Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle Washington

The current manifestation of the last 26 years of my journey is a brand-new, six-CD series (also available as a download).

Click for more information. To order, look for “Feldenkrais/Qi Gong Products” button.

Just scroll down to check out my blog. Thank you for celebrating with me!

Blessings, Carrie

We are not separate from Nature. Magnify the view by 10,000 and you could be in the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Go 10,000 in the other direction and you could be in the zero point field of vibrating strings and the vast reservoir of all possible energy. Either direction of magnification from the center of the human being takes you to the same view–a vibrating, fluxing and constantly moving spiral of energy. We are made of the same stuff—hence our inability to be separate.

THE VAST AND THE TINY

The center of our Milky Way Galaxy is a black hole in the shape of a vortex or a spiral. The physics of a black hole are amazing and are being studied in depth. Check out Brian Greene’s ” The Elegant Universe” for fascinating reading about the relationship between black holes (the center of our galaxy) and the tiniest of all matter (elementary particles) and how they are the same………..

Both black holes and elementary particles have a spin—a spiraling spin that is constantly dynamically changing. It can be measured. We are made of the same energetic spiraling energy and can measure our own ‘spin’ through our own internal sensory system.

The physics of the miniscule and the vast are fascinatingly complicated. They are endlessly spiraling themselves through possibly many more than the 3 dimensions that we are usually aware of. Check out this Ted Talk by Brian Greene.

Brian Greene-Universe on a String

The most powerful lab to study is the one within your very own inner world. The richness, subtlety, and refinement of your sensory study will open you to the world of the miniscule and the world of the vast as they all live together within you, and all around you in the world of Nature.

Have you ever watched a sprout unfurl over time and observed the nonlinear path it takes through space? If you have a garden it is simple to do. Check out a budding tree in the springtime. Commit to watching a sprout for just a minute or two each day and create your own perspective on the graceful rounded arc of the leaves as they unfold and of the stem as it moves upward through space.

There is nothing straight about the process. The sprout intricately and gracefully unfurls through it’s own unique spiral shape into all dimensions at the same time. This is an amazing process. You can sense this if you just take a few moments each day to consistently observe the constant miniscule changes.

Have you ever sat at the zone of the ocean’s edge without thinking, planning or doing? Just allow yourself all the time you need. Invite the continuous rolling waves to bring their beautiful, graceful, curved roundedness to you one after the other. The shape of the universal spiral is so easy to feel and to see as the wave rolls over onto itself or as it laps and rolls onto the shore.

YOUR INNER WORLD

If we are interconnected with Nature, and with the miniscule and with the vast, then our own internal world and externally viewed movements must have the same qualities. This is easy to see as you watch a perfectly executed jump and turn by an ice dancer or a complicated multi-twisting dive by an expert high diver. We all know by sight and by internal sensation those moments we observe a perfect spiral within movement. This is because it feels effortless and graceful even just in our observation of it. Notice how you feel it–not just how you see it.

All efficient movement has this universal quality within it. Efficient movement doesn’t have to be ‘perfect’ or highly complicated or athletic. It feels like grace or ease. It can show up in any movement. You sense the universal qualities of flow, smoothness and ease that are similar to what you feel when observing the ice dancer or the diver.

These qualities of smoothness, roundedness, arc-like, continuousness, grace, connectedness, fluidity and ease can clearly be known. These qualities show up as continual movement through an intricate dynamic multi-dimension spiral. Access is made through wonder and inquiry. About any of your movement intentions. That includes those inner movements of your thoughts and emotions as well as those movements of your body and limbs in space.

UNIVERSAL SPIRALING SENSATION

The unfurling of efficient movement for us—no matter what our task at hand is—shows up within our internal sensation as a sense of graceful ease. The same way it does for us when we watch the sprout, the wave, the ice dancer, or high diver. It isn’t the task that matters but the awareness of the unfolding internal sensation that matters.

Join my upcoming retreat at Breitenbush Hot Springs Nov 13-16, 2011 to experience first hand the connection of your awareness to the universal spiral within stillness and movement. Through gentle self-exploration of your inner world you will connect to the spirals within and without. Immerse yourself in practices that will be directly useful in these transformational times. Practices will be taken from Feldenkrais ATM®, Healing Qi Gong, Vipassana Meditation, Joanna Macy’s The Work that Reconnects, and Nature-based Shamanism.

Join Carrie at Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle for a class or a workshop. She can be reached at http://www.movementfromwithin.net, 206-459-1773, or feldychi@comcast.net.

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Your choice. Always. Habit isn’t a choice–it is a reaction. Aware choice is a response. Which will you create?

Habit will likely have you creating effort. Too much effort to ‘push your way through’–Fight. Too much effort ‘to avoid the situation’–Flight. Too much effort by holding a rigid view that ‘there is no other way’—Freeze.

Aware choice will have you curious, wondering, and sensing. Always sensing. For your inner flow. Sensing for your inner world to show you flow–through a deep breath, a slightly more open and expansive sense within yourself as well as the obvious —a sense of moving in the direction of more continuous smoothness in your movements.

This requires practice. Any path of awareness requires cultivation of a practice. Deep inner inquiry, gentle yet fierce persistence, courage to stay present for what shows up and much compassion/kindness for the continual requirement to practice….again and again. To choose to wake up…..again.

We are in a time of great transformation. The chaos/effort in our Mother Earth and in our global world is a direct reflection of the chaos/effort in our collective species as well as in each of us personally. The way from Fight/Flight/Freeze effort in our planet to Flow can only be traversed through the same path in each of our inner worlds.

This transformation is an inside out job. The only way to move towards Flow–having the whole operate with harmony and ease—is to practice. Cultivate this practice in your own lab–your inner world. Frequently. Notice with curiosity. Play Wonder, Notice again. Refine your noticing.

Allow your own inner wisdom to ‘pay forward’ each noticing to a future moment. This will slowly allow your innate inner wisdom to arise in those future moments. You will begin to act with Flow. Finding yourself much closer to Flow earlier in those future moments. You will begin to feel improved ability to find grace, ease and connection–no matter your circumstances.

