Qi Gong Master

I just got shown this video.

This is truly amazing, and even blew me away – and I am no sceptic when it comes to the immeasurable power of Qi.

What is even more amazing is the complete humility of this healer – the ending is inspiring, and has renewed my own faith and intention to study Chinese Medicine. This is Truth, from my perspective. This is why we go through years of study and stress. It all pays off in the end. As a budding Qi Gong/Tai Ji practitioner, this has toughened my own resolve to find the discipline and strength and patience needed to do what I need to do on a daily basis: practice, perfect, and meditate!

Enjoy the video!

 

The thing about Heaven and Earth

Day Pillar: Xin Hai (Yin Metal Water/Pig); last day of 1st Lunar month.

Damn water resricions…!

Well, as I was watering last night I had a good talk with the plants and they let me know about the differences between Heavenly energies and Earthly energies. It may sound weird… but then this kinda thing happens with me all the time.

What actually opened my awareness to the subtle differences was our Tomato plants. You can pump these guys full of water all you like – but a good dose of rain (no matter how light and short-lived) will always make them flourish and grow, and the fruits ripen. It was then that it all occurred to me.

When we water our plants, that water is coming up from underground pipes. It embodies Earth energies. Rain – even though it is water – has come from the sky; weather is known to be an expression or manifestation of Heaven’s energies. A tree requires energy from both Heaven (via the branches) and Earth (via the roots); and whilst sunshine is he obvious source of Heavenly energy, so is rain.

In fact, the trigram Dui/Lake is also related to the gentle watery qualities of rain (yin); as opposed to Kan/Water, which refers to fast-flowing or deep waters that are dangerous (yang).

Humans are as the Trees: we are the middle form of energy, taking in the archetypal energies of Heaven above and Earth below and combining them and releasing the alchemical energies outwards (horizontally), as well as exchanging the energies with each other (Heavenly energies downwards; Earthly energies upwards). We are the link between the two realms, standing between Yang and Yin (firm, yet yielding) and act as the catalyst.

In this sense also, we can make the parallel with the way acupuncture works. The internal, microcosmic environment of our bodies is akin to the Earth; the exernal, macrocosmic environment is Heaven; what links the two environments together is the strategically placed acupuncture needle.

This is a way that the wisdom of the I Ching can be utilised in Chinese Medicine.

 

Yin and Jung (Carl, that is…)

I have been reading about the innimitable Carl Gustav Jung for Psych class. I have decided to write my essay on him and his theories, because it is he more so than any other theorist who seems to capture the energy and vision of all things esoteric.

As a youngster, he had a fascination with the occult, which is obviously apparent in his later work relating practices such as Alchemy with psychology.

My first real introduction to Jung and his writing was when I read his preface to Richard Wilhelm’s translation of the Yi Jing (I Ching). He actually used the divinatory aspect of the hexagrams to ask advice on what he should write about – the result is impressive.

According to Peter O’Connor, author of Understanding Jung, he was fascinated with reconciling opposites; this was due to his relationship between his mother and father, between himself and his father, and between his father and his faith (in the Christian myth, which Jung believed had not helped his father deal with the pressures or mysteries of life). Jung developed his theories on the Conscious-Unconscious because of his keen observation of polarities, and the need to make whole those opposites. He did a lot of good work early on with schizophrenia, and from here he developed his theories on the colective unconscious.

Is it no wonder that Jung would have been greatly impressed with the wisdom and depth of the ancient Book of Changes, with the symbolism of yin and yang. The reconciliation between these two complementary opposites is what Daoism and Chinese Medicine is all about. Jungian theory could be the key for Western minds to truly grasp the fundamentals of Daoist thought, especially in the context of Medical healing.

Even the concept of healing the shen (the Mind, or Spirit) in Chinese Medicine has many similarities with Jung’s concept of healing the rift between the Conscious and the Unconscious.

Jung was also highly impressed with the teaching/healing qualities of mythological stories. Myths provide for us important lessons and teachings, and are a fundamental aspect of healing within shamanic cultures. The Huang di nei jing can be seen as evidence of Chinese Medicine’s shamanic roots, as the structure of this textbook is in dialogue form – a form which is more akin to literature and story-telling than straight, dry didacticism.

I look forward to learning more about Jung and his theories – I feel that I will have plenty to learn from him: about myself and about others.

 

Mother Earth’s Liver

Please watch the video over at My 2.2 cents*

Vanishing Prayer is about the treatment of the Dineh (Navajo) people in SW-USA, and how they have been mistreated in order to mine resources for electricity.

What I found interesting was the comment by Roberta Blackgoat, when she described coal as the Liver of the Earth-Mother.

This is a remarkable statement from the CM perspective, as according to wu-xing (5 phase) theory, the Wood phase is associated with the Liver zang organ.

Too much Liver/Wood creates Liver-Fire, which rises upwards – manifesting as anger and aggression….

Too much burning of coal makes the climate get warmer….

Is there a connection here…?

The comment is also made that the Earth is undergoing constant surgery with this process – and isn’t this  indicative of the Western way? Our approach to ‘Health’ is exactly the same as our approaches to the environment, other cultures, politics, society, etc….

We either want to poison it, or cut it out!

Perhaps what is called for is the application of the Chinese Medicine/Daoist principles to these other aspects of modern life….?

Something to think about…..

 

Yang Wood and Earth

• 10:00am 

Today is Jia Xu according to the Four Pillars system (Bazi Chinese Astrology, also known as the Energy Almanac in the Huang di nei Jing).

It is a Yang day. The image is of Yang Wood from Heaven, and Yang Earth from Earth.

According to the Yellow Emperor’s Classic, Jia is an energy likened to that of a sprout breaking through the soil; whilst Xu is “the image of retreating from the visible excitement of life,” (ch.66, p.238).

These energies are seemingly contradictory, and I expect to notice that struggle between wanting to emerge and break out, and wanting to retreat.

In observing the energies of the Celestial Stems & Earthly Branches, I have noticed that my moods have fluctuated – unfortunately I haven’t observed my pulses and tongue over this period to see any signs of internal changes, but I know that they are there. Over the Summer break, my health has fluctuated quite a lot. Nothing too serious, but I have had lower back pain (Qi/Xue xu), and some digestive/middle jiao issues (including abdominal distention and bloating), not to mention putting on of weight. It could be because I have been fairly sedentary, and not out and about as much as I’d like. My diet is generally very good: balanced, organic and regular (more or less – there is still room for improvement…)

• 18:50 pm

I have had a very interesting day: I have spent a great deal of today doing Tarot readings for others (a very busy day). This kind of endeavour – like any form of healing – requires a great deal of energy, because you are constantly in a process of healing and helping others; being that I work a lot on an intuitive manner, this is more so. This is no different to practising Chinese Medicine – the doctor needs to be healthy and happy also, with a good reserve of energy (jing-qi) to be able to help one’s patients.

The fact that today was a yang day would have helped me a lot, considering the volume of readings I did. The majority of readings were for students beginning their new courses (orientation day at the Victorian College of the Arts) and all the readings I did were concerned with ‘new beginnings’: very much the young sprouts breaking through the earth…

But it is also the end of some 3 months of holidays for these kids: very much the retreat from the excitement of life, especially since most of them would have spent their holidays celebrating the end of their school days, and looking forwards to the new journeys they would be starting with these courses which may lead them onto their future careers.

So I can now see what today’s energy was about…

 

Energy Almanac – su wen, chapter 66

As of yesterday, I have begun a program of observing the energetic qualities of each day, based upon the information given in chapter 66 of the su wen.

This ‘energy almanac’ as also known in Chinese Astrology as the ‘Four Pillars’ or the ‘Eight Characters’. It is based upon the combination of the ten Heavenly Stems and the twelve Earthly Branches. The descriptions of these are given in this chapter. There are 60 combinations.

My own doctor/mentor (who is a Daoist) incorporates this cycle into his own practice, in so far as he brings together his observations of nature, and his observations of his clients’ health. He tells me that there is also a system of acupuncture associated with all this too.

Yesterday was the first day of the cycle: jia-zi – yang wood/water, which amongst other things is a good day for spiritual cultivation. The energy of this day is about the absorption of vital energy (water) and then using that energy to help a sprout break through the surface (wood); thus clearly a quality of yang.

Today is actually yi-chou – yin wood/earth. It’s still early in the day for me to have come to a picture of what this is about.

I am hoping that learning about these macrocosmic influences, and observing how they affect me (the microcosm) will assist me in learning the subtle, energetic aspects of Chinese Medicine. So, no more geeking on the computer – its time to hit the outer world and do some exercises….