Meditation Informs Healing Facilitation

If you are an avid reader of this blog, you may know that I throw the I Ching coins from time to time (a divination tool from China that is at least 3,000 years old). I work with a unique interpretation of the I Ching (Yi Jing) written by Julie Henderson, the founder of Zapchen Somatics. This interpretation is specifically for bodyworkers, psychotherapists and yogis (meditators) – it has a strong body-centric slant to it.

Any way, the I Ching tells me (or you could say that I am actually accessing my Higher Self, or my heart’s true words, or connecting with wisdom company who are also not separate from me) that I am in transition from personal joy to the more mature joys of altruistic service. But I’m not there yet.

It also tells me that my reaction to stagnation is regrettable. Horrible in fact. Fortunately, it also declares that obstacles and stagnation are on their way out. The only issue is that the I Ching has been saying this to me for anywhere from 5 to 7 years. And I am getting quite impatient. I have a lot going for me, and yet I want clarity right now. :-O

I wish this were an exciting and entertaining post where I talk about the esoteric wisdom of Chinese Medicine, or the wonder and mystery of Spiritual Astrology, or the beauty and grace of Craniosacral Therapy. I still have all of that in my life, but I feel that something is off. And I’ve been feeling this way for several weeks now.

Maybe I’m spoiled. Yes I have a lot of resources around me. Yes I just graduated from an awesome massage / Taoist Heaven and Earth school. Yes I still have a lot of success treating clients in my office and in the spa. I am outing myself here – I’m sure there is a little baby part of me who is confused and unsure about life and these old beliefs are influencing my present attitudes and behavior.

It is possible I offer too many modalities. I suspect this to be the case, because I am needing to advertise my business, but I don’t know where to start. I need help, or clarifying bodywork, or something. I want to be damned sure I am offering what will allow me to be of most service to people and clients. Maybe I just need a good hard slap in the face. Maybe I need to choose something and go all in with that for a while – I might make a mistake, but there would be no hesitation or doubt!

But I’m having trouble right now. Maybe it is reflected in my astrology chart (Tr. Pluto square my natal Hades Moon, Venus Rx right on my IC, Tr. Mars sitting in my 6th house for months as it goes through its Rx / direct cycle, Tr. Uranus square my Jupiter). Or maybe I need to get better at practicing confident patience (another piece of advice the I Ching gives me). Being confident that things are changing, my resources are quietly percolating into a dynamic and awesome brew which will reveal itself when I am ready.

5 to 7 years is a long time to wait though. I want to be ready right now! Yes I’ve been adding ingredients for a dynamic, unique fusion, a new modality as it were. And it is time for it to show itself. A part of me wants to tear out of my hair I am so tired of waiting patiently. 🙂 I’m no good at that kind of waiting!

Leave a comment for me if you like. Supportive would be preferable! I am in good spirits for the most part. I get a lot of enjoyment out of teaching Qigong every week. I just don’t know what to do with my business, I don’t know what direction to push in right now – if I’m meant to push at all! And then when my number of clients starts to dip and droop, I get worried. (Another ancient double bind involving early beliefs which no longer serve me today. Probably around something like: “idle hands make for the devil’s work” or basically, “if you aren’t producing, if you aren’t working, then what good are you?”)

For the most part, my posting on this blog in the past, has been similar to the Facebook effect. I usually only post when I am chipper and excited about something. Therefore, you get the sense that I am rocking and rolling forward through life. But actually, there are a few confused days from time to time. I am a Pisces after all – there are going to be some moody days (until I attain enlightenment in some distant lifetime).

Therefore, if I go for several weeks without posting anything here, that means I am either incredibly busy with a project or with work, OR it means I am struggling with some cathartic inner hairball. 🙂 And I am coughing and hacking away to get it clear and released / resolved / repaired.

May all sentient beings have clarity and the grace to move through confused times with ease and kindness to self!

Thank you for reading!