The amount of Flow experienced in each of us adds up to the amount of flow experienced by our collective. The amount of Flow experienced by our collective relates to how we experience our global world. Fight/Flight/ Freeze effort in the world equals the same within each of us. Practice changing your inner world towards Flow and experience your perception of tour global world and your actions within it changing. Towards a sense of increased ease/flow –no matter the circumstances.

We will only transform our world through committed cultivation of self-awareness practices. There are many available: FELDENKRAIS, Qi Gong, Meditation, Yoga, Shamanic indigineous wisdom and many others. Choose one, commit to a practice. Begin now! Our world is crying out for YOU TO BEGIN and for YOU TO CONTINUE…..to notice and to cultivate noticing again.

Are you moving from Fight/Flight/Freeze towards…….FLOW?

Join Carrie at Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle for a class or a workshop. She can be reached at http://www.movementfromwithin.net, 206-459-1773, or feldychi@comcast.net

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I have some exciting news to share. I feel like I have been pregnant for awhile and am very ready to deliver. Pregnant with a creative project that has been unfolding for pretty much the past year. It is coming very near delivery time and I have decided to share the upcoming birth with you now. I am very excited to do so!

I am creating my first work to enter the public realm! It is a 6-CD series entitled The Walking Way: Stepping Into Awareness. It is a combination of Feldenkrais ATM® Walking Lessons and Five Element Qi Gong Meditations. The two are woven together in a unique spiraling path to access greater ease, efficiency and embodied wisdom.

I am very grateful for all of the amazing and abundant help that has been provided to me along the creative path of manifesting this birth. It truly takes a village as they say! My village has been, and continues to be incredible! Much gratitude fills my heart.

I can now look forward to sharing this with you. Look for information on my website in the next couple of months on how to order the series.

Blessings,
Carrie

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Two things I treasure and hold very dear to me……my Qi Gong practice and my garden. They both help me to survive and to refine my survival to a much more vital, joyful, connected, peaceful, insightful, adaptable, and vibrant state!

I grow a lot of my own food in my garden. I know what goes in—into the soil, the types of seeds, the organic fertilizers and soil amendments, the water, and the love and gratitude of my own hands (and feet) in the dirt. I know what comes out–organic food brought to manifestation by a co-creation of Mother Nature and me! Being involved in this process from seed to sprout to bud to leaf to fruit and back to seed again year after year is incredible on many levels. Having an intimate interconnection with all of Mother Nature’s cycles allows me to feel and see them right before my hands and eyes! This brings wisdom, joy, gratitude and direct nurturance in the form of organic food to my being!

CULTIVATE YOUR INNER GARDEN

Qi Gong practice is like cultivating an inner garden. Instead of growing beets, tomatoes and all the other varieties of fruits and veggies, you are cultivating all of the varieties of your inner ‘food’. Just like my veggie garden, I know what goes in–from my Qi Gong practice. What goes in is the study of the dynamic changing postures, the constant flux of energy that can be noticed on a very subtle level, the study of the passage of the breath, the continual wisdom, calmness and stillness that is created within a space of just allowing and noticing, and the monitoring of the intent of the unfolding series of movements called a Qi Gong form. These are like knowing the water, the type of compost and seeds, and the intent of the planting schedule in my veggie garden. In the same way, if I know what goes in and I pay attention, I am likely to know what comes out of my Qi Gong practice! The highest level of harmony of my body, mind, and spirit is what I receive–with gratitude and joy!

Just like cultivating a food garden will produce the most vibrant, flavorful, nutrient-rich, and healthy fruits and veggies, cultivating an internal garden through Qi Gong will do the same! Your body/mind/spirit is vibrant and vivid in all your senses, nutrient-rich in all of the qualities of wisdom, insight and connection to Source, and vital in the highest level of health and adaptability!

CULTIVATE DIVERSITY, STRENGTH, & ADAPTABILITY

Countless studies have shown the multitude of benefits from a regular Qi Gong practice. More importantly, about 5000 years of continuity of practice shows the benefits in direct experience. The benefits are numerous. These include: a strengthened immune system for maximizing your adaptability to life’s circumstances, a deep calmness and relaxation with a maintained alertness that accesses your intuitive wisdom, reduced blood pressure and stress levels, reduced musculoskeletal pain and tension, increased flexibility, balance, and a true functional graceful strength. Most importantly you access your wisdom of knowing your interconnection to All That Is through refining your awareness.

Qi is the vital life force that animates all. All sentient beings and all living and changing systems in Nature are just different manifestations of Qi. My highest level of health and connection of mind/body/spirit is maintained by knowing that dynamic harmony of the constant changing state of Qi within me and within my interactions with All That Is. Through cultivating a Qi Gong practice, I am much more likely to ward off an external invader of Qi such as a virus, a toxin, or a response of fear. My internal Qi is either stronger, more diverse, more subtle, more flexible, less fixed (and the list goes on) than the external invader. Through continuing to notice these changes, I increase my health and adaptability even more.

This is just the same way that a healthy, vibrant and diverse garden can continue to thrive and adapt to low water, high heat, windy or humid conditions and ward off those invaders and continue to thrive. Not only continue to thrive but to grow in adaptability, strength, and wisdom.

ENJOY THE FRUITS OF YOUR INNER PRACTICE

A regular Qi Gong practice will allow you a consistent opportunity to practice your skills of walking through this life. Continuing to stay present for those moments when apathy or boredom sets in and you continue to find curiosity within your practice. Continuing to stay present for those moments when you try too hard and grasp onto ‘doing the form correctly’ actually then doing it in a very stiff way but then finding your inner calm to notice and reduce the unnecessary effort. Staying present for those moments when there is frustration for ‘not getting’ the complexity of a new move and then finding the inner softness to expand your noticing and allow a new possibility to emerge. Staying present for your busy monkey mind that constantly goes here and there within your practice which allows a continual opportunity to draw yourself back to just directly experiencing ‘this moment’.

