Greetings Everyone! I sincerely hope you are enjoying these Yang filled days of summer. I certainly am. Plenty of pool time and getting out for walks after the sun goes down has been my strategy for beating the heat this year. But I also really enjoy soaking up the heat as I am a snake and do enjoy being warm much more than being cold. Enjoy this magnificent energy because before you know it we'll all be shivering again when winter blows through the country.
I realized I haven't wrote in awhile and really need to tell you all about my experience in NYC with Master Chia. Well let me tell you, it was one of the most intense two weeks of my life! I have never spent more time working with energy and testing my physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies as I did in those weeks with Master Chia. Everyday went from 7am- 9pm with early morning Qigong to warm up the physical and energetic bodies to prepare you for the morning and afternoon session of intense Qigong and Tai Chi. The days were broken down into the first three levels or formulas of the Healing Tao System. Each of these practices within the formula is usually taught in a one week class so you can imagine the intensity at which we worked to comprehend and learn these practices in one day!
Whoa is right. Most of the senior teachers I met during those two weeks were great! I didn't vibe with all of them but even that was a learning experience as it taught me who I would feel comfortable learning with and who I wouldn't be comfortable with learning from. I have to say I felt very blessed that the teachers I started with, to me, where some of the best senior instructors and I am so glad that I was able to learn this wonderful system with them first. When learning anything new is really does depend on the teacher and I am glad I learned with the best! So Thank You to
Karin Sorvik,
Marie Favorito and
Michael Winn for such an awesome introduction to this world of Taoism, chi cultivation and human evolution!
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| Master Chia in middle, Marie left end in black jacket and Michael on right end |
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| Early morning Qigong at Madison Square Park. This Park was close to out classroom and we sought out it's many old trees and beautiful greenery almost every afternoon for rejuvenation and grounding. |
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| The first week class! |
The first week was a little hard getting used to. Just getting up early and having to travel through Manhattan to reach your destination was a challenge with the Subway, mass people and finding all the locations on time. Also jumping into day long energy work was exhilarating, energizing, draining and sometimes frustrating. During that week we learned(or reviewed)
The First Formula which is The
Inner Smile, Six Healing Sounds and The Microcosmic Orbit which usually
takes one or two weeks to learn and we learned it in two days! Luckily I teach those so that first two days wasn't hard for me and more like a review. However I was in for a challenge for the next 4 days As we learned
Iron Shirt 1, Fusion 1 and a Tai Chi short form which normally take a week each! I found myself on a daily roller coaster from low to high energy
and emotions. Fighting against not always feeling chi how I wanted or expected to feel and my own personal issues with expectations and perfectionism was a constant dark companion. I found my self every minute it seemed, challenged to stay positive and in an open, receptive trusting state. We were told we would not be able to absorb it all so try to relax and get the gist, but it's hard when you always want to be on top of something! But Thanks to my spiritual guides and helpers, good friends who were also in the same boat as me and the appearance and encouragement of my teacher Karin I made it through that first week ok and ready for the second week. Oh I also turned 35 on June 13th of that first week so it really was a great treat and gift from the universe.
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| Master Chia teaching us Yang Style Tai Chi short form |
The Second week was much better for me. I felt like I had gained some momentum and knew where all the class locations where so I could get places easier and quicker.
Healing Love practices started off that week and I am glad to say I really got that practice. Working with Ching(jing) energy in a more yin style of sitting meditation is something I am good at as opposed to the strenuous standing postures and Chi packing techniques we learned in Iron shirt. Healing Love brought me closer to the Goddess energy within and without me and empowered my feminine energy and confidence. I walked out of those classes feeling powerful and beautiful. However working with sexual energy in a room full of men and women felt strange to me which gave me a test to not let my conservative ideas upbringing of "sex is bad" get in the way of generating very potent healing energy! Master Chia's reminders that sex is dirty only if we think it is along with everything in life engages in intercourse of some kind really helped me to settle and not feel uncomfortable. Yin and Yang are always combining to create the thousand myriad things! Harnessing God and Goddess energy also helped me to keep the process holy and sacred.
Fusion 2 &3 were great and I really felt the Shamanic aspects in the Taoist practices of working with the elements and the eight directions of the Pa' kua (Ba' gua). Some of the more complex ideas were a bit difficult to comprehend with Master Chia's more eastern way of teaching and I was glad I had learned a bit of Fusion with Michael before. My friend Joe also helped to fill me in on the details during breaks.
Tendon Neigong and Stem Cell Qigong were the last two days.
Stem Cell Qigong included packing chi into your organs and then hitting the body with a bamboo whisk to stimulate new cell growth and cleanse out the damaged cells. I get the idea and how it works but not my favorite thing.
Tendon Nei gong was very cool. We learned about Tendon lines and chains in the body and how they are connected, why Tendon health is important and how to move Chi with/through the tendons. We learned postures and exercises that stretched and strengthened the Tendons and as I really enjoy tendon exercises I enjoyed this practice. Stretching tendons really gets a lots of circulation and chi flowing in the limbs. One can really feel the chi flowing after you've worked on a certain area. The week ended well with me passing my
Tao Yin test of certification! So Now I am also certified officially to tech Tao yin! Yay!
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| Yoland, Karin Sorvik, me and Heather. Karin was the sen. instructor with whom I first learned the Healing Tao and Tao Yin. I am very grateful for her presence in my life. |
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Last bit not least Master Chia was an awesome and challenging teacher. He really pushed you
to try your best and to reach deep for more chi and determination. During meditations you could sense him sending energy to everyone in the room to help with their experience and energy work. He would walk around and help us to open energy centers into our body and took us through a re-birthing ceremony, initiating each one of us into a new spiritual life. He also helped us extend our spiritual antennae into the heavens so that we could talk to the Heavens better and have our request heard clearer. It is amazing to think that thanks to him we all have this opportunity to learn an amazing system of human evolution, a practical approach and clear guidelines for gaining immortality in this lifetime! Thanks to his willingness to share and desire to help those who help themselves the amazing concepts developed thousands of years ago by the Taoist female and male sages are not lost to time and are available to everyone! The time went fast as it always does when you're having a great time. I met so many nice people and had a great time hanging with and strengthening bonds with my friends in the Tao. I met some great seniors instructors as well and made solid business connections.
Thanks goes out to Tynne, Yolanda, my girls and Andrew and Joe; great guy friends who always had my back.
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| My pals! Great folks and friends! |
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| Master Chia and I at the closing dinner. |
I am so thankful that the Spirit provided help and events worked out to help me go on this retreat. I had a wonderful time and learned so much. I achieved my Full instructor certificate and am now (on paper) certified to teach Tao Yin as well. Give thanks to everyone who helped me to get there, stay there and persevere. I can't wait to share with my students and pass along the amazing Chi passed down from the ancients through Master Chia down to me. It was a unique, amazing, exciting and hard experience and one which I will not forget!
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| Teacher Training class of 2012. We made it! |
