by Claire | Sep 6, 2007 | Uncategorized
It’s Monday after a weekend retreat at Breitenbush which thirty-five people attended. The whole day, there was a part of me that wanted to write down this most amazing experience I had while teaching this retreat, but I felt out of sort and could not quite capture the phenomenal feeling.
Finally after my Monday night class, I got what was bugging me. The experience was so incredible that my ego wanted to hold onto it. But the more I wanted to define this experience by my mind, the more it was slipping through my fingers. I was losing the feeling I sustained all through the weekend. I felt frustrated.
Then all of a sudden, a wave of thankfulness opened my heart that was gripping. I was presented a gift—the gift of emptiness. I am so deeply grateful for letting it happen through me.
Being in the role of the teacher for thirty-five widely diverse and unique souls, I was “forced” into the most neutral place I could possibly hold through every moment of the weekend. I became an empty space, resonating for the thirty-five collective souls. When one needed resonating, I became the empty space for that one soul. I held an empty space of openness, relaxedness and calmness with no judgments, no preference, no personal agenda, no personality, no pre-conceived notions… Every time before I spoke, I came into this space of emptiness. The information that came through was always most simple so that all could resonate with. Each moment, I continued to practice letting go of pre-conceived ideas of what should be taught, and simply accessed what was present in that moment of time and space for the collective.
I was given the gift of no ego (the closest I have yet experience among people) in a prolonged period—the lightest, most effortless and open feeling. I am thankful to Mingtang, thankful to the path, the lineage. I am thankful to the Oneness. And I am thankful to all thirty-five of you. All aspects are intrinsic in giving me this profound experience. I am blessed and humbled.
If you would like to bring your deep practice experiences and realizations into your daily life, don’t try to hold on to it. Each and every moment, practice releasing your thoughts of the past and future, letting your mind relax into your body and become one with the body. Relax and release any holding. Breathe and let vital energy come in to open up old patterns. Smile and trust that you are okay as you leave comfort zone into new terrain. Experience your life fully in your oneness each moment. And when the moment rises when you are moved to share, your sense of emptiness may become fuller.
Qigong is the perfect practice to look within, feel and know what are the old patterns of fear on the cellular level that’s been holding us back from changing, from opening, from healing, from growing. Vital energy naturally follows this new awareness, changing closed cells into open cells, waking up organs that are asleep. We become more and more open and connected to the universal energetic matrix.
ZYQ have a series of weekend intensives coming up, which allows us to go deeper into our practice, so we have more resources to come into realization of old patterns, and give our body and mind the time and space to effectively release and become open. These long workshops are great for people who are ready to make true change in their lives. So give yourself the time and space.
by Claire | Sep 6, 2007 | Uncategorized
Feb. 06
To use physics terms as a metaphor about qigong, our five senses are oriented toward the outside, in receiving and interpreting the external stimuli with internal information from our past experiences and knowledge. These five senses interprets information based on Newtonian physics—that the world is solid, is material in specific states. When we practice meditation, we turn our five senses inward. All external stimuli are gradually severed and our mind becomes quieter and calmer. Our sense become more refined and broader. So-called extra senses emerge. These finer sense have always been there but only dulled by external and mental static and noise. It is as if these extra broad spectrum of senses begin to see, feel, taste, smell and hear into deeper and broader levels of reality, material is not just matter anymore, but energy and information. Perspective broadens into the sub-atomic level, where reality is not a state but all possibilities co-exist. The deeper and longer one remains in this level of reality, the quantum physic level of reality, spontaneous change happens—changes that should not be possible in the Newtonian matter state. The deeper one’s awareness, the greater the change can happen.
With recent scientific discoveries, we know that our mind does not know the difference between a current image or a memory. External input being received by our five senses are being interpreted by past memories therefore different people can have entirely different account of the same event. The same event can make one happy while making another sad. Our experience and our emotions are just as strongly influenced by who we are within than what is happening to us. Therefore we are co-creators of our reality. The content and the context mutually affect and form each other.
The book “Power v Force” tells us that 90% of human beings still believe that their life is made solely by the external circumstances, and to go from this powerless state onto the self-empowered state beyond the two hundred line (see the Map of Consciousness) is one of the most difficult jump for people. Each step relate to the next by exponential.
We know that dense matter attract other dense matter. Fear, closed-ness is dense compared to love and openness. Allowing one fear to manifest attracts other fears exponentially, like a speeding downward spiral. Therefore between the closed state of powerlessness to the open state of self empowerment, many people fluctuate between the two from day to day, from moment to moment. That’s why people would oscillate between practice and not practice even though they have experienced spontaneous change in their body, their mind and their experience of life.
by Claire | Sep 6, 2007 | Uncategorized
How can ZYQ practice serve us in our daily life? And how can we incorporate the ZYQ practice with other modalities we may be practicing?