Learning to lightly find a harmonious balancing between all of the above in your Qi Gong practice spills over to how you have to constantly navigate the same forces in all aspects of your life. This consistent practice, over time, brings the same wisdom, joy, peace, health, vitality, adaptability, insights, and presence to all aspects of your life.

Please join Carrie at Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle for an upcoming Qi Gong class or workshop. She can be found at (206) 459-1773, feldychi@comcast.net or http://www.movementfromwithin.net.

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Somewhere I heard this story. I don’t remember exactly where. It goes like this.

There was a statement made something like…..”I don’t know where to start or which choice to make to dig my well in order to find water.” This person went to someone wise who gave advice to locate a particular site with particular qualities and dig there. Digging commenced and very soon became mundane. No water was found. A much wiser person was located and consulted with. The first location was promptly judged as completely inadequate and a waste of time. A description of another location with different qualities was given and an encouragement made to dig there. Digging commenced again and became uninteresting in a different sort of a way over time. No water was found again. This sort of activity was repeated many times. Eventually this being found a very ordinary person digging a well in a very ordinary location. The well was very deep and filled with water. Through conversation this well-seeker discovered how this ordinary person had stayed with countless moments of mundane digging interspersed with wonder, hope, and fearless persistence until water was discovered. A desire to abandon the project for something better had arisen many times but was not acted upon.

What is the meaning that is important in this story? Well, simply said, you must be dedicated, open-hearted, and stay in one place (or stay connected to one clear intent) while exploring the depths in order to access the well of Wisdom.

OPEN HEARTED PRACTICE

There are many authentic, valid, profound, and effective paths to access inner knowing. All paths that are accessing your inner wisdom (that is interconnected to the larger Universal Wisdom), will require a dedicated and open-hearted practice. One that continues. One that becomes more and more subtle over time in how to allow continued access to Universal Wisdom. This staying and becoming deeper and more subtle in your practice over time is development.

Universal Wisdom holds all beings as equally important. Universal Wisdom always contains both compassion and Wisdom and holds all consciousness in Universal Love. Development of one person or development of many beings as a collective will always allow continued access without stepping on anyone in order to aid only yourself.

GROWTH IS NOT THE SAME AS DEVELOPMENT

Growth, on the other hand, is not the same as development. Growth is just getting larger. A pile of trash can grow but doesn’t have to develop. Growth is obtaining more, just for that sake only. Usually with only a single interest in mind. Growth is about acquiring more–for your own sake, in order to feel safer, richer, smarter, etc…..

Just like in the story, when one is on a path of inner development (could be called a path of Awareness or a path to know Interconnectedness or Wholeness) a type of practice is located and digging (inner practice) begins. With a deep inner work, all kinds of hindrances to continuing to practice are guaranteed to arise. These moments are sure to create an inner state of discontent and set up a desire to go and find a new location to start digging (practicing) a new well (a new practice). That other location will always appear greener of course! When you get there, it won’t necessarily be so however! You will still run into yourself there.

WHAT GETS IN THE WAY?

There are common hindrances to any practice of development. If the hindrances are not noticed and continued, unaware practice can fall into a ‘growth-only’ category and/or will definitely fall into the realm of unawareness. The hindrances are universal human reactions from the ego and are termed differently in different models. In Buddhism, there are five hindrances (that is exactly what they are called). These are attachment, aversion, agitation, sloth and doubt. In terms of Feldenkrais or Qi Gong thinking (for example while doing a Feldenkrais ATM lesson or a Qi Gong form), they may have slightly different names but mean the same thing.

Attachment means getting stuck on a belief (therefore, on an internal image) that ‘this way’ is the right way or the only way to practice or to do a particular movement. Moshe called this the Image of Achievement. We only see our goal and force ourselves to get there or stay there.

Attachment basically means we continue only because we initially ‘like’ some sensation and don’t continue a more refined inner inquiry about whether this action continues to serve the higher good of us personally and the collective.

Aversion is the opposite of attachment. Aversion means getting stuck on a belief (and an internal image) that ‘this way’ is the wrong way or a way never to be investigated. Moshe Feldenkrais called this the pattern of anxiety. We contract, close down, and hold ourselves in place with excessive tension. Aversion shows up as a reaction to an initial sensation that we don’t like and we over-react and push away or hold ourself at bay from further inquiry once again.

Typically in Feldenkrais ATM/FI practice or Qi Gong practice, I describe attachment as how we ‘help’ the intent without inquiry and aversion as how we ‘resist’ the moment without further inquiry.

Agitation shows up in any development of an inner world practice as chaotic, scattered or very restless energy. During Feldenkrais or Qi Gong practice thinking agitation shows up very much the same way as it does in a meditation practice. In Qi Gong this is called the monkey mind.

I usually refer to this state by this sort of example. Practice is just getting started and your mind is so cluttered with what you will be doing next, evaluating what happened a moment ago, or having very unnecessary ideas become overwhelming such as a desire to have to clean the kitchen. Agitation like this is manifest physically as extreme fidgeting. Our lack of focus prevents further inquiry.

Sloth is the opposite of agitation. Another word for sloth could be apathy or sluggishness. One result of sloth from Feldenkrais thinking is that we remain in our fixed images, beliefs and movement patterns. In other words, we continue to do what we are already doing endlessly. Once again sluggishness shows up universally the same in any type of practice. During an ATM or Qi Gong practice our mind becomes dull or passive and we are unmotivated to engage in noticing or even in practicing itself. The end result is we do not engage in further inquiry.

The final hindrance is doubt. I feel it, on most levels, is the most insidious and subtle in some of the ways we manifest undermining our inner development. There is no sense of wonder with doubt. Moshe said during ATM very often, “Do it as if it doesn’t matter—just be curious.”

