Meditation Informs Healing Facilitation

Magical inspiring day; great way to start off Tibetan New Year!

I am going to write with some hesitation here, and hopefully appropriate restraint (you will see why).

Today I drove a ways to meet with a spiritual friend. They said they could see in my chakra system that my Kundalini energy was out of balance (from a long distance away). When I arrived, what they predicted about “symptoms” of my imbalance proved true.

Also I gained some happy warm-hearted news yesterday (which I will also keep to myself), but it meant that I made the drive easier and with a lighter heart!

And speaking of driving, somehow, today’s ride on Interstate 81 was incredibly peaceful. I did not see a single police officer or state trooper car on the way (another bonus). Most unusual indeed.

Arriving, we talked for a bit about where I have been in my practice, both Dharma and Chi Kung. Funny how it is so obvious that Chi Kung practice also works with the Kundalini, but I guess I had overlooked that (for 24 months now…) 🙂

Then we spoke for close to three hours about the benefits of doing more practice, maintaining the bare minimum of practice to keep our Samaya (doing 21 long Dorje Sempa mantras / day, doing the two Tsoks each month and preferably doing a little of our main practice each day) and what to look for in upcoming practice results. We chatted about minor Siddhis, about mantra Siddhis, asana Siddhis, etc. Amazing topics and conversations! Did I mention how grateful I am to receive this?

This spiritual friend gave me three separate blessings, two of which rocked my world. The first, without touching me, they cleansed my chakra field up from my root to my throat chakra. I literally felt my neck re-orient, like I was having a minor chiropractic adjustment – but just to reiterate, they weren’t touching me.

The second blessing was a full on Shaktipat – a spiritual blessing where they downloaded a lot of well-wishing energy and blessing into my field. Wow I thank my karma to be receiving this great blessing btw! I felt woozy, light headed and mildly dizzy for about five minutes after this. Again they did not need to touch me. Pretty wild!

They want me to keep their identity secret, which is good. Hopefully I have not given any major hints away. And I plan to go back within a couple of months – after getting started putting their advice into practice.

They recommended getting a divination system that I trust. (I already have a solid relationship with the I Ching going, which is great!) And they mentioned ways to make sure the divination is not influenced by spirits. Therefore I can check to make certain the practices I am doing are the priority and that they are efficacious!

They recommended against using Tarot cards for this, as some decks are aligned with certain entities in advance of buying them. (If aligned with angels for instance, then the answers you receive will be swayed by god realm bias.)

And after receiving such a powerful blessing, sure enough, I got discombobulated and missed my exit on the way back. By the time I was able to turn around (interstates in mountainous regions…), I was forced to tack on another 50 miles onto my trip! Sometimes turning on google maps, even when I know the area might be a good idea!

That is all I am going to say for now. But suffice it to say, this was the start to my 40th birthday celebrations! And a wonderful start to this New Year!

Losar Tashi Delek everyone – may you have an auspicious year full of the best possible goodness and joy!

Thank you for reading,

Benefits of committing to 10 Emotional-Process-Oriented Bodywork sessions

Hello Dear Readers!

I went through some ups and downs in January, with a separation from a five-month relationship thrown into the mix. It has been nice however to right the ship, as I get into working more with my lower chakras, being kind and gentle to myself on a daily basis (this seems like a practice which we need to renew over and over again eh?), and spending more time with friends and Dharma teachers.

I am fortunate to have had many great bodywork teachers, heart / spiritual teachers, mentors and coaches in my life. And having been practicing craniosacral therapy since 2005, I have a few years under my belt to introduce this topic:

Since returning from massage school in April of last year, I have now cultivated several professional relationships with clients such that they have seen me for more than 10 sessions. I am thinking of three people in particular.

All three of them said early on, “Kirby, I want to work with you for as long as it takes to heal / release / resolve / harmonize these issues.”

And I replied, “So you are willing to commit to at least 10 sessions?” And they all agreed!

This is a very hefty commitment for some people, as I generally charge $100 / hour unless they purchase a package from me (those are still $90 or $85 per). So we are talking $850 – $1000 over four or five months.