I have been developing a spreadsheet attempting to explain, in a big picture sense, the stages of spiritual development we attain through ZY Qigong practice and how this process is comparable to that of other spiritual disciplines. You may get a sense that all paths lead to the mountain top, the same panoramic view, though each process may have a different emphasis. Please see attached document “Stages of Spiritual Development in ZYQ and Other Spiritual Disciplines.” (If you’d like to peruse a more complete chart, please go to our website: www.zyqigong.org Your input from your own ZYQ practice and your experience with other disciplines is warmly welcomed!)
This weekend at our Seattle ZYQ center, we will be offering our Level I workshop, or Stage I in the three-stage spiraling process. This marks the beginning of our ZYQ yearly curriculum with consecutive workshops in Level II and Image Therapy I, II and III following. At this workshop, we will be developing our “gut instincts” from our lower dantian (first, second and third chakras), focusing on our relationship to Earth, our feminine within and our maternal energies. We will work on our rooting, our physical wellness—the foundation of total well-being, physically, energetically/emotionally and spiritually.
Work in this area opens the main energy channels which decreases pain, leads to general physical wellness, and helps us experience deeper levels of relaxation that lead to the next stage: stillness. Other benefits:
· creates our sense of security and general well-being
· provides us with a supply of raw energy and is directly related to our instinctual nature
· works with our knees and feet, energetically to keep us connected to our planet
· gives us the feeling of being grounded
· reduces fear, strengthens trust
· reflects our connection with our mothers, and how we feel about being on this planet
· determines the sexual disposition and appetite for men and women. The lower dantian is associated with the reproductive function. The blockages and stagnation of this energy center are common to many modern day citizens.
· helps us express creativity, dance and movements especially in the pelvis and hip area
· regulates our personal power, vitality, confidence and self-esteem
· increases our “gut instincts”
· helps the digestive system
· offers characteristic of fire – with the qualities of expansiveness, warmth, and joy
· especially important for those engaged in healing work of any sort, because this is where we build foundational energy for healing
(Please see attached document “Correspondence between Yoga and Qigong Energy Centers” for expanded info.; above bulleted info. taken from http://healing.about.com/od/chakratheseven/Seven_Major_Chakras.htm)
In western spiritual practices and healing modalities (including alternative), energy is a pervasive blind spot. This is why qigong complements most other spiritual practices and healing modalities. The physical and spiritual aspects of qigong also complement many energy healing modalities.
On Friday evening, we will tap into our intention. Why are we on this spiritual path, this wellness path? What do we want to transform? What is our vision of our complete wellness? By the end of the weekend, we will release more deeply into our true self and our soul, and our inner voice will become clearer, firmer and more powerful.
The Level I Workshop Schedule:
Friday the 24th: 7—9pm; Saturday 25th: 10am—6pm; Sunday 26th: 9am—3pm.
$180 for students new to ZYQ. $100 for ZYQ students repeating Level I. (This will be our last discounted pricing for workshops since we will be renting space for workshops after this weekend.)
ZYQ Center on Capital Hill: 626 Malden Ave E #2, Seattle, 98112 (206)726-0088
Instructor: Claire GuYu Johnson
We look forward to sharing this experience with you!
by Claire | Sep 6, 2007 | Uncategorized
My dear community,
Wow! With eight people’s incredible dedication, we finished all the major parts of ZYQ’s move in ten hours! This gives me such enthusiasm for our community’s new beginning. After a day of vigorous work, we all sat around boxes, resting, eating fruit, drinking tea and laughing together. I looked around and felt in my heart such a strong and clear principle—the material things don’t matter that much, it’s the people who truly matter.
You, too, who are reading this right now, are the most precious part of this organization. Each one of you is essential to this community.
Then the vision came through so clear and simple in three steps:
I. A Non-profit to hold a general structure
II. A NW Qigong Forum to bring teachers and students together
III. A Community Center for Wellness & Spirituality for its members, supported by its members
I. The Non-Profit Kundawell Institute
a. With ZY Qigong as the foundation and open to incorporate other teachings
b. Bringing complementary teachings together
c. With a general qigong blog site to share info.
II. NW Qigong Forum
a. Short presentations on all the styles and lineages of qigong
b. Students can then go to following workshops by different teachers
c. Will bring qigong into the general consciousness of Seattle and the Northwest by:
i. Having the mayor declare a Seattle Qigong Day
ii. Getting wide publicity for qigong (press releases, radio shows and other media coverage)
iii. Bringing qigong to a wider audience
d. Will bring Northwest qigong teachers together to form a collective to better serve the larger community
III. Community Center
I would always like to practice more. When I do, I feel more relaxed, energized, inspired and emotionally balanced. When there is a group of people, my practice is deeper. Many people have told me they feel the same. There is more than enough interest to have our own center, to support a vibrant common space. Together, we can suggest times and types of classes. We can all lead practice groups which expands our own learning in the most effective way. We can all get involved and make it happen!
