Take a Turn Toward the Yin

The Tiger Qigong (preview above, follow-along on Youtube) comes from the 'Five Animal Frolics' of Dr. Hua Tuo, possibly the most ancient qigong set known. 

Tiger contains five different movements that correspond to the energies of the Spring season, and its associated meridians, the Liver and Gall Bladder.  The main focus of the Tiger set is to bring energy Up and Out .  Just like how plants are growing up and out in this season, it is said that these meridians need to move energy out to the extremities in order to transform frustration into empowerment.

The Turning or Revolving Tiger is different than the preceding forms, instead of just bringing the energy to your claws for dispersal, it twists and reaches to restore flexibility. 

One way of interpreting the name of this form is the "Returning Tiger", like a tiger returning to its den for rest.  This is the Yin aspect of the Tiger energy, and it's a reminder that...

According to Daoist thought, love and desire are a power couple - but they need to learn to stop fighting and get along! 

It is taught that these energies are like Fire and Water, the water is always trying to flow down and the fire always trying to blaze up - how can they come together and form a luxurious steam?

This is where yogic exercises have a role.  By using intention, we can guide these polarized energies to interact within our bodies.  When they do, the passionate and generative energy of our sexuality feeds and grows the compassionate energy of our loving heart!  Similarly, the heart's fire warms the watery "urge to merge" and steams it up to a higher, spiritual form.

There's a whole repertoire of techniques to accomplish this inner union and we'll give an overview of the whole system in 'The Dao of Bliss' - coming up on May 27th.  In the meantime, try the exercise in the video linked here - it builds familiarity with the subtle body and can...

Many are unaware that our pelvic floor muscles even exist, let alone how profoundly important they are.  Not only can they contribute to a healthy sex life, but they also help support your entire core musculature that keeps posture upright and strong, and our organs in their optimal positions!

If you are into disciplines like yoga, you are likely more familiar with this hidden musculature than most and may have even felt the benefits of toning the base of the body through the "Root Lock".

In addition to the benefits of toning up the root, things can sometimes go the other way, these muscles can get too tight, and this can cause a number of challenges. Like any muscle in the body, you can get trigger points in the pelvic floor that can cause local or referred pain. 

Similarly, the resting tone of these muscles can become excessive and even cause conditions like vaginissmus and other challenging issues in the genitals.  On the subtle level, according to...

Do you get the springtime sniffles when everything starts to bloom?  Medical Qigong therapy can help!

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, Spring is the time of the 'Wood' element - the energy of life and growth!  This energy has a quality of rising upward.

When this energy rises upward excessively, it is said to cause many of the irritating symptoms associated with springtime allergies such as itchy eyes, sneezing, headache.

Many people have found acupuncture, herbalism, and other secrets from Chinese Medicine bring them much needed relief.  Throughout years of practice, my students and I have discovered that specific qigong exercises can often reduce or even eliminate annoying allergy symptoms!

This week's free video is from the bonus materials of the online mini-course 'Qigong for the Spring Season'.  In it, qigong."prescription" exercises are presented for three major aspects of springtime allergies: Liver Qi Stagnation, Liver Wind (Rising), and...

Under Pressure?  Iron Body Qigong has the answers!

Pressures of various kinds are constantly coming at us from outside: emotional pressures, deadlines, physical stressors, world events.  Left unchecked, it could get pretty overwhelming.

The key is having enough pressure from inside to stand up to external forces without collapsing.  This is the specialty of Iron Body Qigong.

In the ancient martial arts systems it all starts with stances.  Practitioners learn to receive pressure down into their "roots" by having a partner push into them and learning to adjust the structure so they aren't knocked over. 

Eventually this rootedness gives rise to a feeling that you are filled up from below by the power of the earth.  There arises a palpable sense that you are a like a rubber ball - inflated so that incoming forces just bounce right off you.

At this point, the qigong incorporates striking the body with palms, loose fists, or even specialized sticks or...