~km

Sometimes the basics are all you need. They are in fact the foundation on which the rest of the material is built!

This class I am leading is full of transition – some people missing a class here and there. Hence I am going nice and slow, plodding along through the basics. Of course that is what any introductory class is going to be, so we are right on track!

I am loving though how Chi Kung overlaps with acupressure. We weave in some meridian information during the Chi Kung portion of class and refer back when we are covering the points later.

We are just beginning Solar Chi Kung now, and in November we will get into Tree and Water Chi Kung! It’s exciting – to gradually progress step by step. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

~km

There is a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path. I’m not quite there yet. There is also something to be said for experiencing deep wisdom teachings from a fellow human being directly (in-person somatic transmission). Therefore I am not going to say very much in this blog post. [Subtext – if you want to get benefits from Qigong, then take classes in person with a teacher you have a connection with.]

With that said, this class was rich! We are starting to get into juicy material in working with light and love and breathing techniques. It is a small group and they are ready to gradually deepen. Today more solar qigong, introduced the Empress’ Seal, another foundation to practice and we even discussed the concept of the Morphic Field. What a day!

Apparently this group was ready for some good stuff. At one point I started talking about how we can feel Heaven yearning for Earth, just as gods yearn for goddesses. And we discussed how Chi Kung practice is actually a love story. How can we embody that? How can we feel that with each step we take? How are we able to work with yin, yang, love and light on a daily / hourly basis?

We also discussed having the class at a beautiful location in Afton for the November dates as the crisp, clean, clear mountain Chi is abundant in the streams and large trees out there. So Tree Chi Kung and Water Chi Kung will be more efficacious out there!

Let me know if you want to get on a list for future Qigong classes. Chi cultivation is a vital and rejuvenating practice – I think it is one of the most potent preventative practices we can do. If we stay robust, then it is difficult to get sick. It does take some dedication and practice, but for me, practice self care an hour / day is well worth it to stay healthy, joyful, vital and clear-headed!

Thanks for reading!

~km

Donation to Kirby’s blogging efforts

Hi dear Readers, Help me buy tea so I can continue blogging. So if you enjoy what you are reading, please make a little donation. Thank you very much!

$10.00

I am leading a Chi Kung class on Saturdays, in Crozet, for another 8 weeks. If you are interested in joining us, you might still be able to squeak in – OR let me know if you are interested in a future class. I might start another group in Charlottesville in January.

It is a great group! There are one or two people in the group who are convalescing as it were. Although in this Western rat-race society we live in, it is so easy to get depleted – as in – we have to make a conscious, daily decision to devote time to self care and repletion!

So far we are going nice and slow. Because some people are missing a class here and there, I am only adding one or two new exercises into the class each week.

In two classes, we are gradually getting into the Chen Style Chi Kung Waist Powers, we warm up with some Tap Chi Kung, and we are going slowly through the 10 Chi Kung foundations – we’ve done one per week so far. Today we had the added bonus of the sun coming out, so we got into some Solar Chi Kung – keeping it nice and basic though! Honestly though, I may have pushed the envelope a little with Solar Chi Kung. I went through an introductory practice and then added another piece. We may just do the exact same thing next week! (Not adding anything to it)

Because the class is two hours long (which is a bit much), we take a 15 minute break in the middle to rest and integrate. And then for the final 45 minutes we covered Act-Points. Today we got through Bladder 62, Kidney 6, Gall Bladder 41 and Spleen 4. I plan to add on two more of these each week – and in a few weeks start showing the students how to combine them to do acupressure on themselves or others!

Yay!

Thanks for joining me (in hearing how it is to teach)!

~km

Donation to Kirby’s blogging efforts

Hi dear Readers, Help me buy tea so I can continue blogging. So if you enjoy what you are reading, please make a little donation. Thank you very much!

$10.00

If you haven’t read this blog over the past six months (go back to January and then start reading forward), then you missed some of the experiences I wrote about from the incredible (Ninja) Massage School I attended. Go back and read those posts and you might understand why I say the word “Ninja.”

