise in your body as a result . . does that mean that the hunger is unreal? No, of course not. It is as real as anything else is.

Imagination creates reality, that’s the trick.
Through continuous practice, through “imagination”, one can create physiological responses in the body. What…[Read more]

>>>In ​the descriptions of Ocean Breathing I’ve come across,
>>>the portal’s always been described as ​the d​an tien.
>>>Thus, I’ve assumed that the portal’s location is at
>>>the geometric centre of the ​dan tien​.

Let’s be careful about the word “portal”.

The Door of Life is simply a spigot that feeds the mingmen. It is not the on…[Read more]

The dantian (here: lower dantian) is simply an energy field inside the body that extends from the kidneys in the back, navel in the front, solar plexus above, and perineum below.

Inside the dantian, is an “energetic furnace” that converts the jing of the body into yuan qi (i.e. source qi) through a process called “cooking”. This energetic…[Read more]

>>>- lately seeking relief from certain distress
>>>around solar plexus, not fully addressed by the form.

I recommend you get a copy of M. Chia’s Chi Nei Tsang book and learn to do some self-abdominal massage with awareness. Then, invoke the Six Healing Sounds appropriately as you do this type of practice. The solar plexus is the center of…[Read more]

>>>I don’t follow! On my watching/reading of the DVD/instructions,
>>>all rounds start and finish at the waist.
>>>And thus, bathing in earth chi starts at the feet
>>>and finishes at the waist. For example, on
>>>“bathe down the front, up the back”, the instructions say

You are being too literal. Yes, as far as the count goes, you st…[Read more]

And how did you learn the “real” technique?
Did you get a private training with One Cloud while he was still alive?

Too bad you didn’t actually attend the retreat this summer live, like some of us here on the Forum did. You might have actually learned something.

S

>>>I think people is always looking for perfect masters
>>>as a compensation for not having perfect fathers.
>>>And try to play to these teachers the same dramas
>>>they are playing internally with their fathers.

You can say that again. 😉

S

There is Greatest K&L material embedded into this form, and there have been many upgrades to this form since the DVD came out, too numerous to list here. It would take a whole class to explain them all and explain the deeper aspects of the DHQ form.

I am considering offering a DHQ retreat in 2015 if there is interest.

S