A big part of how Qigong works is that the practitioner learns to voluntarily evoke mental-emotional states that have beneficial effects on the body and mind.  In this Bear exercise, the internal state one is cultivating is a feeling of being solid and grounded.  

The one minute video above is a clip from last Friday's dojo session with my advanced neigong students.  In it, I walk us through some of the internal mechanics of the 'Bear Bumping' exercise from the Five Animal Frolics Qigong.  (the full-length, practice-along video of the bear qigong can be found here!) 

It should be obvious why the ancients felt this exercise in grounding was beneficial for your 'Earth Element' meridians.  They taught that when we feel stable and supported in this way, we develop an inner sense of trust or settledness. 

The downstream effect is a calm and collected bodymind.  This can keep us from looping in endless worries, restore us from fatigue, and...

The "Five Animal Frolics" of master Hua Tuo may be the most ancient Qigong we know about.

The five animals are the Tiger, Deer, Bear, Monkey, and Eagle.  Because this tradition was lost at one time, there are significant variations between lineages.  Sometimes the Bear represents the winter season, but for us here, it exemplifies the Central Qi of the transition period.

This particular qigong is said to help one navigate the transition between seasons - such as right now as we move from Winter to Spring. 

It does so because all of the movements encourage one to find and move from your CENTER.  As one flows through the Bear exercises, the abdominal organs are massaged, and this benefits the Spleen and Stomach meridians, which are associated with the Earth Element of Chinese medicine - ones inner sense of solidity and support.

Give this 9 minute routine a try and see if it helps you feel stronger, rooted, and stable in the core of your being! 

We all long for Divine Union, the seamless mixing of sovereign souls...

...but most of us don't know that this sacred union is Alchemy Level TWO! There's a foundational training that makes it actually work!

If you want a sacred union of Sun and Moon, you have to create the alchemical vessel, and that is the work of harmonizing the four seasons, which my partner and I will teach on THIS SATURDAY!  It's what primes the "soul" to be a "soul mate".

If only they'd told me years ago that "soul mates" is not something you are, but something you become through inner Work, it would have saved me a LOT of trouble!  

In ancient alchemy, the practice of union of the King and Queen, Sun and Moon, Red and White elements, or Fire and Water is an advanced formula of harmonizing the polarities within one into a dynamic source of spiritual energy.

Outer relationships are an aspect of that inner alchemy.  According to tradition, we find our opposite in another...

Traditional Chinese Medicine claims that the heart and the belly form a synergistic balance. 

Too much energy up in your chest or head and you'll get anxious, insomnia, etc.  But put that energy down in the belly and it just makes your digestion stronger, endurance better, and helps you feel grounded!

Many qigong exercises address this balance by moving the feelings of warmth down to the lower body.  In this exercise from the Seated Brocade Qigong (included in the 'Qigong for Deep Winter' course) the practitioner creates actual heat in the hands, and then places them on the lower back and imagines that the warmth fills the whole belly.  Although it's an ancient exercise, I'm surprised to see how well its elements accord with modern understandings: 

1. Warm hands are associated with relaxation.  In stress, the body pulls circulation away from the extremities.  By bringing awareness to the hands and physically warming them, we can help...

Animal references are EVERYWHERE in the movement arts of ancient cultures: from the famous "dog pose" of yoga, to the Snake style of Kung Fu, movement masters down through the millennia have advised us to mimic our fellow creatures on planet earth!

Is this just a quaint idea from the past, or does it have relevance to our modern, scientific age?  Our ancestors were definitely closer to the natural world than many of us are, and so they had many opportunities to relate with animals in a sacred way.  Often the sacred animal movements would emerge during trance as a way of honoring and embodying the specific power that creature had to offer.  Over time, these dances became codified into a repertoire of healing, and altered-state inducing practices.

I think most immediately applicable to most of us, though, is the fact that Animal movements will force you to move in ways that are unusual.  We all have somatic "blind-spots" where our bodies have contracted around...