With that said though, I am seeing how this is so worth the added support and these relatively-rapid inner transformations are very difficult to discover in other places. And another benefit I am noticing which I am only now putting together (I had not heard this from my teachers):

When someone commits to doing 10 sessions and they can afford this investment in their psycho-spiritual health and wellness, then I am noticing that by the time we get to session #3 or #4, they are going deeper than most of my other clients (who are seeing me more on a as-needed basis).

Going deep and doing early developmental work is not always easy or comfortable. It usually involves looking at some shadow material (which means we also bring in some resources which represent the light) and it requires that a person feels very safe and secure and stable.

This is why even with someone committing to a longer, deeper process (like a 10 session series), it still takes a couple sessions for their body to prepare to do the deeper work, to lean into trusting me and the process and to check everything out to make sure it feels good to them on a deeper, heart-centered level.

And yet this has been the case for all three of my long-term clients. If they commit to 10 sessions, then sessions 3, 4, 5, 6 and often session 7 are extraordinary in what they are investigating and releasing. These middle sessions are profound!

And in two of the three clients, they said they want to work with me for months or years to come, they continue to do awesome work each session because they have established a solid therapeutic relationship with me. Sure, not having an end-date in sight or mind is a bit nebulous, but they are making great progress. In my estimation, within 6 – 12 months both of them can back off to once-a-month treatments or less.

This phenomenon makes sense when you consider that doing this deep work can rock the boat – as we shift internally, our external world must also be analyzed to see where we are out of alignment. It is powerful work and it catalyzes change and transformation. The question is how adaptable are my clients’ families, friends and co-workers? As we grow and become more comfortable with our power, others may become less comfortable with our healthy robust changes. Therefore this work is not always easy. And sometimes it involves making outer changes along with the resulting inner transformation.

Keeping that in mind, when we commit to doing a longer term series of treatments, the body wants to release its double binds and inner conflicts, but to do so, there needs to be a safe container and a solid intention. And it makes sense that the middle sessions – 3 – 7 for instance would be deeper. Sessions 1, 2, 8, 9 and 10 might be more for integrating, building trust and preparing to come back into the world with a little bit less support (if they opt to stop seeing me altogether).

I will keep my eye on this intriguing phenomena and see if it is the case across the board or if I just coincidentally encountered it with these particular clients. 🙂

Thank you for reading!

Glad to have an array of modalities to offer

For those of you who have been following me for some time, you may know a bit about my evolution as a healing facilitator. If not, I’ll review 🙂

First there was Reiki and Spiritual Astrology. I still work with the Astrology, sometimes Reiki comes through my hands, but I don’t do much with the symbols any longer. Although my willingness to work with healthy, compassionate guides, angels and wisdom beings has always been here.

Then I met extra special teachers and began learning what it means to truly come down out of the head and into the body. Embodiment took me a solid five to seven years – in terms of making it stable. I practiced Craniosacral Therapy, Zapchen Somatics, and learned how to work with the visceral organs for several years. All while practicing Tibetan Buddhism – meditating and drinking from that deep well of wisdom and blessings.

Next, starting in 2012 I began learning to work with the Polyvagal System – the Vagus Nerve and the Autonomic Nervous System. This path I am still on today, as regulation and building resilience are a lifetime’s work – especially in learning how to skillfully teach it!

In 2013, I participated in my first Womb Surround / Birth Process Workshop – this is an intense four or five days of diving deep with a precious group of fellow seekers and working on early early material each day for about six hours. Whoa! The first one I joined was potent and amazing and I pushed too hard – that along with working 60 hours a week right afterward meant I got sick for a bit.

Fortunately I stuck with learning the birth process work however, attending two of Myrna Martin’s Summer Intensive trainings in Canada – two weeks each. That and I participated in about three more womb surround workshops over the next few years. That allows me to gradually do a bit of PPN (pre- and perinatal) work with clients who are ready.

Why am I mentioning all these modalities? There is a reason, trust me. What I haven’t mentioned is most recently I completed an intense and amazing massage school / ninja / Taoist training in Colorado (we did Chi cultivation sometimes for 3.5 hours a day). There I learned massage, shiatsu, acupressure and an incredible Shamanic Hot Stones modality.