Often doubt is what leads us to abandon our current inner inquiry and ‘go looking’ for a new location to dig a new well. We question everything. Are we doing it right? Are we getting it? I’m not good enough or as good as…..

My direct experience is that as a culture we are one of the most self-doubthing and self-critical cultures that exists. Doubt stops further inner inquiry directly in it’s tracks. No possibility of development.

DEVELOP DEEPLY AND THEN GROW WISELY

Development requires going deep with your inner inquiry process. it requires recognizing any of the hindrances all along the way. From their gross manifestations to their most subtle manifestations, the process of discarding the effort created from any of the hindrances is the practice of inner deveopment itself. Staying connected to our inner sensory world with a delicate, continuously balancing, and changing awareness is inner inquiry.

Otherwise, we fall into the other realm–growth. Growth can mean just acquiring more practices to have them or switching practice constantly and not delving deeply. It can also mean growing our current way of being into a more deeply engrained habit of stagnation, apathy or fixed belief images or self-criticism. With aware development in hand, growth can then become wise and they can grow together.

Collectively our world is learning the same lessons we each are learning individually. Our planet, our communities, our inter and inner relationships cannot be sustained or know the wisdom and joy of awakening from an unrestrained growth model. Development is necessary. The time is here–now. Start digging. Stay put and explore. Dig some more!

Please join Carrie for a class or workshop at Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle. She can be contacted at (206) 459-1773, http://www.movementfromwithin.net or feldychi@comcast.net.

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It is no surprise that the words whole, holistic, and holy all derive from the same root. This word is the Greek word root holos–meaning whole—such as pure, healthy, complete, unviolated, entire. That leads once again to no surprise that whole, healthy, and complete in bodymind is the same as whole in spirit. We can’t effect one without simultaneously creating a change in the other. There are no parts. No parts in Nature, Humans, or anywhere in the Universe. Only a complex interconnected web of wholes within wholes within wholes…….Wholeness.

WHOLENESS ALREADY IS

Wholeness already exists. Wholeness always exists. It is unnecessary (or possible) to ‘fix’ parts and then insert them back into the whole in order to ‘improve’ it. Wholeness of body/mind/spirt—the whole body-mind-spirit phenomenon always is. The excess efforts that continue unnoticed in sensation to us in our thoughts, emotions and actions are what create layers of perceptual non-clarity, leading to an unwise belief that we are not whole. The word heal is also derived from the same root, holos. To heal is to return to knowing our inherent Wholeness already is– that which already is.

Most people who walk through my door as clients come seeking relief of this pain or that—named as a particular body part. “My knee hurts.” “My back has flared up again.” Most people are seeking an ‘improvement’ in the part they are experiencing as uncomfortable or somehow ‘not whole.’ An improvement in the part so they will be healed. This unwise view continues to feed the existing pattern of the effort of ‘trying’ and creates more separateness or ‘part-making’ within the existing whole.

AWARENESS WITH A CAPITAL A

Awareness is pure, whole, completely unconditioned. This is Awareness with a capital A. This Wisdom, Purity, and Wholeness isn’t within us. It is us. We are Awareness. The process of slowly learning how to connect through refining your skill level of noticing your inner sensations-is-the process of Awareness. This is the process of returning or re-discovering Wholeness. The process of healing. Knowing the unequivocal interconnection of Body-Mind-Spirit. This is the process of Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle.

Therefore, the return discovery path to Wholeness through Awareness is one and the same for what we term physical or emotional healing and whatever is our spiritual path. They are inseparable. The type of spirituality I am referring to is a recognition of the interconnection of spirit (inherent Wholeness and Wisdom) within and that same Wholeness and Wisdom in all that exists, seen and unseen. I often refer to this as All That Is and Isn’t. This path of returning or rediscovering interconnection with spirit occurs through noticing your inner world within Awareness.

PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY

Aldous Huxley’s Perennial Philosophy states as it’s fourth doctrine that across the board, all spiritual traditions at their most basic level say that human’s presence on this planet solely is to know our own interconnection with Spirit or our Divine Nature. To have direct experience of that knowing—not a blind or dogmatic belief. This is his second doctrine.

We are the only species on this planet that can become fully conscious of our own consciousness. Become fully awakened. Enlightened. Liberated. Experience Salvation. Return to Great Spirit. Different cultures and traditions name it diferently but there is only one Awakening. It is a Universal Truth. The Universal Truth.

THE FUNNEL PATH

The path towards true directly experienced awakening or return to Wholeness can be thought of like a funnel. Whatever path you start on at the outside widest part of the funnel must travel through the internal sensations (with aware noticing) in order to move into the direction of the most slender portion of the funnel. Once through the slender portion , you come out the other side into the vast Mystery, Source, Wisdom or All That Is (whatever you want to name it) and realize a fully awakened state. You also realize that the vast Mystery you are now interconnected to is surrounding and containing the whole funnel path. Both sides of what you thought was the funnel are contained within Awareness.

No matter what path you start on at the widest part of the funnel (as different as they may seem way out at the edge of the funnel) they all have to travel through the same sorts of internal body/mind/sensations the closer they get to the slender nozzle of the funnel. There are no differences at that point. The process of returning to Wholeness through Awareness is the process of refining your inner sensations through thoughts, emotions, and actions in order to discard any efforts extraneous to that Wholeness. Both Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle will allow you to enter that same state of Wholeness.

This requires working with all of your sensations. Those prior to an onset of an intention you may have. Those after an action has been completed. Most important (because we have less tendency to notice these particular moments) is to notice the sensations in the space between intention and action. Noticing sensations while doing. Completely while doing. Experiencing just the moment that is. Nothing other. Nothing added or subtracted.

Awareness surrounds and envelops the noticing with all of it’s qualities. Qualities of purity, wholeness, wisdom, compassion, joy, harmony, balance, and love. All of these qualities are then brought to your noticing of intentions, actions, and the spaces between.

INTENTIONS AND OUT-TENTIONS

When intentions arise from this space they are truly intentions. Arising from wise conscious Awareness. Arising from within. Otherwise they are what I call out-tentions. These, on the other hand, arise from the nature of the grasping or rejecting mind (otherwise known as the Ego) and they are focused outward. Focused on a goal ‘out there’. Goal of a thing or a person or an experience.

There is little to no monitoring of the space within and due to this the action that is created from an out-tention will have loads of effort contained within the perceptual experience holding the action. The experience is a series of parts (within and without) and an attempt to control the experience.

This does not mean that an intention does not have directionality or other parameters (a goal so to speak). However, this directionality is frequently monitored by observing the internal sensations while the acting arising from the intending is being experienced. Noticing while doing……again.

“Moving” our intentions, our noticing, and our actions toward this monitoring allows us to begin to to truly know a Universal sense of Wholeness within and allows our intentions, spaces between intention and actions, and our actions to be guided by those sensations. Allows our wholeness within body-mind-spirit to be known–fully. this makes the path of returning to knowing wholeness or holiness the same. This it the path of healing.

Feldenkrais work, Qi Gong, and Meditation are all different paths at the widest part of the funnel although they intersect somewhere on the path to the slender nozzle end of the funnel by accessing the same inner states. The state of holy, healed Wholeness.

Join Carrie at Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle for a class, workshop , or private session to access your state of healing towards your Wholeness Within. Carrie can be contacted at feldychi@comcast.com, http://www.movementfromwithin.net, or (206) 459-1773.

Remaining present for what is…..what is just currently unfolding with allowing open awareness while engaging a stable, clear, open intent and paying attention while doing is what Qi Gong is.

Qi Gong is a sacred mind/body/spirit connection that is rooted in ancient Chinese Shamanic culture. Qi Gong evolved out of a time when humans and Nature were recognized as interconnected and actively engaged with. For example the water flowing in the river in it’s many forms of bubbly, deep, forceful, and trickling was found within the sense of being of those ancient humans and around them as well as within the very nature of water itself. Those same qualities could not be separated from within their daily thoughts, feelings, actions and interactions with All That Is.

All That Is included the elements within Nature (fire, water, wood, metal, and earth) and all they combined to become such as plants, animals, humans, as well as the cosmos, celestial bodies and all the cycles that interconnected and ran simultaneously through them all.

ANCIENT ONENESS CONNECTION

Our ancient ancestors all over the world in many different cultures during these times all knew this interconnection with All That Is. They realized the cycles that were manifest in nature were also manifest in the cosmos and in humans. The complex, diverse, rich and vibrant web of ‘livingness’ of All That Is was embodied and held sacred in all moments of doing and being. All moments and things and creatures were imbued with Spirit.

This ‘oneness’ was able to be embodied within the very simple (but not unchallenging) existence that was. This recognition of the inseparable existence of humans’ inner nature with Mother Nature just ‘was the way it was’ —sort of like water is to a fish. This universal truth was present in many cultures around the world and is the basis for the longstanding wisdom inherent in many indigenous Nature based systems as well as the Daoist, Buddhist, and Vedic traditions and at the core of all of the worlds’ great spiritual traditions (before the focus on duality and/or patriarchy become prominent). The nuances of each tradition obviously became shaped by the individual cultures surrounding this universal truth.

Within each tradition were other archetypal manifestations of that interconnection with All That Is Universal Truth. There was a way to access this interconnection for healing, defense, connection with the inner and outer environment, and for spiritual connection and evolution. These archetypal ways to access became embodied as ‘ways of being and/or doing’ over thousands of years of practice.

SHEN IS DIFFERENT THAN QI

The ancient Chinese (including what is presently today Nepal and Tibet) shamanic cultures termed the Universal life force vitality or energy that imbued All That Is with the name Yuan Shen—Original Spirit– a living Spirit within all. Qi is the energetic manifestation of Yuan Shen in all forms of matter within All That Is—the vital life force that animates all.

Qi can be felt, connected and communicated with and refined infinitely for any intent (as above–for healing, defense or for spiritual connection). Most importantly it was recognized that all of these intents were comprised of the same energetic forms and the intent of the moment could lead the energy to manifest differently from one moment to the next. They manifested as a harmonious, dynamic, continually alive interweaving process running through the cycles of the Cosmos, the Earth, the human and the interrelationship between them all.

This living interconnected web was followed, embodied, studied, communed with, honored and co-created directly with for healing and spiritual connection. This process became known as Qi Gong. Gong means ‘study of or cultivation of’ and Qi is the vital life force running through all. Qi Gong–cultivation or study of Qi.

Yuan Shen (or Original Spirit) was recognized to have specific different manifestations in Mother Nature that correlated with physiological processes within a human and directly with human nature. The major elements and cycles of Mother Nature were recognized directly in an individual human’s complex physical, mental and spiritual processes. These two complex, and living dynamic webs of interrelationships (Mother Nature and Human Nature) kept a harmonious dynamic living (so constantly moving, transforming and transmuting) for health and vitality and connection to All That Is.

Everything was imbued with Spirit and these had specific names and qualities with completely embodied relationships between Mother Nature and Human Nature. Each of the major elements and their qualities in Mother Nature had a corresponding living relationship in the human. This relationship was an energetic one and not one that only existed in the anatomical part of the human it was named by. This complex living web of relationship was connected to by the living Spirit in all things. The five major solid human organs housed a specific manifestation of Yuan Shen, each with it’s own name and complex qualities. These five spirits were the direct energetic manifestations in humans as they were in Mother Nature.

Each of the five organ spirits is linked to the five major elements in Mother Nature and linked to a complex series of qualities within the human. These relationships are what true Daoist Medicine is based on (not a westernized version where the Spirit of the Method has been removed). This is also what an alchemical Daoist/Buddhist practice with Chinese shamanic roots is based on and what the ultimate intent of that practice is for— the spiritual connection, healing and transmutation to a divine and enlightened co-creation with Yuan Shen (Original Spirit).

FIVE SPIRITS AND FIVE ELEMENTS

The qualities and interrelationships are very complex and too complicated for this post. I will cover them only briefly here. When the word heart is used it means heart/mind—there is no separation. The heart spirit is called Shen and is our knowledge and desire. It is linked to the red bird, the element fire, the color red, the season summer, the emotion excitement, the taste bitter and the heat of the day (around noon time).

The lung spirit is called Po and is our animal nature or aliveness. It is linked to the white crane, the element metal (you can think of it also as mineral), the color white, the season autumn, the emotion sadness, the taste spicy, and the late afternoon time.

The liver spirit is called the Hun and is our imagination. It is linked to the blue/green dragon, the element wood, the color green, the season spring, the emotion anger, the taste sour, and the early morning hours.

The Spleen/Stomach spirit is called the Yi and is our intention. It is linked to the Bear, the element Earth, the color yellow, the season Late Summer, the emotion anxiety or worry, the taste sweet and linked to the times after we eat.

The kidney spirit is called the Zhi and is our will. It is linked to the turtle, the element water, the color indigo, the season winter, the emotion fear, the taste salty, and the late evening time period.

Please remember these organ spirits are just a direct connection to our non-separateness from Yuan Shen or All That Is. They are just housed in each of these solid organs but the energetic relationship has many complex linkings outside of the anatomical organ.

Here are some examples. Our heart fire creates our desire and knowledge as well as our passion and warmth and maintains the health of our small intestine and blood vessels. Our lung metal energetic system is related to our clarity and sharpness as well as our potential coldness and maintains the health of our large intestine, skin, hair and nose. Our liver wood energetic system is also related to our vision (both our direct vision of seeing with our eyes and also our wisdom or insight) and maintains the health of our tendons and gall bladder. Our spleen/stomach earth system is related to our continuousness, our steadfastness, our groundedness, our ability to transform and absorb, and maintains the health of our muscles and our lips. Our kidney water system is related to our trustworthiness, our perseverance, our strength (both of our bones as well as ourselves) and maintains the health of our urinary bladder, teeth and ears.

Lake Aititlan, Guatemala—Finding Earth Within Water

QI GONG AS A PRACTICE

The study or cultivation of Qi known as Qi Gong is just a way of finding connection to the spirit that lives within us non-separate from the spirit within Yuan Shen or All That Is. Qi is the energetic manifestation of each of these five spirits and can therefore be communicated with on a level that can be learned with clear and regular “noticing within” practice. The quality of the open and clear relationships of the five elements and the five organ spirits is what determines our health, our vitality, and our spiritual connection and evolution. All diseases, imbalances and difficulties come from a disharmony at the Yuan Shen level (and it’s specific manifestation–Shen, Po. Hun, Yi and Zhi) first and then at the Qi level and finally shows up at the body level (known as the Jing level).

When Shen and/or Qi is healthy then the complex living web of life flows easily and harmoniously and we connect with the nature of reality as it is. Just like in Mother Nature there are many complex cycles that keep a dynamic living harmonious balance.

One of these cycles is the cycle of generation (or life cycle). This cycle goes like this: water nourishes wood, wood feeds fire, burned wood turns to ash and creates earth, earth disintegrates into the minerals of metal and metal holds water. Another is the cycle of destruction (or control cycle). This cycle goes like this: water controls fire, fire melts metal, metal cuts wood, wood contains earth and earth limits and controls water. These cycles and many others represent the complex relationships living within All That Is.

Qi Gong cultivation or practice uses meditation, visualizations, breath work, and specific movement sequences called Forms to explore the state and quality of Qi and Shen within the human self and the state or quality of that connection to All That Is. Different Qi Gong forms connect to different organ systems and their complex interrelationships and cultivate knowing their manifestation as Qi within the internal human sensory system. Qi Gong forms can really only benefit you if practiced and studied with and open heartmind over a period of time.

First there is an intent to create a state of stillness or quiet. This is done paradoxically through specific movement sequences being studied with an inward focus. Over time this stillness leads to a stability of the heartmind as the form is studied with a clear intent and an open yet precise focus. With further practice this stable stillness within creates a sense of calmness. When this state is reached with regularity, a multitude of wisdoms, insights, clarity and spontaneous wise knowing arise within you. These qualities arise as a direct knowing of your interconnection to All That Is and lead to health, vitality, wisdom and compassion in all of your actions relative to All That Is. This of course include your relationship to yourself, others, the Environment, and to Spirit.

Qi Gong is not a series of movements or exercises to stretch or strengthen you in any sort of traditional western way of thinking. Qi Gong is a powerful body/mind/spirit practice that can be done by anyone. It only takes an open heartmind, a clear intent to participate with your own internal world and a commitment to present practice. The ‘return to’ Original Spirit or All That Is that ensues is what All That Is is all about.

Qi Gong forms connect to specific Mother Nature qualities as animal or element qualities that are manifested as the spirit within us. The movements of a form can exhibit any of those qualities and are done with an ever-deepening study of your own internal sensations that match the studied qualities.

QI GONG AS POETRY

The ultimate intent of Qi Gong practice is to have the desire and knowledge of the heart Shen drop through the animal nature of the lung Po with the intent of Spleen Yi entwined to liver Hun imagination and finally connect to our kidney Zhi will and lead our lives from a wise place of compassionate and connected action. Otherwise our heart Shen desire and knowledge leads us on a separate path of living disconnected to our innate interconnection to All That Is. This path leads to disconnected actions to ourselves, others, and to/with our planet. This is the path we as a species are being faced with in our current times. This disconnected path has the potential to lead to our destruction as a species.

Poetically this is represented in Chinese symbology as the red bird (heart Shen ) of excitement must be gently ‘caged’ by the bear, crane and dragon (spleen/stomach, lung, liver) to ‘drop down’ to the level of the turtle (kidney) will and allow that diverse and vibrant alchemical mixing (of earth and heaven or yin and yang) to create a sacred passion for living– and knowing that living in an interconnected way.

Join Carrie’s upcoming Qi Gong in Seattle class starting on Sept 13, 2010 to be held at Chen School of Taiji in Fremont. See www. movementfromwithin.net/workshops.html for details. You can also contact Carrie at (206) 459-1773 or feldychi@comcast.net

The new growth of spring blossoms into the full bloom of summer which recedes into the harvest of autumn and then sits in the quiet of winter germinating the cycle to restart again with the new growth of spring. We also live year after year within this cycle often not recognizing all of the little deaths that occur in order for the rebirths that follow keeping the wave of the cycle going. Do you find yourself ever resisting the change of seasons? Not wanting the cycle to flow as it is? To ride the wave of reality, we must be truly present for all that is.

The deaths and the rebirths–these are the transformations of our realities—of our lives. Finding a harmonious flow between and among the many deaths and rebirths or ups and downs of our lives is the action of finding peace. This is found in the presence of each unfolding mundane moment after the next.

In the martial arts Tai Chi Classics there is a line that says ‘invest in loss’. For a martial artist who has a deep internal arts practice this is a philosophy embedded in all of practice. During a two-person defense/offense movement energy study (known as push hands), one of the studies for beginners and experienced practitioners alike is to invest in loss. What does this mean?

Say one practitioner creates an offensive movement energy of pulling the opponent downwards and this energy (as all energies) can be countered in many ways. The habitual response for most is to stiffen and hold creating a resistance to the energy wave as is. This is often fed by a desire or a greed ‘to win.’ This sets up a struggle or a ‘fight’ between the two practitioners and no further refinement of skill can occur.

Refined skill comes from surfing the pull-down energy wave by consciously opening, softening, expanding and not resisting. If done with the right timing, the opponent who is issuing the pulldown energy is met with no resistance and throws himself or herself off balance completely by their own making.

The defender ‘invested in loss’ and in turn creates an opening or space for their own ease. Push hands practice is an intricate study of two practitioners who are continually refining their skills. One of them issues a movement energy of offense while surfing their opponent’s issuance of their own energy of softening and letting go. This letting go can slowly or more quickly change to a new issuance of offensive energy. This ‘surfing’ the seasons of offense/defense allows the wave of practice to develop sensitivity of how to let go while remaining alert and clear with your own intent.

Investing in loss and not getting greedy as an offensive energy movement is made is what creates the space for skill refinement and ease to occur. It also creates a ‘moment’ for a new possibility or a counter movement to arise within the sensation of the practitioner and not within the thinking/reacting or fighting mind. This ‘remaining unattached’ yet alert and fully sensing the unfolding movement energy exchange allows the surfing of the current ‘wave’ of movement to open to the full ocean of possibility of new experiences.

Our world today is giving us numerous opportunities to open, soften and expand in the face of countless numbers of chaotic energies present. Can you invest in loss? Can you open to the varied shades of black, gray and emptiness?

On an individual level how attached are you to your stuff? Things, experiences, moments, remaining ‘as they were’ or ‘should be’? Our planet can’t sustain our species’ unsustainable ways. Can you literally ‘let go’ of the excess—-excess stuff, things, experiences, effort and energy within the moments of your life? Can you live more simply—’lower to the ground’–more in the direct experience of the movement wave of balancing that is flowing over our planet—chaotically careening until we come in alignment with it?

In order for our own species and the multitudes of species co-living with us on our one planet to survive, we will require a more harmonious and equitable distribution of how we each live. Can you invest in the loss of some external things, experiences, moments ‘as they should be’ in order to allow the opening space to be created to more fully embody and experience your life–lower to the ground and interconnected in a sustainable way to the rest of life?

Mother Earth is bleeding and shedding in the Gulf Coast–bleeding oil and shedding fluid. I am holding an analogy of the massive oil geyser being like the shedding of the amniotic fluid that occurs with delivery of an infant. The infant is our ‘new’ human interconnected species that is so painfully being born. Our new species will no longer be able to be dependent on the oil amniotic fluid. Our new species will have to bring a much higher intuitive, sustainable, and interconnected way of ‘breathing’ with Mother Earth.

The horrendous greed and power of the oil corporations fed by our culture’s own unaware and selfish consumption has to come to an end. I personally first heard about the oil well explosion upon returning from an extended silent meditation retreat and found myself turning toward the waves of tears and sadness for the wound in Mother Earth by such blatant exploitation of greed.

Over the ensuing months (incredible to even say it has now been that long) many questions remain present. How could it happen? What happens to the countless numbers of wildlife and peoples’ individual lives that have been destroyed? What happens to the continued destruction of a very fragile ecosystem? What are we doing?

All of these deaths can, with conscious, open, and expansive awareness be transmuted into an individual and a collective rebirth. A rebirth that is born of the investment in the loss of the ‘old thinking!’ This thinking holds me separate from all others –people, things, experiences, other living creatures, nature, myself and all moments— and the container those occur within–our planet. The rebirth thinking opens to the interconnection of all of the above and requires I let go (or lose) the old way of thinking.

Mother Earth’s bleeding can be a catalyst for this shift to occur in a larger swath of the mass of humanity. Can you invest in loss–your own way? Can your specific way aid opening your own awareness thus influencing those around you? Can that open awareness and clear intent allow you to evolve–evolve to help solve this separatist way of being?

When resistance to a moment begins to rise, it is often in relationship to our ‘not liking’, doubting, or being agitated within the moment as it is. Investing in loss includes opening, expanding, and softening to exactly those moments that are difficult. Can you turn gently and in a self-friendly way toward that moment and allow yourself to experience it fully? Can you not invest in the greed of wanting a better moment–one that was, or should be? Can you not fight or stiffen to the feeling you find yourself not liking–possibly fear or anger or sadness? Can you invest in loss and let go?

We are faced with little ‘deaths’ each day. Going with reality as it is, riding the ever changing wave of change, experiencing a little death which arises to a new rebirth allows us to open to the vast interconnected expanse of wisdom within the interconnectedness of All That Is.

