The Tao of Kung Fu – An interview with a Grandmaster

On October 8, 2012, In Kung Fu, Taoist Philosophy, By Pedram

I had the privilege of training Kung Fu with Grandmaster Carl Totton for many years. He’s been at this for quite some time and is an amazing teacher. We got a chance to film him in action a few months back and this segment is a piece from that interview.

Here, he speaks of the essence of the martial arts and Kung Fu in particular. He is highly trained in Shaolin Kung Fu, Kenpo, Lima Lama, Mok Ga, Tai Chi, Ba Gua, Hsing Yi, and a host of other arts. It’s always a pleasure speaking with him and I enjoyed every part except maybe where he was gauging my eyes out :)

Enjoy…

 


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Winter Solstice Checklist

On December 19, 2011, In Nature, Popular Issues, Taoist Philosophy, By Pedram

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…)

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Winter Solstice is upon us- why it is important to rest RIGHT NOW

On December 15, 2011, In Health and Wellness, Taoist Philosophy, Time Management, By Pedram

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:

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Fire, Water, Steam, and Dew- The Essence of Taoist Alchemy

On November 30, 2011, In Alchemy, Qi Gong, Taoist Philosophy, By Pedram


The founder of the Tao Tan Pai Lineage


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.


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Taoist Yoga, Taoist Alchemy, and Qigong Philosophy

On October 3, 2011, In Alchemy, Qi Gong, Taoist Philosophy, By Pedram

In Taoism, there are various traditions and schools of thought that have come along through history. Taoist schools are rare and hard to find because there are so few of them out there and most of the secrets of Taoist Alchemy are guarded and kept secret. Why? Because in the old days, knowledge of these arts led to incredible power so warlords and Emperors would make sure these secrets didn’t get into their enemy’s hands. In the West, the Knight’s Templars came back from Jerusalem with a mighty secret (Alchemy) and rose to power almost overnight. No wonder why the Church and ruling establishment went after them and killed them? Those in power like to keep it that way :)

The study of Taoist Alchemy is a tricky one. One must understand basic precepts of Taoism, Taoist tantric sex, Taoist yoga, and Qigong philosophy to have a foot in the door. Modern Taoist schools seldom teach all of this because most are either focused on scripture or on Qigong (Qi Gong) energy work alone. Qigong philosophy is important as is the practice but it is not everything. To understand Taoist Alchemy, we need to understand the underlying philosophy. We need to understand Who we really are in relation to this Universe and how things work here.

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Kung Fu, Chakras, and Acupuncture – How they’re all Connected

On September 28, 2011, In Health and Wellness, Kung Fu, Taoist Philosophy, By Pedram

The ancient esoteric arts of Kung Fu, Yoga, and Acupuncture are all interconnected because they all come from ancient systems that have an energetic understanding of the body. In Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and several other ancient traditions, the energy meridians (Chinese) or nadi (Indian) in the body carry the life force to every organ. These energy pathways carry the flow of life-giving energy to every cell of the body.

Acupuncture is the ancient Chinese art of using fine needles to correct and manipulate the flow of this energy when it has gone out of balance. Restoring the proper flow of qi energy often quickly corrects ailments and allows the body to heal itself naturally. Acupuncture has been effectively used for thousands of years to correct all sorts of ailments in millions of people worldwide.

The Chakras are the energy storage sites (in the tradition of Hinduism) along the central channel. These spinning wheels of light show the quality and flow of the vital energy running through our systems and and can be used to both diagnose illness and to treat it. There are seven main chakras in the Indian system which correlate to three “dantiens” in the Chinese system. These “pools” of energy flow also act as reservoirs for our Vitality.


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Stay in the Eternal Present and Walk Towards the Light

On June 17, 2011, In Meditation, Self Inquiry, Taoist Philosophy, By Pedram

Staying on path is easy, just get out of the way and follow the leads the Universe (God, Tao, call it what you want) presents to you. The path of least resistance really shows up when we can step into the present moment and stay aware of where we stand.  The problem? TIME. Yeah time. We have memories that are tied to emotions that are unresolved which entrap us in “time“. How does this happen?

When we feel something or have a response to some stimulus that presents itself to us in the moment, we are faced with a choice. Do I accept this for what it is, not judge it, stay in the present and feel what emotion it evokes and be OK with that, OR, do I feel the emotion this stimulus brings up and say “oh, this sucks I don’t like feeling this at all…” and run away. How do we run away? Well, we move away from the emotion by trying to counter it with the opposite feeling or energy. This makes me feel sad so I’ll thing happy thoughts…OR we think to ourselves, wow that’s too much to handle right now, I’m gonna file this away and deal with it at a later time when I’m stronger, richer, better looking, and maybe 3 feet taller. Guess what folks- tomorrow has its own set of “crap” to deal with. So what happens? We keep building charge in our energy field by entrapping our power in time.

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The Answer is a Few Breaths Away

On May 24, 2011, In Meditation, Taoist Philosophy, Time Management, By Pedram

In this modern age of terrabyte data transmissions and the world of Google at our fingertips, things move fast…really fast. This, in my opinion has led to the compression of TIME in our consciousness. This time compression syndrome as I like to call it can be seen in people all over the modern world. The earth is spinning and revolving around the sun at roughly the same rate it has for millions of years and yet, in our modern world we’re all short of time.

Time compression is an issue with consciousness itself…not time. What is time? An artificial construct that allows us to meet for coffee and agree on something. Consciousness? Yeah- that’s the only game in town. It is the quality of our consciousness that determines how we experience LIFE- not time. However, it is our entrapment and mental pathology that binds us to the concept of time.

The question really isn’t how much time do we have but really how much ENERGY we have and how present we are in the living breathing moment. There is no time in the eternal present. When we learn to “stop the world” and tap into the infinite energy in the eternal present, then we have just stepped out of time.

When you find yourself getting worked up and feeling this Time Compression Syndrome creeping in, take a moment and “pop in the clutch”. Take a few deep breaths and step out of the “time wave” you feel caught up in. Take a sip from the Fountain of Eternity and gather your awareness back to the present moment.

YOU are in charge of that dial. You are the only person that can guide the speed and frequency of your consciousness and you are the only person who is in control of how you emanate here on the planet. Slow down, breathe deeply, and check in with yourself. Time is an illusion. Step back into the driver’s seat and gather yourself. Mastery is a few breaths away.

CLICK HERE to listen to a helpful Buddhist mediation that will help you with this.

Have fun.

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Your life is the workshop – Making it real…Keeping it real.

On May 17, 2011, In Self Inquiry, Taoist Philosophy, Western Religions, By Pedram

A little while ago, I found myself sitting next to an Orthodox Christian priest at a luncheon. He had a serious beard and the garb to match it. He wasn’t the jolliest of fellows and seemed a bit out of place in a crowd. I was busy conversing with some people across the table and then my wife egged him on by telling him about my background and that the two of us should talk…oh boy…here we go!

His immediate question to me was whether I believed in God because it was his understanding that Taoism was a “godless” religion. My answer- “Of course I believe in God and I don’t consider myself a religious Taoist“. That immediately got him to relax and put away the broad sword…ok…let’s talk dude.

What’s the difference? Well, my stance is that life is the workshop and that I needn’t believe in things that I can test in my daily life. I explained that this was the essence of Buddhism. When the Buddha was asked whether there was a God or not, his answer was that he’d show you a technique to observe your own consciousness and you be the judge. The Buddha felt that it was extremely dangerous to tell people what that “State” was like or what “a Supreme Being” was like because they’d take that as an adequate answer and pull off the highway of Self-inquiry. We see this all the time in Asia- statues of the Buddha are worshiped everywhere. The philosophy of introspection and self examination has been turned by many into a religion with idol worship and distorted comprehension of the message…the Buddha would roll over in his grave.

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Rise and Shine- the book is almost here and we’re taking pre-orders now

On April 5, 2011, In Health and Wellness, Meditation, Self Inquiry, Taoist Philosophy, By Pedram

The long-awaited release of Pedram Shojai’s book is finally here.  We have arranged to receive 500 copies before they hit the book stores.  The books are in press now and we should be receiving them between mid-April and early May.

We are going to open these first 500 copies to a Pre-Sale and Pedram Shojai is going to personally sign every pre-sale copy that goes out through this website.


CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY OF RISE AND SHINE TODAY



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