And now my arsenal of skills is more complete 🙂 When we do emotional-process-oriented-bodywork with a client, this can be a lot for their system to take in, to integrate. I have learned my lesson here too (another story) – I have learned that most people can do two potent sessions involving processing early developmental stuff in a row – maybe within about 5 – 7 days of each other. However, if they request another similar session within a week, I almost always muscle test to see if Shiatsu or Acupressure would be better for them, or pure Craniosacral Therapy. This is so they can integrate the work we have done without putting another added strain on the emotional-process-integration-body.

On a sidenote, I see talk therapy and some forms of meditation as being good for purifying the mental body. Some forms of bodywork are necessary to all the body to catch up with mental purification work – people who meditate day and night can still get stiff bodies! But there is also the emotional body piece – and that is what I am referring to above.

Yes, I am going to continue to do more training. Yes I want to complete my PPN training (not too much more to go there). And yes I am beginning to teach Working with the Polyvagal System – Building Resilience in the Nervous System (in fact, I am teaching the introductory class in Portsmouth Va in April – let me know if you are interested). And now I have the skills to competently assist clients in integrating deep work – often times less is more. And going slower will get us there faster. It’s true!

Thank you for reading!

Do young adults require college?

I heard a story recently on NPR about how young people are struggling with massive college debt and struggling with choosing a major that is not very lucrative. You know, the Art History majors, the English Literatures, the Humanities, etc. Not that there is anything whatsoever wrong with these edifying and enriching areas of study! They are in fact, how we become more cultured. How else are we going to chat about Sisyphus, Atlas or Oedipus? Unfortunately, these classic college majors are beginning to disappear. But I digress…

The reason I am posting this however is because I wonder if all of those young college-bound adults require college-directly-out-of-high-school? If they are passionate about something, they may not require college after all (unless their desired profession requires that track).

For myself, I definitely would be considered a late bloomer. I literally grew six inches after high school… but I am also a late bloomer regarding my career track (and psychologically, emotionally, spiritually). I had no clue what I wanted to do until I was 30. And then it took me a few years to get on track even knowing what I wanted!

While I did well in school (community college and then at the University of Virginia), I’m not sure I required it per se. Yes it helped me to grow socially. Yes it gave me great contacts, assisted me to become a better writer and definitely contributed to where I am today as a human being… (okay okay, even if I didn’t require it, I am super grateful for everything those experiences gifted to me).

I even grew a lot during the three semesters of nursing school that I attended – not to mention benefiting a ton from the Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology portions… And the nursing school experience helped me immensely through Massage school and the national board exam…

As an outside-the-box healing facilitator now, my college degree and my education in those areas barely contribute to what I do in an average day. Let’s say I give one Craniosacral Therapy session, one Polyvagal treatment, and one Shamanic Hot Stones massage… does any class I took over the course of twelve part-time college years contribute to these modalities or these sessions? Not much.

Could I be doing this work today without having any college under my belt? I’m not sure. Like I said, I benefited tremendously from the social growth, the integration of Humanities with Economics with Philosophy and somehow even with Statistics. And I lucked out to encounter some incredible mentors and heart teachers who showed me that education is also coming down out of your head and into the body. In addition to intelligence quotient (IQ), there is also emotional quotient (EQ). And I would even go so far as to add embodiment quotient – another EQ.

One thing I will admit is that my college experience made me a better practitioner today – especially regarding training my mind to be more critical, more logical and more rational. I tend toward an intuitive, circular mind-set. When I took the Research Methods and Data Analysis Psych classes, I struggled mightily because I was literally changing my mind each arduous day. And today I can speak about authentic, research and evidence-based, peer-reviewed scientific studies with ease – which provides more credence to the work that I do (because most of it is scientifically validated).

With that said, my younger brother is doing life without college so far. He went to Governor School (and advanced, expansive, outside-the-normal-high-school-education-box program) where he learned how to do software design among other proficiencies. He started to learn how to create apps for IOS and Android – the iPhone and Android systems! In fact, he was so good at it that the Superintendent agreed to pay him $1500 to create an app for the Nelson County school system (once he graduated high school).