But tonight I want to write about how the Universe works in mysterious ways. In that massage training, which was more Heaven and Earth by the way (meaning a Taoist program of training), we learned the following exercise / paradigm / method:

1. soften your gaze, soften your eyes, soften your breath
2. let go of any desired outcome, let go of as much as you possibly can
3. let go of everything if you are able to
4. then have an intention or desire in mind, but not too strong
5. if possible, just have a little slice or essence of what it is you are after – do not be specific! less is more
6. drop that essence, like a tiny pebble, into the vast lake of the Universe of possibility
7. drop your echo of an intention into the Universal Source expanse
8. let go of any agenda, let go of any expectations, let go of any wanted outcome
9. allow the Universe to surprise you

If you have done a decent job with numbers 1-8 above, you will be surprised and you may even get to the point of being surprised on a weekly or daily basis – what you want often manifests, but in unexpected ways and unexpected time. You have the brief thought that, “Hey I need to go buy some toothpaste soon.” And a couple days later, you buy an essential oil from a friend, and he just throws in some toothpaste unexpectedly! What?!

You may even get to the point of needing to be careful what you ask for. If you are very clear about your intention, then saying things like, “I can’t see” or “My back is killing me” could be very detrimental. Eventually we will need to be careful what we say – even if just to ourselves! Some part of you is listening always!

Some days that is where I hang out – in this space of letting go of everything; making nothing with my mind (this is extremely difficult by the way); and rarely do I get to the last step of letting everything be as it is.

By the way, doing the above is much much easier done with someone who has gone through the process – in other words – it is much easier to do if you receive the somatic transmission. Our body learns a lot kinesthetically – touching, seeing, being in the same presence as… and likewise, this difficult tool is best learned from someone who has received and embodied those same nuances. Just saying 🙂

Join me if you like!

Thank you for visiting!

~km

Donation to Kirby’s blogging efforts

Hi dear Readers, Help me buy tea so I can continue blogging. So if you enjoy what you are reading, please make a little donation. Thank you very much!

$10.00

Sometimes I write blog posts mainly as a reminder to myself. This would be one of those posts.

A friend recently told me about a practice she has started: after looking at the popular new calendar and daily planner called the Panda Planner, and realizing that the process of waking up and writing down what she is grateful for could be quite beneficial, she began to do her own version of it!

Buy the planner if you want to of course and support the creator of the process; however if you want to save $40, you can do this yourself in a composition book by your bed.

And it has rubbed off on me! After doing some research into the process, this is what she recommended: when she wakes up (in the morning), she writes down what she is grateful for first, next she writes what she is excited about for that day, that week or that month / year. Finally, she writes down several priorities that she wants to work on that day, week, month. It only takes 5 – 10 mins!

It is good to revisit what you wrote before you go to bed – check in with your earlier notes. You can even write more! But how did you do with your priorities? What do you want to work on tomorrow?

I started this process yesterday. So I am very fresh into it, but I am loving it so far!

Feel free to join us!

Thanks for visiting!

~km

Donation to Kirby’s blogging efforts

Hi dear Readers, Help me buy tea so I can continue blogging. So if you enjoy what you are reading, please make a little donation. Thank you very much!

$10.00

Hello Dear Readers!

I am excited to say that leading Chi Kung yesterday went really quite well. Of course I was nervous / excited to start, but once we got underway, we steadily (and slowly) got through my planned class activities.

We did jiggling, some knee rotations and pressed a few acupressure points to warm up. Then we got into Dahn Hak Tap Qigong which is a nice way to warm up the Wei Chi (the outer, surface, protective, immune-system boosting more-yang-like Chi). We are also focusing on the Chi Kung principles, so I spent some time going through the first two of those. (You have to take the class to get the skinny on these!) And finally we got through about half of the Chi Kung waist powers – a great form working many parts of the body and different meridians.

