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Archive for May, 2005

Song of Central Equilibrium

May 30th, 2005 No comments

Find center!

Relax the chest.
Raise the back.
Enclose the solar plexus.
Protect the cheekbones.
Lift the head.
Suspend solar plexus.
Loosen the shoulders.
Sink the elbows.
Be evasive.
Avoid conflict.

( Wu-Yü-hisiang )

Many qigon practitioners and masters skilled in the internal martial arts say that the most difficult position to achieve is Wu Chi – just normal stance!

Taiji is born of Wu Chi. It is the origin of dynamic and static states and the mother of yin and yang. If they move, they separate. If the remain static, they combine.

( Wangzongyue )

Stand with the feet in shoulder wide position. Big toes in line with nipples. The feet are pointing straight forward and are parallel. Do not let the toes point inward. The weight is evenly distributed on the hole foot of both feet.

The arms are hanging loose and relaxed in a normal position by the side of the body. ( After a while arms are naturally arching slightly to the front as a consequence of the flow of chi. Do not to force this posture or think of achieving it. Just think of the sensation and the new position of the arms as natural! ) Fingers are slightly extended (without stretching) and pointing down towards the earth. Keep your structure effortlessly.

Imagine that the top of the head is slightly pulled up by a golden cord or thread to heaven (Alternatively imagine your head is floating on water and the body settles underneath). Connecting heaven and earth.

Hips are settled and relaxed as if sitting on a horse. Wu Chi is sometimes referred to Ma Bu (horse stance). Tuck in the tailbone, but relax buttocks, straightening the lower part of the back into the ground. Bend the knees slightly so the tip of the knee is over the center of the foot. Knees must not stick out over the tip of the feet. The lower part of the back and hips are relaxed so you can move freely. Neither buttocks or the abdomen are sticking out.

Have a sensation of sinking or melting into the ground on the outside of the body. Have a sensation of inside structure growing up from the knees below ground up through the soil to heaven like the first spring seeds.

Angles, knees, hip, shoulder and ear are perfectly aligned in a straight line over each other. Align navel and nose as well.

Breathing is calm and normal. Your tongue optional touches palate behind the teeth. Send mind to the top of the head when breathing in. Energy stores in center an inch below the navel (Tan Tien). Mouth is closed. Make optional sound of HEN with breath when breathing in. Relax from the lower part of the back and feel the feet when breathing out. Relax chest. Mouth is closed or slightly open. Make optional sound of HA with breath. Observe the movements of Dantian. Keep calm, breath deeply like a long thread and gradually forget the breathing.

Be present in the body. If necessary send mind around as a repair unit or heat projector to relieve tension and open up joints and blockages all over in the body. Pain is normal, body can endure. Send mind to relieve tension by breathing in and out with the point in mention. Shoulders, knees, thighs and sole of feet is normal places of tension.

Relax the neck, chest, shoulders, sink the elbows, relax the hip, knees, angles and feet. Do not lock the joints. Keep the joint light and agile, they should feel like a balloon floating on air! Picture a thread from the knees to the heavens. Make soft upward pressure to the top of the head orginating from below the ground with the feet, angles and knees as gateways to relieve tensions. Make roots well below the ground from knees and down, rising steady like a tree above.

You are sitting on a balloon inflated whit hot air. In fact there are small balloons everywhere in and out of your body – under your armpit, around all joints, between fingers. Go ahead and find them! You are a one big balloon. Project your mind to the horizon. Keep a light natural smile on your face coming from within. Let go of all tensions in you body and mind.

Start standing in the beginning for 5 minutes in the morning then slowly increase to 30 minutes several times a day on your own convenience.

So simple, yet so difficult. Gradually, it seems that the boddy no longer exists, with a feeling of emtiness and transparency both inside and outside. Relax the body and mind, let the spirit raise to the top of the head and observe the wonders of the world without judgment.

We are centered, stable and still
as mountain.
Our Chi sinks to the tan-t’ien and
we are as suspended from above.
Our Spirit is concentrated within and
our outward manner perfectly composed.
Receiving and issuing energy are
both the work of an instant.

( T’an Meng-hsien )

Categories: Culture, Taiji Tags:

Qigong a fountain of life

May 29th, 2005 1 comment

Surely you are interested in good health both in body and mind.

People from all over the world in many separate cultures have been looking for hundreds of years, if not thousands of years, for ways to achieve unity of body and mind. One could think of every different system of exercise or mental practice as an independent road leading to the same destination. Who is to tell which is best?

Ancient China developed many systems that comes together under one description: Qigong

According to the Oxford dictionary Qigong is a Chinese system of physical exercises and breathing control related to Tai Chi.

In martial arts all the internal systems as Taiji, Ba Gua, Hising-I you will find emphasis on the cultivation of energy through Qigong (Chi Kung) exercises.

Qigong is a wonderful world to explore. The benefits of Qigong through rigorous practices is marvelous. Acscending up the staircase to heaven on pure energy. Even the first tiny steeps of Qigong can be felt in both body and mind. Transformation starts after a few months of practise.

Full of energy, full of potential,
Unity of body and mind.
No sense of loss or disconnection,
No self just smiling and happy.

A moment feels like an eternity. Eternity feels like a moment.

Recommended Books: Natural Healing with Qigong by Dr. Aihan Kuhn CMD. YMMA 2004, The way of Energy by Master Lam Kam Chuen

Categories: Culture Tags:

The danish lesson of the war against Iraq?

May 24th, 2005 1 comment

The danish right wing government speaks with two tongues to the world in matters of war!

Denmark decided to go to war in the “coalition of the willing” spearheaded by the US and the UK in 2003. History shows they did it for all the wrong reasons. Intelligence was more than wrong, it was staged to the occasion by the US and UK.

The formal reason used by the government and foreign ministry advisors towards the parliament and the general public was the Iraqi lack of cooperation to disarm according to UN resolutions. The coalition forces went in to war without the backup by the UN Security Counsel. The majority where in favor of giving the weapons inspectors more time to finish their work.

History tells us that according to the rules of the UN treaty an armed attack against Iraq by the coalition forces could not be justified because Iraq where not an immediate threat to any member state of the UN or world peace in the period.

History tells us that Iraq did not have any substantial ties to the horrific 9/11 2001 terror attacks in the US. And importantly Iraq did not posses any of the proclaimed weapons of mass destruction. History shows that the US and UK long before events in the UN Security Council had plans to topple the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

All in all a plot there had and has no legal basis in the UN treaty or international law.

What are the lessons learned by Denmark?

The danish government officially strongly supports the UN system, but at the same time the government still wants to reserve the right to “Just War” outside UN and international law.

Reference: Liberals: No UN mandate needed for war JP 19. maj 2005

Categories: Law, Politics Tags:

Colored Folks?

May 10th, 2005 9 comments

When I born, I black,
When I grow up, I black,
When I go in sun, I black,
When I cold, I black,
When I scared, I black,
When I sick, I black,
And when I die, I still black.

You white folks….
When you born, you pink,
When you grow up, you white,
When you go in sun, you red,
When you cold, you blue,
When you scared, you yellow,
When you sick, you green,
When you bruised, you purple,
And when you die, you gray!
So who you calling colored?

(unknown author)

Categories: Poetry Tags:

As supple as a babe

May 7th, 2005 1 comment

“In concentrating your breath can you become as supple
As a babe?
Can you polish your mysterious mirror
And leave no blemish?”

Lao Tsu Tao Te Ching

Translation by the well renowned D.C. Lau 1963, Penguin Classics

Dear Thitihchai, Thank you for the present of meditation.

Categories: Private Tags: