Great radio show with Lama Tantrapa- “Secrets of Qi Gong Masters “. We discussed Taoism, Buddhism, meditation, Qi Gong, movies, books, and much more. It was a fun hour and I invite you to check it out.
I just had the honor of spending time with one of the Abbots of my tradition- Dr. Thomas McCombs. He was teaching about the history of our Tao Tan Pai lineage but there was a particular aside that grabbed my attention. Being a doctor of Osteopathy, Dr. McCombs has extensive experience in both medicine and the Taoist esoteric arts.
He taught me about a particular network of veins called Batson’s Vertebral Plexus. I remember studying this in school but the implications did not strike me at the time. Batson’s plexus is a venous channel which directs blood flow from the pelvis/sacrum back up the spine and up to the brain.
“The plexus comprises the intracranial-cortical veins, dural sinuses, cavernous sinuses and ophthalmic veins and the vertebral venous plexuses which freely anastomose with the intracranial venous system.”
Huh?
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On January 20, 2012, In Health and Wellness, Vitality, By Pedram
There are many ways to “fix” an old broken train…little tweaks here and there…just enough to make sure the thing keeps moving along so the passengers don’t really get too stirred and start to question what’s going on. You can essentially fool the people into staying ignorant about the inner workings/problems by watching their movies or playing cards. All the while, the engineer knows there’s a very very big problem yet the boss demands that the show must go on. Why? Because there’s money to be made! Lots and lots of money. What the passengers don’t know won’t kill them…well, actually it will but it’ll be a slow and morbid death where they will willingly give up all their money, assets, and freedom just to “get better” which can never happen.
What am I talking about? Healthcare. The broken system which is better called “sickcare” in this country.
The idea of just sitting around seems very alien to us in the modern world. It seems boring- like a total waste of time. We’ve all got so much to do and not enough time to do it. So why sit around and waste such an already precious commodity that seems to be lacking in all of our lives? Why practice meditation at all?
Meditation is more than a technique- it is a way of life. It is a way for us to see the Universe and “hold audience” for the millions of bits of information that are passing through our minds in any given moment. We can all relate to that…noise everywhere…noise all of the time.
So how do we get rid of that noise? We don’t.
We cannot make the noise go away. It is a reflection of all of the processes of life as the nervous system is firing and communicating with the body all of the time. To stop the noise is to stop life. You’d have to go brain dead and stop your heart. Last I checked, that isn’t a leading wellness practice.
So what’s all this talk about meditation and how it helps calm us down and “stop the noise”? The answer lies in the photo you saw at the beginning of this post. Meditation is about acceptance of Reality. It is about learning to observe phenomena come and go without reacting to them. To meditate is to maintain equanimity in all affairs and to watch circumstances come and go without getting mentally and emotionally attached to them. We cannot stop our minds. (more…)
If you look at the rising cost of healthcare and the way the nation’s health are going, you have to understand that this “plan” simply isn’t working. Obesity and childhood diabetes are reaching epidemic levels. Heart disease and cancer are ravaging our population. More and more people are getting chronically ill and our current healthcare system is ill-equipped to deal with this crisis.
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Happy holidays!
I’m just working to finalize a few parts of the new 100 Day Gong app so we can launch it in the new year. We’re almost there 
I’ve just put together a “how to” video for you so you can fill out out Life Manifestation Workbook correctly. This is really important as it is a contract with YOURSELF so I walk you through the thing and help make it clear. Go ahead and download the Ebook and the Gong Grid before you watch the video so you can go through it with me. If you have questions, we’ll answer them in the weekly calls once the app launches. It’ll probably be in the second week of January so start thinking about what you’d like to change, work on, correct, and manifest in your life!
Here’s the video- enjoy.
Sunset at Stonehenge
The Winter Solstice has now passed and we are in a very interesting time of the year. To ancient cultures, the Winter Solstice marked the “death” of the sun. It was the shortest day the year where the YIN energy in the Northern Hemisphere came to maximum expression and the re-emergence of the YANG energy returned coming from the Taoist traditon. This transition is marked by a very interesting phenomena where, perceivably, for three days (Dec 22, 23, 24), the sun stops moving. This is because we can’t see the subtle movement as it dips below our horizon. During these three days, the sun resides in the SOUTHERN CROSS and then, on December 25th, it moves north one degree…signifying the return of our Savior and forshadowing warmer, longer, and more fruitful days taking us into spring and summer harvest.
The brightest star in the sky (Sirius) aligns with the three brightest stars on Orion’s belt (Mintaka, Anilam, and Alnitak) on December 24th heralding the “return” of the sun and the forces of “good”. The three “wise men” which were the ancient names for the stars on Orion’s belt follow the “star in the east” and this marks the celebration of the “birth” of Jesus in our modern mythology. It turns out Christmas is more than just a story but a deeply ingrained understanding of the movement of the stars and cycles of nature as understood by the ancients. (more…)
Here’s a list of things you should consider for this year’s Winter Solstice:
1- Have you closed out your 2011 projects? What things do you not want to carry into 2012? What do you need to finish, schedule in, or simply drop in order to maintain your sanity? How important is it? WHY are you doing it and does it serve you/your family?
2- Have you spent time telling the people you care for that you love them? It doesn’t take long…do it now. (more…)
Dec 21 marks the Winter Solstice. This is a really important day in Taoist and Shamanic traditions because it marks a critical transition. This is the day where the YIN energy on our planet (Northern hemisphere) is at its highest (longest night) and YANG energy at its lowest (shortest day). [It is the exact opposite for the Southern hemisphere] Essentially, it is the endpoint in the “funnel” or “hour glass” of time as it moves through a 4 dimensional tauroidal field. Let’s take a look to illustrate:
You’ll notice how the Yin and Yang lines come together along the central axis and how they are the furthest apart at the height of their arcs. That’s exactly where we are right now. Here’s another way to look at it:
Master Lu
Taoist Yoga has always been a bit weird. Swallowing spit, semen retention, tonic herbs, and lots of time alone breathing to the naval. The question is- what is all of this about and why practice in this way?
To understand Taoist Alchemy, Taoist Qi Gong, and the development of the Taoist Light Body, one must understand the relationship of HEAVEN, EARTH, Fire, and Water. There are different forms of Taoist Schools out there. My tradition (Tao Tan Pai) is a “Steam” based Taoist School. What does all of this mean? Let’s delve into it…
In the I Ching, there are a series of Trigrams which represent the various aspects or emanations of phenomena in nature. These are pictographically displayed by combinations of either solid (YANG) lines, or broken (YIN) ones. The various combinations of these lines create a complex binary system of relations and correspondences which equal the 64 emanations of the I Ching. People spend their entire lives studying this stuff and are still amazed by the depth of it. We’re going to keep it really simple here so we can better understand Taoist Yoga.