I am adding in some Zapchen Somatic exercises a little bit, as a way of playfully getting people to come down out of their heads and into their bodies. For the most part however, I am sticking with the way I was taught (and therefore connecting with the powerful lineage of teachers through the morphic field).

There is still a little bit of space left in the class (happening in Crozet Virginia on Saturdays). We are going extra slow (not that this is bad) because some people have to miss the second class and one person missed the first. It is still a lot of new information to take in, but I am sensing into the energetic field and honoring people’s needs – whether to add anything else or be content with less (usually the latter).

I am looking forward to the next 9 weeks – to see how deep we might skillfully go. I think it is up to the group – if they do a little practice on their own, then they will slowly deepen on their own, allowing me to introduce more and more. I gave that as homework, so we shall see. 🙂

It is possible that in a few months I will offer a Chi Kung class in Charlottesville (several have requested this). This current class however goes through the middle of November.

Thanks for reading! Have a great week!

~km

Donation to Kirby’s blogging efforts

Hi dear Readers, Help me buy tea so I can continue blogging. So if you enjoy what you are reading, please make a little donation. Thank you very much!

$10.00

I am a member of a dynamic and extraordinary meditation group. Gratitude, blessing, great fortune have I to be able to join them – we do shamanic journeying, Taoist meditations on Inner Alchemy and I lead meditations on advanced Zapchen Somatic practices, along with some Buddhist meditations. It is quite cutting edge!

Tonight we gathered, a trifecta of well wishing, loving, clarity-seekers. What is the message this angry hurricane (Florence) coming toward the Eastern Seaboard wants us to know? How can we nudge it toward peacefulness and dissipation? Is it urging us to wake up to climate change? Is it the perfect storm that is required to get people to wake up in the midst of their fear and terror? It seems like it is the perfect teacher of patience and soothing as some people are forced to evacuate and in order to drive 150 miles, they must wait in traffic filled interstates for 10, 12, 15 hours…

In the course of Miracles, one of the first lines is that there is no order of miracles too difficult. It is possible to intend for the storm to weaken or to deflect harmlessly north into the cooler Atlantic waters – and that level of miracle would be equal to healing one individual or anything else for that matter. We simply must have a clear enough intention, and the karmic conditions (working with wisdom beings, ascended masters, Christ and whoever else will assist with this powerful work). And we must also be open to the possibility that this storm is the perfect cause or condition for purifying the planet at the moment – even if it hits full force.

We can all take a deep breath. Notice any inner waves which reflect the outer waves running through the mid-Atlantic population. What is it that I need to relax just a little bit more. Yes be prepared, but do I have to watch the news every 30 minutes days before the storm makes land fall? Can I turn off the TV, turn off the computer (this is ironic as I sit here and type away)?

What brings me joy? Who do I go to for support? Who can I call to talk about my fears or worries? Lean into your social circle. Wish each other well. This is the best medicine.

Thanks for reading!

~km

Donation to Kirby’s blogging efforts

Hi dear Readers, Help me buy tea so I can continue blogging. So if you enjoy what you are reading, please make a little donation. Thank you very much!

$10.00

I am currently watching a great series on herbal medicine and the best part is, for a very limited time, it is free to watch online. Yes it is a pain to be forced to watch an hour and a half / day of educating and engaging documentaries… 🙂 but it is so worth it so far!

Episode one is more about the history of herbal medicine and where allopathic medicine took the reins and that tragic situation. Thanks Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations (being facetious here…)

Episode Two is still available for another few hours… it is on herbs for Anxiety, Stress management and Pain relief. It is going fairly in-depth on various herbs for these categories.

In a few days, I’m looking forward to the episode on Lyme’s treatments. I suspect I know a lot of those herbs already, but any new research in this department would be great!

Here is the link: https://remedy.thesacredscience.com/register-g to sign up!

Enjoy!

~km