daoist meditation

Mar

2017

Tree Energy and Cultivating Qi

Taoists observe that trees are tremendously powerful plants. Not only do they absorb carbon dioxide and transform it into oxygen, but they can also absorb negative forces and transform them into good Qi. Trees strongly root within Earth, and the more rooted the tree, the higher it can extend toward Heaven. Trees stand in stillness, absorbing the Earth’s energy and the Universal essence from the Heavens all at once. Trees and all plants have the ability to absorb light and transform it into food; in fact, they depend upon light for most of their nourishment, while water and earth minerals make up about 30% of their nutritional intake.

Trees as Friends • Trees are able to live very long lives. Trees are the largest and most spiritually advanced of the plants on Earth. They are continuously in meditation and subtle energy is their innate language. As one’s understanding of this language grows, we begin to develop a relationship with these life forms. They can help us to open energetic channels and to cultivate calm presence, wisdom, and vitality. We can reciprocate with trees by helping them with their own blockages and devitalized areas. It is a mutually beneficial relationship that needs cultivation.

Choosing a Tree to Work With • Throughout history human beings have used all parts of trees for healing and medicine. The best trees for healing are big trees, especially pines. Pine trees radiate Qi, nourish blood, strengthen nervous system, and contribute to long life. They also nurture Soul and Spirit. Pines are the “Immortal Tree.” Early Chinese poetry and painting is full of admiration for pines. Although pine trees are often the best choice, many other trees or plants can be used. The larger trees contain the most energy. Among the most powerful are trees growing near running water. Some trees feel warmer or hotter than others; some feel cooler or colder than others. Practice distinguishing the varying properties of different trees. One does not need to go far out into the forest to find a tree to work with. Trees that are accustomed to having people around understand our Energy and are actually more accessible and friendly than those far out in the wilderness. There is a certain size range within which trees are most accessible to human beings. When a tree is too small, it does not have enough energy to make much of an impression on you. When the tree is too big, you have the opposite problem, so it takes more persistence to get large trees to take an interest in you. As a source of healing energy, it is best to choose a large, robust tree from within the accessible size range.
Establishing Communion with a Tree • There are certain methods to approaching, interacting with, retreating from, and taking leave of a tree. By following specific steps you create a ritual of silent communion that both the tree and oneself can understand, and so increase the potential for harmonious interaction. The steps were derived from observation of the natural course of events in subtle energy communion, and apply to communion with just about anything: tree, rock, human, or animal, although the following is concerned specifically with trees. First of all, each tree, like each person, has a way of being, desires, and a Life of its own. Trees differ widely in their taste for human contact. Some are very generous and want to give you all the energy you can take. Others are weak or ill and need your comforting and healing energy. Some are just friendly Souls who enjoy human company. You can learn and grow by working with all of them. Trees operate on a longer time scale than do human beings. You can help to bridge this gap by returning again and again to the same tree, so that a relationship develops. Visit regularly so that the tree knows when to expect you and can look forward to seeing you. Spiritual communion with trees resembles love more than any other human activity. Let the tree lead you into the wonders of its own inner life.

Cultivate Well-Being &

Wellness for All Beings!

Mar

2016

Alchemy of Chinese Herbs

Photography Wendy Brown

Herbs and roots are life-nourishing.

They are sustenance as well as medicine,

and convey nature’s forces.

Through their connection to the natural world, herbs and roots of Chinese medicine imbue their resonance with these forces within us.

Regulated by the rhythms of Yin and Yang, influenced by the 5 elements (sun, soil, minerals, water, and other trees and plants), and through their ability to adapt to the climatic factors of heat and cold, wind, dryness and dampness, herbs renew our resilience.

Immortal Mágū collecting medicinal roots, fruits and plants

Chinese medicine has a long history of practices that propagate life; practices to nourish and prolong life through our mental-physical-spiritual oneness with nature. Such concepts and knowledge of creating rarified, spiritual states of being and longevity have passed through Taoist lineages, preserving the Three Treasures Jīng, Qì and Shen.

BURDOCK ROOT

The energetic nature of herbs and other organic substantive matter, in their particular parts, collected and prepared specifically to confer the essence of their elemental forces, guide and help to make whole.

Jan

2014

THE FIVE ELEMENTS IN LIVING FORM ☯

Nurturing core elemental tendencies while simultaneously balancing states of excess through a combination of diet, Chinese herbs and acupuncture and other mind-body techniques, we maintain innate elemental tendencies; transforming what may be hindrances into assets.

FIRE TYPES ☯ Are jovial pleasure-seekers. They like to relax, socialize and have fun. They often seek thrills and excitement, and love to entertain others. They are fascinated by sensory stimuli and often get carried away by the carnival of light, sound and image that the world presents. They often dislike school because it is not fun and the dislike grows as they get older and the workload intensifies. They try to make things more amusing by becoming the class entertainer.

EARTH TYPES ☯ Are all about the social world. They view their worth in terms of interpersonal relationships and they seek social contact. They want to fit in, and often play the role of peacemaker. These are the constant-talkers who get in trouble because they can not contain the need to connect with others. Quiet study periods are torture to them. Social matters are foremost in their minds, and they fret incessantly about who’s talking to whom and who will sit with them at lunch, all seeming far more important than their lessons.

METAL TYPES ☯ Are highly sensitive and detail-oriented. They see things few others do, and have an innate sense of order, beauty and perfection. They seek control and like to see their visions met. They value precision; where a Wood or Fire type might gloss over details, a metal type digs in. The Rigidity, inflexibility and getting stuck in their own sense of right and wrong, leaving no room for others, are a downside. They have difficulty letting go of small details, become anxious when something is not done ‘right,’ and they become negative when they feel out of control.

WATER TYPES ☯ Think and feel very deeply. They live in the realm of ideas and imagination and have only a modicum of interest in the physical, practical world. They are natural wisdom-seekers, and have a rather advanced interior world for their age. They often seem to be ‘off somewhere’, not particularly concerned with punctuality, and respond to time-pressures and other external demands by disconnecting, staring out the window, or retreating to their inner world. [Unlike Wood types who become confrontational, or Fire types who seek thrills, Water element types become withdrawn in chronic stress situations.]

WOOD TYPES ☯ Are very physical, competitive and want to be first. Natural leaders; they always want to win, to be in front. Pioneers who see a path and want to take it. They usually win the enthusiasm of peers. Since they live primarily in the physical world, they often act out physically when stressed, becoming aggressive, argumentative, ‘In your face.’ Under duress, they become the restless and assertive ‘Wild Child.’

* Dr. Stephen Cowan, who studied with Efrem Korngold, co-author of the modern TCM classic, Between Heaven and Earth, has spent 20 years affirming the distinctions of the Five Elements. He has amassed a vast library of work with thousands [of children] across the developmental spectrum, and believes the elemental tendencies begin to show themselves within the first year or two of life.