· Classes and practice groups will be going on 14-hours a day, 7 days a week.
· All different styles of qigong, and other supporting programs and practices will be taught. DVDs of different styles will also be available for practice groups.
· It will be a place to simply relax and be in the moment, nurture process, and detach from goal oriented approaches.
· It will be a place to mutually support each other in practice.
· It will be supported by membership (you can vote for the best times and practices for you).
· You can invest in your wellness, spiritual growth and that of your community.
· It may have other amenities to support process oriented practices such as a tea house, a library, individual meditation rooms and a play center for children.
· There will be different levels of membership: General (one class per week $60/mo, 10% off weekend workshops), Deluxe (unlimited use, $90/mo, 15% off wrkshps), and Sponsor (can propose programming and sponsor low-income members, $150/mo, 20% off wrkshps)
Now that these preliminary ideas are released to you, our community, please offer your input, ideas and help, and please invite others who have such visions into our community so we can realize our manifestations together! I look forward to the unfolding of a new life for our community!
by Claire | Sep 6, 2007 | Uncategorized
I will be offering a 3-day Level II workshop in three weeks at the Ocean Park Retreat Center. Being close to the ocean will deepen our healing, connecting us to the natural rhythm of our breath, the strength of our breath and the expansiveness of our energetic boundaries. This workshop will bring integration within our being, and connectedness to the outer world.
Level 2: Integrating and relaxing the energy body, quieting the mind
The first aim of Level 2 practice is to integrate and relax the energy body. This involves continued work with physical blockages but at a more detailed level than in Level 1. Increasingly, the energy body works as a unified pattern rather than a set of more or less separate flows. As this integration develops, the energy sensations become smoother. The energy body, just as the physical body, feels more spacious and refined. There is also the realization that many of the sensations we interpret in Level 1 as energy are actually resistances to energy.
The second aim is to quiet the mind. This is a natural result of relaxing the energy body. In Level 1 we experience the physical body calming down and no longer responding to the mind’s agitation. In Level 2, the relaxation of the energy body influences the mind: the mind slows down until it simply stops; its construction of space and time stops. This is the calm state, also known as the qigong state.
Level II Practice Benefits:
Integrate within and without physically, energetically and spiritually
Increase personal power, strengthen and clarify boundaries
Improve self authority
Increase contentment, joy
Expand a sense of generosity
Gain openness, non-judgment, leading to compassion for self and others, unconditional love
Work with the thymus gland
Release the web of conflicting desires and emotions which characterizes the ego
Restore our natural, relaxed breathing patterns. Increase our oxygen intake in our body and brain.
Effectively heal illnesses such as cancer through oxygenation.
Develop the qualities of wind (in the five elements) – airiness, mobility, gentleness, and lightness, communications.
Express our creativity, manifesting in the physical world.
Bring emotional healing through self-expression, voicing thoughts and feelings.
Relax the busy mind. Release pensiveness, obsessive and circular thinking. Decrease cravings for refined sugars and carbohydrates.
Time: Friday September 21st 10am to Sunday 23rd 4pm
Taught by: Claire GuYu Johnson
Price: $330 workshop fee, plus $93 for three nights lodging and $75 for food (Thai Vegetarian). Total $498 due by Sept. 17th. (It is $25 extra for beddings and towel, or you may bring your own.)
Place: Ocean Park Retreat Center and Camp, www.opretreat.org in Long Beach, WA (about 4 hours southwest of Seattle)Nestled on 80 beautiful secluded acres on the north end of the Long Beach Peninsula in southwest Washington State, the Ocean Park Retreat Center and Camp is located among evergreen forest, grassy sand dunes and green fields with 1800 feet of Pacific Ocean beach frontage. Families are welcome to accompany.
Register soon! Spaces are limited to 18.
Both Level 2-A and 2-B will be taught.
Level 2A: Integrating the energy bodyAt this level, we continue Level 1 training to increase our energy but with a new emphasis on improving the integrity of the energy body. We add Level 2 preparatory exercises, Level 2 Big Tree, and other practices to open the hips and the back of the pelvis, activate and build the middle dantian, and open and build the central channel.
Level 2B: Relaxing the energy bodyWith the central channel open and the energy field beginning to work as a coherent whole, we now practice how to open and close, expand and contract the boundaries of our energy body and modulate its pulsing intensity. This pulsing is also called body breathing, and we learn to use it in different ways for specific purposes. Its primary application is to relax the energy body and quiet the mind in preparation for pause state in Level 3. Training also continues for gathering energy and increasing the capacity of our central channel and other pathways.
This will be a special workshop. I look forward to rejuvenating by the ocean and big trees with you!
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