He tried college for one year and grew increasingly frustrated. He continued working as a software engineer and then he decided to do it full-time. And now he is training interns at his job! And he is not 22 years old yet!

I guess the jury is out whether or not he would have benefited more from staying in school (society would say “Yes!”). But I think it is very possible to become educated outside of college – if we work at it, if we take classes or workshops in what we are interested in, if we want to stretch ourselves.

In my family however, of the four kids, 2 seem to be doing what their college degrees said they would. And 2 of us are not. Yes I got my BA in psychology, and some bodywork sessions involve some dialogue, but in reality I barely use that degree in what I do now.

So I guess I would say trust your heart, study what you are interested in, and go for it. (Don’t waste time.) My time in college was precious and in a way I miss it. There is nothing quite as brain-stretching as having all these deadlines to make and books to read etc etc.

And yet, don’t fret if your path seems to take a detour away from school. You might just end up fine! No matter what your parents or relatives might imply. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Excited to be teaching Working with the Polyvagal System in April

I am working on a flier for a workshop that is being held down in Portsmouth Virginia April 5th-8th 2019 (Friday through Monday). I know it will come up upon us quickly!

It is going to be an introduction, so just about anyone can attend (there is an in-take form and moderate screening through that). Working with the Autonomic Nervous System, being introduced to the subtleties of the fight-flight or freeze sympathetic branch, the rest-and-digest healthy parasympathetic branch and the new-research based social nervous system branch, it will be both educational (informative) and practical in terms of experiential tools for self-regulation.

We will be working with the Skin and Boundaries, with the Fascia and connective tissue and completing the workshop by gradually touching on and relaxing the kidneys and adrenals.

My preference is for people with some experience in bodywork, massage, psychotherapy, yoga, mindfulness or medicine to take the workshop. But anyone who wants to learn tools for deepening embodiment can attend.

Leave me a comment if you want to learn more! It will be held at the Sattvic Space in Portsmouth Va April 5th – 8th (Friday evening through Monday afternoon). Their website is https://sattvicspaceyoga.com

The workshop should be up on their calendar soon – we just completed a flier for it! Yay! Spread the word if you know anyone who might be interested down in the Tidewater Area.

Thank you!

a supplement to the post below about Chinese Medicine and Embryology

If you look at the previous post about Taoism and Embryology, it is possible that without some knowledge of Chinese Medicine, you might scratch your head and say, “Huh?”

If this is the case, then continue reading! Hopefully this information will help in deciphering that post.

The Dan Tien, or Hara, is the point below the navel. Except it is not an external point – it is the core of the body, it is known as the center of gravity in the body, and it is the primordial point. It is literally the first part of the body to start forming in utero. When the sperm cell is invited into the egg cell during conception, this location on the egg cell is what becomes the Dan Tien – it is a major, very important organizing principle in our health and development!

From the Dan Tien form the Eight Extraordinary meridians. These start forming in the womb, in utero.

The Dan Tien is known as the Gateway to Source or the Gateway to Life. It is the source of life. It is the primary generator / reservoir of Chi. The Dan Tien feeds the Eight Extraordinary meridians – which are more like large lakes of Chi, they are reservoirs in their own right as well. And the Eight Extraordinary meridians feed and nourish and balance the Chi flow in the 12 Principle Meridians (most people who know alternative medicine have heard of these – the Liver, Lung, Heart, Kidney meridians, etc).

Here is one analogy (my own, may not be entirely accurate): The Dan Tien is the ocean of Chi. The Eight Extraordinary meridians are large rivers of Chi. The 12 Principle meridians are smaller rivers and streams, ebbing and flowing throughout the day and throughout the seasons.

A copy of correspondence between myself and a prominent Embryologist (scientist) and author / lecturer on Chinese Medicine and embryology

I have been slowly corresponding with a well-known lecturer and scientist (Embryologist) who is open to discussing esoteric concepts. He asked me, among other questions, how early Taoist hermits could possibly know about the existence of an Egg “Cell” or Sperm “Cell” thousands of years before the first microscope was utilized.