Begin or deepen your awareness practice through Qi Gong in Seattle, Meditation, or Feldenkrais in Seattle in order to allow you to ride the wave of change. We are all waiting for you!

You can contact Carrie at 206-459-1773 or feldychi@comcast.net for further information.

Recently on a weekend in May I was standing on top of Mt. St. Helen’s. This was my second time–nearly exactly 10 years later in time. The conditions and internal sensations that makeup my personal life are different 10 years later just as the conditions that make up ‘the mountain’ have also changed.

As we broke out of the trees and were able to first see the mountain in full glory up close, her rounded slopes looked lovely. I could feel the aliveness of the mountain with each step up her at times steep slopes. The climb was in snow the whole way with many ‘steps’ already made by previous climbers. The climb is long which allowed for a beautiful unfolding of connection to occur with each step. I could sense a solidity, calmness, steadiness, steadfastness, and constancy all contained within a wide sense of strength being pulled up through me with each step. With certain steps I could perceive more of a quality of earth energy and with other steps more of a quality of metal or mineral/rock energy.

A rhythm of slow, continuous steps began to emerge to the deep slow and steady ‘beat’ of combined earth/rock energy. A ‘melody’ of wind/air would at times come into the foreground of my sensations cascading over and through the underlying earth rhythm. The wind played a solo upon arrival at the summit insistent on my becoming cozy with my down clothes before sitting down to immerse in the next merging unfolding.

The raw power of fire, water, and metal/rock was awesomely present–subtlely and not so subtlely changed in 10 years time. The mountain’s vibrant dynamic aliveness was vividly present. I could still feel the raw shear force from the explosion almost 30 years to the day earlier within the craggy yet sensuous shape of the crater. The dome growing inside the bottom of the crater was completely transformed in 10 years just like an adolescent’s body is over a relatively short period of time.

The cornices hung over the edges of the crater in shapes reminiscent of jagged bolts of lightning. Swirling cloud formations constantly changed in appearance from where I would view them from. Asking for permission from the mountain and then peering over the edge of one of the cornices to see inside the crater involved a continued sensing of deep connectedness to the steadfast, calm and strength of her earth/metal energy.

Here the paradox (and the dynamic mingling of interconnectedness) begins. Fire, water, and wood energy were all alive at once!

What were just a few rocks at the very bottom of the crater floor 10 years ago were now a ‘clump’ of haphazardly growing rocks appearing in organized chaos similar to the ‘pattern’ on a head of cauliflower. This ‘dome-like’ growth sported many smoking ‘peaklets’ and the grand smoking ‘peak’ in the center. I imagined a mother dragon’s bellyside as she rolled over to nurse her dragonlets with wisps of smoke curling out from each of the many nipples. The path of fire, water, ice, and rock could still be traced snaking east to culminate in Spirit Lake and beyond. The intermingling of the current alive fire energy manifesting as the smoking dome peaklets was entwined intimately with the ice and snow (water energy) like lovers entwined together.

Standing there on top of the summit and feeling the power of the mountain growing directly beneath me was a moment of complete permeable interconnectedness with my essence and the mountain (one and the same).

Opening to the power and subtlety of the elements of Mother Nature allows us to feel the dynamic ‘pulse’ of these elements vividly alive within and moving through us. Being able to discern our inner world more vividly, more clearly and with an attitude of unconditional warmth is our path to wake up to our true nature or to return to our Original Spirit as it is said in Daoism. A sitting meditation practice along with a movement practice can together create the space for us to wake up to our interconnectedness to our Original Spirit.

Qi Gong ‘forms’ or movement sequences are interlaced with gentle visualizations and moments of stillness all done with gentle continuous presence to the immediate direct sensory experience of the unfolding moments as they occur. These forms are directly a manifestation in human movement of the many ‘faces’ of Original Spirit or Source or God/Goddess Consciouness. Doing the movements with an open, warm heart, a persistence to remain present for the unfolding movements in sensation and following the particular ‘face’ or ‘intent’ of the form allows that particular manifestation of consciousness to come alive and become highlighted in your sensation.

Some of the ways these ‘faces’ of Source Consciousness are recognized in Qi Gong forms are through movements and visualizations that follow cycles of nature and the elements within nature. Of course these cycles or elements are easier to access when we are directly immersed in the beauty of nature. Imagine sitting by a roaring river and hearing all of the nuances of ways that water and rock intermingle. Imagine sitting under a star-filled dark night sky in an open field next to a campfire with a light breeze wafting in and out, interacting with the flames in a beautiful spontaneous dance. You can imagine many of your own personal moments like these.

We can find these same qualities in any ordinary or mundane moment simply by sensing the primacy or immediacy of the moment–the whole of our felt-sense experience. We can find the qualities of the elements imbued within the felt-sense experience. We can at times pick out a particular quality (say steady like mountain or earth or bubbly like water) or we can feel the co-mingling of them all. We can also allow ourselves to feel and welcome those moments when the quality of an element feels challenging–too ablaze like fire, too roaring like water, or rigid or cold like metal.

A Qi Gong practice done with awareness can be a powerful bridge to allow those inner sensations to become more vivid, refined and accessible. As our capacity grows to feel the refinements, we allow and expand our capacity to live more fully inhabited and harmonious with Source. This constitutes true vitality, health and freedom.

As you practice Qi Gong movements with awareness, your ability to become more present increases which feeds back a sense of increased harmony with what it is that you just connected with. Your inner world refines the flow and ease of the outer movements and this increased fluidity and flexibility refines the connection to your inner world in order to create more presence and ease for yourself.

All qualities are in all Qi Gong forms as all qualities are within you. We practice to welcome all of them with a warm heart and a spacious moment. Just join a class or a workshop and begin to allow this ‘presencing’ connection to begin!

I will be starting a weekly Mon evening Qi Gong in Seattle class in Sept 2010. Stay tuned for details!