I am not an expert on Chinese medicine. Most of what I say here I have derived from conversing with a couple of mentors who are themselves quite well-versed in esoteric roots of Taoist embryologic theory. Any errors in my interpretation of what they tell are strictly my own! I apologize ahead of time for them. However, I suspect you will find this conversation intriguing at least. 🙂

Enjoy!:

It has been my pleasure to chew on your words and to chat with my mentors who are expert in esoteric aspects of Chinese Medicine. I’m betting when you said, “Take your time,” you didn’t expect it to take me 5 months to get back to you… but here goes my response:

I am inspired by how much thought you have put into these topics and how you are interested in discovering scientific bases for how / why Chinese Medical perspectives might be “right” about embryologic concepts.
This is a long missive… just to let you know.

In this email, I want to touch on several areas:

to answer your questions about early knowledge about Cells
to mention thoughts on the Principle Meridians in early development
to cover Extraordinary Meridians in the Embryo / in Utero

First, I am not asking you to suspend your scientific lens, but as you mention in your lecture, sometimes science does not have all the answers – like the Breath of Life causing blood to organize like a fluid until the moment of death, when live-saving machines in hospitals can no longer pump the lifeless blood through lifeless capillaries. With that said, mystics defy science at times – like how do Tibetan yogis, who practice inner fire meditations (Tummo), survive for hours at a time when placed in a refrigerated room (20 degrees F*) when they are wearing only a light robe. It defies logic. There are a number of studies on this with the University of Wisconsin, Harvard and more.

In another vein, how did the Buddha know about microscopic organisms 2550+ years ago? There are sutras which talk about his recommendations to just avoid eating organisms that a normal person can see. If a person has a lot of meditative realization, i.e. if someone is an Arhat, apparently then they can see microscopic organisms in water for instance, and then if they are avoiding all forms of organisms, they would basically starve to death. Hence the Buddha’s words that we should only eat with normal human’s vision – if we have enhanced meditative realization vision, turn that off when eating. This is mind-boggling even to me. But those sutras exist.

So coming back around to your question of how could early Taoist mystics and masters know about Egg “Cell” and Sperm “Cells,” I don’t have any clue in terms of tangible, evidence-based answers. I would posit that when someone is meditating in forest hermitages, they easily enter altered states of mind. And just like the body holding onto birth trauma for years without any conscious memories about it, and then under the proper circumstances (see Ray Castellino’s or Myrna Martin’s work on PPN / birth process work) their body will show them how it wanted to spiral and release that old unconscious stuff, I suspect that those meditators and Taoist hermits likewise started to encounter earlier and earlier memories from their lives. I have met people who have been doing PPN work for a long time who have clear and accurate memories from their own births. If we could just go back 9 months previous to that, then we might have a felt sense of morula and blastocyst?

I realize I am reaching here – even for a logical mystically-oriented mind. So that is the best I can come up with – and this is basically what my mentors in Chinese medicine mentioned when I ran your question by them… In other words, to be determined.

On my next topic above – how does Chinese medical theory discuss the formation of energy meridians in the embryo and fetus? (This information might come in handy for your talks.)

First, as I discussed in my previous email – the Dan Tien is the primordial point – where sperm enters egg. This is a major organizational point in the future body. Esoterically, it is also the point where all other energy meridians originate. The front point of the Dan Tien is known as the Gateway of Life on the Conception Vessel and the back of the Dan Tien is known as the Gateway of Source or the Ming Man on the Governing Vessel.
Side note: I find it fascinating that initially, the umbilicus starts forming on the Ming Man point (the back) and then slowly the embryo turns / rotates and the umbilicus rotates around to the front of the Dan Tien.

The Dan Tien is known as the Gateway of Life or of Source. There is a reason for this. The Extraordinary Meridians or Curious Flows or Strange Vessels (all the same thing, just different translations) begin to form in utero. They all develop out of the Dan Tien.

First, the two initial Extraordinary meridians to form are the Conception Vessel (the more yin component of the Microcosmic Orbit) down the front of the body and the Governing Vessel (the more yang component) up the back of the body. I would assert that these represent the primitive streak and the neural tube formation. The Microcosmic Orbit or the Conception / Governing Vessels are the only meridians which flow 24 / 7 (once they are complete) and they are said to be circulating Chi by the eighth* week of the first trimester. (*I need to verify this but I know it is close.)

The next Extraordinary meridians to form are the Belt / Girdle and the Penetrating / Deep meridians. The Belt meridian is the only meridian which flows horizontally and the Penetrating meridian is primarily deep in the body – it does not have many surfaces points. I suspect that these meridians also get started very early in gestation however, and here is why:
The horizontal movement of cells during early neural tube formation might also represent the Belt Meridian circulation of Chi and the Penetrating meridian is in charge of providing life-force energy (Chi) to the cerebrospinal fluid and the CNS. Therefore, these must also be developed and circulating pretty early in development.

These four meridians are primarily organized in the torso – there are points to work with them in the wrists / hands / feet and ankles, but their primary movement is only in the torso. This is another reason that Chinese Medical theory on them seems accurate. The arm buds and legs form a little later than neural tube / torso – as you intimately know.

[This wasn’t included in my email to him, but as I read and re-read here, I am struck by how it seems the body forms around the meridians, not vice versa! Body is condensed energy. First Microcosmic orbits forms, mirrored in the neural tube formation and closure of the CNS. And I suspect Belt and Penetrating meridians are also forming quite early, mirrored in formation of cerebrospinal fluid and the circular / oval shape of the waist. Just more food for thought!]

There is more esoteric knowledge about how the water meridians (Kidney and Bladder principle meridians) start forming before birth and there is an elemental progression through which the other principle meridians form, but I would like to hear your response to what I have shared already.
As yet another aside, there is a reason acupuncturists do not needle infants (or toddlers for that matter) – it is because some of their primary meridians are not formed yet. The Lung meridian is not completely formed until age twelve or so.

I appreciate all that you do and share. End missive. 🙂

Thank you for reading!

What I am holding for 2019

Intentions for 2019

These arose out of the 10-day retreat I just recently returned from. Most are mundane.

Keep the container full and clear – patch any leaks ASAP; be gentle; ask body before doing anything dysregulating; spend time re-building trust with my body / kidneys / heart / brainstem
Practice Dharma and / or Qigong daily: if you start feeling off, you need to do qigong ASAP
Receive Bodywork 3x / month: Self Care regimen
Each breath is a death & re-birth: bring mindfulness to everything you do; mindfulness of body, breath, Vagus system, energy and awareness
Prep for Polyvagal Workshop– read & takes notes on the 5 books
Plan ahead for SE Training (woohoo!)
Maintain virtue for SE training & Polyvagal & to be as present as possible for clients / students
Healers Must Do less; what can I take off my plate? Muscle test, ask I Ching about new ventures, new trades

10-day retreat Missives: Dharma Discussion

Going in order from our 6 am Qigong start to the day.. then at 6:45 am we did a silent sit to nurture the chi which we had just cultivated. That lasted until 7:25 am. Not a whole lot more to share about that. 🙂

I usually did the Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind (Toward Enlightenment) every morning during that silent sit time. Including a body scan to go along with Impermanence, it would take me the whole 40 minutes to get through the Leisures and Endowments, contemplating Impermanence, Karma cause and effect and lastly the Six Realms – and really getting juicy with the sufferings of the lower realms (if you are looking for a good text about this, the Words of My Perfect Teacher includes some rather graphic – yet good grist for the meditation mill – details about the suffering of the Hell realms or the Transformation of Suffering by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen).

Then during the 7:30 – 8 AM window, we did Dharma discussion. This was another time in the day when we could share briefly and not be breaking Noble Silence. We talked about the Four Immeasurables – which included the Drikung Kagyu prayer, another interpretation from Jack Kornfield and a beautiful piece by Caroline Jones:

Brahma Viharas

Metta is the love that connects.

It is an antidote to all forms of aversion.

It is not [grasping] attachment.

If it slides into sentimentality,

Karuna brings the heart back into balance.

Karuna is the love the responds.

It is an antidote to cruelty.

It is not pity.

If it slides into sorrow,

Mudita brings the heart back into balance.

Mudita is the love that celebrates.

It is an antidote to envy.

It is not competitive.

If it slides into agitated excitement,

Upekka brings the heart back into balance.

Upekka is the love the allows.

It is an antidote to partiality.

It is not indifference.

If it slides into disconnection,

Metta brings the heart back into balance.

In addition to the above practices, we also looked at the Eight Fold Noble Path – right view, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, etc and we examined more of a Theravada themed text on the Anapanasati’s – the Mindfulness of Breath practices. We looked at the Four Holdings of Mindfulness, the Seven Factors of Awakening and Knowledge and Liberation.

This was a nice brief way to set the mind toward right motivation for the day before breaking our fast for the day. 🙂

Thanks for reading and more to come soon!

10-day Retreat Missives: Qigong first thing

On retreat, I tended to wake up between 3:30 and 4:30.. check the clock and then nod off again until 5 am. For the majority of the time, I was making the early offerings for the shrine – water offering bowls, incense around the room and the Dharmapala tea offering. There is a beautiful offering (brief) practice we do for the offering bowls from HH Dudjom Lingpa Rinpoche.

I was up in the shrine room by 5:30 every morning and then at 6:00 I was usually the one teaching Qigong. Talk about being an early bird.

The best part was that I rarely ever planned anything for Qigong. We had 45 minutes, so the night before I would ask what I should teach, and typically something would arise.

I also got inspiration about teaching from the planets out early in the morning – we did a Pericardium specific qigong session when Venus and Jupiter were in the sky, for boundaries, to increase trust, safety and ease in social engagements.

I discovered fun ways to joining together pieces from the half dozen or so forms that I know (and practice on a semi-regular basis). One day we did Tap Qigong with an emphasis on tapping spheres of light into the meridians, then we did Empress’ Seal where you walk around imagining yourself pressing spheres of light into the ground with your Bubbling Springs point (Kidney 1). And we finished with the Pushing Spheres with the hands and arms! It was light and love for the whole body!

Another day we had fun playing with fierce energy – doing Aki Tai So Rowing exercises and sword preparation, as we did this I had them put on extremely fierce facial expressions – “I want you to make sure I don’t mess with you!” It was good fun.

And yet another day, we did more yin Qigong. I had the participants doing about 20 minutes of practice on their backs or sitting / kneeling. They got a definite variety and a decent taste of potent forms!

Finally I dropped in some delicious Extraordinary Meridian acupressure work. There are eight acu-points that correspond, or are borrowed / utilized by the extraordinary meridians, also known as the Strange Flows or Curious Channels (different translations). If you practice Qigong, you probably already know two of the eight – the Du and Ren Mai – the mid-line central channels that make up the Microcosmic Orbit.

In addition to my extemporaneous teachings, three other people taught. This may have been the best part.

One of my friends who was on retreat with us for about seven days, just so happened to study with Mantak Chia for about a dozen years back in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Chia is one of the most renowned Qigong masters on the planet. She led us in Buddha Palm qigong – where we energize our channels and run light and love energy through our Palm Chakras. Very potent. Then she even included a little teaser from Iron Shirt qigong – the Golden Phoenix Cleans Its Feathers which included Bone Breathing! It was so so potent! Holy guacamole! Thank goodness for such a potent container the retreat provided! We would never get away with teaching semi-beginners this advanced stuff!

Then yet another friend offered Dragon Meridian Qigong from Master Zhongxian Wu’s lineage. This was also not a beginners practice! Wow wow wow! This was more graceful and fluid, feeling the inner dragon coursing through our meridians. Had we been able to do this practice for closer to 90 minutes, I have heard it helps to generate great levels of heat!

And then we had some excellent foundational qigong practice from the retreat leader’s husband. We did this qigong on the deck looking out at the vast ocean and then at the radiant rising sun. Just amazing and sublime. Oh and all under the watchful eyes of Venus, Jupiter, the Moon and Mercury!

I am so grateful to be able to lead so many great practitioners! I’m probably not worthy 🙂

Thank you for reading, and soon I will try to write more about later (in the day) practices from the retreat.

Happy New Year!!!